Triggerfinger ft. Selah Sue - Live op Lowlands 2010
31 May 2012
30 May 2012
Invisible Empire
Jason Bermas presents Invisible Empire: A New World Order Defined produced by Alex Jones.
New Face of Terror: FBI creates bogeyman out of Occupy
From disorganised slackers to terrorists - the Occupy movement has seen its media image go from bad to worse over its nine months of existence. Protesters now even face accusations that they pose a threat not just to Corporate America, but to the country as a whole. But activists say it's all just scaremongering to stifle the movement.
Calls to end detention of children in Australia
To mark 20 years of mandatory detention for asylum seekers in Australia, an international campaign has been launched to end the imprisonment of children. Australia is the only first world country with a policy of mandatory indefinite detention for asylum seekers who arrive by boat. Up to 4,000 people are held under this policy. Campaigners say locking children up in prison is unnecessary, unethical and harmful.
Al Jazeera's Andrew Thomas reports from Melbourne.
29 May 2012
Zuckerberg and wife spotted in Chinese police video
Coincidence is the word we use when we can't see the levers and pulleys. (Emma Bull)
File this under "random." Eagle-eyed folk have spotted Mark Zuckerberg and his new wife Priscilla Chan in the midst of an action-packed documentary (at 0:29) about China's police, which aired on Chinese network CCTV. At about the 29-second mark you can clearly glimpse a smiling Mr. and Mrs. Zuckerberg strolling near some purposeful-looking Chinese cops. Why? We don't know. Considering Facebook has been banned in China since 2009, the appearance does have a certain delicious irony.
Violence against African immigrants on rise in Israel
Violence against African immigrants to Israel seems to be on the rise in the entity, as hateful headlines against foreign individuals continue to dominate headlines in Israeli media.
Sentiments against African migrants reached their peak on Wednesday after some 1,000 people in southern Tel Aviv staged a violent demonstration against the rising number of Africans moving into the area.
The demonstrators armed with sticks and stones attacked African-run shops and those serving African customers, and smashed up a car with two African men on board. They also shouted racist slogans, including "Blacks out!" and "Infiltrators, get out of our homes."
Witnesses say the rally turned violent after several racist speeches by right-wing members of the Israeli parliament, many of whom were from the ruling Likud party of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"The infiltrators are a cancer in our body," Likud MP Miri Regev told the crowd, as fellow MP Danny Danon shouted, "The infiltrators must be expelled from Israel! Expulsion now!"
The protesting Israelis claim African immigrants have disrupted their lives by stealing from homes and shops and even taking the laundry left outside to dry. Israeli women claim they are in constant fear of rape by the Africans particularly at nights.
Students at Stuyvesant Take Issue With Sexist Dress Code
Stuyvesant is one of the best public high schools in New York City; it’s very competitive to get in, and its graduates go on to excellent colleges. And apparently the kids at Stuy were dressing “inappropriately,” and a new code had to be issued and enforced. Here’s the code:
• Sayings and illustrations on clothing should be in good taste.
• Shoulders, undergarments, midriffs and lower backs should not be exposed.
• The length of shorts, dresses and skirts should extend below the fingertips with the arms straight at your side.
How many of these apply to male students at Stuyvesant, do you think? And also, you can’t show your shoulders?
Students at Stuy are pointing out that while the dress code is ridiculous, the enforcement is even moreso — because it’s inconsistent, and seems to be based more on a particular student’s body type than on what they’re actually wearing. Oh and the enforcement also comes with a healthy dose of “You’re gonna get raped wearing that” and “You’ll never find a husband in that”:
More on AlterNet – Also see: Stuyvesant To Female Students: Stop Dressing Like Sluts at Gothamist
27 May 2012
Activists Speak Out Against Lack of Access to Bradley Manning
US rights activists Friday condemned a lack of disclosure in the case against WikiLeaks suspect Bradley Manning, saying there was even less transparency than proceedings against the alleged September 11 attackers.
A coalition headed by the Center for Constitutional Rights filed a petition asking the US Army to order the judge in Manning's court martial to allow access to government papers, court orders and transcripts of proceedings, "none of which have been made public to date."
Manning, whose trial is scheduled to start on September 21, is accused of "aiding the enemy" and dozens of other charges over his alleged leaking of documents to the site -- a charge that carries a potential life sentence.
Manning allegedly leaked hundreds of thousands of military logs from Iraq and Afghanistan and US diplomatic cables to WikiLeaks between November 2009 and May 2010, when he served as a low-ranking intelligence analyst in Iraq.
