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Ferguson Protester Faces Four Years in Jail Over Charges of Kicking SUV

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<h2>Ferguson Protester Faces Four Years in Jail Over Charges of Kicking SUV</h2>
<span>Ferguson Protester Faces Four Years in Jail Over Charges of Kicking SUV</span>
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<div>This article originally appeared on <span><a href="http://www.guardiannews.com/" rel="nofollow">The Guardian</a></span></div>
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<p>A protest leader in Ferguson, Missouri, could face up to four years in prison after being charged with a felony for allegedly kicking a vehicle as it plowed through a line of peaceful demonstrators who were blocking a highway.</p>
<p>Brittany Ferrell was accused of causing damage worth more than $5,000 to the SUV as its driver forced her way through the group, which had gathered on Interstate 70 near Ferguson during events to mark the anniversary of the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed black 18-year-old, by a police officer.</p>
<p>Ferrell, 26, was charged with first-degree property damage, which is a class D felony in Missouri. She was also charged with trespassing and disturbing the peace, according to Bob McCulloch, the prosecuting attorney for St. Louis County, who oversaw the grand jury inquiry into Brown’s death. Ferrell was released on a $10,000 bond on Wednesday.</p>
<p>Ferrell’s wife, Alexis Templeton, was charged with misdemeanor assault for allegedly punching the driver through her vehicle’s window, and misdemeanor charges similar to Ferrell’s for alleged trespass and disturbing the peace. Templeton, 21, has also been released.</p>
<p>The charges prompted a furious reaction among the wider Black Lives Matter protest movement. Brittany Packnett, an activist who sat on Barack Obama’s White House task force on police reform, said several demonstrators were struck by the vehicle.</p>
<p>“Feet don’t cause $5K worth of damage to cars,” Packnett said on Twitter. “McCulloch meant ‘drive over,’ not past. They were almost hit.”</p>
<p>Soon after being released on Wednesday Templeton was defiant. “I’m not worried & y’all shouldn’t be either,” she said on Twitter. “We gon' get free whether they like it or not!” She urged St Louis county police department to “quit lying.”</p>
<p>The two women are the co-founders of Millennial Activists United, an activist group that grew out of the demonstrations in Ferguson last summer. They married in December 2014 after months of protesting against the deaths of Brown and other people killed by police.</p>
<p>They were arrested the day after the rush-hour highway shutdown, which took place on a “Moral Monday” of civil disobedience, when they went to inquire about dozens of other people arrested during the protest action. The couple’s attorney, Aaron Banks, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.</p>
<p>In a statement McCulloch alleged: “The charges stem from the efforts of the defendants to block traffic on Interstate 70. Templeton is accused of punching the victim as our victim attempted to drive past the defendant. The victim suffered an eye injury as a result. Ferrell kicked the victim’s car as she passed causing nearly $5,000 in damage.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/aug/13/ferguson-protester-faces-four-years-jail-over-charges-of-attacking-suv-and-driver" rel="nofollow">Originally published by The Guardian</a></p>
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<p><a href="http://www.occupy.com/sites/default/files/medialibrary/4928.jpg" rel="nofollow"><img alt="Ferguson, Millennial Activists United, Michael Brown, St. Louis" src="http://www.occupy.com/sites/default/files/medialibrary/4928.jpg" title="Ferguson, Millennial Activists United, Michael Brown, St. Louis" /></a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.occupy.com/sites/default/files/medialibrary/13-powerful-signs-protesting-the-death-of-michael-2-25028-1408039204-3_dblbig.jpg" rel="nofollow"><img alt="" src="http://www.occupy.com/sites/default/files/medialibrary/13-powerful-signs-protesting-the-death-of-michael-2-25028-1408039204-3_dblbig.jpg" /></a></p>
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<p>Brittany Ferrell has been accused by St. Louis police of causing $5,000 damage to car she kicked as the driver forced her way through demonstrators at Michael Brown anniversary.</p>
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<p>Some of the largest American Catholic organizations have millions of dollars invested in energy companies, from hydraulic fracturing firms to oil sands producers.</p>
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<p>One of the main attributes of Formal Consensus is the intention to be non-adversarial – to ignore the traditional “us vs. them” paradigm that has increasingly paralyzed politics – but in many cases it hasn't worked.</p>
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<p>Cody Murray, his father, wife, and four-year-old daughter were all burned by a fireball after methane built up in his pump house and exploded.</p>
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<p>The faith community, tattooed young folk, retirees and other people from all walks of life agree: business as usual is inconsistent with survival, and we’re prepared to give it our all to stop it.</p>
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<div><span><em>4 days 3 hours</em> ago</span></div>
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<p>The filing before an Oregon federal judge represents the most direct acknowledgement to date that people aren't allowed to fly because of what the government believes they might do, and not what they've already done.</p>
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<div><span><em>3 days 3 hours</em> ago</span></div>
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<p>"The public is really hungry for a politics of integrity – and that’s what we’ve got and they don't."</p>
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<div><span><em>3 days 3 hours</em> ago</span></div>
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<p>Hundreds gathered on the residential side street where Brown, an unarmed black 18-year-old, was shot dead by a white police officer last August, igniting national unrest and the Black Lives Matter movement.</p>
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<div><span><em>4 days 4 hours</em> ago</span></div>
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<p>The American Psychological Association voted overwhelmingly on Friday to prohibit members from participating in interrogations conducted by U.S. agencies at locations deemed illegal under international law.</p>
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<div><span><em>4 days 4 hours</em> ago</span></div>
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<p>Recently, Britain's less politically vocal under-25s, whose penchant to not vote has long been the bane of politicians, are gathering political momentum and emerging as a potent voice of opposition to the government.</p>
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<p>People dying in the streets and living under the thumb of institutional racism don't enjoy the privilege of having their voices heard – so if they have to shut down a campaign event to force people to listen, they'll do it.</p>
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<div><img src="http://www.occupy.com/article/ferguson-protester-faces-four-years-jail-over-charges-kicking-suv" /></div>
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armageddon news revolution Ferguson Protester Faces Four Years in Jail Over Charges of Kicking SUV

