Last month, when a conservative radio host similarly said Trump meant the “founder” remark figuratively – that the Obama administration’s policies had created a vacuum in which Isis grew – Trump replied: “No, I meant that he’s the founder of Isis, I do.”He later said the comment was “sarcastic, but not that sarcastic”.
Category Archives: Fail!
In the West Bank, even calling the fire dept. has an ethnic dimension | +972 Magazine
In 2004, under the cover of the Second Intifada, Sil’it’s security fence was expanded to includes S.’s land. Now there is both a fence and gate between him and his land, meaning he can no longer reach his land – no one disputes the land is his – unless he receives prior permission from the military commander. In 2009 his land was set ablaze; he believes Israeli civilians were responsible. During last year’s olive harvest, S. managed to obtain permission for his workers for three workdays – yet the IDF prevented them from accessing the land. S. kept trying to get them permits to work the land, but the IDF bureaucracy is slow, and in the meantime the harvest season passed.Half a year later S. was standing and watching his land burning from across a locked gate. He called the Palestinian District Coordination Office (DCO), which in turn summoned Palestinian firefighters. But the IDF did not allow them to enter the land; it is unlikely we will ever know the reason for the refusal.But the wind, damn it, the wind — it does not discriminate between Palestinian or Israeli property; it is indifferent to land documents and ethnicity. The wind blew the fire toward Sil’it. The distance, you will remember, is only 150 meters.And then S. beheld a wondrous sight: as the flames consumed his land while Palestinian firetrucks were prohibited from aiding him, Israeli firetrucks swiftly reached the other side of his plot and quickly began dowsing the flames. The firetrucks weren’t sufficient, so a short time afterward two firefighting planes flew overhead and extinguished the fire, which nearly reached the gates of Sil’it.Unlike the wind, Israeli soldiers can perfectly discriminate between land owned by a Palestinian and land seized by Israelis. And there you have it, the whole occupation in a nutshell.Written by Yossi Gurvitz in his capacity as a blogger for Yesh Din, Volunteers for Human Rights. This post was first published on Yesh Din’s blog.
Source: In the West Bank, even calling the fire dept. has an ethnic dimension | +972 Magazine
Dr. Bob Sears, critic of vaccine laws, could lose license after exempting toddler – LA Times Cashing in on pimping for profit on parents’ fears catches up to to him.
Sears, 47, whose “The Vaccine Book: Making the Right Decision for Your Child” has sold more than 250,000 copies and made him a celebrity among parents who see peril in the mandatory vaccination regime, could not be reached for comment late Thursday. The Dana Point resident opened his practice in 1998 and offered patients a delayed vaccination schedule. In “The Vaccine Book,” Sears offered his alternatives, such as delaying the start of the varicella vaccination for chickenpox from age 1 until 2 and pushing back the polio vaccination from 2 months to 9 months.His stance has been criticized by fellow pediatricians for misinforming parents about the in-depth testing of vaccines and downplaying the dangers of vaccine-preventable diseases.
Source: Dr. Bob Sears, critic of vaccine laws, could lose license after exempting toddler – LA Times
A beauty contest was judged by AI and the robots didn’t like dark skin | Technology | The Guardian
The simplest explanation for biased algorithms is that the humans who create them have their own deeply entrenched biases. That means that despite perceptions that algorithms are somehow neutral and uniquely objective, they can often reproduce and amplify existing prejudices. The Beauty.AI results offer “the perfect illustration of the problem”, said Bernard Harcourt, Columbia University professor of law and political science who has studied “predictive policing”, which has increasingly relied on machines. “The idea that you could come up with a culturally neutral, racially neutral conception of beauty is simply mind-boggling.”The case is a reminder that “humans are really doing the thinking, even when it’s couched as algorithms and we think it’s neutral and scientific,” he said.Civil liberty groups have recently raised concerns that computer-based law enforcement forecasting tools – which use data to predict where future crimes will occur – rely on flawed statistics and can exacerbate racially biased and harmful policing practices.“It’s polluted data producing polluted results,” said Malkia Cyril, executive director of the Center for Media Justice.
