Monday, September 19, 2016
Sunday, September 18, 2016
Tuesday, September 13, 2016
Ta-Nehisi Coates on Trump's 'Deplorables' - Chris Hayes talks with Ta-Nehisi Coates about Hillary Clinton’s “basket of deplorables” commentAll In with Chris Hayes on MSNBC
Ta-Nehisi Coates on Trump's 'Deplorables'
Chris Hayes talks with Ta-Nehisi Coates about Hillary Clinton’s “basket of deplorables” comment
All In with Chris Hayes on MSNBC
Chris Hayes talks with Ta-Nehisi Coates about Hillary Clinton’s “basket of deplorables” comment
All In with Chris Hayes on MSNBC
Saturday, September 10, 2016
"A Continuous War Mentality": Richard Falk on Israel's Human Rights Abuses
"Israel's treatment of Palestinians mirrors the abominable system of apartheid in South Africa, but many members of the "international community" who fueled the gradual delegitimization and eventual collapse of South Africa's apartheid regime are failing to apply similar pressure against Israel. In fact, many nations are even strengthening their ties with the Israeli government.
Even Greece has established close ties to Israel under the opportunistic Syriza government, while Sultan Erdogan in Turkey has also begun a process of kissing up to Israel after a few years of pursuing an "antagonistic" relation with the US's closest ally under the pretext of expressing solidarity towards the Palestinian cause. Meanwhile, the increased militarization of Israeli society continues to intensify the oppression and subjugation of Palestinians.
"Israel's treatment of Palestinians mirrors the abominable system of apartheid in South Africa, but many members of the "international community" who fueled the gradual delegitimization and eventual collapse of South Africa's apartheid regime are failing to apply similar pressure against Israel. In fact, many nations are even strengthening their ties with the Israeli government.
Even Greece has established close ties to Israel under the opportunistic Syriza government, while Sultan Erdogan in Turkey has also begun a process of kissing up to Israel after a few years of pursuing an "antagonistic" relation with the US's closest ally under the pretext of expressing solidarity towards the Palestinian cause. Meanwhile, the increased militarization of Israeli society continues to intensify the oppression and subjugation of Palestinians.
The Israeli government has recently suggested that a "normalization" process is underway with the Palestinians,but in reality Israel's construction of illegal settlements continues unabated, and the right-wing politicians inside Israel who portray Palestinians as an "inferior race" are gaining ground. This is exactly what "normalization" has always meant in Israeli political jargon: continuing to commit abominable human rights violations against Palestinians while the world looks away. Indeed, apartheid, annexation, mass displacement and collective punishment have become core policies of the state of Israel."
"A Continuous War Mentality": Richard Falk on Israel's Human Rights Abuses
'Religious Freedom' Means Putting LGBT Americans Back in the Closet - The New Civil Rights Movement
"Over the past few years, nearly every time someone claims their freedom of religion is being violated, it involves being completely horrid to other people. This observation has some terrifying implications for the LGBT community, given where we are legally.
For example, refusing to provide wedding services to lesbian and gay couples has been the cause célèbre for years. The people doing the discriminating walk away with a cool half million dollars, and the queer people end up with nothing but a lot of death threats and hate mail. People are telling LGBT people "we don’t serve your kind" in other commercial areas as well. Doctors are refusing to treat children with gay parents. Restaurants are telling transgender customers they’re not welcome.
In most states, all of this is perfectly legal. We usually only hear about it when it happens in a state where it is against state law to discriminate on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation. Despite the statistics on poverty, abuse, violence, unemployment, depression, suicide that dog the LGBT community, religious bigots roll around on the floor and scream about being the real oppressed whenever someone calls them out on their actions against LGBT people.
When it comes to LGBT people, the religious right believes that it’s not really discrimination or persecution unless LGBT people are being executed by the government. Both Ted Cruz and conservative political commentator Tomi Lahren have said on camera that LGBT people in the United States don’t have anything to complain about unless they’re being thrown off of buildings to their deaths. This also hints darkly that they believe the U.S. is merciful for being tolerant enough to choose not to do so.
