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Harrison Koehli
Immediately after the shoot-down of a Russian bomber jet near the Turkish-Syrian border, Ankara and Moscow told two different stories. Turkey claimed:Sott.net 2015-11-25 16:10:00
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Joe Quinn
Sott.net 2015-11-25 13:38:00
Want to know why the Russian Su-24 was shot down yesterday? Read on. Turkish, Saudi, French, British and US-backed terrorists have been operating in Syria for the past 4 years in an effort to overthrow the Syrian government. This cabal wants to remove Assad in order to a) pave the way for Qatari gas to supplant Russian gas to Europe, b) possibly open up a front for a jihadi invasion to destabilize and pressure Iran and Russia, and c) secure Turkish territorial integrity and its long-term role as a buffer zone for Western powers to play in the Middle East sandbox with impunity. | |
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| Puppet Masters |
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Sputnik
2015-11-25 21:17:00
Turkey's decision to shoot down a Russian bomber involved in an anti-terror mission against the self-proclaimed Islamic State terrorist group means that Ankara has effectively sided with IS. Heading off any denial of this fact, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reiterated Turkey's role in the terrorist group's illegal oil trade. Discussing the downing of the Russian Su-24 bomber on Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had harsh words for his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu. According to a press release from Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lavrov pointed out that, "by shooting down a Russian plane on a counter-terrorist mission of the Russian Aerospace Force in Syria, and one that did not violate Turkey's airspace, the Turkish government has in effect sided with ISIS." | |
Comment: As usual,Lavrov's right on the money - with this attack Turkey has openly come out on the side of ISIS. Also see:
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Sputnik
2015-11-25 21:10:00
As details continue to emerge about the downing of a Russian bomber along the Turkey-Syria border on Tuesday, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has admitted to personally giving the order to fire on the aircraft, Canadian news outlet ThinkPolreported. Hours after the incident which destroyed a Russian Su-24 bomber and left one pilot dead, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan went on the defensive, blaming an alleged incursion of Turkish airspace. "We did not want this situation to happen, but everybody has to respect Turkey's right to defend its borders," he told reporters, adding that the military's actions were "fully in line with Turkey's rules of engagement." | |
Comment: Does Davutoglu think he can gain some points in his government for this outrageous act?
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Sputnik
2015-11-25 20:41:00
The Turkish government's official explanation for shooting down a Russian Su-24 bomber was that it had violated Turkish airspace. But Ankara's timeline of the events is already raising questions. In the wake of the downing of a Russian bomber along the Turkey-Syria border on Tuesday, many were demanding answers. In a letter to the United Nations Security Council, the Turkish ambassador gave his government's view of the incident. "This morning (24 November) 2 SU-24 planes, the nationality of which are unknown have approached Turkish national airspace in Yayladagi/Hatay region. The planes in question have been warned 10 times during a period of 5 minutes via 'Emergency' channel and asked to change their headings south immediately," the letter, obtained by Wikileaks, reads. | |
Comment: Turkey has proven to the world that they are a terrorist regime. It only takes two firing neurons to see that they're lying, and are desperately trying to protect their terrorist assets. Also see:
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Paul Craig Roberts
Paul Craig Roberts Org 2015-11-25 20:43:00
