Judi Lynn
Judi Lynn's JournalFar-right Brazilian presidential candidate charged with inciting hatred and discrimination
Jair Bolsonaro could face up to three years in prison if convicted
Ernesto Londoño 16 hours ago
Brazil’s attorney general charged congressman Jair Bolsonaro, a far-right presidential candidate who had been running in second place in the polls, with inciting hatred and discrimination against blacks, indigenous communities, women and gays.
The case injected a new jolt of drama into Brazil’s presidential election, which will be held in October. The charge came less than a week after the front-runner in the race, former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, began serving a 12-year sentence for corruption.
The charging document, which was signed by attorney general Raquel Dodge, includes a long list of incendiary remarks by Mr Bolsonaro, who has developed a strong and loyal following by using harsh language and vowing to adopt severe tactics to address Brazil’s epidemic of violence.
If convicted, Mr Bolsonaro, 63, could face up to three years in prison and a $117,000 (£82,000) fine.
More:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/brazil-far-right-jair-bolsonaro-nationalism-racism-sexism-gays-women-marginalised-communities-a8304781.html
Bolivia Morales hits back at right-wing national representatives at the Summit of the Americas
MONDAY, APRIL 16, 2018
BOLIVIAN President Evo Morales hit back today at right-wing national representatives, including US Vice President Mike Pence, who attended this weekend’s Summit of the Americas in the Peruvian capital Lima.
“We warn about the false fight against corruption that they’re using to topple democratically elected governments and projects for change,” Mr Morales told the Democratic Governance Against Corruption summit.
He said it would be “superficial” and an “inappropriate use of public money” to meet for a “false struggle” against corruption, breaking with the speeches of the presidents of Peru and Argentina had who spoken before him.
. . .
He chastised Mr Pence for "ignoring reality,” adding: “I reject these insulting references to Cuba and Venezuela.”
The US vice president then walked out of the conference.
More:
https://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/article/morales%20hits%20back%20at%20right-wing%20national%20representatives%20at%20the%20summit%20of%20the%20americas
The rock guitarist behind the first U.S conviction of a former Latin American president
The rock guitarist behind the first U.S conviction of a former Latin American president
Harvard law grad Thomas Becker went to Bolivia in 2005 and ran into street protests demanding justice for the deaths of more than 50 people. He left his rock band to help win a landmark court case against a former Bolivian president.
Por: Lorena Arroyo,
Luis Velarde
Publicado: abr 12, 2018 | 11:03 AM EDT
FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida --- A 30-something man, with a long face and tousled blond hair, pushed the wheelchair of an indigenous young woman from Bolivia leaving a federal courtroom. The man, dressed in a tight black suit and narrow tie, was once the lead guitarist for Beautiful Bodies, an alternative rock band that tours the United States and Europe.
He stopped performing to put a former Latin American president and his defense minister on trial.
Thomas Becker is one of the lawyers at the Harvard Law School's International Human Rights Clinic who helped nine indigenous Aymara Bolivians score an unprecedented victory in a civil trial in Fort Lauderdale. A jury ruled that former Bolivian President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada and Defense Minister Carlos Sánchez Berzaín were responsible for the extrajudicial execution of eight people during a wave of street protests in 2003 that left more than 50 dead.
“It's the first trial in the history of the United States of a former president who has to respond directly to his accusers,” Becker said shortly after he learned the jury's decision last week.
More:
https://www.univision.com/univision-news/united-states/the-rock-guitarist-behind-the-first-us-conviction-of-a-former-latin-american-president
Hand over your son or well shoot him: escaping Central Americas gang violence
The UN calls it a “silent emergency”: the flood of terrified youths targeted by gangs for “misdemeanours” as petty as looking at an enemy the wrong way.
By Tim Elliott 13 APRIL 2018
Eva got the call one day last April. “Come here now, and bring your son,” said the voice on the other end. “Or we will come to you and get him ourselves.” Eva lived with 10 members of her extended family in Usulután, a city in the south of El Salvador. As with much of this Central American country, Usulután has a heavy presence of Mara Salvatrucha, an ultra-violent criminal gang, also known as MS-13.
Eva knew the caller was MS-13, but she had no idea what he wanted with her or with her son, José, who was eight years old. “If you go to the police,” the man warned her, “we will make things worse for you.” Eva and José went to the gang house that afternoon. There were several men inside, one of whom approached Eva, pulled out a pistol and put it her head. She asked: “Why are you doing this?” The gunman explained that her ex-partner, José’s father, had fallen foul of the gang; now, by the convoluted logic of the underworld, Eva and José would have to pay. “We know it’s hard,” he shrugged. “But orders are orders.”
Eva pleaded with him. “At that moment, I felt death sitting on top of me,” she says. “I was so scared for my son.” Eva had a choice. The gunman could shoot José now, or Eva could hand José over to his father. That way the boy would be his responsibility, giving the gang leverage over him. Eva agreed, knowing that she had no intention of doing so.
For the next week, she fretted over her options. Then, one evening, the police called: they had received a tip-off that Eva was to be killed. “I remember coming home that night and seeing her, hiding in a closet, crying,” says her 54-year-old aunt, Ana, when we meet at a secret location in the Guatemalan countryside. Eva, 26, has long dark hair and a sweet smile. Ana, on the other hand, seems inconsolably sad. “My poor niece,” she says. “She was so afraid she could barely move.”
More:
https://www.smh.com.au/world/south-america/hand-over-your-son-or-we-ll-shoot-him-escaping-central-america-s-gang-violence-20180409-p4z8lw.html
Whale Sneezes Rainbow, Proving Nature is Beautiful and Weird
By Brandon Specktor, Senior Writer | April 11, 2018 04:23pm ET
They say that at the end of every rainbow is a humpback whale.