Ferguson Protester Faces Four Years in Jail Over Charges of Kicking SUV Ferguson Protester Faces Four Years in Jail Over Charges of K...

Why Police Killings of Latinos Spark Less Outrage than When Victims are Black

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<h2>Why Police Killings of Latinos Spark Less Outrage than When Victims are Black</h2>
<span>Why Police Killings of Latinos Spark Less Outrage than When Victims are Black</span>
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<div>This article originally appeared on <span>Al Jazeera</span></div>
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<p>ANAHEIM, California — On July 21, 2012, police here killed Manuel Angel Diaz, an unarmed, 25-year-old man, when he ran away as officers approached. The next day, 21-year-old Joel Acevedo was killed by police after he allegedly fired shots at them.</p>
<p>Days of protests followed as hundreds took to the streets. Most were peaceful but rocks were thrown, store windows broken and cars vandalized. Police fired rubber bullets into the crowd.</p>
<p>The Anaheim riots received some national attention (pages A-11 and A-13 of The New York Times) but never reached the recent heights of similar events in Ferguson, Baltimore or Staten Island. Those protests sparked demonstrations in cities across the country and were covered around the clock by news networks, reviving the national dialogue over race relations.</p>
<p>Diaz and Acevedo are not household names. Michael Brown, Freddie Gray, Eric Garner are.</p>
<p>The obvious distinction: Diaz and Acevedo are Latinos, while the other victims of recent police incidents were African American.</p>
<p>The starkly different response to police shootings of minorities and deaths of minorities in police custody raises a question that is being asked more and more by activists and experts every day: Don’t brown lives matter, too?</p>
<p>But the reasons why the deaths of Latinos have not sparked the same national outrage as those of blacks are tangled in a complex web of history, debate over immigration and lack of government statistics on the number of brown lives lost at the hands of police.</p>
<p>“Police violence on African Americans hits a deeper resonant note because of our history,” said Mark Potok, senior fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center, a non-profit that tracks hate crimes. “The oppression of African Americans goes right at the core of our history.”</p>
<p>The legacy of slavery and segregation fueled the civil rights movement and created a well-oiled organizing machine from national advocacy groups to black churches that continue to fight for the rights of African Americans.</p>
<p>“State-sanctioned murder of African Americans is an old powerful issue,” said Roberto Suro, director of the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute at the University of Southern California. “It isn’t a matter of these incidents alone sparking this outrage. It’s more than that. It’s symbolic of lynchings and other killings that have been an instrument of suppression in the past. These incidents gain force because they speak to a whole range of other considerations.”</p>
<p>Latino civil rights groups are more focused on immigration issues and lack a galvanizing figure such as the Rev. Al Sharpton who can mobilize protesters and attract inevitable media coverage in an instant.</p>
<p>“It’s a real problem beyond the issue of police abuse,” said Angelo Falcón, president of the National Institute for Latino Policy. “It’s a recurring complaint among Latino leaders. No matter how much people talk about how multicultural things are and how diverse they are, it seems to revert to black and white … How the hell do you break through that black-white way of looking at policy issues?”</p>
<p>In Anaheim, where more than half of the population of 345,000 is Hispanic, “there were at least seven killings (by police) between 2011 and 2012,” said Gabriel San Roman, a contributing writer for the alternative OC Weekly, who covers police brutality in Anaheim and throughout Orange County. Five were Latinos. Two more Latinos were wounded by police during that period, he said.</p>
<p>Three years after the deaths of Diaz and Acevedo, “there are no politicians, no advocacy organizations,” he said. “They’re not there anymore. It’s abysmal.” By contrast, large protests happened in Ferguson for the one-year anniversary of Michael Brown’s killing.</p>
<p>A memorial to the victims is still in place here on North Anna Drive, at the site where Diaz was shot. “Rest in Peace” and “Gone but not forgotten” signs hang on the gate outside an apartment complex. Every year, the anniversary gatherings attract fewer people (about 150 this year).</p>
<p>Diaz’ mother, Genevieve Huizar, sobs as she recounts the events of that day. “They shot him twice in the lower back as he was falling to his knees,” said Huizar, a state government worker for 19 years. “They said he had a gun in his right hand. It was his cell phone.”</p>
<p>Diaz had served time but had been out of jail and off probation, she said.</p>
<p>The Orange County District Attorney ruled both Diaz’ and Acevedo’s killings justified. Huizar lost a civil suit that charged police used excessive force. She’s appealing.</p>
<p>Her regrets are countless but the one that shouts her disappointment in the lack of public support for Latino police victims the loudest is this: In a press release she issued four days into the protests, she pleaded for peace and an end to the uprising. Now she thinks she was wrong. “I regret it with my whole being,” she said. “If there had been more of an uprising, there would maybe be no Ferguson, no Baltimore, no New York.”</p>
<p>What's in the Numbers</p>
<p>Part of the challenge of gaining rousing support for Latinos killed by police is the lack of data.</p>
<p>The U.S. government has a voluntary reporting system of people killed by law enforcement, broken down by race but not by ethnicity, which is the category that Hispanic is considered. Hispanics can be black, white or Asian but the Department of Justice does not separate them from the broader race categories.</p>
<p>“That’s one of the problems we have,” said Irastema Garza, policy consultant at the National Council of La Raza. “There’s no comprehensive database in terms of police deaths.” Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder called the lack of data “unacceptable.”</p>
