Category Archives: Fail!

Trump was wrong to pardon controversial sheriff, Ryan says

“Law-enforcement officials have a special responsibility to respect the rights of everyone in the United States. We should not allow anyone to believe that responsibility is diminished by this pardon,” Ryan said in a statement.“The speaker does not agree with the decision,” Ryan’s spokesman Doug Andres said.Some other prominent Republicans, including Arizona Senator John McCain and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, have also criticized Trump for the controversial pardon.

Source: Trump was wrong to pardon controversial sheriff, Ryan says

My great uncle was alienated in postwar France. Now Americans know how he felt | Hadley Freeman | World news | The Guardian

I still haven’t yet figured out how criticism of a billionaire who bagged the support of America’s highest earners by promising them lower taxes represents “snobbery”, so maybe I’m just slow, but here is what I think of this argument: I think it’s disgusting. There is a word for people who support and normalise Nazis and Nazi defenders, and that word is “appeasers”, and that now includes, shockingly, Israel, as well as the conservative Jews in Trump’s circle such as Jared Kushner – like me, a grandchild of a Holocaust survivor. But a heads up to those groups: this tactic generally does not work out well for you. A Vice documentary from Charlottesville, in which a white supremacist gripes about how Donald Trump “gave his daughter to a Jew, that bastard Kushner”, gives a hint as to why.Alex knew that De Gaulle’s words would embolden antisemites in France, and he was proven right. His speech marked the moment attacks on the character of the Jews became part of anti-Israel rhetoric. That Trump has encouraged antisemites and racists in America is proven every day: just this month, former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke thanked Trump for suggesting that those who fight against racists are morally equivalent to racists.Alex didn’t want to leave France, but he felt alienated from the country he called home. Right now, a lot of American liberal Jews are feeling exactly the same way.

Source: My great uncle was alienated in postwar France. Now Americans know how he felt | Hadley Freeman | World news | The Guardian

Aquí, estoy atorado / Here, I am stuck – IMM Print – (40 years in US but now caged – WTF!)

Sergio has been caged for 18 months inside of a county jail in California that is contracted with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The government is trying to deport him, even though he has lived in the United States for over forty years.Sergio says he volunteers to do different jobs in detention. It keeps him busy and his mind occupied. His day starts at four in the morning when he begins to pass out clean clothes to each of the men in immigration mods. For the past few weeks, he has been re-painting the walls. He is paid a dollar a day. He insists that he doesn’t mind the work. It keeps him busy, he says, and outside of a cell.He tells me that there are men from all over the world inside here with him. They each are fluent in different languages so they begin to communicate with each other through signs. He and many others spend their time helping one another fill out forms that are needed to support their cases. He tells me he has learned a lot about immigration law as he’s been working on his case himself. But he’s come to a point where he can no longer move forward without the resources that he can only access from the outside.

Source: Aquí, estoy atorado / Here, I am stuck – IMM Print

Sewing Seeds of Hate: Donald Trump’s Unforgivable Disgrace – SPIEGEL ONLINE

In the answers he then gave to questions from reporters — more of a fit of rage than a press conference — he blasted the so-called “alt-left,” saying it was just as bad as the white supremacists, many of whom refer to themselves as the “alt-right.” It was a comment that didn’t just demonize the counterdemonstrators, it also trivialized the violence displayed by the neo-Nazis. Trump spoke of “blame on both sides” and claimed that among the hate-filled white nationalists and anti-Semites, there were also many people who were simply there to peacefully protest the removal of the statue of General Robert E. Lee. The press conference lasted just over 20 minutes, but by the time it had ended, it was clear that the president was indeed guilty of playing down the actions of neo-Nazis.Two former presidents, George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush, issued a joint statement condemning hatred “in all forms.” Five of the country’s top military leaders saw a need to issue clear statements condemning racism, in direct opposition to their commander-in-chief.

Source: Sewing Seeds of Hate: Donald Trump’s Unforgivable Disgrace – SPIEGEL ONLINE

Women say they quit Google because of racial discrimination: ‘I was invisible’ | Technology | The Guardian

Parthasarathy said she was frustrated by the argument that affirmative action helps unqualified minorities get hired: “People do think it’s easier for me to get into my job … There’s this feeling all the time whenever I do a project, you always have to prove yourself, and that really sucks.”The black woman who worked as a specialist at Google said her experiences with discrimination took a severe toll on her mental health.“There were times I cried at my desk,” she said, adding that she ultimately decided it wasn’t worth the trouble to stay at Google and began looking for jobs outside of the company, not caring that she would be earning a lower salary.At Google, she added, “I was invisible. It was like I didn’t matter. So what was the point of being there?”

