Prosecutors have dropped a murder charge against the man accused of fatally punching teenager Thomas Kelly, with the 19-year-old accused instead pleading guilty to manslaughter.

Kieran Loveridge formally entered a plea of guilty to one count of manslaughter in Sydney’s Central Local Court on Tuesday morning. Loveridge also pleaded guilty to four other assaults in Kings Cross on the night of July 7, 2012.

Parents Ralph and Kathy Kelly fronted the media outside the Australian courtroom, still picking up the pieces.

Mr Kelly, who was 18, was walking through the notorious nightclub strip with his girlfriend shortly after 10pm on July 7, when he was hit by Loveridge.

Floored by the forceful blow, Mr Kelly’s head struck the ground with significant force, and he never regained consciousness. His parents Ralph and Kathy Kelly made the decision to turn off his life support about 36 hours later.

Mr Kelly’s death sparked intense debate about alcohol-related crime and violence on Sydney’s infamous party strips and across the state.

Spurred on by an emotional community response to Mr Kelly’s death, others came forward to reveal they too had been the victim of random violence that night. Prosecutors tried to allege that Mr Kelly was not killed by the force of the hit, but killed due to the head trauma caused by landing on the pavement – because clearly he should have landed somewhere safer?

The crime against Mr Kelly and the attacks on the other four men were described as random and unprovoked.

Mrs Kelly has stated:

"We are here today for our son Thomas, who cannot speak for himself and will never speak again. Although we are here to represent him, we have had no rights or say at all in the procedures that have brought us here or in the decision that has been made here today."

She encouraged people to take action against senseless ferocity and "refuse to accept the unconscionable acts of violence" committed on innocent people.

"It is equally repugnant that these perpetrators be given the opportunity to remorselessly re-offend over and over again,".

"[My] family has lost a son, a brother, a grandson, a nephew and cousin. We will never forget our darling Thomas, we will never stop missing him, and our lives will never be the same, what has the perpetrator lost? It’s time we all came to the same realisation about just who the victim is of violent crimes, and it’s not the offenders, so please let’s stop treating them as the victims."

Julian Assange is prepared to stay holed up in the Ecuadorean embassy for five years, according to Ecuador’s

This comes after the news that Britain and Ecuador failed to reach an agreement.

Ecuador has offered Assange asylum but the British government has said it would arrest him should he leave the embassy’s grounds.

The foreign secretary and Ricardo Patiño held a 45-minute meeting this morning but the British government said "no substantive progress was made" in resolving the stalemate.

However the pair did agree to establish a "working group" to find a diplomatic solution.

Patiño has stated that Assange was in "good spirits".

"I was able to say face to face to him, for the first time, that the government of Ecuador remains firmly committed to protecting his human rights and that we continue to seek cast-iron assurances to avoid any onward extradition to a third state…During the meeting we were able to speak about the increasing threats against the freedom of people to communicate and to know the truth, threats which come from certain states that have put all of humanity under suspicion."

The shocking allegations that the National Security Agency in the United States has been invading the privacy of thousands is certainly concerning if true.

As the founder of WordswithMeaning.org – a website that though not as mainstream as other pro-freedom organisations out there, yet still under frequent fire for the publications of documents and information deemed suppressible by many governments – I am fearful, disgusted and outraged that these allegations have surfaced against the Obama Administration.

There is no excuse for the invasion of privacy – regardless of terrorism, illegal activity or safety – you can NEVER justify voyeurism on your citizens.

This is why today I am urging everyone, Americans especially, to raise awareness and take a stand against these surveillance claims. Several companies, celebrities, organisations and civilians are signing the Mozilla-backed petition at “Stopwatching.us” and it doesn’t matter whether you think your input matters or not – get in there!

http://stopwatching.us/

Dear Members of Congress,

We write to express our concern about recent reports published in the Guardian and the Washington Post, and acknowledged by the Obama Administration, which reveal secret spying by the National Security Agency (NSA) on phone records and Internet activity of people in the United States.

The Washington Post and the Guardian recently published reports based on information provided by an intelligence contractor showing how the NSA and the FBI are gaining broad access to data collected by nine of the leading U.S. Internet companies and sharing this information with foreign governments. As reported, the U.S. government is extracting audio, video, photographs, e-mails, documents, and connection logs that enable analysts to track a person’s movements and contacts over time. As a result, the contents of communications of people both abroad and in the U.S. can be swept in without any suspicion of crime or association with a terrorist organization.

Leaked reports also published by the Guardian and confirmed by the Administration reveal that the NSA is also abusing a controversial section of the PATRIOT Act to collect the call records of millions of Verizon customers. The data collected by the NSA includes every call made, the time of the call, the duration of the call, and other "identifying information" for millions of Verizon customers, including entirely domestic calls, regardless of whether those customers have ever been suspected of a crime. The Wall Street Journal has reported that other major carriers, including AT&T and Sprint, are subject to similar secret orders.