<p>Al Jazeera America analyzed the best available statistics to gauge the rate of police killings of minorities in relation to their population. The analysis looks at U.S. Census Bureau population numbers and a crowdsourcing project launched by The Guardian after Ferguson that reports a daily tally of deaths by police of blacks, whites and Hispanics. The Guardian’s count is based on police reports, regional news, witness statements, research groups and open-source reporting projects.</p>
<p>Al Jazeera America’s research produced surprising findings: The percentage of Latino victims of police killings falls below their share of the population.</p>
<p>Hispanics make up almost 17 percent of the U.S. population but about 14 percent of police casualties. Blacks, by comparison, are about 12 percent of the U.S. population but 25 percent of police killings. Whites are 63 percent of the population but only 48 percent of police killings.</p>
<p>The disproportionate number of blacks who are killed by police is clear in the state data, as well. Blacks are more likely to be killed by police in numbers that exceed their presence in 30 states and the District of Columbia.</p>
<p>In contrast, the percentage of police killings of Latinos surpasses the Hispanic share of the population in just a handful of states. And in those eight states, including Alaska and Idaho, the killings were few (one in Alaska) and were disproportionate largely because the Latino population is tiny in those states. No Latinos were killed by police in more than half the states.</p>
<p>In California, where Latinos are 37 percent of the population, the number killed by police is below that share at 33 percent.</p>
<p>The share of killings of whites exceeded their population numbers in nine states.</p>
<p>The disproportionately high rate of black killings may partially explain the lack of media coverage of Latino deaths by police. But a study by Columbia University’s Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race last year – titled The Latino Media Gap – found fault in the media’s approach to Latino coverage and said that Latino media participation is sorely lacking.</p>
<p>Stories about Latinos make up less than 1 percent of main news coverage and most were about Latino lawbreakers. As of 2013, there were no Latino anchors or executive producers in any of the nation’s top news programs. The study found that only 1.8 percent of news producers are Latinos.</p>
<p>The only reason the Anaheim killings received a modicum of attention outside California is because it is the home of Disneyland, San Roman said.</p>
<p>Based on The Guardian’s report, “up until June, 67 Latinos had been killed by police,” Garza said. “We’ve gotten very little coverage.”</p>
<p>She said that 58 percent of the victims didn’t have a weapon.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.occupy.com/sites/default/files/medialibrary/blm-final-01.png" rel="nofollow"><img alt="Black lives matter, police brutality, Manuel Angel Diaz" src="http://www.occupy.com/sites/default/files/medialibrary/blm-final-01.png" title="Black lives matter, police brutality, Manuel Angel Diaz" /></a></p>
<p><strong>The Immigration Factor</strong></p>
<p>The void in media coverage also ties into the absence of a national organizing movement — such as Black Lives Matter — among Latinos that focuses on protesting police abuse.</p>
<p>And that may come down to immigration.</p>
<p>Young black activists are behind Black Lives Matter, launched in 2013 after the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of black teenager Trayvon Martin in Florida. After recent killings of young black men, local chapters kicked in to action across the country.</p>
<p>Young Latino activists have instead channeled their energy into the DREAMers movement that resulted in the DREAM Act (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors) that provides conditional residency to immigrant minors who grew up in the U.S.</p>
<p>“We’ve always had pockets of activism but we didn’t have the numbers,” Garza said. “The Latino population has exploded. All of a sudden, the community has garnered attention vis a vis the election process.”</p>
<p>Latino demonstrations have targeted immigrant rights, deportations and conditions at detention facilities but not necessarily police killings of Hispanics.</p>
<p>“Immigration as an issue tends to suck all the air in the realm of Latino advocacy,” Potok said.</p>
<p>Large organizations such as the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and La Raza have 11 million reasons – the estimated number of immigrants here illegally — to expend the bulk of their lobbying and advocacy work on protecting the rights of immigrants. Newer organizations — Mi Familia Vota, Latino Victory Project — have organized to boost Latino’s political clout through voter registration campaigns and get-out-the-vote efforts.</p>
<p>“We are up and coming and a force to reckon with,” Garza said. “Other social issues are perhaps not getting the same level of attention.”</p>
<p>That’s understandable, said Gregory C. Brown, associate professor of criminal justice at California State University, Fullerton, who teaches a class on minorities in the criminal justice system. “You have to pick and choose your battle,” he said “They have a lot of agendas and this one is probably on the back agenda.”</p>
<p><strong>The Perception Factor</strong></p>
<p>How Latinos are viewed and how Latinos view police also shape the dialogue.</p>
<p>Less than half of Hispanics say they have a great deal or fair amount of confidence in local police to treat Hispanics and whites equally, while 72 percent of whites say this, according to a Pew Research Center study last year. More than three-fourths of whites express confidence in police in their community to gain the trust of local residents, but only 51 percent of Hispanics and 45 percent of blacks say the same.</p>
<p>The distrust of police is even greater for Latino immigrants here illegally.</p>
<p>“There’s no question that the reporting of hate crimes against Latinos is significantly depressed because of the fear of being deported,” Potok said.</p>
<p>“There is this fear among Latinos of the police, especially if they’re undocumented,” Brown said. “They’re afraid of deportations … It takes a lot of gumption to go against the police if you have a language problem” and are here illegally.</p>
<p>Public perception of Latinos also tends to diffuse the outcry over police killings. “No matter how many are citizens, they’re still seen in the American mind as foreigners,” Falcón said. Diaz and Acevedo were third-generation Americans.</p>