Tyler Durden at Zero Hedge has posted the flight paths of the Russian aircraft according to Turkey and to Russia. We know that Turkey is lying for three reasons. One reason is that NATO governments lie every time that they open their mouths. A second reason is that Turkey's claim that the SU-24 was in Turkey's airspace for 17 seconds but only traveled 1.15 miles means that the SU-24 was flying at stall speed! The entire Western media was too incompetent to do the basic math! A third reason is that, assuming Turkey's claim of a 17-second airspace violation is true, 17 seconds is not long enough for a Turkish pilot to get clearance for such a serious and reckless act as shooting down a Russian military aircraft. If the SU-24 was flying at a normal speed rather than one that would be unable to keep the aircraft aloft, the alleged airspace violation would not have been long enough to be noticed. A shootdown had to have been pre-arranged. The Turks, knowing that the Russians were foolishly trusting to the agreement that there be no air to air encounters, told pilots to look for an opportunity. In my recent article, I gave a reason for this reckless act. Turkey's explanation to the UN Security Council gives itself away as a lie. The letter states: "This morning (24 November) 2 SU-24 planes, the nationality of which are unknown have approached Turkish national airspace. The Planes in question have been warned 10 times during a period of 5 minutes via 'Emergency' channel and asked to change their headings south immediately." | |
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RT.com
2015-11-25 18:00:00
The downing of a Russian warplane in Syria by Turkey appears to be a pre-planned provocation, the Russian Foreign Minister said. Ankara failed to communicate with Russia over the incident, he added. "We have serious doubts that this act was unintentional. It looks very much like a preplanned provocation," Lavrov said, citing Turkey's failure to maintain proper communication with Russia, the abundance of footage of the incident and other evidence. Lavrov added that many Russian partners called the incident "an obvious ambush." Earlier in the day, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu slammed Russia for "attacks on Turkmen" in Syria, which according to Ankara preceded the incident with the downed Su-24. The Russian FM said the region where the incident happened is not just home to Turkmen people. There are also hundreds of foreign fighters affiliated with known terrorist groups and elements of their infrastructure such as weapons depots and command points there, he said. "I asked [Turkish FM Çavuşoğlu] whether Turkey's close attention to this region, including the calls to create a buffer zone there, was motivated by a desire to protect this infrastructure from destruction. I didn't receive any reply to this question," Lavrov said. | |
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F. William Engdahl
New Eastern Outlook 2015-11-25 00:00:00
This was definitely not supposed to happen. It seems that an Israeli military man with the rank of colonel was "caught with IS pants down." By that I mean he was captured amid a gaggle of so-called IS - or Islamic State or ISIS or DAESH depending on your preference - terrorists, by soldiers of the Iraqi army. Under interrogation by the Iraqi intelligence he apparently said a lot regarding the role of Netanyahu's IDF in supporting IS. In late October an Iranian news agency, quoting a senior Iraqi intelligence officer, reported the capture of an Israeli army colonel, named Yusi Oulen Shahak, reportedly related to the ISIS Golani Battalion operating in Iraq in the Salahuddin front. In a statement to Iran's semi-official Fars News Agency a Commander of the Iraqi Army stated, "The security and popular forces have held captive an Israeli colonel." He added that the IDF colonel "had participated in the Takfiri ISIL group's terrorist operations." He said the colonel was arrested together with a number of ISIL or IS terrorists, giving the details: "The Israeli colonel's name is Yusi Oulen Shahak and is ranked colonel in Golani Brigade... with the security and military code of Re34356578765az231434." | |
Comment: Israel and Western powers have been creating, funding, directing, and fighting among terrorists for a long time. Its nothing new, but is a fact that rarely seems to make it into the Western media and to the awareness of most people. Or if it does, the implications are never explored. No surprise there. Perhaps that will now begin to change since these types of 'smoking guns' have never been better documented and more apparent.
Remember these British SAS guys - who were caught dressed as Arabs red-handedly inflicting violent chaos among the Iraqi population several years ago?
