Actor wearing anti-fascist scarf stopped by police in Venice

606.jpg?width=300&quality=85&auto=format

Incident involving Ottavia Piccolo at film festival prompts fears of crackdown

An Italian actor was stopped by police at the Venice film festival for wearing a neck scarf associated with the anti-fascism group Anpi, raising questions in parliament over whether the far-right interior minister, Matteo Salvini, had issued orders against the group.

Ottavia Piccolo was stopped by officers checking bags at an access gate as she headed towards the red carpet area of the Venice Lido at the close of the festival on Saturday.

Continue reading…

Merkel condemns far-right outbreak in passionate address

3500.jpg?width=300&quality=85&auto=forma

German chancellor tells Bundestag that violence and Nazi slogans are inexcusable

Angela Merkel has condemned the outbreak of far-right protests in eastern Germany, telling the Bundestag in an unusually passionate address that shouting Nazi slogans and committing acts of violence are inexcusable.

The German chancellor was heckled during a lively Bundestag debate by the head of the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany party (AfD), Alexander Gauland, who accused her of dividing Germany with her immigration policy, endangering peace and spreading fake news by supporting controversial evidence that far-right protesters were hounding foreigners through the streets.

Continue reading…

Trump calls Puerto Rico hurricane effort an ‘unsung success’ – here’s the reality

LOSER Trump!

The president’s comment, made as Hurricane Florence nears the US, ignored the government’s slow response and crisis that lingers

Donald Trump’s definition of an “unsung success” was immediately questioned on Tuesday when he used those words to describe the federal government’s response to Hurricane Maria.

His comments, made as Hurricane Florence churns toward the US, ignored the stark reality that the US government was slow to respond when the devastating storm hit Puerto Rico, and a crisis still lingers on the island nearly a year after the category 4 hurricane made landfall on 20 Sep 2017.

Continue reading…

Why do the cops keep protecting white supremacists?

Racism runs deep and so does protecting those who keep the POC and poor people of all colors down.

This past weekend in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, dozens of police assaulted and arrested community members holding an anti-racist canned food drive and potluck on the campus of the University of North Carolina.

The community potluck was a response to the wave of right-wing backlash since a racist Jim Crow-era confederate statue on the campus was finally toppled three weeks ago. In response, white supremacists have gathered at the pedestal of the former “Silent Sam” statue with heavy police protection – while police have pepper-sprayed, beaten and arrested UNC students and community who came out to oppose them.

Police providing special protection to Nazis, the KKK, and other right-wing groups is far from a new trend. But the pattern feels especially stark this summer given the way police have responded to a series of rallies meant to continue the racist terror spree of Charlottesville. At a Portland alt-right rally in August, police attacked anti-fascist protesters with flash grenades, giving one protestor third-degree chemical burns and nearly killing another. At the main Unite the Right 2 rally in Washington, D.C., police provided an escort and private train to a group that included Charlottesville architect and “white civil rights activist” Jason Kessler.

I saw this firsthand at a rally hosted by Nazi front group Resist Marxism in Boston last month. Police were laughing and palling around with Nazis while they shoved and harassed anti-fascist protesters. Boston police provided a barricade of protection and private escort to the train station for the white supremacists once it became clear that the hundreds of us counterprotesting were not going away.

“Cops and Klan go hand in hand” is more than just a protest chant. U.S. police departments have assisted white supremacists in doxxing leftist activists and arrested the people of color that Nazis and KKK members attack. Whether or not individual cops are members of white supremacist groups (although there are many who are), the institution of police serves the same  goal: protect white property and white power by violently suppressing and controlling black people. The police’s job is to crush protests using the full might of the state to assault, imprison, and murder—and they do so based not on whether protests are peaceful or legal, but on how threatening the state finds them.

The violent police response to the anti-racist activism in Charlotte is evidence that the police’s allegiance is first and foremost to white supremacy. As UNC activist Maya Little said, “The symbols we put in our public square reflects what happens on the ground. They reflect our law, our politics and our culture.”

