31 Jul 2013

'In solidarity. From Russia with love'

tildainner

Tilda Swinton is risking arrest to hold up a rainbow flag in front of St. Basil's Cathedral in Russia! Swinton's rep asked that everyone share this photo of her in Moscow risking arrest by waving a pride flag in violation of Russia’s new homosexual propaganda bill.

SheWired

30 Jul 2013

Inside the Saudi Kingdom

Lionel Mill's film has unique access to Prince Saud bin Abdul Mohsen, one of the rulers of the rich, powerful and secretive Saudi royal family. This is a fascinating insight into the conflicts between tradition and modernity in one of the world's most conservative and autocratic countries.

LearningChanneI

29 Jul 2013

UK 'Porn' Filter Will Also Block Violence, Alcohol, Terrorism, Smoking And 'Esoteric Material'

The United Kingdom's new internet filters promise to block much more than just pornography, according to a report by the digital advocacy organization Open Rights Group.

baron cameron

Last week, Prime Minister David Cameron announced online porn would soon become automatically blocked in order to "protect children and their innocence." The filters will be implemented by the UK's major internet service providers, which encompass 95% of British web users.

Based on conversations with several ISPs, Open Rights Group says the new "parental controls" will reach far beyond pornography. By default, the controls will block access to "violent material," "extremist and terrorist related content," "anorexia and eating disorder websites," and "suicide related websites."

In addition, the new settings will censor websites that mention alcohol or smoking. The filter will even block "web forums" and "esoteric material," though Open Rights Group does not specify what these categories would include.

Huffington Post

28 Jul 2013

Terms and Conditions May Apply

A documentary about what you're really agreeing to when you click "I accept".

On Lâche Rien" (english subtitles)

"Here is On Lache Rien ! (We Don't Give Up!), a great French revolt song by the French band HK et Les Saltimbanks. They come from around Lille and they've just released their first album Citoyen du Monde (Citizen of the World) on January 31, 2011.
After subtitling it in Japanese, here it is in English (thanks to Maja and David).
As one of the Saltimbanks' lines goes: "The alarm clock has gone off/It's time to reset the counters to zero!" Peoples of Europe wake up! Thank you to our brothers and sisters in the Arab world who have broken the ice! You are our sparks! Thousands of young people in Spain are on a war footing! Hats off to the youths in the U.K. and the people occupying Wall Street...!
Down with the capitalist leaches! Eat the rich!
Ya Basta! Enough is Enough! Y'en a marre! Kfa!"

Military Industrial Complex, Drones, & Torture

Are we in perpetual war? It seems like the War on Terror has no end in sight, which brings about the question of who is profiting from the fighting, and whether or not the reasons are ethical. Drones are becoming an increasingly-used tactic, and a particular favorite of President Obama-- should the use of deadly drone strikes be legal? Is it moral? Do the ends justify the means? And lastly, is the use of torture as shown in the movie, Zero Dark Thirty justified? What is the American opinion on torture, and is it acceptable to torture someone believed to have knowledge of an imminent attack to get the information?
Ana Kasparian (Host, The Point and Co-host of The Young Turks) lead this weeks panel to discuss these issues and more with Cameron White (President of Iraq Veterans Against the War, Los Angeles Chapter), Kurt Schlichter (Conservative columnist and author) and Avskilyona Minko (Host, Producer, Huffpost Live). Special thanks to Ed Krayewski (Associate Editor, Reason Magazine) and Chase Madar (Author, The Passion of Bradley Manning) for sending in points.

The Whole World is Watching 1968

The 1968 Democratic National Convention of the U.S. Democratic Party was held in Chicago, Illinois. August 28, 1968 came to be known as the day a “police riot” took place. Wikipedia

Tutu says he cannot worship 'homophobic' God

South African peace icon Desmond Tutu has said he would rather go to hell than worship a homophobic God, likening the fight against gay prejudice to the anti-apartheid struggle. Tutu made the comments on Friday at the launch of a United Nations gay equality campaign in Cape Town.

desmond tutu

"I would refuse to go to a homophobic heaven. No, I would say sorry, I mean I would much rather go to the other place," the retired archbishop said. "I would not worship a God who is homophobic and that is how deeply I feel about this," he said, condemning the use of religious justification for anti-gay prejudice.