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Sputnik
2015-11-25 17:06:00
The Anadolu news agency reports that the Turkish authorities have sent tanks to its border with Syria. The Turkish military has sent 20 more tanks to an armored brigade it has stationed at Turkey's western border with Syria, Turkey's Anadolu agency reported on Wednesday. "Accompanied by police and gendarmes, 20 tanks were sent by rail from Turkey's western provinces by railway to Gaziantep in the south of the country, and then redirected to the Syrian border," a military source told the agency. It was also reported that the Turkish air force sent 18 fighter jets on a patrol exercise at its border with Syria on Wednesday. | |
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Amari Roos
Sott.net 2015-11-25 22:29:00
During the parliamentary budget debate on Thursday November 19th, Dutch Foreign Affairs Minister Bert Koenders announced that the government would invest €1.3 millionin 'independent' Russian language media outlet. The money will be donated to the Dutch 'NGO' Free Press Unlimited that runs a regional platform on which Russian-language media organisations can exchange articles and news items. Koenders said: "The Russian government is exerting an ever tighter control on journalists and media organizations. With our support, we want to ensure that Russian-language media directs themselves, without interfering with what content they broadcast. By stimulating the independent press we want to improve the availability of independent news, so that the Russian-speaking public has options to choose from. That is directly in Dutch interest." Referring to the results of a €500,000 Dutch-funded study of the European Endowment for Democracy (EED) into the Russian-language media landscape, he added "At this moment, the Russian-speaking public in the former Soviet Union pretty much only have access to one-sided news, which is also often contaminated with misinformation from the Kremlin." The EED came up with several recommendations that the Netherlands, UK, US, Sweden, Germany, and the European Union have agreed to implement. Taking a look at what 'independent' media outlets the Netherlands so far has financially supported gives us an idea where this €1.3 million will end up, i.e. not to media that present objective news, but to those outlets that present news that is in line with whatever the West deems as 'true'. Here are two small examples. | |
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Moon of Alabama
2015-11-25 15:46:00
Erdogan criticized Syria harshly on Tuesday for shooting down the Turkish fighter jet, saying: "Even if the plane was in their airspace for a few seconds, that is no excuse to attack." A violation of one to two kilometers is accepted as "natural" given the speed of aircraft, the statement [by the the General Staff] said. This year's violations of Turkish airspace lasted between 20 seconds and nine minutes, which showed "airspace violations can be resolved by warning and interceptions," the statement said. Turkish fighter jets and military helicopters have dramatically increased their incursions into Greek airspace, according to a study based on data from the Greek military, forcing the cash-strapped Greek air force to respond.Turkey also regularly violates Iraq's airspace by flying bombing attacks against Kurds in north Iraq. | |
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RT
2015-11-25 15:47:00
Relatives of 'innocent' Malayans slain by British troops in 1948 have lost their fight for an inquiry, but their lawyer says the UK courts have conceded 'mass murder' occurred. The Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that the appeal brought by relatives of the 23 men killed in the attack - referred to as Britain's 'My Lai' after a similar atrocity carried out by US troops in Vietnam - would not be upheld. The Malayan Emergency was fought from 1948 to 1960 in what is modern-day Malaysia between Commonwealth armed forces, including thousands of British troops, and anti-colonial guerrillas. The UK's involvement stemmed largely from British ties to tin and rubber interests which were seen as critical to the UK's post-war recovery. | |
Comment: Tragic, unspeakable. "The UK's involvement stemmed largely from British ties to tin and rubber interests which were seen as critical to the UK's post-war recovery." In short, they were stealing other people's stuff as usual.
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Press TV
2015-11-25 09:36:00
The US Defense Department says there is a growing demand for US weapons due to the ongoing fight against the ISIL terrorist group as well as other armed conflicts across the world. "It's worldwide. The demand signal is coming in Europe, in the Pacific and in the Middle East," Vice Admiral Joe Rixey, who heads the Pentagon's Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), told Reuters in an interview late on Monday. US foreign arms sales jumped 36 percent to $46.6 billion in fiscal 2015 and look set to remain strong in coming years, Rixey said. "Projections are still strong," he said. The Pentagon official said the US government is working hard to keep up with surging arms sales, largely through process improvements and better training.
US companies and some foreign countries have expressed growing frustration in recent months about delays in arms sales approvals. The demand for US weapons in the past 10 years has shifted from fighter jets to US missile systems, helicopters and munitions. Rixey said requests from countries that were "well-behaved" and protected US technology were generally processed quickly. Rixey said his agency was coordinating more closely with the US State Department, the US Commerce Department and other Pentagon agencies and leaders to advocate for US arms sales as a key instrument of US foreign policy. Comment: What? How does that work, exactly? | ||
Comment: Cha-Ching, Cha-Ching...the sound of profits from killing, maiming, destabilizing societies. War is just another business, capiche? Create ISIL and sell arms to combat it...how can an exceptional country lose on such an exceptional deal?
