Black Minnesota man killed by police, again

This 12 April 2021 video from Minnesota, USA is called Brooklyn Center Police Fire Tear Gas On People Protesting Daunte Wright’s Death

FRESH UNREST NEAR MINNEAPOLIS Police fatally shot a Black man during a traffic stop just outside Minneapolis on Sunday, inflaming tensions in the region again while former police officer Derek Chauvin is on trial over the death of George Floyd last year. The police shooting of Daunte Wright, 20, in the city of Brooklyn Center, sparked large protests. [HuffPost]

CONVICTION WAS AN ANOMALY Each year, police shoot and kill roughly 1,000 people. But from early 2005 to June 2019, only 104 non-federal law enforcement officers were arrested on murder or manslaughter charges related to an on-duty shooting, and only 35 were convicted of a crime. Chauvin’s conviction was an anomaly. [HuffPost]

TEEN GIRL IN OHIO KILLED BY POLICE A teenage girl was shot dead by a police officer in Columbus, Ohio, on Tuesday afternoon, about the same time that a jury in Minneapolis was returning guilty verdicts against Chauvin. Family members of the victim identified the girl as a “loving” and “sweet” teenager named Ma’Khia Bryant. [HuffPost]

COPS KEEP KILLING BLACK PEOPLE AFTER CHAUVIN VERDICT Police officers in Ohio, California and North Carolina have killed Black people since former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty of murdering George Floyd, a grim list of deaths at police hands that keeps growing. [AP]

MINNESOTA POLICE HARASS JOURNALISTS AT PROTESTS Minnesota police aggressively arrested a CNN producer and assaulted multiple other members of the press covering protests over the police shooting of Daunte Wright last week, according to an attorney representing dozens of news outlets. Some journalists also reported being harassed and intimidated by police. [HuffPost]

Anticipating mass protests over the summary execution of 13-year-old Adam Toledo by Chicago police on March 29, prosecutors from the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, city officials and local media are seeking to portray the boy as a hardened gang member, justifying the police murder. Despite these attempts to shift blame away from the Chicago Police Department (CPD), Toledo’s death has shed further light on the lawlessness and brutality that characterize police operations in working class neighborhoods: here.

‘ASSASSINATION’ IN CHICAGO Chicago’s police oversight group released footage of an officer fatally shooting a 13-year-old boy more than two weeks ago. Police said the shooting followed an “armed confrontation” with Adam Toledo, but video footage showed no gun in the boy’s hand and that he complied by putting his hands up. “If you’re shooting an unarmed child with his hands in the air, it is an assassination,” Adeena Weiss-Ortiz, the Toledo family’s attorney, said. [HuffPost]

Little owl and stock doves

This 1 April 2021 video shows a little owl and stock doves on a roof in Nijkerk in the Netherlands.

Robin Drenth made this video.

Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos kills workers

This 4 April 2021 video from the USA says about itself:

Jeff Bezos‘ Culture of Utter Psychopathy Puts Profits Before Lives

Status Coup’s Jordan Chariton shares original reporting he’s done with the Brown family, where one sister, Poushawn, has died after being required to administer COVID tests to other Amazon workers, and another sister, Christina, was met with concern for the Amazon vehicle and not herself when icy conditions flipped her delivery van. This points to a culture of psychopathy at Amazon that starts from the top.

This 4 April 2021 video from the USA says about itself:

Amazon‘s SHOCKING Culture of FEAR Harms Efforts to Unionize

Independent journalist Tina-Desiree Berg of District 34 (interviews Amazon workers who detail efforts to unionize, but also a culture of fear and a feeling of being very replaceable among the Staten Island Team.

New dinosaurs, other fossils discovered

This 20 March 2021 video is called New Fossils and Paleontology- February 2021. About discoveries, from dinosaurs to Cambrian invertebrates.

Women against war, Asia, Pacific

This 9 March 2021 video says about itself:

Gender and Disarmament in Asia-Pacific

“He recalled his mother’s last letter. ‘What would she feel,’ he wondered, ‘if she saw me here now, on this field, with cannon aimed at me?’ ~ Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace, 1865

For more than a century women and women’s organisations and movements have mobilised in support of peace and disarmament. There have been examples of women’s organisations and movements at the national, regional and international level with a primary focus on peace and disarmament. It is noted as early as in 1904 when women of Manipur fought using non-violent tactics against British Colonial Rule in the First Women’s War and exploitative policies, and later on April 28, 1915 for the first time in history when nearly 1,200 women called “International Congress for Women” from warring and neutral countries came together to protest the conflict at The Hague in Holland.

