Category Archives: Fail!

A state of Monologue: Terror or Resistance in Palestine

I can assure that every single Palestinian has lost his faith in any possible hope from the Palestinian authority, either by believing that they are helpless, and thus they cannot do anything, or because they believe that thye are in full collaboration with Israel, and their role is nothing but to give a hand to Israeli power.

On the Israeli level of the Palestinian life, when for the whole last year, and as a consequence of the brutal burning and killing of abu Khdeir, more coercion was authorized against Palestinians? Shooting, lynching and imprisoning remarkably targeted children. When restriction increased. Violations expanded. And on top of all, if I was a young Palestinian who wants to be part of a demonstration and I know that throwing a stone will send me to a life imprisonment, I may as well try to stab. The result is always one, either death or prison.

Palestinians reach to a level where full despair made them enter a closed tunnel where they know that the end is a crash that is fatal. With full realization. It could be revenge to the weak disappointing Palestinian authority that failed to meet the minimum of peoples demands, especially in such times when the people are directly targeted and not a single statement is made properly in levels with the situation.

When the Palestinian sees his friend, his neighbor, or the scenes of lynching the bleeding bodies of youngsters with no remorse and absolute inhumanity and fascist behaviors. What does the Israel expect?

My Israeli friend was telling me yesterday: “ do you think it is fair that I will be walking with my infant in the old city and get stabbed?” suddenly for her everything Arab became a red zone and dangerous, even though she lives in abu gosh an Arab town, that she insists they are an exception. They are what stand for the good Arabs in Hillel Cohen’s book “the Good Arabs”. For her the fear of every Arab became the norm. At that instant I could but see the norm of my very own life. She wouldn’t even understand what it means to be a mother in my situation, like all those mothers who have just lost their children thinking that they went to school or colleges, living with an eternal mourning on a child who was just names a martyr for an act that no one really knows if it happened or not, and in any norm, should it have cost him his life? She doesn’t realize that the moment my daughters leave the door of my home, I leave them with a chance of the absolute hideous fate of a Palestinian living under Israeli occupation. She doesn’t understand that if my daughter for any reason made a wrong move and stopped by an Israeli could be the next Palestinian “terrorist” in her eyes.

 

Reblogged on WordPress.com

Source: A state of Monologue: Terror or Resistance

Five years into ban, burqa divide widens in France | Europe | DW.COM | 10.04.2016

Roy says burqas were never popular in France. “The bulk of the Muslim population didn’t oppose the ban openly because they don’t ask for the freedom of the burqa,” Roy says. “There has been a feeling among people of Muslim origin, believers and nonbelievers, that the ban of the burqa is in fact part of pressure and attack against Islam as a religion.” France is home to the largest number of Muslims in Western Europe, with about 5 million. When the law went into effect, it was estimated that fewer than 2,000 women wore the full veil.

Source: Five years into ban, burqa divide widens in France | Europe | DW.COM | 10.04.2016

Baldwin Hills 1963 – the first fracking failure

The role of central graben subsidence, accelerated by oil extraction, supplemented by reinjection of waste brine into the ground, on fault movement beneath the reservoir is indicated in the animated graphic following. Injection pressures exceeded hydrofracture pressures and the recorded timing of the fault offset (which was dutifully recorded by the reservoir owner) indicate the injection as being the decisive factor.

Source: Baldwin Hills

Avian Flu Diary: UK PHE: Scarlet Fever Still Rising – And Tories still want to cut NHS – duh!?!

Public Health England (PHE) has reported a continued increase in cases of scarlet fever across England with 1319 new cases between 21 to 27 March, the highest weekly total recorded in recent decades (data available from 1982 onwards).  A total of 10,570 cases of scarlet fever have now been reported since the season began in September 2015.  Scarlet fever is a seasonal illness which should be treated with antibiotics and cases of the illness usually peak at this time of year. An increase in invasive disease caused by the same bacterium group A streptococcus (GAS) which causes scarlet fever has also been seen in England. A total of 593 cases of invasive GAS infection, such and bloodstream infection or pneumonia, have been notified so far for 2016 compared to 440 cases for the same period last year (January to March). This year GAS seasonal activity coincides with the seasonal influenza activity owing to the late flu season. Influenza and invasive GAS co-infection is a rare but well-recognised occurrence.  Whilst the elderly remain most at risk of invasive GAS infection, increased levels of disease compared to last year have been seen in young adults and children less than 5 years old, the age groups most affected by influenza in recent weeks. There’s no suggestion of an increase in invasive GAS infection in patients diagnosed with scarlet fever. This is the third season in a row in which elevated scarlet fever activity has been  noted. A total of 15,637 notifications were made in England and Wales in 2014, rising to 17,590 in 2015. Weekly activity so far this season has been similar or slightly above for that last year.

