Category Archives: Fail!

Trump sparks furore for tweeting Mussolini ‘lion’ quote – The Local

Trump’s official Twitter account retweeted a quote from an account under Mussolini’s nickname, Il Duce, which even has as its profile photo a portrait of the famously bald dictator with Trump’s wispy hair photo-shopped onto his hairless pate. The quote read: “It’s better to live one day as a lion than a thousand years as a sheep,” a saying often attributed to Mussolini, who was fond of the expression and used it in a 1922 speech.

Source: Trump sparks furore for tweeting Mussolini ‘lion’ quote – The Local

Couple Killed By Inglewood Police Were Unconscious When Officers Arrived: LAist

When will it stop?

Upon seeing the unconscious couple in the car, Inglewood Mayor James Butts explained to NBC 4 how “the officers retreated, isolated the vehicle, and spent about 45 minutes attempting to rouse the occupants and to deescalate the situation.” Originally, Inglewood police said officers opened fire on the couple after they noticed the woman had a gun. According to the department, officers ordered both people in the car to exit before taking cover and opening fire. At some point before the shooting, an officer can be heard on a police radio transmission saying the woman had a gun in her right hand. However, it’s still unclear why officers opened fire, or if the couple were even conscious at the time—the department has been mum on the subject. “Obviously at some point they were conscious because somebody felt threatened,” said Inglewood Mayor Butts told KNBC in an effort to explain on his police department’s behalf. A total of seven children survive the two victims: Michael was a single mother of three sons, and Sandlin a single father of four daughters. According to their families, the two were on a date that night.

Source: Couple Killed By Inglewood Police Were Unconscious When Officers Arrived: LAist

A disastrous end ..the story of the PA | nadiaharhash

I do believe that we are standing on a verge of a revolution as people. This time, it is inevitable, unless Israel makes a move to save the PA. While we are living under a life of daily attacks and killing, within a context that death of youngsters and corpses laid on the street bleeding is just becoming another normal scene. Like the checkpoint, the separation walls … the daily killings of alleged stabbing or whatever. It is a historical moment in the life of Palestinian people. A time when the occupation is no longer the only oppressive component in life under occupation. An oppression that is equally practiced on the people from the occupier and the guardians of that occupying power. This deterioration amid the ongoing oppression is almost impossible to believe. But yet it is happening. And like those dominoes pieces in a raw, everything is falling in a quick systematic fall. The PA managed to survive especially in the last years, within the absence of the rule of law that is basically represented by conducting elections, through the continuous oppression of the occupation. People tend to shut up infront of the bigger tragedies of life. How could we revolt against the government when Israeli forces kill our children and continue to humiliate our existence in every single manner and given opportunity?

Source: A disastrous end ..the story of the PA | nadiaharhash

FAO – News Article: Pollinators vital to our food supply under threat

A growing number of pollinator species worldwide are being driven toward extinction by diverse pressures, many of them human-made, threatening millions of livelihoods and hundreds of billions of dollars worth of food supplies, according to the first global assessment of pollinators. However, the assessment, a two-year study conducted and released today by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), also highlights a number of ways to effectively safeguard pollinator populations. The assessment, titled Thematic Assessment of Pollinators, Pollination and Food Production and the first ever issued by IPBES, is a groundbreaking effort to better understand and manage a critical element of the global ecosystem.  It is also the first assessment of its kind that is based on the available knowledge from science and indigenous and local knowledge systems.

Source: FAO – News Article: Pollinators vital to our food supply under threat

Donald Trump to Foreign Workers for Florida Club: You’re Hired – The New York Times

Donald J. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach describes itself as “one of the most highly regarded private clubs in the world,” and it is not just the very-well-to-do who want to get in. Since 2010, nearly 300 United States residents have applied or been referred for jobs as waiters, waitresses, cooks and housekeepers there. But according to federal records, only 17 have been hired. In all but a handful of cases, Mar-a-Lago sought to fill the jobs with hundreds of foreign guest workers from Romania and other countries. In his quest for the Republican presidential nomination, Mr. Trump has stoked his crowds by promising to bring back jobs that have been snatched by illegal immigrants or outsourced by corporations, and voters worried about immigration have been his strongest backers. But he has also pursued more than 500 visas for foreign workers at Mar-a-Lago since 2010, according to the United States Department of Labor, while hundreds of domestic applicants failed to get the same jobs.

