Category Archives: Fundamentalism

Roy Moore, Alabama Judge, Suspended Over Gay Marriage Stance – The New York Times

An Alabama judicial oversight body on Friday filed a formal complaint against Roy S. Moore, the chief justice of the state’s Supreme Court, charging that he had “flagrantly disregarded and abused his authority” in ordering the state’s probate judges to refuse applications for marriage licenses by same-sex couples. As a result of the charges, Chief Justice Moore, 69, has been immediately suspended from the bench and is facing a potential hearing before the state’s Court of the Judiciary, a panel of judges, lawyers and other appointees. Among possible outcomes at such a hearing would be his removal from office.

Source: Roy Moore, Alabama Judge, Suspended Over Gay Marriage Stance – The New York Times

Trumpish notes from the AP

Remember a movie named a  Face in the Crowd? Watch it. https://youtu.be/9lrmxkF-UKM

“I don’t necessarily know that that’s his role, to be a sticking point for the Republican nominee,” said Rep. Duncan Hunter of California, one of a growing number of Trump supporters in the House. Added Rep. Lou Barletta of Pennsylvania: “The voters of our party have spoken loud and clear, and it’s their voice that matters.” Trump has criticized Ryan in the past and renewed his attacks Friday by arguing that Ryan and presidential candidate Mitt Romney, “lost a race that should have been won” in 2012. Trump and Ryan also have disagreements on policy, from immigration to Social Security to trade. In his latest surprising breach of orthodoxy on Friday Trump questioned whether the U.S. government would make good on its commitment to fully honor Treasury notes, suggesting he might try to get a better deal.

Source: News from The Associated Press

Why Filipinos Are Voting for a New ‘Dictator’ – The New York Times

Drift to supporting trash-talking drones is same in US, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Poland, Japan… Not to be taken for granted that democracy can survive oligarchy – time for real problem solvers to step up and vote for civility and change!?!

This image as a brash, no-nonsense leader explains why nothing he says is able to damage him. He repeatedly described a rival using a homophobic slur. He called Pope Francis “a son of a whore.” He told human-rights groups to “go to hell.” He joked that he should have been first in the gang rape of an Australian missionary. “That’s how men speak,” Mr. Duterte explained. “I am not a son of the privileged class.” His supporters, who often threaten his critics on social media with death and rape threats, defended him with an offensive, but telling, rhetorical question: How can people get so upset at a rape joke when politicians have been raping the country for so long?

Source: Why Filipinos Are Voting for a New ‘Dictator’ – The New York Times

About The Stereotype Busting High Median Incomes Of Trump Voters | Race Files

We need to get real about who really constitutes the current and projected base for right wing extremism. They aren’t mainly poor folk. Real poor folks are our current and immediate projected base of support and we need to start acting like it. Instead, they are those with relative privilege, living in the anxiety of losing that privilege in a society that punishes the poor. White privilege is eroding. We need to acknowledge this reality.  If we don’t, we will become the victims of nostalgia, trading rose colored pictures of a romanticized past for a sustainable, fair, and secure economic future.

Source: About The Stereotype Busting High Median Incomes Of Trump Voters | Race Files

Why this fearless woman is the talk of Sweden – The Local

National Photo: David Lagerlöf/Expo/TT

Why this fearless woman is the talk of Sweden Published: 03 May 2016 14:12 GMT+02:00 A woman who blocked the path of a group of neo-Nazis marching through a town in central Sweden has earned huge praise on social media after a picture of the incident went viral. Sweden Democrat steps down over church-burning posts (28 Apr 16) Nazi flag sparks anger in Sweden on Hitler’s birthday (20 Apr 16) Stockholm special squad to stop far-right mobs (02 Feb 16) Tess Asplund, an anti-racism activist from Stockholm, was in Borlänge to protest against a march by hundreds of neo-Nazis through the centre of the town on May 1st.  Traditionally a left-wing stronghold, where big Labour Day rallies are the norm, Borlänge has recently seen many voters lurch to the far-right.  The uniformed neo-Nazis were however far outnumbered by counter demonstrators like Asplund, who described the moment captured on camera to local radio station P4 Dalarna.   “I don’t think I even thought about it really, I just jumped out,” she said.  “I just thought: you shouldn’t be here. Then one of them stared at me and I stared back. He didn’t say anything and neither did I. Then the police came fairly quickly and took me away.”  Asplund said she often raised her fist at anti-fascist rallies in a gesture borrowed from Nelson Mandela. The picture spread rapidly on social media on Tuesday as Swedes hailed the iconography of a lone woman bravely standing up to dark forces.

Source: Why this fearless woman is the talk of Sweden – The Local

Immigration Talk with a Mexican American: Latinos and Minorities Against Trump: Rage On Against the Dying of the Light!