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RT
2015-11-25 15:22:00
The navigator of the Russian Su-24 shot down by a Turkish fighter jet on Tuesday insists that his plane did not cross into Turkey's airspace, and says he was given no visual or radio warning before being fired at. "It's impossible that we violated their airspace even for a second," Konstantin Murakhtin told Russia's Rossiya 1 channel. "We were flying at an altitude of 6,000 meters in completely clear weather, and I had total control of our flight path throughout." | |
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Pepe Escobar
Sputnik 2015-11-25 14:18:00
Let's cut to the chase. The notion that Turkey's downing of a Russian Su-24 by a made in USA F-16 was carried out without either a green light or at least pre-arranged "support" from Washington invites suspension of disbelief. Turkey is a mere vassal state, the eastern arm of NATO, which is the European arm of the Pentagon. The Pentagon already issued a denial — which, considering their spectacular record of strategic failures cannot be taken at face value. Plausibly, this might have been a power play by the neocon generals who run the Pentagon, allied with the neocon-infested Obama administration. The privileged scenario though is of a vassal Turkey led by Sultan Erdogan risking a suicide mission out of its own, current, desperation. | |
Comment: Also read this excellent article: NATO Orders Stool-Pigeon Turkey to Shoot Down Russian Jet
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ITAR-TASS
2015-11-25 14:08:00
Gazprom ceases gas supplies to Naftogaz of Ukraine until new payments; Ukraine refusing to buy Russian gas creates risks for gas transit to Europe and gas supplies for the Ukrainian consumers, Gazprom Head Alexey Miller said Wednesday. "Today, as of 10:00 AM Naftogaz of Ukraine has chosen previously prepaid volumes of Russian gas. There was no additional pre-payment. No applications for gas supply from Naftogaz of Ukraine either. Thus, the deliveries stop until we receive new payment from the Ukrainian company. At the same time even now, before seriously cold weather, Ukraine started active selection of gas from underground storage facilities, which are insufficiently filled as it is. Refusing to buy Russian gas creates risks for gas transit to Europe and gas supplies for the Ukrainian consumers before this coming winter," he said. | |
Comment: Looks like it will be cold winter for Ukraine and Europe.
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Sputnik
2015-11-25 14:11:00
The Ukrainian government has instructed the country's Naftogaz to halt all further purchases of Russian gas, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said Wednesday. "The government has made the decision to instruct Naftogaz to halt the purchase of Russian gas, and so there is no confusion, it isn't them who is not delivering gas, it's us who is not buying gas. This was done, first of all, because the offers coming from our European partners, the pricing offers, are much lower than from our eastern neighbor," Yatsenyuk said during a cabinet meeting. | |
Comment: Can Europe really afford to sell gas to Ukraine? Without Russian gas supplies, looks like it will be a cold winter in Ukraine.
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Sputnik
2015-11-25 21:18:00
Heavily armed US citizens are voluntarily patrolling the country's borders in an attempt to "keep ISIL out," led by a man who started such vigils after blaming Mexicans for him losing his job. Tim "Nailer" Foley, 56, is simply terrified of immigrants. He leads a band of men (with nothing better to do?) who call themselves the Arizona Border Recon. They've been dressing up in military garb and playing Border Patrol to make sure nobody crosses the border from Mexico. Foley lost his construction job several years ago, leading to a foreclosure on his home, and his situation was made worse by a divorce. He blamed Mexican immigrants for the loss of his job so he began patrolling the borders. | |
Comment: Here we have a disgruntled American taking out his anger on immigrants and using fear to justify his actions. Nothing good will be accomplished.
