Category Archives: human rights

Charlottesville: far-right crowd with torches encircles counter-protest group | World news | The Guardian

West said: “The crypto-fascists, the neofascists, the neo-Nazis now feel so empowered, not just by Trump but by the whole shift in the nation towards scapegoats. “I don’t like this talk about ‘alt-right’, that’s an unnecessary abstraction. These are neofascists in contemporary garb.”

Source: Charlottesville: far-right crowd with torches encircles counter-protest group | World news | The Guardian

Mahmoud Abbas decrees sweeping internet speech restrictions | The Electronic Intifada – Anyone for Palestinian freedom?

PA crackdown on journalistsBoth Israel and the Palestinian Authority, which work together closely to control the Palestinian population under military occupation, already jail Palestinians for their postings on social media.The decree’s enactment comes as the PA oversees a wave of press violations including arrests for statements made on social media.At the beginning of June, the Palestinian Authority arrested 23-year-old Nassar Jaradat for posting on his Facebook page a call for a “people’s revolution” against the Fatah leadership – Abbas’ political faction.This week, PA intelligence agencies in the occupied West Bank arrested four journalists from several local outlets, accusing them of “leaking sensitive information.”

Source: Mahmoud Abbas decrees sweeping internet speech restrictions | The Electronic Intifada

The war on Israeli BDS supporters | +972 Magazine

Israel’s minister of strategic affairs is gathering intelligence and compiling blacklists on Israeli citizens who support the boycott movement. By Amnon Portugaly These days Gilad Erdan, Israel’s minister of public security and strategic affairs, is promoting a new law that would exclude his ministry from governmental oversight. This is a step meant to help fight the BDS movement, while also granting legitimacy to gathering intelligence on Israeli citizens who are involved in the movement to boycott Israel. [tmwinpost] In June, Haaretz reported that the Strategic Affairs Ministry, which Erdan heads, would essentially be shielded from certain provisions in the Freedom of Information…

Source: The war on Israeli BDS supporters | +972 Magazine

Palantir: the ‘special ops’ tech giant that wields as much real-world power as Google | World news | The Guardian – “Predictive programs cannot help but build in biases/beliefs of the designers because the designers are either unaware of their biases or believe them to be true..”

Data merely becomes a new way of reinforcing old prejudices. Critics of these analytics argue that from the moment a police officer with the pre-crime mindset that you are a criminal steps out of their patrol car to confront you, your fate has been sealed. In 2013, TechCrunch obtained a leaked report on the use of Palantir by the LA and Chicago police departments. Sgt Peter Jackson of the LAPD was quoted as saying: “Detectives love the type of information [Palantir] provides. They can now do things that we could not do before.” Palantir is immensely secretive. It wields as much real-world power as Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft and Apple, but unlike them, Palantir operates so far under the radar, it is special ops.

Source: Palantir: the ‘special ops’ tech giant that wields as much real-world power as Google | World news | The Guardian

Extended Interview with Actor James Cromwell Before His Jail Sentence: “Capitalism is a Cancer” | Democracy Now!

Watch our extended interview with Oscar-nominated actor James Cromwell before he reports to jail Friday for taking part in a nonviolent protest against a natural gas-fired power plant.

Source: Extended Interview with Actor James Cromwell Before His Jail Sentence: “Capitalism is a Cancer” | Democracy Now!

Genetic evidence suggests the Canaanites weren’t destroyed after all | Ars Technica

“Over 90 percent of the genetic ancestry of present-day Lebanese was derived from the Canaanites,” said Chris Tyler-Smith, who was on the research team. “In light of the enormously complex history of this region in the last few millennia, it was quite surprising.”

Source: Genetic evidence suggests the Canaanites weren’t destroyed after all | Ars Technica

Julie Negrin Will Die If the ACA is Repealed | Dame Magazine

You probably don’t know Julie Negrin’s name or her story, but if Trumpcare passes the Senate, she’s likely to become a viral sensation. The 45-year old nutritionist isn’t exaggerating when she says she will die if the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is repealed and replaced by Trumpcare. She’s been saying that since the GOP announced its replacement health care plan; after all, without insurance, or with substandard insurance, her body’s already compromised systems will collapse. Over the past week, however, she’s been saying she’ll die under Trumpcare for a different reason. Negrin has made a big, life-changing decision. If Trumpcare passes, she vows to become a martyr for the health care cause by suspending all medical treatment and, as she put it in a Facebook post, “leverag[ing] the fuck out of my slow, sad, suffering, death.” Her hope? “To activate a movement to restore our healthcare system.”It takes thousands of dollars each month to keep Negrin alive, and with her current ACA plan through Blue Shield*, insurance covers most of her medical expenses, even mental health appointments (“There’s a lot of trauma with having organs cut out”) and some naturopathic services. Without ACA coverage and under Trumpcare, her pre-existing conditions will most certainly mean she won’t be able to obtain insurance – not any she can afford, anyway. And there’s no way she can pay out of pocket for the dozens of monthly medical appointments and costly treatments, as well as the check-ups she needs to make sure her multiple cancers remain in remission and that her body hasn’t been invaded by new ones.

Source: Julie Negrin Will Die If the ACA is Repealed | Dame Magazine

Why are we terrifying our neighbors’ children and deporting their parents? Kathleen Baka (Opinion) | cleveland.com

– I am a resident of Lake County. I buy plants for my yard from Lake County growers. My grass is cut, and beds mulched and weeded, by Lake County landscapers. I buy food at Lake and Geauga County farm markets.I do not know if the owners of these businesses employ undocumented workers, and I will not ask. I do know, from watching them work, that these workers, who have deep tans and often do not speak English, are very hard workers, out there in the boiling heat all day long, sometimes even on Sundays, working for those of us with more money and less incentive to do it ourselves.They are in stores buying goods with the money they earn working for low wages, at jobs we more privileged people do not want. They pay rent with the same money. They quietly go about their lives, helping to keep growers, landscapers, grocery stores, drugstores, big box stores, malls, and property owners in business. In our communities, especially Painesville, they contribute a significant amount to the local economies.

Source: Why are we terrifying our neighbors’ children and deporting their parents? Kathleen Baka (Opinion) | cleveland.com