The International Effort to Criminalize War

Debate about "crime of aggression" at conference of prosecutors from international tribunals.

To watch a multi-part episode, click the link b

http://www.therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=33&Itemid=74&jumival=535

Unlawful Detentions and Torture in Iraq

http://www.amnestyusa.org/ctwj

Amnesty International's new report "New Order, Same Abuses: Unlawful Detentions and Torture in Iraq" highlights individual case studies of people detained without charges or trial for long periods of time; others tortured or ill-treated by Iraqi security forces, as well as cases of enforced disappearances.

Benjamin Franklin, the first IP pirate?

We thought the great man had been carved up into as many occupational and philosophical pieces as possible. But then we stumbled across Lewis Hyde's diverting new book Common as Air: Revolution, Art, and Ownership, which includes a chapter titled, "Benjamin Franklin, Founding Pirate."

In his writings and his actions, Hyde writes that Franklin was a "commonwealth man in the style of Jefferson." He understood the United States Constitution's copyright language "as a balance between a short-term monopoly and a long-term grant to the public. That the clause might become the ground for creating a perpetual property right for individuals and private corporations would have astounded him."

Benjamin Franklin rebelled against knowledge as eternal property through his whole life. Hyde gives us a portrait of him that reveals this in his writings and works.

~ more... ~

China's dark side: On Yellow River, corpses mean cash

From his perch on an overhang above the Yellow River, Wei Jinpeng pointed to a fisherman's cove below and began counting his latest catch. He stopped after six, and guessed that perhaps a dozen human corpses were bobbing in the murky waters.

The bodies were floating facedown and tethered by ropes to the shore, their mud-covered limbs and rumps protruding from the water.

Wei is a fisher of dead people. He scans the river for cadavers, drags them to shore with a small boat and then charges grieving families to recover their relatives' corpses. Wei said he kept the faces submerged to preserve their features. Any dispute about identity makes it harder to collect his bounty.

~ more... ~

DARPA develops Helmet of Obedience

It looks like our ever-diligent friends at DARPA have been busy creating a contingency plan for the OathKeeper  movement.  Thanks to a newly-developed pain modulator and behavior modification helmet, any US troops who decide they will obey the Constitution rather than the commands of the global puppet masters will now be getting some remote-controlled motivational persuasion.

Reminiscent of the “Collar of Obedience” from Star Trek, this new helmet according to it's creator William J Tyler at Arizona State University, will be able to non-invasively produce all the same effects that are now possible only through deep surgical implants.  Employing a form of targeted ultrasound technology, the “Helmet of Obedience” will be able to manipulate pain and motivational centers in the brain at a finer scale than even current magnetic stimulation.

It's no mystery what agencies would be interested in this sort of technology and Tyler makes it painfully clear who his handlers are.  According to Tyler, “We look forward to developing a close working relationship with DARPA and other Department of Defense and U.S. Intelligence Communities to bring some of these applications to fruition over the coming years depending on the most pressing needs of our country's defense industries.”

~ more... ~