26 Feb 2011
LEGO Police State
Move to where needed and help keep LEGO City safe! Chase citizens down on the police motorcycle and put them in the mobile station's prison! The whole Lego City race is only made up with police and villain figures.
'Too Much Sex Can Be a Bad Thing'
PETA Germany launched a racy new ad featuring playboy Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and the slogan “Too Much Sex Can Be a Bad Thing … for Dogs and Cats Too. There Are So Many Homeless Animals – Please Spay or Neuter Your Animal Companion!” Other celebrities who have appeared in “Too Much Sex” ads for PETA and its affiliates include adult film stars Sasha Grey, Jenna Jameson and Ron Jeremy as well as golfer Tiger Woods, although, in his case, as with Mr Berlusconi, involuntarily.
“Il Cavaliere can do a great service by encouraging everyone to have their dogs and cats desexed”, says our own Mimi Bekhechi. “The hundreds of thousands of homeless strays in Italy don’t make headlines as Berlusconi does, but they need people to pay attention to the crisis caused by the animals’ casual sex.”
25 Feb 2011
Libya crackdown 'escalates' with thousands feared dead
Reports from Libya indicate thousands may have been killed or injured as the government crackdown escalates "alarmingly", UN human rights head Navi Pillay has said. For the past week, fighting has raged between anti-government forces and troops loyal to Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi, in power for 42 years.
Witnesses in Tripoli say pro-Gaddafi forces have opened fire on protesters. Nato ambassadors are holding emergency talks. Around the capital, Tripoli, an elite brigade commanded by Col Gaddafi's son Khamis is believed to be dug in.
The UK and France are pushing for an arms embargo and a war crimes investigation. "The violence we have seen is appalling and unacceptable," said Prime Minister David Cameron. "People working for this regime... should remember that international justice has a long reach and a long memory."
John Galliano arrested in Paris after making antisemitic remarks
The British fashion designer John Galliano has been arrested in Paris for alleged assault and making antisemitic remarks after a late-night drinking session. The flamboyant designer, who is head of the French couture house Dior, was arrested in the Marais district after allegedly verbally accosting a couple sitting on a cafe terrace.
Galliano was drinking at a bar before the altercation in which he allegedly hurled insults at a couple. He was arrested and taken to a police station for a sobriety test where he was found him to be just over the legal limit.
Police then escorted back to his home without filing any charges against him. One police source told Reuters the outburst was prompted by stress ahead of the upcoming Paris fashion week, at which Dior's show is always in the spotlight.
MoneyGrabber
Official music video by Fitz and the Tantrums performing MoneyGrabber. Directed by Michael Mohan.
Download this song for free here on fitzandthetantrums.com
US Army of Fake Social Media Friends to Promote Propaganda
It's recently been revealed that the U.S. government contracted HBGary Federal for the development of software which could create multiple fake social media profiles to manipulate and sway public opinion on controversial issues by promoting propaganda. It could also be used as surveillance to find public opinions with points of view the powers-that-be didn't like. It could then potentially have their "fake" people run smear campaigns against those "real" people. As disturbing as this is, it's not really new for U.S. intelligence or private intelligence firms to do the dirty work behind closed doors.
EFF previously warned that Big Brother wants to be your friend for social media surveillance. While the FBI Intelligence Information Report Handbook (PDF) mentioned using "covert accounts" to access protected information, other government agencies endorsed using security exploits to access protected information.
24 Feb 2011
Silence is Not an Option!
The undersigned organisations urge the Human Rights Council to act urgently to respond to the violent repression of demonstrations currently underway in the Middle East, North Africa and beyond. The Human Rights Council cannot be a passive bystander of such events, during which the lives of ordinary citizens have been taken or put at risk through violent and unlawful repression. Hundreds of thousands of people in several countries have taken to the streets to peacefully call for their fundamental rights and freedoms to be respected.
Several hundred demonstrators have been killed. Protestors, journalists, human rights defenders, former political prisoners and humanitarian workers have been beaten or arbitrarily arrested. In the face of such wide-spread rights violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms the United Nations Human Rights Council can no longer remain silent.
Read what the Council should do on Fédération Internationale des ligues des Droits de l'Homme
Gaddafi blames unrest on al-Qaeda
Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader, has said in a speech on Libyan state television that al-Qaeda is responsible for the uprising in Libya.
