Pro-second amendment supporters are coming up with new and innovative ways to skirt a system hellbent on destroying their ability to protect themselves and their families. … Read More
HRW urges Bahrain to probe torture claims as 6 more tweeters jailed
HRW cites multiple reports of torture that emerged during the Formula 1 grand prix held in Bahrain in April. They include accounts of activists and women subjected to electric shocks and forced into signing confessions.In addition, the organization harks back to the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry report, issued in November 2011 that stated five activists had died in custody of torture since uprisings began against the Sunni ruling class.“If the latest allegations are brushed aside it will be yet more evidence suggesting that Bahrain’s justice system is a haven for torturers,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “Bahrain’s allies should apply serious pressure on Bahrain to investigate and hold accountable anyone responsible for brutally torturing activists.”Bahrain has blocked the entry of the UN’s special rapporteur on torture, Juan Mendez, from coming to probe police abuses of power. His visit, which was scheduled to begin on May 8, was indefinitely postponed by the Bahraini authorities.“This is the second time that my visit has been postponed, at very short notice. It is, effectively, a cancellation as no alternative dates were proposed, nor is there a future road map to discuss,” said Mendez, expressing his “disappointment” over the announcement.Protests against the Bahrain’s oppressive Sunni royal family have become commonplace. The country’s 70 per cent Shia claim they are discriminated against and call for a transfer to a democratic system of government.This comes as six tweeters were jailed on Wednesday for insulting King Hamad and ‘misusing the right to free expression.’ According to prosecutors, they posted comments on their Twitter feeds that undermined “the values and traditions of Bahrain’s society towards the king.”The Bahraini capital, Manama, was hit by mass protests during the grand prix. Activists branded the event “a race for blood” and claimed it was a ploy by the Bahraini authorities to “whitewash” the country’s poor human rights reputation.One of the highest-profile cases of human rights abuses to come out of Bahrain is that of activist Nabeel Rajab, who openly attacked the country’s government following an interview on RT for Julian Assange’s show The World Tomorrow. Nabeel was sentenced to three years in jail for ‘participation in an illegal assembly’ and ‘calling for a march without prior notification.’Since the beginning of the uprisings against the Bahraini monarchy in 2011, Human Rights Watch has calculated that at least 80 people have been killed and thousands arrested. … Read More
How to turn a state liberal
As Colorado goes, so goes the nation. With the culture and demographics of the Intermountain West so rapidly changing, this motto about my home state has become conventional wisdom in national electoral politics, and for good reason. After all, the square state is the capital of the so-called Rocky Mountain Empire, a region that is fast becoming the political equivalent of a test market for the whole country. And if it is true that the way Colorado goes is the way the nation as a whole goes, then America better get ready for some extremely large changes.Part of Colorado’s story of change comes from the statehouse where Democrats control both the governor’s office and both chambers of the Legislature. But as much of the story comes from outside the Capitol, where organic grass-roots uprisings are obliterating old political assumptions.For decades, this was a state whose electoral topography was reliable Republican and whose politics was dominated by an unholy coalition of cultural conservatives and oil and gas interests. In the 1980s and 1990s, it became the national conservative movement in a microcosmic petri dish, passing socially conservative constitutional amendments and a so-called Taxpayer Bill of Rights aimed at pulverizing the public sector.Continue Reading… … Read More
Experts urge Arab nations to train in crowd control
Defence experts who say many lives could have been saved during Arab uprisings if states used proper crowd control measures sought to tap into a growing market at an Abu Dhabi arms fair. Anti-riot vehicles with sophisticated acoustic repellents have boldly taken their place alongside the likes of…
New Iraqi Christian leader accuses Arab Spring of ‘promoting bloodshed’
The newly appointed patriarch of Iraq’s largest Christian community said on Saturday that the Arab Spring had been hijacked by narrow interests and had promoted tension and bloodshed. Asked about the impacts on Christians of the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings across the Middle East that…
Richard (RJ) Eskow: 14 Reasons to Rise Up – For Jobs, and Against More Spending Cuts
We Americans must be a remarkably patient people. It ‘s been four years since Wall Street ruined the economy, we’re nearly nine million jobs behind where we need to be, and for years our politicians have debated how much less – not how much more – they’ll do about it.
We’ve patiently endured lectures about ‘tightening our belts’ while most Americans watched their wages decline. We’ve stood by as corporate forces manipulated politicians and the press into a manufactured sense of deficit hysteria,watched several rounds of spending cuts make our problems worse, and seen their austerity ideologys discredited by events.
And yet here are no uprisings, no mass demonstrations, no demands for jobs now and an end to any further cuts until the economy’s working again.
Saudi minister: Economic summit must tackle Arab Spring
A two-day economic summit that opens Monday in Saudi Arabia must break with tradition and tackle people’s aspirations in the wake of the Arab Spring uprisings, the Saudi foreign minister said. “Our meeting should not be mired in routine,” Prince Saud al-Faisal said at a meeting…
