Category Archives: Viva!

The pope says God made gay people just as we should be – here’s why his comments matter

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Francis’s reported remarks show a new Catholic acceptance of LGBT people and confirm what many of us have always known: God doesn’t make mistakes

It is immensely powerful to hear that Pope Francis, the leader of the Roman Catholic church, reportedly told Juan Carlos Cruz, a gay man: “God made you like this and loves you like this.”

Cruz is a survivor of clerical abuse who spoke privately with the pope a few weeks ago, and has since reported his conversation to Spanish newspapers. His abuser, Fernando Karadima, was found guilty of abuse by the Vatican in 2011.

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The recent mass shootings in the US all have one thing in common: misogyny | Jessica Valenti

Word!

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The longer we ignore the toxic masculinity that underlies so many of these crimes, the more violence we’re enabling

The massacre at Santa Fe high school last week that left 10 people dead – most of them students – seems to have something in common with so many other mass shootings that happen in the US: misogyny. The shooter, one victim’s mother claims, targeted her daughter as the first victim because she rejected his continued harassing advances.

How many more tragedies have to happen before we recognize that misogyny kills? The longer we ignore the toxic masculinity that underlies so many of these crimes, the more violence we’re enabling.

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Trump attacks former CIA director ahead of Haspel’s swearing-in

He smears everyone and everything with his hubris and…

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Trump suggested John Brennan was to blame for Robert Mueller’s investigation, referencing remarks from Fox & Friends

Donald Trump praised the new CIA director, Gina Haspel, at her swearing-in ceremony on Monday, saying there was “no one in this country better qualified” for the job.

Related: After Trump attacks New York Times, Giuliani tells paper Mueller will be done by September

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Scientists find secret behind sweet sound of Stradivarius violins | Science | The Guardian

The researchers found that the early Italian instruments produced human-like “formants”, the harmonic tones that correspond to resonances in the vocal tract. Specifically, the Amati violins produced formants similar to those from bass and baritone singers, while the Stradivari instruments had higher-frequency formants, closer to those of tenors and contraltos. Hwan-Ching Tai, an author on the study at the National Taiwan University, said Stradivari violins are often described as having “brightness” and “brilliance”, both qualities that could be rooted in the higher-frequency tones that make the instruments sound closer to female voices. “Some Stradivari violins clearly possess female singing qualities, which may contribute to their perceived sweetness and brilliance,” he said. Female singers tend to have higher-frequency formants than males because their vocal tracts are shorter.

Source: Scientists find secret behind sweet sound of Stradivarius violins | Science | The Guardian

Danish politician says Muslims stay off work during Ramadan

Crap for brains!

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Critics scorn Inger Støjberg’s ‘completely absurd idea’ that daylight fasting is dangerous

A Danish government minister has asserted that Muslims should not work during Ramadan because the month-long daylight fasting period poses safety hazards in some professions and makes the practice “dangerous for us all.”

The integration minister, Inger Støjberg, an immigration hardliner in Denmark’s centre-right government, questioned in a blog post on Monday how “commanding observance to a 1,400-year-old pillar of Islam” was compatible with modern labour markets.

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Monday Open Thread | The Demonization of Immigrants by Dolt45

ICYMI,

It is now the official policy of the United States Government to TAKE CHILDREN AWAY FROM THEIR PARENTS AT THE BORDER.

Now, after they have already LOST OVER 1500 CHILDREN IN DHS CUSTODY…

They are now going to ADD to that group.

You read right – THEY HAVE LOST 1500 CHILDREN…but, since those children are pretty much NON-WHITE, the MSM can’t be concerned about it.

Do, what does Dolt45 have to to say about it?

Trump on breaking up families: “We have to break up families. Democrats gave us that law. It’s a horrible thing we have to break up families.” pic.twitter.com/XkpAYuXQpW

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) May 16, 2018

You do now that it’s a damn lie. Of course, non of the idiot press in the room could be bothered to follow up with..

” Exactly what law is it that you’re talking about, and how come the Obama Administration didn’t separate parents and children?”

Of course, not, because that would be too much like right.

What else did Dol45 do?

