| ‘Straight Pride’ organisers revealed to have links to far-right and white nationalist groups Posted: 09 Jun 2019 07:35 AM PDT  The organisers of a controversial Straight Pride rally proposed for the city of Boston, in the US, are heavily linked with far-right movements and nationalist protests, it has emerged.Plans for the parade were widely shared on social media this week, despite no date yet being set and no permit being granted by the city council.Organisers – a newly-formed group calling itself Super Happy Fun America – suggested the event would be a chance to celebrate being heterosexual.They have already had to remove photos of Brad Pitt from their website after the actor, who had not given permission for his image to be used, threatened legal action.Now questions have been raised over the past political activities of the trio of men behind the group, John Hugo, Mark Sahady and Chris Bartley.Mr Sahady and Mr Bartley are both heavily associated with Resist Marxism – a loose ultra-conservative group found to have links to white supremacist organisations – while Mr Hugo ran, unsuccessfully, for congress in 2018 with an endorsement from the same group.Mr Sahady is also reported to have organised a right-wing Free Speech Rally and Rally for the Republic, both in Boston, in the aftermath of the infamous Unite the Right march in Virginia, in August 2017, during which a counter-protester was killed.Attendees at both Mr Sahady's events were vastly outnumbered by counter-protestors.Another rally the software engineer led in Providence, in Rhode Island, attracted just a few dozen people – some wearing masks in an apparent bid to hide their identity.He is also reported to have marched with members of far-right groups Patriot Prayer and Proud Boys in Portland in June 2018 – an event which descended into such violence police in the city officially labelled it a riot.And in January this year, he and other Resist Marxism associates led a counter-protest against the Boston Women's March, which descended into a fracas, reports David Neiwert, author of Alt America and a long-time observer of the US right.Resist Marxism, itself, does not have members—its leaders organise events for anyone who wants to go along – allowing it to have become a nimble unofficial meeting hub for nationalists and white supremacists.Speaking after news of the proposed Straight Pride rally went viral, the Mayor of Boston Marty Walsh confirmed permission had not yet been granted for the parade but wrote on Twitter: "Permits to host a public event are granted based on operational feasibility, not based on values or endorsements of beliefs."The city of Boston cannot deny a permit based on an organisation's values."But he added on Twitter: "Whatever outside groups may try do, our values won't change."I invite each and every person to stand with us, and show that love will always prevail. Join us in celebration this Saturday for the @bostonpride Parade and in the fight for progress and equality for all."Mr Hugo, Mark Sahady and Mr Bartley did not immediately respond to request for comment from The Independent.
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| US axes non-essential services for kids at migrant shelters Posted: 09 Jun 2019 01:39 AM PDT  When reporters toured a shelter for immigrant children in February, authorities showed off classrooms, soccer fields and art studios to prove the kids were being treated well. This week President Donald Trump's administration cancelled all that special care, citing a lack of funding. Some 13,200 children and teens, most of them Central American, are being held in 168 shelters for minors in 23 states across the United States.
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| The U.S. Navy Wants Nuclear Missiles That Self-Destruct Themselves Posted: 08 Jun 2019 04:28 PM PDT  It's a familiar scene on old TV shows: a military or NASA rocket goes off course just after lift-off. Then the flight director in the control room issues a command: "Push the red button." The rocket then self-destructs.But the U.S. Navy has another idea: let the rocket decide when to blow itself up.More specifically, the Navy is concerned about what happens during test firings of submarine-launched ballistic missiles, such as the Trident, from ballistic missile submarines. If the missile goes off course, flight termination systems, or FTS, are supposed to allow the rocket to be destroyed. "The FTS provides a means to prevent the missile from traveling outside the approved range boundaries, should the missile suffer an anomaly during the test event," says the Navy research announcement. "Historically, FTS have included a remote command (human-in-the-loop) destruct capability that required significant range assets to monitor the missile's flight path. The command destruct portion of FTS relied on a human-in-the-loop to send a radio signal to destroy the missile, should it become unstable or deviate excessively from its expected flight path."
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