Category Archives: Viva!

Tommy Robinson banned from Facebook and Instagram

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Far-right founder of English Defence League repeatedly breached hate speech rules

Tommy Robinson, the far-right founder of the English Defence League, has been permanently banned from Facebook and Instagram for repeatedly breaking policies on hate speech, Facebook said.

The company said Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, broke rules that ban public calls for violence against people based on protected characteristics; rules that ban supporting or appearing with organised hate groups; and policies that prevent people from using the site to bully others.

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Gunboat diplomacy can only harm Britain’s relationship with China | Liu Xiaoming

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Our cooperation is like a symphony: it relies on mutual respect and trust to keep out the noises of enmity

• Liu Xiaoming is China’s ambassador to the UK

A certain British politician’s hyping up of the “China threat” in a recent speech struck a discordant note with the mainstream view in the UK that the country has a strong and constructive relationship with China. It has led me to think about how much could be learned from the world-class concerts by London’s leading symphony orchestra that I have attended, the beauty of which comes from the harmony of various sounds and the coordination between the players. If the China-UK relationship were compared to a symphony, its success would depend on close coordination between the two countries and a firm resistance to interruptions and noises.

In this symphony, China and the UK rely on mutual respect and trust to keep us in tune, and keep out the noise of enmity and confrontation.

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Iceberg twice the size of New York City is set to break off of Antarctica

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Once a rapidly spreading rift intersects with another fissure, an iceberg of at least 660sq miles is set to be loosened, Nasa says

An iceberg roughly twice the size of New York City is set to break away from an Antarctic ice shelf as a result of a rapidly spreading rift that is being monitored by Nasa.

A crack along part of the Brunt ice shelf in Antarctica first appeared in October 2016, according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa). The crack is spreading to the east. This rift, known as a Halloween crack, is set to intersect with another fissure that was apparently stable for the past 35 years but is now accelerating north at a rate of around 2.5 miles a year.

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Another referendum has edged closer. With Labour behind it, remain can win | Zoe Williams

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The prospect of a public vote is a triumph for the Labour grassroots. They’ve been preparing for two years

No unnamed Labour source can mask what’s happened, and no professional Corbyn-sceptics can derail it. There is now a real prospect of another referendum. Labour has committed to several parliamentary manoeuvres including one final stab at its own Brexit, which will certainly fail; another to support Yvette Cooper’s attempt to push no deal further into the realm of destructive fantasy, where it belongs; and a vote on an amendment demanding that any Brexit deal approved by the Commons must be ratified in a public referendum. In that public vote, Labour will campaign to remain in the EU.

“Sources” within Labour continue to deny this new reality, even as its senior frontbenchers have announced it. “It’s a disgrace,” one told me, “that unelected, unsourced voices are briefing against Labour’s frontbench.” “If they want to speak for the Labour party,” a staffer said, “they should stand for the Labour party.” The position as it stands now is not the seismic shift some suggest. It is a continuation of the policy adopted at Labour’s party conference last September. And credit for it belongs with the grassroots of the Labour party.

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H.R. 1336: To require the Federal Government to provide mental health services to each child who has been separated from one or more parent as a result of implementation of the Trump Administration’s zero tolerance policy at the United States border, and

Introduced: Sponsor: Rep. Nanette Barragán [D-CA44]

This bill was referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and House Committee on the Judiciary which will consider it before sending it to the House floor for consideration.

Rep. Nanette Barragán [D-CA44] is a member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

H.R. 1346: To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for an option for individuals who are ages 50 to 64 to buy into Medicare, to provide for health insurance market stabilization, and for other purposes.

Introduced: Sponsor: Rep. Brian Higgins [D-NY26]

This bill was referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and House Committee on Ways and Means which will consider it before sending it to the House floor for consideration.

Rep. Brian Higgins [D-NY26] is a member of the House Committee on Ways and Means.

Trump’s new rule to defund family planning hits the most vulnerable | Moira Donegan

Illegal!

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The regulations, designed to remove Planned Parenthood funding, would make it impossible for low-income patients to receive reproductive health services

On Friday, the Trump administration inflicted yet another bit of needless, bigoted cruelty when it announced that it would bar organizations that provide abortions or abortion referrals from receiving funding under Title X, the federal family planning program.

