|
|
By Guest Blog, on May 21, 2013, at 8:28 am By: Center for Media and Democracy | Press Release: MADISON, WI – May 20 – DBA Press and the Center for Media and Democracy today released the results of a year-long investigation: “Dissent or Terror: How the Nation’s Counter Terrorism Apparatus, In Partnership With Corporate America, Turned on Occupy Wall Street.” The report, a distillation of thousands [...]
The post Dissent or Terror: New Report Details How Counter Terrorism Apparatus Was Used to Monitor Occupy Movement Nationwide appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
By The Mound of Sound, on May 16, 2013, at 1:35 pm It’s not carjacking. Nobody with a gun jumping into the driver’s seat and speeding off with your ride.
It’s car-hacking. A cyber criminal hacking into a car’s computer systems to wreak havoc.
Senate Commerce Committee chairman Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat, said while he’s excited about safety improvements through technology, he’s concerned about new risks including cyber security. “As our cars become more connected – to the internet, to wireless networks, with each other, and with our infrastructure – are they at risk of catastrophic cyber attacks?” Senator Rockefeller asked in his opening statement prepared for the hearing. (Read more…)
By Jay Cables, on May 14, 2013, at 12:55 pm
In the weeks following the Boston bombing, an icon of the black liberation struggle in the U.S., Assata Shakur, has turned up on the FBI’s most wanted terrorist list. The timing is far from coincidental. It’s the first time a woman has been placed on the bureau’s terrorist list… in this case a black woman… for many a legendary figure in the fight against American racism and injustice.
Assata Shakur’s inclusion on the FBI list in part stems from the shooting death of a state trooper in 1973, for which she was wrongly convicted. It’s been (Read more…)
By Jay Cables, on May 14, 2013, at 12:55 pm
By Lorne, on May 12, 2013, at 4:42 pm This is rather interesting:
Recommend this Post
By Lorne, on May 12, 2013, at 4:42 pm This is rather interesting:
Recommend this Post
By David Climenhaga, on May 6, 2013, at 1:39 am The indomitable American spirit personified above. Whatever became of it? Below: Bogie as Philip Marlowe, with gun; the leader of another English-speaking country refusing to knuckle under to the Luftwaffe, also with gun.
We have learned, courtesy the news media, that membership in the National Rifle Association has surged past five million souls since the Sandy Hook Massacre of little children in Connecticut last December.
It would seem that a significant minority of our American cousins will let nothing stand in the way of their right to massive firepower, which they insist is protected by the Second Amendment of the (Read more…)
By Obert Madondo, on April 28, 2013, at 11:58 pm [View the story "Canada Police State Confirmed: Vic Toews Nixes Omar Khadr Interview " on Storify] We recommend:Nazanin Afshin-Jam MacKay Said Canada Should Bring Omar Khadr HomeHarper’s Canada “Making Up Terror Identities”Statistics Canada: Crime rate reached its lowest level in 40 years in 2011Confirmed again: “Canada may use information obtained [...]
The post Extraordinary Political Interference: Vic Toews Nixes Omar Khadr Interview appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
By susanonthesoapbox, on April 28, 2013, at 5:40 pm I’ve been to Washington DC many times, but this trip was different. In addition to the usual buzz created by lobbyists, bureaucrats, politicians and businessmen who had places to go and people to see, there was a sense of unease. This feeling of foreboding was evident in the police cars parked on the street corners and the crowd control fencing encircling the White House. It peaked with the false AP Newswire tweet that the President had been injured in an explosion at the White House which caused the stock market to nose dive.
The Boston marathon bombings (Read more…)
By Jay Cables, on April 27, 2013, at 1:50 pm Definitions of terrorism:
“The systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion.” - Merriam Webster
“Systematic use of violence and intimidation to achieve some goal.“ - Free Dictionary
“The use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, especially for political purposes.” - Dictionary.com
Noam Chomsky clarifies the definition with recourse to law:
I took the official definitions of terrorism, which were very good, I took the definition that is given in US and British law, which is a fine definition but has a flaw; If you apply it, it turns out the United (Read more…)
By Jay Cables, on April 27, 2013, at 1:45 pm
By Lorne, on April 26, 2013, at 12:42 pm I suspect only the party faithful and the ‘true-believers’ would find these pictures objectionable:
Recommend this Post
By Obert Madondo, on April 25, 2013, at 12:24 pm By: Obert Madondo | The Canadian Progressive: The Toronto Star’s Heather Mallick suggests that the RCMP’s notorious macho culture was on full display during the announcement of the unveiling terrorist plot to derail a Via Rail passenger train. Mallick says: Call me cynical. I’m not, I am hopeful credulity itself, but the anti-terror bill [...]