More on Al Jazeera English

26 Jul 2013

Honor The Treaties

A few years ago, Aaron Huey journeyed to the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota to photograph members of the Oglala Lakota Nation. The disarming stories of deceit, heartbreak, and violence he heard there changed his life forever. (Featuring Shepard Fairey)

Upworthy.com - Reelhouse.org - Aaron Heuy Ted Talk: America's native prisoners of war - www.aaronhuey.com

25 Jul 2013

Racism in Israel

Is Israel such a tolerant nation as they claim?

36 Photos From Russia That Everyone Needs To See

St Petersburg Gay Pride 2013

It’s a scary place for LGBT people in Russia right now. 35 more photos on BuzzFeed

23 Jul 2013

The Meaning of the Brazilian Protest Movement

Last month's protests swept through Brazil's cities, bringing hundreds of thousands onto the streets to protest rampant political corruption, declining government services and rising public costs. Contrary to the rosy economic picture that the World Bank and the IMF have tried to paint over the past decade, Brazil's growing discontent with the neoliberal model is now on full display. Find out more in this week's GRTV Backgrounder on Global Research TV.

22 Jul 2013

Doctor refuses to give woman the pill because she had 'not done her reproductive job' by having at least four children

A young New Zealand woman was refused the birth control pill because she had not yet done her 'reproductive job'.

pregnant_doll

Melissa Pont, 23, said her family practitioner, Dr Joseph Lee, would not renew her pill prescription, instead lecturing her on a baby's right to live and on using the rhythm method, an unreliable family planning technique that involves having sex only at certain times of the month.

Mail Online

The New Zealand Medical Association (NZMA) says a doctor who refused to prescribe the contraceptive pill to a Blenheim woman was within his rights, but that it was wrong to share his views on the matter. Radio New Zealand

Israeli parliament approved the deportation of 40,000 Bedouin from their land

In order to Judify the Naqab, the south of Israel, Israel initiates a unilateral plan to confiscate Bedouin land. Most of the Israeli public remains indifferent.

Putin Declares Himself Dictator

Putin’s actions are those of a dictator, who substitutes repression for lost popular support. In his first two terms, he enjoyed high popularity ratings and could tolerate a moderately free press. His 2011 imperious declaration that he would return to the Presidency and the demonstrations that followed revealed that the Russian people simply want him gone. As a leader with failing public support, he can only remain in power by using force and repression that gets worse by the day.

russian-prisoners

The amount of political repression in Russia today is about equal to that in Myanmar under military rule. The United States and other countries ostracized Myanmar and imposed sanctions. Although Ambassador McFaul expressed his regrets after the Navalny ruling, the Obama administration, in its ludicrous hope for Russian “reset” concessions, avoids any statements that might upset Vova, or “Little Vladimir” as the Russians derisively call Putin.

Is it not time, for the Obama administration to speak up? What more is needed? I guess we should keep quiet. Any day now Vova will help out on Iran, Syria,  North Korea, or even not rub our face in it with Snowden. In the meantime, capital and its best people flee Russia. The goal of Russia’s best and brightest is to get themselves and their families out of repressive Russia before it is too late.

More by Paul Roderick Gregory on Forbes

Syria civil war could last 'multiple years'

David Shedd, the deputy director of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, did not advocate any form of intervention by the United States or its allies, saying that was up to policymakers.

syrian islamist rebels

But his bleak assessment of the dangers posed by the Islamist al-Nusra Front and al-Qaeda's Iraq-based wing, as well as the prospects for a prolonged conflict, could bolster advocates of greater involvement by the United States and its allies. Addressing the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado, Shedd said he counted at least 1,200 groups in the opposition. He said many of the groups were preoccupied with strictly local grievances, like a lack of potable water in their villages.

"Left unchecked, I'm very concerned that the most radical elements will take over larger segments" of the opposition groups, Shedd said, strongly hinting at the need for some kind of outside intervention. He said the conflict could drag on anywhere "from many, many months to multiple years," and that a prolonged stalemate could leave open parts of Syria to potential control by radical fighters.