This type of blanket data collection by the government strikes at bedrock American values of freedom and privacy. This dragnet surveillance violates the First and Fourth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution, which protect citizens’ right to speak and associate anonymously, guard against unreasonable searches and seizures, and protect their right to privacy.

We are calling on Congress to take immediate action to halt this surveillance and provide a full public accounting of the NSA’s and the FBI’s data collection programs. We call on Congress to immediately and publicly:

1. Enact reform this Congress to Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act, the state secrets privilege, and the FISA Amendments Act to make clear that blanket surveillance of the Internet activity and phone records of any person residing in the U.S. is prohibited by law and that violations can be reviewed in adversarial proceedings before a public court;
2. Create a special committee to investigate, report, and reveal to the public the extent of this domestic spying. This committee should create specific recommendations for legal and regulatory reform to end unconstitutional surveillance;
3. Hold accountable those public officials who are found to be responsible for this unconstitutional surveillance.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Syria has accused the US of exploiting false information on the use of chemical weapons as an excuse to intervene in the country after US President Barack Obama’s administration confirmed that it would supply Syrian rebels with arms and ammunition.

Russia has dismissed US evidence that Assad’s forces used the deadly Agent Sarin against rebel forces.

“I will say frankly that what was presented to us by the Americans does not look convincing,” President Vladimir Putin’s senior foreign policy advisor Yuri Ushakov stated.

“The White House [has] relied on fabricated information in order to hold the Syrian government responsible for using these weapons, despite a series of statements that confirmed that terrorist groups in Syria have chemical weapons,”…“The United States, in resorting to a shameful use of pretexts in order allow President Obama’s decision to arm the Syrian opposition, shows that it has flagrant double standards in the way it deals with terrorism”

Russia has virtually passed the law that will see “homosexual propaganda” banned.

The lower parliament in Russia has passed a law imposing heavy fines for providing information about homosexuality to people under 18.

The measure was passed unanimously and will become law when approved by the upper house and President Vladimir Putin.

The lower house also passed a bill imposing up to three years in jail on those who offend religious believers.

The new law on "offending religious feelings of the faithful" will also take effect after approval by the upper house and the president – an issue that saw the anti-Putin protest band Pussy Riot jailed last year.

Under the new law, private individuals promoting "homosexual behaviour among minors" face fines of up to 5,000 roubles (about $150USD) while officials risk paying 10 times that amount. Businesses and schools could be fined up to 500,000 roubles (about $15k USD).

Homosexuality was decriminalised in Russia in 1993.

This so-called Prism programme tapped into the servers of nine internet firms, according to recently leaked documents.

The leaked documents go on claim that the project gives the NSA access to email, chat logs, any stored data, voice traffic, file transfers and social networking data.

The documents claim that the NSA can even conduct live surveillance on users.

Say what you want about how heroic or reckless WikiLeaks and Bradley Manning’s involvement in military affairs has been but the fact lies that soldiers who knowingly killed innocent civilians will enjoy freedom whilst one of the men who exposed them is set for trial over the allegations that he “aided the enemy”

The US military has raised 22 charges against him, including espionage and treason.

As Bradley Manning enters a Maryland court to face up to the accusations, he has so pled guilty to 10 charges – enough to see him spend 20 years behind bars.

According to Juan Méndez, the UN special rapporteur on torture, Bradley Manning has faced unpleasant, insensitive and humiliating treatment.

For months, he was deprived of human contact. He was stripped of his clothes, left without privacy, and forced to sleep without any darkness.

In 2011, P J Crowley was forced to resign as the US state department’s official spokesman after slamming Manning’s treatment as “ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid”.

Several media outlets have asked for a press pass for their reporter and a second press pass for a stenographer to accompany their reporter.

The US Army purportedly received over 350 media applications for the trial, but only granted 70 to be present in the media room.  In an emailed statement, the excuse for not issuing extra passes came down (hilariously) to supposed fire regulations.

 “Your understanding of our space limitations based on building fire codes is greatly appreciated.”

The prosecution argues her death was premeditated. He will appear in a Pretoria court at some point over the next few days for a hearing that is likely to be adjourned.

One of the photos appears to show an envelope and a bag of pink, heart-shaped candies with the nickname “Ozzy” written on it.

Innocent until proven guilty – here are the images from the scene.

Oscar Pistorius’ Alleged Killing of Reeva Steenkamp: The Leaked Murder Scene Photographs VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

I, personally, living in Australia see multitudes of people complain about products that aren’t made or owned by Australian companies. For example: I was at a fruit store the other week and an elderly lady was outspokenly committed to warn people away from the Californian oranges as they were imported. Out loud; she said “you are un-Australian if you do not buy Australian groceries”

Naturally, my internal response was “fuck off I’ll buy what I want” but to see the concern that Australians have on imported and internationally grown/manufactured items is not one that is uncommon.

This brings me to one of my favourite stores: Aldi.