Wait, do they say that? Regardless — thanks to a California wildlife photographer with impeccable timing, you can now say with certainty that at the end of at least one rainbow, there is at least one humpback whale. Watch the glorious, light-spouting cetacean seemingly sneeze a rainbow out of its blowhole in the Instagram video above.
Wildlife photographer Domenic Biagini caught this footage while on a whale-spotting excursion near San Diego last December. (The Instagram feed of Biagini, a photographer for Captain Dave's Dolphin & Whale Watching Safari, is loaded with breathtaking videos of whales and dolphins.) Biagini posted the clip to Reddit yesterday (April 10), and the footage has since amassed more than 26,000 "upvotes." [Whale Album: Giants of the Deep]
More:
https://www.livescience.com/62280-humpback-whale-sneezes-rainbow-video.html
Colombia investigating whether archaeological find could be paramilitary mass grave
by Adriaan Alsema April 11, 2018
Forensic investigators of Colombia’s prosecution are investigating whether a mass grave that were initially presented as an archaeological find is in fact a mass grave with more than 50 human remains.
Workers constructing a highway around the Caribbean port city of Barranquilla found the remains and initially called in the help of archaeologists.
. . .
However, forensic investigators were alarmed by the fact that the remains had been found in shallow graves, some no less than 10 inches deep. “They are probably not that old,” an anonymous investigator told local news website El Heraldo.
. . .
This far-right group is accused of having committed more than 250 crimes, and allegedly murdered dozens of union workers, politicians and students.
More:
https://colombiareports.com/colombia-investigating-whether-archaeological-find-could-be-paramilitary-mass-grave/
Judge to Hear Charges on 'MDB Criminal Gang' Regarding President Temer's Friends
04/10/2018 - 11H21
FÁBIO FABRINI
FROM BRASÍLIA
Judge Marcos Vinícius Reis Bastos, of the 12th Federal District Court in Brasília, agreed to hear charges of racketeering against nine people, among them politicians from the MDB Party and two close friends of President Michel Temer, Coronel João Baptista de Lima Filho and lawyer José Yunes.
Those accused are now classified as defendants and will respond to a criminal proceeding, as Folha had previously predicted on Monday (the 9th).
The charges, referring to what is called the 'Major MDB criminal gang' were originally presented to the Federal Supreme Court in September of last year by then Federal General Prosecutor, Rodrigo Janot, against Temer and some of his most important allies, like former President of the Congress Eduardo Cunha (RJ) and Henrique Eduardo Alves (RN), as well as former minister Geddel Vieira Lima (BA) and former congressman Rodrigo Rocha Loures (PR), who was flagrantly captured on film by the Federal Police running with a suitcase full of money for JBS Corporation.
The prosecutor alleged the existence of an organization that diverted funds from many public entities, among them the Caixa Econômica Federal Bank, the Furnas Hydroelectric Complex, the Ministry of National Integration and the House of Representatives. According to the prosecutor, party members would have received at least R$ 587 million (US$ 172 million) in bribes through the scheme. Those accused have denied participation in illicit activities.
After the House of Representatives barred continuation of the proceedings against Temer, the case was sent back to the Federal Judiciary so that those without privileged standing could be prosecuted.
http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/internacional/en/brazil/2018/04/1964233-judge-to-hear-charges-regarding-mdb-criminal-gang-against-temers-friends.shtml
This Crazy Optical Illusion Will Disappear Before Your Very Eyes
Now you see it, now you...
CARLY CASSELLA 11 APR 2018
A crazy optical illusion is breaking the internet this week – and no, it's not just another version of that dress.
The mind-bending illusion, which was posted to Reddit just yesterday, has already received over 48,000 upvotes.
This time, you can watch as you lose the ability to perceive colour.
Seriously, just look at the black dot in the centre of this image for 10-20 seconds and you'll notice the colours begin to steadily disappear, pixel by pixel.
More:
https://www.sciencealert.com/crazy-new-optical-illusion-breaking-internet
Ruth Bader Ginsburg Swore In New U.S. Citizens & What She Told Them Will Bring You To Tears
By MONICA BUSCH
25 min ago
On Tuesday, the Notorious RBG dropped by the New-York Historical Society to provide words of encouragement to a group of brand new American citizens. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg swore in new U.S. citizens while presiding over a naturalization ceremony of her own volition, according to The New York Times, and took the opportunity to riff on America's need for some self-improvement.
"Alexis de Tocqueville wrote that the greatness of America lies not in being more enlightened than other nations, but rather in her ability to repair her faults," Ginsburg told the group, according to the Times. She later added, "We have made huge progress, but the work of perfection is scarcely done."
The New-York Historical Society provides a series of free classes for green card holders studying for the citizenship test, and when Ginsburg heard about the program, she reportedly wrote to the Society and said she would like to participate in a naturalization ceremony if she was ever available.
That day arrived this week, and the Supreme Court justice did not disappoint. She told the group that her own father came to the United States when he was only 13 years old, and that when he arrived, he didn't speak any English. Only one generation later, she now holds one of the highest judicial positions in the United States, and was overseeing the naturalization of new citizens herself.
More:
https://www.bustle.com/p/ruth-bader-ginsburg-swore-in-new-us-citizens-what-she-told-them-will-bring-you-to-tears-8753419
The whales who love to sing in the dark
By Mary Halton
Science reporter, BBC News
4 April 2018
Beneath the Arctic sea ice, in the blanket of January's polar night, bowhead whales most prefer to sing.
While the songs of humpback whales have long received the most attention, it turns out that their baleen cousins could have a far greater repertoire.
A study of a bowhead population near Svalbard has shown that their musical calls may be as varied as those of songbirds.
This would make them unique among whale populations, and possibly even mammals.
More:
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-43630716
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