Category: Domestic Affairs,

Buttigieg’s response to a police shooting and race relations in South Bend

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Domestic Affairs,, Race,Leave a comment

Buttigieg must “manage the concerns of the residents in his city” who have “real questions” about Buttigieg’s handling of police accountability in the past, said Jamal Simmons, a Democratic strategist who has worked on several presidential campaigns.

…Buttigieg has already faced criticism for his outreach and record with black voters, including his decision to remove the city’s first black police chief in 2011 and the impact his signature housing initiative had on minority neighborhoods. The police shooting of Logan has put new focus on a series of troubling racial incidents involving South Bend officers in recent years, as well as a difficult history of race relations in the city that some residents say Buttigieg has not done enough to address.

…The moment also demands Buttigieg, a solutions-oriented former McKinsey consultant, showcase a different side of the whiz-kid persona he brandished this spring while rising up in the Democratic presidential polls.

…Rev. Joe Darby, a prominent South Carolina pastor,  …noted that Buttigieg could “do a better job of empathizing” with the African American community in South Bend. “He needs to be proactive about handling this thing,” he said.

‘If you don’t get this right, nothing else may matter’ – POLITICO

mmmhmmm

 

Racially charged police killing exposes Mayor Pete’s troubled history with minorities

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Domestic Affairs,, Race,Leave a comment

The white officer who shot Logan said Logan had come at him with a knife, though the officer hadn’t turned on his body camera. Critics say Logan didn’t match the suspect’s description and questioned why police would shoot to kill someone with a knife.

…Logan’s death has spotlighted another area of Buttigieg’s record: his troubled relationships with the South Bend police and his city’s large minority population.

While South Bend residents and community leaders have sought to show respect for Logan’s family in the wake of the shooting, they also point out that their burning outrage runs deeper than one tragic incident. They say it’s rooted in eight years of Buttigieg’s economic policies that have often left people of color behind. Meanwhile, alleged instances of police brutality and subsequent coverups or inaction has sowed deep distrust.

…Tensions peaked on Sunday when a town hall meeting devolved into near chaos as those in the audience shouted down Buttigieg.

…Events also suggest that South Bend may not be quite the picture of success and prosperity that Buttigieg paints when it comes to its minority residents. Instead, there’s a sense that his policies are failing lower-income and minority residents, and South Bend is a reflection of the nation’s larger problems.

…Among the most pressing issues are those involving the police, which Casey labeled “corrupt” and charged have unfairly targeted black activists during Buttigieg’s tenure.

The department’s composition is one of the main points of contention. In a city that’s 27% black and 15% Latino, 90% of South Bend’s police officers are white. Last week, six new officers were sworn in and all were white.

Major incidents involving race and the police are nearly an annual occurrence in the city of about 100,000. Soon after he was elected in 2011, Buttigieg faced strong criticism for demoting the city’s first black police chief, Darryl Boykins, after learning of a federal investigation into the department allegedly illegally recording officers’ phone calls. The calls revealed white officers using racial slurs, some of which were directed at Boykins.

… Questions remained about why the officer killed Logan, but he was not confident that Buttigieg’s administration would provide the public with clear answers. Like black activists, Davis charged that the administration was often secretive about controversial issues.

…The department could not legally immediately fire and charge officers, which is what many want.

He offered some advice to Buttigieg: “Do what you got to do to make it right, but you got to go through the fire, because you set the fire ablaze.”

Pete Buttigieg: police killing exposes mayor’s troubled history with minorities | US news | The Guardian

Keeping officer disciplinary records private is not an HR consideration, it is a public safety risk. If departments cannot fire errant officers than the mayor needs to step up.

Especially if he is trying to show himself as qualified to lead a nation whose law enforcement are embroiled in their very own, very violent, and very facist, race-war.

Inside hate groups on Facebook, police officers trade racist memes, conspiracy theories and Islamophobia

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Chick Stuff,, Media and Culture,, Race,Leave a comment

While civilians enjoy First Amendment protection from government censorship or harassment, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that public agencies such as police departments may penalize their employees for speech and behavior in certain cases.

…[At least] hundreds of active-duty and retired law enforcement officers from across the United States are members of Confederate, anti-Islam, misogynistic or anti-government militia groups on Facebook.

……Most of the hateful Facebook groups these cops frequent are closed, meaning only members are allowed to see content posted by other members. Reveal joined dozens of these groups and verified the identities of almost 400 current and retired law enforcement officials who are members.