Aldi is cheap, cheerful and straight to the point. According to the likes of Australian businessman Dick Smith; I should feel guilty for purchasing from Aldi and not an Australian corporation:

So what’s happened is Aldi have very low overheads – I think they only have three or four people in a typical Aldi store.  Aldi is a very German company – you basically do what you’re told – they pick one product and, let’s say it’s going to be a beetroot, well that’s the one they pick and that’s the one you have to buy.  Whereas the Australian tradition has been one of “freedom of choice” with going into Woolworths or Coles and saying “I don’t want the imported one, I want the local one” or “I want a premium quality one” – people would make that decision so that’s the difference.

Now with Coles and Woolworths competing with Aldi they have ruthlessly had to get the cost down because we’re not eating more…Aldi is making a fortune.  Of course the difference is the Aldi money goes to Germany… competing the big supermarkets have basically screwed the Australian processors out of business. 

If you’re interested in reading more on Dick Smith’s anti-foreign industry views – his website’s full of it.

The economy cannot strive on its own. If we don’t import then do we expect to export? Sure, maybe that’s not Dick’s point – the ‘extreme capitalism’ as he once called it is the issue but in such times of economic stress; is it realistic to pay $4 for a product that one could get for $1 at a non-Australian retailer?

Upon preparation of this story, I contacted Mr. Smith directly and asked if consumers are perhaps resorting to making their purchases from foreign-owned retailers purely on saving money – his publicist, however, responded to me and declined to answer my question or provide any discussion for this website. Maybe he doesn’t like the fact we pay Europe for our hosting and services?

When you look up the words “Is Australia” on Google one of the first few suggestions is “Racist?” – A question that many – even Australians such as myself – have often asked.

To put it bluntly: Australians are quite racist at times, but in a relaxed manner. Typically, the Australian way of life is one that openly spreads the point “If you don’t like it then why should I care?”

Australians can be quite intolerant – but when it comes to foreign interest, they are more-or-less ignorant rather than xenophobic. There is a certain pride to everything that happens in Australia. One of these prides is supporting Australian businesses, entertainment and finances. Many people justify the incredible expenses that have to be paid here by simply and patriotically standing firm and saying “because I support Australia.”

If you purchase a European car then people will be content. If you purchase an Australian one, they will probably like you more.

The same goes for things like music, movies, actors and performers. Most of the time when Australian events have rockstars from overseas perform for them, they are criticised as “we have plenty of good acts here!”

For example: Meat Loaf did a huge Australian sporting event. His voice was way off and his performance was dreadful – something he blamed on the audio engineers that he was provided with due to his in-ear monitors being set badly – but immediately, the anger rose over the fact that we had paid a foreign singer to do an Australian event. (For the sake of defence: I attended the Meat Loaf gig a few days later and his concert was stellar)

The issue of buying from local retailers rather than online vendors is another that strikes the heart of many patriotic Australians. Purchasing a child’s book from the online-only store Book Depository will cost you an average of $3 including the free postage, when purchasing from an Australian retailer will cost anything from $10 to $20. It’s also worth noting that the US/EU online retailer can expect the item to be shipped within 24 hours, whilst the Australian one claims 4 days. Ideally, would this book I have used as an example be coming from the exact same place? Who is to say that the book will loosely be distributed to the Australian retailer so that they can forward it on and take the large portion of profit on top?

Likewise, the online and retail store in Australia “JB HI FI” usually has very reasonable prices but even then, if you’re willing to purchase from Australian-operating businesses such as WOWHD – you can save significantly.

So by encouraging people to go for the cheaper alternative – am I now un-Australian? Should I be insisting that people avoid handing their hard earned money to Australian businesses for the sake of saving?

When a local factory closes, Australians are often quick to criticise the consumers and not the government. For instance – Australian luxury confectionary company Darrell Lea has been hit heavily and pushed into debt. The cost of Australian-made liquorice would sit at $6 per bag, when competitor Cadbury would offer the same (or even more) for $4. Who’s to blame? 

The cost of an Australian-made beer is about 45%+ more in Australia than overseas. How does that even make sense?

You could point the finger at the average wage – but keep in perspective that it doesn’t justify living costs, especially not with the employment rates and vacancy of jobs.

According to the Deutsche Bank, Australia is visibly overpriced compared to the rest of the world. Their findings state the following price differences between the US and Australia:

McDonalds Big Mac – $4.90 in Australia, $4.37 in America

2L of Coca Cola – $3.61 in Australia, $2.35 in America

Pint of beer – $8.20 in Australia, $6.00 in America

Pair of Levi Jeans – $115 in Australia, $56 in America

20 pack of Marlboro Cigarettes – $19.21 in Australia, $12.31in America

Five-star hotel room – $933 for Sydney, $419 for New York

2013 Volkswagen Golf (Automatic) – $37,444 in Australia, $26,044 in America

To put it all into contrast – the reason Australians choose to is because with such high tax rates, domestic postage costs, and the constant rise of fuel and electricity prices; should people feel as if they owe the country’s economy more than what they have given or can afford to give?

Gillard is not great. There’s been a strange trend in non-Australians using social media gullibly believing the opposite. This, as it usually is, involves people criticising (in this case, praising) the government of a country they do not live in.

