Category Archives: racism

Why Rwanda Accuses France of Aiding 1994 Genocide · Global Voices

1) France commanded some branches of the Rwandan army against the rebels of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF).

2) France feared that the Tutsi offensive was remotely piloted via Uganda by anglophone countries and was intended to drive a wedge into the influence of France in the region.

3) France did not seem overly interested in peace negotiations before the conflict.

4) The soldiers did not evacuate any  of the Tutsi staff present at the Embassy of France (except for one person). They ended all being killed.

5) As for Operation Turquoise, it continues to divide: it certainly saved Tutsi lives, but the army is accused of having remained passive – and therefore was accomplice – to the atrocities.

via Why Rwanda Accuses France of Aiding 1994 Genocide · Global Voices.

CENSORED NEWS: US Senators push to terminate portion of Arapaho’s Wind River land

A new push by U.S. Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., to

terminate a portion of the Wind River Reservation should appall and worry Native

American people everywhere, Northern Arapaho leaders said Tuesday.

Draft legislation by Enzi, and supported by Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., would eliminate

the reservation status of a significant portion of Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone

homeland in central Wyoming.

“It’s chilling to see this kind of attack on Indian Country in 2014,” said Northern Arapaho

Business Council Chairman Darrell O’Neal.

The bill is a response to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to treat the

Wind River tribes as a state under the Clean Air Act. A detailed legal analysis in the EPA

decision concluded that the town of Riverton is part of the Wind River Reservation, a

position the tribes have always held.

via CENSORED NEWS: US Senators push to terminate portion of Arapaho’s Wind River land.

Hobby Lobby Invested In Numerous Abortion And Contraception Products While Claiming Religious Objection

According to the Green family, interfering with an already fertilized egg is tantamount to abortion—an act unacceptable to the family and one they refuse to participate in no matter what the Affordable Care Act may require .

However, it turns out that the owners of Hobby Lobby do not appear to have any problem with profiting from the companies that manufacture the very products that so grievously offend their religious principles.

The following is a summation of the companies manufacturing these products that are held by the Hobby Lobby employee retirement plan, as set forth by Ms. Redden’s remarkable reporting:

These companies include Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, which makes Plan B and ParaGard, a copper IUD, and Actavis ACT +1.64%, which makes a generic version of Plan B and distributes Ella. Other holdings in the mutual funds selected by Hobby Lobby include Pfizer PFE -0.53%, the maker of Cytotec and Prostin E2, which are used to induce abortions; Bayer , which manufactures the hormonal IUDs Skyla and Mirena; AstraZeneca AZN +0.77%, which has an Indian subsidiary that manufactures Prostodin, Cerviprime, and Partocin, three drugs commonly used in abortions; and Forest Laboratories, which makes Cervidil, a drug used to induce abortions. Several funds in the Hobby Lobby retirement plan also invested in Aetna AET +0.11% and Humana, two health insurance companies that cover surgical abortions, abortion drugs, and emergency contraception in many of the health care policies they sell.

via Hobby Lobby Invested In Numerous Abortion And Contraception Products While Claiming Religious Objection.

Weekend Gun Report: Don’t let your child be shot and killed by accident, if you are Hispanic and in North Carolina…

Often when a child is accidentally shot by a friend or family member no one goes to jail, the reasoning being that the shooter has suffered enough. As a result, the penalty for such shootings varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.

On Christmas Eve last year, 2-month-old Kestyn Davis was shot to death by her father, who was playing with a 9-mm handgun at their East Lampeter, Pa., home. G. Scott Davis, 36, pleaded guilty, but a judge decided not to imprison him, saying it would compound a tragedy and serve no purpose. The judge instead sentenced him to six years of probation, saying that he was “certain this is something that will haunt you the rest of your life.”

Davis said the day of the shooting replays in his mind daily, and told the judge that he loved his daughter. “I was so proud of my wife and family. I had such big dreams for her,” he said.

In October, 4-year-old Zoie Dougan was shot in the head and killed by a man who was target shooting in his backyard in Rogersville, Mo. The man had no idea Zoie was in range of his .22 caliber rifle as he took aim at a pile of trash, and he was reportedly distraught. The Christian County Prosecutor decided earlier this month not to file charges.

The girl’s mother, Alyssa, cried hysterically at the scene, but also reportedly told police, “Don’t let (him) get in trouble, it was an accident.” The man, who has not been identified, told officers he knew shooting at that location “wasn’t good judgment. I understand that.”

But Jeffery David Perez, 32, was charged with involuntary manslaughter and failure to secure a firearm when his 4-year-old son, Killian Perez, died while playing with a handgun in Fayetteville, N.C., last November. Perez, a soldier in the United States Army who was stationed at Fort Bragg, was home alone watching his son and two twin babies when the victim grabbed the loaded handgun from the top of a refrigerator and shot himself.

