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Month: April 2015

Protests In Baltimore Joined In Solidarity in Chicago, Oakland, Elsewhere

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

While the recent protests in Baltimore began soon after the death of Freddie Gray on April 19, the mainstream media has only recently arrived on the streets. Similar to their coverage of Ferguson and other protests in the wake of recent police slayings of black Americans, the focus remains on violent clashes between militarized police and angry citizens.

On Tuesday, after the first night of a citywide curfew was met with arrests and tear gas, two tweets were being widely shared which seemed to ironically highlight the ways police routinely lie about the situation on the ground:

Freddie Gray Was The Last Straw: Baltimore’s History Of Police Brutality

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

The mainstream media is consumed by Baltimore’s reaction to the death of Freddie Gray, a black man who died of severe spinal injuries after a violent arrest. While the TV networks highlight images of a burning CVS, less attention is being paid to a lengthy history of police corruption and brutality that led to this outburst of outrage in the city’s streets.

Gray’s death itself highlights multiple issues with the Baltimore Police Department. As with many other departments, officers with a history of violence are allowed to remain on the force with little to no accountability.

Baltimore Police Lt. Brian Rice, one of six officers suspended after the incident, initiated a bicycle chase after Gray made eye contact with him, which eventually led to the violent arrest that was caught on video. According to a report released by The Guardian on Thursday, Rice has a history of violence while on duty. A man, who the Guardian said its reporters had identified but kept anonymous for his protection, received a restraining order against Rice after a series of violent threats and incidents. During the duration of the order, Rice’s weapons, which included “a personal Glock handgun, long guns and a cross-bow,” were confiscated.

World Ignores Genocide In Central African Republic Because It’s Not ISIS & There’s No Oil

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

When the Seleka, a group of mostly Muslim rebels, led a successful coup in the Central African Republic in March 2013, one of the world’s poorest countries was plunged into turmoil as Christian militias targeted the nation’s minority Muslim population in what amounts to genocide.

The Seleka were ousted from power in January 2014, and the country has since been embroiled in a civil war between the Seleka and an armed coalition called the Anti-Balaka.

While the entire civilian population has suffered enormously throughout the conflicts in the Central African Republic, perhaps no group has suffered more than the country’s Muslim minority.

Chelsea Manning Chronicles Her Incarceration, 140 Characters At A Time On Twitter

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

Whistleblower Chelsea Manning may be facing a 35-year prison sentence for leaking classified military documents to WikiLeaks, but she won’t let that silence her voice.

The documents and video she leaked, including the infamous “Collateral Murder” footage, revealed American war crimes in Iraq and other countries.

She’s already become a writer at the Guardian, condemning CIA torture and the leaders who gave the orders in a recent editorial. Now, she’s joined the social media generation with a popular Twitter account, @xychelsea. Manning’s Twitter has almost 50,000 followers just weeks after it became active, even though she’s only able to tweet sporadically from behind bars at a military prison in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

No, Monsanto Didn’t Just Get A Patent For Cannabis

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

Did Monsanto just become the first corporation to patent a strain of genetically modified marijuana?

That’s what a recurring Internet legend suggests. “Monsanto Creates First Genetically Modified Strain of Marijuana!” announced World News Daily Report last week.

But World News Daily Report is a fake news site. “Don’t be fooled,” said About.com’s Urban Legends expert David Emery, who then quoted from the World News Daily Report’s disclaimer page:

Police Brutality Activists #ShutdownA14 Nationwide To Oppose Killer Cops

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

As highly publicized killings of unarmed Americans continue to make headlines, activists once again took to the streets nationwide to demand a halt to police murders and oppression. Tuesday’s day of action, centered around the hashtag #ShutDownA14, saw protests in 30 U.S. cities in 18 states.

The protest was organized by the Stop Mass Incarceration Network in response to the recent killing of Walter Scott — a tragedy in which an eyewitness recorded not just the slaying, but also police attempting to plant evidence near his body.