Israel Will Continue Occupation, Says U.N.

A motion, which was set in place by Jordan, to end the occupation of the Palestinian Territories by the Israeli Forces was voted on by the U.N. Security Council.

Of the 15-Country strong group, only two voted against the proposal (five remained abstained from the matter) and those two were the countries of Australia and the United States. Due to the U.S. and Australia's vote, the motion fell one vote short of being put into place.

The documents called for the complete withdrawal of Israeli forced within three years, and for a comprehensive peace agreement to be drawn up within a year. The document also called for new territory lines to be drawn out based on pre-1967 conditions.

After the vote, United States U.N. ambassador Samantha Powers said:

"We voted against this resolution not because we are comfortable with the status quo. We voted against it because... peace must come from hard compromises that occur at the negotiating table."

Although that is very ideologically romantic, and sounds like she has some deep thought process here, those words are meaningless. It's simply a politically correct way to retain plausible deniability while giving Palestine the short end of the rope.

Hopefully, this minor set back does not destroy the hope that Palestine and Israel will have legitimate, understanding peace at some point. However, it appears that there are far too many opinionated extremities on the matter. We cannot discuss Palestine and Israel without religion and controversy being dragged into the confusion that is the Middle East, and I do not believe that we will be able to grant peace until people are willing to set aside such childish things when dealing with politics.

That's all I have for today, but I'll be back again Friday.

"Stand among the ashes of a trillion dead souls and ask the ghosts if honor matters. The silence is your answer." -Javik

"War On Cops" Yeah, Right.

In the Christmas edition of the New York Post, a banner soared across their front page declaring there was a "War On Cops" which refers to the murder of two cops, Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu, by a mentally ill and armed man.

Although the hyperbole accurately suits the bloody message the news site was trying to carry, it is a great embellishment. However, the NYPD and their union don't disagree with the headline and said there was "blood on many hands" for what had happened to the two officers, including the hands of Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Although the shooting was tragic, it did not reflect the Mike Brown or the Eric Garner movements, and the shooter had a long history of severe mental illness including, but not limited to, shooting his ex-girlfriend.

Since the shooting the police have received many threats and made several arrests that are connected to the threats. In one situation, a man posted a facebook photo of a cop being shot in the head and wrote #Nextt73. The officers took that to be a reference to their department and arrested the man, putting his bail at 250,000 dollars saying he was being connected to terrorist charges.

The overstatement of the situation cannot be overlooked by any means, as this supposed "War On Cops" includes two police officers being killed. Although any police officer, or any person for that matter, dying is tragic and should be at all costs avoided, two people is not a war. A mentally ill man shot two cops thinking he was helping a movement he was otherwise hurting.

This kind of exaggeration is what leads to media obscuration and blinds the people into believing that we should feel, or at least appear to feel, truly guilty for the wrong group of people.

So although Officers Liu and Ramos will be missed, under no circumstances should the two deaths, the police department's ignorant public statements, or any other opposing factor waver the movement that embodies the black American population living under harsher conditions, and much harsher profiling, than the white American population.

I cannot express severely enough how important it is to keep striving, despite all short comings that may be thrown at you, and especially so when fighting for the rights of another person.

That is all I have for today, but I will be back tomorrow with another post.

"Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored in than anything on to which it is poured." -Mark Twain

Russia Says EU Is Top Threat... But Who Is The Real Threat?

There is no denying the aggressive ideologies and actions of the Russian government recently. Although there is a lot of media cloudage and obfuscation in every story, the evidence that Russian President Vladimir Putin's actions are extremely hostile and imperialistic, if put lightly.

When Putin invaded Ukraine, while simultaneously declaring that Russia was completely uninvolved, the world was surely left in a state of shock.

Although there was a previous document stating many of the same things, a new military doctrine signed by Putin was set into place ranking NATO as it's number one military threat.

This new statement could be seen as concerning especially considering Ukraine's teeter-tottering back and forth between Eastern and Western control. Russia's economy is currently experiencing heavy issues and as a result cannot afford to occupy Ukraine with the brute force they had used before, but there is no doubt the influence still remains.

NATO did not remain quiet or work around the answer politically. Oana Lungescu, a spokesperson for NATO, had this to say:

"In fact, it is Russia's actions, including currently in Ukraine, which are breaking international law and undermining European security....[Nato would] continue to seek a constructive relationship with Russia, but that is only possible with a Russia that abides by international law and principles - including the right of nations to choose their future freely."

Russia's attitude strikes in a way that could remind most of a Soviet (and passive aggressive) attitude, but it appears that the state has forgotten that it must maintain financial stability in order to force its will onto any opposing state.

So while Putin's attitude is worrisome, and an economic collapse could mean big international consequences, in the way of aggression, it seems to be best that we let Putin rot his own country from the inside out.

"War is where the young and stupid are tricked by the old and bitter into killing each other." -Niko Bellic

Merry Christmas... Eve? You Get The Point.

I won't be posting tomorrow or the day after, because I will be spending Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with my family.

Regardless, with that said, it is New Year's Eve. Now that it is the holiday season, like every year, we have the usual characters that show their anger at society.

The best example of this is Bill O'Reilly's "War on Christmas" bit that he starts around the holidays every year.

I'll keep this short for the message is clear and shallow.

As a society we must learn to embrace every culture for every individual has something better to offer. Calling society's practice of a (originally Pagan, despite the misconception) holiday is not only ignorant, but is also disappointing.

Acceptance of other cultures, religions, and beliefs is the only way a culture can truly thrive and make progress.

So remember to stay open minded and don't spit on other people's beliefs. Although it is easier to be hostile over things like religion and culture, it benefits the entire society much more for we as citizens to be more open-minded.

That's all I have for today, I'll be back again on Monday.

