France’s draft counterterrorism bill is now in its final stretch before becoming law. The fast-tracked bill is widely expected to pass a vote in an extraordinary session of the National Assembly on October 3 – despite concerns that it encroaches on people’s rights.
What happens in Haiti doesn’t stay in Haiti. Sooner or later, it comes to places like Michigan’s Benton Harbor and Flint. Our destinies are linked. Zbigniew Brzezinski, a Polish aristocrat who long puppeteered United States presidents from behind the curtains, has written: “America is too democratic at home to be autocratic abroad. This limits the use of America’s power, especially its capacity for military intimidation.” I concur.
Riot police catch a Bahraini anti-government protester in the village of Shakhura, Bahrain, on, Aug. 14, 2013. (AP/Hasan Jamali)
Bahrain’s king on Monday approved a constitutional amendment granting military courts the right to try civilians.
Military courts in Bahrain were previously limited to trying members of the armed forces or other branches of the security services and could only try civilians under a state of emergency.
Flint, Michigan is dealing with a water crisis, pushing the area into a ‘state of emergency.’ Instead of pointing fingers like the government has been doing in response to the toxic overload, the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians from Manistee, Michigan is donating a hefty sum to the Genesee County Sheriff’s office to assist in providing clean water to Flint, Michigan residents.
Back in October, we reported on the growing lead crisis in Flint, Michigan’s tap water. Water had twice the amount of lead in it after it switched its water sources in April 2014 from the Detroit to the Flint River, all in the name of money.
The fear that is gripping France today stands in ghastly contrast with the positive national mood during the days immediately following the horrific Nov. 13 attacks in Paris.1