The post RCMP Macho Culture Displayed During Announcement Of Terror Plot? appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
By Obert Madondo, on April 25, 2013, at 12:24 pm By: Obert Madondo | The Canadian Progressive: The Toronto Star’s Heather Mallick suggests that the RCMP’s notorious macho culture was on full display during the announcement of the unveiling terrorist plot to derail a Via Rail passenger train. Mallick says: Call me cynical. I’m not, I am hopeful credulity itself, but the anti-terror bill [...]
The post RCMP Macho Culture Displayed During Announcement Of Terror Plot? appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
By Obert Madondo, on April 24, 2013, at 8:59 pm By: Obert Madondo | The Canadian Progressive: Chiheb Esseghaier, one of the two man arrested Monday for plotting a terrorist attack on a Via Rail passenger train, wants you to know that Canada’s “Criminal Code is not holy book.” Esseghaier, a Tunisian citizen and “brilliant PhD student“, also told a Toronto courtroom Wednesday: All of [...]
The post Terror suspect says Canada’s “Criminal Code is not holy book” appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
By The Mound of Sound, on April 24, 2013, at 2:45 pm The American people might just be getting terrorism fatigue after more than a decade of efforts by their politicians and media to keep them in a heightened state of anxiety. How long can anyone do that and stay sane? What price has already been exacted of them by those who have manipulated them since September, 2001?
A majority of Americans say occasional acts of terrorism are “part of life”, and many doubt the government can do much more to prevent them, a new poll finds. About three-quarters of Americans said they agree that “occasional acts of terrorism in (Read more…) US will be part of life in the future”, according to the Pew Research Centre for the People and the Press. The share of Americans who see terrorist acts as “part of life” has stayed high since soon after the September 11, 2001, attacks. But the figure had declined . . . → Read More: The Disaffected Lib: Americans Settling In to Reality of Terrorism
By calgarygrit, on April 24, 2013, at 12:01 pm One of the reasons I keep blogging is that the comments section here tends to breed meaningful discussion rather than the “no you’re Hitler” type of debate you see on most mainstream news sites. And as pointed out here, I found this comment by regular hosertohoosier quite thought provoking:
Paul O:
Or was the Justin quote trying to attract those Canadians who say that nobody would blow anyone up if we all sang Kum-Ba-Yah a couple more times?
hosertohoosier
Kumbaya is actually a great counter-terrorism strategy, and Canada is living proof. The best evidence suggests that terrorists do not (Read more…) terrorist organizations to serve the cause. Indeed, terrorism rarely succeeds, terrorist groups often have shifting motives (how many times has al Qaeda’s mission changed), and terrorists rarely express a strong understanding of the larger organization’s goals.
Rather, they tend to join in search of community. The best predictor . . . → Read More: Calgary Grit: Kumbaya Counter-Terrorism
By Lorne, on April 24, 2013, at 8:39 am
As deeply suspicious and cynical as I am about institutions, it is probably not surprising that I view with a jaundiced eye the events surrounding the arrest of two terror suspects accused of a plot to blow up a Via Rail train. Many have asked questions about the sudden urgency of Harper’s rearranging the parliamentary agenda so that his terror bill could begin to be debated on Monday, coinciding with the RCMP announcement of the arrests.
Coincidences happen, but I am always suspicious when they do. And given the well-known politicization that the RCMP has undergone in recent years, any (Read more…) with a modicum of critical-thinking skills is bound to wonder if this is not yet another example of our national police force allowing itself to be used by its political masters, something undoubtedly unhealthy both for democracy and general trust in government.
In his column . . . → Read More: Politics and its Discontents: This Can’t Be Healthy
By The Mound of Sound, on April 23, 2013, at 2:19 pm We North Americans are unduly susceptible to acts of terrorism if only because terrorist acts on our doorstep, while dramatic, are infrequent.
In the reign of Bush the Junior, an act of terrorism could call down All the King’s Men and All the King’s Horses on the perpetrators, real and imagined.
This week Der Spiegel has praise for Obama’s handling of the Boston Marathon bombings.