Full story on the Telegraph

21 Jul 2013

Israel Admits Harvesting Organs From Dead Bodies Without Permission

Israel has admitted that in the 1990s, its forensic pathologists harvested organs from dead bodies, including Palestinians, without permission of their families.

bodysnatcher

The issue emerged with publication of an interview with the then-head of Israel's Abu Kabir forensic institute, Dr. Jehuda Hiss. The interview was conducted in 2000 by an American academic, who released it because of a huge controversy last summer over an allegation by a Swedish newspaper that Israel was killing Palestinians in order to harvest their organs. Israel hotly denied the charge.

Parts of the interview were broadcast on Israel's Channel 2 TV over the weekend. In it, Hiss said, "We started to harvest corneas ... Whatever was done was highly informal. No permission was asked from the family."

The Channel 2 report said that in the 1990s, forensic specialists at Abu Kabir harvested skin, corneas, heart valves and bones from the bodies of Israeli soldiers, Israeli citizens, Palestinians and foreign workers, often without permission from relatives.

More on The Huffington Post

Police State USA

A compilation of American news segments and video clips detailing the history of stop and frisk.

NYC Resistance

Helen Thomas is Dead

Helen Thomas (August 4, 1920 – July 20, 2013) was an American author and news service reporter, member of the White House press corps and opinion columnist. She worked for the United Press and post-1958 successor United Press International (UPI) for 57 years, first as a correspondent, and later as White House bureau manager. She was a columnist for Hearst Newspapers from 2000 to 2010, writing on national affairs and the White House. She covered the administrations of eleven U.S. presidents—from the final years of the Eisenhower administration to the second year of the Obama administration.

Thomas was the first female officer of the National Press Club, the first female member and president of the White House Correspondents' Association, and the first female member of the Gridiron Club. She wrote six books. Thomas retired from Hearst Newspapers on June 7, 2010, following controversial comments she made about Israel, Israeli Jews and the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.

Wikipedia

Mel Smith remembered: 'A gentleman and a scholar, a gambler and a wit'

Mel Smith, the British comedian, writer, actor, producer and film director, known for his long and popular television partnership with Griff Rhys Jones, died on Friday at the age of 60. He suffered a heart attack at his London home.

Smith's deadpan style, along with his lugubrious manner and large build, quickly established him as one of the favourite television performers in the early 1980s.

More on The Observer

20 Jul 2013

Alan Turing Must Be Pardoned

Alan Turing looks set to receive a pardon, after the government lent its support to a Bill that would overturn the wartime codebreaker's conviction for being gay. Turing took his own life with cyanide in 1954 at the age of 41 - he had been sentenced to chemical castration for the crime of gross indecency.

Alan Turing

The mathematician, one of the fathers of computer science, worked at the British government's Second World War code-breaking headquarters at Bletchley Park. He is best known for having cracked the messages sent by the German Enigma machines and is credited with saving the country from starvation.

Last year the government rejected demands that he be granted a pardon as he had not been wrongly convicted at the time, even if that law no longer existed. "A posthumous pardon was not considered appropriate as Alan Turing was properly convicted of what at the time was a criminal offence," Lib Dem justice minister Lord McNally said.

Huffington Post

US Soldiers Disappear removing 5000 year old Flying Machine from Afghan Cave

What caused the sudden rush of these most powerful leaders of the Western World to go to Afghanistan, this report continues, was to directly view the discovery by US Military scientists of what is described as a "Vimana" entrapped in a "Time Well"
that has already caused the "disappearance" of at least 8 American Soldiers trying to remove it from the cave it has been hidden in for the past estimated 5,000 years.

