[Note: The report in this video is disturbing, but it seems that ABC News filtered the extremely graphic images.]

United Nations observers reported that a brutal attack in a city near Homs on Friday left 32 children and at least 60 adults dead, with an estimated 300 wounded. Syrian anti-government groups claim that official troops raked the city with mortar shells and then sent thugs and soldiers in. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and his predecessor, Kofi Annan, released a joint statement calling for a ceasefire and criticizing the government for the attack. Bloody images of the young casualties prompted anti-government demonstrations across the country.

Via:

The rebel Free Syrian Army, the loose federation of armed militias across the country, issued a statement saying it was no longer committed to the United Nations truce because the plan was merely buying time for the government to kill civilians and destroy cities and villages.

“We won’t allow truce after truce, which prolongs the crisis for years,” the statement said.

The Syrian government blamed “terrorists,” its catchall phrase for the opposition, for killing the civilians.

Interesting that the mainstream media caught on to that "catchall phrase for the opposition" so quickly, yet...oh, nevermind. *Sigh.*

Sheriff's deputies tried twice this week to evict Occupy Minnesota supporters from a foreclosed home they were defending.

On Wednesday, aggressive efforts of Occupy Minnesota foiled a 4:00 PM sheriff's raid on the foreclosed home of the Cruz family. The deputies retreated.

On Friday they returned again at 4:00 AM, armed with battering rams, jack hammers and massive bolt cutters. There were about a dozen occupy volunteers sleeping at the house. All but two were ordered outside - the two couldn't find their shoes. The five people secured to the building were forcibly removed and arrested, currently held until Tuesday morning.

Again the sheriff's crew was driven back by the occupy volunteers who came up the alley and entered the back of the house. The deputies retreated with their prisoners leaving the home in shambles.

A rally in front of City hall at noon on May 25, featured the broken door and speeches by supporters including three members of the Minneapolis City Council. The door was then delivered to Sheriff Stanek's Office in City Hall. The sheriff declined to meet with the demonstrators. The broken door was left at the front door of his office. A major source of frustration was that the bank was working with the Cruz family to clear up the situation and renew the mortgage. The sheriff's actions cut across this progress and was seen as unnecessary and punitive by those close to the situation.

This hard-hitting investigation of the 1% at its very worst is the latest from acclaimed director Robert Greenwald. Charles and David Koch are using their billions to put a stranglehold on American democracy. What are we going to do about it?

“This spontaneous and popular movement is not swayed by any political organization, but is propelled by and is a response to the national and collective urge from our hearts. We can produce democratic, fair laws to end extreme poverty…”

These sentiments can be heard at any given Occupy rally, but they were spoken in Spain. They could have also come from Greece, or Ireland, or Italy, or any of the European countries where social services and fair wages have been strangled by extreme austerity measures. The renaissance of activism that’s swept this country was sparked far from our shores.

Before Occupy Wall Street began last September, Tunisia and Egypt revolted, the Middle East and North Africa had its Arab Spring and parts of Europe had been in tumult for years. Occupy Wall Street marks the end in a long line of revolution, at a time when humanity seems to have reached a critical mass of discontent. Last year Time Magazine declared The Protestor “Person of the Year.” Financial Times called 2011 “The Year of Global Indignation.” Perhaps 2012 will be the Year of the Occupier.

[Via]

Good morning, today is Saturday, May 26, 2012. We remember.

There's nothing they are leaving untouched: the mustard, the okra, the bringe oil, the rice, the cauliflower. Once they have established the norm: that seed can be owned as their property, royalties can be collected. We will depend on them for every seed we grow of every crop we grow. If they control seed, they control food, they know it -- it's strategic. It's more powerful than bombs. It's more powerful than guns. This is the best way to control the populations of the world. The story starts in the White House, where Monsanto often got its way by exerting disproportionate influence over policymakers via the "revolving door". One example is Michael Taylor, who worked for Monsanto as an attorney before being appointed as deputy commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1991. While at the FDA, the authority that deals with all US food approvals, Taylor made crucial decisions that led to the approval of GE foods and crops. Then he returned to Monsanto, becoming the company's vice president for public policy.

