The US norm of Police Violence

Early Friday morning, this man was slammed to the ground by Austin police – for jaywalking.

Bill Maher and “The Hateful Eight” filmmaker Quentin Tarantino discuss his recent efforts to call attention.

Freddie Gray Intentionally Severed His Own Spine

On April 12, a 25-year-old African-American named Freddie Gray was arrested in Baltimore. No one knows exactly why he was arrested, other than the report that he ran after making eye contact with the police. Reportedly, Gray had a switchblade. He also had a record. During the arrest, though, Gray was seriously injured and ultimately, he died from spinal cord injuries.

Amid massive protests in Baltimore, the police have begun the public relations spin. Initially, rumors were making the social media rounds that Gray had a preexisting spinal injury from a car accident. That’s not true at all. On Wednesday, while official Baltimore police spokespeople are saying that they will not release information and they will instead take the case straight to the prosecutor (who, unless an outside prosecutor is appointed, is someone who works with the police every single day), the police office sprung a leak. They are now attempting to say that Gray injured his own spine – on purpose.

According to a police document obtained by the Washington Post, a prisoner shared the transport van with Gray and said that he could hear Gray “banging against the walls” of the van. He also said that he believed that Gray was “intentionally trying to injure himself.

More at addictinginfo.org

Soldiers in Central African Republic lynch suspected rebel moments after official ceremony

A military ceremony in the Central African Republic ended in violence Wednesday after soldiers lynched a man to death who they suspected of being a former rebel, according to AFP journalists. Minutes after the departure of officials from the ceremony in the capital Bangui, including interim President Catherine Samba Panza, the soldiers attacked a young man in civilian clothes, hitting, stabbing and throwing stones at him.

His body was then dragged though the streets as African Union troops looked on. Pictures showed a soldier stamping on the bloodied head of the man while another prepared to stab him in the side. The lynching was carried out under the noses of soldiers from the African Union-led MISCA mission, which was providing security at the event.

More on GlobalPost

New Afghanistan law to silence victims of violence against women

A new Afghan law will allow men to attack their wives, children and sisters without fear of judicial punishment, undoing years of slow progress in tackling violence in a country blighted by so-called "honour" killings, forced marriage and vicious domestic abuse.

The small but significant change to Afghanistan's criminal prosecution code bans relatives of an accused person from testifying against them. Most violence against women in Afghanistan is within the family, so the law – passed by parliament but awaiting the signature of the president, Hamid Karzai – will effectively silence victims as well as most potential witnesses to their suffering.

"It is a travesty this is happening," said Manizha Naderi, director of the charity and campaign group Women for Afghan Women. "It will make it impossible to prosecute cases of violence against women … The most vulnerable people won't get justice now."

More on The Guardian

Horrific video of beheading raises questions of arms supply to Syrian rebels

Another act of brutal violence reportedly by Syrian rebels has appeared on the web. Unverified video shows the beheading of 3 supposed government supporters. The title of the graphic footage suggests an orthodox Christian bishop was among the victims, although other reports claim he'd been shot dead in an assault on a monastery.

Burma confirms phosphorus used in crackdown on mine protesters

An official report has confirmed that police in Burma used smoke bombs that contained phosphorus during a crackdown on anti-mine protesters last year that left 108 people with burns. The report also recommended the controversial Chinese-backed project continue.

The report by an investigation commission appointed by President Thein Sein and chaired by the opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, was released on Monday, more than three months after the incident at the Letpadaung copper mine in north-western Burma. It was the biggest use of force against protesters in Burma since Thein Sein's reformist government took office in March 2011.

Protesters say the joint-venture between China's Wanbao mining company and a Burma military conglomerate causes environmental, social and health problems. They want it halted and are demanding punishment for those who hurt peaceful protesters. The findings are likely to disappoint opponents of the project and could reignite demonstrations.

Authorities had said they used water cannon, teargas and smoke grenades to break up the 11-day occupation of the mine last November, but protesters said burns were caused by incendiary devices. They described "fire balls" being shot at them during the night-time raid on their encampment. A separate, independent report released last month by a lawyers' network and an international human rights group said police dispersed the protesters by using white phosphorous, an incendiary agent generally used in war to create smoke screens.

The Guardian

New Buddhist Violence against Rohingya in Burma

The government of Burma should take immediate steps to stop sectarian violence against the Rohingya Muslim population in Arakan State, in western Burma, and ensure protection and aid to both Rohingyas and Arakanese in the state, Human Rights Watch said today. New satellite imagery obtained by Human Rights Watch shows extensive destruction of homes and other property in a predominantly Rohingya Muslim area of the coastal town of Kyauk Pyu – one of several areas of new violence and displacement.