…While Facebook vows that it prioritizes meaningful content, its algorithms also appear to play a role in strengthening biases. The more extreme groups we joined, the more Facebook suggested new – and often even more troubling – groups to join or pages to like. It was easy to see how users, including police officers, could be increasingly radicalized by what they saw on their news feed.

…We wrote software to download these lists directly from Facebook, something the platform allowed at the time.

Then we ran those two datasets against each other to find users who were members of at least one law enforcement group and one [hate-group.]

We got 14,000 hits.

…The groups cover a range of extremist ideologies. Some present themselves publicly as being dedicated to benign historical discussion of the Confederacy, but are replete with racism inside. Some trade in anti-Semitic and anti-immigrant memes. Some are openly Islamophobic. And almost 150 of the officers [were] found [to be] involved with violent anti-government groups such as the Oath Keepers and Three Percenters.

…Many groups ask users [leading] questions in order to join, and these often offer insight into the nature of the group. The group “Stop Radical Islam in America,” for example, asks, “Why do you personally think Islam should be banned in America?” At least 12 current and former police officers were members of that group.

The group “Confederate Brothers & Sisters,” which counts at least 25 current and former cops as members, explicitly asks, “This group is sometimes racist does this bother you?” Inside that group, we found several cops and ex-cops posting racist comments.

…Inside the closed Facebook groups to which we gained access, transparently racist, misogynistic and homophobic content is on full display. 

…Biased views like those expressed in these Facebook groups inevitably influence an individual’s decision-making process.

“The perceptions we have about the world at large drive the decisions we make,” Simi said. “To think that people could completely separate these extremist right-wing views from their actions just isn’t consistent with what we know about the decision-making process.”

…Disciplinary records and investigations into police misconduct are kept secret in a majority of states, meaning most American cops enjoy a blanket of protection [and anonymity not afforded to the citizens they are sworn to serve and protect.] 

…In Charlottesville, Virginia, marchers flew a “Blue Lives Matter” flag alongside anti-Semitic and white supremacist messages. In Portland, Oregon, police officers were found to have been texting with a far-right group that regularly hosts white supremacists and white nationalists at its rallies.

…n 2017, Best commented on an NPR story reporting that babies of color are now the majority in the United States. Below it, he wrote: “Maybe, but minority on minority homocide (sic) will make sure adults of color remain a minority.”

…Some people” could view his membership in the group as problematic, he acknowledged. However, [Best] said that while some members of the group hold discriminatory views, he does not.

…“I like memes, they make me laugh. I didn’t join to express any racist views,” he said. “I don’t care what you think. That’s my opinion. You know what’s a racist comment? ‘Brits are all full of shit.’ ” [The irony of idiots alert: that’s a bigoted statement but not a racist one.]

…Reached via Facebook Messenger, Quinn defended his posts. “Its also my responsibility to detect possible threats to my community all the way up to and including my country,” he wrote. “Think about this, majority of crimes are committed by minorities (black, hispanic, etc) per FBI statistics….” (According to the latest FBI Uniform Crime Reporting statistics, 68.9 percent of arrestees in 2017 were white.)

…One guard at the Angola prison in Louisiana, Geoffery Crosby, was a member of 56 extremist groups, including 45 Confederate groups and one called “BAN THE NAACP.”

A detective at the Harris County Sheriff’s Office in Houston, James “J.T.” Thomas, was a member of the closed Facebook group “The White Privilege Club.”

The group contains hundreds of hateful, racist and anti-Semitic posts; links to interviews with white supremacists such as Richard Spencer; and invites to events such as the deadly Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville. Users regularly post memes featuring Pepe the Frog, the alt-right mascot, with captions such as, “white people, do something.” And there are explicitly racist jokes, such as one with a photo of fried chicken and grape soda with the caption, “Mom packed me a niggable for school.”

……“I ask them, ‘Would you, as a cop, in your uniform, put that on a sandwich board and walk up and down the streets of your town? ’ ” Van Brocklin said. “And they’ll say, ‘No, because I could be fired for that.’ Well, instead of putting it on a sandwich board, you put it up for the whole world to see, so why would you think it’s protected?”

Inside hate groups on Facebook, police officers trade racist memes, conspiracy theories and Islamophobia | Reveal

Mmmmmhmmm

Inside the Secret Border Patrol Facebook Group Where Agents Spout Delusional Conspiracy Theories and Revel in a Complete and Utter Disregard for both Professionalism and Human Decency

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Chick Stuff,, Media and Culture,, Race,1 Comment

Created in August 2016, the Facebook group is called “I’m 10-15” and boasts roughly 9,500 members from across the country. (10-15 is Border Patrol code for “aliens in custody.”)

