Homeless people were asked to write down a fact about themselves that other people wouldn’t know just by walking past them. Their answers may surprise you.
This should happen everywhere… people need to see homeless people for what they are; people.
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Written by: Justin King at theantimedia.org
“Cops make mistakes, too.” When the subject of police murders come up, someone will inevitably state that cops aren’t perfect. That’s true and accidents do happen. Videos of police killings can show much more than just the mere chain of events leading up to the death. They can often give great insight into the officer’s state of mind at the time he pulled the trigger or beat someone to death. A well-adjusted person does not want to kill another human being. Fewer than 4% of soldiers are “natural born killers.”
Douglas MacArthur was a Five Star General, an Army Chief of Staff, and a Medal of Honor recipient. His father earned the Medal of Honor. While brash, he was a preeminent soldier and could draw on his own wartime experiences and his father’s. On the subject of the horrors of war and killing he said:
“The soldier above all others prays for peace, for it is the soldier who must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war.”
He wasn’t talking about wounds caused by shrapnel or bullets. He was talking about the emotional and psychological toll of enduring combat and killing one’s fellow man. Even during war, an activity we are indoctrinated to believe excuses all forms of brutality, killing takes a toll. Imagine the emotional toll that a stable individual would feel after killing an innocent or inflicting grievous bodily harm.
In this video you will see an officer do everything by the book. He stops his car far enough back to observe the suspect without causing a “fight or flight” response, and provides the officer with distance in case the suspect does open fire. He illuminates the vehicle with all of the available lights, and appears to turn off his forward facing strobes (the red and blue lights). The flashing lights can play tricks on the officer’s eyesight. More than one “gun” that wasn’t really there has been attributed to officers not taking the time to flip off their strobes. He waits before approaching the suspect’s vehicle and stands off to the side so he doesn’t silhouette himself with his own lights and give the suspect a clear target. When the suspect begins to pull a shotgun from the back of the truck, he issues multiple verbal warnings to stop. He then and only then initiates violence. Once he realizes the suspect is incapacitated, even though he isn’t on the ground, he stops firing and again issues the command to drop the gun. This brings the shooting to its surprise conclusion.
It wasn’t a shotgun, but did you think it was? In all honestly, I can’t say that I would have been able to tell the difference if it was being swung in my direction at that speed. This is where the video begins to show the officer’s state of mind. Upon realizing his mistake, he immediately calls for medical assistance and begins rendering first aid to the 70-year-old man he just shot in the gut. Through tears and apologies, he continues to try to assist until other officers arrive to take over. Then he has to be comforted by another officer who reassures him “you did what you had to do.” The shooter doesn’t care the least bit about remembering to say he was in fear for his life or getting his story straight. He simply repeats “He pulled a cane not a shotgun.” He breaks down sobbing.
Yes, the officer made a mistake. Yes, he shot an unarmed person. This definitely falls short of being an attempted murder though. This is what an accidental shooting looks like. This is what happens when an emotionally-stable person inflicts pain on an innocent. This is an officer that did everything right and still had a “bad shoot.” This is not an officer that wanted to hurt someone. This is an officer that deserves the benefit of the doubt.
In comparison, during James Boyd’s summary execution for the crime of being homeless, officers promised Boyd he was safe. An officer stated:
“I’m interested in safety, I’m not a f—king murderer.”
Without provocation, they attacked him with a concussion grenade. When the presumably deaf and disoriented man pulled a knife to attempt to defend himself, they opened fire. After he was shot, cops allowed a K-9 to attack him. While his lungs were shredded and he bled to death in the dirt they shot him again with a bean bag gun. Obviously, the officers had the means of bringing the suspect down by nonlethal means (the bean bag gun they used later just for fun), they chose to execute him. This was not an example of a mistake; this was excessive force resulting in a man’s death. It’s murder. The officer that opened fire is retiring with full benefits and will avoid an internal investigation by doing so. There was no remorse. There was no pity. There was no attempt to render aid. There is nothing redeeming in any of the officers’ actions. It doesn’t help that hours before killing him, one of the officers said he was going to shoot the homeless man. Watch the video below.
Remember how upset Officer Daniel Pantaleo was while Eric Garner was dying at his feet? You don’t? That’s because he wasn’t. He was laughing and joking. He even waved at one of the people filming. This isn’t the reaction one would expect as someone watches a man they just took down struggle to stay alive.