There has been a rise in ‘share this post’ crap when it comes to a speech that PM Julia Gillard allegedly made against the intolerant and those refusing to adapt. The post, which hilariously recommends that Gillard be “Queen of the World”, has been lurking around the internet long before Julia Gillard was Prime Minister…or in any high position in Australian politics that is.

It seems to me that the Aussie PM is talking a lot of sense

 

Australian Prime Minister does it again!! This woman should be appointed Queen of the World.. Truer words have never been spoken.

 

Prime Minister Julia Gillard- Australia:

 

Muslims who want to live under Islamic Sharia law were told on Wednesday to get out of Australia, as the government targeted radicals in a bid to head off potential terror attacks..

 

Separately, Gillard angered some Australian Muslims on Wednesday by saying she supported spy agencies monitoring the nation’s mosques. Quote:

 

‘IMMIGRANTS, NOT AUSTRALIANS, MUST ADAPT.. Take It Or Leave It.

I am tired of this nation worrying about whether we are offending some individual or their culture. Since the terrorist attacks on Bali , we have experienced a surge in patriotism by the majority of Australians. ‘

 

‘This culture has been developed over two centuries of struggles, trials and victories by millions of men and women who have sought freedom’

 

‘We speak mainly ENGLISH, not Spanish, Lebanese, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, or any other language. Therefore, if you wish to become part of our society…. Learn the language!’

 

‘Most Australians believe in God. This is not some Christian, right wing, political push, but a fact, because Christian men and women, on Christian principles, founded this nation, and this is clearly documented. It is certainly appropriate to display it on the walls of our schools. If God offends you, then I suggest you consider another part of the world as your new home, because God is part of our culture.’

 

‘We will accept your beliefs, and will not question why. All we ask is that you accept ours, and live in harmony and peaceful enjoyment with us.’

 

‘This is OUR COUNTRY, OUR LAND, and OUR LIFESTYLE, and we will allow you every opportunity to enjoy all this. But once you are done complaining, whining, and griping about Our Flag, Our Pledge, Our Christian beliefs, or Our Way of Life, I highly encourage you take advantage of one other great Australian freedom, ‘THE RIGHT TO LEAVE’.’ ‘If you aren’t happy here then LEAVE. We didn’t force you to come here. You asked to be here. So accept the country YOU accepted.’

 

Maybe if we circulate this amongst ourselves in UK , SA, Canada & USA, WE will find the courage to start speaking and voicing the same truths.

 

If you agree please SEND THIS ON and ON, to as many people as you know

The statement claims Special Agents Christopher Lorek and Stephen Shaw fell from a “significant distance” due to unknown helicopter difficulties which will now be investigated.

The duo were involved in the arrest of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings.

Coincidence or conspiracy? Your say.

This news comes just days after a suspect who allegedly confessed to having strict involvement in the bombing was shot dead by interrogating officers.

According to several people on the scene the attackers used machetes and  cut the victims head off. Woolwich street by two men who were later shot by law enforcement and airlifted to hospital.

Prime Minister David Cameron, who was planning to stay in Paris overnight after meeting the French president, will return to the UK following the attack.

According to various witnesses those carrying out the attack were heard to be yelling “Allahu Akbar” (which means “God [or Allah] is Great”)

London Mayor Boris Johnson has described the attack as a “sickening deluded and unforgivable act of violence”.

And with that summary, today’s [WORLD in PICTURES] collection is self-explanatory.

The Airbus A350: Designing, Building and Producing the Future of Airbus VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Communist Conroy

Australian Greens senator Scott Ludlam claims that the federal government has now revived internet censorship concerns with evidence that its agencies are using powers to block Australian users from accessing websites more widely than first thought.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) confirms that it has asked internet service providers (ISPs), including Telstra, to block access to two websites believed to be part of a share trading scam in late March. However, in the course of blocking the scammer sites; 1200 genuinely unrelated websites sharing the same web host or server were also blocked.

The Australian Federal Police has used rules under the Telecommunications Act of 1997 to prevent users from accessing specific websites in the past. This includes enforcing ISPs to do what is “reasonably necessary” to foil users attempts to break the law using communication systems such as the World Wide Web.

ASIC said it had begun sending notices to ISPs requesting blocked access to websites over the past nine months as part of its law enforcement capabilities.

Scott Ludlam has stated on record that: “It’s extraordinarily difficult to find who has issued these notices and on behalf of whom, for what categories of content, or what you do if you find yourself on a block list. We’ve got a very serious problem and it’s not at all clear whether the government knows what it’s actually doing,”

Budget documents released during the second week of May revealed that dumping Stephen Conroy’s exhaustive attempt to mandatorily filter the internet will save the government $4.5 million.

According to a regulatory chief, provider iiNet had previously complied with notices sent by the AFP to take down web sites that contained information regarding terrorism, bomb-making, Anarchist Cookbook and other “illegal” materials.

This concern follows ASIC’s pledge to alter privacy laws to allow data retention, phone call snooping and various other mandatory requests.

