Category Archives: Fail!

Bibi and Hamas – working together to preserve each other? Did Bibi choose to preserve Hamas to avoid talks with Abbas? – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East

Hasson:  The starting point in this claim is that Hamas and the Palestinian Authority are like connected vessels, and it is impossible to separate them as part of the solution. Facing this, there are three approaches in Israeli politics on the conflict with the Palestinians: the faith-based approach of [Economy and Trade Minister Naftali] Bennett and his friends; the second approach, of the defense minister and maybe also the prime minister, is that the conflict with the Palestinians must be managed [instead of striving to resolve it]; and the third approach is that we must devise a solution to the conflict.

When I take a closer look at what is happening now, I can only conclude that the diplomatic approach that determined the manner and pace of our operational activity during Operation Protective Edge was the one that says that this conflict has no solution and must be managed instead, so we cannot push anything to the edge. In other words, we mustn’t push Hamas too far into a corner and improve Mahmoud Abbas’ standing, because if he gets stronger, we will eventually have to pay him back in diplomatic currency, a currency that we are not willing to lay out.

via Did Bibi choose to preserve Hamas to avoid talks with Abbas? – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East.

Israeli forces deliver ‘deportation order’ {just because they can} to PFLP lawmaker | Maan News Agency

Khalida Jarrar told Ma’an that dozens of soldiers raided her house in Ramallah early Wednesday and delivered a deportation order “by an Israeli court” to Jericho for an unspecified period of time.

Jarrar added that the place of residence in Jericho was specified in the order.

She said the order was in Hebrew and that she refused to sign it when soldiers told her to, and that she was also provided a map for her movement inside Jericho.

Jarrar added that the raid was a form of house arrest and that she was given 24 hours to move out of Ramallah to Jericho.

She said she will take the paper to relevant parties to determine the response.

via Israeli forces deliver ‘deportation order’ to PFLP lawmaker | Maan News Agency.

And of course – anyone who happens to be in the home – oops – Israeli minister says Hamas leader Deif ‘deserves to die’ | Maan News Agency

Among the dead were Deif’s second wife, Widad, 27, and his seven-month-old son Ali. Rescue workers on Wednesday pulled the bodies of a 48-year-old woman and a 14-year-old boy from the rubble, Qudra said.

Witnesses said at least three rockets were fired at the building, home to the al-Dalou family, pulverizing it into a pile of dust, debris and twisted metal and leaving a huge crater in the ground where the building once stood.

via Israeli minister says Hamas leader Deif ‘deserves to die’ | Maan News Agency.

Avian Flu Diary: PNAS: A Vaccine Evading Variant Poliovirus

For those born after 1960, it is probably difficult to understand the kind of fear that Polio generated in the United States and around the world during the 1950s.  While only one infection in a hundred resulted in paralysis or death, polio was extremely infectious, and the United States routinely saw between 18,000 and 25,000 paralytic cases each year – mostly among young children.

 

Hospital wards were filled with paralyzed children trapped in iron lungs (a grim technology many younger adults have no memory of), which were used to keep them alive. The following short film clip may be hard for some to look at, but is a reminder of how things were . . . not so very long ago.

 

 

 

In 1954  the first major field trials of the Salk vaccine took place, and the following year – after review of the data – a national vaccination campaign was launched. By 1957, after two years of vaccination – the number of new polio cases in the United States dropped to under 6,000, and by 1964 that number had dropped to just 121 cases.

via Avian Flu Diary: PNAS: A Vaccine Evading Variant Poliovirus.

Immigration Talk with a Mexican American: TWINS: Arpaio and Ferguson’s Chief Thomas Jackson — Why Latinos Should PAY ATTENTION to what’s Happening in Ferguson Missouri

I’ve been reading the posts by these Far Right Wing sites. They are disgusting and racists, blaming Teenager Brown for his own murder. However those attacking young Mike are the same nutcases that support Arpayaso, the Tea Party, Ted Cruz and all the other crazy racists that HATE LATINOS, Blacks, Gays, Women and all minorities. They are using THE SAME LANGUAGE they use when they attack us.

They are blaming poor Mike Brown, the dead victim who cannot speak for himself.

They are blaming the civil protesters who are utilizing their 1st amendment rights to rally. Yet these right wing racist websites call them “animals” and “let them kill themselves.” You should read their despicable spew. (However, you don’t have to read their vile spew. I’ll report it so you don’t have to read their garbage!)

These are the same WORDS they use against LATINOS in Maricopa County / in Guadalupe!

These folks don’t believe in EQUALITY!

Their EQUALITY only encompasses WHITE MEN, not ALL PEOPLE – not ALL MINORITIES!

WE LATINOS NEED TO PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT’s Happening in Ferguson, Missouri.

via Immigration Talk with a Mexican American: TWINS: Arpaio and Ferguson’s Chief Thomas Jackson — Why Latinos Should PAY ATTENTION to what’s Happening in Ferguson Missouri.

“Crazy” Compton School Police Will Be Armed With Semi-Automatic AR-15 Rifles: LAist

Students at a Compton school will be facing some changes as the new school year starts next Monday: the campus’ police officers will now be allowed to keep semi-automatic AR-15 rifles in the trunks of their patrol cars while they’re working.