…ProPublica received images of several recent discussions in the 10-15 Facebook group and was able to link the participants in those online conversations to apparently legitimate Facebook profiles belonging to Border Patrol agents, including a supervisor based in El Paso, Texas, and an agent in Eagle Pass, Texas, a small town in the Rio Grande Valley.

…The postings …reflect what “seems to be a pervasive culture of cruelty aimed at immigrants within CBP. This isn’t just a few rogue agents or ‘bad apples.’”

…Castro, a Democrat who represents San Antonio, [said,] “These are clearly agents who are desensitized to the point of being dangerous to migrants and their co-workers.”

…A staffer for Escobar [said,] “…The comments made by Border Patrol agents towards immigrants …are disgusting and show a complete disregard for human life and dignity.”

…The member asked if the photo could have been faked because the bodies were so “clean.” (The picture was taken by an Associated Press photographer, and there is no indication that it was staged or manipulated.) “I HAVE NEVER SEEN FLOATERS LIKE THIS,” the [delusional] person wrote, adding, “could this be another edited photo. We’ve all seen the dems and liberal parties do some pretty sick things…”

…The Border Patrol Facebook group is the most recent example of some law enforcement personnel behaving badly in public and private digital spaces. An investigation by Reveal uncovered hundreds of active-duty and retired law enforcement officers who moved in extremist Facebook circles, including white supremacist and anti-government groups. A team of researchers calling themselves the Plain View Project recently released a hefty database of offensive Facebook posts made by current and ex-law enforcement officers.

And in early 2018, federal investigators found a raft of disturbing and racist text messages sent by Border Patrol agents in southern Arizona after searching the phone of Matthew Bowen, an agent charged with running down a Guatemalan migrant with a Ford F-150 pickup truck. The texts, which were revealed in a court filing in federal court in Tucson, described migrants as “guats,” “wild ass shitbags,” “beaners” and “subhuman.” The messages included repeated discussions about burning the migrants up.

Inside the Secret Border Patrol Facebook Group Where Agents Joke About Migrant Deaths and Post Sexist Memes

Composed of both active and retired border personnel yes, but it is still staggering that the number of members in the group are roughly equivalent to the number of people employed by the Border Patrol.

Wonder who created and runs the group….

US Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Ken Cuccinelli shirks responsibility and refuses to accept acknowledge any fault in the drowning death of a man and his daughter at the border

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Race,, The Americas,Leave a comment

Tania Vanessa Ávalos, Oscar’s wife and Angie Valeria’s mother, told the Mexican newspaper La Jornada that her family had grown increasingly desperate. Temperatures reached over 110 degrees at the migrant camp in Matamoros, Mexico, where the family had been waiting to present themselves at a US port of entry and seek asylum, she said.

At the end of May, more than 2,000 migrants were waiting “in conditions of hunger and overcrowding” there to seek asylum at ports where, according to La Jornada, US agents granted an average of three appointments per week.

…The Trump administration’s policy, called “metering,” has led to longer wait times. …Customs and Border Protection has said it doesn’t know how many migrants have been turned away as a result of metering.

Ken Cuccinelli blames drowned man in border photograph for own, daughter’s deaths – CNNPolitics

Fucking immoral monster

Abortion: Supreme Court won’t consider Alabama ban struck down in 2018

On By peanutgallerynhIn Chick Stuff,, Domestic Affairs,Leave a comment

The Supreme Court ducked another abortion case Friday, refusing to let Alabama defend its ban on a second-term method of abortion that was struck down last year.

The justices, who already have turned down opportunities to hear abortion cases from Louisiana and Indiana, denied the state’s petition to have its ban on dilation & evacuation abortions heard next term.

…In February, the court temporarily blocked abortion restrictions in Louisiana that critics complained were virtually identical to Texas limits struck down by the justices in 2016.

…Less likely to win the justices’ consideration are laws passed recently in Georgia, Ohio, Missouri, Kentucky and Mississippi that ban most abortions. Those laws more clearly conflict with the high court’s precedents.

Abortion: Supreme Court won’t consider Alabama ban struck down in 2018

hmmmm

Joe Biden and the Busing Question Back In 1975

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Money, Class, and Poverty,, Race,, Schools,Leave a comment

A 1973 Gallup Poll found that while a majority of Americans favored school integration, just 5% believed busing was the best way to do it. That went across racial lines — just 4% of whites and 9% of African Americans thought busing was the best way to do it.