But this is where it gets really scary…"
'Religious Freedom' Means Putting LGBT Americans Back in the Closet - The New Civil Rights Movement
For example, refusing to provide wedding services to lesbian and gay couples has been the cause célèbre for years. The people doing the discriminating walk away with a cool half million dollars, and the queer people end up with nothing but a lot of death threats and hate mail. People are telling LGBT people "we don’t serve your kind" in other commercial areas as well. Doctors are refusing to treat children with gay parents. Restaurants are telling transgender customers they’re not welcome.
In most states, all of this is perfectly legal. We usually only hear about it when it happens in a state where it is against state law to discriminate on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation. Despite the statistics on poverty, abuse, violence, unemployment, depression, suicide that dog the LGBT community, religious bigots roll around on the floor and scream about being the real oppressed whenever someone calls them out on their actions against LGBT people.
When it comes to LGBT people, the religious right believes that it’s not really discrimination or persecution unless LGBT people are being executed by the government. Both Ted Cruz and conservative political commentator Tomi Lahren have said on camera that LGBT people in the United States don’t have anything to complain about unless they’re being thrown off of buildings to their deaths. This also hints darkly that they believe the U.S. is merciful for being tolerant enough to choose not to do so.
But this is where it gets really scary…"
'Religious Freedom' Means Putting LGBT Americans Back in the Closet - The New Civil Rights Movement
Friday, September 09, 2016
Thursday, September 08, 2016
Appeals court has concerns over possible Gitmo video release
" A federal appeals court expressed concerns Thursday about the prospect of ordering the Obama administration to release graphic videos of a former Guantanamo Bay inmate being force-fed during a hunger strike.
"Judges hearing arguments in the long-running legal dispute considered whether any First Amendment interest in releasing the footage is outweighed by possible harm to national security.
The Associated Press and 15 other news organizations say the public has a constitutional right to see the videos.
The government says the tapes are classified and warns they could be used as propaganda by extremist groups to incite anti-American sentiment.
The Associated Press and 15 other news organizations say the public has a constitutional right to see the videos.
The government says the tapes are classified and warns they could be used as propaganda by extremist groups to incite anti-American sentiment.
U.S. District Court Judge Gladys Kessler last year rejected the government's concerns as vague and speculative. She ordered the videos released with redactions to protect the identities of U.S. personnel, but the release has been on hold pending appeal.
The three-judge appeals panel gave no obvious indication of how they would rule. But at times, they pressed lawyers on both sides over how much deference courts should give to the government's interest in protecting national security.
The videos show former Guantanamo Bay prisoner Abu Wa'el Dhiab being forcibly removed from his cell, strapped to a restraining chair and force-fed his meals through a tube."
The three-judge appeals panel gave no obvious indication of how they would rule. But at times, they pressed lawyers on both sides over how much deference courts should give to the government's interest in protecting national security.
The videos show former Guantanamo Bay prisoner Abu Wa'el Dhiab being forcibly removed from his cell, strapped to a restraining chair and force-fed his meals through a tube."
Appeals court has concerns over possible Gitmo video release
Sunday, September 04, 2016
Robert Mugabe lambasts Zimbabwe judges over protests - BBC News
"He said the judges showed a reckless disregard for peace, and warned that they should not dare to be negligent when making decisions.
The opposition has accused him of trying to intimidate the judiciary.
On Monday, opposition supporters are going to court to challenge a two-week ban on demonstrations.
There have been a number of violent protests in Zimbabwe in recent weeks as the country's economic crisis deepens.
The president recently warned protesters there would be no Zimbabwean uprising similar to the "Arab Spring".
He has routinely blamed the country's economic problems on sabotage by Western critics of his policies - which include the seizure of white-owned commercial farms for black people."
Robert Mugabe lambasts Zimbabwe judges over protests - BBC News
What Religion Would Jesus Belong To? - The New York Times
"ONE puzzle of the world is that religions often don’t resemble their founders.
Jesus never mentioned gays or abortion but focused on the sick and the poor, yet some Christian leaders have prospered by demonizing gays. Muhammad raised the status of women in his time, yet today some Islamic clerics bar women from driving, or cite religion as a reason to hack off the genitals of young girls. Buddha presumably would be aghast at the apartheid imposed on the Rohingya minority by Buddhists in Myanmar."
