Bethania Palma Markus, Raw Story

Bethania Palma Markus

Raw Story

Los Angeles, CA, United States

Contact Bethania

Discover and connect with journalists and influencers around the world, save time on email research, monitor the news, and more.

Start free trial

Recent:
  • Unknown
Past:
  • Raw Story

Past articles by Bethania:

MSNBC unearths three-year-old interview with Trump in Moscow: ‘I do have a relationship’ with Putin

GOP nominee Donald Trump has been facing scrutiny recently for his alleged ties to Russian president Vladimir Putin. Earlier this week, Trump came under fire for suggesting that Russian hackers should “find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.” In the same press conference, given in Florida on Wednesday, Trump said, “I never met Putin,… → Read More

Donald Trump Jr. claims Obama ‘plagiarized’ his RNC speech — and is promptly slapped down

Donald Trump Jr., an executive at his father’s Trump Organization, accused President Barack Obama of lifting a phrase from his Republican National Convention speech in Cleveland last week — but the phrase was used by Obama in 2010. Trump Jr.’s accusation comes after his father’s wife, Melania Trump, was widely criticized for plagiarizing First Lady Michelle Obama’s 2008 Democratic convention… → Read More

New York police deploy helicopters and K-9 units to find teen who skipped $2.75 subway fare

New York police launched an overnight aerial manhunt Monday night in search of a boy who skipped paying $2.75 to ride the subway, the New York Daily News reports. But even after police brought helicopters and scent dogs out to search for him, the 16-year-old ended up turning himself in a few hours later, according to the Daily News. He’s been charged with escape and theft of services. The… → Read More

‘Kill the Jew!’ 12-year-old boy brutally beaten at school in shocking hate-filled attack

A New Haven, Connecticut schoolboy and his family are accusing his classmates of targeting him for physical and verbal attacks because he is Jewish, the New Haven Register reports. Orit Avizov told a local news station that her 12-year-old was “physically attacked and verbally threatened” by one student who was yelling “kill the Jew” during the attack. “Branford Public Schools is committed to… → Read More

The Trump effect: Muslims face a disturbing spike in hate crimes not seen since 9/11

The 2016 election cycle could be contributing to a rise in hate crimes against Muslim people in the United States, according to a study published by Georgetown University. Some of the incidents can be directly linked to GOP front-runner Donald Trump, who employed anti-Muslim rhetoric in the wake of events like the terrorist attacks in Paris, according to the report. Generally, the uptick in… → Read More

Big Pharma knowingly created prescription drug epidemic and raked in billions: report

An investigation by the Los Angeles Times has revealed that the pharmaceutical company that sells the opiate painkiller OxyContin knew the drug was highly addictive — but pushed it anyway. Purdue Pharma began producing the pills two decades ago, claiming that it relieved severe, chronic pain for 12 continuous hours — more twice the time of generic drugs. Representatives of the drug’s maker… → Read More

Taxpayer-subsidized Noah’s Ark theme park will only hire job seekers who believe Earth is 6,000 years old

Creationist Ken Ham will be opening a taxpayer-subsidized religious theme park in July — but don’t bother applying unless you buy into the extreme Christian belief that the Earth is only 6,000 years old, according to the Friendly Atheist. The controversial Ark Encounter, which received $18 million in tax incentives from Kentucky legislators, is scheduled to open July 7. In preparation for the… → Read More

Angry Facebook users rip police union to shreds for defending cop who killed unarmed sobbing dad

The police union representing a Mesa, Arizona officer who shot dead a father as he pleaded for his life and was charged with murder as a result got more than it bargained for in a Facebook post defending the officer. On April 1, the Mesa Police Association wrote a long screed defending former Officer Philip Brailsford, who shot and killed Daniel Shaver in January. Brailsford was charged with… → Read More

Trump responds to Brussels attack by insulting the ‘city’ of Belgium — and calling for torture

Donald Trump wasted no time launching off the terrorist attacks in Brussels on Tuesday morning to advocate for waterboarding, a method of torture that simulates drowning. Speaking on the TODAY Show, Trump, the GOP front-runner, spoke to the hosts by phone about the suicide bombings in the Belgian capital that left dozens dead and hundreds injured. Trump was asked what he would do to get… → Read More

CBS host burns Cruz over his anti-Muslim patrols: ‘You don’t even know how many Muslims are in America’

Republican candidate and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz faced tough questioning on Wednesday morning from CBS This Morning hosts about his call for law enforcement to patrol Muslim communities. Cruz drew fire from top law enforcement officials, including current New York police Chief Bill Bratton, who has served on police departments in major cities across the country, including Boston and Los Angeles. “We… → Read More