Like the statues they protect, the police are a symbol and a tool of a white supremacist society.

Image credit: Jonathan Drake via The San Diego Union-Tribune

US administration defining BDS movement at American Universities

Censorship of US citizens on mass scale being planned

PNN/ Bethlehem/

The US administration is considering measures to ban and sanction the international movement to boycott Israel, from U.S. universities where the movement thrives.

Hebrew sources said the U.S. administration has already started taking steps to ban the BDS movement in American university, after Kenneth L. Marcus  was appointed as the new director of the Department of Civil Rights in the United States.

Marcus announced the start of an investigation into old cases, the most important of which was the Rutgers University case in New Jersey, where there will be an investigation into its activities, and deal with a number of reported anti-Semitic incidents against Jewish students  several years ago.

The Obama administration closed the file at the time, however, Marcus told the Zionist Organization in America that he would cancel the decision of the Obama administration and reconsider the case to see whether this is a case of religious hatred or attacks on ethnic groups.

According to Israeli media, the Trump government also began to define the activities of the boycott campaign against the State of Israel as anti-Semitic.

Arab and Palestinian activists and supporters at the United States expressed their disappointment with the anti-BDS decision, saying that the US administration has taken a side in the conflict and “decided to accuse all those who sympathize with the Palestinian cause as anti-Semitic.”

More US underwear to come from El Salvador

US consumers may look on tags on their underwear and find that it is “hecho en El Salvador” — made in El Salvador.  El Salvador garment factories have long been a source of underwear for the US market and that trend is continuing.

Hanes.JPG

An article on an apparel industry website today notes that HanesBrands is investing to expand its factories in El Salvador where underwear for the US market is sewn:  According to an article in Just-Style, the garment manufacturer will invest a total of $10.4 million on its facilities here and increase employment by 430 jobs.

HanesBrands decision to increase investment in El Salvador is attributed in the article to a new customs union among Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador as well as the country’s decision to cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan. 

You can read HanesBrands public relations pieces about its operations in El Salvador here.

Balance those public relations pieces with a 2010 inspection report by the Fair Labor Association which found numerous violations of workers rights at a Hanes facility in El Salvador. 

D.C.-Based Pro-Israel Group Secretly Ran Misleading Facebook Ads to Target Pro-Palestinian Activist

fb-ad-final-use.jpg

by Justin Elliott, ProPublica, and Josh Nathan-Kazis, The Forward

In 2016, as Palestinian-American poet Remi Kanazi performed at college campuses around the United States, his appearances seemed to spark student protests.

Before his visit to John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City, a page called “John Jay Students Against Hate” appeared on Facebook with Kanazi’s face next to a uniformed cop, painting Kanazi as anti-police. When Kanazi crossed the country a few days later to visit San Jose State, a nearly-identical Facebook page popped up, this one called “SJSU Students Against Hate,” with Kanazi’s face superimposed over an image of military graves. Paid Facebook campaigns promoted both pages.

Despite their names, the Facebook campaigns were run by professional Washington D.C. political operatives who work for a group called the Israel on Campus Coalition, according to promotional materials obtained by ProPublica and the Forward.

Get ProPublica’s Top Stories by Email

Join 100,000 discerning readers and get everything we publish by signing up for ProPublica’s daily email

In the materials, which the Israel on Campus Coalition distributed to its donors, the group describes each of the Facebook pages as an “anonymous digital campaign.” The group says it paid to promote the campaign, which reached tens of thousands of people.

The social media campaigns provide another example of how well-funded advocacy organizations are using deceptive strategies to promote their cause online. The Israel on Campus Coalition launched these campaigns during the 2016 election season, at the same time that entities linked to the Russian government bought misleading Facebook ads on a range of political issues.

The Israel on Campus Coalition didn’t respond to requests for comment. The group had a budget of $9 million in its fiscal year ending in June 2017, according to federal tax filings. Its funders include the foundations of billionaire Republican donor Paul Singer and philanthropist Lynn Schusterman.

Asked about the Israel on Campus Coalition pages, a Facebook spokesman said they “violate our policies against misrepresentation and they have been removed.”

