Trump Getting Dumped Around the World

Let’s see, today it was announced that Trump’s Turnberry golf course in Scotland is no longer being considered as a host for the 2020 Open.  In July the PGA pulled the Grand Slam tournament from his National Golf Club in LA. See Fortune.

Earlier in December he lost distribution of his Trump branded products from a major international distributor:

Lifestyle, a home decor chain based in Dubai, is removing all Trump-branded products from the shelves of its 195 outlets across the Middle East, North Africa, Pakistan and Tanzania.

Along with that, one of Dubai’s biggest property developers will no longer work with Trump.

“I think he damaged all his brand in all the Muslim countries … nobody will accept him,” said Al-Habtoor, who initially had supported Trump.

And he’s getting into a pissing match with a Saudi Prince who once snapped up some Trump distressed properties.

This is after, in July, Macy’s joined a growing list of big corporations not wanting their name to be sullied by association with Trumbigotry.

Hit ‘im again, harder! harder!

Not much I can find that a low net worth individual could join in not buying…basically anything with his name on it…fragrances, foods.. the list goes on.  Here’s a couple of them, here and here.

The Italian-French Founder of Charlie Hebdo

Fascinating sub-story at Bloomberg on the attacked magazine, Charlie Hebdo….
Perhaps you did not find Charlie Hebdo, the Paris satirical weekly attacked by terrorists on Wednesday, all that funny. That’s only natural: People in different countries laugh at different jokes and have varying tolerance for irreverence, offensiveness and plain grossness. As the French magazine, notwithstanding all it’s suffered, prepares to print a million copies of its next issue —  17 times its usual run — it’s important to note that it comes from a European tradition much broader than the French brand of satirical slapstick it most employs, and has at its roots a personal story as tortured as the continent’s recent history.

Francois Cavanna was the publication’s founding editor in chief, back when it was called Hara-Kiri. He was the one who renamed it Charlie Hebdo in 1970, after Hara-Kiri was banned for publishing this cover, which used the death of Charles de Gaulle to spoof press coverage of a nightclub fire that took 146 lives. (“Tragic Ball at Colombey, One Dead,” read the coverline.)

Cavanna was the son of an Italian immigrant mason. He grew up in a poor eastern suburb of Paris, taunted by French nationalists but in love with the French language. He didn’t get to make it his profession until much later.

In 1943, at the age of 20, he was sent by the Nazis to Germany to work in an ordnance factory in Treptow, now part of Berlin … Read ALL

Muslim War On Terror

Contrary to commentators on both sides of the Atlantic, there has been significant Muslim push-back against the crimes being carried out in its name.  Here is Juan Cole, a close observer.

When American commentators like Carl Bernstein complain that Muslim authorities have not sufficiently denounced the terrorist attack on the Charlie Hebdo staff in Paris, they show a profound ignorance of the current situation in the Middle East.

The fact is that both governments of Muslim-majority countries and the chief religious institutions have been engaged in a vigorous war on religious extremism for some time.  See ALL

As he also says, one of the purported assassins, now dead himself, is said to have attributed his motivation to turn to weapons to what he saw in the world:

… Benyettou took them on the internet, and showed them images from Bush’s invasion and occupation of Iraq. Sharif said, “It was everything I saw on the television, the torture at Abu Ghraib prison, all that, which motivated me.”

Which of course does not excuse his actions but is surely a way to begin what every theorist of war, indeed of human behavior, says is of vital importance — knowing the other.

Non Muslims could surely help Muslims in reversing the surge of terror by understanding such motives and taking steps to make them lose force.

Myanmar Minorities Still Under Attack

For all the good thing happening in Myanmar/Burma as the country comes out of decades of military rule, the  vicious turn against the Royinga Muslims, particularly in the coastal state of Rakhine, seems to be getting worse instead of better.  The UN this week, called attention to the situation.

(Reuters) – U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s latest report on Myanmar raises serious concerns about ethnic and religious tensions that have led to violence against Rohingya Muslims, though he praises the government’s attempts to press ahead with democratic reforms.

The situation is especially worrying in Rakhine state, Ban said, where deep rifts between the Buddhist and Muslim communities have widened and the conditions at camps for internally displaced persons have deteriorated.

“The deep-seated inter-ethnic and inter-religious tensions that have re-emerged around the country have given rise to further violence, loss of life, displacement of populations and destruction of property,” the U.N. chief said in his annual report to the General Assembly’s Third Committee.

Human Rights Watch says that the government so called action plan will make things worse, instead of better;

A draft government plan would entrench discriminatory policies that deprive Rohingya Muslims in Burma of citizenship and lead to the forced resettlement of over 130,000 displaced Rohingya into closed camps, Human Rights Watch said today

The plan, a copy of which was obtained by Human Rights Watch, does not recognize the term Rohingya, referring throughout to “Bengalis,” an inaccurate and derogatory term commonly used by Burmese officials and nationalist Buddhists. Muslims are only mentioned in the plan with reference to religious schools.

