Category Archives: human rights

Upholding the Constitution Isn’t Treason | La Prensa San Diego

Trump’s reaction to the news that some among his staff are working against him is wrong. It may be betrayal. It may be disloyal. It may even be dishonest, but a crime it is not. In fact, the opposite is true. What these staffers are doing, if in fact they are actually doing what is being claimed, is patriotic and it is 100% consistent with the oath they took upon joining the government. The oath each federal appointee takes swears that they will “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic” and that they “will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office” they hold. No where in that oath does it say they will be loyal to Trump, or to follow down a dangerous path that could prove detrimental to the country.

Source: Upholding the Constitution Isn’t Treason | La Prensa San Diego

Trump cannot simply erase the Palestinian right of return | +972 Magazine

When in the face of this incontrovertible history of Israeli “ethnic cleansing” and international conventions on the rights of refugees, I cringe when I hear of the Trump Administration’s intention to take the refugee issue “off the table.” What they are, in fact, taking off the table is so much more. At stake is: the lives and fortunes of innocent Palestinians and their families; the rule of law; simple human justice; and the possibility of peace. The more than 5 million Palestinians living under occupation and in refugee camps in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria cannot be erased and in their attempt to do so, it is not only the Israelis who are guilty of the war crime of ethnic cleansing. The Trump Administration is making itself complicit in this crime.

Source: Trump cannot simply erase the Palestinian right of return | +972 Magazine

Why are no Israeli officials refusing to meet with Duterte? | +972 Magazine

In the past two years, Duterete’s security forces have purchased significant amounts of Tavor assault rifles, Galil and Gilboa rifles, Negev machine guns, and Masada pistols. The firearms purchases are set to assist Duterte in keeping his murderous promises. During his presidential campaign, he pledged to kill 100,000 people during his first six months in office, and in October 2016, he said people can expect 20,000 to 30,000 more casualties. “Yad Vashem,” Israel’s Holocaust memorial center, hosted Duterte on Monday, even though he is a mass murderer who has threatened to implement martial law, and who has compared himself to Hitler. The tour facilitators at “Yad Vashem” will explain the rise of the totalitarian government in Germany, the dehumanization of Jews, and the extermination process to him. Absurdly, the remembrance center rejected a request to cancel Duterte’s visit, claiming that they are merely obeying the orders of the Foreign Ministry. Yet there is no legal prohibition on defying the protocol . Is it possible that not a single employee at “Yad Vashem” has the conscience to refuse to cooperate with this shameful visit?

Source: Why are no Israeli officials refusing to meet with Duterte? | +972 Magazine

A Black Restaurant Owner Says He Tried Assisting a White Patron in Distress. Police Arrested Him. – The New York Times

“You don’t just arrest everybody on the scene and sort it out later,” Ms. Saylor said. “They are privileged black men who have money and the resources to fight this, but despite that it deeply affected them.” They incurred $15,000 in legal fees to defend themselves. Dr. Pemberton, a green card holder who is a native of Trinidad and Tobago, said he has run into issues while traveling in and out of the country after the arrest and even after the charge was dismissed. “We thought it was over,” he said, but Immigration and Customs Enforcement continued to stop him in airports. Dr. Pemberton also said that since the arrest, the police have conducted random checks of his establishment, and have increased their presence there, costing him business. And Mr. Debnam, who had planned on applying to be a teacher, worries now that because of the arrest that his application would be rejected.

The New Yorker has dropped Steve Bannon from its festival – and played right into his hands | Arwa Mahdawi | Opinion | The Guardian

The New Yorker’s decision to give Bannon a platform was irresponsible and immoral. While it has rescinded the invitation, harm has already been done. Indeed, I imagine that getting invited and then uninvited from the festival was Bannon’s dream scenario. First he gained intellectual legitimacy by having the New Yorker announce him as a headliner. Then he got to do what the far right seems to enjoy doing the most: play the victim. No doubt extremists everywhere are dashing off opinion pieces about how conservative views are being censored by the liberal media.

Source: The New Yorker has dropped Steve Bannon from its festival – and played right into his hands | Arwa Mahdawi | Opinion | The Guardian

IRIN | Three charts on US funding cuts for Palestinian refugees

Past US funding of UNRWA was “hush money” – compensation given the lack of any political solution – a senior aid worker in the region told IRIN. The aid worker, who requested anonymity given the sensitivity of the issues, said the US move to undermine UNRWA is aimed to “kill the idea” of a Palestinian diaspora and any “right of return.”

Source: IRIN | Three charts on US funding cuts for Palestinian refugees

‘I was like a lamb to the slaughter’: deported after 35 years in the UK | UK news | The Guardian – How racist has Britain become? Lots and stupid too.

For the past five weeks, Ivan Anglin has been waiting at his home in Mandeville, central Jamaica, for a letter from the British high commission in Kingston telling him whether or not he can return to England to see his daughters, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Anglin, 82, was deported from the UK in 1998 after returning from his sister’s funeral in Jamaica. He was unable to persuade immigration officials at Heathrow that he had permanent right of abode in England and was given 48 hours to tie up 35 years of life in the UK and return to the airport. He only had time to say goodbye to one of his daughters. He only told a couple of close friends and family members in Jamaica that he had been deported. The stigma of deportation is so powerful that he judged it better to let people believe he had returned voluntarily.

Source: ‘I was like a lamb to the slaughter’: deported after 35 years in the UK | UK news | The Guardian

How Often Do Smartphones ‘Phone Home’?

The results are pretty clear: even when not used, Android phones send information to Google around 40 times per hour, compared to just 4 times iPhones send info to Apple’s servers. During normal use, that total rises to 90 information requests per hour for Android phones compared to 18 for iPhones. Interestingly Google even collects more data from iPhone users than Apple itself does. This however, only works when the phone is used. In idle mode iPhones very rarely communicate with Google’s servers.

Source: How Often Do Smartphones ‘Phone Home’?