During the Cold War, women lobbied against stockpiling and the possible use of nuclear weapons. After a 1959 Conference on the “Responsibility of Women in the Atomic Age”, the newly formed “European Movement of Women For Nuclear Disarmament” and other women’s groups, embarked on a massive educational and petition campaign. Around the world, in the Pacific region, women have organised against nuclear testing. For instance, a group of women in Japan set up a peace camp at the base of Mount Fuji. Women’s groups in Africa have also been involved in advocating for peace and reconstruction as seen in Angola, Burundi, Somalia and Niger.

An individual’s decision to disarm is influenced by his/her/their perception of personal and economic security, an issue that is closely related to women. This makes disarmament a continuing process that is dependent on myriad factors such as the state’s ability to protect its citizens, crime levels, economic opportunities and the degree to which a weapon has become legitimate within society. A key to understanding why women have organisations in favour of disarmament is the link many women have made between gender equality and peace. The United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security was adopted in October 2000. This resolution specifically mentions the need to incorporate gender perspectives in disarmament, demobilisation and rehabilitation initiatives. This resolution was a monumental turning point in recognizing the concept of women’s direct contribution to Disarmament.

The webinar on 5 March is being organised by the Asia Group of International Peace Bureau to mark International Women’s Day of 2021 and will be focusing on the sharing of important ongoing work done in this field. We look forward to having you with us.

Featuring:

Ms. Emiko Hirano, New Japan Women’s Association (Japan)
Dr. Lisa Natividad, Guahan Coalition for Peace and Justice (Guam)
Ms Jung Min Choi, World Without War (South Korea)
Opening remarks will be given by IPB Co-President, Lisa Clark.
Moderated by IPB board member and Founder-Director of the Manipur Women Gun Survivors Network, Binalakshmi “Bina” Nepram.

Golden eagle feeding in Belarus

This video from Belarus says about itself

Bird of prey – Golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos). Wild subadult bird in winter. Eagle with his prey.

Swedish punk girls start band, film review

This video says about itself:

We Are The Best! International Trailer 1 (2014) – Swedish Drama Movie HD

Three 12 and 13-year-old girls decide to form a punk band in 1982 Stockholm.

This video is called Exclusive Clip From Punk Film ‘We Are The Best’.

The start of this band of young girls’ start is a bit like the first concert of Siouxsie and the Banshees in 1976. When Siouxsie had never played on stage, Steve had never played bass, Sid Vicious had never played drums, and Marco Pironi had only played some guitar in his bedroom.

Two atheist Swedish girls on drums and bass invite a Christian acoustic guitar player called Hedvig to join them. Not because of agreement with her religious views but because they don’t like that she is shunned at school. They can’t persuade Hedvig to give up religion, but they do convince her to cut her long hair off.

A member of a mainstream rock band offers to give Hedvig electric guitar lessons. But it turns out that without previous electric experience, she is a much better electric guitar player than him. Finally, the girls get respect from older rock musicians.

There really was a band of 12-13-year-old girls, in the Netherlands in early 1980. Sub-trax were interviewed on national radio.

Unfortunately, their drummer had to stop. So their intention to play in March 1980 in Voorschoten with Crass, Poison Girls, Cheap ‘n’ Nasty and other bands could not go ahead.

Murderous anti-Asian racism in the USA

This 18 March 2020 video from United States TV says about itself:

Six of the eight victims in the Atlanta shooting spree were of Asian descent, and the attack came as Asian Americans face increased discrimination, hate and violence. NBC investigative and consumer correspondent Vicky Nguyen reports for In Depth TODAY.

Atlanta shootings expose growth of anti-Asian violence in the US. A subcommittee of the House of Representatives held a hearing on Thursday entitled “Discrimination and Violence Against Asian Americans,” the first time the US Congress has addressed the issue since the 1980s when Chinese American Vincent Chin was murdered: here.

LET’S CALL IT WHAT IT IS The words “racist misogyny” need to enter the conversation about the Atlanta spa shootings, writes HuffPost’s Brittany Wong. Police said it was “too early” to determine if racism was at play after a gunman fatally shot eight people, including six women of Asian descent. The fetishization of Asian women is, in itself, racist. [HuffPost]

WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE VICTIMS Xiaojie “Emily” Tan was a business owner and “the sweetest person you’d ever meet,” said a friend and customer. Cherokee County officials have released the identities of the five people shot ― four of whom were killed ― at Young’s Asian Massage, the first spa where the gunman opened fire Tuesday. [HuffPost]

2 ASIAN WOMEN STABBED IN SAN FRANCISCO Two older Asian women were stabbed on the street while waiting for the bus in San Francisco this week as anti-Asian violence rises nationwide. They are recovering from their injuries. “San Francisco is my home and my Grandma’s home. We need to feel safe where we live and not in constant fear,” wrote the granddaughter of one of the victims. [HuffPost]