“The long-awaited Rakhine State Action Plan both expands and solidifies the discriminatory and abusive Burmese government policies that underpin the decades-long persecution of the Rohingya,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director. “It is nothing less than a blueprint for permanent segregation and statelessness that appears designed to strip the Rohingya of hope and force them to flee the country.”

The man largely responsible for extremist turn against the Royhinga. a Buddhist monk named Wirathu, appeared last week in Sri Lanka, to address a large rally called by the militant Buddhist sect there, Bodu Bala Sena, promising to join them in fighting the “Islamist threat.”

Aljazeera

 

Right Wing Viennese Protest Turkey’s Erdogan

Two protest marches were held on Thursday to coincide with the visit to Vienna of Turkey’s controversial prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

A group of protesters clashed with Erdogan supporters on the Reichsbrücke, according to the Heute paper.

According to eyewitness reports a group of counter-demonstrators threw stones and glass bottles at the anti-Erdogan marchers. Police intervened and used pepper spray to disperse the protesters.

Erdogan was in Vienna for a private meeting with 7,000 of his closest friends and supporters in Austria.

The visit has stirred controversy, with Freedom Party (FPÖ) leader Heinz-Christian Strache warning him to stay home, and Austrian foreign minister Sebastien Kurz telling him to avoid making damaging remarksin his speech.

The Local

*

Austrian far-right leader Heinz-Christian Strache told Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday to “stay at home,” ahead of a controversial election rally planned in Vienna later this month.

The populist Freedom Party (FPOe) opposes Turkey’s proposed admission to the European Union and is also strongly anti-immigration and anti-Islam.

In recent EU elections, the FPOe — which has been seeking an alliance with France’s National Front and Italy’s Northern League — won 19.7 percent of votes, finishing third behind the ruling parties.

The Local

Sick Behavior in the NFL

Oh,man!  When the Richie Incognito — Jonathan Martin episode hit the news in October 2013 it was a little hard to know how bad bad was.  Name calling, racial slurs, derogatory comments, sure. But what?  Now we know. And we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Incognito and two team mates are sick jackals.  If not protected by the team and league one or more surely would have been shot for the vile abuse heaped on others — and not just Martin.

Here is a Washington Post article on it

Here is the report.  Jump to page 13 for a small sample of what happened. “Offensive language” doesn’t begin to cover it. This is extremist thuggery, under the cover of boys will be boys.

The Miami Herald only uses the word ‘implicated’ to describe what the report says about the vile actors.  No brave statement like Dallas newscaster Dale Hansen on ABC made the other day regarding Michael Sams and the NFL.

One more nail in the coffin of my — and how many others?– interest in this manly sport, seeming less manly every new discovery.

Update
The lack of coverage in the majors is noticeable. USA Today at least is willing to read and to comment

The harassment wasn’t simply a byproduct of Incognito’s mind. It came from within the walls of the organization. That’s the most damning finding. It wasn’t just one rogue player – the team, in fact, stood strongly behind Incognito. This was a culture of hostile treatment embedded within the walls of the Dolphins facility.

USA Today

Not Everyone Loved Mandela

A reminder, in these days of mourning for Mandela.  It wasn’t always so.  From the Nation

Jack Abramoff, now a disgraced former lobbyist convicted of fraud, conspiracy and tax evasion, got much of his start from his work with South Africa. Abramoff visited the country following his term as National Chair of the College Republicans in 1983 and met with pro-apartheid student groups linked to the South Africa’s Bureau of Security Services. In 1986, he opened the International Freedom Foundation. Ostensibly a think tank, it was later revealed as a front group for the South African Army as part of “Operation Babushka” meant to undermine Nelson Mandela’s international approval. The group had over “30 young ideologues in offices on G Street in Washington, Johannesburg, London and Brussels” working on propaganda in support of the South African government.

Rather than stay in Washington, Abramoff moved to Southwest Africa (present-day Namibia) to shoot a propaganda film, Red Scorpion, that valorized the fight of anti-Communist fighters in Angola led by Jonas Savimbi, who was allied with South Africa. The movie was mocked by The New York Times for its bad acting and boycotted by anti-apartheid activists led by tennis star Arthur Ashe for the movie’s cooperation with the South African army. Abramoff’s movie career tanked, but he used the experience to launch his career as one of the most well-connected Republican lobbyists on K Street.

