Category Archives: Fail!

Ultra-Orthodox Israeli Stabs 6 at a Gay Pride Parade for Second Time, Police Say – The New York Times

An ultra-Orthodox Jewish man who had recently been released from prison after serving 10 years for stabbing participants in the annual Gay Pride Parade here in 2005 struck again Thursday, stabbing and wounding six marchers in this year’s parade, according to the police.

Two of the victims were in serious condition, according to the emergency services. The assailant, Yishai Schlissel, was pinned to the ground on a central Jerusalem street and arrested by police officers who were stationed along the route, the police said.

Mr. Schlissel wounded three marchers a decade ago and was convicted of attempted murder. He was said to have told the police that he had come “to kill in the name of God.” The Israeli news media reported that he was released from prison three weeks ago.

via Ultra-Orthodox Israeli Stabs 6 at a Gay Pride Parade for Second Time, Police Say – The New York Times.

Bailout Money Goes to Greece, Only to Flow Out Again – The New York Times

The latest financial aid package is following a similar pattern to the previous ones. Only a fraction of the money, should Greece get it, will go toward healing the economy. Nearly 90 percent would go toward debts, interest and supporting Greece’s ailing banks.

The European Commission has offered to set aside an additional €35 billion development aid package to jump-start the economy. But the funds are difficult to obtain and will become available only in small trickles later in the year.

Greeks understandably feel that the latest bailout package is not likely to benefit them very much.

“The bailout is mostly going to banks and our creditors,” said Nikos Kalaboyias, 54, a grocery store owner in central Athens who said his clients had stopped shopping for all but the most basic goods, putting the business he has run for more than a decade in jeopardy.

via Bailout Money Goes to Greece, Only to Flow Out Again – The New York Times.

The Scandal in Malaysia | DQ-en

It does not take authoritarian autocracy to run a country into the ground. Regardless of system of government, it takes only political elites out of touch with their people, a co-opted judiciary, an electoral process that even while open fails to surface progressive leadership, and a system that keeps to the law but fails to protect those speaking truth to power.

via The Scandal in Malaysia | DQ-en.

Could I Become the Next Sandra Bland? | Dame Magazine

three White women passed through the full-body scanner at the TSA security line, with no fuss, before they got to us. My mother entered first. She followed protocol: raising her hands, and then stepping out of the scanner when she was asked. The TSA official said she had to search my mother’s hair.

Because the TSA has an ugly, discriminatory history with scrutinizing Black hair, I was expecting a pat down on my long Senegalese twists. But I fully expected them to lay off my mother, whose hair is long, thin, and bone straight. The idea of her being able to hide so much as a pen in her hair is absolutely comical. But there was the TSA guard, with her claws up, ready to work through my mother’s scalp. That’s when my mother did what has now become the unthinkable: She refused.

I watched the TSA guard swell like an airbag with faux-institutional power, and at that moment I forgot myself, and started right through the full body scanner, hearing but not hearing the other TSA officer yelling at me, “Ma’am, ma’am, step back. Step back!” I was not going to let them take my mother from me. I know my anger could cost me my life—we are living in a climate where a Black woman can be brutalized or killed in custody and then blamed for her own death. But that was exactly why I was fuming. My instincts were locked and loaded, a simple chant thrumming in my head: Sandra Bland, Sandra Bland, Sandra Bland.

via Could I Become the Next Sandra Bland? | Dame Magazine.

“There were two young people fighting at the apartment I was…

 This was really wrong and still it goes on – jailing people and holding them for… not being US citizens and???

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“There were two young people fighting at the apartment I was staying in, so the police came. They took all our IDs and saw that my green card had expired, so they took me to jail. It was my fault for not renewing it, but I really thought they’d let me go after a few days. I couldn’t afford a lawyer. When they finally assigned me one, she told me that I was going to have to stay in jail and that it was going to take over a year to sort out. I couldn’t believe it. There were four times that I went in front of the judge: first they presented the case, next they figured out the charges, next they started working on the case, then they made a decision. But there were several months between each court appearance. I had never gotten in trouble before. Just a few misdemeanors when I was younger. But I had to wait in jail for 18 months. It was my fault, though. I should have renewed my green card.”

via “There were two young people fighting at the apartment I was….

Greece, the Sacrificial Lamb – The New York Times And Scapegoat for EU Bankers

AS the Greek crisis proceeds to its next stage, Germany, Greece and the triumvirate of the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the European Commission (now better known as the troika) have all faced serious criticism. While there is plenty of blame to share, we shouldn’t lose sight of what is really going on. I’ve been watching this Greek tragedy closely for five years, engaged with those on all sides. Having spent the last week in Athens talking to ordinary citizens, young and old, as well as current and past officials, I’ve come to the view that this is about far more than just Greece and the euro.

Some of the basic laws demanded by the troika deal with taxes and expenditures and the balance between the two, and some deal with the rules and regulations affecting specific markets. What is striking about the new program (called “the third memorandum”) is that on both scores it makes no sense either for Greece or for its creditors.

Continue reading the main story

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As I read the details, I had a sense of déjà vu. As chief economist of the World Bank in the late 1990s, I saw firsthand in East Asia the devastating effects of the programs imposed on the countries that had turned to the I.M.F. for help. This resulted not just from austerity but also from so-called structural reforms, where too often the I.M.F. was duped into imposing demands that favored one special interest relative to others. There were hundreds of conditions, some little, some big, many irrelevant, some good, some outright wrong, and most missing the big changes that were really required.

via Greece, the Sacrificial Lamb – The New York Times.

Turkish Jets Strike Kurds in Iraq, Islamic State in Syria – The New York Times

{With “friends” like this, America needs no more enemies!} Turkish jets struck camps belonging to Kurdish militants in northern Iraq, authorities said Saturday, the first strikes since a peace deal was announced in 2013, and again bombed Islamic State positions in Syria.

The strikes in Iraq targeted the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, whose affiliates have been effective in battling the Islamic State group. The strikes further complicate the U.S.-led war against the extremists, which has relied on Kurdish ground forces making gains in Iraq and Syria.

A spokesman in Iraq for the PKK, which has been fighting Turkey for autonomy since 1984 and is considered a terrorist organization by Ankara and its allies, said the strikes likely spelled the end of the peace process.

“Turkey has basically ended the cease-fire,” Zagros Hiwa told The Associated Press. He said the first wave of strikes launched overnight didn’t appear to cause casualties.

Turkey’s pro-Kurdish party, the People’s Democratic Party, said the strikes amounted to an end of the two-year-old truce. It called on the government to end the bombing campaign and resume a dialogue with the Kurds.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu announced later on Saturday that he had ordered “a third wave” of raids against the IS in Syria and a “second wave” of strikes against the PKK in northern Iraq, but didn’t provide details on areas hit. He said the operations would continue.

via Turkish Jets Strike Kurds in Iraq, Islamic State in Syria – The New York Times.

Watch: Chinese soldiers stage assault on replica of Taiwan’s presidential palace, Taiwan not pleased

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While playing war games in the wilds of Inner Mongolia, the People’s Liberation Army decided to spruce up the barren desert environment with a building that just so happens to look a whole lot like Taiwan’s Presidential Office Building.

via Watch: Chinese soldiers stage assault on replica of Taiwan’s presidential palace, Taiwan not pleased.