In a colossal case of “what the hell where they thinking,” it’s just been exposed that police in Waller County, Texas (in the Houston metro area) edited the dashcam video of the arrest of Sandra Bland, a civil rights activist pulled over allegedly for failing to signal a lane change. She was later found hanged in her jail cell & her death ruled a suicide.

Apparently the edit job was so amateur that it’s indisputable & the cause of death is now being investigated as a homicide.

This is the blog of the independent journalist who exposed the editing job:

http://bennorton.com/dashcam-video-of-violent-arrest-of-sandra-bland-was-edited/

Bon Jovi is scheduled to perform in Israel in early October. Please sign & share this petition to build the cultural boycott of Israel.

https://www.change.org/p/bon-jovi-bon-jovi-boycott-israel?recruiter=723858&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=share_facebook_responsive&utm_term=des-lg-no_src-custom_msg&fb_ref=Default

It’s been my observation in left politics that ‘those whom the gods would destroy, they first make vain.’ They bury them too early in flattery & applause, treat them as another ‘second-coming’, fill their heads with notions of a special genius most can’t measure up to.

There are undeniably giants in human history, figures who altered the course–for better or worse. But the giants against tyranny possessed the singular gift of mobilizing the genius of masses of people in their own best interests. They worked tirelessly, often thanklessly, often persecuted & shunned, but never daunted. Some of those giants made it into history books; some died anonymously–often in prison cells. Some were schooled, some completely untutored. Humanity owes them all gratitude & honor.

If many remain hopelessly confused about the struggle between Palestinians & Israel, it is because media around the world work tirelessly to make us stupid. But the truth is now erupting; the lies were bombed to smithereens by Israel last summer.

This is the father of 19-year-old Mohammed Alawneh at his son’s funeral today in the West Bank village of Bruqin. Young Alawneh was shot & killed by Israeli soldiers “when clashes broke out with residents” after troops raided the village to make arrests & residents threw stones at them. The Israeli military called the stone-throwing a “violent riot” & claimed troops called on the crowd to stop hurling rocks “before they opened fire at the main culprit.” Opened fire on a guy throwing rocks!?

The caption to this photo read “Palestinian children play on a swing near the rubble of buildings, reportedly destroyed during the 50-day war between Israel & Hamas militants in the summer of 2014, in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah.” You can sure pack a lot of baloney into one short sentence.

Media is just going to have to get over the delusion they’re kidding us. The entire world stood witness to Israel’s barbaric siege of Gaza. It was Israeli bombers, not evil fairies from outer space that destroyed Gaza & reduced it to rubble. There was no war but a genocide. What else do you call it when the most sophisticated & powerful military in the world goes after unarmed civilians? As for Hamas rockets taking out Israeli targets? Show us the proof? Take a few pictures of all the alleged damage–& a few potholes in Sderot won’t cut it.

There’s a funny thing about love–it’s just blooming all the time. Nothing stops it. That’s one of those things that lets you know the human race is worth fighting for. Either that or we’re nuts.

This is a group wedding of 150 couples in Beit Lahiya, Gaza. The little girls accompany the grooms who are sitting separate from their brides. Group weddings are performed all over the world for couples who can’t afford their own extravaganza. This one was funded by al-Basheer Society for Relief & Development.

Say what you like about American democracy but Donald Trump says it best. He’s a one-man train wreck & it must be said the perfect foil to the humorless Bernie Sanders–neither of whom stands a chance in hell of winning the nomination. Wouldn’t a debate between them just bring down the house!?

It’s going on nearly 10 months since the Mexican military disappeared 43 student teachers from the Ayotzinapa teacher training college. In March, their families embarked on a caravan across the US to build solidarity & put pressure on the US & Mexican governments to return the young men in the same condition they were abducted.

It’s still possible to protest in the US without being disappeared whereas in Mexico over 30,000 have been disappeared in the past several years with the direct involvement of the regime bankrolled by the US Pentagon.

Building & maintaining the antiwar movement–necessarily a permanent fixture in US political life–is a monumental undertaking. It requires meetings; outreach to student, community, church, women’s, civil rights, immigrant rights, LGBT groups; fundraising; leafletting events to build rallies; brokering dissension & differing political methods; finding venues for forums; getting permits for rallies & marches; negotiating with police departments & officials over march routes; getting speakers at events to represent the breadth of the antiwar movement; negotiating through election periods when activity declines; coordinating by state, nationally, & internationally.