Category Archives: Fail!

Thousands ‘will most likely be massacred’ if Kobani falls to jihadists, U.N. warns | Reuters

Thousands of people “will most likely be massacred” if Kobani falls to Islamic State fighters, a U.N. envoy said on Friday, as militants fought deeper into the besieged Syrian Kurdish town in full view of Turkish tanks that have done nothing to intervene.

U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura said Kobani could suffer the same fate as the Bosnian town of Srebrenica, where 8,000 Muslims were killed by Serbs in 1995, Europe’s worst atrocity since World War Two, while U.N. peacekeepers failed to protect them.

“If this falls, the 700, plus perhaps the 12,000 people, apart from the fighters, will be most likely massacred,” de Mistura said. The United Nations believes 700 mainly elderly civilians are trapped in the town itself and 12,000 have left the centre but not made it across the border into Turkey.

via Thousands ‘will most likely be massacred’ if Kobani falls to jihadists, U.N. warns | Reuters.

One more Jerk in the IT Jerk Wall! Microsoft CEO apologizes for comments on women | Business | DW.DE | 10.10.2014

adella continued to say that “good karma” would ensure women were compensated fairly for their work. His interviewer at the event, Maria Klawe, the president of Harvey Mudd College and a Microsoft director, drew applause when she said Nadella’s viewpoint was “one of the very few things that I disagree with you on.”

via Microsoft CEO apologizes for comments on women | Business | DW.DE | 10.10.2014.

Turkey willing to kill its own people instead of IS!?! Protests and deaths around Turkey over handling of Kobani | News | DW.DE | 10.10.2014

More than 30 people had been killed and 360 injured at anti-government demonstrations in different parts of southeastern Turkey as of Friday. Unrest boiled over in response to the government’s perceived inaction against militants from the self-proclaimed “Islamic State,” who were inching closer to taking the border town of Kobani in Syria.

via Protests and deaths around Turkey over handling of Kobani | News | DW.DE | 10.10.2014.

“Citizen” IDF Soldiers just stand and watch!?! Settlers attack Palestinian olive farmers for 2nd time in 2 days | Maan News Agency

Dozens of Israeli settlers protected by soldiers burned and damaged olive trees on Palestinian lands in the Yasuf village near Salfit in the northern West Bank on Friday, the second suck attack in the last two days.

Settlers from the Kfar Tappuah settlement set fire to and damaged several olive trees on Friday while Israeli soldiers in the area stood by watching, eyewitnesses said.

The lands that were attacked reportedly belonged to Nafiz and Issam Ali Mansour.

Issam Abu Bakr, mayor of Salfit, warned farmers against the “settlers’ attacks” and recommended residents work in groups in the lands close to nearby Jewish-only settlements.

The attack in Yasuf follows a similar incident Thursday near Aqraba, south of Nablus, where settlers from Itamar reportedly attacked dozens of Palestinian farmers and sought to steal their olive crop.

The attacks come as the 2014 olive harvest, a major source of income for Palestinian farmers, begins across the northern West Bank, and just weeks before harvesting begins across the south.

Attacks on the fall harvest are a key way that Palestinians are forced out of their homes and their lands confiscated for settlement construction, as the loss of a year’s crop can signal destitution for many.

via Settlers attack Palestinian olive farmers for 2nd time in 2 days | Maan News Agency.

The Jesuits denounce: “600 attacks against religious minorities: stop to violence” – Fides News Agency

“The first 100 days of the new government – say the Jesuits – have seen a crescendo of hate speeches against Muslims and Christians. Their identity is mocked, their citizenship questioned, their faith ridiculed. Coercion, divisions and suspicions multiply. Attacks against religious minorities have assumed alarming proportions: more than 600 from May to September 2014, in various parts of the country”.

The Jesuits conclude: “The hatred, violence campaign and threats have left not only religious minorities speechless, but also civil society, lawyers and academics, while the government remains silent. The Christian community has been the target of mob violence in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh”, according to an approach that -says the appeal – has changed its strategy: “A few deaths, but daily low-intensity violence that is becoming routine”.

via The Jesuits denounce: “600 attacks against religious minorities: stop to violence” – Fides News Agency.

Indigenous Resistance: In the news today: Navajo Times

Why does Navajo Times have this article, ‘Groundbreaking, Hawaiian blessing for telescope’ — instead of an article about the Native Hawaiian protest over the telescope desecrating the sacred mountain Mauna Kea?

http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2014/10/native-hawaiians-protest-telescope-on.html

I was looking at Navajo Times to see if they covered the Dine’ women who were featured in Rolling Stone and on Democracy Now at Flood Wall Street in New York. I don’t see anything about Navajos at Flood Wall Street or the Climate March in New York. But I do see that Navajo Times has a non-Indian reporter covering the Longest Walk and prison camp, ‘Hwéeldi at 150.’

Why is this? There are so many unemployed Navajo and Native American reporters, why does Navajo Times continue to employ non-Indian reporters? Besides the ethics of this, it is a violation of Navajo Preference in Employment law.

The Dine’ women at Flood Wall Street and the Climate March in New York in September took a bold stand against the dirty coal industry and the violators in their homeland: Peabody Coal and dirty coal-fired power plants.

Is Navajo Times censoring the fact that the Navajo Generating Station, on the Navajo Nation, is one of the top polluters in the world? It is easy to fill a newspaper with political turmoil, a good way to distract readers from what is really happening as a result of the dirty coal power plants on the Navajo Nation.

via Indigenous Resistance: In the news today: Navajo Times.