In another example of blatant police aggression, officers slammed a petite nurse face first into the concrete after pulling her over for talking on her cellular phone. To make matters worse, she was handcuffed. I’ve met men who spent years being tortured in Vietnamese POW camps, I’ve met men who were shot down and taken captive by terrorists, I’ve met Medal of Honor recipients, but I’m not sure I’ve ever met someone that displayed the bravery and courage it takes to beat up a 5’4” handcuffed woman. The celebration that followed was well deserved boys, you earned that fist bump. The streets are definitely safer now that you’ve smashed in a nurse’s face.
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The reactions of officers after they kill or hurt an innocent person are just as important as the incident itself. A general disregard for an injured person denotes that the person probably was not exercising reasonable care or skill while performing a legal act. That’s pretty important because that is the part of the legal definition of manslaughter.
No officer in any of the above cases ever faced a jury of their peers for their actions.
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Source: http://theantimedia.org/difference-between-police-shooting-murder-by-cop/
Written by: John Vibes at theantimedia.org
For centuries, Indigenous people in various corners of the world have been thrown off of their property so their land and resources could be taken for aristocrats in far away lands. It was a war that began hundreds of years ago, and that war is still being waged today.
Just this week, it was announced that an indigenous leader from Ecuador was tortured and killed in the midst of a controversial fight against foreign mining companies who have unjustly taken land that has been claimed by indigenous people for centuries.
José Isidro Tendetza Antún, a former vice-president of the Shuar Federation of Zamora, had been missing since November 28th, and turned up dead just days ago, with some close to him saying that he was tortured.
“His body was beaten, bones were broken. He had been tortured and he was thrown in the river. The mere fact that they buried him before telling us, the family, is suspicious,” Domingo Ankuash, a Shuar leader told The Guardian this week.
Not only was he in the midst of fighting against the Mirador copper and gold mine, but Tendetza was also scheduled to testify at a United Nations environmental summit that is taking place this week. His testimony could have played a significant role for indiginous land rights in the region.
“This is a camouflaged crime. In Ecuador, multinational companies are invited by the government and get full state security from the police and the army. The army and police don’t provide protection for the people; they don’t defend the Shuar people. They’ve been bought by the company. The authorities are complicit in this crime. They will never tell us the truth.” Ankuash said.
According to Ankuash, the men who were harassing José Isidro Tendetza Antún also set fire to his home.
“He was not just anyone. He was a powerful leader against the company. That’s why they knocked down his house and burnt his farm. The government will never give us a response; justice belongs to them. They will call us terrorists but that doesn’t mean we are not going to shut up” he said.
Sadly, this is just the latest in a long line of attacks against indigenous leaders in struggles to protect their land. Two of the most high profile cases are that of Bosco Wisum in 2009 and Freddy Taish in 2013.
This article is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to the author and TheAntiMedia.org. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to receive our latest articles.
John Vibes is an author, researcher and investigative journalist who takes a special interest in the counter culture and the drug war. In addition to his writing and activist work he is also the owner of a successful music promotion company. In 2013, he became one of the organizers of the Free Your Mind Conference, which features top caliber speakers and whistle-blowers from all over the world. You can contact him and stay connected to his work at his Facebook page. You can find his 65 chapter Book entitled “Alchemy of the Timeless Renaissance” at bookpatch.com.
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Source: http://theantimedia.org/indigenous-leader-tortured-and-killed-days-before-un-testimony/
Written by: Carey Wedler at theantimedia.org
Following the release of the controversial CIA torture report, a Senate staffer has tried to censor Wikipedia’s definition of the term. The page, “Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA torture” was edited by an anonymous Wikipedia user on both December 9th and 10th. The user’s IP address was registered to the Senate.
The user attempted to remove a phrase describing “enhanced interrogation techniques” as “a euphemism for torture,” citing “removing bias” as the reason for the edit. Both times, the revision to the first paragraph of the entry was rejected. As of Thursday morning the line was missing again, though a further change has not been reported.
It is no surprise that agents of government are attempting to censor the truth about the report on torture. It has created a PR firestorm, and though Fox news and other government apologists have tried to downplay the severity, the world is not buying it.
