Earlier this month, a man selflessly opened his home to protestors after claiming the police assaulted and pepper-sprayed over 200 protesters during a curfew in the country’s capital.

Minutes after the 6 a.m. curfew ended, protestors in the safety of this man’s home gave an enthusiastic applause and cheered for the owner, Rahul Dubey.

The 44-year-old Indian-American who has been living in DC for the last 17 years and immediately took action as he saw the protesters being brutally manhandled as the police beat them up while they were trying to flee the scene.

One of the peaceful protestors, 22-year-old Meka claimed to Buzzfeed that the police officers had blocked off both sides of Swanna Street in northwest DC.

It was at that point that police “just started charging” at the group, “pushing and hitting” them while pepper spraying them and preventing them from leaving. It was right at this time when Dubey could no longer stomach what he was witnessing first hand from the safety of his own porch, that he opened the doors to his 1,500-square-foot home for anybody that needed shelter for the night.

The people he saved now describes him as a “hero” and “absolute legend” for his selfless act.

Dubey told Esquire that:

“I flung open the door, and I grabbed the railing and started pushing people into my house. It was like a human tsunami of people that the cops were pushing into my street, and the overflow was coming into my house.”

“All I kept on yelling was ‘Get in! Get in!’ I kept saying, ‘Get downstairs! Get upstairs!”

Another witness that saw everything unfold told News4 that:

“They charged all the way up into this man’s door and maced everybody coming into this house … Thank goodness for us in the house we’re safe, we’re ok. But there’s no way for us to get out of this house and not get arrested.”

Videos and photos from the scene shows MPD officers violently blocking and beating protesters, as well as arresting them for violating the curfew. All this violence followed after President Donald Trump’s warning to protesters across the country that many understood as a declaration of war.

He would no longer tolerate unrest, which was described as being proved by “professional anarchists, violent mobs, or, arsonists, looters, criminals, rider rioters, Antifa and others.” The president then said he would “end the riots and lawlessness” using military force, if necessary.

Trump has also said that he would send in massive amounts of armed personnel to the country’s capital, while strictly enforcing the 7:00 p.m. curfew that has been declared by the city.

This threatening speech happened right before the police gassed a huge crowd of peaceful protestors that were near the White House just so that the president could have a photo op of the very controversial photo where he is holding a bible outside the church.

Peter Newsham, DC Police Chief said that the officers were in the area to enforce the curfew, but denies any allegations that they gassed the protesters with pepper spray, claiming that it was part of the “misinformation” social media was spreading.

Newsham also said that “officers saw behavior consistent with behavior that preceded the very violent activity two night before when we actually had a Metropolitan Police Department that was set on fire.”

He also shared with NBC4 Washington that their department would “take a very, very close look to ensure that the police were respectful and responsible, professional and constitutional, in conducting those arrests.”

Although hearing these comments from the Police Chief, Dubey described the scene as completely chaotic and close enough to resemble “a hostage situation.”

He spoke to Esquire commenting:

“They were shooting pepper spray in through the window.

“That was mayhem for about an hour and fifteen minutes, and then as soon as I stepped onto the front porch, [the police] said, ‘Get back in the house, or we’ll put you down,’ and I said, ‘Look, I got a bunch of people in here.’

“They said, ‘Get the fuck back inside.’ I waited about an hour, and I went back out and said, ‘I request to talk to somebody,’ and they said, ‘We told you to get back. Get back or we’ll fucking arrest you,’ so I went back in the house.”

The people who were able to escape the violence were trying to relieve themselves of the pepper spray effects that the police had sprayed on them.

According to Dubey, his new guests ran the bathtub water just to splash some on their faces for relief.

Meka also added:

“It was chaotic … People were screaming, crying, and coughing.”

Later on, police even tried to dupe these protesters by wearing plainclothes to the front door, urging them to go through the back alley where they would be able to escape safely. “I mean, bullshit stuff,” Dubey said.

They also delayed a pizza delivery guy for over an hour and sent another police officer to respond to a fake 911 call that was supposedly about a medical emergency. It was as if Dubey’s home was under siege.

At some point, however, “some magic took place,” Dubey said.

Not surprisingly, for the 75 people in Dubey’s home with the ages of 20 to 50 years old, pizza was definitely part of the magic that happened.

