Torture

Jimmy ‘Barbecue’ Chérizier: the gangster behind the violence in Haiti who may have political aspirations of his own

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Over the past two weeks, Haiti’s powerful gangs have plunged a country already on life support into a coma.

Key Points: 
  • Over the past two weeks, Haiti’s powerful gangs have plunged a country already on life support into a coma.
  • He is an unelected leader, taking power after Haiti’s president was assassinated in 2021, and has presided over the country’s economic freefall.
  • But Chérizier has emerged from the armed insurrection as the most formidable leader in Haiti, and some suspect he may have political aspirations of his own.
  • Haiti’s history is replete with political leaders with very dubious pasts, and the country’s citizens are used to their violent machinations.
  • According to Chérizier, his brand of violent street politics is very much in tune with the need of the hour.

Political acumen

  • The current political instability in Haiti has largely been manufactured by Chérizier and the gangs he leads as a cleverly thought-out survival strategy.
  • So, on the one hand, Chérizier’s decision to stir up a political uprising can be seen as a planned strategy to scare off any external forces seeking to impose order.
  • Chérizier has used Henry’s unpopularity and controversial decision to deploy foreign police officers in the nation to drum up a nationwide violent fervour for political change.
  • With Henry now out of the political scene, the chance that Haitians will be forced to embrace such an outcome may not be far-fetched after all.


Amalendu Misra has received funding from
British Academy /
Nuffield Foundation

UNITE HERE Local 11: Women Leaders Rise Up in Support of Santa Monica Hotel Worker Filing Sexual Harassment Complaint Against Aimbridge-Operated Property

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, February 27, 2024

They expressed support for hotel worker Maritza Villeda, who submitted a complaint to the California Civil Rights Department alleging that her employer, the Aimbridge Hospitality-operated Hampton Inn Santa Monica, failed to respond properly to her complaints of sexual harassment by a coworker and instead terminated her.

Key Points: 
  • They expressed support for hotel worker Maritza Villeda, who submitted a complaint to the California Civil Rights Department alleging that her employer, the Aimbridge Hospitality-operated Hampton Inn Santa Monica, failed to respond properly to her complaints of sexual harassment by a coworker and instead terminated her.
  • She alleges that the hotel failed to respond appropriately to her complaints of harassment, and that instead, the hotel retaliated against her by terminating her.
  • Hotel workers have a long history of fighting for protections against assault in Santa Monica, and fought in 2018 to pass laws that then expanded across to multiple cities.
  • Workers at the Hampton Inn Santa Monica are part of dozens of other hotel workers who have been fighting for a fair contract since July 2023.

Kosmos Energy Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2023 Results

Retrieved on: 
Monday, February 26, 2024

Kosmos Energy Ltd. (“Kosmos” or the “Company”) (NYSE/LSE: KOS) announced today its financial and operating results for the fourth quarter of 2023.

Key Points: 
  • Kosmos Energy Ltd. (“Kosmos” or the “Company”) (NYSE/LSE: KOS) announced today its financial and operating results for the fourth quarter of 2023.
  • Total net production(2) in the fourth quarter of 2023 averaged approximately 66,000 boepd representing a ~12% increase compared to the fourth quarter of 2022.
  • The 2023 Ceiba Field and Okume Complex development rig campaign commenced in the fourth quarter of 2023.
  • Kosmos will host a conference call and webcast to discuss fourth quarter 2023 financial and operating results today, February 26, 2024, at 10:00 a.m. Central time (11:00 a.m. Eastern time).

NEW REPORT: Election Manipulation and Armed Conflict Drove 18th Consecutive Year of Decline in Freedom

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, February 29, 2024

WASHINGTON, Feb. 29, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Global freedom declined for an 18th consecutive year in 2023 as political rights and civil liberties deteriorated in 52 countries, representing a fifth of the world's population, according to a new report released today by Freedom House. The declines were both widespread and severe, eclipsing the improvements observed in 21 other countries.

Key Points: 
  • The new report, Freedom in the World 2024: The Mounting Damage of Flawed Elections and Armed Conflict , found that election manipulation, warfare, and attacks on pluralism—the peaceful coexistence of people with different political ideas, religions, or ethnic identities—were key drivers of the global decline.
  • "Global freedom took a big step backward in 2023," said Michael J. Abramowitz, president of Freedom House.
  • Key report findings include the following:
    Widespread problems with elections, including violence and manipulation, drove deterioration in rights and freedoms.
  • Freedom House is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that works to create a world where all are free.

The use of technology in policing should be regulated to protect people from wrongful convictions

Retrieved on: 
Monday, February 12, 2024

The proliferation of technology for everyday living can be seen through ChatGPT writing term papers or robots serving meals at a restaurant.

Key Points: 
  • The proliferation of technology for everyday living can be seen through ChatGPT writing term papers or robots serving meals at a restaurant.
  • Technology can also be used towards less utilitarian ends.

Technology and policing

  • Footage from his body camera will provide evidence during the trial of his accused killers.
  • Police investigations have also been aided by private citizen sleuths via technology, who gather evidence to help police identify criminals.
  • Another use of technology can be for public surveillance for crime prevention through the application of facial recognition software.

Finding faces

  • Captured faces are compared to a database, often for the purposes of crime prevention.
  • Later, it was determined that Soika was misidentified by the artificial intelligence (AI) used by Canadian Tire for facial recognition.
  • In 2023, Canadian Tire Corporation and its dealers have since agreed to no longer use facial recognition technology.
  • Read more:
    AI technologies — like police facial recognition — discriminate against people of colour

Discrimination and AI

  • Facial recognition software is documented to misidentify women, racialized people and those between the ages of 18-30 years, with accuracy reduced to 35 per cent.
  • Police used AI that had run an image of a carjacker caught on video through a mugshot database that contained Woodruff’s photo, and incorrectly matched it.

