put a spell on you
My heart is torn between East and West. I live somewhere between the present and the past. I don't know who I am.
Just another human being biding their time on this earth. Passionate about current affairs, history, politics (particularly MENA region), religion, cute animals and food. Posts are mainly in English but I may post in Arabic/French/Turkish.
Disclaimer: All photographs on this blog do not belong to me but to their rightful owners unless otherwise stated. All efforts have been made to link the material back to its original source. Please drop me a message if you see any of your material and would like to have it removed!
Obama and the case of a Yemeni journalist
The news that the Obama administration has been monitoring journalists from The Associated Press (AP) and Fox News has been greeted with consternation by the US media and civil liberties groups.
Abdulelah Haider Shaye was initially imprisoned in 2010 after his reporting showed that the US had conducted a missile strike in the village of Al Majala that killed fourteen women and twenty-one children. The Yemeni government had claimed the responsibility for the attack.
Shaye’s jailing led to an outcry in Yemen and it was reported that the country’s president was considering his release. But following a personal phone call from President Obama, no pardon was issued.
The US has yet to provide any evidence that Shaye was connected to al-Qaeda.
Jeremy Scahill, national security correspondent for The Nation magazine, who has done an investigation into Shaye’s case, explains that, “his association with al-Qaeda consists of having interviewed members of al-Qaeda. And I think that if people took a close look at the work of this journalist over many years … this was a guy who was asking very tough questions …. I’d say his real crime was doing real journalism …”
Abdulelah Haider Shaye wrote a letter from prison last week making clear who he blames for his detention.
“It’s inaccurate to say the Americans imprisoned me because some of them defended and supported me and opposed my detention. Actually, the only person responsible for kidnapping and detaining me is Obama. So, I don’t want the media to say America or Americans have incarcerated me because it’s obvious [who is responsible].”
And during his trial, Shaye condemned the strikes on civilians whose aftermath he had witnessed first hand:
“The US has expressed concern over Turkey’s handling of the #OccupyGezi protests…”
Meanwhile protesters in Turkey are chocking on tear gas made and supplied by the USA.
America, you so funny.
this x 1000000.
© Carlos Latuff, 2005.
“Back in the days when leaders weren’t comedians”
This is so relevant right now…
Police State Brutality Made Apparent Tonight @OCCUPYOAKLAND
These make me flinch. I can’t believe these were taken in my country, let alone my state. What a sad, sad day for America.
The police have maintained that they did not use such methods, and yet, here’s photographic evidence.
Can’t wait to see how Fox news spins this.
HA! The official report on the news this morning is that those loud bangs were “firecrackers thrown by protestors” and not crowd control devices used by police (like sound cannons or flash grenades). No comment about rubber bullets. They also justified their crackdown by saying the protestors were throwing rocks at them during a facedown at the town hall. I call bull.
One solution: REVOLUTION!
(via roflstoffle)
‘I AM NOT MOVING’ - Occupy Wall Street: a short film.
“Hypocrisy has its own elegant symmetry indeed! The end is nigh people, the end is nigh!”
no comment.
“As the war in Afghanistan passes its ten-year mark, sexual assault runs rampant within the ranks, with an estimated one in three female service members raped during their US military service, according to at least one peer-reviewed study.”
‘Migrant Mother’ taken by Dorothea Lange in Nipomo, California, March 1936.
“I saw and approached the hungry and desperate mother, as if drawn by a magnet. I do not remember how I explained my presence or my camera to her, but I do remember she asked me no questions. I made five exposures, working closer and closer from the same direction. I did not ask her name or her history. She told me her age, that she was thirty-two. She said that they had been living on frozen vegetables from the surrounding fields, and birds that the children killed. She had just sold the tires from her car to buy food. There she sat in that lean-to tent with her children huddled around her, and seemed to know that my pictures might help her, and so she helped me. There was a sort of equality about it.”
“Washington DC, USA: People sign a huge banner during the Occupy DC anti-corporations protest at Freedom Plaza. A four-day protest in Washington to reclaim American politics for the people went into overtime, its participants vowing to stay put despite the expiry of their permit”
By: Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images
I just want to reiterate, the fact that people are surprised that this was aired is a sad commentary on the state of our media. Sure, we still have free press under the law, but not under the companies that own these news outlets. I miss the days of REAL journalism.ALL THE MOTHER FUCKING AWARDS TO THIS REPORTER.
Holy shit I cannot even believe they aired this. ldkjk;lsakd I’m just in shock right now.
Ask yourself exactly what it means when you’re shocked as most people are that they aired this. Think about that for a minute. Do we really have freedom of speech?
Everyone needs to watch this. at the very least, support the protesters, even if it’s just signal boosting.
i cannot believe this actually aired.
I’ve seen a lot of those individual clips through tumblr, but watching them strung together with a public someone condemning the police brutality makes it more poignant for me. I want every reporter in America to report on Occupy Wall Street and police brutality everywhere, Wall Street and not. These cavalier and nonchalant violent displays of power sicken me and make me want to be violent myself. Consciously though, if I were ever in a situation like that, I would hope to remain peaceful and that I was being filmed.
I hated cops on instinct growing up. Then I met some and I disliked them with reason while still hating on instinct. Then I saw videos and heard stories of police brutality and I feel like a volcano. This type of behavior is despicable, disgusting, and fucking wrong.
everyone watch this
I’m literally shaking. This is extremely shocking and upsetting. I have no words. Just please watch this.
Holy mother of God. This is amazing. Thank you for telling the truth.
(via doyayoda)
(and you might not as it’s being censored in the mainstream media)
OccupyWallStreet demonstrations have grown to ~20 000 today.
The NYPD have begun a violent crackdown on demonstrators, with batons, pepper spray, and mass arrests.
Videos from the night of Oct 5th here, here, and here.
Videos from Oct 5th during the day here.
We are the 99%
(via desert-dreamer)
“An Iraqi boy emerges with a white rabbit from the large crater of a blasted home following a U.S. “Shock and Awe” bombing raid on a Baghdad neighbourhood. I fear the rabbit’s reprieve was probably short-lived, though, as the aesthetic, gentle quality of rabbits was about to succumb - like everything else - to the brutalizing influence of war, and the cooking pot.”
By: Sean Smith, The Guardian
Fog, Spokane, Washington, USA
“I love Spokane, one of the hidden gems of the Northwest. I’m always excited to be travelling through this city, and it lends itself so well to photography. I spent the entire day taking pictures and settled in to eat dinner at a local restaurant. I was shocked when I left the restaurant to see the entire city enveloped in fog. I loved the way the lights shone through the fog and silhouetted the people as they walked. I grabbed my camera and took a few quick shots. This was my favourite. I love the lady walking alone and the way the stairs frame her.”
By: Jason Zito