Donald Trump vows: ‘We’re going to win with our Second Amendment’

Donald Trump vowed to “win with our Second Amendment” at an Arizona rally on Saturday. As the GOP front-runner spoke in Phoenix, his rally was beset by protesters, many of whom brought traffic to a halt while police officers used pepper spray to try and control the anti-Trump crowd. Trump has in the past vowed to “ruin” the lives of people protesting against him by having them arrested. On… → Read More

Alabama Republican wants to stop people on food stamps from owning cars — but expects them to get jobs

Alabama Republicans say they want a new bill to drastically limit state welfare programs so that recipients will get jobs — but the bill eliminates the most common means of transportation to and from work. The bill, created by Republican Sen. Arthur Orr, cuts the time frame for assistance from five years to three. It also creates a new layer of bureaucracy for poor people seeking help, including… → Read More

Oregon man smashes Buddhist monk’s head into a car while screaming about Muslims

A Buddhist monk was assaulted in Oregon by a man who mistook him for a Muslim, KATU reports. Kozen Sampson, 66, told the station he was visiting Hood River on Monday when he heard a man yelling at him. “I pulled over, someone ran up and yelled. I turned around, they kicked the door, hit me in the side of the face and knocked my head into the frame of the car,” Sampson told KATU. “I do remember… → Read More

Donald Trump just retweeted a white supremacist just to get a dig on Jeb Bush

GOP front runner Donald Trump has been accused of racism in the past, but on Friday morning, Trump retweeted a white supremacist website promoting Adolf Hitler. The tweet was a jab at rival, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and showed him looking down-and-out, holding a “Vote Trump” sign. > “@WhiteGenocideTM: @realDonaldTrump Poor Jeb. I could’ve sworn I saw him outside Trump Tower the other day!… → Read More

‘Welcome to America’: Australia’s first female Muslim parliamentarian ‘interrogated’ at LAX

Australia’s first female, Muslim lawmaker was dragged in for interrogation at Los Angeles International Airport, according to Australian news reports. Mehreen Faruqi is a member of the Australian parliament, representing New South Wales, ABC Australia reports. She posted to Twitter on Thursday that she flew into LAX and was promptly fingerprinted. Airport security then asked her how she and her… → Read More

Trump busted for ‘Happy Holidays’ greetings after he urges Starbucks boycott over Christmas cups

GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump vowed to end the lease of a successful Starbucks store in his New York City hotel, Trump Towers, because the company’s paper coffee cups are not quite festive enough for right-wing Christians. The popular global coffee chain this year rolled out bright red cups with a green Starbucks logo, reflecting the traditional color scheme of the winter holiday… → Read More

Conan sidekick Andy Richter infuriates Twitter nutters by ripping apart their favorite gun arguments

Comedian Andy Richter took to Twitter on Tuesday to do battle with gun fanatics and shoot down some myths about the role guns play in the seeming never-ending string of mass shootings in the United States. Richter, who is best known as Conan O’Brien’s long-time co-host, strongly criticized the NRA after the mass shooting last week at Umpqua Community College in Oregon while calling for gun laws… → Read More

WATCH: Hillary ignores reporter so he commandeers a member of the public to ask his questions

Bloomberg politics writer Mark Halperin couldn’t get Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton to pay attention to him on Monday and he had a question for her. After asking Clinton over and over again,”What’s your message to the NRA,” only to have her pretend he didn’t exist, Halperin tried an unconventional tactic. He commandeered a member of the New Hampshire public and had her ask… → Read More

Fox host: Ahmed Mohamed ‘not as innocent as he seems’ because he blew soap bubbles in bathroom

Fox and Friends hosts have decided, based on a lengthy Dallas Morning News investigation into 14-year-old schoolboy Ahmed Mohamed’s brief past as a middle school student in the United States, that he “may not be as innocent as he seems.” The Morning News piece notes that the child, who had newly immigrated to the United States from Sudan, had been disciplined at Sam Houston Middle School. Fox… → Read More

‘No shame here!': Watch hip hop model Amber Rose use humor to destroy slut-shaming

Model and fashion icon Amber Rose has turned the “walk of shame” on its head. The notion that women should make their way home in embarrassment after a one-night stand may be passé now that Ms. Rose has pranced her way home in a recent Funny or Die video that lampoons the shaming of female sexuality. In the segment entitled “Walk of No Shame,” a smiling, peppy Rose proudly struts along barefoot… → Read More