“I had to do a covert pizza operation,” Dubey said with a laugh.

Thanks to some good samaritans on the internet, Dubey was finally able to get enough pizza for all 75 people from Duccini’s, his favorite local pizza place. And as for another piece of the magic puzzle, the pizza delivery guy had a role to play.

Dubey said,

“I’m delirious, but it’s beautiful. It’s absurd that I had to get some stranger to hand me pizza over my back fence through police brigade, but it also shows the human spirit, too, and that’s what this is all about.”

However, beyond Dubey’s safe home, officers still had other protesters cornered in a “little square” where they were arresting everyone.

Meka, Dubey, and the others that were safe quickly got on social media to share their ordeal. Chief Newsham lashed angrily saying that the information they were spreading was “completely innacurate.”

Eight hours after they escaped, Dubey’s 75 guests were able to head home, and thankfully didn’t get arrested as they left their safe space.

The event was nerve-wracking, Dubey added. Nevertheless, the group was “an amazing group of people that were gathered here peacefully.”

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The post Man Living In DC Opens His Home Overnight To Keep 75 Protesters Safe From Being Violently Arrested For Curfew Violations appeared first on True Activist.

A video that recently went viral shows George Floyd’s daughter, Gianna saying “daddy changed the world.”

In the video, Gianna can be seen sitting on the shoulders of her uncle and one of Floyd’s closest friends, retired NBA star Stephen Jackson.

This video made headlines online after the youngest daughter of of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Bernice shared it on her Twitter account.

Bernice said she can relate to Gianna’s struggle, because her father did succeed in changing the world, but unfortunately died while doing so.

In a statement she made later on, she said that she relates to Gianna’s pain, and was even bold enough to share and make it a point that her father was killed by law enforcement as well.

“Nobody knows her burden and pride like you,” she said in her tweet.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CA8-_agn1Dr/

As seen on The Grio, Bernice said that: “I was five years old when my father was killed by law enforcement. I know that pain, I know that void, I know the journey of anger. I know what people are feeling. I feel it.”

At a press conference held earlier this month, Roxie Washington, Gianna’s mother conveyed her grief at the fact that her daughter will grow up without her father be her side.

“Gianna does not have a father. He will never see her grow up, graduate. He will never walk her down the aisle. If there’s a problem she’s having and she needs a dad, she does not have that anymore,” she said.

In just a couple of weeks, George Floyd’s death has rocked the world back to reality about underlying issues that were never solved. There has never been such a large movement against police brutality, and not only in the U.S. can this be seen, but in all parts in other countries as well. It is now a global phenomenon.

When it comes to cases of police murders, officers very rarely get fired or even face charges, and if they do, the process takes a very long time with the help of police departments covering up the evidence and crimes of their employees.

This time, because of the people’s movement, all police offices related to the George Floyd case have been fired and faced charges. The officer directly responsible for the death is facing murder charges.

Days after the protests began, public schools in Minneapolis announced that they would terminate their contract with the local police department. The contract that amounted to over $1 million dollars allowed the local police department to have direct contact with children and teenagers on a regular basis, which lead to unnecessary arrests and assaults. Because of how massive these protests have become, it is likely that other parts of the country will follow suit and make some similar changes with their dealings with the police.

Lawmakers are now pushing for monumental police reforms that will limit protection for violent cops and eventually strip police departments of military equipment. Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers are supporting these new measures that are being discussed.

Because of the George Floyd’s brutal case, it is impossible to excuse or sweep under the rug actions of those that are supposed to protect the innocent. This isn’t the first time police brutality have been seen in the media. Everybody is working together to see real change and reform come after this unfortunate tragedy.

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The post Video Of George Floyd’s Daughter Saying “Daddy Changed The World” Went Viral After Bernice A. King Tweeted It appeared first on True Activist.

Last July 1, animal welfare charities all hailed success as the infamous and largest dog meat market located in South Korea was finally shut down. 

Busan’s Gupo dog meat market was one of the largest selling markets for chilled dog meat, as well as live dogs that were killed upon order. 

As an agreement between both parties, the local meat vendors were offered compensation in order for them to open alternative businesses. Aside from this, another part of the agreement with the local authorities was to be able to rescue the dogs that were still alive in the meat market. 

