[Aljazeera] Former South African President Frederik Willem de Klerk, the last leader under apartheid and a key actor in the country’s transition to democracy, has died, his foundation has announced. He was 85 years old.
"FW de Klerk died peacefully at his home in Fresnaye earlier this morning following his struggle against mesothelioma cancer," the FW de Klerk Foundation said in a statement on Thursday.
De Klerk and South Africa’s first black President Nelson Mandela shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 for leading the "miracle" transition from white rule in the country.
He died after a battle with cancer, his foundation said in a statement.
De Klerk had announced his diagnosis on his 85th birthday, on March 18 this year.
He is survived by his wife Elita, children Jan and Susan, and grandchildren.
"The family will, in due course, make an announcement regarding funeral arrangements," the foundation added.
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] A lawsuit in which workers accuse a Hindu organization of human trafficking by luring them from India to build a temple in New Jersey for as little as $1.20 a day has widened to four other states.In the initial lawsuit filed in May, workers at a Hindu temple in Robbinsville, New Jersey, claimed leaders of the Hindu organization known as Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, or BAPS, coerced them into signing employment agreements and forced them to work more than 12 hours per day with few days off, under the watch of security guards. They traveled to New Jersey under R-1 visas, which are meant for "those who minister, or work in religious vocations or occupations," according to the lawsuit.
The amended lawsuit filed last month added several more workers to the lawsuit. The workers, who the lawsuit says were from marginalized communities in India, claim they were exploited at temples in Chino Hills, Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party,, outside Los Angeles; Bartlett, Illinois, outside reliably Democrat Chicago, aka The Windy City or Mobtown ...home of Al Capone, the Chicago Black Sox, a succession of Daleys, Barak Obama, and Rahm Emmanuel... ; Stafford, Texas, outside Houston; and Lilburn, Georgia, outside Atlanta.
"US Government officials have authorized the use of R-1 visas for stone artisans for 20 years, and federal, state, and local government agencies have regularly visited and inspected all of the construction projects on which those artisans volunteered," Paul Fishman, an attorney representing BAPS, said in an email Wednesday.
The workers in other states allege that, while they weren't forced to work as many hours as their counterparts in New Jersey, they were paid well below standards set by federal and state minimum wage laws. Multiple workers named as plaintiffs worked at more than one of the temples, the lawsuit alleges, some for as long as eight or nine years in total.
Similar to the allegations in the initial suit against the Hindu temple in Robbinsville, outside the New Jersey capital of Trenton, workers at the temples in the other four states claim they weren't allowed to have their passports and slept in large halls on the temple grounds that were monitored by security guards.
"At the Robbinsville temple and elsewhere, the defendants intentionally caused the workers to reasonably believe that if they tried to leave their work and the temple compounds, they would suffer physical restraint and serious harm," the lawsuit claims.
The temples named in the lawsuit are all affiliated with BAPS, a corporation registered in Delaware and with offices in Piscataway, New Jersey.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/11/2021 00:55 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
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#US Secretary of State Antony Blinken voices that diplomacy will succeed in halting a deadly war in #Ethiopia after major rebel advances.https://t.co/kBsJnr10mu
A Communist delegation from Vietnam went to honor Karl Marx at his grave in London, then went to dine at a luxury restaurant where they were fed $2,000 gold-covered steak by celebrity chef Salt Bae. https://t.co/6Iv1zED7vC
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
11/11/2021 10:01 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Mike,
Marx almost made the 'I'm sorry' comment himself.
Marx had collected an enormous amount of whatever data he could get assuming it would prove his theories and provide evidence for new insight (huge stacks of paper in those days).
It didn't.
A woman in Russia wrote to him near the end of his life asking about what sort of events would prefigure the revolution and how comrades like herself could use these events.
Marx ended up writing a 'good luck on the revolution' response to her as he couldn't figure out a substantive answer.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
11/11/2021 11:22 Comments ||
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#6
A few years ago I asked a professor who was teaching a course that covered Marxism why he didn't give his students an assignment to read some of the 1949 book, "The God That Failed" edited by Crossman but containing essays from people who had been dedicated Marxists but abandoned it.
His answer was, "I need this job"
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
11/11/2021 11:28 Comments ||
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#7
^ He and his fellow travelers simply shifted their focus slightly after communism's collapse in 1990-92.
The legions of academic and professional Marxists in the West began to embrace culture wars and identity politics then: "Hey Ho, Hey Ho, Western Civ has got to go," etc.
Marxist dialectic was tweaked, not discarded. They just substituted race (and sexuality) for class.
Your professor's rice bowl is ironclad. Unbreakable.
#9
'All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.'
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
11/11/2021 13:10 Comments ||
Top||
#10
The God That Failed ordered from Amazon. I would love Rantburg just for the book recommendations if it weren’t for all the other reasons!
I need to talk to Michael, he has all of Dad's books, of which that one is included. I'm taking a break from extensive reading because of vision and health problems, but... at least I have a working phone.