"Even people who claim everything is predetermined and there's nothing we can do to achieve it look both ways before they cross the roads." -Stephen Hawking

Dear Kim Jong Un, Bite Me.

UPDATE: Sony has authorized screenings of The Interview on Christmas Day. That's one victory for the entertainment industry and the people.

Talk of Seth Rogen and James Franco's The Interview has not ceased since Sony made the executive decision to cancel the movie's Christmas Day release.

The decision was a result of political pressure and excessively-violent threats claiming "9/11" sized attacks on theaters that showed the controversial movie from the so-called "Guardians of Peace" (some peace, huh?).

Sony, furthermore, was hacked into by said Guardians of Peace and had a large amount of information leaked to the public as a result. However, the "GOP" held onto more information to ensure that they had material to blackmail the company with.

All these factors resulted in the movie's release being pulled. However, Sony is considering offering the movie to Hulu Plus, Netflix, or any other streaming companies that are willing to take it.

In the midst of all the outrage, Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martian released an official statement scorning Sony for it's "Corporate Cowardice" and saying:

"Come to Santa Fe, Seth, we'll show your film for you."

Whether or not the movie will be publicly released before all this calms down is yet to be seen, although some internet freelancers have seized the moment. (Spoiler?)

Much like Martin, I find myself outraged at the lack-of-courage Sony and other social leaders have shown throughout the conflict. Theater companies who cancelled the screening claimed that they did so to protect their viewers. Although this might be admirable, it appears less admirable and more fearful.

The idea that Americans should be unallowed to watch a movie based on the emotions of a murderous, ignorant, lube-excited sociopath that lives 6500 miles away, and has only ever successfully bombed the Yellow Sea, absolutely disgusts me.

To sum up, I sincerely believe that any potential "threat" to the United States via North Korean hackers is worth showing that we are not scared of cowards like Kim Jong Un who hide behind his authoritarian system. I hope that we find it in our hearts to rebuke this ill-minded mistake.

That's all I have for today, but I'll be back again tomorrow.

"Society is like a stew. If you don't stir it up every once in a while then a layer of scum floats to the top." -Edward Abbey

I Take One Week Off And The World Goes Crazy

On January 20th, 2014 (Saturday afternoon) two New York Policemen were shot and killed while sitting in the front of their patrol cars. Officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos were targeted solely on their uniform in an attack without warning or provocation. There was no riot, there was no shoot-out, it was simply an assassination.

Both officers were shot at point-blank range in their heads and died immediately. The lone gunman, Ismaaiyl Brinsley, was pursued by police. However, as they closed in on him, Ismaaiyl turned the gun on himself in a subway platform.

Officer Liu had been on the N.Y.P.D. for seven years was a newlywed of 4 months. Officer Rafael was a dad of two sons, and had only spent two years in the N.Y.P.D.

The gunman, Brinsley, was a large advocate against the police in light of the recent Brown and Garner trials.

Brinsley had written on his Instagram hours before the attack:

"I'm putting wings on pigs today. They take one of ours, we take two of theirs. This may be my final post."

The N.Y.P.D. has written that they are now a "wartime" police department and will act accordingly. In the words of The Guardian's Steven Thrasher, "Have we learned nothing?"

Accounts of the incident are beyond brutal, including that the victims struggled to get out of their vehicle but fell to the ground lifeless while clutching their wounds.

This kind of violence is absolutely despicable, and should never be necessary. It deeply pains me to see the dark turns these events have taken, and all the pain that has been caused to both sides of this power struggle.

I will stand on the side of the people to the end of this fight, through thick and thin. However, this kind of violence is intolerable, and tarnishes the reputation that we must build in order to prevail. So no matter what side I fight for,,I sincerely grieve the loss of more innocent people.

We must never forget that there are human beings on either side of any conflict, and although we dispute, we are all equal, and we can never dehumanize the other side.

That's all I have for today, but I'll be back tomorrow with another post.

"Feeling superior? While you were making yourself from scratch, why didn't you add more hair and whiter teeth?" -Norm Bearrentine

Pirate Bay: The Symbol

It is amazing how a simple idea can become reality, and that reality can once again become an idea, and a symbol for all those who support it.

Pirate Bay has become one of these many types of symbols. In 2005, the Pirate Bay was challenged and attempted to be shut down. Many times since then, authorities have tried to take down the infamous website which stands against everything that anti-Freedom of Information activists stand for.

Instead of keeping the website down, the attempted-destruction of Pirate Bay in 2005 led to the creation of the Pirate Party, which stood solely for the purpose of informational freedom as well as knowledge, culture, and informational sharing on the Internet.

Pirate Bay has recently had more pressure on it from Sweden and other Scandinavian authorities in an attempt to weaken this empire of information.

However, it is not an easy thing by any means to crack down on such an infrastructure in a place like Sweden, where privacy and personal-freedom laws are very much in favor of the people.

I do support the message of such a symbol like this because of the message that it sends. The creator of Pirate Bay has said that although they take down one of his servers, there will always be several copies in multiple places. It is a useless battle for them.

So although the effects are extremely controversial of activities like this, I do appreciate the symbolicness of it that the people will always be in control no matter what.

That's all I have for today, I'll be back next Monday with another post!

"I put my heart and soul into my work, and lost my mind in the process." -Vincent VanGogh

Short and Sweet Today.

Today's post won't be very long as a result of many huge tests coming up for me, but I'm going to go over a few quick headlines.

First, the CIA's torture report is now out for the public, which I highly suggest people take a look at. There is a large amount of vital information for the public in it, and much of it reveals that we have been lied to repetitively. Yesterday and anonymous wikipedia user with an IP address registered to the US Senate tried to remove the word "torture" from an article on the Committee's report.

