FBI agents decided to breach back door when searching home in affluent neighborhood. “When it became clear that a forced entry was necessary, an FBI agent testified, ‘the decision was made, since it was an affluent neighborhood,’ to do it inconspicuously. ‘Due to the aesthetics of the neighborhood,’ he said, ‘we decided to use a rear entrance so as to maintain the integrity of the front of the residence.’ …. If ‘there really is a policy out there that in non-affluent neighborhoods we’ll break down the front door, but for the rich people we’ll go in quietly in the back door,’ [Judge Patricia Millett] said, ‘that’s deeply troubling’…” https://reason.com/2022/04/08/the-fbi-decided-not-to-knock-down-a-suspects-front-door-because-it-was-an-affluent-neighborhood/ Deeply troubling, but not terribly surprising.
Cause of death in some Chinese executions was removal of body organs, say researchers. “The findings, according to study co-author and PhD researcher Matthew Robertson, were that Chinese surgeons might have carried out a final coup de grâce in an execution process that began in front of a firing squad or through lethal injection…. ‘We found that the physicians became the executioners on behalf of the state, and that the method of execution was heart removal.'” https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/4/6/holdchinesemedicskilleddeath-rowinmates-by-taking-hearts-report I doubt they would have been shot or given a lethal injection if they were planning to harvest their organs. They were probably just anesthetized, and then had their organs removed. The scary part is that the government has a financial interest, and self-interest, in applying the death penalty, which is to obtain organs for transplants for wealthy people and members of the ruling elite. “The surgeries in question also involved the participation of 348 ‘surgeons, nurses, anesthesiologists, and other medical workers or researchers’, who were listed in the publications.”
U.S. government paid $3 million towards cost of Starlink internet terminals and transportation costs. “USAID agreed to purchase closer to 1,500 standard Starlink terminals for $1,500 apiece and to pay an additional $800,000 for transportation costs, documents show…. USAID is paying $1,500 for each standard terminal and the accompanying service, documents show. According to the Starlink website, a standard terminal set costs $600, while the monthly service charge costs $110, plus an additional $100 for shipping and handling.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/04/08/us-quietly-paying-millions-send-starlink-terminals-ukraine-contrary-spacexs-claims/
Employees at six more Starbucks locations vote in unions. “Workers United, a labor union affiliated with the Service Employees International Union, announced Thursday afternoon that two stores in Rochester and another in Buffalo had voted in its favor. Then on Friday afternoon the National Labor Relations Board confirmed that workers at three more coffee shops, in Ithaca, N.Y., voted overwhelmingly to form a union, bringing the number of unionized company-owned stores to 16 out of almost 9,000.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/04/08/starbucks-union-buffalo-rochester/
Egyptian police and prisons accused of using systemic sexual violence against prisoners. “The report, by the Freedom Initiative and the Egyptian Front for Human Rights, was published on Thursday and documents over 650 instances of sexual violence against detainees and their loved ones between 2015 and 2022, ‘in a widespread violation of human rights’…. ‘Sexual violence in police stations took a variety of forms, purposes, and targets. In some instances, guards exploited detainees for their own sexual gratification and projection of personal power; in other instances, sexual violence was used as a punitive measure, often through electrocution of the genitals (for men and women)…. Sexual violence often took place during interrogations at NSA sites where detainees would be raped, molested, electrocuted in their genitals, or threatened with sexual violence against them or their family members to coerce confessions. These confessions were often used as evidence against them in later trials.'” https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/egypt-sexual-violence-detainees-human-rights-report
Los Angeles county jailers accused of frequently punching prisoners and of conducting hours long, group strip searches. “The authors [of the monitors’ report] cited one incident in which a deputy approached a resident who had ‘walked away from him’ while he was being escorted. ‘With no hesitation, Deputy Y grabbed [his] chest and slammed him into the wall. Deputy Y punched [him] 5‐9 times in the head, and Deputy Z punched [him] 6‐8 times in the head as they took [him] to the floor because they ‘feared’ that the Inmate might become assaultive.’ …. The report raised further concerns about the department’s use of the ‘Wrap’ device, which functions like a full-body restraining jacket and is used to ‘immobilize’ people. The Wrap procedures pose a serious risk of asphyxiation, and ‘the continuing practice … cannot be justified’, the monitors said.” https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/apr/08/los-angeles-jail-sheriffs-department-violence-accusation An American man who went into a coma (and who was then disconnected from life support a month later and died), after being detained by Tokyo police in 2015, may have been restrained in a Wrap device. But 7 years later, the State Department has still not responded to my FOIA request on the incident. The man’s name and the details of the incident are still unknown. Only one English language news outlet, of the 10 or so I contacted, covered the story, and Tokyo Weekender has now taken the story down from its website.
Progressive News Service 