Related: Yes, I do want your taxes to pay for abortion | Moira Donegan

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Movement for Black Lives backs leaders hit with anti-Semitism smears

The Movement for Black Lives comes out in support of Black progressive leaders such as Ilhan Omar, Angela Davis, and Marc Lamont Hill, who have been targeted for speaking out in favor of Palestinian rights.

U.S. Congresswoman Ilhan Omar. (Leopaltik1242/CC BY-SA 4.0)

U.S. Congresswoman Ilhan Omar. (Leopaltik1242/CC BY-SA 4.0)

The Movement for Black Lives (M4BL), a coalition of more than 50 organizations representing black Americans, this week came out strongly in support of Black progressive leaders who have spoken out in favor of Palestinian rights and defending them against charges of anti-Semitism they have faced as a result.

[tmwinpost]

Charges of anti-Semitism against progressive black Americans, the movement said in a statement, have been “leveled to silence criticism of the Israeli government, to regulate behavior and to try and mute independent Black political voices that are connected to communities across the country and abroad.”

The last few years have seen an increasing number of prominent Black Americans openly criticizing the policies of the Israeli government. In recent months, that criticism has exacted a price, with American pro-Israel groups accusing figures such as Angela Davis, Michelle Alexander, Marc Lamont Hill, and recently Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, of anti-Semitism.

For Davis, her support for BDS led to a prestigious civil rights award being rescinded following pressure by pro-Israel groups (the decision was later annulled, following backlash). For Hill, espousing freedom and equality for Israelis and Palestinians alike meant losing his job as a CNN commentator. For Omar, it meant facing the wrath of one of the most powerful lobbies in the United States.

“We categorically reject the erroneous assumption that all criticism of the Israeli government is anti-Semitic,” continued the statement. “This strategy, that has included things like firings and public character assassinations of leaders, is intended to undermine, censor and silence Black leadership, while ignoring our movement’s history of internationalism, particularly our consistent condemnation of all forms of anti-Semitism.”

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The attacks, which M4BL likened to the McCarthyist witch-hunts of the 1950s, are part of the right’s attempts to distort the “history of anti-Jewish violence and oppression, then use this misrepresentation as a tool to promote a right-wing nationalist agenda — at home and abroad,”it said.

“[The] long-standing aversion to Black leaders expressing views on foreign policy persists today because of anti-Black racism and a fear of solidarity across movements in this country and abroad,” the statement continued.

Black Lives Matter activists organize a die-in action outside Memorial Church in Harvard University on December 7, 2014 in Cambridge, Mass. (Tess Scheflan/Activestills.org)

Black Lives Matter activists organize a die-in action outside Memorial Church in Harvard University on December 7, 2014 in Cambridge, Mass. (Tess Scheflan/Activestills.org)

This is not the first time M4BL has spoken out on issues relating to Palestinian human rights. In 2016, the movement published a comprehensive platform that addresses the systemic racism and violence faced by Black communities.

The platform also demanded the U.S. government cut foreign aid to Israel, among other human rights abusers, and redirect it toward “domestic infrastructure and social programs to meet the needs of Black people and working-class communities within the U.S.”

The movement was heavily criticized at the time for claiming that the United States government, through its funding of the Israeli military and arms industry, “is complicit in the genocide taking place against the Palestinian people.”

The post Movement for Black Lives backs leaders hit with anti-Semitism smears appeared first on +972 Magazine.

Donald Trump clashes with his own trade chief in front of Chinese delegation – video

US president Donald Trump has argued with his US trade chief during a televised trade meeting. When asked a question about trade talks with China, which have been taking place over the weekend, Donald Trump said he is against using memoranda of understanding [MOUs]. ‘I don’t like MOUs because they don’t mean anything. To me they don’t mean anything,’ Trump said. Robert Lighthizer jumped in to explain that an ‘MOU is a contract … a binding agreement between two people’. To which a gruff Trump replied, ‘I disagree.’  Lighthizer got the message, adding ’from now on we’re not using the word Memorandum of Understanding anymore. We’re going to use the term trade agreement, all right?’

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