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Tom McKay
Mic 2015-11-21 00:00:00
Islamophobia around the globe has grown significantly since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York CIty, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C. Just one week after a terrorist attack in Paris killed at least 130 people and wounded over 350 others, a massacre which the Islamic State group has since claimed credit for, that trend shows no signs of slowing down. Despite the fact that extremists willing to kill hundreds of innocent people do not speak for Islam any more than the Ku Klux Klan speaks for all Christians, a worrying spare of incidents in the West shows many are responding to the Paris incident with bigotry and fear towards innocent Muslims. In the two days following the attack, the National Post reports 16 mosques across France were "attacked by firebombs, gunshots or pig heads — a major insult to Muslims who don't eat pork." U.S. politicians and commentators — many of whom insist they are not Islamophobic — have responded with a deluge of mean-spirited comments and calls for the U.S. to turn away Muslim refugees fleeing conflict zones in the Middle East and elsewhere. | |
Comment: And, sadly, we can only expect worse things to happen.
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Ali Abunimah
The Electronic Intifida 2015-11-23 00:00:00
Members of the American Anthropological Association (AAA) have overwhelmingly endorsed a resolution backing the Palestinian call for the boycott of Israeli academic institutions. The measure passed at the association's annual meeting in Denver on Friday by 1,040 votes in favor to 136 against. It must now be ratified in a referendum of the association's entire membership of 10,000 in April. A second resolution condemning the Palestinian-led movement for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) on Israel was crushed 1,173 to 196. | |
Comment: If the Israeli government and institutions weren't so Psychopathic and so far on the road to self-destruction, it would have been nice to see the world's voices of conscience compel Israel to change its ways. But those are, of course, very big ifs.
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Paul Hirschfield
The Conversation 2015-11-25 16:05:00
Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke was charged with first degree murder November 24 in the death of Laquan McDonald. A video released by police shows Van Dyke shooting the teenager 16 times. Van Dyke is an extreme example of a pattern of unnecessary deadly force used by US police. American police kill a few people each day, making them far more deadly than police in Europe. Historic rates of fatal police shootings in Europe suggest that American police in 2014 were 18 times more lethal than Danish police and 100 times more lethal than Finnish police, plus they killed significantly more frequently than police in France, Sweden and other European countries. As a scholar of sociology and criminal justice, I recently set out to understand why rates of police lethality in the US are so much higher than rates in Europe. | |
Comment: One additional reason that American police are far more violent is that the entire culture has succumbed to the process of ponerization. The U.S. has a history of inflicting its brutality around the globe and the mindset of those in power who have promulgated this savagery has infected the entire 'justice' system.
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Katehon
Fort Russ 2015-11-23 16:28:00
On October 31st, 2015, the Russian airplane of the Kogalymavia company disappeared over Sinai. The catastrophe killed about 224 people, almost all of them were Russian citizens. Without delay, the media announced that the most probable cause was a terrorist attack. The same day, an affiliated group of ISIS, Wilayat Sinai, took responsibility for the plane crash. This version of events had been denied by Russian authorities for two weeks.The main argument was that the investigation was incomplete, and therefore that it was too early to announce the causes of the incident. The fact that Dmitry Peskov, the press spokesman for the President of Russia, as well as other minor politicians, were charged with the task, while Putin kept silent on the causes of the event, added even more fuel in the fire. It is significant that the president himself (excluding written statements prepared by the Office) offered his condolences to the relatives of victims only on the third day after the explosion. There was a feeling that the Russian authorities clearly knew much more than they were able to say. On November 6th, at the request of Alexander Bortnikov, the Director of the FSB, the President of Russia banned all flights to Egypt. During this time, the preliminary decoding results of the black boxes must be obtained, and the investigation of the wreckage must be performed. The decision is indirect evidence that the Russian authorities knew that the terrorist attack theory was the most likely one. But it would take almost two weeks for them to officially recognize it. So, after the monstrous terrorist attack in Paris, and following the G20 summit on November 17th, the FSB officially recognized the cause of the crash as a terrorist attack. The Russian President promised to punish all involved parties, wherever they may be. Russia increased its bombing of terrorists in Syria using air force bombers and the Navy. What was the reason for such a long period of silence from Russia on the real cause of the crash? The subject demands more information. | |
Comment: Of course there is evidence of an alternative explanation as to how the plane was brought down, but being unable to reveal that cause it makes the most sense to go with the 'terrorist attack' narrative after Paris in order to create broader anti-ISIS sentiment.