In response to criticism of Russia-linked ads, Facebook recently created new rules requiring disclosure of who is paying for political ads on the site. How the company defines what is political remains murky.

Anonymous digital campaigns appear to be a central part of the Israel on Campus Coalition’s efforts to combat pro-Palestinian activism on U.S. campuses. This past spring, the ICC appears to have set up at least one anonymous website to oppose a George Washington University student government resolution that called on the school to divest its endowment from certain companies that students said were profiting from Israeli violations of Palestinian rights, the Forward reported.

The Israel on Campus Coalition’s leaders discussed their covert social media tactics in an unaired Al Jazeera documentary featuring hidden camera footage of Washington, D.C. pro-Israel advocacy officials.

“With the anti-Israel people, what’s most effective, what we found at least in the last year, is you do the opposition research, put up some anonymous website, and then put up targeted Facebook ads,” said the Israel on Campus Coalition’s executive director, Jacob Baime, in the Al Jazeera documentary, which was filmed in 2016. The film was viewed by ProPublica and the Forward.

Baime also said in the documentary that his organization’s work is based on a doctrine used to fight Al Qaeda and the Taliban. “It’s modeled on General Stanley McChrystal’s counterinsurgency strategy,” Baime said. “We’ve copied a lot from that strategy that has been working really well for us, actually.”

McChrystal, who led the U.S. military’s special forces and the NATO war effort in Afghanistan in 2009 and 2010, emphasized so-called “offensive information operations” to embarrass and discredit violent insurgents.

The Al Jazeera documentary, in which a journalist went undercover as an intern for a pro-Israel advocacy group in Washington, has been the subject of months of international intrigue and has never been aired by the network. Decrying the undercover tactics, pro-Israel groups and members of Congress have pushed back against the documentary series and Qatar, which funds Al Jazeera. The network, which has faced public criticism from its own journalists for not airing the documentary, said in April it did not buckle under pressure from a pro-Israel group in deciding not to broadcast the program. A spokesman didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Footage in the documentary also shows Israel on Campus Coalition officials describing their working relationship with the Israeli government.

Baime says in the documentary that Israel on Campus Coalition officials “coordinate” or “communicate” with Israel’s Ministry of Strategic Affairs, an Israeli government department that has become the hub of the Israeli government’s overt and covert efforts against the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement in the U.S. and around the world. A spokesman for the agency didn’t respond to requests for comment.

In the same hidden camera footage, Ian Hersh, the Israel on Campus Coalition’s director of operations, said that the Ministry of Strategic Affairs participates in the group’s “Operations and Intelligence Brief,” a regular strategy meeting.

In recent days, some aspects of the Al Jazeera documentary as well as a short clip have been posted on the website Electronic Intifada, a pro-Palestinian news site whose executive director, Ali Abunimah, appears as an interviewee in the film.

Baime and Hersh didn’t respond to requests for comment about the footage of them in the documentary.

The Israel on Campus Coalition’s online efforts against Kanazi, the Palestinian-American poet, began in November 2016 while he was touring college campuses to promote his book, “Before the Next Bomb Drops: Rising Up From Brooklyn to Palestine.”

According to the Israel on Campus Coalition’s donor materials, the group identified and worked with a non-Jewish military veteran and San Jose State University student to write a blog post critical of Kanazi. The precise nature of the group’s work with the student is unclear from the donor materials, and the student did not respond to requests for comment.

The Israel on Campus Coalition then created and paid to promote the “SJSU Students Against Hate” page, which linked to the blog post.

“Kanazi preaches hate on the campuses he visits,” the student wrote in the post, which appeared on the website Medium and has since been deleted.

Kanazi said that he does not recall being aware of the anonymous Facebook pages at the time. “These insidious tactics are part of a larger campaign to smear students, professors, and anyone who dares speak up for Palestinian human rights at universities,” he said in an email.