The first official reactions heard in America after the bombings in Boston are encouraging. President Barack Obama took pains to remain calm, breaking with the deplorable tradition of the Bush years to promise revenge while (Read more…) the rule of law. Obama knows full well that the United States needs no new anti-terrorism laws, no new government agencies, no expansion of police and intelligence operations and, most of all, no more inflammatory speeches. The dramatic search for the two bombing suspects was undeniably a manhunt, . . . → Read More: The Disaffected Lib: A Sensible Response to Terrorism
By Obert Madondo, on April 23, 2013, at 12:10 pm By: Obert Madondo | The Canadian Progressive: An American woman has created a viral monster! On Saturday, San Francisco-based Micah Daigle created a Facebook post commenting on the recent Boston Marathon bombing. She imagine an alternative narrative during the hunt for suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. A drone strike! That’s how we hunt and kill terrorists in [...]
The post Boston Terror: Facebook Post Ponders Lethal Drone Strike On Watertown appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
By Lorne, on April 22, 2013, at 11:50 am During my teaching days, in the aftermath of 9/11 a student came to see me to discuss her feelings of helplessness and despair in the face of such monumental evil. While I had no special wisdom to offer her, I did say that although I had been witness to some terrible world events in my lifetime, I had never lost complete hope for one particular reason: if evil truly prevailed in this world, we would have destroyed ourselves by now. The fact that we haven’t attests to something that the truly vile and depraved amongst us never acknowledge or admit (Read more…) themselves – the human capacity for goodness, selflessness, and resilience.
I reminded her of the literature we had studied that attests to those qualities. John Steinbeck, in his best-known novel, The Grapes of Wrath, explored the concept of Manself, his term for the human spirit, a . . . → Read More: Politics and its Discontents: Finding The Light Amidst Despair
By Lorne, on April 21, 2013, at 8:22 am
It may be that I am overly sensitive to the reactionary agenda that seems to dominate society today. It may be that I am misinterpreting a public statement made by a Canadian professor who teaches at both the Royal Military College of Canada and Queen’s University. It may mean nothing at all. Or it could have very dangerous implications.
Ever since the terrorist attacks in New York in 2001, there has been a steady erosion of civil liberties in the United States. Illegal renditions by that country, aided and abetted by many other jurisdictions, targetting American citizens for assassination, (Read more…) denying suspects their Miranda rights are but three examples.
Lest we think we are beyond such practices in Canada, we need only think of the infamous case of Maher Arar, whose rendition to Syria for torture and imprisonment was aided and abetted by our government.
. . . → Read More: Politics and its Discontents: Our Inconvenient Civil Liberties/Charter Rights
By Lorne, on April 21, 2013, at 8:22 am
It may be that I am overly sensitive to the reactionary agenda that seems to dominate society today. It may be that I am misinterpreting a public statement made by a Canadian professor who teaches at both the Royal Military College of Canada and Queen’s University. It may mean nothing at all. Or it could have very dangerous implications.
Ever since the terrorist attacks in New York in 2001, there has been a steady erosion of civil liberties in the United States. Illegal renditions by that country, aided and abetted by many other jurisdictions, targetting American citizens for assassination, (Read more…) denying suspects their Miranda rights are but three examples.
Lest we think we are beyond such practices in Canada, we need only think of the infamous case of Maher Arar, whose rendition to Syria for torture and imprisonment was aided and abetted by our government.
. . . → Read More: Politics and its Discontents: Our Inconvenient Civil Liberties/Charter Rights
By Guest Blog, on April 20, 2013, at 9:10 pm By: Sebastian Rotella | ProPublica, April 19, 2013, 4:30 p.m. The FBI interviewed Tamerlan Tsaerov, the elder of the brothers suspected in the Boston bombings, in 2011, two U.S. law enforcement officials told ProPublica Friday evening. The FBI agents conducted the inquiry into suspected extremist or terrorist activity at the request of [...]
The post Boston Bombers Echo Home-Grown Terrorists in Madrid, London Attacks appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
By Jay Cables, on April 18, 2013, at 9:44 am
Some child casualties of covert US drone war
The Pakistan government has released its figures for civilian casualties of American drone strikes. The Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that CIA drones have killed at least 2,200 people in the country, including at least 400 civilians. Around 600 have received serious injuries. In addition Islamabad believes that some 200 of the total of those killed are likely to be civilians also.
As the Bureau of Investigative Journalism notes this figure is close to their own “low range estimate” of 411 civilians killed.
Pakistani officials met with Ben Emmerson QC, UN (Read more…)
|
|