<p>The Anaheim Police Department said it underwent a huge transformation since the 2012 protests. Two years later, Raul Quezada became the first Latino police chief in the city’s history. “We really did a critical self-assessment of the police department,” said Lt. Eric Trapp, public information officer. “We really needed to make some changes in our relations with the community.”</p>
<p>The city approved hiring more officers assigned to community policing and youth services. A Coffee with a Cop program was launched to hold informal meetings in neighborhoods across the city. A mobile Public Awareness Through Citizen Education unit now visits neighborhoods several times a year. A neighborhood advisory council was formed, use-of-force standards are posted on the police department’s website and officers are now equipped with body cams — the first in the region to invest in the cameras.</p>
<p>“We’ve got to go out there and be more engaged with the community,” Trapp said.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.occupy.com/sites/default/files/medialibrary/src.adapt_.960.high_.latino_victims_02a.1439471848560.jpg" rel="nofollow"><img alt="Black lives matter, police brutality, Manuel Angel Diaz" src="http://www.occupy.com/sites/default/files/medialibrary/src.adapt_.960.high_.latino_victims_02a.1439471848560.jpg" title="Black lives matter, police brutality, Manuel Angel Diaz" /></a></p>
<p><strong>Signs of Rising Activism</strong></p>
<p>Donna Acevedo, a vocational nurse who provides home health care, has been pushing for change and accountability since her son, Joel, was killed by police three years ago. “In 2012, everybody came out to say this is wrong. Everybody wanted to be in the limelight,” she said. “Then they went away. There’s no organization to fight against police brutality here. It’s random. It’s just me.”</p>
<p>Acevedo ran for City Council last year but because of dismal fundraising, garnered only about 4 percent of the vote. Plastered in white letters on the back window of her SUV are the words: F.T.P. Film The Police.</p>
<p>Huizar proudly wears a red T-shirt emblazoned with the Young Survivors Legacy Support Network logo. She formed the group to support families who have lost loved ones at the hands of police. The group proclaims: “We are not against police. We are against police violence.”</p>
<p>Organizers have traveled the state to meet with survivors of police killings. Huizar and others organize monthly picnics for neighborhood children. Huizar even reached out to Trayvon Martin’s mother but never heard back.</p>
<p>“Black lives matter. When they say that, they mean all lives,” she said. “We need to make people aware.”</p>
<p>Awareness is rising, Garza said. At La Raza’s recent national conference in Kansas City, Missouri, participants shared stories of police abuse. “It was absolutely packed,” she said. “We know that the Latino community is very interested because racial profiling continues to be widespread. … If Latinos are invisible nationally in the public eye, we may be invisible when they’re making policy.”</p>
<p><a href="http://america.aljazeera.com/multimedia/2015/8/police-killings-of-latinos-spark-less-outrage.html" rel="nofollow">Originally published by Al Jazeera</a></p>
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<p>Brittany Ferrell has been accused by St. Louis police of causing $5,000 damage to car she kicked as the driver forced her way through demonstrators at Michael Brown anniversary.</p>
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<p>Some of the largest American Catholic organizations have millions of dollars invested in energy companies, from hydraulic fracturing firms to oil sands producers.</p>
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<p>One of the main attributes of Formal Consensus is the intention to be non-adversarial – to ignore the traditional “us vs. them” paradigm that has increasingly paralyzed politics – but in many cases it hasn't worked.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div>
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<p>Cody Murray, his father, wife, and four-year-old daughter were all burned by a fireball after methane built up in his pump house and exploded.</p>
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<p>The faith community, tattooed young folk, retirees and other people from all walks of life agree: business as usual is inconsistent with survival, and we’re prepared to give it our all to stop it.</p>
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<div><span><em>4 days 4 hours</em> ago</span></div>
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<p>The filing before an Oregon federal judge represents the most direct acknowledgement to date that people aren't allowed to fly because of what the government believes they might do, and not what they've already done.</p>
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<div><span><em>3 days 3 hours</em> ago</span></div>
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<p>"The public is really hungry for a politics of integrity – and that’s what we’ve got and they don't."</p>
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<div><span><em>3 days 3 hours</em> ago</span></div>
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<p>Hundreds gathered on the residential side street where Brown, an unarmed black 18-year-old, was shot dead by a white police officer last August, igniting national unrest and the Black Lives Matter movement.</p>
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<div><span><em>4 days 4 hours</em> ago</span></div>
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<p>The American Psychological Association voted overwhelmingly on Friday to prohibit members from participating in interrogations conducted by U.S. agencies at locations deemed illegal under international law.</p>
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<div><span><em>4 days 4 hours</em> ago</span></div>
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<p>By far the greatest beneficiary of fossil fuel donations has been Ted Cruz</p>
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<p>For the 35 years, almost all incentives operating on American corporations have resulted in lower pay for average workers and higher pay for CEOs and other top executives – it's about time that started to change.</p>
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<div><img src="http://www.occupy.com/article/why-police-killings-latinos-spark-less-outrage-when-victims-are-black" /></div>
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armageddon news revolution Why Police Killings of Latinos Spark Less Outrage than When Victims are Black

