Category Archives: Fail!

L.A. City Council Votes To Ban People From Living Inside Cars And RVs: LAist Why, if that’s all they have?

Time will tell whether or not Los Angeles will be sued over this latest ordinance. How the new rules will be enforced also remains somewhat unclear, given the only way to know whether or not someone is living inside a vehicle (RV with closed windows, at least) is to knock and wait for them to answer. At the same time, it is still perfectly legal for someone to park their vehicle in a residential neighborhood, and sleep on the sidewalk outside of it.

Source: L.A. City Council Votes To Ban People From Living Inside Cars And RVs: LAist

Why I Have No Sympathy for Angry White Men | Dame Magazine

It’s hard out there for a White man. Political correctness has gotten so bad that White men can no longer wear blackface on Halloween. They can no longer assault women with impunity.  The fundamental promises of White privilege are under attack. They believe that it is only right and good that they should have what they want at the expense of everybody else. That their lives matter most of all. Every time.This is the story we’re being fed about Trump supporters. Not surprisingly given the widespread allergies to facts, the truth is something different. But it turns out that the most ardent Trumpsters aren’t young men in the rural underclass. They are older retirees—former autoworkers, civil servants, small businesspeople and others—with pensions and other resources that put them in the “have” category in depressed small towns. Never mind that these communities have faced economic hard times because Trump and his band of oligarchs have spent decades avoiding taxes and shipping jobs overseas.Despite a narrative that focuses on blue-collar voters, the Trump coalition is far more “diverse” in class, age, and geography. What binds them together?  Whiteness and masculinity! As Bob Cesca argues in Salon, “Generally speaking, Trump supporters are non-college-educated white men, ranging from younger ‘bros’ to, more typically, white male baby-boomer retirees with plenty of spare time to be relentlessly irradiated by Fox News and AM talk radio. If you convince enough men that alleged outsiders (women, minorities, immigrants) are stripping them of their long-held power, as Fox News and others have done, there’s going to eventually be a fight, especially when one of those so-called outsiders is a black president with the middle name ‘Hussein.’ Older white men don’t intend to hand over power quietly, and they’ve been given the green light by irresponsibly influential leaders to bury their humility, their decency and their sense of reality.”

Source: Why I Have No Sympathy for Angry White Men | Dame Magazine

Donald Trump May Have Private Server to Communicate Exclusively With Russia – from one puppet to his puppeteer – How am I doing, boss?

Now computer scientists have unearthed evidence that Trump may have also maintained a private server for exclusive communication with a Russian bank.  Slate’s Franklin Foer conducted a painstaking investigation into the means by which scientists uncovered this data and the extent to which it may be linked to the 2016 election. Currently, sufficient evidence does not exist to bring forth allegations. What evidence does exist, however, is impossible to brush aside.In brief, an anonymous scientist referred to as Tea Leaves discovered that one server registered to the Trump Organization and two registered to Alfa Bank have been in communication. The Trump Organization server was created in 2009 for marketing purposes, but it no longer seems to engage in high levels of traffic. In fact, it has become apparent that these servers exclusively exchanged information with one another — that is to say, there were no communications with other entities.“These organizations are communicating in a way designed to block other people out,” computer scientist L. Jean Camp told Slate. Alfa Bank, helmed by Mikhail Fridman and Pyotyr Aven, does have dealings in the United States. LetterOne, one of the bank’s holding companies, invested $200 million in Uber this year and intends to commit $3 billion to United States health care. And by all accounts, Alfa Bank has not involved itself in shady business; it has even received an award for “Corporate Citizenship.” That said, Fridman and Aven do belong to Putin’s inner circle, albeit the perimeter. And Alfa Bank’s international success has, in the eyes of the Russian government, revealed the country’s business prowess and made it seem a more competitive contender.The relationship between the Trump Organization and Alfa Bank also seems connected to—or at least influenced by—the election. As scientists began to monitor activity between the servers, they noticed a trend. “At election-related moments, the traffic peaked,” explained Camp. For instance, during both party conventions, there was considerably more communication.

