Category Archives: human rights

“Total Monster” David Clarke Appointed To Department of Homeland Security

Clarke accused Black Lives Matter of joining forces with ISIS to bring down the United States, and called them a domestic hate group and a terrorist group. He lashed out at the Women’s March, describing the march as a “freak show” and a “riot” full of “creeps.” His sexism was out in full force when he decided to call Hillary Clinton “Mrs. Bill Clinton” and declared, bizarrely, that she was not good enough to even be an “elected dog catcher.” Clarke’s Twitter presence is about as unhinged as Donald Trump’s, who he loves.But Clarke’s actions as sheriff are far more terrifying than his words. Clarke currently faces two federal lawsuits for the death of four people at Milwaukee County Jail last year. One of those deaths involved torturing an inmate via slow and fatal dehydration, who pled to jail staff for water for ten days. Clarke’s jail staff also ignored and neglected a pregnant woman who gave birth in her jail cell. The newborn baby died and county prosecutors are considering criminal charges for neglect. His “deplorable” maintenance of his own jail, which on average kills two people every year, make him a super-villain addition to a federal department that’s made it its sole prerogative to make minority lives hell for the next four years.And those are just some of his greatest feats. Jezebel has a more exhaustive run down of Clarke’s bizarre, terrifying, racist, sexist and downright nonsensical views, actions and comments.The Department of Homeland Security has not yet confirmed Clarke’s appointment, but it’s probabaly too much to hope that they have the decency to refrain from appointing a racist murderer. While it’s exhausting to keep a tab on all of the callous, appalling actions of the Administration, we have to keep watching and name/shame all of the people, particularly Republicans, who remain silent as the Trump administration fills the federal government with the scourge of American bureaucracy, ferreting out the most vitriolic of the racists to staff their departments.

Source: “Total Monster” David Clarke Appointed To Department of Homeland Security

Is There a Point in Trying to Engage in a Dialogue With Your Oppressor? | Dame Magazine

Despite the anger of the president, who threatened the students with expulsion from their own graduation ceremony, the students stood as a group and turned their back on DeVos, indicating that they were both unwilling to listen to her and they did not recognize her right to speak to them. The students were absolutely right to do this: What is the point of trying to engage in dialogue with people who will not even recognize your basic rights to exist?

Source: Is There a Point in Trying to Engage in a Dialogue With Your Oppressor? | Dame Magazine

Inoreader – Privilege or Right? A segregating question

Certainly, there are varying degrees of privilege but they all have one thing in common – privilege acts as a prejudicial filter to how a person perceives the world.

  • A person with privilege may not understand, or forgotten, what it’s like living paycheck to paycheck.
  • A person with privilege may not understand why the Civil Rights Act is still needed.
  • A person with privilege may not understand why, for some, Obamacare was a godsend.
  • A person with privilege may not understand why in some communities law enforcement is feared rather than seen as an agency of help.
  • A person with privilege may not understand why or how life is so bad somewhere that people are willing to risk their lives and personal safety to reach the US side of the border.
  • A person with privilege may not understand how some parents choose to pay rent over buying food for their children.
  • A person with privilege may not understand someone working 18-hour days, at two jobs, still doesn’t have healthcare but will have a smartphone.
  • A person with privilege may not understand why can’t everyone just get along.

Source: Inoreader – Privilege or Right? A segregating question

A Shocking Diagnosis: Breast Implants ‘Gave Me Cancer’ – The New York Times

Late last year, an alliance of cancer centers, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, issued treatment guidelines. Experts agree that the essential first step is to remove the implant and the entire capsule of scar tissue around it. Otherwise, the disease is likely to recur, and the prognosis to worsen.Not all women have been able to get the recommended treatment. Kimra Rogers, 50, a nursing assistant in Caldwell, Idaho, learned last May that she had lymphoma, from textured implants she had for more than 10 years. But instead of removing the implants and capsules immediately, her doctor prescribed six rounds of chemotherapy and 25 rounds of radiation. A year later, she still has the implants.“Unfortunately, my doctor didn’t know the first line of defense,” Ms. Rogers said.She learned about the importance of having the implants removed only from other women in a Facebook group for those with the disease.Her health insurer, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Montana, covered the chemotherapy and radiation but has refused to pay for removal of the implants, and told her that her appeal rights were “exhausted.” (Translation: health insurance companies don’t care if you die!)

