Category Archives: Fail!

{Money and Reputation (money) before Humanity!} Williams Is the Latest College Accused of Mishandling Rape – The Wire

Brackenridge writes that when she was a 17-year-old freshman at Williams, she was raped by a 21-year-old hockey player at the school. He was ultimately found guilty of sexual assault by an administrative panel and suspended for three semesters. Williams will likely allow him to come back to campus this fall. In light of this, Brackenridge questions the advice Williams deans gave her when she first reported the assault to the administration. She says that the deans “explicitly encouraged me not to seek legal action, asserting that it would be a bureaucratic nightmare and that they, as the College, had my best interests in mind.”

In addition to facing her attackers re-admittance, Brackenridge says she suffered severe harassment from other hockey players on campus, which she says the administration ignored: “In one instance, they surrounded me, threw full beer cans at my head and chanted that I should have kept my mouth shut. When I spoke to the deans about the incident, I was told that everyone was ‘exhausted’ from dealing with the case and that perhaps it would be better if we all just ‘took a little break.’ Members of the men’s hockey team and my rapist’s friends continued to harass me for months on campus. I received no ‘break.'”

via Williams Is the Latest College Accused of Mishandling Rape – The Wire.

Greenwashing at McDonald’s – devolution means less corporate responsibility!

“Innovation often occurs at the market level and bubbles up . . . rather than being corporate-driven.” That surprising comment was made by Jeffrey Hogue, McDonald’s Senior Director of Global Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability, at last week’s US Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment conference. With 36,000 franchises organized around a strong operational and brand-defining administration, decentralization may seem an unexpected choice for the fast food company. But putting responsibility on its individual restaurants to achieve sustainability goals is exactly what McDonald’s is talking about by allowing each restaurant to source its own sustainable beef. Eventually, said Hogue, individual restaurants could make their own choices to achieve various targets, from installing energy efficient fryers to byuing LED bulbs. This “downsizing” just might be the healthy business model choice to create a more sustainable fast food company.

via Justmeans | The largest distribution network for CSR and sustainability news, data, and content..

Roundup: Essential feminist writing on the Isla Vista shooting

We, as a feminist community, have spent the last four days in shock after the Isla Vista shooting. That the roots of the tragedy — violent misogyny — may be too intimately familiar to so many of us hasn’t softened the blow. Here we’ve tried to compile some of the best feminist writing in the aftermath, highlighting how our movements are processing, responding, and fighting back. Let us know what you’ve been reading in the comments.

via Roundup: Essential feminist writing on the Isla Vista shooting.

In Lahore, pregnant Pakistani woman stoned to death – The Times of India

{No honor – just a murder by her own family}

In an apparent ‘honour killing’, a 25-year-old pregnant woman was brutally beaten and stoned to death on Tuesday outside the high court here by her father and brothers for marrying the man of her choice.

Police said Farzana Parveen, resident of Faisalabad, had married Mohammad Iqbal of Jaranwala a few months ago against the wishes of her family.

The incident happened as the couple reached the court premises to record Farzana’s statement to defend her husband against allegations by her family that he kidnapped her and forced her to marry him.

Initially, the family members fired shots in the air and tried to snatch her from Iqbal.

After failing in their attempt, nearly 20 members of her family, including her father and brothers, attacked the couple with sticks and bricks before a crowd of onlookers in front of the high court of Lahore, said police official Naseem Butt.

Farzana, who was three-months pregnant, died while her husband managed to escape.

via In Lahore, pregnant Pakistani woman stoned to death – The Times of India.

Voters reject EU as shocking new figures reveal Europe is full of foreigners | Pride’s Purge

Voters across the width and breadth of Europe have rejected the European Union after they discovered most of their fellow citizens in the organisation were foreign.

The political earthquake comes after shocking figures revealed the EU is flooded with foreigners – including 89 million Germans who have taken up residence in an area of the continent between France and Poland.

Huge numbers of Italians have also been revealed to be swamping the Italian peninsula and other nationalities are residing legally in the EU, including hordes of Poles in Poland, millions of Hungarians in Hungary and vast amounts of Bulgarians in Bulgaria.

Experts say France has been particularly hard hit by the invasion of foreigners with as many as 67 million French people living there, the majority of whom have full access to health and welfare services provided by the French state.

And in the UK, UKIP leader Nigel Farage expressed his outrage at the number of foreign languages he often hears while travelling by train:

“I was on a train in Brussels the other day and all I could hear was French, Flemish and a bit of German – which admittedly was coming from my wife. But the point is not a word of English was being spoken. And even when I went to buy something in a shop in Italy the shop keeper spoke to me in Italian! It’s outrageous.“

via Voters reject EU as shocking new figures reveal Europe is full of foreigners | Pride’s Purge.

