Rep. Joaquin Castro posts videos purportedly of Texas migrant detention centers – ABC News
Muchas gracias, Representative.
Category: International Affairs,
DHS Watchdog Describes Crammed Detention Centers, A Ticking Time Bomb : NPR
[The Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General] said the prolonged detention of migrants without proper food, hygiene or laundry facilities — some for more than a month — requires “immediate attention and action.”
…The latest report from the Rio Grande Valley includes photos of migrants penned into overcrowded Border Patrol facilities — including one man pressing a cardboard sign to a cell window with the word “Help.”
…Inspectors found that hundreds of children were held for longer than the 72 hours, the maximum time federal rules allow. In some cases, kids were held for more than two weeks. And some adults were kept in standing-room-only cells, without access to showers, for more than a week.
DHS Watchdog Describes Crammed Detention Centers, A Ticking Time Bomb : NPR
mmmhmm
House Democrats Visit Texas Detention Centers: ‘Nothing Prepares You for the Inhumanity of It’
House Democrats Visit Texas Detention Centers – The Atlantic
Our grandparents put their lives on the line to defeat Nazis and this is how we honor that legacy, by allowing Nazi tactics to be the norm on American soil.
Before European Christians Forced Binary Gender Roles, Native Americans Acknowledged 5 Genders
According to Indian Country Today, all native communities acknowledged the following gender roles: “female, male, Two Spirit female, Two Spirit male and transgendered.”.
…“The Two Spirit people in pre-contact Native America were highly revered and families that included them were considered lucky. Indians believed that a person who was able to see the world through the eyes of both genders at the same time was a gift from The Creator.”
Before European Christians Forced Gender Roles, Native Americans Acknowledged 5 Genders | DailyPlug
Surrounded by chaos, Niger is a nation on the edge
Niger is surrounded by chaos. Though it is a country of myriad woes—deep poverty, rising population, a shortage of arable land made worse by desertification, and a shaky political system—it is not the incubator of violence that its neighbors are. It is a country people flee through, not flee from. Niger’s fate depends on whether it holds off the chaos and maintains a semblance of order, or succumbs to it altogether.
…Unrest is the abiding narrative of West Africa. It is a region thrashed by economic despair, spiking and drastically shifting population, environmental degradation, political instability, and, increasingly, violence. It is spinning out of control. And Niger, haloed as it is by five of the continent’s greatest incubators of Islamist extremist groups—Algeria and Libya to the north, Mali to the west, Chad to the east, and Nigeria to the south—is poorer than all of them and yet the most pacific, for now. As the U.S. ambassador to the country, Eric Whitaker, gently puts it, “Niger is a good country in a rough neighborhood.”
…Eventually he muttered, “The European community has blocked everything. Tourism, migration, the mines. What else is there to do but sleep? Someone bites you and then tells you not to cry.”
…Even by a troubled continent’s standards, Niger’s predicament is grave, bracketed by two sobering statistics: a GDP per capita of about a thousand dollars, one of the world’s lowest, and a fertility rate of seven births per woman, which is the highest. But demography does not fully explain the precarious state of Niger. As a landlocked desert country, it has faced punishing droughts, and climate change is expected to make them harsher. Poverty and environmental fragility have in turn exacerbated political instability.
Since gaining independence from France in 1960, Niger has endured four military coups, the latest in 2010. In the past 30 years, it has also experienced two bloody Tuareg rebellions. The most recent, which ended a decade ago, left an abiding scar across the largest of Niger’s eight regions, Agadez. Until then, the city of Agadez had been a tourist gateway to the Sahara, receiving up to 20,000 visitors annually, many via direct flights from Paris. The three years of violent skirmishes between the rebels and Niger’s army had the effect of vaporizing the predominant industry.
…After the European Union offered financial inducements, Niger’s government in 2015 criminalized transporting migrants. In Agadez the police confiscated scores of pickup trucks. Coxeurs and drivers were arrested, along with the Boss, who spent three weeks in jail. The city’s number one source of revenue had been officially banned, in effect consigning Agadez’s post-tourism economy to the black market.
…ung men enumerating their all but exhausted options. They had attended school, looked for work, played by the rules. With few jobs to be had, some found their place in the Boss’s racket. After seeing friends get arrested and their trucks impounded, they withdrew. And now they are waiting for whatever might come next.
