Category Archives: terrorism

Polanski to preside at French Oscars: ‘We feel sick’, say French feminists – The Local

Foul!

“Making Polanski president is a snub to rape and sexual assault victims. Some people say that he is a great film-maker, that everything is relative.   “The quality of his work counts for nothing when confronted with the crime he committed, his escape from justice and his refusal to face up to his responsibilities,” she added.   Polanski, who was 43 at the time, was accused of drugging the girl before having sex with her. ‘It was 40 years ago’    He pleaded guilty to unlawful sex with a minor, or statutory rape, as part of a plea bargain under which he served 42 days in detention while undergoing psychiatric evaluation.   But in 1978, convinced that a judge was going to scrap the deal and hand him a hefty prison sentence, Polanski fled to France.

Source: Polanski to preside at French Oscars: ‘We feel sick’, say French feminists – The Local

Without Obamacare, I Will Get Sicker, Faster, Until I Die – The New York Times – But GOP does not care, not a whit!

My prognosis is not good, but Obamacare gets me the treatment I need so that I can be myself as long as possible. Without this insurance, my illness would progress more rapidly, until I died.Early on Thursday morning, the Senate voted to begin the process of repealing Obamacare. On Friday, the House followed suit. A repeal of Obamacare — without even knowing what the replacement would be — obviously makes me very scared. I used to be the one helping people as a social worker. Now I’m the one who needs help.17COMMENTSIt’s not too late for Republicans in Congress to change their minds and see reason. It will be at least a few weeks before Congress formally votes on the question of repeal.If one of the last meaningful things I can do is help even one person understand how important it is for millions of people to keep their Obamacare, then my illness will have served its purpose. For that I will be grateful.

Russia Passes a New Bill to Decriminalise Domestic Violence – The Ladies Finger

The bill was introduced by Yelena Mizulina, a senator in the Federation Council, Russia’s upper chamber of Parliament. “You don’t want people to be imprisoned for two years and labelled a criminal for the rest of their lives for a slap,” she had said back in August 2016, when she had first introduced the bill in Parliament. She went on to argue that traditional power dynamics of families should be reflected in the law — and told the Moscow Times that the law must not, “contradict the system of social values that society holds on to.” Mizulina had previously campaigned for anti-LGBTQ legislature against “gay propaganda”. But it has been reported that the bill was not a priority until Vladimir Putin intervened. Apart from starting the change.org petition, Popova also condemned the bill on a Facebook post, arguing that the bill will mean that, “an offender will now beat [his relatives] and pay a small fine.”

Source: Russia Passes a New Bill to Decriminalise Domestic Violence – The Ladies FingerThe Ladies Finger

Why Women Aren’t Welcome on the Internet – Amanda Hess

My harasser finally acquiesced to the protection order when my lawyer showed him that we knew the blog comments were coming from his computer — he had made a valiant attempt to obscure his comments, but he’d slipped up in a couple of instances, and we could prove the rape threats were his. When the judge approved the order, she instructed my harasser that he was not allowed to contact me in any way — not by email, Twitter, phone, blog comment, or by hiring a hot air balloon to float over my house with a message, she said. And he had to stay at least 100 feet away from me at all times. The restraining order would last one year.Soon after the order expired, he sent an email to my new workplace.

Source: Why Women Aren’t Welcome on the Internet

Men and women who threaten and/or incite criminal abuse against others on the internet and other digital and analog devices should not be allowed to do so. All organizations participating in facilitating the transmission of such abuse should be held financially accountable for the harm caused by such communications. Each transmission of such a message should constitute an individual criminal act.

US shoe company recalls boot that ‘mistakenly’ leaves swastika prints – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) Not a mistake – they just got caught being stupid trying to profit off of racism and hate.

Conal said it did “not promote hate or discrimination of any kind” and was investigating what had gone wrong.The Reddit post, which has been viewed more than 3 million times, sparked a flurry of jokes on social media.On Amazon, where the boots were sold before being pulled by the company, users left reviews describing the boots as “good for marching into Poland, but not so much for anything else”, and rating them a “nein out of ten”.Other Reddit users pointed out the boot style shared its name — Polar Fox — with that of the codename for a German and Finnish military operation in World War II.