Second, protests have sparked up in DC recently when Congress upended the process of Marijuana Legalization that appeared to be well on its way. The public opinion of this decision shows the shift in perspective on pot in the United States.

Third, TIME Magazine voted all those fighting the Ebola disease as Person of the Year. I very much agree with their choosing of these people, as they are some of the bravest of any of us for standing up, not to other humans, but to something with no moral compass or empathy: a horrific disease. Compared to the other choices (Taylor Swift, Vladimir Putin, and Roger Goodell) who were much less deserving, this was clearly the best choice.

I apologize for the lack of writing today, but I am in cram mode for Mid-Terms and other tests. Thank you for the cooperation. I'll be back again tomorrow.

"You don't have to live forever, you just have to live." -Natalie Babbitt

What We Should Take From The C.I.A. Torture Report

The torture report that has been released by the CIA yesterday has left the entire country asking themselves, once again, is tortue worth it?

The American public was told time and time again by multiple politicians on varying sides of the political spectrum that torture was a necessary evil that we must handle in order to remain safe. However, the report released yesterday has many wondering how true that really is.

Now, the CIA itself has admitted that at times it's statements were sometimes "inaccurate or speculative"* and said that it intended to change its ways in the future.

To say that the CIA was "speculative" would be the understatement of the year, however. You see, in most situations reviewed by the Senate, the CIA was completely dishonest in its methods to keep authority's opinion in its favor on the matter of torture. I'll explain some examples and their response by the Senate Select Committee's report.

1. One of the greatest display of a successful counterterrorism mission was the assassination of Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden. Once they had heard of the success of the mission, the CIA began telling Congress that their interrogation program led them to Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti, who in turn sent them straight to Bin Laden. However, after reading through multiple pages of recently declassified evidence, the Senate Select Committee declared that this was in fact false.

"Within days of the raid on UBL’s compound, CIA officials represented that CIA detainees provided the ‘tipoff’ information on Abu Ahmad al-Kuwaiti. A review of CIA records found that the initial intelligence obtained, as well as the information the CIA identified as the most critical — or the most valuable — on Abu Ahmad al-Kuwaiti, was not related to the use of the CIA's enhanced interrogation techniques."

2. Jose Padilla was accused to be plotting a radiological dirty bomb attack inside of the United States. He was one of the first American citizens to be designated an "enemy combatant". Throughout the Bush administration the torture of Abu Zubaydah was given credit for the uncovering of Padilla's plotting. However, it has now been revealed that Padilla's arrest took place three months before the torture program had even started. Also, the Bush administration never actually took the case seriously. It was based on a comedic internet article titled; How to Make an H-Bomb. One step in the process was swinging a bucket of Uranium over one's head for 45 minutes.

"A review of CIA operational cables and other CIA records found that the use of the CIA’s enhanced interrogation techniques played no role in the identification of ‘Jose Padilla’ or the thwarting of the Dirty Bomb or Tall Buildings plotting."

These were not the only cases to be debunked by the report. In fact, there were many, many more. We as Americans were lied to, and for whatever reason we have thus far remained okay with that.

This report, however, changes things and shows that this kind of torture does not work, it has been infinitely more aggressive and vile than we ever could have imagined, and it violates much more than human rights. I will be leaving a link to the report as well as a few articles which talk about it for those who are further curious on the matter.

That's all I have for today, but I'll be back tomorrow!

"The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe it." -Neil deGrasse Tyson

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/12/09/world/timeline-of-cias-secret-interrogation-program.html
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/12/09/world/cia-torture-report-key-points.html

Committee Report

*via NY Times Does Torture Work? The C.I.A.’s Claims and What the Committee Found By MATT APUZZO, HAEYOUN PARK and LARRY BUCHANAN, published on December 9th, 2014.

Dick Cheney Is A Liar. What Else Is New?

Before I start, I will not be posting any posts next week, as I will be studying for my exams. However, until then, and from the following Monday forward, everything will be as normal on here.

With that said, former Vice President Dick Cheney has now officially been caught red-handed for lying about the involvement of torture tactics in locating Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

The executive summary report is expected to be released today (December 9th, 2014 being the day of publishing of this entry).

However, this revelation says a lot about the argument on torture, and not even to mention the notorious mischief and dishonesty of politicians like Dick Cheney.

The torture of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed being linked to the death of Osama bin Laden was the largest argument in favor of the continuous usage of torture in Guantanamo Bay, which should have been closed a long time ago.

(Many people attribute Guantanamo not closing as a fault on President Obama, who promised to decommission the prison in his initial campaign. Although it is easiest to point fingers at one people, and not a building of partisan hacks, the President did try to close Guantanamo, and was shut down by Congress.)

However, the recent confirmation that this lie was in fact a lie once again sparks the question of torture used by the CIA, which has so far only proved to not work. Although torture makes people talk, they often speak lies. When you torture someone, in order to end pain, but also remain in a comfortable political standpoint with their allies, detainees will lie and tell the interrogators what they believe they want to hear.

The effects of the report are clear: Torture does not work, and if you have to lie to justify the usage of it, you're making a puppet of a dead body.

The Guantanamo Bay hunger strike made the world glance at the issue, but slip back into blissful ignorance. This issue must be addressed, as it is clear to the rest of the world, as well as the citizens of its own country, the usage of torture by the United States is a direct violation of human rights. If we want to pretend, for even a moment, that we are civilized, we must first get rid of barbaric traditions like this.

That's all I have for today, but I'll be back tomorrow with a new post.

"When you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this - you haven't." -Thomas Edison

Your Children Are Anxious And Depressed. Would You Like To Know Why?

