The widespread availability of guns is the reason for the shooting and killing of children and adults in Chicago, Boston, Ferguson, New York City and in other major cities. The Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence reports that « in 2010, guns took the lives of 31,076 Americans in homicides, suicides and unintentional shootings. This is the equivalent of more than 85 deaths each day and more than three deaths each hour. [In addition], 73,505 Americans were treated in hospital emergency departments for non-fatal gunshot wounds in 2010. » (7) And the toll of gun violence on young people is truly heartbreaking with almost 30,000 young people killed in a 10-year period, which amounts « to nearly 3,000 kids shot to death in a typical year. »(8) According to a Carnegie-Knight News21 program investigation,For every US soldier killed in Afghanistan during 11 years of war, at least 13 children were shot and killed in the United States. More than 450 kids didn’t make it to kindergarten. Another 2,700 or more were killed by a firearm before they could sit behind the wheel of a car. Every day, on average, seven children were shot dead. A News21 investigation of child and youth deaths in the United States between 2002 and 2012 found that at least 28,000 children and teens 19-years-old and younger were killed with guns. Teenagers between the ages of 15 and 19 made up over two-thirds of all youth gun deaths in the United States. (9)
Category Archives: Fail!
Shabbat morning in Hebron | “And you shall teach this to your children”
The soldiers are bad here, but the settlers are worse. There is a Jewish woman who is notorious for trying to run over internationals and Palestinians with her car and a Jewish man who pretends to be a paramedic. He drives an ambulance but has no medical training or skills and arrives at scenes of injury to Palestinians for the purpose of impeding real medical assistance and causing further harm.While here, I have come to associate tzizit, kippah, and the star of David as synonymous with rifles, machine guns; harassment and/or impending injury. I have somewhat adjusted to this association, but this Shabbat morning it is more difficult. I find a part of myself wanting to forget that the soldiers and Jewish settlers call me a whore and traitor. I find myself wanting to follow the tallit wearing youth down the hill, wanting to hear the morning prayers. Quietly, under my breath I say the Sh’ma and feel tears well up in my eyes. I wonder what has become, and what will become, of Judaism?
Source: Shabbat morning in Hebron | “And you shall teach this to your children”
Fires Across Madagascar : Image of the Day

Most of the fires are scattered across the coastal plain to the east, though there are also numerous fires along the west coast. Several of the smokiest blazes appear at the edges of densely forested areas. Some may be naturally occurring forest fires, but they are more likely intentional land-clearing or accidental human-caused fires.In a country with nearly 10 million cattle, pasture management is one of the primary uses of fire. Burning grasslands prevents the encroachment of woody plants that are unpalatable to cattle. According to one estimate, about one quarter to one half of the island’s grasslands are burned each year. Fire is also widely used to clear brush or forest for farm fields.Although agricultural fires are not immediately hazardous, they can have a significant impact on climate, air quality, and plants and animals, particularly when they grow out of control.
Up to 1,000 Buffalo will be Slaughtered at Yellowstone National Park This Winter

“Through the legal agreement the National Park Service has to do this,” said Yellowstone spokeswoman Sandy Snell-Dobert. “If there was more tolerance north of the park in Montana for wildlife, particularly bison as well as other wildlife, to travel outside the park boundaries, it wouldn’t be an issue.”The Yellowstone buffalo are America’s last wild, migratory herds and the most important bison population that exists. They are the last to identify as a wildlife species and ecologically extinct throughout their native range. They’ve been added to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List for being “threatened with near extinction,” and even Montana designates the species “in greatest conservation need” with conditions “making [bison] vulnerable to global extinction.”Fighting back is the Buffalo Field Campaign that is in full operation and has a strong need for volunteers. New and experienced volunteers are needed in the field and are always welcome Those interested in assisting may contact the Buffalo Field Campaign.
Source: Up to 1,000 Buffalo will be Slaughtered at Yellowstone National Park This Winter
Brussels′ Great Mosque and ties with Salafism | News | “Saudi Funded”


