The popularity and acceptability of torture have soared in the United States and around the world. This is not simply because the United States has tortured. The U.S. government, many of its policies, its wars, and key torture supporters have not seen similar boosts in popularity. A major contributor to torture's improved image has been Hollywood, led by two productions that have popularized the false belief that torture can produce life-saving information. The U.S. Senate report's summary makes clear that torture has not worked in the real world. In fact, torture has generally not been used to stop an imminent attack, and has been used in some cases to compel agreement with lies about Iraqi links to al Qaeda -- lies aimed at starting a war. The fantasy situation in which a torturer knows his victim has life-saving information that cannot be obtained elsewhere, and that his victim won't lie, and that torture will work better than legal interrogation exists only in fiction. But belief in it creates acceptance of torture. Experts agree on this, but people need to hear it from the fictional experts they've heard of for it to seem real to them. People need to hear Keifer Sutherland, star of "24," and Kathryn Bigelow, director of "Zero Dark Thirty," admit that torture does not work in real life. Sutherland and Bigelow don't need to criticize or apologize for their art. They don't need to begin self-censoring. They just need to admit that they are aware of the facts, that torture did not help find Osama bin Laden, that torture has not prevented deaths or destruction -- quite the contrary. U.S. torture has been a recruiting bonanza for anti-U.S. terrorist groups. This fact is trumpted most loudly by defenders of torture and opponents of releasing reports, photos, or videos of what was done. The open secret that we need key public figures to acknowledge is that there's no up-side to weigh against the harm done. On March 1, 2015, the Independent claimed to change everything with this headline: "Revealed: How torture was used to foil al-Qaeda 2010 plot to bomb two airliners 17 minutes before explosion." The claims in the article are not well documented and quite possibly entirely false. There is no evidence that questioning without torture wouldn't have worked as well or better than torturing. The bomb in the story may have been planted in the first place as retaliation for torture. And the serious argument against torture is not "It's just wrong" but that allowing it creates its widespread use and contributes to other brutal policies including war that kill and injure countless people driving forward vicious cycles of violence. Torture creates enemies, causes horrific suffering, and dehumanizes the torturers including those who passively allow it. A torturer cannot know that someone has lifesaving information and is most likely to reveal it under torture. And once we pretend that a torturer might know that, we cannot stop the torturers from torturing large numbers of people. Learn more with: Gareth Porter: How the CIA Covered Up Its Lie on Torture and bin Laden http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/28060-how-the-cia-covered-up-its-lie-on-torture-and-bin-laden Patrick Cockburn: CIA Torture Report: It Didn't Work Then, It Doesn't Work Now http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/torture-it-didnt-work-then-it-doesnt-work-now-9923288.html Donald Canestraro: Experienced Interrogator: Torture Doesn't Work http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/homeland-security/226866-experienced-interrogator-torture-doesnt-work

Law Enforcement Is Not Working Well in the USA. Too Many People Being Incarcerated with High Recidivism Rates. Too Many Cops Shooting Suspects, Too Many "Deals" in Prosecution and Sentencing. Too Much Individual Discretion Applied in the Whole Process By Law Enforcement Personnel .

Last week, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal posted a series of hateful tweets (seet below) collectively blaming Muslims and pushing false negative stereotypes about the religion. Take action now and tell Governor Jindal to STOP his hate campaign on Muslims. Governor Jindal did not stop with the tweets, in various interviews, he also criticized so-called “no-go zones” in the UK, neighborhoods that non-Muslims are supposedly not welcome to enter. This is the same lie perpetuated by the known islamophobe and debunked terrorism “expert” Steven Emerson, who was called a “complete idiot” by UK Prime Minister David Cameron for making this claim, and for which Fox News even issued an apology for sharing it on its network.

Whether it's a counterterrorism-unit build up or mobile units for neighborhood “safety” and disorder control, New Yorkers say NO to Department of Homeland Security-funded NYPD militarization! The War Resisters League's campaign, "Demilitarize Health and Security," condemns the unveiling of a DHS-funded 900-officer counterterrorism and special operations overhaul by New York Police Commissioner Bill Bratton. According to Bratton, in amendments to his original statements on January 29th, both the 350-member counterterrorist auxiliary unit - equipped with "long rifles and machine guns" designed for "disorder control and counterterrorism protection capabilities" - and the 500-officer special-operations unit Strategic Response Group (SRG) mandated to monitor protests and “sudden rises in crime” will be rolled out in the Summer of 2015. Bratton’s conflation of “terrorism issues, crime issues and demonstrations issues” will only further criminalize our communities, violate our right to protest, and curtail our ability to survive and thrive. We demand an end to the build up of Bratton’s army because militarization is a threat to our safety! We urge Mayor de Blasio to stand with New Yorkers and call for the defunding of Bratton’s two newly proposed units. Together, we can create real solutions for community safety and wellness without tanks and assault rifles!

Torture is not the only secret program that has failed to produce intelligence with integrity – this failure is true of every part of the secret world from the CIA, which relies on foreign liaison hand-outs for the bulk of its “clandestine” intelligence to the NSA, which processes less than 1% of what it collects, to the NRO and NGA that are inept at “Big Data” and incapable of providing all-source fused data to the end-user at a desk in Washington or in a foxhole abroad. This is about far more than torture – this is about the complicity of military and civilian intelligence in assassinating thousands (with a documented 98% innocents along the way) while spending over a trillion dollars in a manner that is not helpful to Whole of Government strategy, policy, acquisition, and operations. SHORT URL for Open Letter: http://tinyurl.com/fire-intel-3

If they can take away our American right and status quo of liberty, until and if ever found guilty of a crime without any conviction, then not only can they do it to Bilal Muhammad, but you, your loved ones and your families and friends. There is a saying that if they take away the rights of one person, then we are all in danger of losing those rights. So I'm asking all American people to stand together as one to stop this offense for our liberty, so that we can remain a free people.

Because of inaqute health care for his skin cancer

The People desire that all elections be open, honest and transparent. If we truly wish to be a dynamic, fluid, diverse and Democratic Society...then all American Citizens must be informed and stay involved! These digital/internet media outlets would provide a Public Library access to current, as well as past election materials and information...an election in progress, would be documented and made available to the public in real time. The information services provided by these media outlets, would alleviate any fears of having non informed voters.. It would also eliminate any reasons given for certain partisan elections.. such as a county coroner, for example. In certain positions, it should not be required to associate your party affiliations with job requirements..it should not be a factor. Please sign to support election TRANSPARENCY and REFORM..keep the pressure on our Public Servants to be accountable for their actions!

Americans, who mostly support these two bills, need assurance from our Congress members that the future is toward care of the Earth, its people and life itself. The 2020 Democratic Party Platform ahead of Nov. 3rd will be greatly enhanced in its power if the House takes action now on these two sweeping policy programs.

I am a senior and too much police brutality and poverty and racism.

Elderly and low income persons are routinely charged and help responsible for cases they are innocent for because they lack the legal knowledge or representation to defend themselves.

I among other students were victims of bullying, there was a zero tolerance up. But it was not working. In other words people were not helping us or others who were being bullied by other students. I grew used to being bullied and by the time I was in high school I was expecting to be bullied by day one. But it didn’t happen. However I wanna speak out against bullying because many young children are committing suicide due to the pain and anxiety of being bullied. I was one of those people who nearly did commit suicide but stopped myself. I know my goal is to help end bullying in our schools. And I am going to need your help if we can get enough signatures, I will email this petition