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16 new articles have been posted since yesterday.

Video Of SC Killing Shows Murder & Police Lies

South Carolina police officer Michael Thomas Slager was charged with first-degree murder for the shooting death of Walter Scott. Charges against South Carolina police officers for shooting someone are extremely rare. But what was particularly remarkable in this case was, for at least two days, Slager was apparently unaware that video of the entire incident existed. This provides a unique opportunity to observe how one police officer sought to avoid accountability for his actions.

Between the time when he shot and killed Scott early Saturday morning and when charges were filed, Slager — using the both the police department and his attorney — was able to provide his “version” of the events. He appeared well on his way to avoiding charges and pinning the blame on Scott.

Then a video, shot by an anonymous bystander, revealed exactly what happened. -more-

Adjuncts Join The Fight For 15

Most observers agree that adjunct instructors deserve better pay, but what about $15,000 per course? The Service Employees International Union shocked even some adjunct activists last week when it announced that figure as a centerpiece of its new faculty advocacy campaign. But while union leaders admit the number is bold, those involved in the campaign say adjuncts might as well aim big, since they have little to lose. They also say they hope the $15,000 figure will force a national conversation about just how colleges spend their money, if not on middle-class salaries for instructors.

“Clearly this is an aspirational goal, but it’s a realistic goal, as well,” said Tiffany Kraft, an adjunct instructor of English at four different institutions in the Portland, Ore., area, where she earns $2,700 to $3,400 per course — about average, nationwide. -more-

Germany On Verge Of Virtually Banning Fracking

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cabinet signed off on a draft law on Wednesday that imposes an effective ban on the controversial technique of fracking for shale gas.

Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, involves blasting chemicals and water into rock formations to release trapped gas. Opposition is strong in densely populated Germany due to concerns about the risk of contaminating drinking water.

Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks said the new law would set Germany’s strictest conditions for fracking.

"Protecting health and drinking water are top priorities. For this reason, we want to restrict fracking as far as possible," Hendricks told a news conference.

The new law, which now goes to parliament for approval, will impose an outright ban on fracking for shale gas in the next few years and only allow scientific test drilling under strict conditions to assess the risks and environmental impact. -more-

Officer Charged With Murder After Shooting Man In Back

The North Charleston police chief, Eddie Driggers, said officer Slager, 33, had been arrested and charged with murder.

Attorney L Chris Stewart, who came to North Charleston a day after the shooting to represent the family, said the video forced authorities to act quickly and decisively, and he called the person who made the video a hero.

“What happened today doesn’t happen all the time,” Stewart told a news conference. “What if there was no video?” Scott’s mother stood nearby, saying, “Thank you, Lord” and “Hallelujah.”

The family plans to file a civil rights suit against Slager, the department and the city, Stewart said. Anthony Scott said his late sibling served for two years in the US Coast Guard, that he was a father of four, and that he loved the Dallas Cowboys. -more-

Frack-Tosse Intolerant Festival Expresses Opposition To Pipelines

Those at the Frack-Tosse Intolerant festival, weren’t shy when sharing their opinion on the proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline.

Dale McCutcheon says, "whole towns have had to close down and be removed because of ground water contamination, I think sometimes in this area we don’t fully estimate the potential of our water supply and appreciate what we have."

Musicians at the event say, "they’re 44 inches wide, they spit chemicals out and start fires."

The proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline would run 300 miles through Northwestern West Virginia and southern Virginia, Mountain Valley LLC. has filed a lawsuit to allow surveying on more than 100 peoples land in West Virginia.

Supporters of the pipeline say it could bring thousands of jobs to West Virginia and more than one million dollars to Monroe County annually. -more-

DeChristopher Wants Churches To Take Moral Leadership On Climate

Recently, there has been a growing discussion of climate change as a moral issue, both in academia and in religious communities. This past fall I spoke at three religion and climate change conferences in as many months, including a conference at Harvard Divinity School, “Spiritual and Sustainable: Religion Responds to Climate Change,” and in June 2015 I will join many global thinkers at a process theology conference on climate change in Claremont, California. The highly anticipated encyclical from Pope Francis on climate change will undoubtedly contribute and bring attention to this discourse.

Frequently, however, the acknowledgment that climate change is a moral issue on which religious people should engage is the end of the conversation. -more-

Predator & Extra-Judicial Execution: Washington’s Calling Cards

Initially, the English word “drone” meant both an insect and a sound. It was not until the outbreak of World War II that it began to take on another meaning. At that time, American artillery apprentices used the expression “target drones” to designate the small remotely controlled planes at which they aimed in training. The metaphor did not refer solely to the size of those machines or the brm-brm of their motors. Drones are male bees, without stingers, and eventually the other bees kill them. Classical tradition regarded them as emblems of all that is nongenuine and dispensable. That was precisely what a target drone was: just a dummy, made to be shot down.

However, it was a long time before drones were to be seen cruising above battlefields. -more-

Barrett Brown Stripped Of Prison Email After Talking To Media

Barrett Brown, the brash journalist and former member of Anonymous who was sentenced in January 2015 to over five years in federal prison, had his e-mail privileges suddenly revoked, seemingly for corresponding with journalists.

