Category Archives: human rights

FBI covered up Russian influence on Trump’s election win, Harry Reid claims | US news | The Guardian

Harry Reid, outgoing Senate minority leader, compared FBI director James Comey to the agency’s notorious founder, J Edgar Hoover, and called for his resignation. A secret CIA analysis found that people with connections to the Russian government provided emails, hacked from the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s campaign, to the whistleblower website WikiLeaks in the final months of the election, according to a Washington Post report published late Friday.“ The FBI had this material for a long time but Comey, who is of course a Republican, refused to divulge specific information about Russia and the presidental election,” Reid told MSNBC’s AM Joy on Saturday.  Comey testified to Congress in July that he was no longer a registered Republican, though he belonged to the party most of his life. “Everyone should know WikiLeaks was involved from the very beginning,” Reid continued. “They leaked the information as if it was run by one of the great political operatives in America when in fact it was run by the political operatives in Russia. “Russia has a pretty good way of cheating. Look at what they did with athletes,” he added, alluding to the long-running doping scandal of Russian Olympic athletes.Pressed on whether he believed Comey had information on Russia’s influence and sat on it, Reid replied: “That’s right, that is true.”Advertisement“I am so disappointed in Comey. He has let the country down for partisan purposes and that’s why I call him the new J Edgar Hoover, because I believe that,” Reid added, calling for the director’s resignation.

Source: FBI covered up Russian influence on Trump’s election win, Harry Reid claims | US news | The Guardian

Watch: What is the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act? | The Electronic Intifada

 

the lead author of the anti-Semitism definition used by the State Department, Kenneth Stern, is urging US lawmakers not to advance the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act.In a letter to the House Judiciary Committee, Stern warns that incorporating the definition of anti-Semitism into law would be “unconstitutional and unwise” and would “actually harm Jewish students and have a toxic effect on the academy.”“I disagree with BDS,” Stern writes, “but it is wrong to say that BDS is inherently a form of anti-Semitism, and even if it were it would be improper to try and censor pro-BDS campus activity, which is political speech and should be answered by more speech and education, not suppression.”In the video, we speak about the history of Israel advocacy groups’ attempts to move the Department of Education to classify Palestinian rights activism as a form of discrimination and their increasing reliance on undemocratic measures to suppress the growing BDS movement.

Source: Watch: What is the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act? | The Electronic Intifada

Study confirms 4-fold rise in Zika microcephaly in Colombia | CIDRAP

Over the past year, experts have wondered if Colombia—hit with Zika virus after Brazil—would see a rise in Zika-related microcephaly similar to that witnessed in Brazil. Colombia has officially reported some microcephaly cases (476, including 44 pregnancy losses), but nowhere near the level seen in Brazil, raising questions about the impact of the virus.

Source: Study confirms 4-fold rise in Zika microcephaly in Colombia | CIDRAP

The Rolling Stones. sympathy for the devil. (powerful images) – YouTube Deja vu too 1968-2016

warning: this video contains images that may cause upset.I put up some of the most powerful photographs we have all more than likely seen at some point in our lives.the things we humans do to each other!they all seemed to fit with the music.

Assaulted Muslim MTA Employee Blames Trump For Rise In Hate Crimes: Gothamist

An off-duty Muslim MTA employee was assaulted and harassed yesterday by a man at Grand Central who allegedly called her a “terrorist.” Soha Salama, 45, was pushed down a flight of stairs by a man who she says shouted the Islamophobic slurs at her. In a subsequent interview, Salama told the NY Post she had never experienced anything like this before, and blames the recent uptick in hate crimes on the election of Donald Trump.”I think this hate is raised after the election,” Salama told the Post. “During the Obama administration this hate wasn’t there. It’s because of the hate speeches we hear on the media. In the 20 years I live here, I didn’t experience something like that. As soon as the election and Mr. Trump spreads this hate speech around, it’s different now. He leads the people in the wrong direction.”

