“What we are currently in the process of trying to settle with [the NYPD], is what we saw as a systematic violation of the old Handschu guidelines,” he added. “They were reading [the guidelines] in a way that was too loose. The criminal predicate became, somebody’s a Muslim, Muslims are potential terrorists, therefore we investigate Muslims.”Soon after the story was posted, Todd Fine, a first-year history PhD student at the CUNY Graduate Center in Manhattan, started a petition demanding that the CUNY Chancellor, James Milliken, “formally state [his] opposition to these [NYPD] operations and work actively to stop them.” The petition has since been handed into the Chancellor’s Office with over five hundred signatures.Michael Arena, the director for communication and marketing at CUNY, told Gothamist, “The petition is currently under review by the University office of legal affairs.”Toward the end of the WNYC interview, Miller said that the need to prevent terrorist attacks sometimes came into conflict with the need to respect constitutional rights. “We have two sets of tensions that pull against each other every day, and the hardest thing to have to do is find a balance.”We asked Rumaysa, one of the three former Brooklyn College students we interviewed who knew Mel the undercover, what she thought of Miller’s explanation (Rumaysa is a pseudonym—all the women requested anonymity).”To be honest it hurts to think that the surveillance-induced trauma I’ve had to deal with is simply dismissed as collateral damage, if even that,” she said.
Category Archives: human rights
Brazilian President Rousseff blames mining companies for dam rupture | News | DW.COM | 12.11.2015

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said the conglomerates behind the Samarco mine would be held responsible for the deadly dam ruptures at an iron ore mine that killed at least eight people on November 5.Rousseff flew over the two burst dams at a waste collection pond at the mine that had unleashed a deadly wave of mud, as 19 people remained missing after the incident. Most of the nearby village of Bento Rodrigues was also flattened in the event.”We are committed in the first place to blame those who are responsible. Who is responsible? A private business, Samarco, a big business that has Vale and BHP Billiton as partners,” Rousseff said. The president added that several laws “were actually not followed. That is why we have imposed a preliminary fine.”
Source: Brazilian President Rousseff blames mining companies for dam rupture | News | DW.COM | 12.11.2015
News from The Associated Press – EXPERT: POLICE SHOOTING OF BOY WITH PELLET GUN WAS JUSTIFIED {What!}
“Regrettably, with the release of yet another utterly biased and shamelessly misguided ‘expert report’ the County Prosecutor is making clear his intention to protect the police from accountability under the criminal laws, rather than diligently prosecute them,” attorney Jonathan Abady of New York said in a statement Thursday.
Source: News from The Associated Press
Claremont College Dean Resigns After Writing That Latinos Don’t Fit In: LAist
Espinosa emailed Spellman her op-ed, and Spellman responded on October 25 by telling her that, “[W]e are working on how we can better serve students, especially those who don’t fit our CMC mold.”Telling students who already feel isolated that they don’t fit their school’s mold didn’t go over well. Matters weren’t helped by a photo that began circulating of CMC’s junior class president, Kris Brackmann, posing with two white students who were dressed up like Mexican stereotypes for Halloween. Brackmann has also since resigned from her position.
Source: Claremont College Dean Resigns After Writing That Latinos Don’t Fit In: LAist
Adel Termos: The Lebanese Hero Of the Borj el Barajneh Terrorist Attacks | A Separate State of Mind | A Blog by Elie Fares

Tonight, Haidar lost his mother and father. Shawki Droubi and Khodr Aleddine, a nurse, were lost to their families. Hussein Mostapha passed away with his wife, leaving their son behind. Samer, a Syrian father of two who fled horrors in his country, was killed in what he had feared back home, and Hussein, a Palestinian man whose family sought refuge here, also passed away. Alaa Awad, a third year law student, was also among the victims. Rawan Awad was a school teacher. Hanady Joumaa, Bilal Hammoud, Ahmad Awwada, Rawan Atwi were among the victims too.
Tlatlaya Massacre and U.S. Military Aid
A few weeks ago, for the second time, the Mexican Secretary of National Defense (SEDENA) denied an access to information request that would require documentation related to U.S. training, equipment or support for members of the 102nd Battalion.The 102nd Battalion became famous, or infamous, with the Tlatlaya massacre. On June 30, 2014, 22 young people died at the hands of the Battalion. The day after the massacre, the Army released a communiqué stating that 22 criminals had died in a confrontation in which not one member of the Army was injured.
france 24 – Undercover Israeli agents stage raid on Palestinian hospital – France 24
Bilal Shalaldeh, Shalaldeh’s brother, told the AFP news agency that he was in the room at the time of the raid, which occurred around 3 a.m.”They arrested my brother and tied me up,” he was quoted as saying. “My cousin was in the bathroom and when he opened the bathroom door, and without any warning or any words, they shot at him five times.”Israel’s Shin Bet domestic security agency confirmed the incident in a statement, but claimed the man who was shot dead tried to attack the troops, and would not say if undercover forces were behind the deadly raid.
Source: france 24 – Undercover Israeli agents stage raid on Palestinian hospital – France 24
Lebanon: Life for Palestinian refugees in Bourj el-Barajneh | OCHA
In the southern suburbs of Lebanon’s capital Beirut lies Bourj el-Barajneh, a cramped refugee camp which is home to an estimated 28,000 Palestinian refugees. At least 3,000 people have arrived in the past year, fleeing the violence in Syria. Their arrival has stretched the limited resources available in the camp, leaving many without adequate access to even the most basic public services.The narrow alleys of Bourjel-Barajneh run between numerous buildings – old, new, mostly unfinished or poorly maintained. Most Palestinian refugees living there are completely dependent on organizations like the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and other humanitarian partners.“Over 90 per cent of the Palestinians here are unemployed so they either depend on assistance or they have to borrow,” says Dima Zayat Shehab, a health manager from the American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA), an international NGO that works with OCHA and UNRWA. “We have found that food and shelter are the two biggest concerns.”
Source: Lebanon: Life for Palestinian refugees in Bourj el-Barajneh | OCHA
life on the verge of existence…. my article in huffington post italia | nadiaharhash
When Oppression is the Law. Resistance becomes an Obligation. Resistance is the way to liberation. Liberation is the way to peace. Peace cannot be built under oppression, apartheid and injustice.
Source: life on the verge of existence…. my article in huffington post italia | nadiaharhash
Theft, Lies, and Facebook Video — Medium {So is anyone surprised? Profit before people debases the whole system and is not likely to change}
Among the user generated content that drove traffic to YouTube in 2006 and 2007, there were plenty of Family Guy and Daily Show clips. But YouTube was a tiny start-up flying under the radar. As soon as it got big (and got bought) Google fixed this problem with “Content ID,” a system that analyzes every single video uploaded to YouTube and checks it against a massive database of known owned content.It’s a little inexcusable that Facebook, a company with a market cap of $260 BILLION, launched their video platform with no system to protect independent rights holders. It wouldn’t be surprising if Facebook was working on a solution now which they can roll out conveniently after having made their initial claims at being the biggest, most important thing in video.But even if they do have a system, it won’t function as well as Content ID. Content ID works so well largely because YouTube is good at monetizing content. So, instead of taking a video down, a copyright holder can claim the video and receive revenue from it. Content ID has claimed millions of videos and is responsible for over a billion dollars in revenue so copyright holders love it. But without a good system of monetization, Facebook can only remove videos, not send big checks to the owners of stolen content. For the copyright holder, interfacing with a profitless system is just a pain in the ass with no upside.
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