Category Archives: human rights

Recordings reveal Khashoggi tortured then dismembered while still alive

“It took seven minutes for Jamal Khashoggi to die, a Turkish source who has listened in full to an audio recording of the Saudi journalist’s last moments,” told the Middle East Eye. The source said Khashoggi was “dragged from the Consul General’s office at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and onto the table of his study next door. The screaming stopped when Khashoggi was injected with an as yet unknown substance. Head of forensic evidence in the Saudi general security department Salah Muhammad al-Tubaigy began to cut Khashoggi’s body up on a table in the study while he was still alive. As he started to dismember the body, Tubaigy put on earphones and listened to music. He advised other members of the squad to do the same.”

Source: Recordings reveal Khashoggi tortured then dismembered while still alive

How drug resistant TB evolved and spread globally – European colonialism!

The most common form of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB) originated in Europe and spread to Asia, Africa and the Americas with European explorers and colonialists, reveals a new study led by UCL and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health.

Source: How drug resistant TB evolved and spread globally

Hungary′s homeless ban: When poverty becomes a crime | Europe| News and current affairs from around the continent | DW | 15.10.2018 Governing from fear and ignorance.

An estimated 30,000 homeless people live in Hungary, most of them in Budapest. According to the government, shelters have room for 19,000 people, while civil society groups that look after the homeless say there is only room for around 11,000 people. Space is tight in many shelters, the homeless sleep in large dormitories and the social work is inadequate, they say. As a result, many homeless people often prefer to live on the streets. Critics say the Orban government’s handling of the homeless situation is unprofessional and amateurish. According to Gabor Ivanyi, a well-known Methodist priest who has been running a homeless association and a shelter in Budapest for many years, the new law is akin to the health care system banning people from falling ill.

Source: Hungary′s homeless ban: When poverty becomes a crime | Europe| News and current affairs from around the continent | DW | 15.10.2018

Republicans join far-right figures at Montana anti-government event | US news | The Guardian – GOP embraces anti-Indian racists!

The Montana Human Rights Network (MHRN) characterized the conference as a platform for “anti-government extremism and anti-Indian bigotry”. It helped organize a protest a mile from the conference venue, in a park in downtown Whitefish. Around 300 people attended. A spokeswoman for MHRN, Cherliyn DeVries, said Bundy’s invitation to the New Code of the West event was “very disappointing” and did not reflect the views of the local community, which she said was “supported by public lands”. “He’s proven himself to be a violent extremist,” she said. “Violent extremists divide communities … This is not who we are. The middle is broad and deep.”

Source: Republicans join far-right figures at Montana anti-government event | US news | The Guardian

Simone Biles Criticizes Anti-Nike Tweet by New U.S.A. Gymnastics Leader – The New York Times Kinda obvious that Ms. Bono is at the very least a supporter of a racist, sexist, anti-free  speech Trump or is also racist, sexist and against free speech – resign!

“*mouth drop*,” wrote Ms. Biles, who is sponsored by Nike. “don’t worry, it’s not like we needed a smarter usa gymnastics president or any sponsors or anything.” By Saturday night, Ms. Bono had apologized and deleted the tweet. “I deeply regret posting the tweet because I respect everyone’s views and their fundamental right to express them,” she said in a statement released by U.S.A. Gymnastics. “This in no way reflects how I will approach my position at U.S.A. Gymnastics. I will do everything I can to help change the culture and to work with the entire community to build an open, safe and positive environment.” A spokeswoman for U.S.A. Gymnastics did not answer questions on Saturday night about how the organization had vetted Ms. Bono or whether it agreed with her anti-Nike sentiments.

Saturday Open Thread | Top Dem lawmakers demand unredacted memo Trump admin used to justify family separations | 3CHICSPOLITICO

Feinstein and Nadler said the memo stated that DHS could “permissibly direct the separation of parents” and included a footnote stating a full legal analysis of the family separation option was attached. “The versions of this memo that are publicly available are heavily redacted or unsigned,” they wrote. “The legal analysis justifying family separation included as an attachment to the memo is currently unavailable to the public.” Feinstein and Nadler are asking DHS to turn over an unredacted copy of the signed memo and all attachments, including the legal analysis on family separation cited in footnote five. They noted that the memo contradicts Nielsen’s remarks to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee in May, when she said DHS had no such separation policy.

Source: Saturday Open Thread | Top Dem lawmakers demand unredacted memo Trump admin used to justify family separations | 3CHICSPOLITICO

Bill Browder on Twitter: “This is truly dramatic, if true. The murder of Jamal Khashoggi was allegedly recorded on his Apple watch and transmitted outside.… https://t.co/O0GEy562Gt”

“This is truly dramatic, if true. The murder of Jamal Khashoggi was allegedly recorded on his Apple watch and transmitted outside. https://t.co/tr9Ot61GIF”

Opinion | Goodbye, Political Spin, Hello Blatant Lies – The New York Times

Why do Republicans think they can get away with such blatant lies? Partly it’s because they expect their Fox-watching followers to believe anything they’re told. But it’s also because they can still count on enablers in the mainstream news media. After all, why did USA Today approve this piece? Letting Trump express his opinion is one thing; giving him a platform for blatant lies is another. And as fact-checker Glenn Kessler of The Washington Post put it, “Almost every sentence contained a misleading statement or a falsehood.” Even the president of the United States isn’t entitled to his own facts. So will the G.O.P.’s Big Lie on health care work? We’ll find out in a few weeks.

Not just Canary Mission: SF Jewish Federation bankrolls these hate groups | +972 Magazine

Among the extremist, radical right-wing, and anti-Muslim groups that received funds from the SF Federation, both directly and through the Diller Foundation, and some of which have received substantial and repeated grants over the years, include: Project Veritas, The AMCHA Initiative, The American Freedom Law Center, the American Freedom Defense Initiative, The David Horowitz Freedom Center, and the work of Islamophobic Dutch politician Geert Wilders (through the International Freedom Alliance Foundation). Others include the Clarion Fund, the Center for Security Policy (Frank Gaffney), the Middle East Forum (Daniel Pipes), the Tea Party Patriots Foundation, and the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. Project Veritas, which the Federation gave $100,000 in 2016, is responsible for falsifying sexual misconduct allegations against Roy Moore last year to The Washington Post in hopes of entrapping the liberal mainstream media The AMCHA Initiative, which received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the SF Federation and the Diller Foundation in recent years, operates similarly to Canary Mission, except that it primarily goes after faculty, not students. The David Horowitz Freed

Source: Not just Canary Mission: SF Jewish Federation bankrolls these hate groups | +972 Magazine

Why don’t anti-Indian groups count as hate groups?

a July report by the Montana Human Rights Network argues that CERA, along with other anti-American Indian groups, such as Upstate Citizens for Equality and Proper Economic Resource Management, should be labeled hate groups for their multifaceted attempts to reduce Indigenous political power while promoting racist stereotypes. Willman calls the network’s labeling of CERA as a hate group “absolute trash,” but says that the network does always quote her accurately. “There’s no one at that event who holds hate in their heart,” Willman says of the Whitefish conference. “The only ones who hold hate in their heart is probably the Montana Human Rights Network, and I think that’s sad. What a horrible way to think and live.”

Source: Why don’t anti-Indian groups count as hate groups?