10294196.gif

′Racist′ Australian cartoon of Serena Williams sparks outrage online | News | DW | 11.09.2018

Social media users and US media slammed an editorial cartoon of Serena Williams, saying it resembles “Jim Crow caricatures.” The Australian cartoonist and a Melbourne newspaper have doubled down in defending the drawing.

Source: ′Racist′ Australian cartoon of Serena Williams sparks outrage online | News | DW | 11.09.2018

Second Look Behind the Headlines – News you can use…

Baldacchino di Perla

"Luce di parole, ombra di sogni."

Northern Desert Photography

Living on the Edge of the Sagebrush Ocean

Susana Cabaço

Spiritual Insights & Personal Empowerment

Barbara Picci

Artist & Art Blogger

craft journey

Furnicraft, woodwork, and art

musings corner

reveries and rants

Japão para Românticos

Bem Vindos a este espaço onde compartilhamos um pouco da realidade do Japão à todos aqueles que desejam visitar ou morar no Japão. Aqui neste espaço, mostramos a realidade do Japão e dos imigrantes. O nosso compromisso é com a realidade. Fique por dentro do noticiário dos principais jornais japoneses, tutoriais de Faça você mesmo no Japão e acompanhe a Série Histórias de Imigrantes no Japão. Esperamos que goste de nossos conteúdos, deixe seu like, seu comentário, compartilhe e nos ajudar você e à outras pessoas. Grande abraço, gratidão e volte sempre!

Leben als Mensch

Willkommen auf Elke´s Glücks-Blog

Sharpshot Nature .Com

- Specializing in the great outdoors, capturing nature at its finest!

Diane Ravitch's blog

A site to discuss education and democracy

Expansão e Percepção

Seu Guia de Inspirações e Reflexões Diárias

noga noga.

my-health-and-beauty.com/

Uğurcan'ın Ütopyası

Benim Gezegenime Hoş geldiniz !!!

AKILS

Blog de viajes y lugares

Ed Mooney Photography

The official blog of Ed Mooney Photography. Dad of 3, Photographer, Blogger, Powerlifter. Exploring the historical sites of Ireland.

everything Explored on the earth

It has new aidias,news, about education , motivation, social, historical, culture, marketing creation new aidias education of language science culture and history

Born to die

L'unico modo sensato di vivere è senza regole

Early Morning Memories

by Anuran (A) & Sayoni (S)

My thoughts

Fun for the Brain

Neo Vision College

An exemplary learning community.

Anthony’s Crazy Love and Life Lessons in Empathy

Loves, lamentation, and life through prose, stories, passions, and essays.

Episodic Squalid Rants

public tantrums by a non-two-year-old

The Street Art Directory

Public, street and urban art worldwide

Artie & Stu

all the rules of free form

Everyone read that they fell in love first

<script async src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-2937106805202763" crossorigin="anonymous"></script>

davidscottmoyer

Lapsed Painter, Occasional Photographer, Compulsive Writer

Health & Fitness

Health Blogs

Buildings Tell Tales

Exploring the hidden architectural heritage of Budapest

Divit kalem

Yaşamdan

Roy's Weblog

The third incarnation...

Thought Pukes

More than a thought less than a question

"بوصلة الحياة"

"بوصلة الحياة: مدونة متعددة المجالات، من السياسة إلى الرومانسية، ومن تطوير الذات إلى الأدب وأكثر!" بقلم مشاعر بنت عبدالرحمن

parallax

The view from here ... Or here!

ClearingSpace4Joy

Bringer and seeker of joy

Belladonna’s Flashlight

The One Where She Stumbled Through Her 40's and Faced Her Demons

~ Trivial Music Silliness ~

Baw wit da baw. Just sayin'.

mo mnsoor blog

Website storys

Chronicles of an Anglo Swiss

Welcome to the Anglo Swiss World

gnaddrig ad libitum

Querbeet und ohne Gewähr

Peace & Truth

KINDNESS IS FREE, sprinkle it all over the world, and 😁 smile

Ética de la vida diaria

Nuestra ética de todos los días...

Elizabeth Gauffreau

Fiction Writer in Poet's Clothing