Life is an augmented seventh chord.

[s0c1al1sm]

It’s been a really long time since I've used Tumblr, but I think I’m going to start again. Last semester I moved down to Albuquerque to start my PhD, and at first it was very nice; but after going home for winter and being surrounded by family, friends, and a whole multitude of people who supported me and cared about my well-being, I now realize how lonely and desolate it is down here. I’ve had school, research, and teaching to distract me, but lately it’s just not enough. In fact, lately that same depression has started to detract from my normal routine. 

Tumblr used to be such an excellent mechanism to distract me. I think that’s why I stopped using it. I didn’t necessarily talk to many people, but reading about the world and all its horrors gave me something to be passionate about. Back home I was involved with a network of activism where I could feel useful and work against said injustices. Now in a whole new place with no contacts outside my department, I don’t even know where to begin. I don’t think I’ll find any answers here, but maybe this forum of information can once again serve as a distraction -- not from school, but from a tattered livelihood. 

[haionce]

So Sam Smith just won Best New Artist over Fetty Wap at the BET Awards....

1. “New” Stay With Me has been a hit since 2013, that ain’t new 2. Did Sam Smith have DRAKE remix his SECOND single????? 3. SAM SMITH AINT EVEN BLACK

WHITE BOYS GETTING PRIVILEGE EVEN IN BLACK SPACES I AM SO SALTY

[crestmoon24]

samee

[perfectyouthqueen]

Bruh he didn’t even show up.. He didn’t even want the award

[kurdishstruggle-deactivated2017]

March 3

a Kurdish YPG Fighters removing the ISIS Flag and replacing it by the YPG Flag in the liberated village Til Brak.

[antifainternational]

Looks like Bree Newsome’s not the only one climbing flagpoles to take down fascists symbols!

[iraffiruse]

[thinksquad-deactivated20190405]

Cop Sits On Pregnant Woman’s Belly, Beats Her Until She Has Miscarriage

A new lawsuit, filed by a Georgia woman, claims that Albany police officers beat her so badly, and sat on her noticeably pregnant belly that it caused her to have a miscarriage.

Lawyers for Kenya Harris filed the case in federal court recently, according to Courthouse News. Harris explained that the incident happened when she went to the Albany Police Department back in May of 2011. She was there to pick up her son – a minor – after he had been arrested.

After waiting five hours for her son, Harris told Officer Ryan Jenkins that it had been an extremely long time, and she needed to return home soon to take care of her other children.

“Defendant Officer Jenkins stated that he did not appreciate the tone in which she was communicating with him, and further stated that if she continued he would take her head and ‘put it to the floor,’” Harris charged in the lawsuit.

She reiterated that she needed to take care of her other children. That’s when Officer Jenkins made good on his threats and decided to use force against the obviously pregnant woman.

“Defendant Officer Jenkins, without provocation, grabbed plaintiff, who weighs less than one hundred twenty (120) pounds, by her neck and slammed her to the ground,” the lawsuit explained.

“Plaintiff momentarily blacked out and came to with defendant Officer Jenkins sitting on her back, and with his knee on her arm. Plaintiff was pregnant at the time.

“Defendant Officer Jenkins put handcuffs on plaintiff and slammed her against the wall. Plaintiff was placed into an interrogation room after she was beaten and handcuffed.”

In utter agony, Harris begged for medical attention, but every officer she spoke to refused her request.

For her troubles, she was charged with obstruction, and spent the night in the Dougherty County Jail.

Harris contends that the beating, including having her stomach sat on by the officer, caused her miscarriage shortly after the incidence. She also had injuries to her knee, neck and bruising all over her body.

The federal lawsuit specifically names Officers Ryan Jenkins and Richard Brown, Jr., Police Chief John Proctor, and the City of Albany.

“With malice, defendants Officer Jenkins and with the compliance of Officer Brown, repeatedly slammed Ms. Harris, causing her severe physical harm and the loss of her baby, when less force was required and should have been used,” the lawsuit said.

[setbabiesonfire]

Where’s all the anti-choice, I mean, “”pro-life”“ activists.

[noctem-novelle]

g*psy is a racial slur

g*psy is not a synonym for boho, hippie, fashionable, interesting, wanderlust, or anything else in that vein. 

It is a RACIAL. SLUR. If you are not Rromani, do NOT use it. It’s really that simple. We travel because we are forced to. Not because we want to. Many live in forced poverty. If you are not a member of our race, STOP USING A SLUR THAT IS DIRECTED AT US.

[proletarianfeminism]

In what could spell relief for many activists and others being branded as “Maoists” in Kerala, the court has observed that being a Maoist is not a crime and security forces cannot imprison someone on the basis that they were Maoists. The High Court has said that the state should arrest only those who have committed a crime, believing in an ideology like Maoism is not a crime in itself.

The court’s observations came while it was hearing a case of alleged torture by the “Thurderbolt” commandos of the Kerala police. The petition had been submitted by a person named Shyam Balakrishnan, son of a former High Court judge who was detained by the anti-Naxal force alleging Maoist link. The High Court has also said that the state, in many cases, moved in to nab Maoists like a hunter catching its prey, which is why the state itself calls it “Maoist hunt”.