What Religion Would Jesus Belong To? - The New York Times
Saturday, September 03, 2016
When Police Unions Impede Justice - The New York Times
"Across the country, municipal governments have signed contracts with police unions including provisions that shield officers from punishment for brutal behavior as well as from legitimate complaints by the citizens they are supposed to serve.
That may soon change, as public outrage over police killings of civilians is ratcheting up pressure on elected officials to radically revise police contracts that make it almost impossible to bring officers to justice.
The most striking case in point is Chicago, which has been roiled by a police scandal stemming from a cover-up in the case of a 17-year-old named Laquan McDonald, who was executed by a police officer nearly two years ago.
The Police Department first claimed that Mr. McDonald was brandishing a knife and moving toward officers when he was killed. A video — probably available to the city within hours of the shooting but not made public until last November, more than a year later — showed that Mr. McDonald was moving away from the cops when they shot him 16 times, and that the police were obviously lying.
But it was not until last month that the city’s inspector general recommended firing several officers, some of whom have since retired, for making false statements.
That recommendation was passed on to the police superintendent, Eddie Johnson. Mr. Johnson, who lacks the power to fire the officers outright, has filed administrative charges against five officers with an agency known as the Chicago Police Board, whose members are appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the City Council.
It is incredible that this is the first official disciplinary action taken against the officers, 22 months after the killing. And even if the board votes to dismiss the officers, they will be able to challenge their dismissals in court.
As a task force appointed by Chicago’s mayor, Rahm Emanuel, noted in April, “The collective bargaining agreements between the police unions and the city have essentially turned the code of silence into official policy.”
When Police Unions Impede Justice - The New York Times
Friday, September 02, 2016
Georgetown Confronts Its Ugly Past - The New York Times
"Georgetown University is taking a series of historically important steps to atone for the acts of 19th-century Jesuits who held African-American men, women and children in slavery and sold 272 of them to Southern sugar plantations to keep the college that became Georgetown operating.
The new measures include naming a building for one of the men who was sold and giving preferential admissions treatment to descendants of those who were enslaved. These are important milestones in the journey toward reconciliation, but before completing its plans, the university needs to confer closely with descendants whose families were broken by the 1838 sale and who deserve a significant voice in the reconciliation effort.
Many universities have ties to slavery. But the Georgetown sale of African-Americans is distinguished by its size, its direct relationship to the financial health of the university and the fact that the names of the enslaved were recorded, which made it possible for genealogists to track down their descendants.
Last year, Georgetown’s president, John DeGioia, established a working group on slavery and reconciliation — made up of professors, students, alumni and others — and asked it to recommend how best to recognize the university’s debt to human bondage. The group would have benefited from input from descendants, but it was nearing the end of its work when it became aware of them. At the very least, it should have conferred with them on the contents of the report, which was released Thursday.
The report recommends that the university offer an apology for its participation in slavery, build a public memorial and rename a university building for a person listed only as “Isaac” in the 1838 document of sales. Critics of the proposed name — Isaac Hall — rightly point out that using the first name alone repeats the racist condescension of slave holders who commonly refused to acknowledge the surnames of the human beings they owned. Beyond that, the Georgetown Memory Project, a nonprofit group that has been tracking descendants, maintains that Isaac understood his surname to be Hawkins. His descendants should clearly be allowed to decide how his name is used."
Georgetown Confronts Its Ugly Past - The New York Times
Donald Trump, Deporter in Waiting - The New York Times
'tt was a mass-deportation speech, even if he avoided that phrase. Its intent was hard to miss.
Leave aside the bit about the “impenetrable” wall, an applause line for an engineering fiction. To understand what’s so appalling and frightening about Mr. Trump, focus instead on some things he could actually try to do, if America gives him the job and Congress gives the money:
1. “Under my administration, anyone who illegally crosses the border will be detained until they are removed out of our country and back to the country from which they came. And they’ll be brought great distances.”
Donald Trump, Deporter in Waiting - The New York Times
Leave aside the bit about the “impenetrable” wall, an applause line for an engineering fiction. To understand what’s so appalling and frightening about Mr. Trump, focus instead on some things he could actually try to do, if America gives him the job and Congress gives the money:
1. “Under my administration, anyone who illegally crosses the border will be detained until they are removed out of our country and back to the country from which they came. And they’ll be brought great distances.”
Donald Trump, Deporter in Waiting - The New York Times
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)