May 10, 2013 - CBC News

Four police officers caught on video kicking and punching a robbery suspect who appeared to be surrendering are now facing criminal charges...The officers, from Trois-Rivières, Que. were suspended with pay after the video of the arrest was made public.

Capital punishment is barbaric, unjust and unconscionable. It's the ultimate denial of human rights. Nothing justifies state-sponsored murder.

By Alex Kane - May 7, 2013

A student who was arrested and beaten for falling asleep at school is now suing an Alabama city, its police department and some school employees for civil rights violation, battery and negligent supervision and hiring...[A]fter the diabetic student fell asleep while in a room reserved for “in school suspensions,” a school police officer slammed her face into a cabinet and then arrested her.

Hart represented a number of Guantanamo prisoners. Disturbing questions about his death remain unanswered. Believe nothing at face value. Official accounts often turn out untrue. It won't surprise if later evidence suggests or proves murder.

By David Brown - 3 May 2013

May Day protests in Seattle, Washington ended with 17 arrests as police clashed with protesters. Like last year, the Seattle Police Department (SPD) used the marches as an opportunity to experiment with crowd-control techniques and test out new equipment...“They’re making this into a war zone when it’s not. If you’re in a crowd and you’re surrounded by police in riot gear, you get defensive.”

By Michael Harris - April 25, 2013

There is more than a whiff of political opportunism in the air...When a prime minister’s favorite part of the justice system is the police, it is a proclivity that bears watching.

By Finian Cunningham - April 28, 2013

Ms Stewart (73) is dying in a federal prison in Fort Worth, Texas, from cancer that has spread from her breast to the rest of her body. Her family has little doubt that her life-threatening illness has been induced by the vindictive conditions of her incarceration by the US authorities...The US state’s cruel persecution of this woman epitomizes the general destruction of human rights and the rise of draconian police powers across America in the aftermath of 9/11 and the fraudulent “war on terror”.

Israel's gulag is one of the world's worst. Palestinian political prisoners fill it. Their crime is wanting to live free from occupation. It's longstanding. It's ruthless. It's illegal.

By Kim Hearty and Nicholas Ellan - April 26, 2013

Consecutive increases in police budgets have given the VPD more resources for a dual strategy of heightened ticketing in the DTES and the increased criminalization of protest. Under [Vancouver Mayor Gregor] Robertson’s direction, Vancouver’s police have been pressed into a campaign of harassment and intimidation against democratic protests perceived as anti-business.

Boston's marathon bombings leave disturbing questions unanswered. Official accounts lack credibility. Mounting evidence suggests FBI responsibility. It doesn't surprise.

By Tom Carter - 25 April 2013

What history will remember as most significant about the events in Boston will not be the bombing near the marathon’s finish line or the perpetrators or their motives. What will be remembered instead will be the unprecedented military lock-down of an entire major American city, with military vehicles in the streets and heavily armed soldiers going house to house — tromping through living rooms, bedrooms and kitchens, staring down their assault rifles at terrified, barefoot families in their pajamas.

Lynne's wrongfully imprisoned. She's one of America's best. For 30 years, she defended its poor, underprivileged, unwanted, and forgotten. Without advocates like her, they're denied due process and judicial fairness.

By Keith Jones - 24 April 2013

Canadian authorities boasted Monday afternoon that, working in concert with the FBI and other US national security agencies, they had broken up a terrorist conspiracy involving an Iranian-based al-Qaeda cell. The announcement, made at a Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) press conference, came just as the House of Commons was set to debate new anti-terrorism legislation that would give the state draconian new powers.

This month, a 30-day action campaign was launched demanding the release of Russell ‘Maroon’ Shoatz from solitary confinement, where he has been held for over 23 consecutive years, and 28 of the last 30 years, in Pennsylvania prisons. On April 8, when the campaign began, Maroon’s legal team sent a letter to the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (PA DOC), demanding his release from solitary confinement and promising litigation against the PA DOC if he is not transferred to general population by May 8.

By DAVE LINDORFF - April 22, 2013

Now when police have a “situation” anywhere in the country, it’s a good bet they’ll adopt the new Boston model as the option of choice, “locking down”...whole towns or cities to give police a free hand...What we are seeing in Boston is a preview of [a] police state...The mindless post-capture applause for the army of police who implemented the “lock-down” of the city after the marathon bombing was part and parcel of that police state.