Americans thought other policies should be focused more on and would do a better job of achieving school integration, like changing school district boundaries to bring together students from different social, racial and economic groups (27%) or that there should be more affordable housing in middle-class neighborhoods (22%).

Even a generation later, 82% of Americans said they favored letting students go to their neighborhood school over busing. A 1999 Gallup Poll found that almost 9 in 10 whites said so, and blacks were split — 48% to 44%, with a plurality preference for keeping students in neighborhood schools.

Even nearly three-quarters of younger respondents in 1999 — ages 18 to 29, who might have gone through busing themselves and who thought integration programs were beneficial — said letting children attend neighborhood schools would be better than busing. (Harris would have been 35 in 1999; Biden was 57.)

A 1971 Gallup Poll found that fewer than half of Americans (43%) thought integration programs had improved the quality of education for black students. By 1999, though, 80% of those younger respondents thought they worked. In other words, the generational divide is real.

Joe Biden Supported A Constitutional Amendment To End Busing In 1975 : NPR

hmmmm

In Their Own Words, Migrant Children Describe Horrific Conditions At Border Patrol Facilities

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Domestic Affairs,, Modern Parenting,, Race,, The Americas,Leave a comment

A 16-year-old mother sleeps with her baby on a cement floor. A 12-year-old wakes up in the middle of the night from hunger. A 5-year-old is sick and has no socks. An 11-year-old cries in a cell, and is only let outside for a few minutes each day.

… They provide a horrifying portrait of life in detention, where toddlers and children sleep on concrete under bright lights and are not properly fed, allowed to bathe or brush their teeth.

…On Wednesday, the lawyers involved in the Flores settlement, an agreement that outlines child welfare standards in detention, filed a temporary restraining order in federal court. It would force the government to allow the facilities to be inspected by public health professionals and staffed by medical professionals.

“The immigration agents separated me from my father right away. I was very frightened and scared. I cried. I have not seen my father again.

I have been at this facility for several days. I have not been told how long I have to stay here. I am frightened, scared, and sad.

I have had a cold and cough for several days. I have not seen a doctor and I have not been given any medicine. It is cold at night when we sleep. I have shoes but no socks.” ― A 5-year-old from Honduras

“Two hours after we crossed, we met Border Patrol and they took us to a very cold house. They took away our baby’s diapers, baby formula, and all of our belongings.

After that they took us to a place with a tent. Up until this point, our family was kept together, but here they took our daughter and me out of the cell and separated my fiancé from us. Our [one-year-old] baby was crying. We asked the guards why they were taking our family apart and they yelled at us.

After that we stayed in a room with 45 other children. There was no mat so my baby and I slept directly on the cement.

I have been in the U.S. for six days and I have never been offered a shower or been able to brush my teeth. There is no soap here and out clothes are dirty. They have never been washed. My daughter is sick and so am I.”  ― A 16-year-old mother from El Salvador

“The guards were mean and scary. They yelled at us. One day the guards wanted to know if anyone had snuck food in the cell. They found one kid who was about 15 or 16 years old who had a burrito, pudding, and juice. The officials handcuffed his wrists.

>I’m so hungry that I’ve woken up in the middle of the night with hunger. I’m too scared to ask the officials here for any more food, even though there is not enough food here for me. In the morning we get oatmeal, pudding, and juice. In the afternoon we get soup, a cookie, and juice. For dinner we get a burrito, pudding and juice.

I saw a child ask for more food once and the guard told him ‘No, you’ve had your ration.’ Sometimes the younger kids get an extra chocolate pudding. I need more food too.” –― A 12-year-old from Guatemala

“The officers took everything from us except our documents. They even took our shoelaces. There was a mother in our group traveling with a very young baby. The officers took her diapers, baby formula, and nearly everything else she had and threw it away.

The water here is horrible. It tastes like chlorine. We can use cups to drink the water. But the water tastes awful and I don’t like it at all. None of the kids here like the water.

The officials here are very bad to us. During the night when we’re trying to sleep they come in and wake us up, yelling and scaring us. Sometimes children rise up in the night and officials yell at them to lay back down. The guards who are yelling don’t speak much Spanish, so it’s hard to understand what they’re saying. My sisters and I are very scared when they yell at us and other children.

Every night my sisters keep asking me, ‘When will our mommy come to get us?’ I don’t know what to tell them. It’s very hard for all of us to be here.” – A 12-year-old from Ecuador

“A Border Patrol agent came in our room with a two-year-old boy and asked us, ‘Who wants to take care of this little boy?’ Another girl said she would take care of him, but she lost interest after a few hours so I started taking care of him yesterday. His bracelet says he is two years old.