The school board approved a policy in July that allows selected campus police officers to buy these rifles and keep them in their cars in case they need to use them in instances of mass shootings or terrorist attacks, according to KPCC. They plan on training these chosen officers and letting them carry the weapons in their cars within the next month.

Folks in the community are criticizing the policy and questioning why such high-powered weapons are needed on campus—and in the hands of the school police. Francisco Orozco, a recent high school graduate and founder of the Compton Democratic Club—a group that discusses local policies—said that students have complained about the campus police’s excessive force and that there was a lawsuit filed by parents last year in the district about the school police’s racial profiling. (Fox News Latino reported that Hispanics and Latinos make up 65 percent of the Compton community and African-Americans make up 33 percent.)

“The school police has been very notorious in the community and in reality has never had to shoot anyone before,” said Orozco. “So this escalation of weapons we feel is very unnecessary.”

On the Compton Democratic Club’s Facebook page, they’ve been writing about their opposition to the school’s gun policy, including a post titled, “School Wars.” The Compton School Police Officers Association wrote this in response and also noted other schools that were allowing their police officers to carry AR-15s:

Dear, Compton Democratic Club

Compton School Police Officers are not planning to attack the Galaxy of Teachers and Students.

Currently, the following School Districts authorize their Police Officers to deploy these weapons; Los Angeles School PD, Baldwin Park School PD, Santa Ana School PD, Fontana School PD, San Bernandino School PD.

If we encounter an active mass murderer on campus with a rifle or body armor, our officers may not adequately be prepared to stop that suspect. School Police Officers will undergo a training course, followed by a shooting proficiency test on a firing range and a written exam. The rifles are designed for increased accuracy and use rifled ammunition than can pierce body armor. The safety of our Students, Staff, and Parents are very important to us.

Last year, the Fontana Unified School District Police Department purchased 14 AR-15 rifles, with plans of keeping them locked in safes on campus, according to CBS Los Angeles.

via Compton School Police Will Be Armed With Semi-Automatic AR-15 Rifles: LAist.

Ireland denies suicidal rape survivor an abortion and forces her to undergo a C-section

As Jessica notes, the horrific ordeal shows how inadequate even this small exemption to the country’s strict anti-choice law really is. A member of Ireland’s Doctors for Choice said, “We predicted it would be a bad law, that it was going to be trouble and quickly that’s been proven.” Part of the problem is that the law requires examination of the pregnant person’s mental state by up to seven different doctors, a process which will “not only be overly invasive, confusing and distressing emotionally, it will also be time-consuming.”

It’s also probably no coincidence that this young women, like Halappanavar, is an immigrant. While middle-class Irish citizens can often go to England to end their pregnancies, poor women — who lack the funds — and immigrant women — who lack the papers to easily travel — are often out of luck. The young woman might have been able to get authorization to travel to England under the law and advocates are demanding to know if she was informed of her rights.

As Sarah McCarthy, a spokesperson for Galway Pro-Choice, says, the case “illustrates quite clearly that women are treated as little more than incubators under Irish law.”

via Ireland denies suicidal rape survivor an abortion and forces her to undergo a C-section.

Liberia getting multiple hits – Indians stuck in Ebola-hit Liberia as airlines cancel services – The Times of India

Kenya Airways is the latest carrier to suspend its flights to the Liberian capital of Monrovia and Sierra Leone’s capital Freetown due to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. The airline will stop flying its planes to Liberia from Tuesday.

At present, only Brussels Airlines is operating. British Airways, Emirates, pan-African airline ASKY and smaller regional carrier Arik Air have restricted flights in the region.

Adding to the woes of the local and expatriate population is the escalating cost of essential commodities. The price of one particular variety of parboiled rice popular in Liberia — imported from India and the US — has doubled.

“We used to get a 25kg bag of parboiled rice at US$14. A month ago, it was $18; now it has touched $28,” says Shamshuddin, a garment businessman from Karnad, Mulki. According to him, the prices of rice and other commodities have increased because there are no vessels bringing them to Liberia.

via Indians stuck in Ebola-hit Liberia as airlines cancel services – The Times of India.

WHO: Full Report Of Ethics Committee On Experimental Drugs For Ebola

{Unintended consequences abound after use of experimental drugs on Ebola given ethical OK by WHO}

The intent was to allow a handful drugs and vaccines currently under investigation for the treatment of Ebola – those with at least some reasonable expectation of being effective – to be given a “compassionate use” waiver so they could be used outside of a clinical trial.

 

On Friday, in an attempt to dial back some of the excessive media hype over what are unproven and untested drugs, we saw the WHO Warn Of `Unrealistic Expectations’ Over Experimental Ebola Drugs.

Proving that no good deed goes unpunished, almost immediately we began to see reports of everything from herbal remedies to homeopathic `cures’ to `Nano Silver’ ( even holy water)  being offered as potential treatments or preventatives for Ebola.

 

Last week the FDA warned consumers about fraudulent Ebola treatment products and the WHO began to aggressively discount these `cures’ on their twitter account.

via Avian Flu Diary: WHO: Full Report Of Ethics Committee On Experimental Drugs For Ebola.