Why Police Killings of Latinos Spark Less Outrage than When Victims are Black Why Police Killings of Latinos Spark Less Outrage than ...

Pope's Climate Push At Oodds with U.S. Catholic Oil Investments

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<h2>Pope's Climate Push At Oodds with U.S. Catholic Oil Investments</h2>
<span>Pope's Climate Push At Oodds with U.S. Catholic Oil Investments</span>
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<div>This article originally appeared on <span><a href="http://www.reuters.com/" rel="nofollow">Reuters</a></span></div>
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<p>Pope Francis heartened environmentalists around the world in June when he urged immediate action to save the planet from the effects of climate change, declaring that the use of "highly polluting fossil fuels needs to be progressively replaced without delay."</p>
<p>But some of the largest American Catholic organizations have millions of dollars invested in energy companies, from hydraulic fracturing firms to oil sands producers, according to their own disclosures, through many portfolios intended to fund church operations and pay clergy salaries.</p>
<p>This discrepancy between the church's leadership and its financial activities in the United States has prompted at least one significant review of investments. The Archdiocese of Chicago, America's third largest by Catholic population, told Reuters it will reexamine its more than $100 million worth of fossil fuel investments.</p>
<p>"We are beginning to evaluate the implications of the encyclical across multiple areas, including investments and also including areas such as energy usage and building materials," Betsy Bohlen, chief operating officer for the Archdiocese, said in an email.</p>
<p>The pope's encyclical, a letter sent to all Catholic bishops, has sharpened a debate well underway in Catholic organizations and other churches about divestment. But many major American dioceses have resisted the push.</p>
<p>"You now have this clash between Pope Francis' vision of the world, and the world that the bishops who run the investments live in," said Father Michael Crosby, a Capuchin friar in Milwaukee who advocates socially responsible investing in the church.</p>
<p>"The bishops are a very conservative group, and I'm not hopeful this will be resolved anytime soon."</p>
<p>Dioceses covering Boston, Rockville Centre on Long Island, Baltimore, Toledo, and much of Minnesota have all reported millions of dollars in holdings in oil and gas stocks in recent years, according to documents reviewed by Reuters.</p>
<p>The holdings tend to make up between 5 and 10 percent of the dioceses' overall equities investments, similar to the 7.1 percent weighting of energy companies on the S&P 500 index, according to the documents.</p>
<p>The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' guidelines on ethical investing warn Catholics and Catholic institutions against investing in companies related to abortion, contraception, pornography, tobacco, and war, but do not suggest avoiding energy stocks.</p>
<p>While several organizations of progressive Catholic nuns and priests have been actively urging energy companies to make their operations more socially responsible, that activist approach has not taken hold at the level of the dioceses.</p>
<p>A spokesman for the USCCB declined to comment when asked if the organization was considering adjusting its investment guidelines after the encyclical, deemed the most controversial papal pronouncement in half a century.</p>
<p>"The Pope's intent was to say to people: there is an urgency on this issue," said Frank Coleman, who manages Catholic Responsible Investing for the Christian Brothers Investment Services, which has resisted calls to divest the fossil fuel share of its $6 billion under management.</p>
<p><a href="http://planetark.org/wen/73518" rel="nofollow">Originally published by Reuters</a></p>
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<p>Brittany Ferrell has been accused by St. Louis police of causing $5,000 damage to car she kicked as the driver forced her way through demonstrators at Michael Brown anniversary.</p>
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<p>Some of the largest American Catholic organizations have millions of dollars invested in energy companies, from hydraulic fracturing firms to oil sands producers.</p>
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<p>One of the main attributes of Formal Consensus is the intention to be non-adversarial – to ignore the traditional “us vs. them” paradigm that has increasingly paralyzed politics – but in many cases it hasn't worked.</p>
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<p>Cody Murray, his father, wife, and four-year-old daughter were all burned by a fireball after methane built up in his pump house and exploded.</p>
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<p>The faith community, tattooed young folk, retirees and other people from all walks of life agree: business as usual is inconsistent with survival, and we’re prepared to give it our all to stop it.</p>
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<div><span><em>4 days 3 hours</em> ago</span></div>
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<p>The filing before an Oregon federal judge represents the most direct acknowledgement to date that people aren't allowed to fly because of what the government believes they might do, and not what they've already done.</p>
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<div><span><em>3 days 3 hours</em> ago</span></div>
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<p>"The public is really hungry for a politics of integrity – and that’s what we’ve got and they don't."</p>
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<div><span><em>3 days 3 hours</em> ago</span></div>
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<p>Hundreds gathered on the residential side street where Brown, an unarmed black 18-year-old, was shot dead by a white police officer last August, igniting national unrest and the Black Lives Matter movement.</p>
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<div><span><em>4 days 4 hours</em> ago</span></div>
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<p>The American Psychological Association voted overwhelmingly on Friday to prohibit members from participating in interrogations conducted by U.S. agencies at locations deemed illegal under international law.</p>
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<p>The American Psychological Association voted overwhelmingly on Friday to prohibit members from participating in interrogations conducted by U.S. agencies at locations deemed illegal under international law.</p>
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<p>People dying in the streets and living under the thumb of institutional racism don't enjoy the privilege of having their voices heard – so if they have to shut down a campaign event to force people to listen, they'll do it.</p>
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armageddon news revolution Pope's Climate Push At Oodds with U.S. Catholic Oil Investments

