Category Archives: Fail!

Swedish police Roma register ‘not illegal’ – The Local {“Why not make them wear an ‘R’ badge or tattoo them with a bar code?” – FAIL!}

Police in December stressed that police needed more visibility of the Roma living in Sweden in order to protect them from abuse.    “If we in the police see that there is a vulnerable person that we suspect may fare badly, we need to ask questions of care,” Linda Staaf, Director of National Intelligence, told Sveriges Radio.   Hans Caldaras, a Swedish singer and Roma activist, said that the study was simply an excuse to compile statistics based on ethnicity (which is not usually done in Sweden) and to get Roma “out of the country”.

Source: Swedish police Roma register ‘not illegal’ – The Local

Aleppo Killing Field

Tucked in the lower floor of a building was Al-Quds hospital in Aleppo, Syria, a small 34 bed facility in the Sukkari neighborhood. Its windows and entrance were fortified with mostly sandbags for extra protection despite the many buildings around it that, in theory, protected it from being attacked. The hospital was not a rebel-run […]

via This is Aleppo: In A World Where Doctors Have Become Martyrs & Hospitals Battlegrounds — A Separate State of Mind | A Blog by Elie Fares

Immigration Talk with a Mexican American: Latinos and Minorities Against Trump: Rage On Against the Dying of the Light!

It is clear, the Mexican American protesters are against the racist Trump’s message to build a 2000 mile wall. They are against separating families and deporting the 11M here. They are against the racist Trump’s promise to END Birthright Citizenship and deport (as he calls) “Anchor Babies.” These fearless and strong Mexican Americans will NOT go gentle into this good night. Rage on! Rage on against the racist message of Donald Trump! The racist Trump should expect the same treatment once he is selected as the Republican candidate. While his halls are filled with racist, countrified white men, expect minorities, Latinos, Women, Asian-Americans, African Americans, Muslim Americans, the LGBT community, ALL of us to Rage On against Trump! As Hillary said, “If you see BIGOTRY you should Oppose It!” Trump’s racist response to the protesters: “I expect I was crossing the border.” So clear he sees ALL Latinos as “illeeegals.” Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Source: Immigration Talk with a Mexican American: Latinos and Minorities Against Trump: Rage On Against the Dying of the Light!

Niqab-wearing tourist stopped from entering Italian museum – The Local

The Musei Eremitani, located in the cloisters of a former convent, houses the city’s archaeological museum and medieval art gallery, as well as provides access to the Scrovegni chapel – the walls of which are daubed with world-famous Giotto frescoes. When she refused the request and demanded to know why she was not being permitted access to the museum, staff called the police, who eventually convinced the woman to show her face so they could check her identity. After she was identified, the woman and her husband were granted access to the museums, but they chose not to enter. Although Italian law does not forbid the wearing of the burka or niqab, since 1975 it has been forbidden to walk around public spaces with your face covered – for example, by a scarf or motorbike helmet ‘without a valid reason’. In a controversial move last December, Veneto’s neighbouring province of Lombardy amended these laws making it illegal to walk around in public wearing the either the niqab or burka.

Source: Niqab-wearing tourist stopped from entering Italian museum – The Local

Brother and sister slain at checkpoint were executed, Palestinians say | The Electronic Intifada

“Witnesses said it appeared that Ibrahim attempted to grab his sister’s hand and move away from the officers, when they opened fire on her. Maram fell to the ground and when Ibrahim attempted to aid her, he was shot in his tracks,” Ma’an added. “[Maram] had reportedly obtained a permit from the Israeli authorities to enter Jerusalem for the first time when she was crossing on Wednesday,” the agency stated. Eyewitnesses told Palestinian media that Israeli forces fired a barrage of bullets at the pair – “more than 15 rounds into the woman’s body, confirming her death,” the Ma’an News Agency reported. A witness named Ahmad Taha told Ma’an that “Israeli officers approached the two after they had been shot and on the ground before opening fire on them again ‘to ensure that they were dead,’ adding that the officers ‘could have moved the two away without opening fire.’” The man alleged that the knives police said were carried by Maram and Ibrahim were planted. Medical care denied The Palestine Red Crescent Society told Ma’an that Israeli forces denied medics access to the woman and child. Video from the scene shows Israeli forces turning away a Palestine Red Crescent medic and preventing a cameraman from filming. A brother of Maram and Ibrahim told Haaretz that he doesn’t believe his sister intended to carry out an attack, saying that she was on her way to a doctor’s appointment when she was shot dead.