It is clear, the Mexican American protesters are against the racist Trump’s message to build a 2000 mile wall. They are against separating families and deporting the 11M here. They are against the racist Trump’s promise to END Birthright Citizenship and deport (as he calls) “Anchor Babies.” These fearless and strong Mexican Americans will NOT go gentle into this good night. Rage on! Rage on against the racist message of Donald Trump! The racist Trump should expect the same treatment once he is selected as the Republican candidate. While his halls are filled with racist, countrified white men, expect minorities, Latinos, Women, Asian-Americans, African Americans, Muslim Americans, the LGBT community, ALL of us to Rage On against Trump! As Hillary said, “If you see BIGOTRY you should Oppose It!” Trump’s racist response to the protesters: “I expect I was crossing the border.” So clear he sees ALL Latinos as “illeeegals.” Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Source: Immigration Talk with a Mexican American: Latinos and Minorities Against Trump: Rage On Against the Dying of the Light!

Niqab-wearing tourist stopped from entering Italian museum – The Local

The Musei Eremitani, located in the cloisters of a former convent, houses the city’s archaeological museum and medieval art gallery, as well as provides access to the Scrovegni chapel – the walls of which are daubed with world-famous Giotto frescoes. When she refused the request and demanded to know why she was not being permitted access to the museum, staff called the police, who eventually convinced the woman to show her face so they could check her identity. After she was identified, the woman and her husband were granted access to the museums, but they chose not to enter. Although Italian law does not forbid the wearing of the burka or niqab, since 1975 it has been forbidden to walk around public spaces with your face covered – for example, by a scarf or motorbike helmet ‘without a valid reason’. In a controversial move last December, Veneto’s neighbouring province of Lombardy amended these laws making it illegal to walk around in public wearing the either the niqab or burka.

Source: Niqab-wearing tourist stopped from entering Italian museum – The Local

Brother and sister slain at checkpoint were executed, Palestinians say | The Electronic Intifada

“Witnesses said it appeared that Ibrahim attempted to grab his sister’s hand and move away from the officers, when they opened fire on her. Maram fell to the ground and when Ibrahim attempted to aid her, he was shot in his tracks,” Ma’an added. “[Maram] had reportedly obtained a permit from the Israeli authorities to enter Jerusalem for the first time when she was crossing on Wednesday,” the agency stated. Eyewitnesses told Palestinian media that Israeli forces fired a barrage of bullets at the pair – “more than 15 rounds into the woman’s body, confirming her death,” the Ma’an News Agency reported. A witness named Ahmad Taha told Ma’an that “Israeli officers approached the two after they had been shot and on the ground before opening fire on them again ‘to ensure that they were dead,’ adding that the officers ‘could have moved the two away without opening fire.’” The man alleged that the knives police said were carried by Maram and Ibrahim were planted. Medical care denied The Palestine Red Crescent Society told Ma’an that Israeli forces denied medics access to the woman and child. Video from the scene shows Israeli forces turning away a Palestine Red Crescent medic and preventing a cameraman from filming. A brother of Maram and Ibrahim told Haaretz that he doesn’t believe his sister intended to carry out an attack, saying that she was on her way to a doctor’s appointment when she was shot dead.

Source: Brother and sister slain at checkpoint were executed, Palestinians say | The Electronic Intifada

Swedish parents block ‘gateway’ yoga exercises – The Local

A pastor and his wife were among a group of Christian parents who pushed for the school in Rydaholm, southern Sweden, not to start teaching yoga to their children, a practice that was about to be introduced by a new teacher. Linda Olsson contacted the local school authorities and pointed out that her husband David, the town’s pastor, was obliged to keep religion out of ceremonies held to mark the end of the school year. Shouldn’t yoga be subjected to the same scrutiny, she wondered.  Rydaholm is part of Sweden’s Bible belt and other Christian parents shared the Olssons’ concerns about yoga and its links to Hinduism and Buddhism.  “Yoga is used by Buddhists as a form of meditation. We don’t know what it might lead to,” she told local newspaper Värnamo Nyheter.

Source: Swedish parents block ‘gateway’ yoga exercises – The Local

German populists want France excluded from eurozone – The Local

Arian only Euro-Zone – Ja – Not!

Germany’s right-wing populist AfD believes that France and southern European countries should be excluded from Europe’s common currency, the party’s top officials said, AFP reported.

“We can have a common currency with the Netherlands, Austria, Finland or Baltic states. They have similar cultures of stability like ours,” Jörg Meuthen, the party’s co-leader, told Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in remarks to be published in Monday’s edition.

“But the French have a different one, not to mention the Italians, Spaniards, Portuguese and Greeks. They don’t want austerity at all,” said the co-leader of Alternative for Germany, which was formed three years ago as an anti-euro party but is now running mainly on an anti-immigrant platform.

Source: German populists want France excluded from eurozone – The Local