Source: Donald Trump May Have Private Server to Communicate Exclusively With Russia

North Carolina Republicans Tried to Disenfranchise a 100-Year-Old African-American Woman | The Nation

The challenge list compiled by Republicans also overwhelmingly targeted black and Democratic voters. “Of the 138 challenged, 92 of them were black and registered Democrats. 28 voters were unaffiliated, 17 were Republicans, and 1 was Libertarian,” reported WNCT.Hardison’s challenge was withdrawn after a local outcry, but 14 voters have been purged so far in recent weeks in Beaufort County, which previously had to approve its voting changes with the federal government under the Voting Rights Act because of a history of discrimination.The North Carolina NAACP says the purge violates the National Voter Registration Act, which “prohibits the mass removal of voters from the rolls within the 90 days prior to the election.”“These purges have a long history of being racial and inaccurate,” says Penda Hair, a lawyer for the North Carolina NAACP.

Source: North Carolina Republicans Tried to Disenfranchise a 100-Year-Old African-American Woman | The Nation

Video: Israeli soldiers throw stones at Palestinian children | The Electronic Intifada

This video shows Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank throwing stones at Palestinian schoolchildren in the village of al-Tuwani on 25 October.According to the video’s captions, the Israeli soldiers are supposed to protect the children from attacks by Israeli settlers in the area.

Source: Video: Israeli soldiers throw stones at Palestinian children | The Electronic Intifada

Facebook Allows Advertisers To Exclude Users Based On Their Race: SFist When it comes to race, ethnicity, elitism, Facebook makes money on racism, elitism, sexism… It does not care about your hate for color, as long as it gets its “green.”

In addition to, say, allowing a company to request that their ad be shown to a specific group of people, Facebook permits advertisers to select what “ethnic affinity” they would like to exclude. Some of those options include “African American,” “Asian American,” and “Hispanic.”“This is horrifying,” civil rights lawyer John Relman told ProPublica. “This is massively illegal. This is about as blatant a violation of the federal Fair Housing Act as one can find.”The Fair Housing Act of 1968 states that it is illegal to “make, print, or publish, or cause to be made, printed, or published any notice, statement, or advertisement, with respect to the sale or rental of a dwelling that indicates any preference, limitation, or discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin.”A theoretical ad for housing on Facebook that excluded any of the above groups might run afoul of the law.Facebook, for its part, denies that it’s doing anything wrong and says that it doesn’t even know the race of its users. The company doesn’t directly ask users that information, and Facebook’s privacy and public policy manager, Steve Satterfield, claimed that “Ethnic Affinity,” as Facebook calls it, is something other than a user’s race — although that it is included in the “Demographics” category of the ad tool seems to suggest otherwise. And anyway, Satterfield told ProPublica, the company would pull any ads that were in violation of the law.“We take a strong stand against advertisers misusing our platform: Our policies prohibit using our targeting options to discriminate, and they require compliance with the law,” he said. “We take prompt enforcement action when we determine that ads violate our policies.”However, as a test, ProPublica purchased a housing ad that excluded various minority groups. It was approved by Facebook within 15 minutes. When asked about that ad, a Facebook spokesperson reportedly declined to comment.

Source: Facebook Allows Advertisers To Exclude Users Based On Their Race: SFist

Germany to send tanks to Russian border | Germany | DW.COM | 27.10.2016 Deja vu?

Protecting Lithuania from Russia is to be Germany’s responsibility, according to the new NATO defense plans that emerged at this week’s summit in Brussels. The German Defense Ministry showed on Wednesday evening just how seriously it is taking this task, confirming to the DPA news agency that next year it will be sending Leopard 2 tanks to the Baltic country’s Russian border in addition to the 650 soldiers it had already promised – though it would not clarify how many.The move is part of NATO’s wider plan to protect its Baltic members, who have all shown concern about Russian ambitions following the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the subsequent war in eastern Ukraine.A NATO battalion of around 1,000 soldiers will be stationed in Lithuania as of June next year, and will then be rotated every six months. Around 450 to 650 of these troops are to be supplied by the Bundeswehr, while the others will come from France, Belgium and Croatia. German media reported that the combat-trained unit will also be equipped with tanks, armored vehicles, snipers, and engineers.