Pope's Climate Push At Oodds with U.S. Catholic Oil Investments Pope's Climate Push At Oodds with U.S. Catholic Oil Investmen...

How Movements Decide: Formal Consensus and Its Discontents

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<h2>How Movements Decide: Formal Consensus and Its Discontents</h2>
<span>How Movements Decide: Formal Consensus and Its Discontents</span> <a href="http://www.occupy.com/sites/default/files/field/image/occupy-meeting-e1432426760476.jpg?itok=UiVTHMpn" rel="nofollow"><img src="http://www.occupy.com/sites/default/files/styles/slide_narrow/public/field/image/occupy-meeting-e1432426760476.jpg?itok=UiVTHMpn" /></a>
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<p><em>“Collective Thinking is born when we understand that all opinions, be these opinions our own or others', need to be considered when generating consensus and that an idea, once it has been constructed indirectly, can transform us.”</em><em>– From "On Conflict and Consensus," by C.T. Lawrence Butler</em></p>
<p>One of the main criticisms that mainstream commentators made about Occupy Wall Street was that the movement didn’t articulate a set list of demands. Seemingly not to comprehend that the occupiers weren't interested in working within the current economic-political model, pundits concentrated their ridicule on the “human mic" and the hand signals that gave voice to the crowd – whether in New York, across the U.S., or in other global cities where Occupy spread in the fall of 2011. That most of these commentators didn’t participate in, nor more than casually observed, the general assemblies that were the fullest expression of the movement was an often neglected part of the story.</p>
<p>For many occupiers, it was a first experience of direct democracy based on the Formal Consensus model, as articulated in the book <a href="http://theanarchistlibrary/c-t-butler-and-amy-rothstein-on-conflict-and-consensus" rel="nofollow">“On Conflict and Consensus"</a> written by C.T. Butler and Amy Rothstein. Although the model was new to many people, it was actually much easier and faster to teach than the formalities associated with conventional, earlier protocols like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert%27s_Rules_of_Order" rel="nofollow">Roberts Rules of Order</a>.</p>
<p>One of the main attributes of Formal Consensus is the intention to be non-adversarial, that is, to ignore the traditional “us vs. them” paradigm that has increasingly paralyzed politics, especially in the U.S. Not unique to Occupy, consensus building as a political process has a long history – and movements in Spain, Greece and Chile earlier in 2011 showed how activists could make it function on a larger scale.</p>
<p><strong>The problems of (Formal) Consensus</strong></p>
<p>During Occupy, there was much criticism of “progressive stack,” a technique adopted at Zuccotti Park and elsewhere as the occupations progressed. Progressive stack was enacted in order to deal with one of the main problem created by Formal Consensus: the fact that it can marginalize minority voices. Progressive stack prioritized these voices by moving them to the front of the line, both in working groups and at general assemblies. Those who were prioritized in this way included not only traditionally marginalized groups like African Americans and members of the LGBTQ community, but also people under the age of 18 and older than 35, who were often considered "minority" communities at Occupy Wall Street.</p>
<p>There were many people, even at the occupations themselves, who felt the progressive stack imposed identity politics on the movement and distracted from the larger issue of a tiny elite lording over the other 99% of the population. However, in the years since, we have seen time and again that Occupy lent weight to a range of diverse causes as its participants returned to their communities and reinvigorated activism there once the encampments were taken down. From student debt to Hurricane Sandy to Black Lives Matter, many former occupiers poured their organizing talents and passions into causes that are having real world impact. Much of this enthusiasm was generated by the general assemblies and the use of Formal Consensus.</p>
<p>Another argument that has been made against the Formal Consensus model was that it was too time-consuming. As L.A. Kauffman <a href="http://www.alternet.org/activism/why-consensus-process-isnt-necessarily-ideal-activist-movements" rel="nofollow">wrote</a> for Alternet: “In theory, consensus might include everyone in all deliberations, but in practice, the process greatly favored those who could devote limitless time to the movement."</p>
<p>It’s possible that technology can help resolve some of these issues; apps like <a href="http://www.occupy.com/article/introducing-loomio-occupy-inspired-app-consensus-decision-making" rel="nofollow">Loomio</a> could be revolutionary in facilitating Formal Consensus over wide geographic areas in the future. Perhaps, in fact, the next generation of general assemblies could use this type of technology to connect millions and force international institutions and governments to act on widespread concerns like global warming.</p>