All the rescued dogs were turned over to the care of different animal charities who had worked with the authorities to finally shut down the market such as – Korean Animal Welfare Association (KAWA), Humane Society International (HSI), Korean Animal Rights Advocates (KARA) and the Busan Korean Alliance for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (KAPCA). 

HSI dog meat campaigner Nara Kim, who was present at the closure and rescue described the area as ‘really upsetting’ with all the dogs displayed in cages. ‘The smell was overwhelming,’ Kim added. 

She also stated: 

“I cannot express enough my joy at helping to close down the dog meat shops and slaughterhouse at Gupo market. For decades they have stood as a very public symbol of the immense cruelty of the dog meat trade, with live dogs displayed in cages on the street for shoppers to select for slaughter by electrocution.

The closure of Gupo’s dog meat market means the end of a gruesome era in South Korea’s dog meat history, and a sign of the times that law enforcement and local authorities are cracking down on this increasingly unpopular industry that most Koreans want nothing to do with.

I know we have a long way to go to end the dog meat trade here, but even two years ago I would never have believed we would see such progress. It has been a pleasure to work with the Busan authorities, and especially in being able to save the last remaining dogs we found alive.”

All rescued dogs will be transferred to a temporary shelter to be given time to recover from this traumatizing ordeal. After this, some will be adopted into new homes in Korea, while the others will be flown overseas by HSI to the United States and Canada to receive the care they need, before being sent to their adoptive homes. 

Gupo Market’s shutdown is the latest of the official’s crackdowns on dog meat trade. In 2018, the government finally demolished the country’s largest dog slaughterhouse, Taepyeong in Seongnam City. Part of this closure also led to a crackdown of dog meat vendors in that area. 

Although these markets have been getting shut down, there are still approximately 2 million dogs being bred in dog meat farms all over the country whose lives are suffering, just to end it with cruel and brutal deaths. 

HSI continues on with their work to keep pushing dog meat farmers to shut down these breeding grounds and helping them seek an alternative livelihood. 

Korean Animal Rights Advocates’ Aim Soonrye said: 

“The Korean dog meat industry is starting to fall. As local governments are moving forward, the Korean government must also take action by closing all illegal dog farms.

We welcome the decision made by Busan Metropolitan City and the merchants of Gupo, and believe that the shutdown of Gupo dog market will be a major stepping stone towards ending dog meat in Korea.”

Although the closing of the Gupo Market is a big step along the right direction, there is still a lot more that needs to be done. This industry still remains to be in legal limbo in South Korea because the various provisions of the Animal Protection Act are continuously violated, with the most popular violation as killing of animals in a brutal manner such as hanging and electrocution. 

Hopefully this small victory will lead the way of ending this horrifying practice throughout the whole country sooner, rather than later. 

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An unarmed hacker was able to successfully steal a whole cache of Radiohead’s unreleased recordings two weeks ago. Thom Yorke, the band’s lead singer had a total of 18 MiniDisc recordings that were an hour long each, which was composed of music they made when they were working on the seminal 1997 album, OK Computer. 

This hacker threatened the group members to release all of the recordings online if they didn’t end up paying a ransom totalling $150,000. 

So, guess what the band members ended up doing? 

Instead of succumbing to the wishes of the hacker and paying that ridiculous amount of money for stealing private property, the band just released all those recordings online themselves. 

In their statement, Radiohead’s guitarist and keyboardist Jonny Greenwood described the 18 hours of stolen recording as only tangentially interesting. He said it was: “Never intended for public consumption (though some clips did reach the cassette in the OK Computer reissue). And very, very long. Not a phone download. Rainy out, isn’t it though?”

You can get all the recordings on the website Bandcamp for only £18 (about $23) and all of the proceeds they raise here will go to Extinction Rebellion – an activist organization that concentrates on fighting against man-made climate change, rapid loss of biodiversity, and “a mass extinction of our own making.”

The band has previously hosted a number of talks regarding climate change in different local communities all over Britain. They have also helped push for mass mobilization and participated in public demonstrations, like that time when climate change activists chained themselves on a boat while it was being hauled into central London. 

Peace of important advice, hackers. The next time you make musicians your target, maybe try to get something more embarrassing or private from them, rather than unreleased studio recordings so they don’t turn it around and make it a wonderful opportunity to use this situation to raise awareness and support worthy causes. 

