Talks have stalled between Latin American ministers as thousands of US-bound Cuban migrants are left stranded. The Costa Rican foreign minister has called the situation “a serious humanitarian crisis in the region.”
Godfather of terror: Saudi Arabia and ′IS′ | World | DW.COM | 25.11.2015

Saudi Arabia exports its version of Sunni Islam with the utmost consequence. In the last 25 years a former US ambassador estimated in a published study in 2007 that the kingdom had invested at least 87 billion dollars in religious propaganda worldwide. This sum, he thinks, may even have increased further due to the high price of oil over an extended period. The funds went towards the construction of mosques, Madrassa Koran schools and religious institutions, and helped finance the training of Imams, publishing houses and Wahhabi text books.A large part of the funds go to economically weak, but populous Islamic countries in south and southeast Asia, such as Pakistan, Indonesia, the Philippines, or Malaysia. Proselytizing for Wahhabism is also done in parts of Africa. For many people in these parts of the world it is the only possibility of getting a school education. There they learn how to read and write and are also given access to the Wahhabi teachings. But there are also Saudi Arabian financed institutions in the West.
Source: Godfather of terror: Saudi Arabia and ′IS′ | World | DW.COM | 25.11.2015
Britain drops controversial plan to cut tax credits for the working poor | News | DW.COM | 25.11.2015 {But not tax on tampons!?!}
The chancellor also used his speech to address the controversial ‘tampon tax’ that is, taxing tampons with VAT (sometimes called sales tax) for what are considered luxury items. Some 300,000 people in Britain signed a petition against the tax, arguing that the products are hygiene necessities, not luxuries.The government had already said that it was charging the lowest tax rate allowed by European law, 5 percent, on womens’ sanitary products.Osborne said in his speech that there was nothing he could do about the tax at this time, but insisted the revenue from the tax would be diverted to womens’ charities.”The first £5 million will be distributed between the Eve Appeal, Safe Lives and Women’s Aid and The Haven – and I invite bids from other such good causes,” Osborne told the House of Commons. The first two are organizations for cancer patients and the latter two focus on domestic violence.
Tasmanian devils run over days after release into wild
Two more healthy Tasmanian devils released into the wild are killed by cars, just weeks after similar deaths in the state’s north.
Climate Refugees and a Collapsing City | Inter Press Service
“Over the next two to three decades millions of people will no longer be able to live and earn their livelihoods from farming and fishing as they are now,” said Saleemul Huq, a senior fellow with the Climate Change Group of the International Institute for Environment and Development.Conversely, prolonged droughts are affecting arable land by causing soil erosion and damaging crops that depend on predictable monsoon patterns.The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates 20 million people will be displaced in Bangladesh in the coming five years. That is more than the cumulative populations of Los Angeles, Chicago and New York City. And this should be very worrying.Even now, many of the half-a-million-plus people who move their families – along with their hopes – to Dhaka, are driven there by the effects of climate change.