Before I start, let me make a quick disclaimer. Anxiety and depression are by no means solely societally induced. Many studies, great deals of research, and other facts will tell you that anxiety and depression are both very chemically involved and rooted in the mind. However, societal variables can increase or decrease the influences of the issues.

With that said, those effects are what I will be talking about today. I am by no means a chemist, or a neurologist now would I ever pretend to be, but there are many cases of these disorders that are a direct result of outside pressures, and not inward chemical composition.

According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, anxiety affects one in eight children in America (disorders such as General Anxiety Disorder, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, and Panic Disorder. Also on a less related note, there is a 2.5% increase of anxiety disorders in women as compared to men.). Also, according to Dr. Kalman Heller of PsychCentral noted that anywhere from 10-15% of children and teens (a broad estimate, but still notable) are chronically depressed as of any given time.

I would like to make some comments on these statistics, and the more obvious causes to these sort of steep numbers.

First off, I do believe that one of the more outstanding of contributions to this is the education system (or lack thereof) in America. This will be an important overarching note to remember throughout this writing.

You see, education is an extremely important product of the progress of the human race. We had a craving and desire to learn, to improve our survival. Then, once we had begun to learn enough to no longer only be able to communicate it through mouth, we had to write it down. Once we had it all written down, we had to make sure someone was reading it, and thus education was born.

Education, knowledge, and understanding give children, adults, and the entirety of people more purpose than anything else we could give them.

However, our modern education has failed, quite miserably, to teach children to understand and think. If the best teacher shows a child where to look but not what to see, then the modern K12 system has children blindfolded and left in an empty room. There is no desire to understand and explore, but instead children are stuffed with meaningless facts. 

Who invented cheese? The Mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell! Although facts like these are important for very specific, very particular situations and people the average person does not need them.

Children are discouraged from reading widely, they are discouraged from independently learning, but instead they are told to remember key facts on a meaningless curriculum formed by a bureaucrat in a cubicle. Then, they are sent home with anywhere from 5-7 hours of homework a night, in some cases.

Also, there is a variety of double standards thrown at children in these days, the majority of that from schools. We are preached at day and night to eat healthily, but food provided by the school is nutritionless, and repulsive (a fact supported by the #ThanksMichelleObama occurrence, recently). Then, children are told they should get a bare minimum of 8 hours of sleep a night, but with unthinkable amounts of take-home work, household work such as chores, and limited time to breathe in between tasks, children lack social lives of any sort, cannot take time to learn independently, and also begin to lose sleep as consequence.

All other facts aside, keeping a human away from sleep alone will provide many panic attacks and mental breakdowns beyond comparison. Meanwhile, the entire time children of modern day are reminded daily that we will never live up to our predecessors, and that we are somehow inferior to the adults who currently run the world (This notably happens every generation, but the information age has made it a much larger weight to carry.).

This sort of bureaucratic, inexcusable nonsense is the exact sort of thing that causes children to become introverted, and angry. You can call it hormones, or you can blame it on the children themselves, but there is no doubt the influences are there.

That is all I have for today, but I'll be back tomorrow with another post.

"The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who only reads newspapers." -Thomas Jefferson

R.I.P. Eric Garner

If you were to punish a child for misbehaving, the child would not (at least for sometime) commit the act again. The child would, ideally, take the lesson in and remember that what he had done was wrong.

With that said, I think the parallel is being made abundantly clear that the United States Police Departments are being run by people seemingly more immature than children.

The Mike Brown case, which I have mentioned and talked about several times in this blog, has touched Americans who have been paying attention in a deep place. It's the kind of event that we won't soon forget.

However, despite all that, two days ago the officer responsible for the choking to death of Eric Garner were not indicted on the charges being pressed against them.

Of course, with all the recent attention to the Michael Brown case, police reform, and other racial issues, this is horrific. However, this is not the Michael Brown case. There is no shaky accounts, there is no disputing analyzations of the body, there is a video of the incident which is clear as day.

Warning: Mildly Graphic.

Let me make myself perfectly clear on this situation. There is absolutely no excuse for this sort of unnecessary violence. This man was unarmed and, although clearly upset, showed no threat for these officers, and this was clearly a situation of a twitchy officer.

Is this racial? I do not think that this was initially a matter of race, but the police profiled the situation based on the fact that Mr. Garner was black. It is a pure fact that African Americans have a inherently different lifestyle than white Americans do, and that disgusts me.

Jon Stewart spoke out on the issue, and there was none of Mr. Stewarts typical jests and laughs. He was furious.

This sort of atrocity is the reason that average citizens refuse to trust police officers like they did years and years ago. Police are suppose to be men of honor, modern day knights. Instead, we have citizens wondering if their police officers are "just doing their jobs" or are low-grade sociopaths who lack moral empathy.

I can only hope, for Eric Garner, Michael Brown, and all others who have been treated unjustly by this system, that we will apply the appropriate reform to move this forward.

That's all I have for today, I'll be back Monday with a new post.

"I honestly don't know what to say. If comedy is tragedy plus time, I need more fucking time. But I'd settle for less tragey." -Jon Stewart

A 20 Year Old Boy Dies In Ferguson, When Will There Be Peace?

The Michael Brown incident has struck deep in the heart of citizens and has shocked much of the nation into wondering what it is we should do about our police system. However, even though there had been no deaths throughout the harsh protests, there will now forever be an asterisk next to the event's description.

On the morning following the Michael Brown case's jury decision, the body of one Deandre Joshua (age 20) was found inside a burned white Pontiac. Investigation lead police to find there was accelerant poured over the body before it was burned, making it clear this was not any sort of accident, and he was in fact murdered.

Initially, people suspected that Deandre had been the secret witness for the trial on behalf of Michael Brown, which would have, of course, been much more spark-worthy. However, the boy's parents dispelled the rumors and told reporters that their son had no part in the case or the protests following the ruling.