Veterans Groups Lash Out at Republican Senator – NYTimes.com

The open letter from Senator Richard M. Burr of North Carolina, the ranking Republican on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee — and the groups’ responses — pushed that conflict into the open. Mr. Burr, angry that only the American Legion has called for the resignation of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki, accused the groups of being “more interested in defending the status quo within the V.A., protecting their relationships with the agency, and securing access to the secretary and his inner circle,” than helping members.

The Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Disabled American Veterans and the Paralyzed Veterans of America hit back hard.

“For years, the V.F.W. has come to Congress with hat in hand, and for years we’ve heard the same old story,” the heads of the veterans groups wrote to Mr. Burr. “You can be assured, Senator, that you’ve done a superb job showing us the error in our ways. You can also be assured that in the future, we will spend a substantial percentage of our time seeking to inform our members and our constituents of the repeated failure to act by our elected officials.”

To that sentiment, the national president and the executive director of the Paralyzed Veterans of America added, “Perhaps you should have shared with all veterans in your ‘open’ letter that you cared so much about their health care that you were not actually present during the testimony that the V.S.O. representatives provided, and you did not ask a single question.” V.S.O. stands for veterans service organizations.

“Regrettably, Senator Burr shows no interest in pursuing policy solutions, preferring instead to launch cheap political attacks on the integrity of leaders of veterans organizations that do not agree with him,” wrote Joseph W. Johnston, the national commander of the Disabled American Veterans.

via Veterans Groups Lash Out at Republican Senator – NYTimes.com.

Israeli forces deny Nablus farmers access to fields to harvest wheat | Maan News Agency

Israeli forces on Saturday morning prevented Palestinian farmers from accessing their fields to harvest wheat south of Nablus in the northern West Bank, a Palestinian official said.

Ghasan Daghlas, who monitors settlement-related activities in the northern West Bank, told Ma’an that dozens of Palestinian farmers were on their way to harvest wheat in the area of Lafjan near the village of Aqraba when they were stopped.

Daghlas said that Israeli troops blocked the farmers and told them that they could not access their fields because the area had been declared a closed military zone, with no further explanation.

via Israeli forces deny Nablus farmers access to fields to harvest wheat | Maan News Agency.

Just because they can… Israeli forces deny Nablus farmers access to fields to harvest wheat | Maan News Agency

Israeli forces on Saturday morning prevented Palestinian farmers from accessing their fields to harvest wheat south of Nablus in the northern West Bank, a Palestinian official said.

Ghasan Daghlas, who monitors settlement-related activities in the northern West Bank, told Ma’an that dozens of Palestinian farmers were on their way to harvest wheat in the area of Lafjan near the village of Aqraba when they were stopped.

Daghlas said that Israeli troops blocked the farmers and told them that they could not access their fields because the area had been declared a closed military zone, with no further explanation.

via Israeli forces deny Nablus farmers access to fields to harvest wheat | Maan News Agency.

Apocalyptic Scenes in Andranondambo, Madagascar as Villages Fight for Land Properties · Global Voices

When we arrived, a dog was eating what was left of a corpse. In a nearby home destroyed by fire, we found more corpses. The stink was unbearable. Even the public school and the church were ravaged. All the materials from houses were taken apart.

The land dispute started in 1991 when an important source of sapphire and mica was discovered in the Andranondambo. The rush of land miners pushed local villagers away to another village Ambato­tsivala. Since then, the two villages have been at odds over land rights but the conflict has never reached such a harrowing level of violence until recently.

via Apocalyptic Scenes in Andranondambo, Madagascar as Villages Fight for Land Properties · Global Voices.

Elliot Rodger, Isla Vista Shooting Suspect, Posted Misogynistic Video before Attack | Hatewatch

Elliot Rodger, son of “Hunger Games” assistant director Peter Rodger, reportedly carried out a series of drive-by shootings last night near the University of California, Santa Barbara campus to exact revenge for being rejected by women. Seven, including Rodger, were killed, and seven others were wounded.

Hours before the attack, Rodger recorded a chilling video message in his BMW, which he reportedly used to carry out the attack. In the recording, which he posted to YouTube under the title, “Elliot Rodger’s Retribution,” he announced his plan to exact “revenge on humanity” because girls rejected him in his life.

via Elliot Rodger, Isla Vista Shooting Suspect, Posted Misogynistic Video before Attack | Hatewatch.