Source: Climate Refugees and a Collapsing City | Inter Press Service
Video of the Day: Nicki Minaj recites Maya Angelou’s “Still I Rise”
When I discussed the role that Minaj plays in the Holy Trinity of contemporary Black girl artists, I noted: “From her wild costumes, to her alter egos, to her body that is consistently read as excessive, Nicki Minaj has always been willing to go against the grain (especially as a rapper in an industry that has been predefined by a specific masculinity) in order to demonstrate the power of Black Girl brilliance.” In October a reporter for the New York Times Magazine disrespected and belittled Minaj and her artistry in order to profile the artist for her affluent magazine. When the story broke that Minaj ended the interview early as a result of the interviewers tone and questions, media outlets framed the situation as one with Minaj as the aggressor; proving that Angelou’s take on how Black women are perceived was dead on.Needless to say I’m thankful that we live in the digital age so that I can relive this moment! Check out the video and read the verses below:“You may write me down in historyWith your bitter, twisted lies,You may trod me in the very dirtBut still, like dust, I’ll rise.Does my sassiness upset you?Why are you beset with gloom?‘Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wellsPumping in my living room.Just like moons and like suns,With the certainty of tides,Just like hopes springing high,Still I’ll rise.Did you want to see me broken?Bowed head and lowered eyes?Shoulders falling down like teardrops,Weakened by my soulful cries?Does my haughtiness offend you?Don’t you take it awful hard‘Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold minesDiggin’ in my own backyard.You may shoot me with your words,You may cut me with your eyes,You may kill me with your hatefulness,But still, like air, I’ll rise.Does my sexiness upset you?Does it come as a surpriseThat I dance like I’ve got diamondsAt the meeting of my thighs?Out of the huts of history’s shameI riseUp from a past that’s rooted in painI riseI’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.Leaving behind nights of terror and fearI riseInto a daybreak that’s wondrously clearI riseBringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,I am the dream and the hope of the slave.I riseI riseI rise.”-Maya Angelou
Source: Video of the Day: Nicki Minaj recites Maya Angelou’s “Still I Rise”
Pinned to Feminista on Pinterest
Description: Barbara Stanwyck by Alfred Cheney Johnston, 1924
By Ned Hamson
Pinned to Feminista on Pinterest
Found on: http://bitly.com/1HnrUPs
Mimi Writes…….: The Man and The Pumpkin Pie ~ A Thanksgiving Story by Mimi Lenox
The Man and The Pumpkin Pie ~ A Thanksgiving Story by Mimi Lenox
It is tradition on this blog to re-post this story every Thanksgiving.
A lot changed in the years that followed, but it still stands as one of the clearer defining moments of my life. I am incredibly proud of my son and see in him a kindness I admire. I am also thankful for so many things this year, including the love of family and friends. I hope you and your family have a safe and wonderful holiday. ~ Mimi
When my son was fifteen he did something stupid. Not criminal, not earth-shattering, just knuckle-head-not-thinking stupid. His dad, my ex-husband, gave him the usual “Atta boy, don’t do that again” talk, the school got their three days without his smart mouth and I was left with the what-am-I-gonna-do-with-this-child? nightmare invading my dreams.What am I going to do with this child? The conversation went something like this: “You know I love you so I’m not even going to preface this punishment with I love you because you’ve already gotten a slap on the wrist but OK OK I love you.”“Yeah, I know Mom.”He started to walk away. “Well, I hope you’ll still love me when I tell you what your punishment is going to be.”Although I vowed never to give the think of all the starving children speech to my child (I broke that rule many times), this time I went for the jugular. Mine was bulging. “What were you THINKING?! Do you think you can just go through life handling things this way? Do you know how privileged you are? (yeah Mom) Do you understand that there are kids in this world who would love to have your life? (yeah Mom) Why are you choosing to mess things up for yourself? Do you know that you can’t play sports now? (yeah Mom) Are you listening to me?! If you don’t get your act together young man you’re going to end up somewhere you don’t want to be and I’m not bailing you out. Do you hear me? (yeah Mom) You have no idea how close you came to getting in serious trouble today, do you? Do you? Well, DO you?? (a surly yeah Mom….See, I told you, listen to the smart mouth.) What you do right now in school will determine your future. And now you have a bad mark on your academic record and a three-day suspension before high school. You are out of control!”“So ground me,” said the smart mouth.“No. I will not ground you.”He halted.“What are you going to do?” he asked.“Just think of it as Mama’s jail.” The smart aleck ceased for a moment and then I heard a surly, “Whatever, Mom.” I was furious with him and at my wit’s end. He needed to see how the real world works. I made arrangements. It took some doing but they finally saw it my way. “You want your son to do WHAT? But he’s not a criminal (not YET I thought) and we’re not a juvenile detention center.” (Well……) “Will you please allow us to do this?” I asked the nun-like administrator of this facility. “I’m not trying to teach him a lesson here- that is not the point- but he needs to see and understand with his own eyes how lucky he is and how his actions now can affect the rest of his life.” So, for the next two months that summer we got up at five am, drove to another town and worked in a homeless shelter’s soup kitchen. It was the worst of the worst neighborhoods.