I feed the 2-year-old boy, change his diaper, and play with him. He is sick. He has a cough and a runny nose and scabs on his lips. He was coughing last night so I asked to take him to see the doctor and they told me that the doctor would come to our room, but the doctor never came. The little boy that I am taking care of never speaks. He likes for me to hold him as much as possible.

Since arriving here, I have never been outside and never taken a shower.” – A 15-year-old from El Salvador

“We were put into a three sided cage with the fourth side open to the outside filled with loads of people. We had to wait for someone to stand up and quickly take their place on the ground.

My [8-month-old] baby was naked outside with no blanket for all four days we were there. We were freezing. My baby couldn’t sleep because the ground was cement with rocks and everytime she moved the sharp ground would scratch her. There were many pregnant women who had to sleep on rocks and I felt very badly for them.

My baby began vomiting and having diarrhea. I asked to see a doctor and they did not take us. I asked again the next day and the guard said ‘She doesn’t have the face of a sick baby. She doesn’t need to see a doctor.’

Since we arrived here my baby has lost a lot of weight. Her pants are very loose now. She is not sleeping because she is sick, and it is very loud. She cries a lot and is listless.”  ― A 16-year-old mother from Honduras

“We are being held in a cold cell. We sleep on the floor on mats with blankets. I have only been permitted to take a shower twice in the almost two weeks we’ve been here. We’ve been allowed to brush our teeth once.

About three days ago I got a fever. They moved me alone to a flu cell. There is no one to take care of you there. They just give you pills twice a day. I also am having an allergic reaction all over my skin. My skin is itchy and red and my nose is stuffed up. Two times they gave me a pill for it but not anymore.

They let us out of our cell twice a day for a few minutes but other than that we just sit there. We cry a lot and the other kids in the cell also cry. It’s so ugly to be locked up all the time.” – An 11-year-old from El Salvador

 

“I started taking care of a [little girl] in the Ice Box after they separated her from her father. I did not know either of them before that. She was very upset. The workers did nothing to try to comfort her. I tried to comfort her and she has been with me ever since.

>She sleeps on a mat with me on the concrete floor. We spend all day every day in that room. There are no activities, only crying. We eat in the same area. We can only go outside to go to the bathroom. We don’t have any opportunities to go outside to do activities or anything. There is nothing to do. None of the adults take care of us so we try to take care of each other.” ― A 15-year-old who didn’t specify their country of origin

In Their Own Words, Migrant Children Describe Horrific Conditions At Border Patrol Facilities | HuffPost

Jeezus Fricking Krrreyest

Joe Biden’s Clear Road Back From Kamala Harris Debate Exchange

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Media and Culture,Leave a comment

Harris hit Biden for his “hurtful” remarks about segregationists and his long-ago opposition to busing. Biden came back by claiming that Harris had misrepresented his remarks; taking a swipe at Harris for having been a prosecutor rather than a public defender, as he was; defending his record on busing as a defense of local control; and talking about his civil-rights record more generally, including his time in the Obama administration.

…There is no great public demand for the return of busing for racial balance in schools, and Harris isn’t really proposing it. 

…Eric Swalwell, a California congressman on the stage for whatever reason, probably did himself no favors by unsubtly raising Biden’s age. But he’s not the only Democrat who is thinking about it.

…Sanders is suffering this time around because a lot of people, possibly including the senator himself, misunderstood his strong showing in 2016. They thought it was about him and his promise of socialist revolution. Beyond a hard core, it was about his idealism in contrast to Hillary Clinton’s cynicism. Without Clinton in the race, his true base turns out to be smaller.

…Buttigieg rose rapidly and proved himself to be polished and thoughtful, but did not do much to defend himself — even from Swalwell’s criticism of his handling of a police shooting in his city of South Bend, Indiana.

…The polls already show that most voters don’t want to abolish private insurance. Many senior citizens will be livid to learn that Medicare for All also abolishes Medigap and Medicare Advantage plans.

Biden could use this issue to say his rivals are falling for ideological fads that endanger the Democrats’ chances in 2020. That critique would have the merit of being true. Which means that Biden’s problems are also his party’s.