Source: Donald Trump to Foreign Workers for Florida Club: You’re Hired – The New York Times

Cameron calls Israeli settlement construction in East Jerusalem ‘genuinely shocking’ aka: man who speaks with forked-tongue

London/PNN/ Speaking in response to a question in British parliament, Cameron says he is known as a friend of Israel but he condemns Israel’s ‘effective encirclement of East Jerusalem.’ A few days after the British government barred public institutions from boycotting Israel, British Prime Minister David Cameron severely criticized the Netanyahu government’s policy and said that construction in East Jerusalem settlements is “genuinely shocking.” The British prime minister was speaking during a parliamentary question period in response to a query from opposition Labor MP Imran Hussain, who asked: “Does the prime minister agree with me that illegal settlements and constructions are a major roadblock that hinder peaceful negotiations?” After Hussain described a visit he made to a Palestinian family in the Old City of Jerusalem, whom he said was fighting eviction by Jewish settlers, Hussain also asked what the British government was doing “to help prevent the infringement into Palestinian lives and land.” Cameron replied: “I am well-known as being a strong friend of Israel, but I have to say the first time I visited Jerusalem and had a proper tour around that wonderful city and saw what has happened with the effective encirclement of East Jerusalem – occupied East Jerusalem – it is genuinely shocking.” He added: “What this government has consistently done and gone on doing is saying yes, we are supporters of Israel, but we do not support illegal settlements, we do not support what is happening in East Jerusalem and it’s very important that this capital city is maintained in the way that it was in the past.” Cameron’s remarks were met with surprise in Jerusalem. Senior Israeli officials noted that his criticism may have been meant to balance his government’s recent decision against boycotts of Israel. According to the guidelines, any boycott decision by a public body in the U.K. must be in line with the foreign policy of the British government.

Source: Cameron calls Israeli settlement construction in East Jerusalem ‘genuinely shocking’

Hopes and `Honour` Killings | Inter Press Service

The first covers the period spanning Feb 1, 2004, to Feb 1, 2006. During this time, there were 988 incidents of honour killings in Pakistan. Nearly, but not exactly half, did not even have FIRs registered for the crime. Firearms were the weapon of choice for doing away with the victims, followed by blunt force injury with a heavy weapon.

Source: Hopes and `Honour` Killings | Inter Press Service

Justice Department Wants Apple to Unlock Nine More iPhones – The New York Times

Still, “no one should be surprised that we’re investigating other cases and looking for assistance in those other cases,” a law enforcement official said on Tuesday. Since challenging a judge’s demand in the San Bernardino case, which called for Apple to create a special tool to help investigators more easily crack the phone’s passcode, the company has repeatedly asserted that such a move could not be done in isolation. “Once created, the technique could be used over and over again, on any number of devices,” Apple’s chief executive, Timothy D. Cook, said in a letter to customers. And in a note on its website on Monday, Apple said law enforcement agencies nationwide “have hundreds of iPhones they want Apple to unlock if the F.B.I. wins this case.” Apple has long maintained that it would hand over data to comply with a court order when it was technically able to do so. In a report covering the first six months of 2015, Apple said it had received nearly 11,000 requests from government agencies worldwide for information on roughly 60,000 devices, and it provided some data in roughly 7,100 instances.

Source: Justice Department Wants Apple to Unlock Nine More iPhones – The New York Times

Saudi Arabia, UAE urge citizens against traveling to Lebanon | News | DW.COM | 23.02.2016 {Cutting off noses to spite… themselves?}

Now, the countries’ anger has turned toward Lebanon for its support of Hezbollah, an Iran-backed, Shiite terrorist organization, as well as embattled President Bashar al Assad, whom those countries want to see ousted. Billions in aid halted Neither Saudi Arabia nor the UAE specified why they were calling on their citizens not to go to Lebanon. However, their announcement followed a decision by Saudi Arabia to halt a deal to arm the Lebanese army with some $4 billion (3.7 billion euros) in weapons, citing the country’s refusal to condemn the embassy attacks in Tehran. In a statement carried by Saudi Arabia’s state news agency, the government called Lebanon’s support for Iran “regrettable and unjustified” and “inconsistent with the fraternal relations between the two countries.” Relations in the Middle East have become fraught as Saudi Arabia and Iran compete for influence in the region. The two countries’ support for opposing sides in the ongoing Syrian conflict has contributed considerably to the tensions.

Source: Saudi Arabia, UAE urge citizens against traveling to Lebanon | News | DW.COM | 23.02.2016