Human Rights Watch identified 811 destroyed structures on the eastern coastal edge of Kyauk Pyu following arson attacks reportedly conducted on October 24, 2012, less than 24 hours before the satellite images were captured. The area of destruction measures 35 acres and includes 633 buildings and 178 houseboats and floating barges adjacent on the water, all of which were razed. There are no indications of fire damage to the immediate west and east of this zone of destruction. Media accounts and local officials said that many Rohingya in the town fled by sea toward Sittwe, the capital of Arakan State, 200 kilometers to the north.
Violence renewed between Arakan Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims on October 21 and continued all week in at least five townships: Minbya, Mrak-U, Myebon, Rathedaung, and Kyauk Pyu. This was the first time violence had reached Kyauk Pyu and most of these other parts of the state since the sectarian violence and related abuses by state security forces against the Rohingya began in early June. The Rohingya have suffered the brunt of the violence.

Human Rights Watch - Satellite imagery here (PDF)

Hey White Guys: Violence

Who's beating the crap out of Americans? Bureau of Justice Violent Crime statistics for 2010

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

US approves military aid to Egypt

The US will give $1.3bn in military aid to Egypt despite concerns that Cairo has not met conditions imposed last year that it should take concrete steps towards a more democratic form of government.
The Egyptian military's continued crackdown on non-violent protesters and Cairo's harassment of NGOs that promote civic engagement had led to calls for the aid to be withheld.
And critics say that in deciding to give Egypt the money, the US is putting its strategic interests ahead of human rights. Al Jazeera's Rosiland Jordan reports.

If You Are Being Beaten, Just Remember the Things You Love About Your Husband

If you need any further proof that the USA is in the midst of a full-on patriarchal biblical-religious war on women, a Wisconsin lawmaker is happy to provide it.

According to Yahoo News, Wisconsin Rep. Don Pridemore helpfully suggests that, rather than divorcing an abusive spouse, you should try to remember the things you love about the guy while he is beating you up.

In Wisconsin - yes, the same state where lawmakers have introduced a bill penalizing single mothers for being unmarried - a Republican state representative has come out against divorce for any reason - even domestic abuse. 

Instead of leaving an abusive situation, women should try to remember the things they love about their husbands, Representative Don Pridemore said. "If they can re-find those reasons and get back to why they got married in the first place it might help," he told a local news station.

More on AlterNet

The evacuation of Belo Monte has begun!

You feel nothing? I understand, you do not know what is Belo Monte. What this country is Brazil, with a hypocritical society unable to put a stop to this policy rotten.  LETS STOP THE INSANITY IN OUR BEAUTIFUL BLUE GLOBE PLEASEEE!!!; Unfortunate examples such as the construction of the hydroelectric plants of Tucuruí (PA) and Balbina (AM), the last built in the Amazon in the 1970s and 1980s, there is evidence.

Displaced communities and flooded huge tracts of land and destroyed the fauna and flora of these regions. Balbina, 146 km from Manaus, meant flooding of the Indian reservation Atroari, fish killed, food shortages and hunger for local people. In contrast, it was the supply of electricity for the local population was not met. The disaster was such that in 1989, the National Institute for Amazonian Research (INPA), after analysing the situation in the Uatumã River where the dam was built, completed by his biological death. In Tucuruí it was not much different. Nearly ten thousand families were left without their lands, indigenous and riverine. Given this situation, in relation to the Belo Monte, one must wonder how anti-democratic as the project was being conducted, the cost-effectiveness of the work, the fate of energy to be produced and the lack of an energy policy for the country favors alternative energy.

Anonymous Website

God Bless America

Loveless, jobless and possibly terminally ill, Frank has had enough of the downward spiral of America. With nothing left to lose, Frank takes his gun and decides to off the stupidest, cruellest and most repellent members of society with an unusual accomplice: 16-year-old Roxy, who shares his sense of rage and disenfranchisement. From stand-up comedian and director Bobcat Goldthwait comes a scathing and hilarious attack on all that is sacred in the United States of America.

collider.com

Egyptian women protest in Cairo against brutal treatment

Hundreds of women have taken to the streets of Cairo to protest against military rule and the brutal treatment of female protesters by Egypt's security services. The women rallied outside a government office complex in Tahrir Square, the scene of violent clashes earlier on Tuesday in which at least four demonstrators were shot dead by military police. Dozens of men joined the demonstration out of sympathy with the women. They acted as a protective cordon and chanted: "Egyptian women are a red line."

The protest came after soldiers made another violent attempt to evict demonstrators camped in the square, during the fifth day of bloody confrontation between the military and opponents of army rule.

