A U.S. State Department Travel Warning for Visitors to the United States [Satire]

Vocativ

Vigilantes go on patrol in September near the U.S.-Mexico border outside Brownsville, Texas.
Reuters/Rick Wilking

“Visitors belonging to a minority race should use particular caution when traveling to areas of the United States where police officers may be present.”

“LGBTQ travelers should instead consider going to Uganda, where only one targeted murder of an LGBT individual occurred in 2011, compared with 30 that year in the United States.”

“Muslims traveling to America should be aware that federal operatives routinely attempt to entrap Muslims into terrorist plots.”

“Violent and sometimes fatal attacks, including armed carjackings, drive-by shootings, burglaries, and kidnappings can occur at any time and in any location, particularly in cities. Travelers to big cities should therefore avoid crowds.”

Read the full satire – originally published by Vocativ.

Going where few Western reporters dare, Sudanese journalists document the relentless fight in Sudan’s Nuba Mountains

Vocativ

Nuba Reports

In rural Africa, time is measured in seasons—planting season and harvest season, rainy season and dry. In South Kordofan, there is another: bombing season. It’s the period roughly between December and July when Khartoum sends troops, rockets and warplanes to attack civilians in their homes, markets and schools.

Read the full story at Vocativ.

50 years a tourist in Haiti

Vocativ

Vocativ

One Wisconsin couple have been vacationing in troubled Haiti for 50 years, and they reckon it’s high time you made the trip

January marks the 5th anniversary of Haiti’s devastating earthquake. The country’s leaders are trying to move the nation past the “recovery” phase and into the future as a middle-income nation that attracts tourists and their money. Across the border in the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, tourism is the No. 1 driver of GDP, and Haiti wants a piece of the action.

Beset by a string of misfortunes and natural disasters, Haiti isn’t many people’s idea of a fun Caribbean getaway. But one Wisconsin couple have been vacationing there for half a century, through all the troubles, and they just can’t figure out why they’re a rarity.

Read the full story at Vocativ.