Image via WikipediaWitnessing the Transition to Fear in Tripoli
Amidst all the media furor about the fall of Tripoli from the grasp of the Libyan government, it's not easy to get a clear picture of what things look like under their new rulers. Upon being released from five days of entrapment in the Rixos hotel with 35 other foreign journalists, it was hard to believe that the streets I was driving through were the same ones I had become familiar with during the month I had spent in the capital.
The previously bustling roads with families rushing around toing and froing from the beach and getting ready for the meal to break the fast were empty, the green flags replaced by rebel ones, and the sparse checkpoints previously run by male and female volunteers, ie residents with Kalashnikovs, had been replaced by checkpoints every 100 or so meters, manned by tanks and exclusively male fighters holding sophisticated weapons supplied by the world's most powerful military force, NATO.
The proud young black Libyans protecting their neighbourhoods were gone. Later we would see the images of them being rounded up and put on pickup trucks, a sight that in the previous months had been confined to places like Benghazi and Misrata. These are the victims of the claim that Gaddafi had hired mercenaries from the African continent, a claim which has been profusely rejected by human rights organisations as lacking any evidence. But in the new Libya they are some of the first - along with those from the largest tribes, Wafalla, Washafana, Zlitan and Tarhouna - suspected to be supporting the Muammar Gaddafi, a crime punishable by death and much worse.
Nigeria starts to realize it recognized Libyan mass killers
After the former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo condemned NATO's war against Libya last week, the current Nigerian government now also starts to realize what they have recognized: a "National Transitional Council" whose rebels are mass killing Nigerian nationals who have settled in Libya.On Sunday Foreign Minister Olugbenga Ashiru received distress calls from Nigerians who live in Libya, including from their coordinator Mr Daramola Siji. Siji reported about outright killings, rape and extortion of money from Africans who have taken refuge in camps.
“The truth is that Gaddafi had sympathy for black Africans", Siji said. "In fact, there is a city in Southern Libya called Suyima that is mostly populated by Nigerians, especially the Hausa. The city shares borders with Algeria and Niger. But due to Gaddafi’s sympathy for the blacks, the Libyan rebels consider the blacks as their enemies and decided to kill any black man they come across.”
Siji, who is from Emure-Ekiti, Nigeria, described his personal situation: "My family can't leave our house. We will certainly be shot. We're lacking everything; we don't even have food. This is caused by the the same National Transitional Council that the Nigerian government is backing in Libya."
...Foreign Minister Ashiru said: “The Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria wishes to note with concern reports of incessant abuse of helpless civilians in Libya by some unscrupulous elements who continue to take undue advantage of the ongoing crisis in that country, particularly to carry out attacks on black migrant workers and other black Africans."
He added that "these extra-judicial killings certainly run contrary to Nigeria’s call for good governance by the National Transitional Council."
www.alternet.org
Facial recognition technology has become more advanced, and it's increasingly popping up in two realms: law enforcement and commerce.
www.surveillanceinthehomeland.
George W. Bush justified his warrantless wiretapping by relying on Justice Department attorney John Yoo’s theories of unlimited presidential wartime powers, and started the spying operation even before Yoo issued a formal opinion
( Make that an opinion that was 'requested' by Bush )
www.truth-out.org
It doesn't take much to come to the attention of the watchers, as 13-year-old Vito LaPinta discovered. Members of the Secret Service came to his middle school to question him about his Facebook posting urging President Obama to be aware of the danger from suicide bombers in the wake of Osama bin Lad...
www.truth-out.org
The FBI's COINTELPRO, CIA's Operation CHAOS, and NSA's Operation SHAMROCK were some of the programs established to monitor and disrupt lawful First Amendment activity during the cold war period. In the name of keeping the country safe, infiltration, dirty tricks, psychological warfare and violence w...
Ten Years Later:
Surveillance in the "Homeland"
( I'm sure you're supposed to notice the similarity to the U.S./U.K. coached 'Fatherland' of the Reich )
A joint project between Truthout.org and ACLUTen years after the devastating attacks on New York and Washington, the fundamental promises of American democracy are hanging by a thin thread. Promoted by a culture of war and fear, the US government has steadily chipped away at those legal protections that enabled 'we the people' to rule ourselves. "Ten Years Later: Surveillance in the Homeland" charts the course of this shift, exposing the rapid advent of a technologically advanced surveillance state in the shadows of the Twin Towers. Read the blog.
FOIA
Freedom of Information Act requests are the bread and butter of investigative reporting, and here we compile what years of tireless requests by the ACLU have shed light on - including warrantless wiretapping, database sharing and the targeting of dissidentsRead the FOIA blog
Immigration
Border security and 'homeland' security are integrally linked, both in the language used to justify their continuing growth and in the companies that profit off this growth. In this section, we look at private prison companies and their role in legislation, the introduction of biometric ID cards and how Islamophobia is used to fuel the war effort.Read the immigration blog
Surveillance
From fusion centers to license plate sharing technology, the expansion of surveillance methods has been a hallmark of the past ten years. Investigative journalists and privacy advocates consider just how far the surveillance state has expanded and what it's actually done for our securityRead the surveillance blog
I was a "Domestic Terrorist"
The Empire Is Eating Itself
he commemorative ceremonies that are planned for the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 massacre are those of pathos for the victims and their families, of praise for both the pursuit of the supporters of the attackers and the performance of first responders and our soldiers abroad.Flags and martial music will punctuate the combined atmosphere of sorrow and aggressive defiance to those terrorists who would threaten us. These events will be moments of respectful silence and some expressions of rage and ferocity.
But many Americans might also want to pause to recognize - or unlearn - those reactions and overreactions to 9/11 that have harmed our country. How, in this forward-looking manner, can we respect the day of 9/11?
More for Them, Less for You
hat would you say to a family financial adviser who suggested your wisest investment would be to liquidate your own retirement account and empty out your kids' college fund to buy your wealthy cousin a new Bentley? Would you go ahead and gamble with your life savings in hopes that your cousin would send you a big thank-you check, or would you hire a new financial adviser?The current crop of Republicans vying for the presidential nomination are all champions of a reverse-Robin Hood methodology that calls for soaking the poor to give more lavish tax breaks to the rich, and calling it "job creation."
"Unequal Protection: How Corporations Became 'People' and How You Can Fight Back"
Part I: Corporations Take Over
Part II: From the Birth of American Democracy through the Birth of Corporate Personhood
Part III: Unequal Consequences
Want a copy of the book? Receive "Unequal Protection: How Corporations Became 'People' - And How You Can Fight Back" as a thank-you gift with a donation of $30 or more to Truthout.
Copyright Thom Hartmann and Mythical Research, Inc. Truthout has obtained exclusive rights to reprint this content. It may not be reproduced, and is not covered by our Creative Commons license.
Digby, Campaign for America's Future
Inside the Koch Brothers' Secret Seminar
Charles Koch named 32 individuals and families who had donated more than $1 million over the previous 12 months, yet because of loopholes in federal campaign law, their donations do not exist in the public record.
TheToxic effect of Oil Spill on health and the hazards involved
....studies show that workers and local residents can suffer from health effects after oil spills. The main symptoms by type of physical health are respiratory (cough, asthma, respiratory infections), gastrointestinal (food poisoning, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea), cerebrovascular (headache, dizziness and confusion), infection rates (viral and bacterial), skin rashes, irritation of the eyes and throat, and breathing problems. Genetic abnormalities (which are potentially repairable) were also found in some studies but not others. One study even reported mental health effects in local residents.
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