…Meanwhile they were hearing about other young men making appeals: Looking for a job? We will pay. Need money for a wedding? We will pay. The YouTube videos and WhatsApp texts from the Nigerian jihadist group Boko Haram were making the rounds.
…“Do I have hope?” says a 46-year-old man named Jamal, who then pulls his scarf away to reveal his sand-caked face. “Look at my beard. It’s turning white from hoping.”
Surrounded by chaos, Niger is a nation on the edge
Sigh…
India’s Gay Prince Invites Homeless LGBTQ Individuals To Live in His Palace
The development comes after India’s only openly gay member of royalty, Prince Manvendra Singh Gohil of Rajpipla, Gujarat, decided to open the gates of his palace to the community and also turn a part of his ancestral estate into a help centre with counselling, care, and medical attention.
…The palace, named Hanumanteshwar 1927, will serve as a safe space for members of the LGBTQ community and will also provide help in terms of vocational skills, and English training.
The Prince further revealed that he will be crowdfunding his initiative and the effort to build more support facilities within the palace compound through his foundation, the Lakshya Trust.
India’s Gay Prince Invites Homeless LGBTQ Individuals To Live in His Palace
hmmm
Where women lead on climate change
Last summer, dozens of women from across the country gathered to share strategies about water and forest conservation and improving crop yields, and they got a crash course in social auditing, a way for them to understand their rights and get involved in decisionmaking.
…At the meeting in Guatemala, where much of the population depends on subsistence farming, the women spoke different languages and came from different ethnic groups, but all could share stories of how the soil was less fertile, the seasons increasingly unpredictable, and the rainfall more erratic.
…As in many places, problems here often revolve around water scarcity and soil degradation, conditions that increase the workload for women responsible for providing water, food, and fuel for their homes. When those resources are scarce, they must travel farther, sometimes walking for hours to reach the nearest water source.
Because women’s work is often connected to the land, women have long fought to protect their natural environments, often from extractive industries and agribusinesses that compete for access to resources. Now, some are linking this activism to the impacts they feel from a changing climate.
…Pressures from climate change have worsened poverty, food insecurity, human trafficking, and child marriage, activists argue.
….“Women have always been leaders at all levels, it’s just not been recognized in the same way,” Ms. Blomstrom says. Part of that is a broader recognition that the effects of climate change are so varied and widespread, as well as stronger efforts to recognize women as human rights defenders.
Where women lead on climate change – CSMonitor.com
hmmm
What happened to black Germans under the Nazis
The 1935 Nuremberg Laws stripped Jews of their German citizenship and prohibited them from marrying or having sexual relations with “people of German blood”.
A subsequent ruling confirmed that black people (like “gypsies”) were to be regarded as being “of alien blood” and subject to the Nuremberg principles. Very few people of African descent had German citizenship, even if they were born in Germany, but this became irreversible when they were given passports that designated them as “stateless negroes”.
…It was the Nazi fear of “racial pollution” that led to the most common trauma suffered by black Germans: the break-up of families. “Mixed” couples were harassed into separating. When others applied for marriage licences, or when a woman was known to be pregnant or had a baby, the black partner became a target for involuntary sterilisation.
In a secret action in 1937, some 400 of the Rhineland children were forcibly sterilised.
What happened to black Germans under the Nazis | The Independent
hmmm
US accuses Russia of denying medical access to Paul Whelan, ex-Marine held as spy
US accuses Russia of denying medical access to Paul Whelan, ex-Marine held as spy – ABC News
Perhaps the state views him as an illegal immigrant?
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
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
In Their Own Words, Migrant Children Describe Horrific Conditions At Border Patrol Facilities
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
Jeezus Fricking Krrreyest
Kushner’s Palestinian peace plan resembles real estate brochure
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
Iran: Trump’s White House ‘afflicted by mental retardation’
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.”
hmmm
White House approves military to use lethal force at border
White House approves military to use lethal force at border
Wonder what the status of this order is?
Dominican authorities say the David Ortiz shooting was a case of mistaken identity.
Ortiz is a strapping 6’3 and 250 pounds, according to the Red Sox. He’s one of the most famous and recognizable athletes in the world. Fernandez is smaller and thinner, with a lighter complexion.
“They don’t look alike at all,” Rojas said. “…Even a breastfeeding infant can identify David Ortiz.”
Dominican authorities say the David Ortiz shooting was a case of mistaken identity. – CNN
WTF?!
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