"It is obvious now that this issue is run by al-Qaeda," he said, speaking from an unknown location. He said that the protesters were young people who were being manipulated by al-Qaeda, and that many were doing so under the influence of drugs. "No one above the age of 20 would actually take part in these events," he said.
"They are taking advantage of the young age of these people [to commit violent acts] because they are not legally liable!" Gaddafi said. He called on Libyan parents to keep their children at home.
The situation in Libya was different to Egypt or Tunisia he said, arguing that unlike people in the neighbouring countries, Libyans have "no reason to complain whatsoever".
Julian Assange to be extradited to Sweden
The WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is to be extradited to Sweden to face allegations of rape and sexual assault. Assange will appeal, his legal team has confirmed. If they lose he will be sent to Sweden in 10 days.
Delivering his ruling at a hearing at Belmarsh magistrates court in London, the chief magistrate, Howard Riddle, dismissed each of the defence's arguments against Assange's extradition.
Assange's legal team had argued that the Swedish prosecutor Marianne Ny did not have the authority to issue a European arrest warrant. The magistrate ruled that she did possess this authority and the warrant was valid.
Ny's credibility had been questioned by the defence team but Riddle said those doubts amounted to "very little". A retired judge who had criticised her, Brita Sundberg-Weitman, had no firsthand knowledge or evidence to back up her opinion, he said.
Julian Assange attacks European arrest warrant after extradition ruling – Telegraph
23 Feb 2011
Dutch group Conspiracy Cells of Fire claims Rabobank attacks
Final statement Conspiracy Cells of Fire, Dutch Cell:
The attacks on the fascists of Rabobank is dedicated with all our fire to our brothers of the prisoner’s cell of the members of Conspiracy Cells of Fire and the oppressed people of the world. Our comrades and the honest minority of dignified revolutionary Persons political and civil, are not just a piece of our struggle, are not only an aspect of our action, but their choices, attitudes and dignity are the struggle itself as a whole, they are the substance.
Why Rabobank,
The fascists from rabobank where investing in the arms industry (the arms that they are investing is also going to the police, military in the Netherlands, Egypt, Greece, Israel, Libya, Algeria and other country’s).
Rabobank calls this justifies action, and we also get Shell, ING, ABN-Amro, Randstad. All these mentioned fascists company's of the system are paramount in their view that they justify the action.
The attacks on Rabobank justify what we call action! Future attacks on Shell, ING, ABN-Amro, Randstad these companies accountable!
In Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Libya, the above mentioned companies and / or subsidiaries that have been attacked by splinter cells called the Fire. A truth that is not released by the representatives of the system. This shows our strong international solidarity.
Gaddafi speech and Libya unrest – as it happened
Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader, spoke earlier for more than an hour in reaction to the protests that have been rocking his country and seem to have left much of its eastern half out of his control.
See the speech with subtitles here
Here are the key points:
• Gaddafi is not standing down or leaving the country. He said he would die in Libya "as a martyr".
• He called upon his supporters to take back the streets from those who have been rebelling against his rule. He said they should go out tonight and "chase them".
• He railed against the rebels, threatening them with the death penalty and calling them "rats" and drug addicts. He hinted that he had not yet used the type of violence he could do, pointing to China's massacre in Tiananmen Square and the FBI's infamous siege in Waco. At times he would change tack and say he did not blame the young people for rebelling, saying they had been unduly influenced by their counterparts in Tunisia and Egypt.
Ahmadinejad: Mideast leaders should heed calls for change
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Wednesday urged Middle East leaders to listen to the voices of citizens who have taken to the streets in masses to demand a change in government -- though such protests in his own country have been crushed with brute force.
Ahmadinejad "strongly recommended such leaders to let their peoples express their opinions," the Islamic Republic News Agency reported.
"He further urged those leaders of regional countries who respond to the demands of their nations and their revolutionary uprisings with hot bullets to join their peoples' movements instead of creating blood baths."
As protests crackdowns continue, West lines up to sell arms
More than 80 British firms are represented at the ongoing International Defence Exhibition and Conference (IDEX) in Abu Dhabi, including BAE, Thales UK and Motorola UK. The firms are offering everything from weapons and communications equipment to parachutes and uniforms.