What is impeachment or impeaching?

With the White House belligerent to contain outrages from Benghazi to IRS snooping, it culminated in a chorus of Republican calls to impeach Obama. “Of all the great cover-ups in history, the Pentagon papers, Iran-Contra, Watergate, all the rest of them, this is going to go down as most egregious cover-up in American history.” Republican Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma claimed earlier this month.

The Benghazi scandal:

In September of 2012, you may remember the worldwide protests and reactions to the film “Innocence of Muslims” which is supposedly a factor for the Benghazi consulate attack in which J. Christopher Stevens lost his life.

Well – the Republican Party members have consistently accused Obama, the White House and The State Department of laying emphasis on or formulating/exaggerating the role of Islamic anger over the anti-Islamic movie. There has also been allegations that the administration was indisposed to label the ordeal as a terrorist attack. 

IRS Snooping:

In April this year, the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) proclaimed that the Fourth Amendment does not protect email and that a warrant is not needed to plant a GPS location tracker on a car in its owner’s driveway. (The Fourth Amendment is part of America’s Bill of Rights which protects your liberty not to be subject to searches and seizures or warrants without judicially sanctioned with good reason to suspect of wrongdoing)

 “The Fourth Amendment does not protect communications held in electronic storage, such as email messages stored on a server, because Internet users do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in such communications,”

Naturally, the above statement has caused an uproar and has caused criticism over Barack Obama’s handling (or lack of?) of the issue.

The Associated Press were paid a visit by the Department of Justice and all hell broke loose after the DoJ seemingly obtained logs of outgoing made by some AP reporters and editors involved in producing a story that appeared in May 2012. The story covered how a plot by a Yemeni terrorist to bomb an airliner was obstructed.

 Will it Happen?

It’s worth noting that, despite what some may claim, impeachment isn’t simple and it usually never happens. There’s a misconception that Richard Nixon was impeached – but he in fact resigned.

It’s unlikely that you’ll wake up tomorrow and see the headline “Barack Obama removed from power” but the attempts will be strong.

"We have mothers, sisters, little children who were shot," New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu told local press.
A New Orleans specialist confirmed that he has had to treat ‘severe injuries’ including wounds to the chest and abdomen.

New Orleans police are searching for suspects in the shooting. Shootings in New Orleans aren’t widely report, yet not entirely uncommon.

This article is bound to cause an uncomfortable feeling amongst some and garner criticism over its depictions of a way out of life. However, I first want to highlight that there are many reasons why written works like this should exist. If you take this information in as a guide, then we cannot recommend or encourage that you take your own life. This was written for the curious, the researching and those who wish to understand how the human body can in-fact have an ‘off switch’.

There are multiple ways to kill yourself, but they don’t always factor in the character and feelings of the person carrying them out. This is why I have put some prominence on the scrutiny and consideration of ending one’s life.

I think it is very important that the person is taken into consideration, because all plans can be disrupted by a doubt, fear, indecision, or self-deception of one’s true feelings and desires.

First: Why do people want to take their lives, even if they are quite ‘normally’ surviving?

To answer this question we must dive into the scenarios of human thought and justification. Suicidal thoughts are often linked to depression and a loss of the will to live – and yes, that’s almost always the major factor – but there are plenty of reasons one may wish to put an end to their life. Suicidal emotions are prevalent when one:

•  Is sick and dying and wants a stress-free way out that doesn’t involve mobility.
•  Is depressed and can’t find the motivation to go the distances required for their situation.
•  Is disgusted with life and wants a way out that isn’t too painful, messy or likely to fail.
•  Wants to die for any of the listed reasons and is afraid of being discovered, seen as a coward, or judged as malevolent by those the person admires.
•  Wants to go out fashionably, making a strong statement against enemies and detractors (such as bullies or ex-boyfriends/girlfriends or those who requested the person to ‘prove’ they were really suicidal)
•  Wants revenge on society or group or a person, using suicide as the means of achieving their revenge
•  Wants to perplex their loved ones or enemies by knowing that their exit from the world will shock and confuse.
•  Feels as though there is more to life and that, in their death, they will enter another realm based on their spiritual beliefs

Suicide is always related to the fear of something. Whether the person is afraid of their existence, their depression, their inability to succeed, their inability to control their own body or the fear that they will be a burden on those they love.

The Empowerment of Accepting Death

We can be caught between knowing that we want to die and taking steps to accomplish it and really just wanting life to be different and trying to find some way to escape or hide from it. Attempting suicide can be a way of shuffling the deck. No matter how much we may decry the control exercised over us once we’ve failed an attempt, we are the ones who got us there. It is a means of changing the life we are leading (abandoning control, which a lot of us want to do but for which are afraid of the repercussions). This is in part why some people commit crimes — to return to a controlled environment where they cannot have to face the stress of decision-making.

Knowing that we can at any point terminate our lives can be a powerful incentive. Ok, now I can do anything. If the heat gets too much, I can exit and I don’t have to worry about the conditions I’ve created for myself. To many this is considered as the easy way out, the weak and selfish way out or the lazy way out. Is it selfish to say goodbye to your family, acknowledge the good times and bow out?