I had cleanup detail (you didn’t think they’d let me near the food now, did you?) and he served the line. “What are we doing here?” he asked. I never told him why. He didn’t need another lecture.’Think of all the starving children’ just got real.
After one week of losing his summer sleep to ride an hour in my car at the crack of dawn – with my music blasting all the way – and mingle with very old people volunteers and stir canned creamed corn in a pot for an hour he said, “Why didn’t you just send me to REAL jail?! I hate this!” Uh huh, I thought. Just stir, buster.
In the middle of the second week he started to actually get up before I did. “Hurry up, Mom. We have to get going.” (Oh great, I thought. He’s met a pretty girl at the homeless shelter. That’s the only reason he would get up at five am. My plan has backfired. Drats!) And what was this grand revelation I expected him to learn? Heck if I knew. I was just a parent with an unruly fifteen- year -old with no respect for himself or his elders or his life. I didn’t even know if it would make a difference.
All I knew was that somehow the corn and pintos and no-extra-dessert-for-you rule would magically translate into a light-bulb moment for him. Osmosis maybe? I just knew this was the right thing to do but I didn’t know how or why. One early afternoon as I started to clean the lunch tables with a large wet rag and a bucket of soapy water, rearranging the napkins and utensils for the next meal, I looked up to see my sleepy-headed son talking with a man through the narrow serving window.
My boy had just served lunch. There was pie for dessert that day.
Pumpkin pie.
No teeth. Scraggly. Scary. Smelly.
Pork ‘n beans, wax beans, any beans. Didn’t matter. Please feed my child. My little girl is hungry.
But I was proud.
We finished our tour of shelter duty as promised and school started again in the fall.
That was twenty-one years ago.
Did that summer stop him from forever being a knuckle-head? No.Did he straighten-up-and-fly-right from that moment on? No.
Were there more nightmare dreams for me through the teenage years? Yes.
But I have to believe that it shaped his understanding of the world a bit and through all his troubles and challenges in life that most certainly came later, I did see – and continue to see – a great compassion develop in him for people in need.
Mine.
Source: Mimi Writes…….: The Man and The Pumpkin Pie ~ A Thanksgiving Story by Mimi Lenox
Emirates Secretly Sends Colombian Mercenaries to Fight in Yemen – The New York Times {Reap what you sow?}
“The private military industry is global now,” said Mr. McFate, adding that the United States essentially “legitimized” the industry with its heavy reliance on contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan over more than a decade of war. “Latin American mercenaries are a sign of what’s to come,” he said.The Colombian troops now in Yemen, handpicked from a brigade of some 1,800 Latin American soldiers training at an Emirati military base, were woken up in the middle of the night for their deployment to Yemen last month. They were ushered out of their barracks as their bunkmates continued sleeping, and were later issued dog tags and ranks in the Emirati military. Those left behind are now being trained to use grenade launchers and armored vehicles that Emirati troops are currently using in Yemen.
Source: Emirates Secretly Sends Colombian Mercenaries to Fight in Yemen – The New York Times
Dropbox Integration
No matter if it is your favorite bacon recipes, game reviews or the latest gadget news, you will always want some article to be available on PDF, because …well PDF is great! And so is Dropbox!
Now you can link your Inoreader and Dropbox accounts together and save your favorite pieces of content with a single click of your mouse or a tap of your finger. They’ll be saved as neat PDF files in your Dropbox account and synchronized across all of your devices.
To get started first connect your Dropbox account from Preferences -> Integration:
When this is done, you will see a Dropbox icon under each article. Just click it and voilà! Your article is saved as a PDF in your Dropbox:
More advanced users will be happy to know that we thought about automation too – you can use rules to automatically Dropbox articles that match a certain criteria.
You can of course save articles from our mobile apps too via our quick “Save To” menu:
And that’s not everything!
Earlier this week, we announced automatic OPML backups for Plus and Professional users. Now when you connect your Dropbox account we will automatically save your OPML files to your Dropbox, so you know your subscriptions are always kept in a safe place.
Do you like Dropbox? Do you think the new integration will be useful to you? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
—
The Inoreader team




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