Jacob Soboroff of NBC News has been covering the story of migrant kids separated from their families by Trump's violent policy at the Mexico border. Soboroff is in Florida today, where he stopped by a “temporary” HHS shelter for unaccompanied minors who entered the United States illegally. Read the rest
“We went there to protect a monument,” he said. Read the rest
The abandoned Karl Lagerfeld Realdoll prototype known as Rodrigo Alves used the N-word on a British reality TV show and the broadcaster didn't even take him off the air. Here's the BBC on the alarming but very highly-rated return of a classic.
Ofcom said it has received 1,048 complaints about the incident, which was shown on the second day of the reality TV show.
Rodrigo used the word when describing what kind of partner he preferred.
Ofcom is currently deciding whether action will be taken against Channel 5 for its handling of the incident.
"We will assess these against the broadcasting code before deciding whether to take it forward for investigation," it said in a statement.
Alves, known for both the number and the incompetence of his plastic surgeons, has attained a level of celebrity in the UK media that damns both him and them in ways suddenly more obvious. Celebrity Big Brother was reportedly so desperate to keep him on the show that he boasted of the special demands he was making before, finally, making clear to them who is in charge. Read the rest
The Chinese state crackdown on the predominantly Muslim Uighur minority -- involving the imprisonment and torture of upwards of a million people in brainwashing camps -- isn't limited to China itself. Read the rest
Steve West, an anti-semitic conspiracy theorist who said Hitler did nothing wrong, defeated three other GOP candidates in the party's primary election for Missouri's 15th district. He now faces Democratic incumbent Jon Carpenter in November.
He won with 49.5 percent of the vote; the second-place finisher had 24.4 percent.
“Looking back in history, unfortunately, Hitler was right about what was taking place in Germany. And who was behind it,” West said on KCXL radio in January 2017, The Kansas City Star reported Thursday.
He has spoken of “Jewish cabals” that are “harvesting baby parts” from Planned Parenthood, abuse children and control the Republican Party. West also has a YouTube channel on which he has made homophobic, anti-Semitic, Islamophobic and racist statements, according to The Star.
I've officially lost track of the number of open white supremacists running (and winning) GOP primaries. It's happening well down-ballot in the grass roots, but it's obvious what's coming: a generation of older, blander white-collar nazis. They're more convincing and well-heeled to conservative voters than the online weirdos currently grifting the far right, whose only real talent is owning the libs. Read the rest
Nauseating. The DC Metro was warned not to and--in an apparent lie--promised workers it wouldn't privately accomodate white supremacists at taxpayer expense. Then it did.
WASHINGTON -- Metro closed down a gate at the Vienna station to the general public on Sunday for the "Unite the Right 2" rally participants to have police-escorted access onto a train car, drawing anger from Metro's union, saying they were lied to.
A few weeks ago, Metro Board Chair Jack Evans said the agency was considering having special trains or cars to separate white nationalists from the public. After union workers and Metro riders began to react to the controversial idea, Metro said in a statement that they would not offer separate trains for the rally.
DC, now you see who was telling the truth about the racist marchers being escorted onto Metro and who lied. Wiedefeld lied to riders and public when the truth was more convenient. The fallout of today will be on him.
— ATU Local 689 (@ATULocal689) August 12, 2018
KESSLER GETTING ON TRAIN TO DC #UniteTheRight2 @WUSA9 - only media and his entourage are allowed on this train. Ther https://t.co/qAvQ0IIUHF
— Mike Valerio (@MikevWUSA) August 12, 2018
JUST IN - @wmata CLOSES Vienna station north gates to the public. A guard says Fairfax police will ONLY open these gates for #UniteTheRight2 protesters @WUSA9 pic.twitter.com/1E8fXN58x0
— Mike Valerio (@MikevWUSA) August 12, 2018
Police closed gates the metro entrance. pic.twitter.com/atSk3xdvWV
— Bria White (@BriaWhiteTV) August 12, 2018
I hope that the service and its leadership is held responsible. Read the rest
Polygon has an amazing piece on why gaming culture and young white male gamers are so toxic. They interviewed a number of folks doing actual academic research and professional journalism on the topic, and the answers are sadly exactly what you expect. Scared racist white guys have had a lot of time to fester in their little bubble, and are very resistant to any change that means they aren't always Übermenschen.
Excerpt via Polygon, but read the whole thing:
Read the restWhy are gaming’s toxic men so enraged?
Women and people of color are beginning to appear in games as powerful characters with their own agency. Slowly, women and minorities are starting to hold senior positions in game development and game criticism. Why is representation — within and outside the art — so offensive to gaming’s toxic men?
Soraya Chemaly:
There’s a lot of sociological research about hierarchy and status in the gaming space, and the misogyny and aggression that comes out of that.
We know that the dynamics of women’s visibility online, particularly in what are perceived as competitive situations, can often result in lower-status men feeling threatened, and then dogpiling on women who have more prominence, status and visibility.
We see that in gaming, and we see it in the same way on Twitter where they have a two-tiered verification system that makes women extremely visible in prominent ways.