Preparing for the end

When one is dedicated to the task, suicide will not be difficult to achieve at all. the major problem is internal, not external. Some degree of self-analysis, preparation for death, the reaction one will not witness but apparently cause, etc., is important since we are conditioned to regulate our behaviour based on imagining the reaction others will feel in response to our choices.

Other than deciding on the method of self-termination, the practical preparation for suicide includes accepting one’s demise, how it will be effected, and one’s role in the social world prior to that event.

Deciding (or leaving undecided) the metaphysical issues inherent to the notion of suicide (such as how the cosmos may be structured, whether there are moral authorities who have forbidden the taking of your life, what happens to people when they die, whether it matters if someone has killed themselves as to the quality of any post-mortem experiences, etc.) is an important part of accepting the idea of effecting one’s own death.

Contemplating the likely responses to the type of suicide one has planned and the future development of the society in which one lives (i.e. how family and friends will react to the news of your choice to end your life, what, if any, repercussions, there may be to the message your death may symbolize, etc.) is essential in the construction of a satisfactory suicide method and context.

The ultimate ‘intelligence’ or ‘unexpectedness’ with suicide is perhaps the most shocking and well-thought-out elements of suicide. This may include lying to one’s friends and family (so as to avoid being bereft of autonomy and freedom in a misguided attempt to provide ‘help’), the resolution of administrative details (like arranging for payment of regular bills and any funerary expenses that will likely be incurred by your survivors, etc.), or a fierce and fiery ‘Shooting Star’ termination in which a huge mess is left to those whom you despise or have learned to disregard, knowing how to approach the world will put those destined for death one step ahead of those who may wish to see that a self-termination fails.

Fear of pain is an important reason to hesitate when contemplating self-termination. We want to terminate the pain we may be feeling (often psychological).

Many subjects who have survived suicide have stated that during what they believed were there final moments, they began to reconsider their situation.

For example; a man who had leapt from a bridge told that he began to feel a sudden tranquillity and type of rebirth during his descent. He survived the suicide and his mindset had changed. Likewise, many people who travel to Zurich to receive legal euthanasia have reportedly realised that, through expanding their horizons and discovering an all new ‘world’, they decide that they would start life anew.

We’ve gone through why – so HOW do people do it?

Asides from the obvious jump-off-bridge or pull-gun-trigger-at-head methods; there are several curiosities surrounding those who are trying to find methods on dealing with their own death. It wouldn’t be too farfetched to suggest that many seek ways to die in the same way that many seek ways on curing and surviving.

POSING A FAKE RISK TO GET SHOT

Some try to force police officers to kill them by buying a cheap toy gun that looks real enough from a distance. Get stopped by a police officer and, from a distance, get emotional and pull the weapon. Refuse to put it down when they command it. Take a firing stance and aim the toy. Best to obscure your body except for your head when beginning the escapade. The important thing is though – you will not only lose your own life, but you may very well traumatise the officers, civilians and families surrounding the incident.

ASPHYXIATION AND THE ‘EXIT BAG’

Asphyxiation has been the subject of many ‘natural’ suicides. The Hemlock Society (which supports the right of the terminally-ill to die) says that the rubber band method may cause discomfort and the suggestion of the ‘exit bag’ (pictured) is often given.

In 1990 German Factory worker Peter Ditert (Google Books has an archive of the newspaper which mentions him briefly here) had multiple failed attempts to take his life. Some may even argue that ‘fate’ was on his side: his gun barrel jammed, he consumed multiple poisons and hazardous substances and he survived a couple of intentional car-related incidents too. I was unable to find any information on whether or not Peter Ditert was still alive or if he had finally achieved his death.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, a 46 year old tried to kill himself 7 times after his wife left him. He even gassed his entire house and lit a match after the monoxide poisoning didn’t happen soon enough. He was rescued and later reported to be on good terms with his estranged wife.

The use of chemicals such as propane is commonly brought up as slightly nauseating to the respiratory tract and may only cause non-life-threatening effects. Common symptoms whilst trying to suffocate with propane include dizziness, headache, drowsiness, and nausea, muscular incoordination, disproportionate salivation, incomprehension, vomiting, and even extreme excitation. In punishing cases, seizures or loss-of-conscience may occur.

Many common Liquid Petroleum gas (LPG) stoves have a regulation feature inbuilt that prevents the gas valve to open unless the pilot light is lit. Most homes and stoves are fitted with this type of safety. Propane freezes when it is allowed to escape quickly – so, ironically, you would be burned by cold temperatures. The gas regulator features allow propane to escape slowly enough under pressure so that the jet doesn’t ice up.

AIR INJECTION

Arterial Gas Embolism (known technically as “AGE”) embraces the idea that injecting air into the veins can cause an air bubble to facilitate a heart issue (likely, a heart attack) and kill you without the coroner being ever-the-wiser but this is somewhat of a myth. Small air bubbles injected into the vein cannot cause death. A large syringe would be required to give yourself a lethal dose of air. Surviving this suicide attempt could give render you brain-dead, which is arguably worse than dying.