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Press TV
2015-11-25 11:32:00
Iran and Russia have signed an agreement worth $1.2B euros to electrify a train line, linking north-central Iran to the northeastern border with Turkmenistan, an official says. The agreement signed between Russian Railways and the Islamic Republic of Iran Railways (RAI) envisages constructing power stations and overhead power lines along the Garmsar-Sari-Gorgan-Inche Burun route in Iran. "The implementation of the contract will improve the capacity of passenger trains and raise transit to 8 million tons," said RAI Managing Director Mohsen Poursaeed-Aqaei who signed the document. The train line, among the first in Iran with a history of 80 years, extends to Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan and links the Central Asia to the Persian Gulf and beyond. The project will be financed by the Russian government and will be implemented in 36 months, which includes manufacturing all electric locomotives inside Iran, electrifying 495 kilometers of railway and building 32 stations and 95 tunnels. "With the implementation of this contract, besides the electrification of the line, tunnels on the way will be enlarged, enabling Russian and other transit wagons to ply conveniently on it," Poursaeed-Aqaei said. "Overall, we will witness the establishment of an electrified and modern train line in the country's north," he added. The signing came as President Vladimir Putin visited Tehran on Monday to attend a summit of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF). | |
Comment: This is what friendly countries do. Some countries need to take lessons.
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RT
2015-11-25 15:28:00
The Turkish embassy in Moscow was pelted with various objects on Wednesday in a furious protest over the downing of the Russian bomber over Syria. Numerous images and videos on social media show broken glass and stained walls. Several police cordons are seen in images near the embassy. Users on social media wrote that law enforcers have been trying to shield the entrances to the building from protesters. | |
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RT
2015-11-25 15:18:00
Multiple explosions have been heard in Turkish capital Ankara, causing panic and prompting police to investigate the matter. It has been revealed that gas explosions took place at the city's Ozpetek Industrial Complex, the local media reported. There are reports of 5 people being injured as result of the incident, which occurred at 12:20pm local time, according to Turkish website T24. | |
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RT
2015-11-25 01:04:00
The Chicago Police Department has released video footage of the officer-involved shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, who was struck 16 times during a confrontation with officers. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel urged calm as City Hall got set to release police dash cam footage from the shooting incident, which occurred in October 2014. During the incident, 37-year-old Jason Van Dyke, a white officer, shot and killed McDonald, an African-American teen. Warning: The footage has been described as graphic.
From the black and white dash cam video, which features no audio, viewers can see the back of McDonald jaywalking along the middle of the road at 5:18, with his arm outstretched and holding a small knife. A police vehicle is seen approaching him to the left of the screen, and two officers get out with guns drawn. As McDonald moves away from the officers, his body becomes the only one in the video frame. He can then be seen twisting around and falling to the ground. A puff of smoke lifts from his body as a bullet appears to strike. Without audio, there is no way of knowing what, if anything, was said. There is no way of knowing how many shots were fired simply from viewing the video. McDonald appears to move his arms several times. At 5:45, another puff of smoke is seen leaving his body. At 5.51, a police officer comes into the frame to kick the knife out of McDonald's hand. Another police vehicle drives up and at this point, because of the vehicle lights, what appear to be pools of water around the body, possibly blood, can be seen. Prosecutors said Officer Jason Van Dyke opened fire from about 15 feet and kept shooting after the teen fell to the ground. | ||
Comment: Considering how many times Van Dyke shot this man, the 'I feared for my life' defense is complete nonsense. The City didn't charge this officer because he executed a man 15 feet away that was no actual threat. They filed charges to minimize the backlash and anger from a community that has EVERY right to protest how they are being treating. Cops have been getting away with state sanctioned terrorism for far too long. March on Chicago!
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Realities Watch
Armed with weapons of mass destruction and a history of committing some of the worst crimes to humanity, how far will the USA go to maintain economic, political and military dominance? See the following video and transcript:2015-11-24 23:11:00 |
Comment: American exceptionalism has very disturbing and deadly implications...
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