AlterNet - Center for Constitutional Rights - Bradley Manning Support Network
Chen Guangcheng's brother goes missing after fleeing to Beijing
The brother of the blind activist Chen Guangcheng has gone missing after fleeing his village in north-eastern China to seek help for his son who is facing an attempted murder charge. Chen Guangfu, the eldest brother of Chen Guangcheng, disappeared two days after he arrived in Beijing to support his son, Chen Kegui, who has been detained in a case that has become a rallying point among rights activists.
The Shandong-based lawyer Liu Weiguo said Chen Guangfu, a 55-year-old farmer and labourer, did not return to his hotel room in Beijing on Friday night. Zhao Wei, a Shandong supporter of Chen Guangcheng's family, was the last person to have contact with Chen Guangfu before they parted ways on Friday afternoon, Liu told the Reuters news agency.
"As of now, there's still no news on Brother Guangfu," Liu said. "We're not optimistic. Guangcheng is also very worried. He's contacting friends to look [for him]." Chen Guangfu appears to have become the latest target of Beijing's reprisals against Chen Guangcheng's family in the wake of the activist's escape from his village in late April after 19 months of detention at home.
guardian.co.uk – More on Chariweb.com
The brother of Chinese human rights activist Chen Guangcheng said he's worried about his incarcerated son and has met with attorneys in Beijing to get legal advice for him.
Chen Guangfu told CNN Saturday that he's back home in Shandong province village of Dongshigu after meeting with Beijing lawyers in the case of his son Chen Kegui. The son was arrested and accused of murder this month shortly after his activist-uncle, Chen Guangcheng, escaped from their village.
26 May 2012
Aliens and Deadly Cults
This episode examines various cults around the world that have committed horrific acts and suggests that some may have been influenced by aliens with a sinister agenda. Examined are groups who claimed to receive messages from ETs such as the suicidal Heaven's Gate and the Order of the Solar Temple; the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God whose leader murdered 750 followers; the human sacrifice murders of Adolfo Constanzo who claimed worship of the "trickster god" Eshu; the mass-murderous Thuggee cult of India; the Christian Circumcellions suicide-sect; Aztec human sacrifice rituals, and the theory that humans were hard-wired through genetic manipulation to worship alien beings as gods.
25 May 2012
Rockin' At My House
Audio by DJ MikeA - Video by BobbyG
LCD Soundsystem - Daft Punk Is Playing At My House
The Clash - Rock The Casbah
Chinese TV promoting the 2012 UEFA cup
Video made by a Chinese TV broadcaster that's advertising the 2012 UEFA Euro soccer championship, in Warsaw, Poland, and flagging a nightmarish scenario of warfare and bloodshed in Europe.
24 May 2012
NC Pastor Says Gay People Should Be "Detained in Camps" Until They Die
Although the majority of Americans now believe that gay and lesbian citizens should have the legal right to marry, homophobia obviously runs deep among many in this country. One of those raging homophobes is Pastor Charles Worley of the Providence Road Baptist Church in Maiden, North Carolina, who recently told his congregation that "the queers and the homosexuals" should be "detained in camps" and left to die.
The full quote from his sermon:
I figured a way out to get rid of all the lesbians and queers. But it isn’t going to pass in Congress. Build a great, big, large fence -- 150 or 100 mile long -- put all the lesbians in there…Do the same thing for the queers and the homosexuals and have that fence electrified so they can’t get out…and you know what, in a few years, they’ll die out…do you know why? They can’t reproduce!
23 May 2012
American Drug War
The American President was on 'Late Night w/ Jimmy Fallon' once again admitting that he has used drugs recreationally in the past, but still refuses to end the War on Drug Users. The President admits to having smoked 'weed' and done "a little blow" (that's marijuana and cocaine, for anyone not hip to the lingo), but still wants to put people in jail for it.
One very articulate comedian has decided to call Obama out on his hypocrisy and declare that "...it's no joke!" "...if he had done time in prison, time in federal prison, time for his 'weed' and 'a little blow,' he would not be President of the United States of America."
Police Handcuffing 7-Year-Olds? The Brutality Unleashed on Kids With Disabilities in US Schools
There’s a danger looming in US schools today that’s putting America’s most vulnerable children at risk. Around the country, teachers and administrators are struggling to meet the needs of a growing population of disabled students, who are entering school environments ill-prepared to educate them responsibly, thanks to a lack of both adequate training and resources.
This lack of preparation for handling students’ special needs is, in turn, sparking a disturbing and dangerous trend: the use of harmful “zero tolerance” policies that end in seclusion, restraint, expulsion and – too often – law enforcement intervention for the disabled children involved.