WHEN LAW ENFORCEMENT FAILS HATE CRIME VICTIMS  Police statements in Atlanta served as a reminder of the failures of the American criminal justice system, specifically when it comes to investigating crimes that stem from race-based bias and hatred, writes HuffPost’s Rowaida Abdelaziz. Police are often reluctant or refuse to liken crimes to racial animus, which only further traumatizes people in the targeted community. [HuffPost]

pic.twitter.com/rNQljM64c9

— Chris brown (@chrisbrown2075) March 19, 2021

Migratory birds returning to New York

This video from the USA says about itself:

Red-winged Blackbirds and Common Grackles Return To Sapsucker Woods – March 16, 2021

Red-winged Blackbirds and Common Grackles are some of the first migrants to return to Sapsucker Woods in Ithaca, New York, each spring. Which spring migrants are arriving in your area?

Racist, sexist massacres Asian women, Atlanta, USA

This 17 March 2020 video about the USA says about itself:

Robert Aaron Long, a White Supremacist with ‘passion for guns & God‘ arrested after 8 Asians killed

#AtlantaShootings​: Suspect, 21, with ‘passion for guns and God‘ arrested after eight killed.. 6 Asian women, 1 White man & 1 White woman at three separate massage parlors in a span of 1 hour

White supremacist propaganda nearly doubled in 2020 to most in a decade, ADL says: here.

A 17 March 2020 video about the USA used to say about itself:

At least eight people have been killed in a series of shootings at three Atlanta area massage parlors. Authorities described a number of victims as women of Asian descent. A 21-year-old man, Robert Aaron Long, has been taken into custody. The first shooting occurred at Young’s Asian Massage near Acworth in Cherokee county, just north-west of Atlanta. Police officers responded to a reported robbery at Gold Spa in the city’s north-east and were then alerted to another shooting across the street at the Aromatherapy Spa.

This 17 March 2020 video about the USA says about itself:

All but one of the people killed were women and six of them were Asians.

First, I wish strength and healing for the surviving relatives and friends of this heinous mass murder.

This massacre is a consequence of preceding anti-Asian racism and misogyny. Ever since then United States President Donald Trump started an anti-China witchhunt to deflect anger about his mismanagement of the coronavirus disaster, with a little help of the Rupert Murdoch media empire, there came a wave of racism and violence against people of (perceived) Chinese or other Asian ancestry. In the USA, also in other countries like Britain and the Netherlands. Similarly, the anti-women stance of the Trump administration also likely influenced this Georgia, USA mass killer Long.

CHINA PARANOIA FUELS ANTI-ASIAN RACISM Former President Trump spent years demonizing China and perpetuating anti-Asian sentiments. Joe Biden condemned anti-Asian racism in his first speech as president and signed an executive order, but his administration continues to mostly describe China as a threat — language that could be dangerous for Asian Americans. [HuffPost]

MASSAGE SPA MASSACRE NEAR ATLANTA At least eight people, including six of Asian descent, were killed during three shootings at massage spas in the Atlanta area. Police arrested 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long, of Woodstock, Georgia. While there still aren’t concrete details about the killer’s motive, the country has seen a “documented pattern of recent attacks against our community,” said Stop AAPI Hate, a collective of advocacy organizations for Asian American and Pacific Islander people. [HuffPost]

‘BAD DAY’ COP PROMOTED RACISM Capt. Jay Baker, a spokesperson for the Cherokee County sheriff’s office, said the man charged with the Atlanta shootings wasn’t motivated by race. But HuffPost verified that Baker has used his Facebook account to promote merchandise that demonized the Asian community over the coronavirus. [HuffPost]

INCIDENTS OF ANTI-ASIAN RACISM SOAR For more than a year, Asian Americans have faced an alarming deluge of racist attacks and harassment, such as being shunned, spit on and denied services. While the current wave of racism is tied to the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s one chapter of a long history of racism and discrimination against Asian Americans, writes HuffPost’s Marina Fang. [HuffPost]

I’m Asian. I’ve spent the last year in constant fear of attack.

TERROR TEARS THROUGH ASIAN AMERICAN COMMUNITIES A white gunman was charged Wednesday with killing eight people at three Atlanta-area massage spas in an attack that sent terror through the Asian American community, which has increasingly been targeted during the pandemic. The shootings appear to be at the “intersection of gender-based violence, misogyny and xenophobia,” said Georgia state Rep. Bee Nguyen. [AP]

HOW TO HELP Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, Asian Americans have reported being targeted in nearly 4,000 hate incidents nationwide. If you want to help, first recognize that the community is under attack, and then take action. Activists and advocates share eight things you can do to help the community as an ally. [HuffPost]