Dozens hurt in Aqsa clashes as Israeli police ‘force Muslims out’ | Maan News Agency

JERUSALEM (Ma’an) — Clashes broke out early Wednesday at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound between Palestinian worshipers and Israeli police officers, leaving dozens hurt, sources said.

Security guards at the mosque told Ma’an that Israeli forces stormed the compound at 7:30 a.m. ahead of expected visits by right-wing Israelis on the occasion of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, or the Feast of the Tabernacles.

Israeli forces forcibly removed worshipers, attacking some of them with clubs, the guards said.

Some Muslim worshipers clashed with Israeli officers in the compound before managing to take refuge inside the mosque.

As worshipers threw stones, soldiers fired tear gas, stun grenades, and rubber bullets, injuring dozens of Palestinians, Al-Aqsa Mosque director Sheikh Omar al-Kiswani said.

Some of the stun grenades were fired into the Al-Aqsa Mosque itself, causing a fire to break out, and fire fighters were not immediately allowed access to the area, al-Kiswani added.

“The compound is almost empty of Muslim worshipers, while Israeli forces allowed herds of extremists to storm it and move freely,” he said.

Witnesses said that eventually Israeli forces succeeded in forcefully removing Palestinians from the compound, besides those who had taken refuge in the mosque itself.

Instead, they closed the doors of the mosque and locked them with chains, trapping worshipers inside, the witnesses said.

Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld tweeted about the incident, saying “masked Arabs” threw “stones/blocks/iron bars” at Israeli forces near the Moroccan gate.

Three police officers were lightly injured, Rosenfeld said.

Since Tuesday morning, Israeli forces have restricted access to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, only allowing Palestinian worshipers aged 60 and up to enter. Elderly men and women have had to leave their identity cards with the police officers at the entrances of the compound.

Photos provided by the Israeli police show officers at the Al-Aqsa compound on Oct. 8, 2014

New entrance for non-Muslims

Israeli army radio announced earlier this week that the ministry of tourism was working on a plan to allow Jews to enter the Al-Aqsa compound through the Cotton Merchants Gate, in addition to the Moroccan Gate which is already used as an entrance for non-Muslims.

The announcement was greeted with harsh backlash from Palestinians.

The Palestinian legal counselor of Jerusalem affairs, Ahmad Ruwaidi, said that the Islamic endowment department in charge of the mosque compound has received no notice of any such plan.

Ruwaidi said the announcement was “unacceptable,” calling Palestinian religious sites a “red line” and saying the move would harm the peace process.

Taleb Abu Arar, a Palestinian member of the Israeli Knesset, also said in a statement that opening an additional gate for Jews to enter the Al-Aqsa compound was the equivalent of opening a “gate to war.”

PLO Executive Committee Member Hanan Ashrawi also weighed in, saying: “Israel is creating a new reality at the expense of Palestinians, their religious rights, sites, and historical identity.”

“They are violating the sanctity of religious sites without consequences, which completely terminates possibilities for peace and will ultimately drag the whole region into disastrous clashes,” Ashrawi said in a statement.

The Al-Aqsa Mosque is sensitive for Palestinians due to its status as the third holiest site in Islam and its location in the heart of the Old City of Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem.

Israel claims all of Jerusalem as its “eternal, undivided capital,” but the international community sees East Jerusalem as Palestinian territory and the capital of a future Palestinian state.

The Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, referred to by Jews as the Temple Mount, is also the holiest site in Judaism.

But mainstream Jewish leaders forbid Jews from entering, for fear they would profane the inner sanctum of the Second Temple they believe was once located at the site.

Right-wing Jews, however, often visit the compound under armed guard by Israeli forces, leading to regular clashes with Palestinian worshipers.

via Dozens hurt in Aqsa clashes as Israeli police ‘force Muslims out’ | Maan News Agency.

Israeli Military Arrest Large Numbers of Palestinian Children – SPIEGEL ONLINE

Mahmood Bassim Ghanim, 14, relates his story from the sofa in his parents’ house in Ya’abad, a village near the Palestinian city of Jenin. An air-conditioning unit, a point of pride for the family, blasts cold air into the room and the father’s engineering diploma hangs above the sofa. Mahmood folds the handkerchief flat and smoothes it out. He has the face of a child, the body of an adolescent, and the large hands and feet of an adult.

Mahmood was arrested twice in the space of two months. The first time he spent four days in jail; the second time he was beaten, interrogated and brought back home the next morning. On neither occasion did there seem to be any reason for his arrest. Perhaps the soldiers were bored. Maybe they made a mistake.

via Israeli Military Arrest Large Numbers of Palestinian Children – SPIEGEL ONLINE.

Coming to America – Ministry’s MRSA reaction to be investigated – The Local

Two leading experts concluded in August that between 6,000-12,000 people are currently infected with MRSA CC398, a variant that can be transmitted from livestock to humans.

 

CC398 has seen a massive increase in Denmark over the past seven years. According to the State Serum Institute (SSI), the CC398 variant only accounted for two percent of all MRSA cases in 2007 but this year is up to 35 percent. In July alone, 105 people were infected with MRSA – the highest monthly total ever.

 

See also: Every fifth pack of pork carries MRSA

 

Last month, an analysis of pork products in Denmark’s supermarkets found that every fifth pack is contaminated with MRSA. Just five years ago, a similar analysis found the bacteria in just five percent of products.

via Ministry’s MRSA reaction to be investigated – The Local.