Like Abramoff, GOP tax guru Grover Norquist became enamored with the conflict in South Africa and went there to extend his support. Norquist ran College Republicans from 1981 to 1983 and went to South Africa in 1985 for a “Youth for Freedom Conference” sponsored by South African businesses. While other college students, such as Barack Obama, had been active in anti-apartheid work, this conference was seeking to bring American and South African conservatives together to end that movement. In his speech there, Norquist said, “The left has no other issue [but apartheid] on campus. Economic issues are losers for them. There are no sexy Soviet colonies anymore.” A few months after the conference, Norquist went to Angola to work with Jonas Savimbi, the rebel leader that Abramoff valorized in his film. Norquist became a ghost-writer for Savimbi’s essay in Policy Review. When he returned to Washington, he was greeted in conservative circles as a “freedom fighter,” and he proudly placed an “I’d rather be killing commies” bumper sticker on his brief case.

A few years later and much further along in the anti-apartheid movement, a young Jeff Flake (now a senator from Arizona) became active in lobbying for South African mining interests in the late 1980s and early ’90s, after returning from his Mormon mission to South Africa. As a graduate student at Brigham Young University, he testified against an anti-apartheid resolution in the Utah State Senate and then became a lobbyist in Washington for Smoak, Shipley and Henry, a lobbying firm specializing in representing the South African mining industry. Flake went on to personally represent the Rossing Uranium plant in Namibia, which had been a major target of anti-apartheid activists for its discriminatory and unsafe practices.

And of course, President Ronald Reagan branded Mandela as a terrorist and vetoed Congressional support of sanctions against the apartheid regime, a veto which was overturned, with the votes of some Republicans, the only foreign policy veto over-ridden in the 20th century.

President Reagan added the ANC to the US terrorism watch list, a designation not removed until 2008, and unsuccessfully vetoed sanctions against the apartheid regime. Many Republican lawmakers did break with the Reagan administration’s stance, but “all 21 [Senate] votes to sustain the veto were cast by Republicans.”

[When the South African anti-apartheid campaigner, Anglican Bishop Desmond Tutu, visited Washington soon after winning the Nobel Peace Prize, he denounced Reagan’s ‘constructive engagement’ as “an abomination,” and he said that Reagan’s close ties to the Pretoria regime were “immoral, evil and totally un-Christian.”] McClatchy

Mandela faced criticism from Republican leaders including Dick Cheney, who described Mandela’s ANC as a “terrorist organization,” and Jesse Helms, who “turned his back during Mandela’s visit to the U.S. Capitol.” Even in 1998, Eagle Forum founder Phyllis Schlafly lumped Mandela together with notorious dictators.

The late Jerry Falwell urged [PDF] his supporters to write their congressmen and senators to tell them to oppose sanctions against the apartheid regime. “The liberal media has for too long suppressed the other side of the story in South Africa,” he said. “It is very important that we stay close enough to South Africa so that it does not fall prey to the clutches of Communism.”

David John Marley notes in Pat Robertson: An American Life that Robertson criticized the ANC because it was “led by communists and was hostile to Israel” and “far too radical an element to ever work with,” while “his campaign literature made similar claims for the need to support the white government.”

The televangelist regularly spoke ill of Mandela’s group and his Christian Broadcasting Network ran segments critical of sanctions against the apartheid government as Congress debated sanctions.

– See more:

Will Ted Cruz Re-Evaluate his Supporters after This?

Ted Cruz posts Mandela tribute on Facebook. His fans go crazy.

You gotta read what some of them said…

Drug Testing for All Those Who Advocate Drug Testing

Rep. Trey Radel voted in favor of drug-testing the folks who get food stamps.

In that case, why don’t we drug-test all people who get federal money? Let’s start with members of Congress!

Yes!

The tea party darling is one of the Republicans who voted in favor of a devastating $39 billion cut to the nation’s food stamp program and later voted for another bill requiring mandatory drug testing for food stamp recipients.

Yup, in Radel’s version of Absurdistan, it’s totally okay for a guy in a suit to use coke and collect a government paycheck, but a single mom who needs help buying milk for her kids has to be drug-tested before she gets one government dime.

Texas: Then as Now

“The president is a socialist. He is neutering the United States on the world stage. He is spending us into bankruptcy. He is hellbent on expanding national health care, which will surely lead to government death panels.

He is advancing big-government agendas everywhere from Main Street to Wall Street. And do we really know the truth about his personal history and religion?

Perhaps the man in the Oval Office should be impeached — even tried for treason.

If today’s extremist rhetoric sounds familiar, that’s because it is eerily, poignantly similar to the vitriol aimed squarely at John F. Kennedy during his presidency.

To find the very roots of the tea party of 2013, just go back to downtown Dallas in 1963, back to the months and weeks leading to the Kennedy assassination. It was where and when a deeply angry political polarization, driven by a band of zealots, burst wide open in America.

It was fueled then, as now, by billionaires opposed to federal oversight, rabid media, Bible-thumping preachers and extremist lawmakers who had moved far from their political peers. In 1963, that strident minority hijacked the civic dialogue and brewed the boiling, toxic environment waiting for Kennedy the day he died.”

 

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