Mississippi Goddam
Mississippi Goddam is a song written and performed by American singer and pianist Nina Simone. It was first released on her album Nina Simone in Concert which was based on recordings of three concerts she gave at Carnegie Hall in 1964. The album was her first release for the Dutch label Philips Records and is indicative of the more political turn her recorded music took during this period. The song was released as a single and became a civil rights activist anthem. It was boycotted in several Southern states, ostensibly because of the word 'goddam' in the title. Together with "Four Women" and "To Be Young, Gifted and Black" it is one of her most famous protest songs and self-written compositions.
Pray for Reign
Gay marriage & the Bible? And the cartoon doesn't even get into detail about the goat thing. Actual passage is: "You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk." (Seems like that could also fall under, "do unto others . . .") (YouTube comment) Mark Fiore on YouTube
22 May 2012
Ultra-Orthodox Jews Hold Rally on Internet
It was an incongruous sight for a baseball stadium: tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jewish men, all dressed in black suits and white shirts, filing through the gates of Citi Field on Sunday, wearing not blue-and-orange Mets caps but tall, big-brim black hats.
There was no ballgame scheduled, only a religious rally to discuss the dangers of the Internet.
The organizers had allowed only men to buy tickets, in keeping with ultra-Orthodox tradition of separating the sexes. Viewing parties had been arranged in Orthodox neighborhoods of Brooklyn and New Jersey so that women could watch, too. For the attendees, many of whom said they came at the instructions of their rabbis, it was a chance to hear about a moral topic considered gravely important in their community: the potential problems that can stem from access to pornography and other explicit content on the uncensored, often incendiary Web.
NYTimes.com – Vital, pointless, sexist, hilarious? New York’s ultra-Orthodox battle-the-Internet gathering goes viral (Times of Israel)
21 May 2012
Israeli settlers firing live ammunition at Palestinians in the presence of soldiers
On Saturday, 19.5.2012, around four thirty in the afternoon, a large group of settlers descended on the eastern outskirts of the village 'Asira al-Qibliya, from the settlement Yitzhar. B'Tselem volunteer photographers filmed the events from two angles. The video shows the settlers, some of whom were masked and armed, throwing stones at Palestinian homes, and fires beginning to burn. One of the masked settlers was armed with a "Tavor" rifle which is only used by infantry soldiers, raising the suspicion that he is a soldier on leave.
Palestinian youths from the village soon arrived and threw stones at the settlers. A few minutes later, soldiers and Border Police officers arrived at the scene. During these moments, the video records the sound of several rounds of live ammunition being fired, but does not show its source.
Footage from 1st camera
Around 5pm, a group of three settlers are seen standing with a soldier in front of the Palestinian youths, while all around there is mutual stone throwing. Two of the settlers seen were armed with M4 rifles, and one was armed with a pistol. One of the settlers is wearing what looks like a police cap. The video footage shows the settlers aiming their weapons at the Palestinians and firing.
The firing injured village resident, Fathi 'Asayira, 24, in the head. He is seen being evacuated from the area by a group of youths. He is hospitalized in a stable condition in Rafidiya hospital in Nablus.
20 May 2012
Anti-NATO Activists Charged With "Providing Material Support for Terrorism"
Well this is a deeply screwed up story, even for someone who reads about police wrongdoing and unjust anti-activist measures all the time. Some anti-NATO protesters in Chicago have been arrested and charged with “possession of incendiary or explosive device, conspiracy to commit terrorism & providing material support for terrorism," in apparent retaliation for being involved with a recent video that shed light on Chicago police intimidation practices.
Firedoglake's Kevin Gosztola wrote a post late last night about how a group of activists were detained, with some of them released on Friday night:
Two of the nine activists arrested in a preemptive raid of an apartment in Bridgeport on the south side of Chicago were finally released Friday night. They joined four activists that were released earlier. Three activists remained in jail without charge.
The activists had been held without charge for close to thirty-six hours and had been disappeared by Chicago police on Wednesday night. They were moved from the Organized Crime Division to Kedzie-Homan in District 4 of Chicago.
Gosztola writes about how the activists, who had been part of a "Fuck the Police" march earlier in the week, were shackled, taunted, called "junkies," and threatened with felony conspiracy charges after the home they were staying in was ransacked by police wielding guns. One activist said the cops "destroyed everything" in the apartment.
19 May 2012
Police brutality on the rise in America
Cases of police brutality in the US have been rising dramatically since 9/11. In 2007, USA today reported that cases of excessive force had risen 25% since 2001. More recent statistics have shown that this rise in unwarranted violence by police is still climbing. Police Brutality
Police detain 400 "Blockupy" activists in Frankfurt
German police said they detained 400 anti-capitalist protesters in Frankfurt on Friday for defying a ban on demonstrations against austerity policies implemented to tackle the intensifying euro zone debt crisis.