Lockheed Martin and L-3 communications from the US, France's Renault and Germany's Rhinemetall AG are among other major defence multinationals represented at IDEX.
Now in its 10th year, IDEA has attracted over 1,000 exhibitors this year, most of them from the United States, Britain, France and Germany. European governments have blocked sales of law enforcement equipment, like tear gas grenades, to some countries, but there are few restrictions on the sale of military equipment.
Facing budget cuts at home, western arms firms are desperate for a share of the lucrative Middle East market. "The post-financial crisis reality," said Herve Guillou, president of Cassidian Systems, a subsidiary of European aviation defence group EADS, "is that today it is clearly the Middle East that is seeing the biggest growth." Iran's growing military power has pushed Gulf states into their largest-ever military build up, making purchases worth £76 billion from the US alone in 2010. The largest acquisitions were made by Saudi Arabia, which is spending £41 billion on F-15 fighter jets and upgrades for its naval fleet.
The International Defence Exhibition and Conference (IDEX) Website
More than 1.5 million children in the UK are living in severe poverty
Save The Children described the figure as a "national scandal" and claims the number is likely to grow as Government cuts to welfare and public services bite.
It is calling on Chancellor George Osborne to counter the recent increase in VAT and rising inflation and unemployment with an emergency plan in next month's budget. Save The Children says even more families will struggle to get by unless more jobs are channelled to the worst-off areas and more financial help is given to parents who want to work.
Its research, carried out by New Policy Institute, found that 29 local authorities in Britain have more than one in five children living in severe poverty.
22 Feb 2011
The Houston Police Department (HPD)
Color of Change has released a revolting video of a swarm of Houston police kicking and beating a 15-year-old kid named Chad Holley who was running away from a burglary.
Some cops kicked him repeatedly in the head and legs, others punched his torso -- all while Holley was lying face down with his hands behind his head in surrender.
You can watch the video here:
Iran naval ships enter Suez Canal
Israel says it takes a 'grave view' of the ships' passage - the first Iranian naval vessels to go through the canal since Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution.
Two Iranian ships entered the Suez Canal on Tuesday and were heading towards the Mediterranean, an Egyptian canal official said. Iran appears to be testing the state of affairs in the Middle East after the fall of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
"They entered the canal at 5:45 a.m.," the official told Reuters. No other details were immediately available. Israel is anxious about political upheaval in Egypt and other Arab states aligned with its ally the United States.
Analysts say that Iran see itself benefiting from the upheaval across the Middle East. Dislodgement and weakening of leaders sympathetic to the United States is likely to embolden Tehran, and lessen the chances of it making concessions on its nuclear program. Iran denies it intends to build atomic weapons.
Last week, the prospect of the Suez crossing was described by Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, as a provocation by Iran.
Parliamentary commission says first Georgian president was murdered
The Georgian Parliamentary Interim Commission has excluded the possibility that first Georgian President Zviad Gamsakhurdia committed suicide, Chairman Konstantin Gamsakhurdia said.
Gamsakhurdia’s son Konstantin Gamsakhurdia, who heads the commission investigating his father's death, presented the Parliamentary Bureau with a 363-page document about its work. "The main thing that became clear during the commission's work was that there was no suicide. The data we have suggests that he was killed," Konstantin Gamsakhurdia said.
He added that the case of Gamsakhurdia’s death has not been closed. However, no investigation was carried from 2004 until the present day. Accordingly, the commission will send a final document to the prosecutor, who will further consider the case. The commission hopes to question ex-President Eduard Shevardnadze.
Gaddafi clings to power and his brolly
Libyan dictator Colonel Gaddafi made a bizarre brief appearance on state television last night — cowering under an umbrella. The surreal scene followed days of violent confrontation between anti-government protesters and the country's military.
Perched in the passenger seat of a car while clutching the brolly through the open door, Gaddafi denied rumours he had fled to Venezuela, where South American tyrant chum Hugo Chavez had offered sanctuary. After 42 years of iron rule Gaddafi, 68, appeared to have vanished from his lavish palace in Tripoli yesterday as the growing uprising against him finally engulfed the capital.
But in a statement that lasted less than a minute, he said: "I was talking to the youths in Green Square, just to show them I am here, not in Venezuela." Referring to foreign media, he added: "Don't believe those dogs, those TV channels."
It has been raining in the Libyan capital for two days.