Joe Biden’s Clear Road Back From Kamala Harris Debate Exchange – Bloomberg

hmmmm

Body Camera Manufacturer Will Not Use Facial Recognition Software

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Media and Culture,, Privacy,, Race,Leave a comment

The technology left certain groups vulnerable, Friedman said. It was less accurate in identifying the faces of women than men, and younger people compared to older ones. The same was true in people of color, who were harder to correctly identify than white people.

The board also cited privacy concerns which have long been raised by activists. “Even if face recognition works accurately and equitably—and we stress in detail that at present it does not—the technology makes it far easier for government entities to surveil citizens and potentially intrude into their lives,” the report said.

Body Camera Manufacturer Will Not Use Facial Recognition Software : NPR

hmmm

Illinois is going to expunge marijuana convictions from 800,000 criminal records

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Drugs & Drink,Leave a comment

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker just signed HB 1438 this week, which makes cannabis legal in the state for individuals 21 and over, along with sweeping criminal criminal justice reforms designed to help those whose lives have been upended by the state’s drug laws.

In addition to legalizing marijuana, the 610-page bill offers relief to the roughly 770,000 residents of the state with marijuana-related offenses on their criminal records.

…The state’s new Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act, which takes effect in 2020, allows people to automatically receive clemency for convictions up to 30 grams of cannabis. Those convicted with larger amounts, from 30-500 grams can petition a court to have the charge lifted.

The bill defines expunge to mean to “physically destroy the records or return them to the petitioner and to obliterate the petitioner’s name from any official index or public record, or both.” But it doesn’t require the physical destruction of circuit court files.

Illinois is going to expunge marijuana convictions from 800,000 criminal records – CNN

hmmmm

Pete Buttigieg’s Campaign Struggles in South Bend

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Media and Culture,Leave a comment

Mayor Pete is an ambitious politician from central casting: class valedictorian in high school, president of the Harvard Institute of Politics, mayor at age 29.

….[The] media fell in love with Buttigieg, not just because he’s genuinely talented, but because he’s the type of candidate — young, earnest, credentialed, progressive but with a self-image as an ideologically moderate pragmatist — it always falls in love with.

It is attracted to the idea of an intellectual candidate. This doesn’t literally mean someone with deep intellectual interests or genuine accomplishments — think the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan — but an impressive academic resume, a copy of the New Yorker on the nightstand, and marked verbal acuity.

Pete Buttigieg’s Campaign Struggles in South Bend | National Review

Ouch, that is spot on.

Kushner’s Palestinian peace plan resembles real estate brochure

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Middle East,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

The plan is premised on three tenets: “Unleashing economic potential, empowering the Palestinian people, and enhancing Palestinian governance.” It’s replete with buzzwords, charts, and tables. It promises investments in private enterprise, education, health care, and government in the Gaza Strip and West Bank. It features images of happy Palestinians, with minimal mention of Israel and no discussion of the state of Palestine.

…It contains no political solution to the problem Kushner was tasked with solving. It doesn’t address the famously difficult questions that have doomed other peace proposals, like the status of the city of Jerusalem or Palestinians’ right of return. There’s no talk of what might be done with Israeli settlements in occupied territories, nor any discussion of borders at all. 

…Like any business proposal, it is meant to intrigue potential investors and get them dreaming big before getting bogged down by pesky facts on the ground.

Kushner’s Palestinian peace plan resembles real estate brochure — Quartz

hmmm

The Navy’s USS Gabrielle Giffords and the Future of Work

On By peanutgallerynhIn Media and Culture,, Military,Leave a comment

 “As equipment breaks, [sailors] are required to fix it without any training,” a Defense Department Test and Evaluation employee told Congress. “Those are not my words. Those are the words of the sailors who were doing the best they could to try to accomplish the missions we gave them in testing.” The intentionally small crew size made the ship ill-suited to forward combat, because not enough people were on board to stand watch.

These results were, perhaps, predictable given the Navy’s initial, full-throttle approach to minimal manning—and are an object lesson on the dangers of embracing any radical concept without thinking hard enough about the downsides.

The Navy’s USS Gabrielle Giffords and the Future of Work – The Atlantic

hmmm

Iran: Trump’s White House ‘afflicted by mental retardation’

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Media and Culture,, Middle East,Leave a comment

Iranian president Hassan Rouhani has said the White House is “afflicted by mental retardation.” 

…An exasperated Mr Rouhani said: “You sanction the foreign minister simultaneously with a request for talks?” 

…Foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said the American government was “destroying the established international mechanisms for maintaining world peace and security.”

Iran says Trump’s White House ‘afflicted by mental retardation’ in protest at sanctions | The Independent

hmmm