Injecting a large dose of air into the body involves the air pocket travelling through the bloodstream and into the brain. Seeing as our brains are not meant to contain air, this initiates a stroke. Not all strokes kill.

KNOWN METHODS OF SUICIDE:

Some (most) of these are self-explanatory.

Bleeding/Wrist Slitting

The rapid loss of blood (or Exsanguination) is an uncommon cause of death. Though publicised by many cultural references as a major solution to death, the mortality rate of those who have self-harmed with the intention of suicide is quite low.

Drowning

(Often seen as technically an asphyxiation)

Suffocation

Hypothermia

Electrocution

Self-defenestration (jumping from height, but specifically, from a window)

Firearms

Hanging

Vehicular impact

Simply jumping in front of a vehicle, train, bus, and lorry. Suicide by aircraft is the least common due to the difficulties of gaining access to the front of a taxiing plane or jumping from a plane. It should be noted that whilst hijacking and crashing a plane is the act of suicide, it is not regularly seen as an occurrence for suicide, contradictory to the ideology of kamikaze and suicide hijacking. Despite this, there have been instances where pilots have intentionally crashed the aircraft due to depression or the loss of will to live – however, this is perhaps recognised as murder or terrorism due to the multiple deaths that occur. This, of course, isn’t the case when it comes to a solo pilot intentionally crashing an aircraft or a group of willing suicidal passengers choosing to take part in a group mortality. 

Poisoning

(Includes Drug overdose) 

Immolation

A reasonably useless method; Immolation (or in psychological terms – Self-Immolation) is the intentional basking in flames. This is usually survivable and bares the risk of rescue. Surviving self-immolation would incur drastic recovery and emotional scarring (not to mention the obvious physical scarring). Death by self-immolation is often used as a means of ‘peaceful’ and mind-strengthened protest rather than suicide.

Jumping into a volcano or enduring molten lava is also defined as self-immolation.

Intentional Starvation

Intentional Dehydration

Self-Decapitation

IN CLOSING:

Ultimately though, I want to remind you all that this should not be taken as a literal guide to suicide.

The order to remove the template files for the plastic gun comes after they were downloaded more than 100,000 times. They were being hosted on MEGA.

The US State Department wrote to the gun’s designer, Defense Distributed, suggesting publishing them online may breach arms-control regulations.

Naturally, you can still download the .STL files from The Pirate Bay…or…you know, the dozens of websites which will suddenly make sure there are as much mirrors as possible.

Direct Download Link here

via WordswithMeaning.org Disclosure Vault

Are Adobe committing suicide with their new ‘mandatory subscription only’ model for the tools of choice (Photoshop, Dreamweaver etc.) for so many industries?

With a Facebook page full of disappointment from loyal users and multiple petitions demanding Adobe to re-think their plans – Adobe has annoyed many freelancers and designers (such as yours truly) with accusations of greed and capitalising on people already struggling during this economy.

Adobe is expecting users to enter a forced 12 month commitment, but the user owns nothing. You’re not buying the Adobe suite of applications; you’re renting them.

Your applications WILL be installed on your PC – so they aren’t browser based – but you’d be forced to connect to the net frequently to verify that you’ve licensed the software. This decision, however, is apparently not an attempt to avoid piracy.

There are worries that those who have had their licenses expire won’t be able to access their files and would have to enter another 12 month contract just to simply remove a layer and export the image or adjust a website layout. This, ultimately, could mean that freelancers will have to charge more in order to break even on their projects.

I’ve compiled some of the many comments (ironically, using Photoshop) but perhaps one of the most interesting comment is the response issued by competitor Corel.

[SPECIAL SERIES] [The Deep Web] an Introduction to the Deepest, Darkest Parts of the Internet.

[SPECIAL SERIES] [The Deep Web] Human Experiments and Groups Dedicated to Subject Research.

First let me explain my criticisms for the way Child Pornography (CP) is dealt with by the worlds’ top governments. For starters; CP is not illegal within the entire world. It may come as a surprise but accessing, owning or distributing the content is still a legitimate trade in some parts of Asia and so therefore if something is hosted within a country that has no strict policy against it – then it cannot be removed by a foreign government.

For a good 3 years I suggested that through using the deep web we could illegally bring down the content and yet never be traced back to our failure to obtain warrants and so on – this plot was never accepted and my ideas were constantly ignored.

The government buildings that house evidence in the UK have large data centres all storing child pornography for the purposes of substantiation and investigations (such as attempts to trace the pictures of the children involved).

Many of these files are low quality images with either faces blurred out or the suggestion of being old and inconveniently useless for gaining a conviction.

The amount of content that is clearly distributed by abusers is tear-jerking.

Child pornography is like war in the way that you cannot simply bring an end to it. CP was not born on the web and so simply persevering at closing CP websites will not help. It certainly isn’t as simple as ‘shutting the provider down’ either. The website owners cannot be traced, the location of the content cannot be revealed and the details are entirely hidden from anyone hoping to gain a conviction or bring an abuser to justice.