His only link to the case was that he was childhood friends with one of the open witnesses for Michael Brown's case.

Regardless, this entire situation is very suspicious, and no doubt only adds to the story as one that will be burned into the minds of Americans forever. Although this situation has been horribly traumatic for many of those involved, including but not limited to the families of Michael and Deandre.

What we should all pull from this, is that we as Americans, no matter what the case is, still have inherently different lives based on race. Even though this kind of problem should have been wiped years ago, we are only recently truly attempting to bridge that gap. It is no easy task, and it will be a long road, but the end justifies the means.

I would not want any child of mind growing up in a country where he cannot socially relate to any African-American friends he has because we stopped trying to make change. This has to happen. There is no alternative.

That's all I have for today, but I'll be back again tomorrow with another post.

"What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism, or in the holy name of liberty or democracy?" -Mahatma Ghandi

Go Check Out My Photos!

I won't be writing today, unfortunately. I've spent today uploading and getting together some of my more proud photos. I am just recently starting in photography, but I thought I'd share my progress thus far with you. So if you go to the Photography tab above, and be sure to let me know what you think! I'll keep up posting some of my photos to that page, and tomorrow I'll be back with another normal entry. For now, here's your quote for today!

"Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot. To truly laugh, you must be able to take your pain, and play with it." -Charlie Chaplin

Charges Dropped Against Officer Who Killed 7-Year-Old

Due to the high amount of coverage of the Mike Brown case, there were many stories that the news media glanced over to make room for the coverage of riots, strikes, and lootings. Although this sort of news may be much more exciting than the typical news, there have still been very crucial stories on the back burner to make way for it.

One of these stories is that a cop who fatally shot a 7-year-old sleeping girl was acquitted of any charges against him.

During a SWAT raid to search for a potential murder suspect, Officer Darren Wilson was the first in the door. The officer claimed that another member of the team has tossed a flash grenade into the room, temporarily blinding him, which led to the shot with killed 7-year-old Aiyana Stanley-Jones.

All reasoning aside, simply having his finger on the trigger of a submachine gun during a police-raid is improper, not only to the police training, but general knowledge. Common Sense would dictate keeping your finger off of a live trigger with potential civilian casualties in the room would be ideal.

However, that was not the case here. Instead, in a moment of panic, an innocent child was shot and killed. The potential manslaughter charge was dropped, and the court of appeals refused the case.

This is simply another instance where police prove that they are not worth the trust of a well-educated public. This sort of carelessness has put civilians lives in danger time and time again, however for some reason we put up with it in the name of lawfulness.

Maybe lawfulness is a necessary force in a well-oiled society, but it's becoming more and more apparent (especially through actions like Wilson's) that the citizen-safety-department is in desperate need of radical reform. For whatever reason it may be, the current law-enforcement situation is simple no longer working. 

There are many systems (such as this law-enforcement system, the public education system, FCC distinction laws, etc.) that are in bad need of reform, but we still helplessly grasp to like a baby to its bottle. We must realize that for the first time in history we are witnessing the exponential progress of humanity, and we must learn to adapt accordingly. That is the only way to end failings like this.

That's all I've got for today, but I'll be back tomorrow with another post.

"How odd I can have all this inside me, and to you it's just words." -David Foster Wallace

It Is Illegal In 22 Cities To Feed The Homeless. WHY?

Thanksgiving has just recently passed, and for many people Thanksgiving isn't just a time for family, friends, and the other typical values, but also a time for volunteering.

Despite this, many city's legislative departments seem stuck on making it near-impossible for volunteer groups to feed and help the less-fortunate, a number which is not going away.

Why would anyone do something like this, though? This statement from the Commissioner in Fort Lauderdale (the most recent city to pass this sort of legislation) might give you an explanation as to why:

“the City of Fort Lauderdale has a substantial interest in the revitalization, preservation of property values and the prevention of the deterioration in its downtown.”

Sigh.

Isn't that the motivation to not letting the number grow in the first place? Their answer to the problem of having enough lower-class, homeless citizens to lower the value of their property, is to make available, provided help for them illegal.

Naturally, the police aren't able to enforce this kind of law when the citizens demand otherwise, and that has become rather apparent. Among the many citizens who have been arrested in defiance of the new law, was 90-year-old volunteer Arnold Abbott. Once the police showed up to his volunteer station, they ordered him to "drop that plate". The man refused, and is now facing up to 60 days in prison and fines of up to $500.00.

This kind of law is short-sighted at best, and when you have 90-year-old volunteers refusing to comply with local police, the illustration shouldn't be far from understandable. I, for one, will gladly voice my opinion against this sort of ignorance.

That's all I have for today, but I'll be back again tomorrow.

"Of all the words of Mice and Men, the saddest are 'It might have been.'" -Kurt Vonnegut

I'll Be Back Monday!

I won't be posting an entry today through Friday because I will be spending time with my friends and family. Thank you, I'll be back next Monday.

Rest in Peace Michael Brown.

If you're anything like me, when you heard the Ferguson verdict yesterday, your heart sank a bit. No matter what stance you take, we should all be able to agree that the unnecessary death of any human being on this earth is something to be mourned over. If you support Ferguson's police department, so be it, and if you support Mike Brown's protesters, so be it, however we should understand that this is not a light event.

If you aren't aware of what exactly the verdict was, the officer who shot and killed teenager Michael Brown was given no indictment for the events that took place.

Considering the protests were turning violent and increasingly anti-police before the verdict, the events that transpired were more than predictable.