Source: Assaulted Muslim MTA Employee Blames Trump For Rise In Hate Crimes: Gothamist

Israel singled out African scholar for deportation, world church group says | The Electronic Intifada

The World Council of Churches has strongly condemned Israel’s deportation of its associate general secretary Dr. Isabel Apawo Phiri.In a statement on Tuesday, the Geneva-based ecumenical organization said that Apawo Phiri had been “apprehended, interrogated and deported” upon arrival at Tel Aviv airport.The World Council of Churches said it “deeply regrets the Israeli antagonism against the WCC’s initiatives for peace with justice for both Palestinians and Israelis.”Apawo Phiri was the only African member of a WCC staff delegation and “the only one denied entry,” according to the group. The reason Israeli authorities provided, according to WCC, was “prevention of illegal immigration considerations.”The WCC said it had instructed lawyers to appeal against “this patently unjust and discriminatory action.”

Source: Israel singled out African scholar for deportation, world church group says | The Electronic Intifada

No Women Were Harmed in the Making of this Movie – The Ladies Finger

Perhaps if there was less of a tendency to idolise these directors’ genius, their impulsive, violent and deeply sexist whims would not be misconstrued as an acceptable flexing of creative license muscle, and be exposed instead for what it really is. When Maria Schneider cried in that scene, her tears were real. This is what Bertolucci and Brando prized. This is what we should remember before we congratulate them for their commitment to real art.

Source: No Women Were Harmed in the Making of this Movie – The Ladies FingerThe Ladies Finger

Both Feeling Threatened, American Muslims and Jews Join Hands – The New York Times

After joining in blessings over home-baked challah and sparkling grape juice (instead of wine, out of consideration for the Muslims), Ms. Firdaus talked with four Jewish women she had never met before, balancing plates of Indian food on their laps. They found that the spate of hate crimes and the ominous talk by Mr. Trump or his advisers about barring Muslims from entering the country and registering those living here had caused all of them to think about Germany in the years before the Holocaust.“When did you know it was time to leave?” Ms. Firdaus asked one woman who had just recounted how her relatives had fled the Nazis. “The ones that didn’t leave are the ones who went to Auschwitz.”The Jewish women tried to convince her that they would not let it come to that. “If Muslims have to register, we’re all going to register,” said Mahela Morrow-Jones, who is helping to build the first West Coast chapter of the Sisterhood in Santa Barbara, Calif. “You’ve got to believe it, sister.”Groups are reaching out not just to clergy members, but also to laypeople, including business executives, students and women.

Source: Both Feeling Threatened, American Muslims and Jews Join Hands – The New York Times

In Washington Pizzeria Attack, Fake News Brought Real Guns – The New York Times

Edgar M. Welch, a 28-year-old father of two from Salisbury, N.C., recently read online that Comet Ping Pong, a pizza restaurant in northwest Washington, was harboring young children as sex slaves as part of a child-abuse ring led by Hillary Clinton.The articles making those allegations were widespread across the web, appearing on sites including Facebook and Twitter. Apparently concerned, Mr. Welch drove about six hours on Sunday from his home to Comet Ping Pong to see the situation for himself, according to court documents. Not long after arriving at the pizzeria, the police said, he fired from an assault-like AR-15 rifle. The police arrested him. They found two weapons in the restaurant, a rifle and a handgun. No one was hurt.In an arraignment on Monday, a heavily tattooed Mr. Welch, wearing a white jumpsuit and shackles, was ordered held. According to the criminal complaint, he told the authorities that he was armed to help rescue children but that he surrendered peacefully after finding no evidence that “children were being harbored in the restaurant.” He was charged with four counts, including felony assault with a deadly weapon and carrying a gun without a license outside a home or business.Unbeknown to Mr. Welch, what he had been reading online were fake news articles about Comet Ping Pong, which have swollen in number over time. The false articles against the pizzeria began appearing on social networks and websites in late October, not long before the presidential election, with the restaurant identified as being the headquarters for a child-trafficking ring.

Source: In Washington Pizzeria Attack, Fake News Brought Real Guns – The New York Times

Walter Scott’s Mother and Lawyer React to Mistrial – Video – NYTimes.com

Walter Scott’s Mother and Lawyer React to Mistrial

By REUTERS | Dec. 5, 2016 | 0:53L. Chris Stewart, the lawyer for the family of Walter L. Scott, the black man who was shot dead by the former South Carolina police officer Michael T. Slager, spoke after news of Mr. Slager’s mistrial, as did Mr. Scott’s mother. Mr. Stewart said that the officer had “delayed” justice but that he would not “escape” it.

Source: Walter Scott’s Mother and Lawyer React to Mistrial – Video – NYTimes.com