<p><strong>Approval voting: An alternative to Formal Consensus?</strong></p>
<p>There are other systems that can be used in lieu of Formal Consensus. One option is <a href="https://youtu.be/orybDrUj4vA" rel="nofollow">approval voting</a>, which could be easily adapted to pass resolutions instead of electing individuals into leadership roles. One of its main virtues is its simplicity.</p>
<p>In <a href="http://bcn.boulder.co.us/government/approvalvote/center.html" rel="nofollow">traditional approval voting</a>, when more than two candidates are running for election, voters get to choose whether they approve or disapprove of each individual candidate, and all votes count. The winning candidate (or resolution) is the one with the most approval votes. No doubt, in most cases, hand signals could be adapted for approving or disapproving resolutions put before a General Assembly rather than using paper ballots.</p>
<p>Approval voting could be useful dealing with disruptive individuals and agents provocateurs – those who make even the 90% consensus model adopted at Zuccotti Park unworkable. It also offers an efficient way to make decisions more quickly so that people with less time will be more easily able to contribute to the decision making process, especially when immediate action is required.</p>
<p>This is not to say that approval voting should be seen as a replacement for Formal Consensus; in some cases it might work better, in others it might be used alongside it. As the days of Occupy fade further into memory, we have a chance still to highlight some of the movement’s successes as well as its failures. While Formal Consensus should be seen as the former, it isn't necessarily ideal for every situation, or issue. Activists must remember this or risk promoting process over the bigger, actual goals of the movement.</p>
<p>An edited version of this article appeared on <a href="http://www.nationofchange.org/2015/08/10/talking-democracy-reassessing-formal-consensus/" rel="nofollow">Nation of Change</a>.</p>
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<p>Brittany Ferrell has been accused by St. Louis police of causing $5,000 damage to car she kicked as the driver forced her way through demonstrators at Michael Brown anniversary.</p>
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<p>Some of the largest American Catholic organizations have millions of dollars invested in energy companies, from hydraulic fracturing firms to oil sands producers.</p>
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<p>One of the main attributes of Formal Consensus is the intention to be non-adversarial – to ignore the traditional “us vs. them” paradigm that has increasingly paralyzed politics – but in many cases it hasn't worked.</p>
</div>
</div>
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<p>Cody Murray, his father, wife, and four-year-old daughter were all burned by a fireball after methane built up in his pump house and exploded.</p>
</div>
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<p>The faith community, tattooed young folk, retirees and other people from all walks of life agree: business as usual is inconsistent with survival, and we’re prepared to give it our all to stop it.</p>
</div>
<div><span><em>4 days 4 hours</em> ago</span></div>
</div>
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<p>The filing before an Oregon federal judge represents the most direct acknowledgement to date that people aren't allowed to fly because of what the government believes they might do, and not what they've already done.</p>
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<div><span><em>3 days 3 hours</em> ago</span></div>
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<p>"The public is really hungry for a politics of integrity – and that’s what we’ve got and they don't."</p>
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<div><span><em>3 days 3 hours</em> ago</span></div>
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<p>Hundreds gathered on the residential side street where Brown, an unarmed black 18-year-old, was shot dead by a white police officer last August, igniting national unrest and the Black Lives Matter movement.</p>
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<div><span><em>4 days 4 hours</em> ago</span></div>
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<p>The American Psychological Association voted overwhelmingly on Friday to prohibit members from participating in interrogations conducted by U.S. agencies at locations deemed illegal under international law.</p>
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<div><span><em>4 days 4 hours</em> ago</span></div>
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<p>For the 35 years, almost all incentives operating on American corporations have resulted in lower pay for average workers and higher pay for CEOs and other top executives – it's about time that started to change.</p>
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<p>This is Kenneth Langone, the founder of Home Depot and a longtime GOP donor. His biggest fear? Income inequality.</p>
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armageddon news revolution How Movements Decide: Formal Consensus and Its Discontents

