Category Archives: Fail!

High school student’s “rape culture” artwork banned from showcase for being “inappropriate”

“I started at an early age at a Christian school, locally, and we were always taught that it was our responsibility as women to cover up and be modest, and if a man was to ever get aroused or turned on or be interested in us, it was our fault,” said Holtzclaw. “Eventually, I had gotten sexually assaulted. It was true when it happened. Everyone blamed me for it and told me it was my fault and that just led the way into this art piece.”

“I know I’m not the only girl in high school that’s been sexually assaulted and felt like it was my fault, so I wanted to get the word out there and tell people, ‘It’s not your fault. It’s not your fault,’” said Holtzclaw. “Things that need to be talked about shouldn’t be taboo, because people struggle and we need to talk about those kind of things that people struggle with.”

So, basically, the whole point of Holtzclaw’s piece was to break the taboo around discussing sexual assault and victim-blaming — a taboo which was then perfectly illustrated by the school district’s response to it. Come on, people. At least we can help ensure that Holtzclaw’s piece — and important message — gets an even wider audience on the interwebs.

via High school student’s “rape culture” artwork banned from showcase for being “inappropriate”.

Bundy Supporters Drove ATVs Through Native American Ruins – The Wire

Anti-Native American and Anti-Brains!

Both the BLM and the sheriff’s department came to the rally, but whatever skirmishes the ATV riders were anticipating/hoping for didn’t come to pass. The BLM simply recorded the proceedings to prosecute offenders later. The sheriff’s deputies said they were only there to keep the peace, and any punishment would have to come from the BLM, since “they’re the ones that closed the road.” Thanks, deputies.

Lyman won’t have to worry about any federal repercussions, as he ultimately did not drive on the trail. Bundy did ride on the illegal trail, but I guess he doesn’t think there will be consequences for his actions for some reason.

A Navajo Warrior ceremony for returning veterans was scheduled for the area that weekend, but the rally forced organizers to reschedule it for October. So the rally was a slap in the face of Native Americans from the past and the present.

“Damage to archaeological sites is permanent and the information about our collective past is then lost forever,” said Jerry Spangler, director of the Colorado Plateau Archaeological Alliance. “It is sad that irreplaceable treasures of importance to all Americans would be sacrificed on the altar of anti-government fervor. It is worse that protesters would be so blinded to their own insensitivity as to what others consider to be sacred treasures of their past.”

via Bundy Supporters Drove ATVs Through Native American Ruins – The Wire.

Long jail terms for three bloggers – Reporters Without Borders

Reporters Without Borders is appalled by the long jail terms that three Saudi cyber-activists received this week.

Blogger and human rights activist Raef Badawi’s sentence for “insulting Islam” was increased by a Jeddah criminal court on appeal on 7 May to 10 years in prison, 1,000 lashes and a fine of 1 million riyals (200,000 euros).

“The severity of the sentence is shocking,” said Reporters Without Borders research director Lucie Morillon. “We urge the authorities to release Badawi and to quash his conviction, which is emblematic of the way freedom of expression and information are suppressed in Saudi Arabia.

via Long jail terms for three bloggers – Reporters Without Borders.

Pardon her Now Gov. C – Pussy Riot Pays Jail Visit To OWS Protestor Convicted Of Assaulting NYPD Officer : Gothamist

Members of Russian protest group/band Pussy Riot offered their support to Cecily McMillan, the protester who was convicted this week of a felony assault on an NYPD officer during the Occupy Wall Street protests in 2012. McMillan now faces up to seven years in prison, and the Pussy Riot members visited her at Rikers Island as a sign of solidarity.

McMillan was convicted by a panel of jurors who agreed the 25-year-old graduate student intentionally assaulted Officer Grantley Bovell during a scuffle in Zucotti Park in March 2012, despite McMillan’s claim that she was reacting to an assault on the part of the officer. Pussy Riot members Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova say that imprisoning McMillan is a mistake. “Society must organize to save Cecily because she’s really a hero,” Alyokhina told the Times. “She is very similar to us. We also did time and went to prison for our beliefs. We see a lot of parallels.”

Alyokhina and Tolokonnikova, who served prison time in Russia for their protest efforts, say they spoke with McMillan about her social revolutionary efforts. “She told us about the revolution maybe 20 times,” Alyokhina said. “It’s really very important to her.” Tolokonnikova’s husband Peter Verzilov also visited McMillan, and said she seemed to be staying positive. “She might be the happiest prisoner I’ve seen,” he told Mashable.

via Pussy Riot Pays Jail Visit To OWS Protestor Convicted Of Assaulting NYPD Officer : Gothamist.