The demonstration in the German financial capital was part of a four-day-long "Blockupy" protest, due to run until Saturday, against capitalism and austerity measures. "Hungry? Eat a banker," read one banner protesters held up outside the Messeturm skyscraper housing Goldman Sachs' offices. Reuters' Frankfurt office is also in the building.
Police closed several main roads in Frankfurt - including a main artery into the city that passes by the Messeturm - and flooded the center with officers. There was no violence. The protesters are angry at the misery they say governments are inflicting on people with their response to the crisis, which has intensified since inconclusive elections in Greece this month fuelled concerns about its future in the euro zone.
Triple Chatterbox
Beastie Boys Vs Bob Marley & The Wailers
Also see the original Beastie Boys clip (Original Fun!)
18 May 2012
Human rights groups criticise Queen's historic lunch of monarchs
The king of Bahrain, whose regime has been accused of brutally suppressing pro-democracy demonstrations, has been revealed as one of the guests at a historic lunch of sovereign monarchs hosted by the Queen at Windsor Castle on Friday.
Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa appeared on a guest list released early on Friday ahead of the unprecedented gathering to celebrate the diamond jubilee.
Other guests include Swaziland's King Mswati III, as well as Sheikh Nasser Mohamed Aal Jaber Aal-Sabah of Kuwait and Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf bin Abdulaziz Aal Saud of Saudi Arabia. One definite no-show will be Queen SofÃa of Spain, ordered by her government to turn down the invitation in response to a planned trip next month by the Earl of Wessex to Gibraltar, the UK overseas territory Spain wants returned to its sovereignty.
Human rights demonstrators are expected to stage a protest outside Bahrain's embassy in London later on Friday over the inclusion of the country's ruler.
Killer Fashion Revolution is fashion hacktivism!
It is about transforming war related fashion to promote human rights. A lot of the clothes we wear are related to war without us knowing it. The idea of Killer Fashion Revolution is to track these clothes and transform them to new garments or artifacts that promote human rights. Specially during war time human rights are often neglected. By recycling some of our war related clothes and transforming them to promote human rights we take a stand for a more just world in a creative and fun way. We all know that human rights exists, therefor by exploring them trough fashion we bring them to our awareness in daily life, that helps us to find creative ways to act when we meet unjustness. Read More:About KFR See more: KFR Do-It-Yourself Designs
Participate! On-line can join the Killer Fashion Revolution through 3 phases:
Discover - see an animation that introduces you to war related fashion.
Understand - search on this wiki and learning more how different clothes are related to war.
Create - Transform your old war related clothes to to promote human rights and publish them.
17 May 2012
Popular Eurovision website hacked in response to ‘parade of homosexuals’
A group is reportedly targeting websites related to the Eurovision Song Contest in Azerbaijan in protest at a ‘parade of homosexuals’ it believes will take place at the event. The independent Escotoday website, which publishes news about the Eurovision Song Contest, was believed to have been taken down by a denial-of-service attack today.
In April, the official Eurovision website experienced a similar attack. Escotoday’s website currently redirects to their Facebook page, where a statement says: “ESCTODAY WAS HACKED, in a second thousands of hours of hard work (actually 12 years) were erased as retaliation because we support the Eurovision Song Contest, a ”gay pride” as the hacker(s) call it. We will not be stopped!!! WE WILL BE BACK.”
According to Eurovision-interest site Esckaz.com, a group calling itself “The Devotees of Azerbaijan” was taking responsiblity. It said: “Ignoring its people’s honor and morals, Azerbaijan’s ruling regime is trying to spread ungodly (sinful) thoughts, and plans to arrange a parade of the homosexuals before the eurovision sound contest 2012. [sic]
Too Hot for TED: Income Inequality
If you’re plugged into the Internet, chances are you’ve seen a TED talk – the wonky, provocative web videos that have become a sort of nerd franchise. TED.com is where you go to find Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg explaining why the world has too few female leaders, or Twitter cofounder Evan Williams sharing the secret power of listening to users to drive company improvement. The slogan of the nonprofit group behind the site is “Ideas Worth Spreading.”
There’s one idea, though, that TED’s organizers recently decided was too controversial to spread: the notion that widening income inequality is a bad thing for America, and that as a result, the rich should pay more in taxes.