It also followed condemnation of the treatment of female activists in Egypt by Hillary Clinton. The US secretary of state said she was appalled by the treatment being meted out to female protesters – particularly by a photo showing a young woman, stripped to her bra and jeans, being kicked and dragged along the ground by two police officers. "This systematic degradation of Egyptian women dishonours the revolution, disgraces the state and its uniform and is not worthy of a great people," Clinton said. She added: "Women are being beaten and humiliated in the same streets where they risked their lives for the revolution only a few short months ago."

More on The Guardian

Meanwhile in Egypt

Egyptian cameraman at the heart of the Tahrir Square clashes

Although future historians looking back at this period will have ample primary source material available – from a mountain of ballot papers to the hundreds of hours of footage covering rallies in Tahrir Square – their most important asset may prove to be six-and-a-half minutes of jerky video, shot by Bahgat from the heart of the violence.

The film, which consists of a series of clips made over several days at the height of the unrest, directly contradicts many of the claims made by the ministry of interior regarding the type of weaponry deployed by its troops and its insistence that only "reasonable force" has been used to confront protesters.

Better than anything produced by more conventional media outlets, the footage captures the dramatic reality of Cairo's recent clashes. It is also one of the most intense recordings of guerrilla warfare ever produced and has rapidly become a viral sensation, clocking up over 100,000 hits on YouTube.

But for the quiet, softly spoken man behind the lens it's just another piece of work, albeit one that serves a vital purpose in the ongoing information war between the Egyptian authorities and the young revolutionaries who accuse the country's ruling generals of unleashing brutal violence against those who dare to speak out against them.

More on The Guardian

Egyptian Military rulers have 'crushed' hopes of 25 January protesters

Egypt's military rulers have completely failed to live up to their promises to Egyptians to improve human rights and have instead been responsible for a catalogue of abuses which in some cases exceeds the record of Hosni Mubarak, Amnesty International said today in a new report.

In Broken Promises: Egypt's Military Rulers Erode Human Rights (PDF), the organization documents a woeful performance on human rights by the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) which assumed power after the fall of former President Hosni Mubarak in February.
The report's release follows a bloody few days in Egypt that has left many dead and hundreds injured after army and security forces violently attempted to disperse anti-SCAF protesters from Cairo’s Tahrir square.
"By using military courts to try thousands of civilians, cracking down on peaceful protest and expanding the remit of Mubarak's Emergency Law, the SCAF has continued the tradition of repressive rule which the January 25 demonstrators fought so hard to get rid of," said Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Acting Director.

Amnesty International

Beating Babies in the Name of Jesus?

There is a brutal movement in America that legitimizes child abuse in the name of God. Two stories recently converged to make us pay attention. Last week, a video went viral of a Texas judge brutally whipping his disabled daughter. And on Monday, the New York Times published a story about child deaths in homes that have embraced the teachings of To Train Up a Child, a book by Christian preacher Michael Pearl that advocates using a switch on children as young as six months old.

What many people may not realize is that in the evangelical alternative universe of the home school movement, tightly knit church communities and the following of a number of big-time leaders and authors, physical punishment of children has been glorified for years.

More on AlterNet - No Greater Joy Ministries - Also see Friendly Atheist

Computer virus infects drone plane command centre in US

A computer virus that captures the strokes on a keyboard has infected networks used by pilots who control US air force drones flown on the warfront, according to a published report.

Wired magazine reported that the spyware has resisted efforts to remove it from computers in the cockpits at Creech air force base in Nevada, where pilots remotely fly Predator and Reaper drones in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.

The story said there were no confirmed reports that classified data had been stolen and that the virus did not stop pilots from flying any of their missions. Network security specialists were uncertain whether the virus was part of a directed attack or accidentally infected the networks, the story said.

The air force said in a statement that it did not discuss threats to its computer networks because it could help hackers refine their tactics. "We keep wiping it off, and it keeps coming back," Wired quoted a source as saying. "We think it's benign. But we just don't know."

The Guardian

No One Is Trying To Stop The Daily Violence, Leading Syrian Activist Says

A Syrian human rights activist awarded for her courageous journalism has urged the international community to place real pressure on the regime to stop its brutal crackdown against pro-democracy protesters.

Razan Zaitouneh, who was awarded the fifth annual Anna Politkovskaya Award for "courage and truth-telling in the face of grave danger" on Friday, said interest from the global community about the Syrian uprising was not enough to make a difference in her country.

"It's been seven months now with more than 3,000 people killed," the 34-year-old, who is living in hiding, told the Huffington Post UK.

"It's daily violence, villages and cities invaded and raided, it's a crime against humanity, and all we get from the international society is that they condemn. But they couldn't even get a resolution from the Security Council."

huffingtonpost.co.uk