How Movements Decide: Formal Consensus and Its Discontents How Movements Decide: Formal Consensus and Its Discontents “Collective ...

Study Shows Music More Effective Than Drugs For A Variety Of Conditions

<p><a href="http://cdn11.trueactivist.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/piano-691716_640.jpg"><img alt="piano-691716_640" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-37706" height="266" src="http://cdn10.trueactivist.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/piano-691716_640-400x266.jpg" width="400" /></a>A recent study conducted at <a href="https://www.mcgill.ca/newsroom/channels/news/major-health-benefits-music-uncovered-225589" target="_blank">McGill University’s Psychology Department</a> has shown that music is actually more effective than drugs for a variety of different conditions. The study found that <a href="http://www.trueactivist.com/at-first-it-seems-like-theres-no-hope-but-music-brings-them-back-to-life/" target="_blank">music</a> can release natural chemicals and pain relievers in the brain that work quicker and better than drugs do.</p>
<p>Prof. Levitin, one of the study’s main researchers explained how music can trigger chemical processes in the brain that have healing effects.</p>
<p><em>“We’ve found compelling evidence that musical interventions can play a health care role in settings ranging from operating rooms to family clinics. But even more importantly, we were able to document the neurochemical mechanisms by which music has an effect in four domains: management of mood, stress, immunity and as an aid to social bonding,”</em> Levitin said.</p>
<p>The researchers found that music can release dopamine and opioids, cortisol, serotonin and oxytocin. When these chemicals are released, they can improve motivation, increase pleasure derived from certain activities, which can help with eating disorders and other issues. These natural chemicals can also help with stress, social anxiety and improve immunity.</p>
<p>Dr. Francis Chandra commented on the study, saying that that these findings could encourage people to limit their dependence on other drugs.</p>
<p><em>“We know music facilitates active neurochemical processes in a symphony of opioids which pharmaceutical intervention has been unable to match. We’ve had residents where we could reduce psychotropic drugs or have them come off, and we could see benefits to staff with improvements in morale and engagement,</em>” he said.</p>
<p>In one study, it was found that patients who listened to music before surgery had lower anxiety levels than people who were given anti-anxiety drugs like Valium or Xanax.</p>
<p><em>“The reviewed evidence does provide preliminary support for the claim that neurochemical changes mediate the inï¬‚uence of music on health. Music is among those lifestyle choices that may reduce stress, protect against disease, and manage pain,</em>” the study said.</p>
<p>Most of the popular medications on the market today are simply catalysts to unlock the power chemicals that are already stored in our brains. To find natural ways to unlock these chemicals, can allow us to gain the benefits of those chemicals, without putting <a href="http://www.trueactivist.com/must-watch-new-pharma-bill-quietly-passes-us-house/" target="_blank">big pharma toxins</a> into our bodies.</p>
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<p><a href="https://www.facebook.com/jgvibes" target="_blank">John Vibes</a> writes for True Activist and is an author, researcher and investigative journalist who takes a special interest in the counter culture and the drug war.</p>
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activism knowledge news Study Shows Music More Effective Than Drugs For A Variety Of Conditions

A recent study conducted at McGill University’s Psychology Department has shown that music is actually more effective than drugs for a vari...

Muslims Kidnap Christian Pastor And Ask For $120,000 Ransom, His Family Pays The Money. The Muslims Then Cut The Pastor ...

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<p style="float: right; margin: 0 0 10px 15px; width:240px; height: auto;"><img src="http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/parts-copy2.jpg" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;" width="240" /></p>
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<p><strong>By Theodore Shoebat<br /></strong></p>
<p>Muslims kidnapped a Christian pastor and demanded a $120,000 ransom, and held him in captivity for two months. The family ended up paying the money for the return of the pastor. The Muslims cut him up into pieces, put them in a box and sent it to the family. I did a whole video on this martyrdom:</p>
<p><iframe width="660" height="440" src="http://shoebattube.com/player/embed_player.php?vid=1032&width=660&height=440&autoplay=no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p>
<p>John Newton of the Aid to the Church in Need <a href="http://www.christianpost.com/news/kidnapped-priest-killed-chopped-up-by-isis-as-christians-become-a-form-of-currency-in-mid-east-war-says-aid-to-the-church-in-need-142658/" target="_blank">recounted</a> the story:</p>
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<p>Christians have become a form [of] currency in this tragedy… I know of one priest who was kidnapped for two months … they asked for a ransom of $120,000, which the family managed to raise and deliver. … But hours later, the priest was killed and his body cut up, with pieces of him sent in a box to the family.</p>
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<p>The martyr’s death appears to be filled with dolor, but the angels comfort him. For an angel of Heaven visited our Lord, “strengthening him” (Luke 22:43) for the battle that He was about to commence. It does not matter who kills you, what matters is that you endure unto the end in this cosmic battle between good and evil. God was crucified, and the whole universe quaked in the midst of pure awe, in the presence of the One Who contains the cosmos — God one with Humanity — leading a war for the cause of humanity, against those who hate humanity. Pure Love gave Himself up, so that we could give ourselves up to be one with Love.</p>
<p>And now this martyr sits in Heaven, one with God, in the pureness of Love, free from all carnality and mental slavery, in union with Justice, and crying out for justice to be made against the enemies of the Cross. The holy David asked the question, “Lord, who may abide in Your tabernacle?” (Psalm 15:1) And the answer given is, “He who swears to his own hurt and does not change” (Pslam 15:4). This man swore an oath to God, and it was to his own death, and yet he continued the path. He ran the race to the finish line and endured like a militant athlete. He followed the words of the prophet, “walk in the way of the good and keep to the paths of the righteous.” (Proverbs 2:20) And now where is this martyr but in the tabernacle of God? He is “with the greater and more perfect tabernacle” (Hebrews 9:11). “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,” says our Lord, “For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:10) And this martyr, once in the earth, is now an eternal citizen of Heaven’s Kingdom.</p>
<p>Right now we are working very hard to help save Christians in Iraq, and it has proven to be difficult. Please help us succeed in this mission and send a donation to save your persecuted brothers and sisters.</p>
<p><a href="https://ffmu.webconnex.com/rescuechristians" target="_blank"><strong>THERE ARE SO MANY CHRISTIAN SUFFERING IN IRAQ AND SYRIA. HELP US RESCUE CHRISTIANS FROM ISLAMIC PERSECUTION. CLICK HERE TO MAKE A DONATION THAT WILL SAVE CHRISTIAN LIVES FROM MUSLIM TERRORISTS</strong></a></p>
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anonymous armageddon isis islam war Muslims Kidnap Christian Pastor And Ask For $120,000 Ransom, His Family Pays The Money. The Muslims Then Cut The Pastor ...

By Theodore Shoebat Muslims kidnapped a Christian pastor and demanded a $120,000 ransom, and held him in captivity for two months. The f...