As of Time of Writing (~2:30 A.M. CST) there have been over 30 arrests from the police department, and at least 150 gunshots. One police officer was shot but not seriously hurt. Multiple buildings have been set to fire, one from a poorly-made molotov, and the rest by acts of purposeful intention. Tear gas is littering every street corner, and the citizens of the area are absolutely furious.

President Obama released a statement on the matter saying this;

"We need to accept that this decision was the grand jury's to make," Obama said Monday night. "There are Americans who agree with it, and there are Americans who are deeply upset, even angry. It's an understandable reaction. But I join Michael's parents in asking anyone who protests this decision to do so peacefully."

Personally, I've heard several people mock the president's input on the situation. One person complained "The president has bigger problems. Why doesn't he talk about Iran's nuclear program, or North Korea?"

The reason I mention this is to go ahead and dismiss that kind of explanation. The president has a large civil uprising in his country, and if there was one thing he should give his input on, it's this.

As of 2:30 A.M. CST, protesters were completely surrounding the police station throwing things, and shouting hate speech at the local police.

All of this was expected, and as a citizen it is nice to see other citizens stand up for their beliefs, however, as a person, it breaks my heart to see that it became so violent and hateful.

I do believe it is our job as individuals to fight for each other, and do what is necessary to demand our rights. However, violence is never the correct answer, I'm afraid. Sometimes it may be the easiest one, but it will never be the right one. It is hard to forgive each other and take the time to make change. It is hard to have trust in each other. However, it is also peaceful, and that is always preferable.

Every time a child, like Mike Brown, dies there is a mother who cries for them. People never forget these sort of things throughout their lifetime, and it his hard to accept. However, we as a people must look at ourselves and ask if burning down KFCs is the answer.

I support every member of this group and hope only the best in their protests. But I also hope, more than anything else, that we can find it in ourselves to not take this anger and hatefulness out on each other, but on the ideas of militarization, and brutality, and corruption.

That's all I have for today, I'll be back tomorrow with another post.

"I think the men who play with toys taken over, and if we don't take the toys out of their hands, we are fools." -Ray Bradbury

Eminem "Threatens To Rape Iggy Azalea", And Now What?

Before I start, this week my posts will be slightly shorter than before, only do to the fact that I am out of school until next Monday and will be spending the majority of the time with my family. Regardless, I will still be releasing posts daily and will go back to normal next Monday. (I will be taking off entirely for Thanksgiving, however.)

The rap artist Eminem has never been known for his public restraint and politically correct mouth. There's an unspoken contract that we, the public, not ask him to be and in turn he makes 13-Grammy-wins deserving music. In the past he has called out several female artists and public figures for various reasons including; Christina Aguilera, Norah Jones, Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, Khloe Kardashian, Kim Kardashian, Lindsay Lohan, Rihanna, Jessica Simpson, Jessica Alba, Britney Spears, Mariah Carey, Pamela Anderson, and Lana Del Ray.

Eminem will be releasing his newest album (Shady XV), and just recently there was some content leaked off the album. This was the line from his song named "Vegas"

"So, what’s it gon’ be?
Put that shit away, Iggy
You gon’ blow that rape whistle on me ... scream!"

 "Rapper" Iggy Azalea  fired back on Twitter saying:

"Im bored of the old men threatening young women as entertainment trend and much more interested in the young women getting $ trend. zzzz"

The reason I chose to talk about this is because I think there is a real message that we need to pull from the drama-loaded nonsense. As always, women are angry at Eminem and giving him all sorts of hell in the name of anti-massaginism.

Not that anyone is pro-rape, because that's not a truly existent viewpoint, I do have a problem with this sort of harsh backlash to Eminem's music. Surface level, I am sure that sounds hateful of me, but let me explain.

Eminem is an entertainer, who's sole job is to use his talent to make other people's lives more enjoyable. Also, his songs are generally, with the exceptions that be, are suppose to be taken comedically. Eminem doesn't want to rape Iggy Azalea but he is rapping music that will make his fans giggle and rap along.

That's not pro-rape, that's not hateful, it's just entertainment. The idea proposed, that we should censor entertainment in any case, seems ridiculous to me. He isn't promoting rape, he is just rapping for the enjoyment of his fans.

The fact that it is nothing more than that, is the reason that I cannot bring myself to be angry about this sort of thing, is that the entertainment industry, despite all of it's many qwerks, makes people happy and has no further purpose than that.

In other words, although rape is clearly wrong, Eminem is a rapper. Don't take his words as anything more than someone trying to get a small laugh out of the people who idolize him.

That's all for today, but I'll be back again tomorrow with a new post.

"Dealing with backstabbers, there was one thing I learned. They're only powerful when you've got your back turner." -Eminem

Mexico Is Dying And You Should Care

The country of Mexico has not, at least in my lifetime, ever been considered to be the safest or most luxurious country on earth. It's rather notorious, in fact, for its political corruption and domestic warfare. There is now a path to change and much needed revolution for the struggling country.

However, the conflict is rather complicated and hard to follow, so I'll do my best to simplify the events down (without distorting the information) and break it down in a less complicated way. Once I'm done, I will leave extra article links below if you would like to read further on the matter.

How it has all started:
On September 26th, María de los Ángeles Pineda Villa, wife of Iguala's Mayor José Luis Abarca, of the left-leaning Party of the Democratic Revolution, was in the town's main square giving a speech about her political and social accomplishments in the office of Head of Municipal Social Services Agency. It was being rumored that she would announce her candidacy to take over her husband's office as mayor in June elections.

However, just as she began her speech, two busloads of kids from the notoriously radical teachers' college in the nearby city of Ayotzinapa arrived to raise money and began heading for Iguala's town square.

According to the Federal Attorney General's Office, she ordered the local police chief to stop them from coming to the square. After a minor clash with the local police, the students stole three buses (that they would also use to go to the march commemorating the 1968 massacre in Tlatelolco), but on their way out of the city were sprayed with machine gun fire by the local police and members of the United Warriors cartel.