Knowing what I know now, I would add "Homage to Catalonia" to the list.
#12
Communism's most ardent supporters fall into two camps, one predictable and one that never gets called out for their hypocrisy.
The first camp are the losers that can't or won't play the game of capitalism well enough to enjoy their lives. They want to *break* the current game because their lives aren't going well.
The second camp of communists fly under the radar and don't take the considerable criticism and calling out that they so richly deserve. They're the ones who want communism *for others BUT NOT THEMSELVES*. If you talk to them long enough, you realize that always imagine themselves as being the "Administrative" class of the coming communist empire. Were they under the influence of truth serum, they'd flat-out tell you they have ZERO interest or intent in living in a worn-out 1 bedroom apartment under communism. They're elitist to their core, and hypocrits of the highest order.
#13
"Real" communism has never been tried. All the reports of its "failure" are Western propaganda. It's whitey's fault.
Blah, blah, blah...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
11/11/2021 13:57 Comments ||
Top||
#14
They'rethe ones who want communism *for others BUT NOT THEMSELVES*. If you talk to them long enough, you realize that always imagine themselves as being the "Administrative" class of the coming communist empire.
For a long time, I have been calling that describes above Commissar Syndrome. Absolutely none of the second group Crusader describes envision themselves living dreary existences in soviet style brutalist apartments until they are denounced and taken away on a train.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
11/11/2021 14:01 Comments ||
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#15
^The God That Failed ordered from Amazon. I would love Rantburg just for the book recommendations if it weren’t for all the other reasons!
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[KavkazUzel] Complaints about torture in the regional tuberculosis hospital No. 1 in Saratov have been received since 2012, but the investigating authorities have sent them to the institution for consideration, said lawyer Snezhana Muntian. Video evidence of torture against residents of Chechnya, Dagestan, Georgia and Azerbaijan in this hospital, presented by the human rights project Gulagu Net, gives hope that the perpetrators will be punished, but in other Russian institutions the situation is similar, said human rights activists Magomed Alamov and Irina Biryukova interviewed by the Caucasian Knot.
As the "Caucasian Knot" wrote, on November 9 the human rights project Gulagu.net published video evidence of violence and torture against residents of Chechnya, Dagestan, Georgia, Azerbaijan in the Saratov prison hospital. The authors of the investigation claim to have identified the names of all employees of the institution involved in the torture. Netizens urged to bring those responsible to justice.
Continued on Page 49
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[REGNUM] In honor of the 200th anniversary of the birth of the great Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky, on November 11, 2021, flowers will be laid at the grave of the writer and thinker in St. Petersburg, an international conference, excursion, exhibition and performance will be held. This was reported by the press service of the Committee for Culture of the Northern Capital.
Continued on Page 49
#2
"I believe like a child that suffering will be healed and made up for, that all the humiliating absurdity of human contradictions will vanish like a pitiful mirage, like the despicable fabrication of the impotent and infinitely small Euclidean mind of man, that in the world's finale, at the moment of eternal harmony, something so precious will come to pass that it will suffice for all hearts, for the comforting of all resentments, for the atonement of all the crimes of humanity, for all the blood that they've shed; that it will make it not only possible to forgive but to justify all that has happened."
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. [REGNUM] Today, on November 11, the State Duma will discuss in the first reading a government bill aimed at protecting consumer rights when demanding surplus personal data from sellers, REGNUM reports.
The amendments propose to establish that the seller (performer) does not have the right to refuse to conclude, execute, amend or terminate the contract in connection with the consumer's refusal to provide his personal data.
The exceptions are cases when the obligation to provide such data is provided for by the legislation of the Russian Federation or is directly related to the performance of the contract with the consumer.
In this case, the consumer has the right to require the seller (performer) to provide information on specific reasons and legal grounds that determine the impossibility of concluding, executing, changing or terminating the contract without providing personal data. Such information must be provided to the consumer within seven days from the date of the demand - if the demand was made in writing. If the consumer expressed the demand orally - immediately.
The innovation is intended to limit the practice of forced or non-transparent, unconscious collection of personal data of consumers for purposes not related to the conclusion and execution of a contract, the government notes.
Many buyers pay attention to the fact that they have to provide an array of personal data, for example, when receiving discount or bonus cards.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. [REGNUM] Ukrainian warships will be redeployed to the Sea of Azov from the Black Sea, a member of the European Solidarity Aleksey Goncharenko wrote on November 10 in his telegram channel.
According to the deputy of the Rada, the corresponding proposal made by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense was approved by the government: from Odessa, Ochakov and Nikolaev, the ships will be relocated to Berdyansk and to the port of Yuzhny.
So, a military unit from Nikolaev is moving to Berdyansk. The search and rescue vessel Donbass, as well as small armored artillery boats Akkerman, Kremenchug, Lubny, and Vyshgorod, are sent here.