The post Radiohead’s Unreleased Recordings Get Hacked, And Guess What They Did Instead Of Giving Hackers Ransom Money appeared first on True Activist.

It’s such a satisfying feeling to automatically have the best comeback to an argument that the other person gets so schooled in their own game, they don’t even post a reply anymore.

The topic of religious differences (aside from politics, of course) is one of the most argued topics in our world today.  Without being fully educated in knowing the different religions thoroughly, one will never really understand the depth and difference of each that was created thousands of years ago.

Check out these witty comebacks to Islamophobes when they definitely deserved to get called out for everyone to see. These responses just show how there are so many that share their opinions with a lack of rationale behind it, that they really deserve to be challenged.

Scroll down these hilarious conversations that would also teach us a thing or two about cross cultural knowledge. These replies deserve all the attention they can get.

The post Check Out The Wittiest Comebacks To Islamophobic Comments Online appeared first on True Activist.

It is no question that in every war, casualties are inevitable and aside from the loss of life and property, certain freedoms that we enjoy can be taken from us at a blink of an eye. In a small camp in Israel occupied West Bank, Palestinian women are now fighting to keep an essential and important part of their culture that was taken from them as a result of the Israel-Palestine Conflict: Farming.

In 1967, after the 6-day war between arab nations and the state of Israel, the latter took control of an area bordering the river Jordan called the West-Bank. This military occupation of Palestinian territory resulted in the displacement of families, forcing them to leave their lands and their way of life.

The West Bank has a total land area of 2,173 sq. mi with mostly rugged terrain and little natural resources other than fertile land which make up 27% of the land area of the region. It is this fertile land that has sustained Palestinian communities in the past, using it as permanent pastures and farm lands for seasonal crops, essentially making farming integral to their culture and heritage.

In the Aida Refugee Camp, women have found creative ways to keep their farming alive as a means to sustain them in the absence of economic means, and more importantly, as subtle defiance against Israel and its occupation of their territories in the hopes of keeping their cultural identity alive.

In a video posted in the Facebook page AJPlusenglish, women are seen tending to rooftop gardens as they share their heartbreaking stories of grief and hardship while living in exile. But, amidst their struggle, the blooming gardens are testament that their hopes remain alive.

Watch the video below.

Source: AJPlusenglish

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The post Rooftop Farms: Palestinian Women’s Last Stand In The Fight To Keep Their Cultural Heritage Alive appeared first on True Activist.

All throughout the summer season, multitudes of people come together by the thousands to congregate in vast, out-of-town locations to celebrate the warm days in festivals filled with music, love and art. These festivals can last from anywhere between one day to almost a week, turning locations into sprawling tent cities filled with transient party goers and attendees.

In the wake of the recently concluded Reading & Leeds Festival 2018 in August, footage of the unbelievable amount of rubbish left by the festival’s temporary residents emerged, showing thousands of discarded tents and trash littering the hillside venue.

The short clip below shared on Facebook by Sophie Cottis-Allan shows the massive clean-up effort following the festival.

The video was captioned:

“The aftermath of Leeds festival. The waste is just ridiculous… Luckily hundreds of volunteers from amazing charities were invited on site to salvage something from this throwaway culture. Unfortunately, more than 90% of the tents we came across were trashed/slashed/burnt.”

With the 2019 Festival already being promoted barely a few weeks after this incident, organizers and other festival promotions elsewhere should put the appropriate measures in place to prevent incidents like this from happening again.

Watch the video below:

The post Amount Of Rubbish Left After Recently Concluded Reading & Leeds Festival Astounds Internet appeared first on True Activist.

Solving problems has always been the driving force for technological advancement. Many of today’s conveniences are results of yesterday’s problems that needed to be solved, and one of those helpful solutions then were plastics.

Plastics are a constant part of our daily lives. The bed we sleep in come with plastic components, the coffee we drink come in plastic packages, even the water we drink is now contained in plastic. Everything we do today, in one way or another, has plastic thrown into the mix. We pay in plastic, we live, bathe, dress and even die in plastic and, because of this, it is inevitable that our love affair with plastics and our abuse of them because of the conveniences they afford us, will bring about consequences. Those consequences are now staring us in the face, as they wreak havoc to our environment.