Source: A beauty contest was judged by AI and the robots didn’t like dark skin | Technology | The Guardian
Chris Christie Reportedly Told Someone To Shut Up At Trump’s Classified Security Briefing: Gothamist
Donald Trump and classified intelligence briefings go together like toothpaste and orange juice. Or maybe that’s not totally accurate since healthy teeth and O.J. are good on their own and Donald Trump is a living Yahoo comments section with a toupee stapled on it. Either way, telling Donald Trump secret national security information seems like a bad idea. Adding the shy, retiring Chris Christie and shouty general Michael Flynn to the briefing would only seem to be a worse idea. And hey what do you know, NBC News reports that Christie told Flynn to shut up in the middle of the briefing. Can’t wait until all these alpha males are deciding how to run the country the old fashioned way.NBC looked into what actually happened at Trump’s August 17th security briefing, after he told a ball-gagged Matt Lauer that his amazing ability to translate body language revealed that people briefing him were pissed at Obama because he didn’t follow their policy advice. Not only was that apparently untrue, but two sources told NBC that Christie either told General Flynn to shut up or to calm down after he repeatedly interrupted the security briefing.And in what’s become a daily ritual, Donald Trump is being accused of lying about a very easily refutable statement. In this instance, one U.S. official told NBC that the briefing officers don’t give policy advice, and another official told the site that intelligence officials are specifically trained not to give away their thoughts through their body language.So, throw another one on the pile of routine lies Trump tells at his public appearances. At least he’s got a very polished and professional policy team in Washington turning his laudanum-addled thoughts into coherent policy proposals in the event he actually wins, right? Why just look right here in the Washington Post:The Trump campaign built a large policy shop in Washington that has now largely melted away because of neglect, mismanagement and promises of pay that were never honored. Many of the team’s former members say the campaign leadership never took the Washington office seriously and let it wither away after squeezing it dry.Maybe this policy expert is still available?
Source: Chris Christie Reportedly Told Someone To Shut Up At Trump’s Classified Security Briefing: Gothamist
Donald Trump’s Remarks Show He’s Mistaken on Sexual Assault in Military – The New York Times
Speaking at a candidates’ forum, Mr. Trump defended one of his Twitter posts from 2013 concerning the high number of sexual assaults in the military, and he said that he had been “absolutely correct” in sending out a message that said, “What did these geniuses expect when they put men & women together?”Mr. Trump also suggested that the solution to the problem was the formation of a separate military justice system — although one is already in existence. That system sits at the center of the debate over how to tackle sexual assault.His comments displayed what was apparently a misunderstanding of the Pentagon’s decades-long struggle to curb such assaults and the military justice system already in place to prosecute them.
Source: Donald Trump’s Remarks Show He’s Mistaken on Sexual Assault in Military – The New York Times
Ferguson protest leader Darren Seals shot and found dead in a burning car | US news | The Guardian
More than 100 people gathered Tuesday night for a candlelight vigil at the site where Seals’ body was found, friends said. Activists who attended the vigil said they were furious to find that police had not taped off the crime scene, and that there were still bullet casings on the ground they thought police should have collected as evidence.“We were literally stepping on the ashes from his car and his body,” said Tamara “Bates” Dodd, a St Louis hip-hop artist and activist. “That was probably the thing that shook me up the most, seeing little kids walking past, not knowing what they’re standing on.”Local activists were also troubled by the parallels between Seals’ death and the 2014 murder of 20-year-old Deandre Joshua, who was shot and left in a burning car on the same night a grand jury chose not to indict police officer Darren Wilson in Brown’s death. In all, according to one activist’s count, five other men in the St Louis area have been shot and left in burning cars since 2014.“Many people are really worried. We don’t know if there’s some type of movement serial killer on the loose,” said Patricia Bynes, a protester and former Democratic committeewoman for Ferguson.
Source: Ferguson protest leader Darren Seals shot and found dead in a burning car | US news | The Guardian
The Lonely Path – sister-hood magazine. A Fuuse production by Deeyah Khan.

Early next morning I heard quite a commotion. I could see faintly through the fabric placed over the small window. Someone was trying to come in through the door at the other end of the courtyard. Someone was speaking in English!‘Yes, but I’d like to check all the same…’‘Help! In here – behind the green cloth on the window!’ I howled.A few tense moments passed; the door opened, and in came a tall English man, and a Pakistani woman.My father and mother, and various relatives all followed.‘Are you Leyla Ali?’I nodded, my body trembling profusely.‘I’m Roger Ellis, from the British High Commission, and this is my assistant. We’re here to help, if that’s what you want.’I looked at my father’s face, dark with indignation, his nostrils flaring. My mother stood behind him, fear casting a gloomy shadow all around her.I nodded again.My father spoke coldly, but steadily, ensuring I heard every single word. ‘If you leave now, you’re dead to us. You’ll never see your family again. Think carefully before you take this huge step. It can never be undone.’Why did it have to be like this?If I chose my family, I chose a marriage I didn’t want with a man I didn’t love.If I chose not to marry him, I had to leave, and be a stranger to my family forever.That was a choice? Some choice!‘I love you both, but I can’t sacrifice my whole life to a marriage I don’t want, just so you can please your biradari, over and above me, your child. Am I so insignificant? Do I matter so little? Abbu you can’t really love me if you’re prepared to do that. I won’t stay.’I turned to Mr Ellis.‘I am ready.’On the drive to Islamabad, I was told what would happen next; where I would stay, where I would be housed when I got to the UK, what support I would get – but it didn’t help me feel any better. I was petrified of how I would survive alone. The last twenty-one years with my family was all I had known.A spasm of painful sombreness jolted through my body.I didn’t ask to be born. I didn’t ask to be treated so unjustly, yet I had to live with the consequences. I had taken the lonely path; and it was loneliness I feared most.
