Skip to content

Tag: History

No Sneakers For Nakba: Reebok Denies Shoe Celebrating Israeli ‘Independence’
A Reekbok "pump" sneaker in blue and white with "Israel 68" inscribed near he heel. (Reebok Israel)
May 13, 2016
Kit
Leave a Comment

No Sneakers For Nakba: Reebok Denies Shoe Celebrating Israeli ‘Independence’

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

Under intense pressure from activists, a global manufacturer of athletic footwear and clothing has backed away from plans to honor Israel with a special sneaker.

On Monday, Reebok announced a blue and white sneaker with “Israel 68” emblazoned on the heel to mark the 68th anniversary of the signing of the Israeli Declaration of Independence on May 14, 1948, an Israeli national holiday known as Yom Ha’atzmaut, or Independence Day.

“Moshe Sinai, the CEO of Reebok Israel, explained that these sneakers were to be a one time celebratory release as a collector’s item in Israel and the world,” The Jerusalem Post reported on Tuesday. (The article was later deleted from the news outlet’s website, but can still be found in Google’s web cache.)

Supporters of the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement flooded social media with condemnations of the sneaker.

Read moreNo Sneakers For Nakba: Reebok Denies Shoe Celebrating Israeli ‘Independence’
‘Orange Sunshine’: Tune In, Turn On With 100 Million Hits Of LSD (#SXSW)
1969: Ron Bevan, a core member of The Brotherhood Of Eternal Love, during a drug-buying trip to Afghanistan. (Orange Sunshine)
April 19, 2016
Kit
Leave a Comment

‘Orange Sunshine’: Tune In, Turn On With 100 Million Hits Of LSD (#SXSW)

Posted in Journalism, and SXSW

LSD is back in the news, as scientists begin to study this intriguing substance again.

After spending years banished to the realms of forbidden science, a study published in March from The Proceedings of the National Academy Of Sciences USA used neural imaging to examine the areas of the brain activated by the psychedelic drug. David Nuitt, a lead researcher, told Nature that he thinks LSD has potential to treat addiction and depression.

In the 1960s and 1970s, scientists and psychotherapists were fascinated by the therapeutic potential of psychedelics like LSD and psilocybin (the active ingredient in hallucinogenic mushrooms), even as everyday Americans experienced their effects firsthand by the thousands. A politically-motivated surge in the war on drugs sent both research and psychedelic culture underground.

“Orange Sunshine,” which premiered at SXSW in March, tells the story of The Brotherhood Of Eternal Love, the hippie surfer cult that fueled America’s LSD boom. In the name of helping the country “turn on,” they created and distributed millions of hits of acid to celebrities and festival-goers alike.

Read more‘Orange Sunshine’: Tune In, Turn On With 100 Million Hits Of LSD (#SXSW)
Over $1 Trillion Spent Since Nixon Began The War On Drugs
Richard Nixon's presidential portrait. December 24, 1971. (Wikimedia Commons / White House)
November 12, 2015
Kit
Leave a Comment

Over $1 Trillion Spent Since Nixon Began The War On Drugs

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

The “war on drugs” costs Americans a staggering amount of money every year that it persists. Despite the billions they receive, federal, state and local law enforcement have a proven inability to stem the flow of drugs on the nation’s streets.

Since Richard Nixon declared a war on drugs in June 1971, the cost of that “war” had soared to over $1 trillion by 2010. Over $51 billion is spent annually to fight the drug war in the United States, according to Drug Policy Alliance, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting more humane drug policies.

It’s also taken a massive toll on human lives. In 2013, at least 2.2 million people were incarcerated in the U.S., withsome estimates reaching 2.4 million, making the U.S. home to the world’s largest prison population. A vast number of those prisoners are victims of the war on drugs, reported Alejandro Crawford in U.S. News and World Report in March:

Read moreOver $1 Trillion Spent Since Nixon Began The War On Drugs
MSNBC Opts To Apologize After Airing Map Of Disappearing Palestine
A map showing Palestine's disappearing territory since the beginning of Israeli occupation. (MSNBC screenshot)
October 26, 2015
Kit
Leave a Comment

MSNBC Opts To Apologize After Airing Map Of Disappearing Palestine

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

Earlier this month, MSNBC aired a well-known, but controversial graphic that illustrates how Israel has taken over Palestine as the occupation of the region has grown over time.

The graphic, which appeared during an Oct. 15 discussion between MSNBC anchor Kate Snow and Martin Fletcher, a Middle East correspondent, shows a series of four maps dating from 1946 to the present that depict the loss of Palestinian territory to Israel.

During the segment, Fletcher discussed the ways that Israel’s provocative behavior at Al-Aqsa Mosque is a major trigger for the latest violence in Gaza and the West Bank, then Snow introduced the graphic as it appeared on screen, saying: “What does that show you, Martin, that the area Palestinians are living, has it grown increasingly smaller?”

Read moreMSNBC Opts To Apologize After Airing Map Of Disappearing Palestine
Native Americans Have ‘Always Known’: Science Proves Genetic Inheritance Of Trauma
A woman walks through the The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin, Germany. June 10, 2010. (Flickr / Paul VanDerWerf)
August 27, 2015
Kit
Leave a Comment

Native Americans Have ‘Always Known’: Science Proves Genetic Inheritance Of Trauma

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

Many have suspected through the years that extreme stress and trauma leave their mark not just on their victims, but on their descendants as well. Now science is catching up to these beliefs through the developing field of epigenetics.

Epigenetics is the study of how environmental factors can change the expression of a person’s DNA, often in ways which are inheritable by the next generation. This science looks at not just which genes are in a person’s DNA — the genetic “instruction manual” — but also how cells choose to read and interpret that instruction manual throughout a lifetime of development.

Earlier this month, Biological Psychiatry published a new study called “Holocaust exposure induced intergenerational effects on FKBP5 methylation,” in which the authors studied 32 Holocaust survivors and their adult children. All of the older generation of subjects had either been interned in concentration camps or otherwise intimately witnessed the torture and horror of Nazi genocide.

Read moreNative Americans Have ‘Always Known’: Science Proves Genetic Inheritance Of Trauma
The Forgotten 5 Million Non-Jewish Victims Of The Holocaust
"Memorial to the Sinti and Roma of Europe Murdered under the National Socialist Regime" in Berlin, Germany. May 15, 2014. (Flickr / Victoria Nesfield)
August 5, 2015
Kit
Leave a Comment

The Forgotten 5 Million Non-Jewish Victims Of The Holocaust

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

According to most figures, about 6 million Jews died at the hands of the Nazis and their supporters in the Holocaust, one of the most disturbing examples of genocide in human history. But the Nazis took around 11 million lives, leaving another 5 million dead that are all too often overlooked or forgotten when in discussions of this grim period of history.

Terese Pencak Schwartz is a Polish-American Jew, born of two Holocaust survivors who were not Jewish. Because she identified strongly with her family history, Schwartz realized there was a crucial piece missing from the history of that time period. “The impression I got was that people were not aware of any other Holocaust victims except Jews,” she wrote on Remember.org in 1997. “This concerned me greatly.”

Schwartz acknowledged that the Nazis sought the total destruction of the Jews, “a significant fact that I do not repudiate, nor want to diminish in any way,” then continued:

Read moreThe Forgotten 5 Million Non-Jewish Victims Of The Holocaust