Category Archives: Fail!

Rail Industry Again Given More Time to Install Safety System – The New York Times – Green light to risk killing more people in exchange for campaign funds!

When Congress in October gave railroads extra time to install a badly needed speed-control system, officials at the Federal Railroad Administration vowed to move aggressively to make sure the safety technology would be in place by the end of 2018, the new deadline.This month, Congress struck again. Tucked into a 1,000-page transportation law signed Dec. 4 is new language that could effectively extend the deadline until the end of 2020. And positive train control, a technology that safety advocates say could have prevented the deadly Amtrak crash in Philadelphia in May, could stay on the shelf even longer.

Source: Rail Industry Again Given More Time to Install Safety System – The New York Times

Special Report: Pentagon thwarts Obama’s effort to close Guantanamo | Reuters

Fail, fail, fail! In September, U.S. State Department officials invited a foreign delegation to the Guantanamo Bay detention center to persuade the group to take detainee Tariq Ba Odah to their country. If they succeeded, the transfer would mark a small step toward realizing President Barack Obama’s goal of closing the prison before he leaves office.

Source: Special Report: Pentagon thwarts Obama’s effort to close Guantanamo | Reuters

Ohio grand jury clears police in fatal shooting of 12-year-old | Reuters { Just so wrong in so many ways}

The Ohio grand jury had heard weeks of testimony on the Rice shooting, which occurred within seconds after police reached a park next to a Cleveland recreation center in response to reports of a suspect with a gun. Rice died the next day.ADVERTISING The shooting was one of several that have fueled scrutiny of police use of deadly force, particularly against minorities. The officers are white and Rice was black.Rice was holding a replica handgun when Officer Timothy Loehmann shot him within seconds of reaching the park in a squad car driven by his partner, Frank Garmback.

Source: Ohio grand jury clears police in fatal shooting of 12-year-old | Reuters

Israel warns Brazil faces diplomatic downgrade unless it accepts settler as ambassador | World news | The Guardian

Celso Amorim, a former Brazilian foreign and defence minister, said on Friday that the diplomatic dispute over Dayan’s appointment showed that “it is time the Brazilian armed forces reduced their dependence on Israel.”

Source: Israel warns Brazil faces diplomatic downgrade unless it accepts settler as ambassador | World news | The Guardian

How Hillary Clinton Went Undercover to Examine Race in Education – The New York Times

The proliferation of private schools in the South “was a gigantic event, and it blew the minds of civil rights folks and took the wind out of their sails,” said Douglas A. Blackmon, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center who is working on a documentary about the effects of segregation academies.“But in a minute, it was over,” he said of the effort to combat such schools. “And the well-intentioned work Hillary described was no match for the absolute insistence of millions of Southern whites that their kids never go to school with black kids.”

Source: How Hillary Clinton Went Undercover to Examine Race in Education – The New York Times

‘Boycott and sanction’ power to be stripped from UK councils | Politics | The Guardian

The Independent on Sunday reported that the move could prevent local authorities from refusing to trade with, or excluding from their pension fund portfolios, companies involved in the arms trade, fossil fuels, tobacco products and Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.Andrew Smith of Campaign Against Arms Trade said it was a “direct attack on local democracy” with far-reaching implications for all campaign groups .“Public money should be used for the public good, not to support destructive industries like the arms trade that profit from war,” he told the Independent on Sunday.“The government is always stressing the importance of localism but this is a direct attack on local democracy and decision-making.“At the moment the focus may be on arms companies and Israel, but if these changes are allowed to go ahead then they could affect almost all campaign groups.”

Source: ‘Boycott and sanction’ power to be stripped from UK councils | Politics | The Guardian

Child Trafficking & Slavery | The Dark Side Of Chocolate | 3CHICSPOLITICO

“America’s largest and most profitable food conglomerates should not tolerate child labor, much less child slave labor, anywhere in their supply chains,” the complaint reads. “These companies should not turn a blind eye to known human rights abuses… especially when the companies consistently and affirmatively represent that they act in a socially and ethically responsible manner.”

Source: Child Trafficking & Slavery | The Dark Side Of Chocolate | 3CHICSPOLITICO

Gang-raped to avenge poll defeat, girl ends life – Times of India

Panchayat poll rivalry took a hideous turn in a village in Mirzapur district when the minor daughter of a winning woman block development council (BDC) candidate was allegedly gang-raped by her mother’s rivals. She later killed herself following police inaction.

Source: Gang-raped to avenge poll defeat, girl ends life – Times of India

Czech president Zeman says refugee wave is ′organized invasion′ | News | DW.COM | 26.12.2015

Czech President Milos Zeman has compared the refugees arriving to Europe with the Trojan horse, and called the influx an ‘organized invasion.’ His comments were met with outrage.

Source: Czech president Zeman says refugee wave is ′organized invasion′ | News | DW.COM | 26.12.2015