See comments on YouTube for more info

19 Jul 2013

India's 'people of nowhere'

India and Pakistan won their independence in 1947, but the year also left deep scars by leaving hundreds of thousands without a nation to call their own.
Millions of people migrated and fled their homes during the partition that lead to the formation of the two countries. Even after six decades of independence religious minorities, mostly Hindus, have been fleeing Pakistan and migrating to India, claiming harassment. Some left for better economic opportunities. Most of the families have stationed themselves in India's western state of Rajasthan, which borders Pakistan.
For Halmal Bheel, 54, who had migrated in 2000, settling down in India has been tough. “This is our land, and we are not refugees here," he said. "My father migrated to Pakistan, but our ancestral land and the remains of our old house are still here. So it really hurts when someone calls us refugees or Pakistanis.”
Hindu Singh Sodha, an activist working with Hindu immigrants from Pakistan, said “nobody is bothered about plight of these people. Both central and state government prefer to ignore their situation ... The only thing these people have been demanding is the grant of a refugee status. The government does not want to take the ownership, so as to avoid the provision of basic facilities like food and shelter to the immigrants.” 
The Indian government has toughened the requirements to attain citizenship: migrants must now live in the country for seven years before being eligible to become a citizen, up from five years; and the application fee for citizenship has greatly increased.
And the places where these immigrants live often lack basic necessities like water, good food and electricity. “It is very hard to live in such conditions. We do not get cooking gas connections, electricity connections, and cannot even apply for a driving license. The basic human needs are also not provided to us,” said Gordhan Bheel. “All we want is either a refugee status or grant of Indian citizenship.”
Khushala Ram, 50, who came to India in 2009 on a pilgrim visa and has remained in the country, said: “I will never go back. I came with the hope that the Indian government will accept us with open hearts, but I do not know why they have been treating us as Pakistanis. We are Indians who have come back home.”
 

18 Jul 2013

Legendary Soul Singer Violently Attacked For Song Dedication To Trayvon Martin

Hours before George Zimmerman walked free in his second-degree murder trial, a white woman assaulted soul singer Lester Chambers for dedicating a song to Trayvon Martin. The woman identified as 43-year-old Dinalynn Andrews Potter jumped the stage, reportedly yelling “it’s all your fault,” right before she hit the 73-year-old singer.
Chambers, once part of a legendary 1960s music group called The Chambers Brothers, prepared to dedicate a civil rights-era song titled “People Get Ready,” changing the lyrics from “people get ready, there’s a train a-coming” to “there’s change a-coming.”
 
 

17 Jul 2013

Israel's Sweeping Ethnic Cleansing Plan

A national day of protests and strikes swept Israel and occupied Palestine Monday as demonstrators filled the streets to voice their opposition to Israel's Prawer 'ethnic cleansing' Plan that would forcibly evict and displace up to 70 thousand indigenous Palestinian Bedouins from the Naqab/Negev region in southern Israel. Street protests spread through major Palestinian cities and towns Monday, including Ramallah, Gaza City, Hebron, and Nablus.

  
A 700-strong protest in the southern Israeli city of Be’er Sheva, under the banner of "The Prawer Plan will not pass," blocked a major thoroughfare and was shut down by police, who arrested at least 14 people. Palestinian communities shuttered many commercial establishments Monday in a strike endorsed by the Arab Higher Monitoring Committee, but not the PLO. Photos show Palestinian marketplaces sitting closed and empty. Israel's Prewar Plan, passed in the Knesset in late June, aims to displace tens of thousands of Bedouins and destroy 35 "unrecognized villages," forcing Bedouins into government resettlement villages. The Adelah Legal Center for Minority Rights in Israel says the Prawer Plan, if implemented, would be "the largest single act of forced displacement of Arab citizens of Israel since the 1950s."
 

Lesbians in Iran: Stories of Persecution and Torture

Iranian lesbians, like their gay brothers, are not allowed to have an existence in Iran. Many are forced by society and by their family to live a lie and marry a man. Women convicted of lesbian sex face flogging or, after conviction for a fourth time, the death penalty. Lesbians have no security of person vis-à-vis the government. Each time they are arrested, they risk being raped, whipped, persecuted or even tortured to death. If they are raped by strangers or acquaintances, they and their family members are often reluctant to file a formal complaint because being raped is itself a matter of shame and disgrace. Even when complaints are filed, they do not prosper as the law pertaining to the crime of rape requires four male witnesses to prove the legitimacy of the accusation.
 

