Category Archives: Viva!

‘Dripping with poison of antisemitism’: the demonization of George Soros

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The billionaire was the first target in a series of mail bombs sent this week, an attack that comes as vilification of Soros has reached new heights

As investigators seek answers in the case of mail bombs sent to Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and others, there will be no shortage of evidence regarding the first target, the billionaire philanthropist George Soros.

The bomb maker’s motivations remain unknown. What is clear is that the attempted attack comes as the demonization of Soros in the US, previously limited to fringe groups on the far right, has reached new heights. More recently it has been taken up by the most senior Republican politicians in the country, up to and including the president.

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Donald Trump attacks media ‘hostility’ after attempted pipe bombings

disappointed that Washington Post and New York Times did not get bombs?

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US president says reporters have responsibility to set civil tone in speech after political opponents were targeted

Donald Trump has used a campaign speech to attack what he called media “hostility” after a wave of pipe bombs were sent to senior Democrats, prominent critics and the broadcaster CNN.

The US president, who had earlier said he condemned the attempted bombings and that a “major federal investigation” was under way, followed this with a plea for unity during a midterms campaign rally in Mosinee, Wisconsin, on Wednesday.

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‘Shameful’: German MEP condemns Tory’s Nazi remark

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MEP Syed Kamall’s comments insult memory of Social Democrats who fought Nazis, says socialist leader

The German leader of the socialist group in the European parliament has told of his personal anguish at a link made by the Conservative party’s most senior MEP between his party’s political philosophy and that of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis.

Udo Bullmann accused Briton Syed Kamall of tarnishing the memory of Social Democrats who fought national socialism, often at the cost of their lives.

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The worst aspect of America’s bomb scares? Their air of inevitability | Jill Abramson

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President Trump’s reckless rhetoric towards opponents has helped stoke this hideously violent time in politics

This week, pipe bombs were sent to prominent Democrats including George Soros, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. CNN also received one in the mail. Sadly, none of this was really that shocking. The news had an air of inevitability, being the culmination of what has been a hideously violent time in our political culture. Poison is coursing through the US body politic. Violence permeates political dialogue and sometimes erupts at political events.

The shocking thing is that some of the violence has been endorsed by the president himself.

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As Ebola has shown, the global health system is as strong as its weakest link

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The west African Ebola outbreak started in a small village in Guinea. It shows the value of investing in grassroots healthcare

In the city of Beni, in the north-east corner of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, an outbreak of Ebola is simmering. Fear of this lethal disease and all that goes with it – grief over lost loved ones, exhausted emergency response workers and ongoing insecurity – might once have felt distant, foreign, unknowable. But, tragically, these emotions are all too familiar.

Almost five years ago, a two-year-old boy from Meliandou – a tiny rural village in southern Guinea, bordering Liberia and Sierra Leone – fell sick with a strange illness. His symptoms were the stuff of nightmares: internal bleeding, black stools, vomiting and a high fever. Just two days later, he died.

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Trump’s words have consequences, and he can no longer deny it | Gary Younge

He will deny to last breath and his believers will deny too!

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After the targeting of politicians and the media in a pipe-bombing campaign, it’s clear where the president’s hostile rhetoric leads

Lizbeth Fierro, from Racine, Wisconsin, was 16 when Donald Trump was elected. “I thought he was a joke,” she told me. Then she noticed a change at school. “Once he was elected there were a lot more people who came out very bold and started saying mean comments about immigrants and Mexicans … I thought, ‘Wow, this is dumb, this is very dumb.’”

Then in July her father, Ricardo, the former head of the Latino chamber of commerce in town and a prominent activist, was detained at his home and is now threatened with deportation. Ricardo, who has been in the country for more than 20 years and has five children and two stepchildren, was one of the first of almost 40 undocumented migrants detained in Racine this summer. For the past few months, many in the Latino community have been keeping their heads down. They don’t go out, even to church, and when they do leave the house they get someone with documents to drive them.

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Google gave top executive $90m payoff but kept sexual misconduct claim quiet – report

So another brick in the male wall falls – good!

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Reports say Google found credible allegations that Andy Rubin forced employee to perform oral sex – but paid him millions even after he left

Google gave a $90m severance package to Andy Rubin, the creator of the Android mobile software, but concealed details of a sexual misconduct allegation that triggered his departure, the New York Times has reported.

Related: Google abandons Berlin base after two years of resistance

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Top Republican refers Kavanaugh accuser and Michael Avenatti for DoJ investigation

How low can he go? Going for the record in silencing opposition!

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Senate judiciary chairman Chuck Grassley has accused Julie Swetnick and Avenatti of ‘potential conspiracy’ and ‘obstructing a committee investigation’

Chuck Grassley, the chair of the Senate judiciary committee, has referred the lawyer Michael Avenatti and Julie Swetnick, one of Brett Kavanaugh’s accusers, for criminal investigation.

In a statement, Grassley said he was referring the two to the justice department for a “criminal investigation relating to a potential conspiracy to provide materially false statements to Congress and obstruct a congressional committee investigation”.

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6 facts about English learners in U.S. public schools | Pew Research Center

There were nearly 5 million English language learners in U.S. public schools in fall 2015, according to the most recent available data from the National Center for Education Statistics. This represented 9.5% of U.S. public school enrollees, an increase from 8.1% in 2000.

Source: 6 facts about English learners in U.S. public schools | Pew Research Center

EU rebukes Putin with human rights prize to jailed Ukrainian film-maker

European parliament gives award to Oleg Sentsov, who has been described by Vladimir Putin as a terrorist

A Crimean dissident sentenced to 20 years in Russian prison has been awarded the European parliament’s prestigious Sakharov prize in a sharp criticism of Russia’s human rights record likely to provoke anger from the Kremlin.

Oleg Sentsov, a Ukrainian film-maker vocally opposed to Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, was convicted on terrorism charges in 2015 and sentenced to two decades in prison.

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