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.
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.
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.
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.
A documentary about what you're really agreeing to when you click "I accept".
"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!"
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 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
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.
"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.
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
It’s a scary place for LGBT people in Russia right now. 35 more photos on BuzzFeed
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.
A young New Zealand woman was refused the birth control pill because she had not yet done her 'reproductive job'.
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.
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
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’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.
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.
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.
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.
Israel has admitted that in the 1990s, its forensic pathologists harvested organs from dead bodies, including Palestinians, without permission of their families.
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.
A compilation of American news segments and video clips detailing the history of stop and frisk.
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.