Those forced into marriage by their families experience the trauma of rape every night as a wife’s first duty is to serve her husband’s sexual needs. Under Iranian law, it is lawful for a man to rape his wife. The only unlawful rape of a woman is zena or adulterous rape. Many of these women suffer from depression and other mental and spiritual problems. If their sexuality is discovered by their family members, they are likely to be beaten and abused if not abandoned. Abandonment often means drug abuse and prostitution. Sometimes, lesbian women are forced by their families to consult a doctor, a process which can involve agitation and trauma. There have been cases where a lesbian required hospitalization after being prescribed a dangerous pill used typically for serious mental illnesses. They may even be persuaded to undergo sex-change operation, which can lead to depression, various mental and physical conditions and even suicide.
 
For lesbians and bisexual women, family and institutional social control may be the greatest threat to their safety and well-being. Research conducted by IRQR in last few years with Iranian lesbians indicates that their families and communities pressure them to repress their sexuality in myriad ways. Their fear of discovery is well-founded. Lesbians whose families suspect them of homosexuality may be punished. A university student in her mid-twenties in Tehran told us that she was barred from leaving their home for there months when her mother discovered she was a lesbian. After which she was under constant supervision and was prevented from communicating outside the family.
 
Full story on ILGA

15 Jul 2013

'No justice, no peace!' Angry protests sweep US over Zimmerman verdict


 
Nationwide protests hit the US following the acquittal of George Zimmerman, with protesters burning flags, smashing police cars and shop windows. Zimmerman shot and killed Trayvon Martin, 17, out of apparent self-defense

14 Jul 2013

13 Jul 2013

NSA spying on judges, Congressmen, generals, White House



 
The NSA whistleblower...from EIGHT years ago. Abby Martin talks to Russell Tice, former intelligence analyst and original NSA whistleblower, about how the recent NSA scandal is only scratches the surface of a massive surveillance apparatus, citing specific targets that he saw spying orders for including former senators Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama.

Malala Day At UN

Malala Yousafzai spent her 16th birthday demanding compulsory education for young people worldwide.



In a speech Friday at the UN in New York
, the Pakistani schoolgirl who was shot in the head in October 2012 for speaking out about her right to education, talked about how she represents some 57 million children around the world are not going to school. The UN declared her birthday as "Malala Day." Introduced by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Malala spoke out about terrorism, poverty and a united front calling for education. "'Malala Day' is not my day. Today is the day of every woman, every boy and every girl who have raised their voice for their rights."

12 Jul 2013

Afghan judges free three jailed for torture of child bride

Three freed despite imprisoning, starving and burning girl sold into marriage as new laws could prevent relatives testifying against each other.
Human rights activists have warned of an new assault on women's rights in Afghanistan after judges and prosecutors allowed the early release of three people convicted for the brutal torture of a child bride, and conservative lawmakers made an aggressive bid to prevent relatives testifying against each other.
If successful, the small change – introduced covertly into the criminal prosecution code – would stop the vast majority of cases of violence against women from ever reaching court.
Together with the quashing of three convictions for the attempted murder of the teenager Sahar Gul, it marks an alarming two-pronged assault on women's rights by both those who make the laws and those tasked with upholding them.
"The last two months have really been a parade of horrible for women's rights in Afghanistan," said Heather Barr, Afghanistan researcher at Human Rights Watch, warning that the proposed change to the criminal code would leave most abused women with no legal protection against violence.
"Underage marriage, forced marriage, domestic violence, sale of women – these crimes are almost always committed against women by family members, whether through birth or through marriage."
The 10-year sentences handed down to Gul's tormentors last year was hailed as an important step forward, after her case horrified Afghanistan and prompted a bout of national soul-searching.
Sold as a wife when she was an illiterate 12-year-old, her in-laws wasted little time embarking on a campaign of almost unimaginable torture. They starved her, chained her in a basement bathroom, beat her, burned her with red-hot metal pipes and pulled her fingernails out.