VIDEO: “These aren’t people. These are animals,” says @POTUS. pic.twitter.com/PSuquD3jGn

— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) May 16, 2018

When people rightfully got up in arms, then suddenly, we get the MSM talking about CONTEXT.

CONTEXT?

They didn’t know how to spell the word during 44’s Administration.

But, suddenly, we’re supposed to understand that the animals remark was for MS13.

Bullshyt.

A man who ran an anti-immigrant campaign.

A man, whose policies are nothing but anti-immigrant, if YOU ARE NOT WHITE.

POLICY UPON POLICY to throw out those in this country WHO ARE NOT WHITE.

The ICE raids on people WHO ARE NOT CRIMINALS

And, now, the going after GREEN CARD HOLDERS?

BUT, we have to CONTEXT?

PHUCK OUTTA HERE.

WE already know the context, because we see the ENTIRE RACIST BASED IMMIGRATION POLICY OF THIS ADMINISTRATION.

WE are very clear about what’s happening.

STOP.TRYING.TO.NORMALIZE.THIS. ADMNISTRATION.

At a certain point you run out of language strong enough to describe and condemn the president’s bigotry. It’s vile.

— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) May 16, 2018

EXACTLY.

Stat of the Day: 43% of American Families Can’t Afford Basic Expenses Like Rent

The official poverty rate in the United States is 12.7% — but according to a new study by the United Way ALICE Project, 43% of American families don’t earn enough on a monthly basis to cover basic expenses like rent, food, health care, child care, transportation, or a cell phone. 

That figure includes about 16 million families that are in poverty. It also includes 34.7 million families who work and earn enough that, formally speaking, they’re not in poverty. They are technically “middle class” — but as wages stagnate and housing prices skyrocket, the economic security and quality of life we usually associate with the term “middle class” just gets further and further out of reach.  It’s no wonder millennials are the highest-educated but most debt-burdened generation in American history.

United Way calls the people who fall into this gap (not in poverty, but still struggling to make ends meet) the “ALICE” cohort: “Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed.” ALICE, this report argues, is the new American middle class:

ALICE is your child care worker, your parent on Social Security, the cashier at your supermarket, the gas attendant, the salesperson at your big box store, your waitress, a home health aide, an office clerk. ALICE cannot always pay the bills, has little or nothing in savings, and is forced to make tough choices such as deciding between quality child care or paying the rent. One unexpected car repair or medical bill can push these financially strapped families over the edge.

We tend to measure the health of the economy by the unemployment rate or the stock market. But the unemployment rate has been falling for a decade, stocks are at an all time high — yet almost half of American families still live financially precarious lives. Maybe it’s time to start measuring the economy’s health in terms of how it affects our material lives.

You can check out United Way’s full report here.

Image credit: People Demanding Action

Indian Government Responds To Reported Nipah Outbreak In Kerala

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The Nipah virus – normally carried by fruit bats common to S.E. Asia – was only first identified 20 years ago after an outbreak in Malaysia, which spread from bat to pigs – and then from pigs to humans – eventually infecting at least 265 people, killing 105 (see Lessons from the Nipah virus outbreak in Malaysia).

Similar to Australia’s Hendra virus – Nipah – because of its high mortality and (limited) human-to-human transmissibility – has garnered a reputation among researchers as having at least some pandemic or bio-terrorism potential.

  • In Steven Soderbergh’s 2011 pandemic thriller `Contagion’, technical advisor Ian Lipkin – director of Columbia University’s Center for Infection and Immunity in New York – painstakingly created a fictional MEV-1 pandemic virus based on a mutated Nipah virus. 
  •  In 2015’s Blue Ribbon Study Panel Report on Biodefense a bi-partisan panel described a fictional biological attack on Washington D.C.  using a genetically engineered Nipah virus as part of their presentation. 
  • Just last week, in the Johns Hopkins Clade X exercise, a genetically altered Nipah virus (spliced onto a parainfluenza backbone) was the cause of their fictional pandemic.  
  • And earlier this year, in WHO List Of Blueprint Priority Diseases, we saw Nipah and Henipaviral diseases listed among the 8 viral threats in need of urgent accelerated research and development.    