On Sunday, Brown’s supporters published his account of the punishment, describing how he suddenly lost access to his prison-supplied e-mail account on March 31. In the ensuing days, Brown attempted to contact various prison officials to get further information, including someone named “Trust Fund Manager Coleman.” As Ars reported previously, in April 2014 Brown took a plea deal admitting guilt on three charges: “transmitting a threat in interstate commerce,” interfering with the execution of a search warrant, and being "accessory after the fact in the unauthorized access to a protected computer." -more-

As The Country Falls Apart, It’s Time For Our Revolution

You can feel it. Or maybe you can’t.

It doesn’t matter whether you feel it or not. It’s happening. The story of the United States of America as we know it — not merely as the world’s dominant superpower, but as a discrete political, economic, and geographic entity — is drawing to a close due to a convergence of emerging economic, environmental, and political crises.

Nothing lasts forever, empires least of all. And this one, which only began to expand in earnest circa the year 1900, doesn’t feel like it has the staying power of ancient Rome.

Not at all. -more-

Activists: Civil Disobedience The Only Way To Stop Shale Gas

A group of citizens in northern Jutland have organised an anti-fracking campaign of civil disobedience to stop the French company Total from carrying out trial drilling for shale gas near the town of Frederikshavn.

Aktion Bloker Boretårnet (‘operation stop the drilling rig’) yesterday stopped three lorries carrying equipment to the planned site of the drilling project, according to the group’s Facebook page. The group has told Energiwatch.dk that its members will continue its blockade to physically prevent the rig from being delivered. “Sometimes it’s necessary to use civil disobedience if the consequences of not acting is so great,” the group told Energiwatch.dk. Socialistisk Folkeparti (SF) in northern Jutland is also campaigning to stop the first drilling for shale gas in Denmark from taking place. Thomas Krog, the chairman of SF in the region who is a parliamentary candidate for the party, outlined the reasons why to Energiwatch.dk. -more-

Jamaica Suffering ‘Most Austere Budget In The World’ By IMF

Ahead of President Obama’s trip to Jamaica this week, a new paper from the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) finds that Jamaica is running the most austere budget in the world, with a primary surplus of 7.5 percent, due to its IMF agreement, and that the government’s interest payments on the debt and austerity have brought public investment to a low. The paper, “Partners in Austerity: Jamaica, the United States and the International Monetary Fund” by Jake Johnston, notes that Jamaica has a debt-to-GDP ratio of nearly 140 percent and its public interest burden is one of the very highest in the world, at over 8 percent of GDP last year. -more-

Strikes Proliferate In China As Working Class Awakens

Timid by nature, Shi Jieying took a risk last month and joined fellow workers in a strike at her handbag factory, one of a surging number of such labor protests across China.

Riot police flooded into the factory compound, broke up the strike and hauled away dozens of workers. Terrified by the violence, Shi was hospitalized with heart trouble, but with a feeble voice from her sickbed expressed a newfound boldness.

"We deserve fair compensation," said Shi, 41, who makes $4,700 a year at Cuiheng Handbag Factory in Nanlang, in southern China. Only recently, she had learned she had the right to social security funding and a housing allowance — two of the issues at stake in the strike. -more-

On the Lam With Bank Robber Enric Duran

Being underground is not a condition Enric Duran always takes literally, but one night in late January he went from basement to basement. At a hackerspace under a tiny library just south of Paris, he met a group of activists from across France and then traveled with them by bus and Métro to another meeting place, in an old palace on the north end of the city. On the ground floor it felt like an art gallery, with white walls and sensitive acoustics, but the basement below was like a cave, full of costumes and scientific instruments and exposed masonry. There, Duran arranged chairs in a circle for the dozen or so people who’d made the journey. As they were settling in and discussing which language they’d speak, a woman from upstairs, attending an event about open licenses, peeked in through the doorway. -more-

These College Students Want To Fix The Criminal Justice System

There are a bunch of new allies in the criminal justice reform movement, and they’re a force to be reckoned with. No, we’re not talking about conservatives like Newt Gingrich or the deep-pocketed Koch brothers. We’re talking about millennials. On Monday, student organizers at nine universities are joining forces to make it clear they care deeply about the movement to reform our country’s criminal justice system. In particular, this week’scampaign will tackle the solitary confinement of juveniles. Organizers hope to catch the attention of U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.

“We’re going for the big fish,” said Savion Castro, a 20-year-old sophomore at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and the campaign director for the Student Alliance for Prison Reform. -more-

Erie County Sheriff Records Reveal Invasive Use Of “Stingray” Tech

The New York Civil Liberties Union released today records it received from the Erie County Sheriff’s Office on its use of ”stingrays,” devices that can track and record New Yorkers’ locations via their cell phones. The records showed that of the 47 times the Sheriff’s Office used stingrays in the past four years, it apparently only once obtained a court order, contradicting the sheriff’s own remarks. Stingrays can collect information on all cell phones in a given area as well as precisely track particular phones, locating people within their own home, at a doctor’s office, at a political protest or in a church. -more-

Meet The Privacy Activists Who Spy On The Surveillance Industry

On the second floor of a narrow brick building in the London Borough of Islington, Edin Omanovic is busy creating a fake company. He is playing with the invented company’s business cards in a graphic design program, darkening the reds, bolding the blacks, and testing fonts to strike the right tone: informational, ambiguous, no bells and whistles. In a separate window, a barren website is starting to take shape. Omanovic, a tall, slender Bosnian-born, Scottish-raised Londonite gives the company a fake address that forwards to his real office, and plops in a red and black company logo he just created. The privacy activist doesn’t plan to scam anyone out of money, though he does want to learn their secrets. -more-

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