In addition to this, Justice Muhammed Mushtaq said that lately, circumstances in the state were such that anyone could be arrested and imprisoned for being a Maoist. The Judge has asked Kerala government to pay a compensation of Rs 1 lakh to Shyam Balakrishnan.

Lately, the Kerala government and police have come under severe criticism for arresting activists, journalists and others with alleged Maoist links.

[themostprofessionalgoat]

Oprah knew about Josh Duggar being a child molester back in 2006. TLC had to have known about it too. They just didn’t care.

They don’t even care now. They’ve temporarily pulled 19 Kids & Counting from their lineup but the show hasn’t been cancelled yet. They cancelled Honey Boo Boo as soon as that scandal broke! But 19KAC has higher ratings and earns them more money. Why not continue to promote a family that harbored a child molester and promotes Anti-LGBTQ+ hate when you’re getting that $$$$$$?

[earthfirstjournal]

KInder Morgan Pays Off-Duty Pennsylvania Cops to Patrol Pipeline and Deter Protests

KInder Morgan Pays Off-Duty Pennsylvania Cops to Patrol Pipeline and Deter Protests

by Adam Federman / Earth Island Journal ACLU calls arrangement “flat out unconstitutional” Between June and October 2013, Kinder Morgan, the largest energy infrastructure company in North America, paid a local Pennsylvania police department more than $50,000 to patrol a controversial pipeline upgrade. The company requested that the officers, though officially off-duty, be in uniform and marked…

View On WordPress

[staghunted]

Waco “Thugs”

Today, about 150-200 people from 5 different biker gangs fought in a Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco, TX leaving 18 people hospitalized and 9 people dead. Shots were exchanged between gangs and officers.

Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton said, “In my nearly 34 years of law enforcement experience, this is the most violent and gruesome scene that I have dealt with.“

CNN calls it a brawl:

Of 8 different major news outlets, not one called any of these gang members a “thug”. 

CNN

Yahoo

USA Today

LA Times

Washington Post

New York Times

NBC

Fox News

One of the gangs, The Bandidos, is classified by FBI as a Tier 2 outlaw gang. By their standards, it means they’re extremely hostile and dangerous and according to TX police, are responsible for a disproportionate amount of crime across the state.

Another gang, The Cossacks MC, is predominantly white members tattooed with neo-Nazi symbols. 

With about 100 weapons confiscated, only three arrests have been made that were armed people arriving at the scene. 

Don’t they look comfortable? No restraints, no National Guard, no riot gear, and plenty of mobile devices for the detainees.

[c-h-i-c-l-e-t-e-s]

[testtubenetwork-blog]

Police Killings Over The Last 16 Months

WATCH: “Why Are Police Allowed to Kill?”

(image via dadaviz, vocativ)

[duydecimalsystem]

im moving to north dakota

[s0c1al1sm]

HOLY SHIT

[cressdarnelthorne]

[all-good-usernames-are-taken]

WHAT A LITTLE SHIT

[svnklte]

i lOVE HOW HE JUST HESITATES FOR A SECOND

THEN HE JUST

“REBELLION”

[memewhore]

I’ve never yet been able to resist reblogging this

[misjhelle]

One million people march in Cuba to celebrate the international day of workers

[thecollegeboardblog]

The SAT was created by a noted racist and anti-immigrant activist who had previously written difficult, biased exams intended to prevent immigrants from becoming citizens. Happy test day!!

[1ims3-deactivated20150707]

source, and the full text of his work that was later used to fuel anti-immigrant sentiment and prove the superiority of the “Nordic” race.

[theslayprint]

[ricki-minaj]

“I feared for my life…” 1st video 2nd video

IS HE OKAY???????

[theslayprint]

He left on a stretcher, no word if he’s still going to be arrested or not.

[funkybug]

if this isnt the most obvious example of white privilege and whats going on in baltimore right now then i dont know what is

[tramampoline]

is that literally the same cop in the first set and pepperspraying in the second because it honestly looks like it

[babyionian-deactivated20200611]

before today, i hadn’t heard of “rough rides,” and there’s a good chance you haven’t either. basically, a “rough ride” is a horrifying process in which ‘a handcuffed man or woman is put into the back of a police van or paddy wagon, without being buckled in or secured. The vehicle then drives recklessly, making sharp, dangerous turns and sudden movements in ways that throw the passenger violently around the vehicle.’

as of today, we now know that this is exactly what happened to Freddie Gray before he died. 

here’s the evidence: rather than take Freddie Gray the short 2 minute drive from the arrest site to the police station (see left), he was deliberately driven recklessly for over 40 minutes (see right) around Baltimore, handcuffed and in the back of a police van, with no seatbelt, until his spine broke.

the terrifying thing is that this seems to happen a lot. earlier today, two more people came forward to testify that they were put through rough rides at the hands of the Baltimore PD. a 43-year-old man was charged with ‘public urination’ and given a rough ride that resulted in a spine fracture that rendered him quadriplegic for the rest of his life. five years ago, a former Baltimore police officer admitted that rough rides are an “unsanctioned technique” in which police vans are driven to cause “injury or pain” to unbuckled, handcuffed detainees. rough rides are very much a Real Thing.

in case it needs repeating: Baltimore police deliberately drove recklessly with a cuffed, injured Freddie Gray in the back of a van with no belt – a 40 minute ride for a destination 2 minutes away. his spine was severed, and it killed him.