Data from a World Economic Forum report in June 2018 show that the world’s oceans are “infested with plastic,” with 8 million tons of it dumped into our waters every year. If these numbers aren’t curbed, it is estimated that by the year 2050, the world’s oceans will contain more plastic than fish.

What was once the solution is now the problem that needs solving.

A viral video posted on the Facebook Page BrightVibes has 14 helpful and alternative ways on how we can avoid plastics starting today.

Watch it below:

The post 14 Ways We Abuse Plastic And How To Kick Them Out Of Our Lives appeared first on True Activist.

Every year, an alarming increase in incidents of rising sea levels, increasing average rainfall measurements, violent hurricanes, prolonged droughts and heavy snow fall have been documented and observed not only in the United States but all throughout the world. Calamities attributed to Global Warming, a term first coined by oceanographer Wallace Smith Broecker in 1975, to describe the continued increase in global temperatures, observed since the mid 20th century.

These weather disturbances brought about by climate change have destroyed billions of dollars in valuable properties and infrastructure, affecting human lives in devastating ways. But we humans aren’t the innocent victims here. We are but guilty casualties to our own doings.

During the onslaught of Hurricane Katrina in August of 2005, animals, including house hold pets, fell victim to the massive floods brought about by the extremely destructive and deadly Category 5 hurricane that hit the U.S. Gulf Coast. It is believed that around 40% of domesticated animals that were abandoned, perished during the disaster.

So why are animals the innocent victims?

According to an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report in 2013, Global Warming and its effects are “dominantly and extremely-likely, caused by human influence since changes were observed in the mid 20th century…of which greenhouse gases as the most influential.” This means that the violent environmental calamites are consequences of man’s irresponsible stewardship of the planet and because of that, poor animals become mere collateral damage.

Today in 2018, the California Wildfires, a string of wildfires that started in February, with fires still raging in other counties as of writing, is one of the most recent and presently occurring disasters caused by climate change with more than 1,000,000 acres incinerated. The prolonged dry season combined with extreme atmospheric conditions such as strong winds and the increase in dead-tree fuel, has made the risk for such fires increase over the years.

In one particular fire in Solano County, animals were the almost-victims if it not for the heroic police officers of Vacaville Police Department.

On August 13, 2018, dramatic bodycam footage of police officer Carly Stone of the Vacaville Police, was posted by Abc7news.com., showing her, police officers and civilian volunteers rushing to save animals inside the SPCA facility in Solano County. With little or no time to spare, the officers and good Samaritans risked their lives to make sure that the animals, were brought to safety away from the raging flames.

66 dogs and cats, including a python, were rescued that day.

66 Innocent victims almost losing their lives in yet another calamity brought about by Global Warming, a sad phenomenon that only man can be blamed for.

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A Spanish-made film advertisement aired in June 2018 is now serving as a jolting wake-up call, offering a frightening peek into humanity’s future if it continues its irresponsible practices concerning the indiscriminate use of plastics.

In a description from the website Adsoftheworld.com, the advertisement, entitled “Plastic Fish,” was created by Barcelona-based advertising company, Piece of Cake for the NGO, Espacio CREA, to “Explain the extreme situation of our oceans because of pollution caused by plastics.”

The 46-second long video begins with a showcase of what seem to be mouth-watering gourmet dishes being prepared and served. The viewer immediately realizes that the feast contains plastic rubbish in place of what is expected to be the fresh ingredients. The clip then transitions to a single piece of plastic floating underneath the ocean surface with a warning that, “By 2050, our oceans will contain more plastic than fish,”and an appeal to the viewer that “for a sustainable world, we all have much to do.’

Data from a World Economic Forum report in June 2018 show that the world’s oceans are “infested with plastic,” with 8 million tons of it dumped into our waters every year. Numbers also show that 90% of the plastic polluting our oceans come from only 10 rivers systems: Eight from Asia: the Yangtze; Indus; Yellow; Hai He; Ganges; Pearl; Amur; Mekong; and two in Africa – the Nile and the Niger.

At the recently concluded G7 summit of world economic leaders held in La Malbaie, Quebec, Canada,“Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Britain and the European Union endorsed a G7 ocean plastics charter” calling on member countries to ”reduce the use of plastics and, where alternatives are not available, find ways to include more recycled materials in the plastics they do use.”

The United States and Japan declined to sign the agreement.

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