Category Archives: Viva!

The US Department of Justice is literally prosecuting a woman for laughing at Jeff Sessions – Vox

The trial will continue at the Superior Court in DC this week. If convicted, Fairooz faces a fine up to $500 and up to six months’ imprisonment for the laugh-related charge. She is also charged with another misdemeanor for “allegedly parading, demonstrating or picketing within a Capitol, evidently for her actions after she was being escorted from the room,” Reilly reported.Fairooz has a history of disruptive protests. During protests over the Iraq War, she put fake blood on her hands and confronted then–Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.This time, however, Fairooz claims she was not trying to be disruptive — but merely laughing.These details are all salient for the legal case, but it’s important not to lose sight of the big picture here: The federal government is literally prosecuting someone for laughing. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the Justice Department — which Sessions now leads as attorney general — is doing the prosecuting when the laughter was directed at its leader. At the very least, it’s not a good look for the top law enforcement agency in the country.

Source: The US Department of Justice is literally prosecuting a woman for laughing at Jeff Sessions – Vox

Trump claims that he was the one that got China to stop manipulating its currency: Shanghaiist – It would be an insult to Bozo to call this guy a bozo – #TraitorTrump, #LoserTrump will have to do

In fact, in an April 2nd interview with the Financial Times, Trump said that the Chinese were the “world champions” of currency manipulation, repeating a claim he had also made in February, when he told Reuters that “I think they’re grand champions at manipulation of currency.”However, Trump abruptly changed his tune on the issue after meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida later in April. In a flip-flopping Wall Street Journal interview following the summit, Trump said that China was not manipulating its currency and brushed aside the idea that he would label China a currency manipulator while it was helping to resolve the North Korea crisis.

Source: Trump claims that he was the one that got China to stop manipulating its currency: Shanghaiist

(15) MELANIE SAFKA Dust in the Wind – YouTube

I close my eyes, only for a moment, and the moment’s gone

All my dreams, pass before my eyes, a curiosity

Dust in the wind, all they are is dust in the wind

Same old song, just a drop of water in an endless sea

All we do, crumbles to the ground, though we refuse to see

Dust in the wind,

All we are is dust in the wind

Don’t hang on, nothing lasts forever but the earth and sky

It slips away, and all your money won’t another minute buy

Dust in the wind,

All we are is dust in the wind

Dust in the wind,

Everything is dust in the wind

Young, Idealistic but Determined, Slovaks Lead Anticorruption Crusade – The New York Times

Immediately after the high schoolers dropped off their single-page manifesto at the government’s official complaints office on the day of the march, they made their way through the baroque city center of Bratislava to a square where a few hundred people had already started gathering.“The state should respect our parents and not steal from them and lie,” Mr. Straka explained without breaking step, as glowering clouds loomed over nearby Bratislava Castle and a steady sprinkle of icy droplets fell from the slate sky.

German minister refers to ‘nepotism’ regarding Ivanka Trump’s role – The Local

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel on Saturday criticised Ivanka Trump’s role as an adviser to her father in the White House, describing it as a form of “nepotism.””For me there are things that remain strange, like for example the visit of his daughter to Germany which was treated almost like a world event, while the mix of politics with family and business reminds us instead of nepotism and would be unimaginable here,” he said. Gabriel was referring to the visit to Berlin of Ivanka Trump this week to take part in a women’s empowerment summit at the invitation of conservative German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Source: German minister refers to ‘nepotism’ regarding Ivanka Trump’s role – The Local

Silence of a Chink: Collected pieces from a survivor of gang rape and suicide wrestling with her Japanese American identity: Stephanie Shiori Okuaki: Amazon.com: Books

Review: Not So Silence of a Japanese True Survivor! ByTaneyshia Flemingson January 4, 2017

It was well written and brought tears to my eyes. I picked it up and couldn’t put it down. Two glasses of wine later and I was finished with the book. It is hard to see someone write about so much pain and suffering, yet lives to tell you about it. This person is truly a blessing and a survivor!

No bones needed: ancient DNA in soil can tell if humans were around | Ars Technica

The researchers also checked that their results lined up with the existing archaeological record. In three different caves, they found Neanderthal DNA in places where Neanderthal bones had previously been found, exactly where you would expect it to be.These signs that the method was working reliably meant that the researchers could move on to sites whose previous occupants were unknown. That included the discovery of Neanderthal DNA with the tools in Denisova Cave. Neanderthal DNA also showed up in Trou Al’Wesse in Belgium, where tools and animal bones have suggested Neanderthal presence, but no Neanderthal bones have ever been found.“It’s a really well-conducted study,” says Mikkel Winther Pedersen, a researcher who specializes in ancient DNA and wasn’t involved in the paper. They’re building on a solid body of existing research on these methods, he says, and the results are important for archaeology—not just because of the findings, but because it means that it’s possible to actually use “what the archaeologists usually just throw away: the dirt. Save the dirt!”

Source: No bones needed: ancient DNA in soil can tell if humans were around | Ars Technica

X where the roads meet #atozchallenge #Uganda

penned in moon dust

Can I paint a picture for you where four roads meet and a story is told?

A young man closes his eyes and I hear a six-year-old huff and puff as  his feet dash  from tree to tree.

“Please soldiers don’t look up from your noon day sleep.”

He and his family run back to their hut to get some of their belongings.

“There it is the book that my teacher gave me to read.”

A dusty road forks and a long line of refugees trudge southward.

“No one wants you” people wave their hands to ward them off.

makeshift wooden buildings are put up in the south

“Stay here. No one cares.”

Some at the end of the war don’t return the journey is too painful

Others have lived on the edge of the war  zone – waiting

The dust on the road finally clears

one family then two…

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خمس دقائق من اجل المعتقلين

نادية حرحش

هناك جو عام يبثه الاضراب به بعض الاختلاف. يذكرني نوعا ما بزمن الانتفاضة الاولى.

ولكن نحن لسنا في ذلك الزمن . والتغيرات التي حدثت منذ الانتفاضة الأولى غيرتنا وتغيرت فيها الظروف والشخوص.

الملفت فيما يجري ان الحراك الوطني لم يتغير الا في اسماء الشخوص الذين يقومون عليه . في زمن الانتفاضة الأولى عندما عشنا في إضرابات دامت لسنوات , كانت روحنا مختلفة وقضيتنا عامة . وفوق كل شيء ذاك الزمن تطلب هكذا حراك.

أتابع ما يجري من حراك للتضامن مع اضراب الاسرى واشعر بالحزن والعجز. حزن وعجز اتكافأ بهما مع الاسرى الفعليين. عجز لا يحتاج في حالتنا الى تكبيل او قضبان. فالتكبيل والقيود والقضبان داخلية تسكننا.

لا افهم لماذا لا تتغير التقنيات والاليات المستخدمة مع اننا نتعامل مع جيل مختلف وجديد. اقرأ في ما ترسله اللجنة العليا للتضامن مع الاسرى ولا يسعني الا ان احزن اكثر. هذه الخطابات السياسية التعبوية الم ينته زمنها بعد ؟ ليوم في عالم التواصل الاجتماعي…

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