During the shooting, three students died, along with a soccer player, a cab driver, and his passenger.

Apparently, one student who panicked and left when his classmates were rounded up by police and gang members was later found dead with his eyes gouged out and face flensed with a box cutter, in an act of unspeakable, and not to mention unnecessary, violence. 43 other students were huddled up into police cars, and have now disappeared. (Remains of human bodies found burned and remains thrown down a river found recently are speculated to be from the students, but as of the writing of this entry is still unconfirmed.)

María de los Ángeles Pineda Villa has been, for years now, working with Beltrán Leyva, Sinaloa and Guerreros Unidos (United Warriors, mentioned above) cartels and a recently captured leader of the United Warriors stated she was the "key operator" of criminal activity around the town of Iguala.

"The classmate was bleeding so much," the 19-year-old de la Cruz told Reuters at the all-male college in Ayotzinapa, east of Guerrero's capital Chilpancingo. "He wrote on his mobile phone: 'Get me out because I'm dying'. Because he wasn't able to talk. We saw them take them. It just means that we have a narco government in Guerrero."*

Hundreds of students briefly occupied the state attorney general's office in Guerrero on Tuesday in protest and a local far-left guerrilla group known as the EPR (The Popular Revolutionary Army) issued a statement pledging to resist what it labeled "state terrorism".

What we are left with:
Since the incidents have occurred, there have been mass demonstrations against the government. President Peña Nieto ran his campaign (pre-2010) on ending the murderous gang-related violence and corruption of Mexico. Although the murder rate did decrease, kidnapping and torture rates went up, and citizens say that police involvement in crime is worse than ever. Corruption has spread, but they are scared to say it aloud.

"We all tried to march in a smart, civil way; let the government know we are not happy with how they are performing and that we want the resignation of our president. As usual in mexico the peaceful marches didn't last long, for some guys payed by the government infiltrated the marches and rioted in violent ways." -/u/stevenette

Today is the anniversary of Mexico's revolution and masses will take this opportunity to take to the streets and demand the resignation of President Nieto. I do not doubt that violence will ensure, and my thoughts and love go out to all those who are affected, in any way, by these events.

However, this is Mexico's chance to make the change they so desperately need. A country with such astounding culture and solid ideals have no need for such violence and hatred, and I can only hope that they make the most of what they have got. The road ahead of these people is a long and merciless one. I stand with the people of Mexico.

That is all I have for today, and I will leave the links to further articles below. I'll be back Monday with a new post. Thank you!

"Historically, the most terrible things - war, genocide, and slavery- have resulted not from disobedience, but from obedience." -Howard Zimm


*Quote pulled from Dave Graham's article on Reuters
Huffington Post
Reuters

4,000,000 New Americans. Now What?

Today, in America, President Barack Obama will use executive action in order to progress immediate immigration reform.

This act will shield the parents of 4,000,000 "Dreamers" living in the United States. Dreamers are mass groups of teenagers and young adults, who are legal citizens to the United States. However, their parents were illegal immigrants out of Mexico or Central America.

This act from the President has got some extremely harsh backlash for instituting this new order, and it isn't surprising.

See, there is a dying need for immediate immigration reform, and that has been more and more apparent to the American public recently.

However, it is also notable that the President is likely stepping out of his legal boundaries by passing an Executive Order that fabricates an entirely new law.

We have arrived at a political crossroads, where both sides are wrong, and both paths lead straight to destruction, but we still have to pick one. And we have decided to base our decision off what lines the pockets of politics more.

So this is something I cannot find an immediate answer for. Although the president has taken a controversial approach, we cannot ignore these people's cries for help.

So I ask that you find it in you to determine your own answer. You see, we must be a nation of educated people. We must be thinkers, and philosophers. We must understand, and not blindly follow, or else we're wasting our breaths.

That's all I have for today, but I'll be back tomorrow with a new post.

"Those who are heartless once cared too much." -Unknown

Fighting In The Streets of Greece

41 years ago yesterday, the militaristic dictatorship of Greece was toppled by the students of a distraught and crippled nation.

So, on the 41st anniversary, protesters took to the streets demonstrating anti-police-state opinion.

There was an undeniable amount of anti-Americanism going on throughout the protests (which primarily took place outside the U.S. Embassy), including, but not limited to, the burning of American flags.

The reason for this anti-American attitude that has been thrown around is due to the fact that in the year 1973 when the revolts take place, the military junta that was in power was heavily United States backed.

So, now the Greeks took to the streets, not only in remembrance of their painstaking fight against the tyranny of an oppressive regime, but have an additional goal. That goal is to end the militarization of their police force, in fear of a familiar tone being forced back onto the shoulders of their oncoming generations.

Around 8:30 PM, a group of young protesters attacked a squadron of riot police, which lead to the firing of tear gas, more aggressive tactics, and street searchings which only furthered civilian aggravation with the police force.

I must say, speaking from person observations, it amazes me how modern governments repetitively call their citizens free, and they insist that they run by the people's voice. However, when the citizens call for change, and when the people demand progression, suddenly it's all about the government knowing best.

You see, we as a people have come to form this very romantic, very ideological view of how we live, and how we govern ourselves. We love this romanticized view of reality so much, that we prefer it over what truly exists.

That's not abnormal, it gives birth to beautiful art and wonderful creations from humanity. However, we cannot sit back and pretend, using that idealization, that we are somehow not in any danger of having our freedoms stripped.

Living in freedom will be a constant anxiety-paranoia-driven nightmare, and that's the price we pay. However, we must also accept that if we want to keep being free we must use that anxiety to spawn the greatest civilization the world has ever known.