Source: Germany to send tanks to Russian border | Germany | DW.COM | 27.10.2016

Some Donald Trump Voters Warn of Revolution if Hillary Clinton Wins – The New York Times {Keep track of these KKK AMER-ISIS fools-that want to return to Oklahoma city bombing tactics}

Jared Halbrook, 25, of Green Bay, Wis., said that if Mr. Trump lost to Hillary Clinton, which he worried would happen through a stolen election, it could lead to “another Revolutionary War.”“People are going to march on the capitols,” said Mr. Halbrook, who works at a call center. “They’re going to do whatever needs to be done to get her out of office, because she does not belong there.”

Source: Some Donald Trump Voters Warn of Revolution if Hillary Clinton Wins – The New York Times

Study finds wrong antibiotics often given for common infections | CIDRAP

Convenience and perception

Although the study does not explore the reasons providers are so frequently veering from the recommended treatments, both Hicks and Hyun have some ideas.Hicks said the simplest explanation may be the convenience factor. For example, azithromycin is a once-a-day drug, while some of the first-line drugs need to be taken twice or even three times a day. But Hicks believes there’s also a perception, shared by both provider and patient, that broader may be better, and that using drugs that cover more bacteria makes it less likely that something could be missed.Hyun suggests there’s also a social dynamic going between patients and doctors, where patient expectations—and how doctors perceive those expectations—are playing a role in antibiotic prescribing. “Physicians and providers feel, a lot of the time, that patients walk into their office with a certain level of expectation for antibiotics,” Hyun said.And that, along with the patient’s previous experience, can have an impact on antibiotic selection. So if a patient has previously received a broad-spectrum antibiotic and it worked well, they’ll probably ask for that same antibiotic again. “That can influence the prescriber,” Hyun said.

Source: Study finds wrong antibiotics often given for common infections | CIDRAP

Adult Performer: Trump Offered Me $10K, Use Of Private Jet If I Joined Him In His Room: LAist

“I realize that in this situation I may be but a tiny grain of sand, but clearly, this is an enormous beach.”

Source: Adult Performer: Trump Offered Me $10K, Use Of Private Jet If I Joined Him In His Room: LAist

At the end of the press conference, Drake, and her attorney Gloria Allred, held up a photo of Drake standing with Trump, taken at the golf tournament.

View image on TwitterView image on Twitter

Gloria Allred shows a photo of Trump standing with the 11th victim, Jessica Drake.

Trump: “I never met her, believe me.”

Today’s press conference came a few hours after Trump vowed at a campaign event in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania that he would sue all of the women that have come forward with accusations of inappropriate sexual conduct.

Allred, one of the leaders in the charge against Trump’s sexual misconduct, basically said, “Bring it on.”

Women will not be intimidated into silence by Donald Trump….If he files a lawsuit for defamation, he will have to prove that the allegations are not true. Any accuser will have a right to file a cross-complaint against Trump for defamation, because he called them liars. Be careful what you wish for Mr. Trump. The lawyers will have the opportunity to depose you. You will be required to testify under oath and we will welcome the opportunity to question you under oath.

Allred also said that “many women who have not yet come forward yet publicly may decide to do so.” A couple of weeks ago, Allred said that she had been contacted by multiple women who alleged inappropriate contact from Trump.

And then she hit him with this zinger:

Mr. Trump, this morning you spoke at Gettysburg where many brave patriots fought and died. You have dishonored their sacrifice by threatening wives, mothers and daughters. They may not have your wealth or your power or your fame, but they have demonstrated enormous courage and i believe the public will support them. The threat is an admission of the hopelessness of your cause. It is nothing more than a transparent promise of revenge. It’s a new low even for you. Your threat is below the dignity of the office you are seeking. I say to the women of this country, we shall overcome.