In the wake of shooting, Fayetteville police said that parents should have a safe in their homes so kids do not confuse a gun for a toy. “Our children sometimes just don’t know the difference and that’s kind of what happened in this case,” Sgt. Steven Bates said.

Here is today’s report.

via Weekend Gun Report: March 28-30, 2014 – NYTimes.com.

Bank of America to pay $9.3B to settle Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac claims – San Francisco Business Times

If you stole $900 from a corner store, you could do 5 or more years in prison. If you steal more than $9 billion, no jail just a negotiated fine…

What a day for BofA.

Charlotte-based Bank of America Corp. Wednesday afternoon announced it will pay $9.3 billion in cash penalties plus mortgage bond repurchases to settle all outstanding mortgage-backed-securities claims brought by federal housing giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

via Bank of America to pay $9.3B to settle Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac claims – San Francisco Business Times.

Settlers destroy solar panels in south Hebron hills | Maan News Agency

A group of settlers from the illegal outpost of Mitzpe Yair on Thursday attacked and destroyed solar panels belonging to a Palestinian community in the south Hebron hills, locals said.

Witnesses told Ma’an that the settlers destroyed three out of five solar panels providing electricity to the small village of Khirbet Bir al-Idd.

The attackers fled before villagers arrived at the scene.

Local officials filed a complaint at an Israeli police station, where officers said they would search for the attackers.

Villagers told Ma’an that settlers frequently attack their property in an attempt to get them to leave the land so nearby Israeli settlements can be expanded.

via Settlers destroy solar panels in south Hebron hills | Maan News Agency.

Kevin Brady assumes if you are out of work – you are a drug addict?

H.R. 4310: To direct the Secretary of Labor to issue implementing regulations for drug testing under State unemployment …

… compensation programs, and for other purposes.

Introduced:

Mar 26, 2014

Sponsor:

Rep. Kevin Brady [R-TX8]

via To direct the Secretary of Labor to issue implementing regulations for drug testing under State unemployment compensation programs, and for other purposes. (H.R. 4310) – GovTrack.us.

Redskins Owner Starts Charity So That You’ll Forget About the Racist Team Name – The Wire

Crippling poverty and institutional racism are both bad things, and just because eradicating poverty is more urgent than changing a racist team name does not mean that the latter issue ceases to exist. This is, of course, not even broaching the idea that poverty and racism might somehow be intertwined.

via Redskins Owner Starts Charity So That You’ll Forget About the Racist Team Name – The Wire.

“The fundamentalists that strike Christians also threaten the local Imam”, said the apostolic administrator of Mombasa – Fides News Agency

“I do not know who committed the attack against the Evangelical church, but most probably it was committed by a group of fundamentalists”, says to Fides Agency His Exc. Mgr. Emanuel Barbara, Bishop of Malindi and Apostolic Administrator of Mombasa, where yesterday, March 23, an attack was carried out against the evangelical Church of Likoni, during the Sunday celebration.

“I was not in Mombasa, but I was informed immediately over the phone by my collaborators about what had happened”, says Mgr. Barbara. “According to what I was told, a gunman came shooting out the back door of the church, while the other two accomplices were at the main door to prevent the faithful to escape. Four people died on the spot and 21 were injured”. According to local media, two of the people admitted to the hospital died later.

“The area of Mombasa is considered the stronghold of an Islamist movement of secession” adds the Bishop. “These groups even threaten the local Imam, accused of being moderate”.

“In Kenya – continues the Bishop – it is believed that these groups are funded by some businessmen in Mombasa. The majority of the members of these groups are young people from Somalia, but there are also local youth who shoot and kill just for money, not because they are religious fanatics”.

“Pray for us and especially for the conversion of the hearts of these young people, so they do not commit violence”, concluded Bishop Barbara. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 24/03/2014)

via “The fundamentalists that strike Christians also threaten the local Imam”, said the apostolic administrator of Mombasa – Fides News Agency.

Dennis Banks Calls for the Reinvigorating of the American Indian Movement

To reinvigorate AIM, Banks, 77, has called for a national and international gathering of AIM families, chapters, support groups and individuals to meet during the first week of October 2014 in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

“It’s an invitation to a lot of people to come together to reinvigorate AIM. We have to have a voice. With where we are today, we should be more professional and be issuing statements on Native issues, such as ICWA,” Banks commented to the Native News Online.

“The Green Bay chapter of AIM will be hosting this meeting,” Banks said. “I have AIM chapters asking me all the time why AIM is not meeting on these issues. As a matter of fact, it was the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate grassroots group that has been pushing for this.”

via Dennis Banks Calls for the Reinvigorating of the American Indian Movement.