Jen Golbeck (Golbeck is an associate professor at the University of Maryland. Her books on internet and entertainment culture include Introduction to Social Media Investigation: A Hands-on Approach.):
The mythos of heroic, powerful men who are in charge — who are respected, successful and dominant — is a narrative that is really changing.
A 6-year old girl separated from her mom under Trump's "zero tolerance" policy was sexually abused inside a Southwest Key shelter in Arizona, reports The Nation. Read the rest
Two New Orleans police officers were charged with battery this week after beating up a man they decided was a "fake American," reports CBS News. The officers were white and the victim hispanic; they told him they "didn't like his camouflage clothing."
Spencer Sutton and John Galman were booked on one count each of simple battery in connection with the beating of Jorge Alberto "George" Gomez early Tuesday, reports CBS affiliate WWL-TV.
Gomez said the two off-duty officers, who are white, began harassing him inside Mid-City Yacht Club, saying they didn't like his camouflage clothing and asking him whether he had served in the military, reports the New Orleans Advocate. Gomez said he told the men he was born in the U.S. but was raised in Honduras before he returned to live in New Orleans and served in the National Guard, but the men wouldn't accept his answer.
WWL-TV confirmed that Gomez, who is Hispanic, served with the Louisiana National Guard.
The cops tried to claim Gomez was the aggressor, but surveillance video made liars of them. Read the rest
Two New Jersey radio hosts were suspended by their station today after directing racist remarks at the state's attorney general, Gurbir Grewa.
Dennis Malloy and Judi Franco of WKXW-FM called Grewa "turban man" for the length of a segment about the nation's first Sikh to hold the position, because Malloy "couldn't remember" his name.
"I'm just going to say the guy with the turban,” Malloy said. "Listen, and if that offends you then don't wear the turban and maybe I'll remember your name."
The station, NJ 101.5-FM, announced the decision to reprimand hosts Dennis Malloy and Judi Franco on its website around midnight. By then the hosts were at the center of a firestorm on social media and the governor had called for the station to take action against the veteran radio personalities.
"We are aware of the offensive comments made by Dennis and Judi during today’s broadcast," the station said. "We have taken immediate action and have taken them off the air until further notice. We are investigating the matter and will have further comment shortly."
They will be "off the air until further notice," adds USA Today.
"Say it with us: Ger-beer Gray-wall," wrote the ACLU. "... Racism isn't cute. It's just racist." Read the rest
Shayne Holland was asked to leave the pool in his own apartment complex Friday. When he showed proof of residency, an off-duty cop snatched his keys. Video shows both the cop and the property manager ordering him out. He is black; they are white.
"She didn't introduce herself, she didn't say hello," said Holland. "She says, 'do you live here?' I'm like, 'yes, I live here, I wouldn't be here if I didn't live here.'"
Holland said the woman pressed him further, asking him to tell her exactly where he lived.
"I'm like, 'I live over there, but if you're asking me for my address, I mean, I don't feel comfortable giving you my entire address without knowing who you are."
Holland said he showed the woman his key fob, which he used to get into the pool and the woman grabbed it out of his hand.
After a while, Holland said his property manager came out, recognized him, and still asked him to leave.
It's understandable if an upscale Indianapolis housing development like River Crossing is full of racists (or managed by one), but the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officer acting badge-out as their henchman is another thing entirely. Read the rest
Liane Hornsey, Uber's HR chief, quit Tuesday after an investigation into racial discrimination found she "systematically dismissed internal complaints" about racism there.
The allegations raise questions about Chief Executive Dara Khosrowshahi’s efforts to change the toxic culture of the firm after he took over in August last year from former CEO Travis Kalanick following a series of scandals.
Khosrowshahi praised Hornsey in an email to employees, which was seen by Reuters, as “incredibly talented, creative, and hard-working.” He gave no reason for her departure. The allegations against her and Uber’s human resources department more broadly were made by an anonymous group that claims to be Uber employees of color, members of the group told Reuters.
They alleged Hornsey had used discriminatory language and made derogatory comments about Uber Global Head of Diversity and Inclusion Bernard Coleman, and had denigrated and threatened former Uber executive Bozoma Saint John, who left the company in June.
Culture eats strategy for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and as a midnight snack.
Photo: Uber handout. Read the rest
Seth Grossman is a white supremacist pundit who is now the GOP nominee for Congress in New Jersey’s 2nd Congressional District. Read the rest
More horrifying news from Donald Trump's racist 'zero tolerance' war on brown asylum seekers. Read the rest
Oregon State Representative Janelle Bynum, who is running for reelection, was canvassing in Clackamas County when one of her constituents called the police. Why? According to Bynum's Facebook post, the resident thought she was acting suspiciously "going door to door and spending a lot of time typing on (her) cell phone after each house."
She praised the deputy who responded for being professional, and said she asked him if she could meet the woman who made the call, but she was not available.
"The officer called her, we talked and she did apologize," Bynum said, without specifying the race of the caller.
“I am requesting to reunite with my child...”
The Southern Poverty Law Center says this is a form some of their clients who have been detained under Donald Trump's racist “zero tolerance” program have been presented with, to request that ICE give back their children. Read the rest