Kenneth Roth, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, said on Wednesday:
“By choosing to move on, to forget about the past, not to prosecute the serious crime, Obama is keeping torture as a misguided, wrongful policy option for some future American president.”
UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Counter-Terrorism Ben Emmerson stated that,
“The individuals responsible for the criminal conspiracy revealed in today’s report must be brought to justice, and must face criminal penalties commensurate with the gravity of their crimes.”
The attempted Wikipedia changes were noticed by the Twitter bot @congressedits, which reports anytime an IP address registered to the United States Congress attempts to make an edit on Wikipedia. It was inspired by @parliamentedits, the original British version. Similar bots report anonymous edits made by the Russian government as well as by staffers at top media organizations.
The disturbing 6,000 page report on the CIA released this week catalogued the various ways that the U.S. government tortured detainees, as well as the fact that they didn’t work . It showed that while the widely-known water-boarding technique was used, so were other heinous methods: sleep-deprivation and forced rectal feeding were employeed. Interrogators denied urgent medical care to those they tortured, making questioning a higher priority. Power drills were used to intimidate while another detainee was stuffed in a “coffin-like” box for over 24 hours. Government employees threatened to harm individuals’ families (including sexual assault and slitting throats) and threw ice water on naked detainees.
To commit acts of torture is a troubling sign of a twisted, detached individual, and though attempting to censor the information is not as violent, it stems from the same sick obedience to authority, no matter the cost. It is particularly ironic that the anonymous staffer would attempt to propgandize torture by censoring the report (considering the government propaganda of manipulating language from “torture” to “enhanced interrogation” to make it seem more innocuous).
@Congressedits was only created in July 2014 but has already reported 430 edits. Changes have been made to everything from Lord of the Rings to Gamergate, but the CIA torture report is so far the most obvious attempt to downplay government crimes.
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Source: http://theantimedia.org/senate-staffer-attempts-censor-wikipedia-release-cia-torture-report/
Written by Heather Callaghan at theantimedia.org
In recent years, vaccines have meshed with the world of nanobot medicine. Particles the size of nanometers – approximately 100,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair. They are programmable, spontaneously assembling and can permeate every area of the body, including a placenta. Previously, Brandon Turbeville reported on Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation work with developing “on demand” nano vaccines using genetically engineered proteins.
Senior author David Mooney, Ph.D. says:
We can create 3D structures using minimally invasive delivery to enrich and activate a host’s immune cells to target and attack harmful cells in vivo.
Co-lead author Jaeyun Kim, Ph.D. said:
Nano-sized mesoporous silica particles have already been established as useful for manipulating individual cells from the inside, but this is the first time that larger particles, in the micron-sized range, are used to create a 3D in vivo scaffold that can recruit and attract tens of millions of immune cells,
A press release explains:
Tiny biodegradable rod-like structures made from silica, known as mesoporous silica rods (MSRs), can be loaded with biological and chemical drug components and then delivered by needle just underneath the skin. The rods spontaneously assemble at the vaccination site to form a three-dimensional scaffold, like pouring a box of matchsticks into a pile on a table. The porous spaces in the stack of MSRs are large enough to recruit and fill up with dendritic cells, which are “surveillance” cells that monitor the body and trigger an immune response when a harmful presence is detected.
Synthesized in the lab, the MSRs are built with small holes, known as nanopores, inside. The nanopores can be filled with specific cytokines, oligonucleotides, large protein antigens, or any variety of drugs of interest to allow a vast number of possible combinations to treat a range of infections.
Once the 3D scaffold has recruited dendritic cells from the body, the drugs contained in the MSRs are released, which trips their “surveillance” trigger and initiates an immune response. The activated dendritic cells leave the scaffold and travel to the lymph nodes, where they raise alarm and direct the body’s immune system to attack specific cells, such as cancerous cells. At the site of the injection, the MSRs biodegrade and dissolve naturally within a few months.
They hope to also manipulate the immune system “by tuning the surface properties and pore size of the MSRs, and therefore controlling the introduction and release of various proteins and drugs.” They say that the vaccines are easily and rapidly manufactured so that they could potentially “be widely available very quickly in the face of an emerging infectious disease.”
Source: http://theantimedia.org/injectable-3d-vaccines-programmable-particles-anticipated-future-epidemics/