TED organizers invited a multimillionaire Seattle venture capitalist named Nick Hanauer – the first nonfamily investor in Amazon.com – to give a speech on March 1 at their TED University conference. Inequality was the topic – specifically, Hanauer’s contention that the middle class, and not wealthy innovators like himself, are America’s true “job creators.”
The Speech That's Too Hot for TED - The Slides That Are Too Hot for TED
16 May 2012
Kodak had a nuclear reactor in cellar
For more than 30 years, Kodak Park was home to a little-known underground labyrinth containing a small nuclear research reactor, one of the few of its kind in the world. It wasn’t a power plant, and carried no risk of explosion. Nothing ever leaked. Eastman Kodak Co. officials say the research device was perfectly safe.
Still, the reactor was locked down, remotely surveilled and tightly regulated — mainly because it contained 3½ pounds of highly enriched uranium. That’s the material that nuclear bombs are made of. Terrorists covet it.
When Kodak decided six years ago to close down the device, still more scrutiny followed. Federal regulators made them submit detailed plans for removing the substance. When the highly enriched uranium was packaged into protective containers and spirited away in November 2007, armed guards were surely on hand.
Did you know? Kodak Park had a nuclear reactor | Democrat and Chronicle | democratandchronicle.com
15 May 2012
Beekeepers Win Ban on Monsanto's GMOs in Poland
Monsanto's Mon810 corn, genetically engineered to produce a mutant version of the insecticide Bt, has been banned in Poland following protests by beekeepers who showed the corn was killing honeybees.
Poland is the first country to formally acknowledge the link between Monsanto's genetically engineered corn and the Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) that's been devastating bees around the world. Many analysts believe that Monsanto has known the danger their GMOs posed to bees all along.
14 May 2012
Zimbabwe's latest way to stop HIV: Force women to have fewer baths and shave off their hair to make them less attractive
A Zimbabwean politician has said women should be forced to bathe less and shave off their hair to make them less attractive to men and help curb the spread of HIV.
Senator Morgan Femai reportedly told a conference he believed the killer disease had spread because men found it difficult to resist attractive and well-dressed women.
The politician added that new laws should be drawn up compelling women to make themselves less attractive to save men from themselves, according to a report on the New Zimbabwe website.
Queen's cousin given £320,000 by controversial Russian oligarch
The Queen’s cousin Prince Michael of Kent has been secretly receiving hundreds of thousands of pounds from Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky. Dozens of payments worth at least £320,000 from the exiled tycoon were channelled through offshore companies.
Prince Michael is already known for accepting charity from the Queen who started paying the rent at Kensington Palace when MPs wanted to evict him and Princess Michael of Kent. But now the royal, dubbed the ‘pauper prince’, faces questions about whether he has offered anything in return for the billionaire Russian’s money.
His spokesman yesterday said ‘absolutely not’, adding: ‘Mr Berezovsky has known the prince since the early 1990s and has a high regard for the prince’s work. He therefore chose to be supportive over a period which ended some years ago.’A friend of the oligarch suggested he simply wanted to be a part of high society, and his friendship with Prince Michael gave him coveted access.
Mr Berezovsky was a key figure in the Kremlin before falling out with Vladimir Putin and seeking asylum in Britain 12 years ago. He became friends with Prince Michael – a distant cousin of the last tsar, Nicholas II – and the pair have frequently dined together at Kensington Palace.
Princess Pushy: The Fabulous Life of Princess Michael of Kent on Scandalous Woman
13 May 2012
Bush and Associates Found Guilty of Torture
Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission (KLWCC) - The five-panel tribunal unanimously delivered a guilty verdict against former United States President George W. Bush and his associates at the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal hearing that had started on Monday.
On the charge of Crime of Torture and War Crimes, the tribunal finds the accused persons former U.S. President George W. Bush and his associates namely Richard Cheney, former U.S. Vice President, Donald Rumsfeld, former Defence Secretary, Alberto Gonzales, then Counsel to President Bush, David Addington, then General Counsel to the Vice-President, William Haynes II, then General Counsel to Secretary of Defence, Jay Bybee, then Assistant Attorney General, and John Choon Yoo, former Deputy Assistant Attorney-General guilty as charged and convicted as war criminals for Torture and Cruel, Inhumane and Degrading Treatment of the Complainant War Crime Victims.
Earlier in the week, the tribunal heard the testimonies of three witnesses namely Abbas Abid, Moazzam Begg and Jameelah Hameedi. They related the horrific tortures they had faced during their incarceration. The tribunal also heard two other Statutory Declarations of Iraqi citizen Ali Shalal and Rhuhel Ahmed, a British citizen.