Source: Brother and sister slain at checkpoint were executed, Palestinians say | The Electronic Intifada

Norovirus studies pinpoint global burden, build case for vaccine | CIDRAP

“Is norovirus an issue of child survival, a food safety problem, a healthcare associated infection?” he wrote. “Well, it’s all of these, which may have hampered our community of researchers and public health workers from coalescing around a central problem.” Other new findings from studies in the collections revealed: Genetic diversity in the virus, but similar global patterns, with novel GII.4 strains replacing each other every 2 to 4 years through gene swapping New insights on immunity, including the possibility of raising neutralizing antibodies without using cell-culture systems Regional epidemiologic patterns, such as those in the United States, where rates are higher in children under age 5 and in military personnel and their families Prevalence and data gaps in Africa, such as rates in Kenya that are double that of developed nations and lack of information about norovirus in Africa’s older adolescents and adults Vaccine development focusing on young children would offer the greatest global impact, though so far early trials have targeted adults in high-income settings

Source: Norovirus studies pinpoint global burden, build case for vaccine | CIDRAP

Brazil: Democracy at Risk

“There is no judicial basis for this process of impeachment,” Rousseff said. “I am not accused of crimes of corruption, diversion of public funds, nor do I have accounts abroad or any accusations of money laundering.” She said even some members of the opposition are beginning to support her, not necessarily because they agree with her policies, but rather because they see the impeachment push as a threat to Brazil’s democracy.

Source: News from The Associated Press

Japanese MPs visit Tokyo war shrine, China and South Korea displeased

Japanese members of parliament visited a Tokyo war shrine Friday. The ritual will no doubt anger China and South Korea, with memories of Japan’s military record still very raw.

(and the relative of hundreds of thousands of people in South East Asia, US, Australia, New Zealand… of service people who died at the hands of Japanese lead by a government bent on enslaving peoples for their fascist government’s advantage.)

Source: Japanese MPs visit Tokyo war shrine, China and South Korea displeased

New Orleans Police Officers Plead Guilty in Shooting of 6 Katrina Survivors – The New York Times

The five former officers were charged after six unarmed people were shot, two fatally, on the Danziger Bridge in the chaos after Hurricane Katrina.

The guilty pleas, which drew prison terms from three to 12 years, were the latest development in a wrenching 10-year saga that began when police officers responding to a distress call on the Danziger Bridge on Sept. 4, 2005, opened fire on unarmed residents, killing two and injuring four.

The officers — Sgt. Kenneth Bowen, Sgt. Robert Gisevius, Officer Anthony Villavaso and Officer Robert Faulcon, as well as a detective, Arthur Kaufman, who was assigned to investigate the shooting — were initially indicted on state charges. Those indictments were dismissed, and the officers were then charged in federal court.

Source: New Orleans Police Officers Plead Guilty in Shooting of 6 Katrina Survivors – The New York Times

Japan plans final push to bring home its war dead | Asia | DW.COM | 19.04.2016 Prelude to? Renewed Imperialism, Reconciliation, Uber-Nationalism?

More than 70 years after the end of World War II, the government announces plans to locate and repatriate 1.13 million Japanese who died on battlefields across the Asia-Pacific region. Julian Ryall reports.

Source: Japan plans final push to bring home its war dead | Asia | DW.COM | 19.04.2016

“There had been talks about joint recovery operations prior to the visit by the emperor and empress, but that trip did become something of a catalyst for more action,” said Charles Mitchell, the deputy chief of mission at the embassy of Palau in Tokyo.

Buried alive

On Peleliu, many of the Japanese defenders refused to surrender and so were simply buried in the tunnels that they had turned into a warren of interconnected fighting positions. Many of those tunnels have not been reopened to this day.

“We expect to be able to provide local knowledge of exactly where these caves are and where other remains might be, but there will also be a strong commitment to safety when recovery work begins,” Mitchell said. “We need to make sure that it is safe to enter these tunnels before we can start recovering remains.”

In May last year, a ceremony was held at Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery, built in 1959 to serve as the last resting place for the remains of unidentified Japanese repatriated from battlefields overseas, to inter the latest sets of remains.

Attended by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Prince Akishino and his wife, Princess Kiko, the remains of 2,498 soldiers killed in Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Russia were solemnly interred.