Source: Avian Flu Diary: UK PHE: Scarlet Fever Still Rising

Bangladesh Activist Is Killed After Criticizing Militants – The New York Times

Witnesses said a group of cleanshaven men surrounded Mohammad Nazim Uddin, a law student, around 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday and slashed his head, then shot him when he fell to the ground, said Syed Nurul Islam, the deputy commissioner of police for Wari, the area of Old Dhaka where the killing took place. Mr. Uddin, 26, was an atheist who frequently expressed his views on Facebook, often posting as many as five times a day. His family had asked him to stop, fearful that the posts would make him a target, and for about four months, ending in January, he had complied, said Gulam Rabbi Chowdhury, a childhood friend. “To tell the truth, he was always a little detached from his family; he had trouble with them because of his views on religion,” he said. “He was very outspoken. He didn’t worry about whether you were with him or not.” Mr. Uddin’s killing deepens the sense of dread among those campaigning for secular causes, said Mr. Chowdhury, an official in a regional chapter of the Communist Party of Bangladesh.

Source: Bangladesh Activist Is Killed After Criticizing Militants – The New York Times

Sounding Exactly Like an Onion Article, Sanders Campaign Attacks Clinton’s Ambition

As Rebecca Traister explains at The Cut, Weaver’s comment was a throwaway one, but this narrative — casting Clinton as a Tracy Flick-like character, a “woman who tries too hard, who competes with too much intensity, who applies too much focus to her own advancement” — is one that the Sanders campaign seems to be increasingly turning to in recent weeks. Hopefully they’ll cut that shit out and remain committed to running on the issues, instead of invoking the tired stereotype of the overly ambitious woman and counting on our deep-seated double-standards around power and gender to kick in. As for Weaver’s broader point — that even as the race between the Democratic nominees heats up in the final stretch, we should “not denigrate other people’s supporters” because “we want to have a party at the end of this we can unify” — I personally agree wholeheartedly. A poll out yesterday, however, suggests that there are more people feeling the Bern who could stand to hear that reminder: 25 percent of Sanders’ supporters, compared to 14 percent of Clinton’s, say they wouldn’t vote for the other one if their candidate doesn’t get the nomination.

Source: Sounding Exactly Like an Onion Article, Sanders Campaign Attacks Clinton’s Ambition

Turkey: Proposal to annul citizenship threatens fundamental rights – IFEX

In a speech on April 5, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that Turkey should counter supporters of terrorism by stripping them of Turkish citizenship. Erdoğan in recent months has accused academics, journalists, and lawyers critical of his policies of supporting terrorism and called for the legal definition of terrorism to be widened. Turkey is militarily fighting the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which the United States designates as a terrorist organization. Historically, the Turkish state has not distinguished either legally or politically between speech it considers in favor of the PKK or other terrorist organizations and actual membership in a terrorist organization. The Turkish government has also designated the Gülen movement as a terror organization.

Source: Turkey: Proposal to annul citizenship threatens fundamental rights – IFEX

‘Antivaxxer’ tells of ‘nightmare’ after passing whooping cough onto baby daughter – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GP8HMbwEkU

A mother who refused to be vaccinated against whooping cough has changed her firm stance after she contracted and passed the serious disease onto her newborn baby.First-time mother Cormit Avital has explained the agonising experience of watching her new daughter Eva suffer with pertussis in a video posted online.”If I could turn back time I would protect myself,” the young mother said.”It’s been a nightmare.”Ms Avital, who owns a health beverage company, rejected the whooping cough vaccine she was offered in week 28 of her pregnancy believing she “didn’t need this crap”.She described herself as a very healthy, organic and fit woman who had no complications during her pregnancy and no deficiencies.

Source: ‘Antivaxxer’ tells of ‘nightmare’ after passing whooping cough onto baby daughter – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Danish politician has work computer confiscated in Israel – The Local

“Leila Stockmarr and I have just come out of a two-hour security check at Ben Gurion Airport in Israel. Why were you in Bethlehem? Why did you run in Palestine [they ran a 10k race supporting Palestinian independence, ed.] ? Which Palestinians do you know? Why have you been in Jordan? Who do you know in Jordan?” she wrote. “It ended with the confiscation of Leila’s computer for ‘security reasons’. Leila wrote her PhD on the Israeli weapons industry. Pure harassment. And simply so outrageous,” Schmidt-Nielsen concluded.

Source: Danish politician has work computer confiscated in Israel – The Local

Panama Papers: Le Pen’s aides set up ‘offshore system’ – The Local

Marine Le Pen aides set up a “sophisticated offshore system” to hide money, France’s Le Monde newspaper claimed on Tuesday as France opened an official probe into money laundering and tax fraud following the “Panama Papers” leak.”A sophisticated offshore system was put in place between Hong Kong, Singapore, the British Virgin Islands and Panama by the close aides of Marine Le pen,” wrote Le Monde on Tuesday.The aim of the system was “to get money out of France, through shell companies and false invoices, to evade French anti-money-laundering authorities,” Le Monde reported.

Source: Panama Papers: Le Pen’s aides set up ‘offshore system’ – The Local