The witnesses were taken prisoners and held in prisons in Afghanistan (Bagram), in Iraq (Abu Gharib, Baghdad International Airport) and two of them namely Moazzam Begg and Rhuhel Ahmed were transported to Guantanamo Bay.
Were Moses and Akhenaten the Same Person?
Akhenaten is the most mysterious and interesting of all the ancient Egyptian pharaohs. He created a revolution in religion, philosophy, and art that resulted in the introduction of the first monotheistic form of worship known in history. Sigmund Freud, father of psychoanalysis, was the first to suggest a connection between Moses and Akhenaten.
In his last book, Moses and Monotheism, published in 1939, Freud argued that the biblical Moses was an official in the court of Akhenaten, and an adherent of the Aten religion. After the death of Akhenaten, Freud's theory goes, Moses selected the Israelite tribe living east of the Nile Delta to be his chosen people, took them out of Egypt at the time of the Exodus, and passed on to them the tenets of Akhenaten's religion. When modern archaeologists came across the strangely-drawn figure of Akhenaten in the ruins of Tell el-Amarna in the middle of the 19th century, they were not sure what to make of him. Some thought he was a woman disguised as a king. By the early years of the 20th century when the city of Amarna had been excavated and more became known about him and his family, Akhenaten became a focus of interest for Egyptologists, who saw him as a visionary humanitarian as well as the first monotheist.
Court Upholds Google-NSA Relationship Secrecy
A federal appeals court on Friday upheld the National Security Agency’s decision to withhold from the public documents confirming or denying any relationship it has with Google concerning encryption and cybersecurity.
That’s despite the fact that Google itself admitted it turned to “U.S. authorities,” which obviously includes the NSA, after the search giant’s Chinese operation was deeply hacked. Former NSA chief Mike McConnell told the Washington Post that collaboration between the NSA and private companies like Google was “inevitable.”
The Electronic Privacy Information Center, invoking the Freedom of Information Act, had sought such documents following the January 2010 cyberattack on Google that targeted the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists. The attack was among the considerations that prompted Google to consider abandoning China, and Google announced that it was “working with the relevant U.S. authorities.” The Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post followed up, saying Google had contacted the NSA following the attack.
EPIC sought documents seeking to know what type of collaboration there was between Google and the NSA and, among other things, records of communication between the NSA and Google concerning Google’s e-mail service Gmail. In response, the NSA invoked a so-called “Glomar” response, in which the agency neither confirmed nor denied the existence of records on the topic at all. EPIC sued and lost in the lower courts.
On appeal, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit sided with the NSA’s conclusion that admitting the existence of relevant documents would harm national security (.pdf).
12 May 2012
11 May 2012
Mapping Stereotypes
If you missed geography class in school here some maps to understand how the world looks!
Mapping Stereotypes by Alphadesigner on Avax - alphadesigner.com
Romney is a Bully
Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney has apologised after a newspaper reported that he had been among a group of students who bullied a classmate they presumed was gay.
"I did some dumb things and if anybody was hurt by that or offended... obviously, I apologise," the 65-year-old said. Mr Romney was responding to a Washington Post story that described an incident in 1965 in which the former Massachusetts Governor apparently pinned down a fellow student and attempted to cut his bleached-blonde hair.
According to former classmates named in the article, Romney apparently led the attack against student John Lauber, who was "perpetually teased for his non-conformity and presumed homosexuality".
Swiss Politician Allegedly Offered Friend's Wife and Daughter To Cannibals
Hans Ulrich Rudel, a Swiss politician and convicted murderer, is now accused of putting out an ad to attract potential cannibals interested in eating his pal's wife and 12-year-old daughter. The Local reports that Rudel, who co-founded the Embrachertal branch of the Conservative Party, is accused of putting the ad out in 2010 in an effort to get his friend's wife "out of the way" during an ugly divorce.
The ad said the mother and daughter were "keen to meet gentlemen interested in slaughter and dolce who would like to roast us on a spit." "Dolce," as Rudel allegedly told police, was his word for cannibalism.
The Daily Mail reports that Rudel received dozens of responses to the ad, but the person he replied to turned out to be an undercover cop. "There are a lot of cannibals out there," he said before being sentenced, according to the Mail.
10 May 2012
China vows to defend island claim
A Chinese military newspaper has warned that the country's armed forces will not allow anyone to challenge China's sovereignty of a tiny island outcrop in the South China Sea. China and the Philippines have been involved in a tense standoff since April 10 when the Philippines Navy accused Chinese boats of fishing illegally in waters off the Scarborough Shoal, some 130 miles (200 kilometers) from the Philippines island of Luzon.