The Great Mosque of Brussels is financed by the Muslim World League, which receives most of its money from the Saudi Arabian government. The story of the mosque began in 1967, when Belgium’s state coffers were empty and the nation was looking for access to cheap oil.
Source: Brussels′ Great Mosque and ties with Salafism | News | DW.COM | 21.11.2015
“Death to Arabs” sprayed on Palestinian houses by israeli settlers. | PNN
Overnight this last Thursday, Israeli settlers raided the Palestinian village of al-Mazraa al-Qabalia northwest of Ramallah area and vandalized two Palestinian houses.The israeli settlers sprayed racist graffiti saying “Death to Arabs”in Hebrew on the houses walls and broke several windows, according to the israeli news website The Times of Israel. Israeli police have said that they are investigating the attack.According to the israeli media, “the vandalism may have been part of a series of so-called price tag hate-crime attacks, usually arson and graffiti, which are used by Jewish extremists to target non-Jews — including homes, churches and mosques — as revenge for actions by Israeli officials and for Palestinian terror attacks”.
Source: “Death to Arabs” sprayed on Palestinian houses by israeli settlers. | PNN
‘There is a massive paranoia’: UK Muslims on life after Paris | World news | The Guardian
Omar Raza was walking near his home in Glasgow’s south side when he was confronted by three men hurling racist abuse, calling him a “fucking Paki” and accusing him of funding Islamic State.“It was three against one, so I tried to defuse the situation and walk past them. But I was suddenly attacked from behind and put in a head lock.” Raza was kicked to the ground and the bag he was carrying upturned and its contents strewn across the pavement, before his attackers ran off.“It all happened so quickly,” he told the Guardian on Thursday ahead of Friday prayers at Glasgow Central mosque. “Of course I’ve been the victim of hate speech before, but never a physical assault. You hear a lot of stories from down south but the south side of Glasgow is supposed to be a diverse community. It’s obvious that what’s going on [in Paris] is seeping into society and a lot of people are acting on half-truths.”
Source: ‘There is a massive paranoia’: UK Muslims on life after Paris | World news | The Guardian
Everyday slights are just as harmful to women as more blatant sexism | Jessica Valenti | Comment is free | The Guardian
Just because some kinds of sexism aren’t obvious, though, doesn’t mean that they aren’t horrible. Julia Cheiffetz, then a books editor at Amazon (she edited my last book), was diagnosed with cancer in 2013, just six weeks after giving birth to her daughter. After getting surgery for the disease, Cheiffetz got a form letter informing her that her health insurance was terminated. She was told it was a “glitch”. When she returned to work after maternity leave, Cheiffetz recounts, she was slowly sidelined.Being “mommy-tracked” – passive aggressively forced to leave your job once you have children – is not new or uncommon. But like other forms of more silent sexism, it’s hard to prove. Of course, even when women do have hard evidence of work discrimination, they’re dismissed: when Evans brought up pay disparity to a male superior at Gawker she wrote that she was told not to “dick-measure over salary”.
transgender murders up
Death by death, the details are horrific. Kiesha Jenkins was beaten and shot dead by a cluster of assailants in Philadelphia. Tamara Dominguez was run over multiple times and left to die on a Kansas City street. Police said the most recent victim, Zella Ziona, was shot dead in Gaithersburg, Maryland, last month by a boyfriend embarrassed that Ziona showed up in the presence of some of his other friends.There’s no question that anti-transgender hatred fueled many of the killings, yet activists and social-service professionals say there are multiple factors that make transgender women of color vulnerable. They have documented that numerous victims were killed by intimate partners and many while engaging in prostitution.
Source: News from The Associated Press
Branded a traitor, Russian sports whistleblower hides abroad | Reuters
The sportswoman who blew the whistle on doping in Russian athletics is in hiding abroad, pursued by a barrage of criticism from former colleagues and officials at home who accuse her of betraying her country.Yulia Stepanova, an international runner who was herself suspended for doping offences, secretly recorded Russian coaches and athletes over almost two years describing how they used performance-enhancing drugs.The 29-year-old’s evidence formed a major part of an investigation that led to Russian athletes being suspended from international competition this month, triggering the deepest crisis in Russian sport since the boycott-hit 1980 Moscow Olympics.
Source: Branded a traitor, Russian sports whistleblower hides abroad | Reuters




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