In addition, the sea tug "Korets" from Ochakov, Nikolaev region, will go to the port of Berdyansk. “The details are at the disposal of the Cabinet. Adopted with technical and legal amendments , ”writes Goncharenko.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Facebook] "The Russian Armed Forces continue to continuously monitor and track the situation in the Black Sea region.
On November 9, in the period from 1415 hrs to 1928 hrs, a ground-based reconnaissance and strike control aircraft E-8C of the US Air Force was discovered over the Black Sea.
Throughout the entire flight over the Black Sea, the US Air Force reconnaissance aircraft was tracked by radar equipment of the anti-aircraft missile forces of the Russian Aerospace Forces.
The American E-8C aircraft, which took off from the Ramshtein airbase (Germany), for 5 hours and 13 minutes loitered in the air at echelons of 7-10 thousand meters over the north-western, central and north-eastern part of the Black Sea.
The minimum approach to the state border of the Russian Federation was 35 km.
USS Porter, USS Porter, USS John Lenthall and USS Mount Whitney, are currently stationed in the Black Sea region to participate in a US-Europe multinational exercise.
We are talking about the unscheduled actions of the US forces, which are creating a multinational grouping of armed forces in the immediate vicinity of the Russian border.
Such actions are a destabilizing factor in the Black Sea region, one of the goals of which is the military development of the territory of Ukraine.
Taking into account the fact that in addition to the US Navy, it is planned to use tactical, patrol and strategic aviation, as well as contingents of the armed forces of Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Turkey and Ukraine, there is a study of the alleged theater of military operations in the event that Kiev prepares a military solution in the southeast."
[GREATERKASHMIR] The High Court (HC) Wednesday termed choosing by two adults as life partners for one another as a "manifestation of their choice" that cannot succumb to the conception of class honour or group thinking.Deciding a plea by a couple who had entered into wedlock according to the Moslem Personal Law, rites, and customs, a bench of Justice Tashi Rabstan directed the Police to provide adequate security cover to them.
"When two adults consensually choose each other as life partners, it is a manifestation of their choice that is recognised under Articles 19 and 21 of the constitution," the court said.
It said such a right had the sanction of constitutional law and once recognised, the right needs to be protected and cannot succumb to the conception of class honour or group thinking.
Underscoring that the right has constitutional sanction and needs to be protected, the court said the consent of family or community, or clan was not necessary once two adult individuals agree to enter into wedlock. "Their consent has to be piously given primacy," the court said.
It said that the concept of liberty had to be weighed and tested on the touchstone of constitutional sensitivity, protection, and values it stands for.
"It is the obligation of the constitutional courts as the sentinel on qui vive (alert) to zealously guard the right to liberty of an individual as dignified existence of an individual has an inseparable association with liberty," the court said.
The HC said that it was emphatically clear that life and liberty sans dignity and choice was a phenomenon that allows hollowness to enter into the constitutional recognition of the identity of a person.
It said that the choice of an individual was an extricable part of dignity. Observing that dignity could not be thought of where there was the erosion of choice and no one should be permitted to interfere in the fructification of the said choice, the court said, "If the right to express one’s own choice is obstructed, it will be extremely difficult to think of dignity in its sanctified completeness."
It said that when two adults marry out of their volition, they choose their path, consummate their relationship, feel that it is their goal, and have the right to do so.
The court said that it could unequivocally be said that they had the right and any infringement of the said right was a constitutional violation.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/11/2021 00:19 ||
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[6 views]
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#6
We do need stuff up there. Launching fuel or food into LEO or better yet into one of the lagrange reasons would be helpful to any missions outside cislunar space.
#9
Imagine the Environmental Impact Statement for (quote) repeated earth-shattering kabooms (un-quote) as the cargo containers go supersonic on their way to orbit. You will be a very unpopular neighbor like Bull's Super Gun was back in the day.
On a practical note just imagine that the stresses as it unloads the payload on any armatures. Also the payload is going to be going in a particular launch angle because to be efficient this machine is going to be massive (think the turret on the IJN Yamato massive)... It all sounds better as a 'thought experiment'.
The #UN Security Council has expressed its “deep concern” about recent unrest in #Myanmar and called for an “immediate cessation of violence” and for efforts to ensure that civilians are not harmed.https://t.co/8vgMlLAPQV
Posted by: Fred ||
11/11/2021 00:47 ||
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[12 views]
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#1
"In a statement issued as reports emerged of clashes between junta troops and fighters from a major militant group in Rakhine state, the Security Council warned that “recent developments pose particular serious challenges for the voluntary, safe, dignified, and sustainable return of Rohingya refugees and internally displaced persons.” Burma's Muslim problem continues.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Aljazeera] Former South African President Frederik Willem de Klerk, the last leader under apartheid and a key actor in the country’s transition to democracy, has died, his foundation has announced. He was 85 years old.
...home of Al Capone, the Chicago Black Sox, a succession of Daleys, Barak Obama, and Rahm Emmanuel...