Overnight, India media (and now Western media) have been reporting on an outbreak of Nipah in Kozhikode, in India’s southern Kerala state (see Crof’s blog Kozhikode: 11 die of suspected Nipah virus infection; medical officials say no need to panic).

While the Indian media is known for its hyperbole, and the exact number of cases and/or deaths vary between accounts – other reports – such as the BBC’s  Deadly Nipah virus claims victims in India at least confirm the main points of the story.

The only official statement I’ve found (the MOH website remains typically silent) has been the following brief press release from the Press Information bureau.

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare           21-May, 2018 13:51 IST

Shri J P Nadda assures all support to Kerala Government to manage Nipah Virus; Sends a multi-disciplinary Central team to investigate the outbreak

In view of the rising number of cases and reported deaths due to Nipah Virus in Kozhikode, Kerala, Shri J P Nadda, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare has assured all support to the Kerala Government and has directed a multi-disciplinary Central team from National Centre for Disease Control to immediately visit the district, and assist the State and closely monitor the situation. The team will reach Kerala today.

“We are closely monitoring the situation. I have spoken to Shri Alphons and Smt K Shailaja, Health Minister, Kerala and assured them all support of the Central government. I have also dispatched a Central team to assist the State government and initiate required steps,” the Union Health Minister said in a statement from Geneva.

On the directions of the Health Minister, Smt. Preeti Sudan, Secretary (HFW) has also spoken to the Principal Health Secretary of Kerala and reviewed the situation.

The Central team includes Dr Sujeet K Singh, Director, National Centre for Disease Control, Dr S K Jain, Head Epidemiology, NCDC, Dr P Ravindran, Director, Emergency Medical Relief (EMR), Dr Naveen Gupta, Head Zoonosis, NCDC along with two clinicians and one expert from Ministry of Animal Husbandry.

Over the past decade nearly all of the reported Nipah outbreaks have come out of Bangladesh, often linked to date palm sap collection (see Bangladesh: Nipah Update).

Fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family have a preference for roosting in the tops of trees rather than caves, which allows them to contaminate date juice collection jars with their virus laden urine and feces

Once infected via a zoonotic exposure, humans can transmit the virus on to others, albeit not terribly efficiently (see EID Journal Person-to-Person Transmission of Nipah Virus in a Bangladeshi Community).

While outbreaks of Nipah have tended to be limited in size, we’ll be following the events in Kozhikode (pop. 550,000) closely, as our knowledge of the virus is limited as well.

Stay tuned. 

رمضانيات ٤ : تنافس الواقع مع المسلسلات Reality competes with TV Drama

English follows

نادية حرحش

رمضانيات ٤

تنافس الواقع مع المسلسلات

مسلسل هيفاء وهبي تركني معلقة بالتساؤلات ، ليس مصادفة انه علق بذهني ، ولماذا اتابعه، اولا لأنه يبدو وأنه سهل المشاهدة ، فيخرج لي على اليوتيوب سريعا ، وثانيا والاهم هو انني بالفعل اشاهد الحلقة كلها بمعدل خمس لسبع دقائق. كانت تشبه احدا ما ، هذا ما جعلني افكر اكثر من تلك نصف الساعة لمشاهدة الحلقات ، الكل يحاول ان يشبه هيفاء وهبي بينما هيفاء تحاول تقليد الاخريات. وبعد تمحيص تذكرت من تشبه هيفاء في حلتها الجديدة. كيم كارديشيان. حتى مبتدئة مثلي في عالم الصرعات استطاعت ان ترى ذلك . المؤخرة تلك ليست طبيعية في ظهورها بهذا الوضوح، مع تركيز هيفاوي كيماوي على الصدر . ولكن لم تكتفي معبودة الجماهير هيفاء بذلك ولكن تأكدت من اطلالات كيم في شعرها المختلف الالوان والتسريحات وملابسها .

لنعود الى الواقع خارج تلفزيون الواقع المشوه من خلال المسلسلات الرمضانية.

أحاول جاهدة الا اكون سوداوية وجالدة للذات كما يمكن…

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