They attempted to arrest the crew but were blocked by Chinese surveillance vessels deployed in the area. Both countries claim the shoal, which China calls Huangyan Island. Analysts believe the area is rich in mineral resources, natural gas and oil.
CNN.com - Xinhua Insight: True story behind Huangyan Island dispute in South China Sea
This Charming Video Game
The Smiths - This Charming Man / Lana Del Rey - Video Games
Mashup & video by The Reborn Identity
9 May 2012
'Underwear bomber' was working for the CIA
Would-be "underwear bomber" involved in a plot to attack a US-based jet was in fact working as an undercover informer with Saudi intelligence and the CIA, it has emerged.
The revelation is the latest twist in an increasingly bizarre story about the disruption of an apparent attempt by al-Qaida to strike at a high-profile American target using a sophisticated device hidden in the clothing of an attacker.
The plot, which the White House said on Monday had involved the seizing of an underwear bomb by authorities in the Middle East sometime in the last 10 days, had caused alarm throughout the US.
American Police Beating Mentally Ill Homeless Man To Death
Never-before-seen surveillance footage of the beating of Kelly Thomas, a Fullerton, Calif. homeless man with schizophrenia, was revealed Monday during a hearing to determine if the police officers involved in the altercation that led to his death will face trial.
The 33-minute video starts with Thomas being approached by Fullerton Police Department Officer Manuel Ramos, who engages him in conversation. By minute 15, Ramos has already donned latex gloves. "You see my fists?" Ramos asks Thomas. "They're getting ready to fuck you up."
"Start punching, dude!" responds Thomas, who was sitting on the ground. When Thomas stands up to walk away, a second police officer hits him repeatedly with a baton. The first few minutes of the altercation are off-screen, but the audio shows Thomas verbally giving up.
"I'm sorry, dude! I'm sorry," Thomas said. But the blows continue. At minute 16:30, the trio comes back into focus, and both police officers are on top of Thomas. "I can't breathe dude, I can't breathe!" protests Thomas. "Please, I can't breathe!" Throughout, officers keep telling him to put his hands behind his back.
At minute 18, a back-up police car arrives at the scene and at least one more officer joins in. This is when the tasering starts, amid police requests to "stop resisting." After more prolonged tasers, Thomas is wailing and multiple officers are piled on top of him. At minute 20, Thomas cries out to his father, who isn't there: "Dad! Dad! Dad! Help me, help me Dad!"
The video ends with emergency responders removing Thomas from the scene.
8 May 2012
How The Moon Landings Were Faked By Kubrick
Jay Weidner was on Red Ice to talk about his film, Kubrick's Odyssey. Jay presents compelling evidence of how Stanley Kubrick directed the Apollo moon landings. He reveals that the film, 2001: A Space Odyssey was not only a retelling of Arthur C. Clarke and Kubrick's novel, but also a research and development project that assisted Kubrick in the creation of the Apollo moon footage. Weidner also tells how Kubrick's film, The Shining is the story of Kubrick's personal travails as he secretly worked on the Apollo footage for NASA.
New French President Hollande Confirms Afghanistan Exit In 2012
After his election to the French presidency on Sunday, Francois Hollande wasted no time in following through on one of his highest-profile campaign pledges.
Hollande's communications director, Manuel Valls, confirmed to the Telegraph on Monday that France will "announce the withdrawal of its forces from Afghanistan between now and the end of the year." The announcement will take place at the NATO summit being held in Chicago on May 20 and 21.
7 May 2012
Hundreds detained at anti-Putin rally in Moscow
Vladimir Putin is to be inaugurated as president of Russia in a ceremony in the capital, Moscow. Mr Putin will return to the presidency after an absence of four years in which he served as prime minister. The outgoing President, Dmitry Medvedev, was widely seen as an ally of Mr Putin. He won a third term as president in controversial elections in March.
On Sunday, thousands of protesters opposed to the inauguration clashed with police in Moscow. (BBC)
EU plot to scrap Britain
Senior Eurocrats are secretly plotting to create a super-powerful EU president to realise their dream of abolishing Britain, we can reveal. A covert group of EU foreign ministers has drawn up plans for merging the jobs currently done by Herman Van Rompuy, president of the European Council, and Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission.
The new bureaucrat, who would not be directly elected by voters, is set to get sweeping control over the entire EU and force member countries into ever-greater political and economic union. Opponents fear the plan could create a modern-day equivalent of the European emperor envisaged by Napoleon Bonaparte or a return to the Holy Roman Empire of Charlemagne that dominated Europe in the Dark Ages.