See how easily freaks can take over your life



Would you panic while internet crooks took over your life? We put one real victim through the test. We scared the hell out of him by gradually taking over his life. His freaked out reactions, should urge people to be very vigilant and never to share personal and banking information by mail or by telephone. Tips for safe internet banking: safeinternetbanking.be

9 Jul 2013

7 Jul 2013

Mother Teresa was even worse than we thought

First Christopher Hitchens took her down, then we learned that her faith wasn’t as strong as we thought, and now a new study from the Université de Montréal is poised to completely destroy what shreds are left of Mother Teresa’s reputation. She was the winner of the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize, was beatified and is well on her way to becoming a saint, and she’s universally admired.


 
The myth of altruism and generosity surrounding Mother Teresa is dispelled in a paper by Serge Larivée and Genevieve Chenard of University of Montreal’s Department of Psychoeducation and Carole Sénéchal of the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Education. The paper will be published in the March issue of the journal Studies in Religion/Sciences religieuses and is an analysis of the published writings about Mother Teresa. Like the journalist and author Christopher Hitchens, who is amply quoted in their analysis, the researchers conclude that her hallowed image—which does not stand up to analysis of the facts—was constructed, and that her beatification was orchestrated by an effective media relations campaign.
The release levels three types of accusations against mother Teresa and her supporters:
1.  The woman was in love with suffering and simply didn’t take care of her charges, many of whom fruitlessly sought medical care.
2. She was tightfisted about helping others, seequestered money donated for her work, and took money from dictators.
3. She was deliberately promoted by BBC journalist Malcolm Muggeridge (a fellow anti-abortionist), and her beatification was based on phony miracles.
 
Full story on Why Revolution is true

Burning Pope Effigies & Black Taxi Tour in Belfast

 
WeAreChange toured around Belfast to learn about the troubles that have been deep rooted in the country and city’s history. We were told how the trouble between the Catholics and Protestants began and were shown many of the historical and places of significance, including a 50 foot wall that divides the two communities. We were shown around by people that grew up from both communities and they shared with us their experiences.

Dutch Injustice: When Child Traffickers Rule A Nation


Joris Demmink, the current Secretary General of the Dutch Ministry of Justice has consistently been linked to the sexual assault and trafficking of young boys, both in the Netherlands and abroad. In the fall of 1998, an investigation conducted into an Amsterdam brothel linked senior politicians and justice officials to the sexual abuse and trafficking of young boys. Demmink was specifically identified by one of the young boys as an individual involved in the abuses. According to a former senior official at the Ministry of Justice, this investigation was foiled through the direct intervention of and obstruction by Demmink.
 

3 Jul 2013

A History of the Middle East since WWII


This is a documentary on the history of the Middle East since WWII. It was made in the late 1980s. Apologies for the scratchy quality as its a VHS rip.

2 Jul 2013

Foie Gras Cruelty

Kate Winslet narrates this shocking undercover footage of the torture that ducks and geese endure in foie gras production.

Take the pledge to boycott Harrods and Fortnum and Masons

Dawkins a bit too blunt for Brandon Flowers

Brandon Flowers of The Killers gets a bit flustered and angry with Richard Dawkins for answering a question honestly about Joseph Smith, the convicted con man and inventor of the Mormon religion.

Atheism is Racism

Paul from Chicago IL, argues that Atheism has to imply "racism". Matt Dillahunty & Jen Peeples try to explain to Paul that Atheism does not imply racism.

American History

Mark Dice talks with California beach goers about the 4th of July and finds that many Americans simply don't know WHY they celebrate the 4th of July or what country they declared independence from.

MarkDice

1 Jul 2013

Pakistan sisters killed for dancing in the rain

Two teenage sisters in Pakistan have been shot dead in a suspected 'honour killing' after a video clip emerged of them dancing in the rain.

Pakistan sisters

Five unidentified men in the Chillas town in the Northern areas of Pakistan shot and killed Noor Basra, 16, and Noor Sheza, 15, and their mother, News24online reported. Local police have detained Khutore, 22, the sisters' step brother, for allegedly planning the attack. "It seems that the two girls have been murdered after they were accused of tarnishing their family's name by making a video of themselves dancing in the rain,” a police officer said.

The West Australian