Admittedly, my previous post hinting on the ‘real-life gladiator’ fights that are organised through the deep web was probably the discovery of an exaggerated firm, but there’s no way of verifying whether or not these things exist without attempting to join yourself – oh and a shout-out to Eiley for her story about this here.

Whether you believe me or not – I worked on behalf of the investigations unit in the UK and after an 11 month inquiry; we found no conclusive evidence that this is happening in the UK and we have closely worked with international researchers who, too, have yet to verify the details. (To clarify – I am now a retired investigator working in a completely different field outside of law)

The deep web is full of interesting surprises, with the claim that one can even have somebody killed using online contact (see gallery), but there’s no irrefutable proof that this industry exists online. One can be sure, however, that child pornography and animal abuse can be found quite ‘easily’ when you’re looking for it.

Facebook users: have you noticed a rising trend of strange, gory, sexual or generally disgusting videos trending on the social networking site? You’re not alone in thinking it’s bizarre to see it on a site like Facebook.

Whether you wish to or not – Facebook has attracted criticism for showing the footage whenever someone on your friends list views it or comments (for whatever reason). My personal Facebook news feed often shows “_____ commented on video” and more than half the time, it’s actually a friend commenting “This is just fucked” or “Use other websites to raise awareness”

In its Community Guidelines, Facebook says that graphic imagery is allowed, except when it’s posted "for sadistic pleasure" or might lead to someone being harmed.

Facebook has been bold about the complaints that they should be removing videos of decapitations. One example is a video involving a teenage female inserting a purportedly blood-soaked tampon into her mouth. (If you’re actually interested in seeing that, then have a search on Google and for the record – it was definitely fake attention-whoring)

I’m all for freedom and net neutrality; but Facebook isn’t really the platform to share this content is it? Well according to Facebook it’s rather acceptable to share such content.

With censorship defending initiatives in the past (such as the [Controversial Humour] tag added to scandalous pages) and the removal of photographs which were taken of breastfeeding mothers (stirring up a bit of an argument when we mirrored the images that were removed) – the condition that breastfeeding was nudity seemed to be altered following this debate – it’s interesting to point out the following mentions in the community guidelines page:

“Sharing any graphic content for sadistic pleasure is prohibited.”

“We aspire to respect people’s right to share content of personal importance, whether those are photos of a sculpture like Michelangelo’s David or family photos of a child breastfeeding.”

We’d be hypocritical if we said we don’t commend the use of realistic portrayals of war and conflict – but, even though Facebook is where most of the internet’s population will notice it, is uploading footage there the most effective way of getting a message across?

It’s moments like these where Facebook should take a leaf out of YouTube’s book and have a content advisory warning that allows people to flag videos as potentially offensive or disturbing. A simple fix could go a long way.

The investigation into sex abuse allegations against Rolf Harris will now expand to his homeland, Australia, with detectives from Scotland Yard making the trip to New South Wales to interview a woman who supposedly has no allegations against Harris.

Officers from London spent two hours in the home of a mother, aged 43, with two children in Wisemans Ferry.

It’s important to recognise that Rolf Harris has not been charged. He denies any wrongdoing and has expressed his anger over the investigation. Rolf’s wife of over 50 years, Alwen, has stated that they are both distraught over the accusations.

According to our unverifiable source who provided us with the first details regarding the allegations; Rolf is being questioned as part of a division which does not link any of the alleged with Jimmy Savile.

Medical personnel have been dispatched to Guantanamo Bay to assist with the force-feeding of inmates who have been refusing food on the grounds of alleged mishandling of their religious texts by guards and their overall detainment without trial.

100 of the 166 held in Guantanamo by the United States are currently on hunger-strike.

In the light of such coverage, Barack Obama has vowed to close Guantanamo bay but it should be noted that he has claimed the closure is his intention long ago to no avail.

President Obama defended the military actions: "I don’t want these individuals to die", he said.

But are the US right to prevent the prisoners from refusing food?

Technically hunger-striking is a suicide attempt, and therefore Barack Obama has defended the choice to force-feed detainees as a measure to prevent prisoners from killing themselves.

The UN Commission for Human Rights has criticized the use of force-feeding detainees claiming that it is “ethically and legally unjustifiable” as well as degrading to the recipient, who is in full possession of their senses.

Force-feeding is commonly done by inserting long tubes through the nostrils.

An All Nippon Airways Dreamliner test flight has landed securely in Tokyo, three months after the global fleet of Boeing 787s was grounded amidst complaints over battery problems.

The success of the flight comes a day after Ethiopian Airlines resumed its typical usage of the Boeing Dreamliner.

The test flight lasted two hours.

Although the exact cause of the battery failures has yet to be pinpointed – according to the FAA on – it has been insisted that all refitted planes pose no risk.

"Even if we missed the root cause, we have identified 80 potential causal factors and we have addressed all of them in the design," a spokesman has asserted.