Source: Women say they quit Google because of racial discrimination: ‘I was invisible’ | Technology | The Guardian

Trump responds to Barcelona attack by reviving debunked myth | World news | The Guardian #LiarTrump, #TraitorTrump

Donald Trump has responded to the Barcelona attack by reviving an already debunked anecdote about a US general dipping bullets in pig’s blood to fight Islamic militants more than a hundred years ago. After a relatively conventional response to the attack, in which he went on to Twitter to call on the people of Barcelona to be “tough and strong” and offer help from the US, he posted another, more cryptic, tweet, saying: “Study what General Pershing of the United States did to terrorists when caught. There was no more Radical Islamic Terror for 35 years!”

Source: Trump responds to Barcelona attack by reviving debunked myth | World news | The Guardian

Video: Israeli forces bring terror to Jerusalem hospital | The Electronic Intifada

B’Tselem’s report includes testimonies from medical staff describing dozens of heavily armed Israeli personnel raiding the hospital. They forced their way in, attacking security guards and civilians, who tried to defend the facility, with stun grenades and sponge-tipped bullets.The Israelis kicked people out of the blood bank where dozens of volunteers were trying to donate desperately needed blood. They raided the maternity ward, including a room where a mother was present, and sprayed pepper spray into another that was empty. Staff gathered most of the mothers in one room and took their babies to the nursery to protect them.Israeli forces blocked ambulanceAbu Ghanam had been involved in confrontations between Jerusalem youths and occupation forces in the al-Tur neighborhood when he was shot in the chest.Israeli forces stood around him for five to 10 minutes without providing any medical assistance, according to B’Tselem. Then when a Red Crescent ambulance arrived, Israeli forces tried to obstruct it. But the paramedics were able to reach Abu Ghanam and get him into the ambulance – which one of the Israeli soldiers tried to get into as well.“There was some mutual shoving between one of my colleagues and the two officers for about a minute, and then we got into the ambulance,” one of the medics told B’Tselem. “I locked the ambulance with the central locking system.”The medics then managed to drive to the hospital, despite Israeli forces trying to block their way.

Source: Video: Israeli forces bring terror to Jerusalem hospital | The Electronic Intifada

What Mostly White Newsrooms Get Wrong about Race | Dame Magazine

The former Breitbart honcho has to be betting that journalists who report on Nazi attacks—and the president’s subsequent responses—have been taught that they have an ethical obligation to present all sides of a story. That they will be afraid of being accused of being unfair or lacking objectivity, of being “the liberal media”. That they will be reluctant to name Trump’s defense of racism for what it is, or write about white supremacy as if it is a fact of life. Reporters must resist this, and push back against editors and producers who don’t believe the word “racist” can be used as an adjective in a news story. Thoughtful editorial boards must decide that Nazi apologists and racist bigotry have no place in their pages.

Source: What Mostly White Newsrooms Get Wrong about Race | Dame Magazine

On a day that will live on in infamy, Trump reveals his true dark heart – Opinion – Israel News | Haaretz.com

Trump’s tirade at a press conference in New York supposedly devoted to infrastructure and manufacturing was either incredibly stupid or intensely insane or both. But here is also a third possibility: That it was completely calculated and entirely premeditated, that it will go down in history as the moment when the leader of the free world revealed his true inner self; When he burned political correctness at the stake; When he looked America in the eye and said yes, I’m an enabler of white supremacists. I’m an apologist for slavery and Confederate history. I can see some “fine people” among those who shouted Sieg Heil in Charlottesville and threatened the Jews. I am indeed the worst that’s been said about me, and more, now come and do something about it.

Source: On a day that will live on in infamy, Trump reveals his true dark heart – Opinion – Israel News | Haaretz.com

AP Update Trump equates killers with protesters against hate

when asked repeatedly whether this was an act of terror, Trump wouldn’t clearly condemn it as such, saying: “You can call it terrorism. You can call it murder. You can call it whatever you want.Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke seemed thrilled, tweeting a link to Trump’s latest comments Tuesday and saying: “Thank you President Trump for your honesty & courage to tell the truth about #Charlottesville & condemn the leftist terrorists in BLM/Antifa,” referring to the Black Lives Matter movement and an anti-fascist group.

Source: News from The Associated Press