floofloof

cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/17300245

Archived version

Donald Trump’s angry threat to impose 25 percent tariffs on all U.S. imports from Mexico—delivered Monday via the cautious diplomatic language of a Truth Social rant—is widely being depicted as a bluff. Trump declared that once in the White House, he will impose the tariffs unless Mexico stops migrants and fentanyl from “pouring” into the United States. Seen as a feint, the tactic could theoretically get Mexico to halt the migrant flow, allowing Trump to pull back on tariffs later while boasting that on the border, he has already bent Mexico to his will.

But amid all this parsing of Trump’s intentions, a crucial fact about his new move is getting lost: At the center of it is a lie. This lie is hiding in plain sight: It’s the underlying suggestion that Mexico is not doing anything to stop migrants from coming and that Trump’s threat of tariffs is needed to change that. Here we’re getting an early glimpse of how he will deceive voters about some of his most potentially destructive designs, on tariffs and immigration alike.

All this is laid bare by the sharp response to Trump’s threat that new Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum issued Tuesday. Her statement is getting attention for its barbed claim that American guns trafficked to Mexico are fueling crime and violence there among gangs supplying U.S. markets with drugs. “Tragically, it is in our country that lives are lost to the violence resulting from meeting the drug demand in yours,” Sheinbaum noted acidly, suggesting that the two countries’ interrelated national challenges underscore the need for cross-border cooperation rather than Trumpian confrontation.

That’s a harsh indictment of Trump’s whole worldview.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/33800936

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/22958703

When Hussam Abu Salameh received permission from the Israeli military to access the olive grove that has been in his family for generations, he decided to wait.

His land, located east of Jenin in the north of the occupied West Bank, is next to the separation wall, where he had previously been shot at by Israeli soldiers.

Not long after, a military truck reappeared and soldiers started shooting at Palestinians in their groves, despite the local council’s prior coordination with the Israeli army to allow farmers to pick olives near the wall that surrounds Faqqua from three sides.

“I took off my hat and started waving it to ask them to stop, but they continued firing live ammunition at us,” says Hussam. He took the olives his family had gathered to his tractor and was preparing to leave when he heard his wife calling out that she had been injured.

“We ran out to her and found that a bullet hit her in the chest. We carried her to my son’s car and called an ambulance,” says Hussam.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/22497296

Summary

CCTV footage from Whitefield School in London shows autistic children being abused in padded “calming rooms” between 2014-2017, including being shoved, restrained, left in distress, or forced to sit in vomit.

Police investigated but brought no charges, leaving families to cope with trauma. Over 40 children were affected, with some developing PTSD or epilepsy.

Safeguarding investigations revealed six staff members abused students, but they weren’t referred for banning. Parents accuse authorities of a cover-up, while calls grow for stricter regulation of seclusion practices in special schools across the UK.