Source: The Lonely Path – sister-hood magazine. A Fuuse production by Deeyah Khan.
Soledad O’Brien calls out CNN for “mainstreaming racism” Nails it!
“And then Donald Trump will say, ‘Hillary Clinton, she’s a bigot.’ And it’s covered, the journalist part comes in, ‘They trade barbs. He said she’s a bigot and she points out that he might be appealing to racists.’ It only becomes ‘he said, she said.’ When in actuality, the fact that Donald Trump said she’s a bigot without the long laundry list of evidence, which if you looked at Hillary Clinton’s speech, she actually did have a lot of really good factual evidence that we would all agree that are things that have happened and do exist. They are treated as if they are equal.”
Source: Soledad O’Brien calls out CNN for “mainstreaming racism”
Israel admits it kills innocent Palestinian — again | The Electronic Intifada
A familiar narrative unfolded on Monday: Israeli forces killed a Palestinian, and media dutifully published a police spokesperson’s claim that the young man was shot dead during an attempt to attack soldiers with a car.But for the second time in just over a week, Israel soon admitted that the young man shot dead by its forces in Shuafat refugee camp near Jerusalem was not attempting any attack when he was killed.This was the news given to 27-year-old Mustafa Nimir’s parents by Israeli intelligence, who had summoned the couple to a police station in occupied East Jerusalem on Tuesday.But the couple already knew that their son was not attempting an attack when he was killed, and that Mustafa and his brother-in-law, 25-year-old Ali Tayseer Nimir, were bringing home food and baby clothes when their car came under fire.Videos and a photo of the aftermath show the backseat of the vehicle with loaves of bread and shopping bags still sitting on the back seat, spattered with blood.Sprayed with bulletsMustafa and Ali were driving home after visiting Mustafa’s older brother when they came under fire. Palestinian youth were confronting raiding Israeli forces in the area at the time.A Palestinian eyewitness told the Ma’an News Agency that confrontations broke out when Israeli forces raided the street connecting the camp to the neighboring village of Anata.“The area of Shufat and Anata is surrounded on three sides by Israel’s separation wall – to the west, north and south,” according to Ma’an.The witness said that dozens of soldiers were in the streets, firing rubber-coated steel bullets at protesters.“During the clashes, a white Opel Corsa was driving in the area and Israeli forces opened heavy fire on the car,” he told Ma’an, adding that the car was moving at a moderate speed and soldiers were standing to the sides of the street.After being sprayed with bullets, the driver lost control of the vehicle, and ran into a parked car.Another camp resident told Ma’an that she was woken up by the shooting and she saw from her balcony that when the white car crashed to a halt, a soldier opened the driver’s side door and demanded that the driver, Ali, who had been shot, get out of the car.She told Ma’an that she saw the driver get out of the car with his hands up while stating repeatedly, “I didn’t do anything.”“Israeli soldiers pushed him on the ground, ordered him to take his pants off, and searched him, despite his injuries,” the witness said.Video of the scene shows soldiers shouting orders at Ali, who emerges from the car with his hands up before lying on the ground:The witness added that Mustafa’s body was left sitting in the passenger’s seat while Ali was left on the ground for half an hour without receiving medical care before both were taken away in Israeli military vehicles.Mustafa’s father Talal told Ma’an on Tuesday that “There are no justifications for killing our children.”“Even if soldiers really did order them to stop the vehicle, why would they immediately start shooting at them?”Killed on way to bakery, returning from pool partyThe incident in Shuafat is similar to the slaying of 22-year-old Anwar Falah al-Salaymeh in nearby al-Ram weeks earlier.Israeli forces claimed that soldiers fired on a “speeding vehicle heading towards them,” killing al-Salaymeh and seriously wounding one of the other two Palestinians in the car.“However, the surviving passengers in the car categorically denied that they had attempted to run over the soldiers,” Ma’an reported at the time, “saying that they were heading to a bakery and had been unaware that Israeli forces were deployed in the area.”And in June, Israeli soldiers in the central West Bank opened fire on a car full of young Palestinians returning from a late-night pool party celebrating Ramadan, killing 15-year-old Mahmoud Badran and injuring four others.In that case, too, Israel admitted that the youths were “mistakenly hit” while soldiers were responding to reports that Palestinians were throwing rocks and firebombs on a highway used by settlers.More than 220 Palestinians have been killed since a new phase of violence began last October, many shot dead in what Israel says were attacks or alleged attacks which have killed more than 30 soldiers and civilians.Human rights groups have condemned Israel’s reflexive use of deadly force in such incidents, saying it amounts to an unofficial shoot-to-kill policy encouraged by Israel’s top leadership.The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has also called for full investigation of incidents in which Israeli forces have caused death and injury.
Source: Israel admits it kills innocent Palestinian — again | The Electronic Intifada










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