Source: US shoe company recalls boot that ‘mistakenly’ leaves swastika prints – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Pakistan honour killings continue despite tough new laws – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Who encourages these brainless disempowered and cowardly “Un-men?”

Children discovered his crime

It was Khan’s young neighbours who discovered his crime.The children were playing cricket barefoot in the dirt street of their Karachi slum when they heard screams and shouting from one of the houses and rushed over.”We peeped inside and we saw our neighbour, Hayat Khan, was carrying a long knife and was beating his sister,” says 11-year-old Nawaz.”He was abusing her in their Pashto language.”Khan was stabbing 16-year-old Sumaira in a frenzied attack, and deliberately cut her throat.”There was blood all around and she was twitching,” recalls Nawaz.Watched by neighbours who alerted police, Khan dragged his seriously injured sister outside the house, then sat beside her body and checked her mobile phone.

Source: Pakistan honour killings continue despite tough new laws – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Italy boat migrant numbers surge 20% in 2016 – The Local – “This is what greed, fear, war, hate, sexism, racism, profiteering brings all over the world!”

Migrants and refugees wait to be transferred from Malta’s Topaz Responder ship after being rescued off the coast of Libya on November 5, 2016.

Source: Italy boat migrant numbers surge 20% in 2016 – The Local

Is Marine Le Pen’s Russian cash pipeline drying up? – France 24 – Wonder how much they lent to Trump?

The Eurosceptic, anti-immigrant party had heaved a sigh of relief in September 2014, when it secured a €9 million loan from Russian lender First Czech-Russian Bank (FCRB).The decision to take out the loan, even as the rest of Europe was slapping sanctions on Moscow over its actions in Ukraine, kicked up a storm in France, where it was widely seen as evidence of Le Pen’s growing coziness with the Kremlin.The FN is France’s only party to have hailed Russia’s annexation of Crimea. It regularly praises Russian President Vladimir Putin as a “patriot” and a bulwark for traditional European values.But then the Russian bank went bust last year, and Le Pen lost a financial lifeline.According to Russian and French media reports, the Moscow-based Deposit Insurance Agency (SVA), which administers FCRB’s assets and debts, has now started legal proceedings to get the money back.

Source: Is Marine Le Pen’s Russian cash pipeline drying up? – France 24

Chilean court imposes heavier sentences on German cult leaders | News | DW.COM | 31.12.2016 “Wonder, how many more have not been identified? And who frequents them?”

A court in the Chilean capital, Santiago, has lengthened by one year sentences already imposed on three Germans found guilty of forming a criminal organization at “Colonia Dignidad,” a German colony located in the Andean foothills.The three men – Kurt Schnellenkamp, Gerhard Mücke and Karl van den Berg – were among the leaders of the commune, now called “Villa Baviera,” where systematic child abuse took place between 1961 and 1997. They have now been sentenced to five years and one day in prison.The 15,000-hectare (37,066-acre) settlement, sealed off from the rest of the world, was also used as a secret detention and torture center for political prisoners during the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet from 1973-1990. Several opponents of the Pinochet regime were murdered there. Paul Schäfer was arrested in Argentina in 2005The court also handed down similar sentences to former Chilean intelligence agents Fernando Gomez and Pedro Espinoza. Four other defendants were released.”Colonia Dignidad” was founded in 1961 by cult leader Paul Schäfer, an ex-Nazi corporal, who fled Germany for Chile with 250 followers after authorities in his home country began to investigate him for sexual abuse of children.Schäfer was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2006 for his role at the “Colonia Dignidad,” and died in prison in 2010, aged 88.

Source: Chilean court imposes heavier sentences on German cult leaders | News | DW.COM | 31.12.2016

176 settlers break into the yards of Al-Aqsa mosque – PNN “What do you call it when people break into your place of worship to hold their rites, not yours?”

176 Israeli settlers on Wednesday morning broke into the yards of the Al-Aqsa mosque in consecutive small groups, heavily protected by Israeli special forces.Local sources in Jerusalem said that extremist settlers have entered the mosque from the Mughrabi gate by Israeli police, and carried out Talmudic rituals in it.

Source: 176 settlers break into the yards of Al-Aqsa mosque – PNN