Consequences of misidentification

  • The Canadian Registry of Wrongful Convictions finds approximately a third of their cases involved false identification.
  • People can show what is known as “own-race bias” when identifying faces; people are more accurate when identifying faces of their own race than other races.
  • The misidentification of a perpetrator — whether by a human or an AI program — can lead to the same consequences: being charged, prosecuted or wrongfully convicted.


Joanna Pozzulo receives funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

‘Look for a reversal in a fairly short period of time’ − former federal judge expects Supreme Court will keep Trump on Colorado ballot

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, February 8, 2024

He is the president of Dickinson College and a retired federal judge appointed by President George W. Bush and confirmed unanimously by the U.S. Senate in 2002.

Key Points: 
  • He is the president of Dickinson College and a retired federal judge appointed by President George W. Bush and confirmed unanimously by the U.S. Senate in 2002.
  • I think it’s clear they’re going to reverse the Colorado Supreme Court.
  • I would look for a reversal in a fairly short period of time.
  • The surprise may be that some of the more liberal justices could join the majority.
  • I think you could potentially see some concurring opinions, although I think Chief Justice John Roberts will try to wrap it into one opinion.
  • Murray clerked for Justice Neil Gorsuch when he was on the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals and also clerked for Justice Elena Kagan on the Supreme Court.
  • Of course, it got challenged up to the Supreme Court, and in the Constitution there’s no amendment that imposes term limits.
  • There’s an element of trying to torture a very poorly written section down into something that fits the situation in 2024.


John E. Jones III does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

How the Universal Declaration of Human Rights can guide governments through the turmoil of 2024

Retrieved on: 
Monday, February 5, 2024

In a landscape of seemingly increasing global crises, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) celebrated its 75th anniversary in December 2023.

Key Points: 
  • In a landscape of seemingly increasing global crises, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) celebrated its 75th anniversary in December 2023.
  • However, 75 years on, the world is facing major human rights challenges again.
  • Human rights violations are being regularly reported in conflicts, most recently in Ukraine and Gaza.

What is the UDHR?

  • While not legally binding, the document aims to provide a “common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations”.
  • It has proved significant in the intervening decades, laying down provisions that have informed the binding international human rights treaties, subsequently enacted by the UN.
  • This was also the case for global security as well as environmental and financial crises in the 1990s and 2000s.
  • Over the years, the UDHR has been consistently referred to as a steadfast cornerstone of human rights internationally.

The UDHR today

  • As in earlier decades in times of emergency, conflict and global change, states do not always fully implement the rights contained in the UDHR.
  • The fundamental protections outlined in this document, adopted in 1948, still have an enduring and guiding role, although significant challenges to these protections remain.


Kathryn McNeilly has received funding from the Leverhulme Trust.

'Allies Left Behind,' Documentary Depicting Heartbreaking Post-War Conditions for Afghan Allies in the Middle East, Set to Release in March

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, January 30, 2024

NEW YORK, Jan. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Nearly 300,000 Afghan men, women and children, who supported America's vision in the U.S. War in Afghanistan were abandoned and forced to fend for themselves after the nation's departure in 2021. "Allies Left Behind", a harrowing documentary that aims to tell the stories of America's Afghan allies, will be released in March and shed light on the situation as it stands.

Key Points: 
  • "Allies Left Behind" , a harrowing documentary that aims to tell the stories of America's Afghan allies, will be released in March and shed light on the situation as it stands.
  • After experiencing first-hand the trauma that America's Afghan allies are experiencing post war, he decided to act by documenting their lives to show the world.
  • I created 'Allies Left Behind' to make America and the world aware of the dire situation in order to support policies to grant them safe passage."
  • Additionally, subjects of the film, including Afghan women who supported women's rights during the war, are available to discuss the situation.

University of Basel Delivers First Biological Implants for Treatment of Cartilage Lesions and Osteoarthritis in Humans

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, November 15, 2023

The Department of Biomedicine at the University of Basel and the University Hospital Basel, today announced that it delivered the first surgical procedure to treat Osteoarthritis (OA) in humans.

Key Points: 
  • The Department of Biomedicine at the University of Basel and the University Hospital Basel, today announced that it delivered the first surgical procedure to treat Osteoarthritis (OA) in humans.
  • Chondrocytes are the cell building blocks for cartilage and the University of Basel team is using them to grow new cartilage.
  • Expanding beyond focal lesions six years ago, the University of Basel team treated two patients with advanced knee OA – patients who had been scheduled for knee joint replacement.
  • The team at the University of Basel are providing folks like us with new hope.

Hagens Berman: Nation’s Prominent Plaintiff-Side Law Firms Unite Against the “Appalling Rise” of Antisemitism Across Law School and College Campuses

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, November 15, 2023

The leading plaintiff-side class action and civil rights firms banding together include Baron & Budd; Carella, Byrne, Cecchi, Brody & Agnello, P.C.

Key Points: 
  • The leading plaintiff-side class action and civil rights firms banding together include Baron & Budd; Carella, Byrne, Cecchi, Brody & Agnello, P.C.
  • They are sending their letter to all U.S. law schools, including dozens of schools which the firms routinely recruit and hire from.
  • We write to you on behalf of several of the largest and most successful plaintiff-side law firms in the world.
  • We ask you to ensure the safety of Jewish law students and to condemn without qualification this rising antisemitism.