n2doc
n2doc's Journal
Joe Arpaios prison was a circus of cruelty. Now his values are spreading
By Paul Mason
What I remember most about Joe Arpaio’s jail is how easy it was to get in. We were interviewing people from the Hispanic community in Phoenix under siege from Arpaio’s cops. This was when they were routinely scooping migrants off the streets and – sometimes even when all their papers were in order – dumping them into immigration detention jails. I assumed the BBC would have trouble getting access to such a controversial institution, but within an hour of asking we were through the doors.
The jail was a tent camp: olive-green military canvas with the sides pulled up, dating from the Korean war. The prisoners – women were in a separate compound – all wore black and white striped overalls and, famously, bright pink underwear. Arpaio himself would later sign for each of my team a poster showing a brutish-looking prisoner wearing the pink underwear: it was designed, like the rest of the place, to humiliate and increase the mental torture.
The physical unpleasantness was plain to see. Our car dashboard told us the outside temperature was 114F (45.5C). The prisoners lay slumped, listless in the suffocating heat. The guard escorting us said: “Everything is done as cheap as possible. They get two meals a day: bologna [sausage] and cheap white bread. We, the guards, drink only out-of-date Gatorade for hydration.” And he proudly showed us the date on the bottle he was swigging from. At the slightest unauthorised physical movement – such as shading your head from the sun under a pink towel on the way to the bathroom – the guard would bark some insulting instruction at the offender until they froze.
...
The jail, relentless police raids and stops of people who looked Hispanic, and the tirade of contempt and racial stereotypes that spewed out of Arpaio’s mouth when I interviewed him, were all designed to make life as difficult as possible for the migrant communities of Arizona. But the circus of cruelty was only the pretext for a bigger signal. Arpaio’s actions, over 20 years as sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, were designed to prove that the American far-right can defy the constitution and the federal government with impunity. That is what President Trump really sanctioned when he pardoned Arpaio last week: open defiance of the law.
more
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/aug/28/donald-trump-far-right-joe-arpaio
Donald Trump is operating straight from the white supremacist playbook
snip:
...It was much more, though, than a feel-good, I-have-seen-the-light interview. Black explained the white supremacist movement's recruiting strategy, which, he said, necessarily involved some self-concealment.
"We told people all the white nationalist talking points, without necessarily saying that we're white nationalists," he said.
"My whole talk was the fact that you could run as Republicans and say things like we need to shut down immigration, we need to fight affirmative action, we need to end globalism, and you could win these positions, maybe as long as you didn't get outed as a white nationalist."
Sound familiar?
The plain fact is that America now has a president who operates straight from the white supremacist playbook. At the very least, Donald Trump and his most rabid followers have been objective allies of the white supremacist movement, even if they thought they weren't. Vladimir Lenin would have called them "useful idiots."
more
http://www.cbc.ca/news/opinion/donald-trump-playbook-1.4265374
'Sea dragon' fossil is 'largest on record'
The fossil of a marine reptile ''re-discovered'' in a museum is the largest of its kind on record, say scientists.
The ''sea dragon'' belongs to a group that swam the world's oceans 200 million years ago, while dinosaurs walked the land.
The specimen is the largest Ichthyosaurus to be described, at more than three metres long.
It was discovered on the coast of England more than 20 years ago, but has remained unstudied until now.
more
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-41012226
India guru rape: Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh jailed for 20 years
Source: BBC
A controversial Indian guru convicted of rape on Friday has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Indian media reported that Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh's followers set a vehicle alight just ahead of sentencing.
Violence after Friday's verdict in Panchkula in northern Haryana state had killed some 38 people.
The self-styled holy man was found guilty of sexually assaulting two female followers and jailed for 10 years for each, to run consecutively.
Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-41070764
Unbearable petrochemical smells are reportedly drifting into Houston
As historic rainfall and flooding continue to pound America’s fourth-most populated city, residents of Houston’s industrial fence-line communities are reporting strong gas- and chemical-like smells coming from the many refineries and chemical plants nearby. “I’ve been smelling them all night and off and on this morning,” said Bryan Parras, an activist at the grassroots environmental justice group TEJAS. Parras, who lives and works in Houston’s East End, on Sunday said some residents are experiencing “headaches, sore throat, scratchy throat and itchy eyes.”
Parras said there are chemical smells in the air all over the East End, but particularly in directly communities adjacent to Houston’s sweeping petrochemical industry. And residents can’t escape the smell, because flood waters have overtaken the city, and could reach over four feet in some spots. “Fenceline communities can’t leave or evacuate so they are literally getting gassed by these chemicals,” Parras said.
https://newrepublic.com/minutes/144487/unbearable-petrochemical-smells-reportedly-drifting-houston
More than 100 treated after 'chemical incident' at Birling Gap in East Sussex
More than 100 people have been treated in hospital after a chemical “haze” descended on beachgoers on the East Sussex coastline.
Birling Gap, near the Seven Sisters chalk cliffs, was evacuated by emergency services after people complained of breathing difficulties and irritation to their eyes and throats at about 5pm on Sunday. A spokesman for Eastbourne district general hospital told the BBC that 133 people had received treatment on Sunday.
Police said an unknown “haze” coming from the sea had left people along the coast from Eastbourne to Birling Gap requiring assistance. They warned people in the area to keep doors and windows closed.
East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust said: “We became aware of a hazardous cloud moving across from Birling Gap to the Eastbourne area earlier today.
more
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/aug/27/birling-gap-evacuated-after-chemical-incident-on-east-sussex-coast?CMP=fb_gu
Robert Lee IV: I call on all of us with privilege and power ... to confront racism
Robert Lee IV called for those with "privilege" to take on racism and white supremacy.
During an appearance at the MTV Video Music Awards, Lee introduced himself as a "descendant of Robert E. Lee, the Civil War general whose statue was at the center of violence in Charlottesville."
"We have made my ancestor an idol of white supremacy, racism and hate," he said.
"As a pastor, it is my moral duty to speak out against racism, America's original sin," he continued.
more
http://thehill.com/homenews/news/348234-robert-lee-iv-i-call-on-all-of-us-with-privilege-and-power-to-confront-racism
The only thing that needs to be terminated is your presidency
The mayor of the Canadian city of Hamilton has rushed to the defense of his country after President Donald Trump took a shot at Canada’s trade relations with the U.S.
Trump threatened to terminate the NAFTA deal with Canada and Mexico—the renegotiation of which is causing Mexico and Canada to be “very difficult,” according to the U.S. president.
“The only thing that needs to be terminated is your presidency,” Hamilton Mayor Fred Eisenberger tweeted Sunday, in response to Trump’s own post. “Save yourself and your country. Resign and you will be popular everywhere.”
more
http://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-trolled-canadian-mayor-after-nafta-swipe-655852
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