Journalist arrested for asking Trump cabinet member about healthcare bill | US news | The Guardian

The ACLU chapter said in a statement that Heyman’s arrest “is a blatant attempt to chill an independent, free press. The charges against him are outrageous, and they must be dropped immediately.”The statement added the ACLU “stands ready to fight any attempt by the government to infringe upon our First Amendment rights. What President Trump’s administration is forgetting, and what the Capitol Police forgot today, is that the government works for us. Today was a dark day for democracy. But the rule of law will prevail. The First Amendment will prevail.”According to its website, Public News Service, based in Boulder, Colorado, manages independent news services in 36 states, reporting on a variety of social, community and environmental issues. No one at the service could be reached for comment early Wednesday.

Source: Journalist arrested for asking Trump cabinet member about healthcare bill | US news | The Guardian

Days Before He Was Fired, Comey Asked for More Resources for Russia Investigation – The New York Times – Department of InJustice and #TraitorTrump

 

Days before he was fired, James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, asked the Justice Department for a significant increase in resources for the bureau’s investigation into Russia’s interference in the presidential election, according to three congressional officials who were briefed on his request.Mr. Comey asked for the resources last week from Rod J. Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, who also wrote the Justice Department’s memo that was used to justify the firing of Mr. Comey this week, the officials said.Mr. Comey then briefed members of Congress on the meeting in recent days, telling them about his meeting with Mr. Rosenstein, who is the most senior law enforcement official supervising the Russia investigation. Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself because of his close ties to the Trump campaign and his undisclosed meetings with the Russian ambassador.

A Revolving Door No More? A Statistical Profile of Mexican Adults Repatriated from the United States | migrationpolicy.org: Truth still counts for the rest of us even if still not for #TraitorTrump

Repeat migration is slowing significantly for Mexican adults removed from the United States. An official survey of Mexican adults removed or voluntarily returned by the U.S. government found an 80 percent drop in the number intending to seek re-entry, from 471,000 in 2005 to 95,000 in 2015. Overall, the share of Mexican returnees saying they intended to return to the United States fell from 95 percent in 2005 to 49 percent in 2015.This stark shift in the decision-making of Mexican returnees represents an important aspect of the changing dynamics of U.S.-Mexico migration—one worth considering as U.S. policymakers contemplate appropriating vast new sums for additional border enforcement.

Source: A Revolving Door No More? A Statistical Profile of Mexican Adults Repatriated from the United States | migrationpolicy.org

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2:36 Margo Price – Downpour (From Cover Stories: Brandi Carlile Celebrates The Story) [Audio]by BrandiCarlile

3:53 Late Morning Lullaby (From Cover Stories: Brandi Carlile Celebrates The Story) [Audio]by BrandiCarlile

3:43Losing Heart (From Cover Stories: Brandi Carlile Celebrates The Story) [Audio]by BrandiCarlile

3:45Josephine (From Cover Stories: Brandi Carlile Celebrates The Story) [Audio]by BrandiCarlile

Source: (26) BrandiCarlileVEVO – YouTube

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‘No Asylum Here’: Some Say U.S. Border Agents Rejected Them – The New York Times #TraitorTrump, #LoserTrump encourages law breaking!

Under United States and international law, everyone who asks for asylum is supposed to be allowed into the country to plead their case. But instead, they said, a Customs and Border Protection agent shooed them away.“There is no asylum here,” Francisca, 32, recalled the agent telling them. “We are not granting asylum.”Customs agents have increasingly turned away asylum seekers without so much as an interview, according to migrants and their lawyers, in a trend first noted several months ago and that appeared to accelerate after President Trump’s inauguration. That has left an untold number of migrants trapped in Mexico, where they have sometimes fallen prey to kidnappers seeking ransom or been driven into the hands of drug cartels and smugglers. Some have tried to enter the United States illegally and dangerously, through the desert or across the Rio Grande, a risky journey.

Missing Spanish woman María Jimena Rico: Spaniard who went missing in Turkey blames homophobia for her treatment | In English | EL PAÍS

The nightmare began last month. Jimena, 28, and Shaza, 21, have been together since the end of last year. On April 14, the pair flew from London, where they were both living, to Dubai, having allegedly been “duped” by the father of Shaza, who had told her that her mother was very ill. The Egyptian youngster had shortly beforehand told her family that she was gay. Once they arrived in the Emirate, they were greeted with alleged death threats, while Shaza had been reported to the authorities. “I know that her father loves her,” explained Jimena, “but his mind is so closed that he can’t understand [their relationship].”The girls managed to escape and got as far as Georgia. At the airport in the capital, Tbilisi, they planned to catch a return flight to London, but they were intercepted by Shaza’s father and other members of the family, who wanted to take her back to Dubai. An altercation took place in the airport, in which the police were involved. The authorities then took the two young women to the Turkish border.

Source: Missing Spanish woman María Jimena Rico: Spaniard who went missing in Turkey blames homophobia for her treatment | In English | EL PAÍS