6 May 2012
Japan shuts down last working nuclear reactor
Japan is shutting down its last working nuclear reactor as part of the safety drive imposed after the March 2011 tsunami triggered a meltdown at the Fukushima plant. The closure of the third reactor at the Tomari plant in Hokkaido prefecture, northern Japan, means all of the country's 50 nuclear reactors have been taken offline, leaving the country with no nuclear-derived electricity for the first time since 1970.
Hokkaido Electric said it started lowering output from the reactor at 5pm (8am GMT). The unit should be shut down completely by the early hours of Sunday.
Hundreds of people marched through Tokyo waving banners to celebrate what they hope will be the end of nuclear power in Japan. Until last year's earthquake and tsunami triggered radiation leaks at Tokyo Electric Power's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, Japan was the world's third-biggest user of atomic energy.
5 May 2012
Coldplay pay tribute to Beastie Boy Adam ‘MCA’ Yauch
Coldplay and the Beastie Boys could hardly be more different, but they came together in a moving and timely tribute to Adam ‘MCA’ Yauch.
The British pop-rockers performed the classic and quintessential Beastie Boys track, ‘Fight for Your Right’ at the Hollywood Bowl, transforming the hip-hop classic into a beautiful, soft, silly and self aware piano ballad. Frontman Chris Martin could barely keep a straight face at times — not because the occasion wasn’t a somber one, but because of the inherent goofiness of his crooning lines like, “Now your mom threw away your best porno mag.”
Fahrenheit 2012: Suppressing Dissent in the 21st Century
The ease with which political and governmental bodies have been able to block the publication of books that are uncomfortable to the Washington elite, and even to destroy entire print runs of tell-all whistleblower stories, has greatly increased. Simultaneously, books that fulfil a social function of rallying the populace around the flag and supporting the dominant narratives of our time, from the war on terror to the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, are given copious attention by a fawning lapdog press.
Flash mob playing Peer Gynt
Copenhagen Phil surprised the passengers in the Copenhagen Metro by playing Griegs Peer Gynt
4 May 2012
Adam 'MCA' Yauch of the Beastie Boys dies at 47
Adam "MCA" Yauch, a founding member of the pioneering rap band Beastie Boys, died Friday after a nearly three-year battle with cancer, the band's publicist said.Yauch, 47, revealed in 2009 that he had a cancerous tumor in a salivary gland. As a result, the band canceled its scheduled concerts and delayed the release of an album.
"I started feeling this little lump in my throat, like you would feel if you have swollen glands or something like that, like you'd feel if you have a cold, so I didn't really think it was anything," he said then in a video to fans. Yauch, a self-taught bassist and vocalist, underwent surgery to treat the tumor that year.
A People Uncounted
People Uncounted tells the story of the Roma, commonly referred to as Gypsies—a people who have been both romanticized and vilified in popular culture. The Roma have endured centuries of intolerance and persecution in Europe, most notably the Holocaust genocide where an estimated 500,000 were murdered. A People Uncounted documents their culturally rich yet often difficult lives, and demonstrates how their present state has been deeply shaped by the tragedies of the past. - Film Website
Gay Activist Fined in Russia for Propaganda
A prominent Russian gay rights activist was convicted on Friday of spreading "gay propaganda" among minors in the first such ruling in Russia's modern history.
Nikolai Alexeyev told the Associated Press that a city court in St. Petersburg fined him 5,000 rubles ($170) for breaching the law, which was controversially introduced by lawmakers in Russia's second-largest city in February. He pledged to appeal the decision.
Gay rights activists say the legislation could be used to ban public demonstrations. Alexeyev was briefly detained last month after he picketed the city hall in St. Petersburg with a poster which said that "homosexuality is not a perversion."
Israel high court hears hunger striker appeals
Two Palestinians who have been on hunger strike for 65 days appeared before Israel’s Supreme Court on Thursday to appeal their detention without charge, their lawyer told AFP.
Bilal Diab and Thaer Halahla are both staging hunger strikes to protest Israel’s use of administrative detention orders, under which military courts can order individuals to be held without charge for periods of up to six months, which can be renewed indefinitely.
Jamil Khatib, who is representing both men, said his address to the court focused on what he called the “illegality” of administrative detention. “The appeal focused on two sides, the illegality of administrative detention in general, in terms of why they are being held, and secondly why Thaer and Bilal took this step to shed light on administrative detention,” Khatib said.
He said Halahla addressed the session, speaking “about his arrest and the violations that were committed against him and why he decided to go through with his hunger strike.”
“He spoke about his right to a good life and his right to see his daughter, who was born while he was in administrative detention,” Khatib added.
It was unclear when the court would issue a ruling on the appeal.
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