So I support these freedom fighters, and I hope they keep fighting until they get what they are demanding, because that is what true freedom is.

That's all I've got for today, but I'll be back again tomorrow with another post.

"She was beautiful. But she was beautiful in the way a forest fire was beautiful. Something to be admired from a distance, but not up close." -Unknown

No, We Invade People Too.

"The United States," President Obama said, was "very firm on the need to uphold core international principles, and one of those principles is that you don't invade other countries."

Wow... Is this real life? Am I dreaming?

Did Charles Manson just tell the American public that it's wrong to kill people?

The United States invaded Iraq on pretenses of chemical weapons that didn't actually exist. The United States has been at war for 214 of it's 238 year existence. We have bombed innocent people, killed in the name of injustice, and laughed at the pain of others.

Now, we scorn Russia and put ourselves above them for doing the same thing that we've done for hundreds of years.

Does anyone operate on something but pure ignorance when running government anymore? Yes, Russia invaded Ukraine, and yes, the United States invaded Iraq, Grenada, Panama, Kuwait, Afghanistan, Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, Kosovo, and Libya in the past 20 years (Not including airstrikes in Sudan and covert operations in Pakistan and within Mali.). But can't we all just be friends...?

I suppose not.

The thing is, the President, as well as his predecessors, no doubt see the invasions by the United States as necessary evil, not as the blunt, no-excuse invasions they really were.

We must understand, despite what we've been taught growing up, that America is not different than any other country on this planet. We are not the greatest country in the world, no matter what it is what we have been told. The only greatest thing we have is that our military spending is higher than the next 8 countries combined.

That's not a good thing either.

You cannot prepare for peace while simultaneously preparing for war. That's not the way humanity works. If you have the world's most powerful military at your fingertips, someone's fingers will get itchy.

So don't believe that we are above these people, or somehow different, because we are us and they are them. Our crimes are just as dispicable, Mister President. And you'd be smart not to forget it.

That's all I have for today, but I'll be back tomorrow with another post.

"Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know." -Ernest Hemmingway

Anonymous Seizes the KKK's Twitter, Why Should You Care?

The hacker collective Anonymous is widely known for it's anti-political-correctness and extremely bold strategies for fighting it's battles. These battles include taking down internet pedophiles on the DarkNet, restoring internet and full coverage of the Egyptian revolution to the outside world, and now fighting for the protesters of Ferguson.

There has been a lot of heavy scrutiny toward the Ferguson protesters and their cause. The protests started after the late Michael Brown was shot by Ferguson police. However, the controversy became more and more nationally debated once Ferguson police rolled out for the protests in military-grade police vehicles, holding assault rifles, while wearing combat military armor.

This kind of police militarization is, quite notoriously, one of the largest dangers to the American public's freedom to protest, freedom of expression, freedom of speech, and freedom of information.

So, most large groups and social influenced formed their own opinions on the matter, and were very public about the conflict. Whether or not they agreed on the original Mike Brown controversy, the mass of people's opinions went against the militarization of the police departments.

However, one group in particular has voiced it's own exceptionally strong opinion about the protests and the following debates. The Ku Klux Klan, about 75 miles south of Ferguson, started handing flyers around threatening to use "lethal force" against the protesters. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the actual sect that started the threats (Traditionalist American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan) is listed as an active hate group.

Anonymous, following the threats, launched it's own operation against the Ku Klux Klan, seizing two of the groups twitter accounts, d0xing the group's head members, and attacking the group's servers through multiple strings of Distributed Denial of Service attacks.

The Anonymous collective released this statement (in video, but I'll just leave the text here).

"KKK it has came to our unfortunate attention that you have been interfering with Anonymous. 

We are not attacking you because of what you believe in as we fight for freedom of speech… 

We are attacking you because of what you did to our brothers and sisters at the Ferguson protest on the 12th of November. 

Due to your actions we have started Operation KKK. 

The aim of our operation is nothing more than Cyber Warfare. 

Anything you upload will be taken down, anything you use to promote the KKK will be shut down. 

DDos attacks have already been sent and have infiltrated your servers over the past 2 days… d0x's have also been launched on leaders of the KKK. All information retrieved will be given to the public. 

You messed with our family and now we will mess with yours…
Let the cyber war begin.
We are legion.
We do not forgive
We do not forget
Ku Klux Klan you should have expected us."

This is one of the hacked accounts:

And this is the picture that was posted shown in the screenshot:

Who will come out on top, who will win the PR battle, and who will get arrested I cannot say. All I can say, is that my opinions fall on the side of Anonymous. The fact is, that protests are a crucial part of America societal progression. Without it, we are no different than any dictatorship out there.

The Ku Klux Klan is doing their own protesting but purely in the name of anti-protesting, and invoking a violent outreach in the meantime. That's volatile at best, and is the kind of close minded belief that leads to the destruction of Americans' freedom, which I will not stand for at any point.

If you put safety over freedom, then I'm sorry, but that's not what this country was founded on. You can the argument that any government ideology belongs in a state that calls itself free, and I will agree with you. However, moving toward a government where the people don't have that freedom, for the sake of safety, is unacceptable.

We must accept that this is not a place for overwhelming safety at the cost of freedom. America is not a country of hand-outs and will never be. If you want opportunity, and freedom, it will not be handed to you. For whatever reason (because we've never had to fight for it), this generation feels entitled to the freedom they have and in turn all they have to do is cheer on Veteran's Day.

That's not the case. We will spend our entire lives fighting, and we must accept that. That's the only way we will keep what we were given, and improve on it.

That's all I have for today, but I'll be back tomorrow with another entry.

"The best teachers are those who show you where to look, but not what to see." -Alexandra K. Tenfor