Nepalese women torn between slavery in Lebanon and poverty at home | Global development | theguardian.com

When the 39 Nepalese migrant domestic workers spilled out of the arrivals gate at Kathmandu airport last month, many vowed to return to the country in which they had experienced terrible hardship. Some had been beaten and forced to endure slave-like conditions; the majority had been trafficked.

For years, the women lived illegally in Lebanon, with no means to return home after fleeing abusive employers. The country’s stringent kafala system, which binds migrant staff to their boss, meant that when the women escaped, they lost everything: their legal status, passports and wages.

It was only with the help of a local association, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), as well as the Nepali embassy in Egypt (Nepal does not have an embassy in Lebanon), that the women were eventually able to return to home.

via Nepalese women torn between slavery in Lebanon and poverty at home | Global development | theguardian.com.

Benghazi | Elizabeth Warren for Senate

All three of my brothers served in the military, and I know firsthand how much Americans serving abroad — and their families — sacrifice. What happened in Benghazi on Sept. 11, 2012 was a tragedy. Four Americans died putting themselves in harm’s way in service to peace, diplomacy, and their country. I look at what happened in Benghazi with sadness, with seriousness, and as yet another call to honor the men and women who keep us safe.

So let me be blunt: that kind of seriousness is sorely missing from the no holds-barred political theater of the House Republicans.

I know a little bit about the way Trey Gowdy pursues oversight. I was on the other end of it when I was setting up the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and I was called to testify before the House. As the Huffington Post reported at the time, Gowdy’s interrogation of me “seemed to lack the basic facts” about the agency he was attempting to oversee. I’d like you to read their reporting on one of these exchanges just so you know what this Benghazi “investigation” is likely to look like:

via Benghazi | Elizabeth Warren for Senate.

Jewish extremists vandalize Jerusalem church | Maan News Agency

Vandals sprayed anti-Christian graffiti on a Jerusalem church on Friday, despite Israeli police stepping up security around religious sites ahead of a visit by Pope Francis later this month.

“Price tag… King David for the Jews… Jesus is garbage” was spray-painted in Hebrew on the wall of St George’s, a Romanian Orthodox church near an ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhood.

Israeli police said that “Death to Arabs” was found written on a house in the Old City in East Jerusalem, and swastikas were scrawled on the wall of a west Jerusalem apartment.

via Jewish extremists vandalize Jerusalem church | Maan News Agency.

Breaking News: BlueVoice Presents Dolphin Defender Award

BlueVoice and Mundo Azul invite you to a press conference at which The Dolphin Defender Award will be presented to Stefan Austermuhle for his exemplary work in uncovering the slaughter of thousands of dolphins by Peruvian fishermen. The award is subscribed by 26 international member organizations of the Dolphin Defender Coalition which is composed of more than 1-million members.

via Breaking News: BlueVoice Presents Dolphin Defender Award.

Shipment of whale meat from Iceland arrives in Japan | Greenpeace International

(Why? So lame and unneeded, cruel, wasteful.)

Its arrival here has almost doubled the stockpile of unsold whale meat sitting in freezers around Japan.

Iceland hunts these whales only for export to Japan. No one in Iceland eats them. But fewer and fewer people in Japan eat whale either. A poll by the respected Asahi newspaper last month found that just 4 percent of respondents occasionally eat whale meat, while 10 percent said they eat whale meat on rare occasions. Forty-eight percent said they have had whale meat once in the distant past, but they have not had it recently. Thirty-seven percent, including roughly half of respondents in their 20s and 30s, said they do not eat whale meat at all.

via Shipment of whale meat from Iceland arrives in Japan | Greenpeace International.

Muslim world scholars condemn Nigeria kidnapping | News , International | THE DAILY STAR

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia: Top religious scholars working under the world’s largest bloc of Islamic countries say they strongly condemn the kidnapping of more than 270 Nigerian schoolgirls, and are calling for their immediate release.

The kidnappings three weeks ago by the extremist group Boko Haram have led to worldwide condemnation. The group’s leader has used Islamic teachings as justification for threatening to sell the girls into slavery.

The Islamic Fiqh Academy, which is based in Saudi Arabia and dedicated to the advanced study of Islam, said Thursday that this “crime and other crimes committed by the likes of these extremist organizations contradicts all humanitarian principles and moral values and violates the provisions of the Quran and Sunnah,” or teachings of the Prophet Muhammad.

via Muslim world scholars condemn Nigeria kidnapping | News , International | THE DAILY STAR.