Thanks to these intimate links between Monsanto and government agencies, the US adopted GE foods and crops without proper testing, without consumer labeling and in spite of serious questions hanging over their safety. Not coincidentally, Monsanto supplies 90 percent of the GE seeds used by the US market. Monsanto's long arm stretched so far that, in the early nineties, the US Food and Drugs Agency even ignored warnings of their own scientists, who were cautioning that GE crops could cause negative health effects. Other tactics the company uses to stifle concerns about their products include misleading advertising, bribery and concealing scientific evidence.

The butterfly is free to fly! A judge tossed out charges against Occupy Wall Street's "Freedom Fairy," after the NYPD tried to stop the glittery pink butterfly from flitting and floating on and around Wall Street.

Via:

Parade personality Marni Halasa was slapped with a ticket for “impeding pedestrian traffic” with her flowing pink silk chiffon costume during a protest at the lower Manhattan plaza in March.

She appeared in court Wednesday, where a judge said the summons was “insufficient” and dismissed the charges without ruffling a feather.

“It’s absolutely ridiculous that I was impeding pedestrian traffic with silk chiffon wings and Rollerblades,” said Halasa, who was ready to plead not guilty and request her day in court for the alleged offense.

“I wanted the case to go further to really challenge the law.”

Halsa's attorney said that the judge felt the charges against her weren't warranted.

Ever have one of those days when you wonder why you even bother trying?

Via:

David Simon of Simon Property received a pay package worth more than $137 million for last year, and the typical CEO took home $9.6 million, according to an analysis by The Associated Press.
...
A minimum wage worker — paid $7.25 per hour, as some workers at Simon malls are — would have to work one month shy of 9,096 years to make what Simon made last year. A person making the national median salary, $39,312 by AP calculations, would have to work 3,489 years.

Do something special for yourself this weekend, my math says you deserve it.

[Caution: Language may not be suitable for work.]

We waste our entire lives worrying about "What if..." Why don't we embrace the fact that the world is always changing?

[More at LeeCamp.net]

Nightly clanging symphonies in protest against tuition hikes and the insane Bill 78 are spreading from Montreal to Sorel, Longueuil, Chambly, Repentigny, Trois-Rivieres and Abitibi in solidarity with students in Quebec.

Via:

The pots-and-pans protest has its roots in Chile, where people have used it for years as an effective, peaceful tool to express civil disobedience. The noisy cacerolazo tradition actually predates the Pinochet regime in Chile, but has endured there and spread to other countries as a method of showing popular defiance.

Thursday's protest in Montreal was immediately declared illegal by police, who said it violated a municipal bylaw because they hadn't been informed of the route. They allowed it to continue as long as it remained peaceful.

Although there was a massive police presence throughout the evening with the roar of a provincial police helicopter competing with the banging of the pots, there was little if any tension reported between demonstrators and police.

Ten Points Everyone Should Know About the Quebec Student Movement

Update:

The Quebec government invited student groups Thursday for talks to end a three-month conflict over a planned hike in tuition fees after nearly 700 people were arrested overnight in the Canadian province.

No date was set for the meeting to which the four main student groups were invited, but it could talk place early next week, said the president of the FECQ student union, Leo Bureau-Blouin.

"We want to put the odds on our side to reach a definitive agreement that will bring peace back to our streets and return students to school benches," said Education Minister Michelle Courchesne.

Protests, some of which turned violent, have raged for over three months against a plan by provincial Premier Jean Charest's government to raise tuition fees at Quebec universities by 82 percent, or $1,700, over five years.

Tonight, at 8pm EST, take a large pot, go outside and bang it as loud as you can, in solidarity with the people of Quebec.