cross-posted from: https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/post/42125770

https://beige.party/@Lana/116500657838775786

Of course it's a court in a southern Red state.

Not even using the euphemisms anymore.

@nocontextpics PIC

#nocontext #pix

Armed Panthers Protest Mulford Act (1967)

Tue May 02, 1967

Image: A Black Panther Party member holds a rifle outside the California State Capitol on May 2nd, 1967, during a protest against a bill that banned carrying loaded guns in public. From the Bettman Archive [buzzfeed.org]

On this day in 1967, 30 armed Black Panthers entered the California State Capitol building while openly carrying firearms in protest of the Mulford Act, bipartisan-supported legislation designed to end Panther patrols of Oakland neighborhoods.

Initially, no one attempted to stop the protesters - they entered the building with their guns pointed at the ceiling and a large group of journalists following them in. When six Panthers entered the assembly chamber, where the lawmakers were in session, some legislators reportedly took cover under desks. Police then ordered the Panthers to leave the premises, and they peacefully complied while insisting they were within their legal right to carry.

Outside, Bobby Seale spoke to a crowd of reporters. Here is an excerpt of what he said:

"Black people have begged, prayed, petitioned, demonstrated, and everything else to get the racist power structure of America to right the wrongs which have historically been perpetuated against black people. All of these efforts have been answered by more repression, deceit and hypocrisy. As the aggression of the racist American government escalates in Vietnam, the police agencies of America escalate the oppression of black people throughout the ghettoes of America."

Shortly after Seale finished speaking, police arrested the group on felony charges of conspiracy to disrupt a legislative session, although the protesters would later plead down to various misdemeanors instead.

Among those arrested was the teenager Bobby Hutton, the first recruit and first treasurer of the Black Panther Party. Hutton would be shot and killed by Oakland Police less than a year later, on April 6th, 1968.

• Date: 1967-05-02
• Learn More: www.huffpost.com, www.sacbee.com, en.wikipedia.org, www.blackpast.org.
• Tags: #Journalism, #Protests.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Great Lakes region, USA. April 2026.

I'm so happy to have finally taken decent photos of one. He's quite the specimen too. He knows he's the prettiest bird at the feeder. Even if he's a messy eater.

By James Marc Leas, May 2, 2026

On Thursday, April 29, Israeli military forces illegally attacked vessels of the Global Samud Flotilla (GSF) while they were sailing on the high seas. Israeli commandos unlawfully seized 21 boats and abducted 177 flotilla participants, according to Nicole Schellekens, a Belgian GSF land-support person.

On May 1, the BBC reported that Israel released all but two of the detained participants in Greece. Thiago Avila and Said Abu Keshek remain in Israeli custody, and Israel has stated that it is transporting them to its territory.

Schellekens passed on a report that 34 of the abductees were physically abused by Israeli commandos while protecting the two men. The 34 were hospitalized, and 4 of them remain in the hospital at Heraklion on the Island of Crete. See the video by Elly Van Reusel, a medical doctor on “Magic,” one of the 22 seized boats.

The GSF condemned Israel’s actions as an act of piracy and called for the immediate release those still held by Israel.

The flotilla was engaged in a legal and peaceful mission aimed at breaking the internationally condemned Israeli siege of Gaza—a siege that imposes collective punishment on Gaza’s civilian population. The mission seeks to end Israel’s illegal policy of starvation, a policy that stunts the physical and cognitive development of children.

The flotilla was necessary only because, after destroying farms and fishing boats, Israel restricted or closed all land routes for aid into Gaza, and governments worldwide have so far failed to use their legal and political powers to force an end to the illegal siege.

The U.S. government has gone further than any other nation in collaborating with Israel’s illegal assault on Gaza’s civilians—the US provides the funds, bombs, F-35 jets, and bulldozers, along with the diplomatic cover that grants the Israeli government impunity.

US states have done little. Rather than adopt human rights promoting purchasing and investment legislation, Vermont has gone so far as to train its Air National Guard with 115-decibel F-35 jets low over one of the state’s most densely populated cities, where political and military leaders knew the flights would cause suffering to working-class and ethnic minority children. This location was deliberately selected to prepare the unit to target civilians. It was foreseeable that the Trump Administration would call the Vermont F-35 unit up, first to bomb in Venezuela, and now poised to resume their bombing in Iran.

The Israeli Assault on the Flotilla Violated International Law

Although Israel is not a party to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the core provisions of the treaty are recognized as customary international law and are legally binding on all countries.

• Article 92 grants a vessel’s flag state exclusive jurisdiction, effectively making the vessel sovereign territory of that country. By boarding the flotilla’s vessels without permission, abducting passengers, and seizing the boats, Israeli commandos violated the sovereignty of each of the flag states.

• Article 87 guarantees freedom of navigation on the high seas. Freedom revoked by Israeli commandos.

• Article 110 specifically prohibits warship personnel from boarding a foreign ship on the high seas except under narrowly defined circumstances—none of which applied in this case.

• Article 88 reserves the high seas for peaceful purposes.

• Article 301 requires states to refrain from any threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state. Which includes the vessels of any state.

Israel violated all of these provisions.

Enforcement of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea

Previous violations of the law of the sea have led to enforcement actions, including:

• Ordering the prompt release of vessels

• Awarding compensation

• Banning the perpetrator from accessing ports

• Freezing the perpetrator’s assets

• Restricting trade with the perpetrator

• Banning the transfer of military goods to the perpetrator

• Establishing a tribunal to investigate and prosecute those responsible

Enforcement Action Is Needed Now

Similar enforcement actions must be taken in response to Israel’s gross violations of the Law of the Sea. If flag states fail to act, they effectively grant impunity to the Israeli perpetrators, invite further violations, and they encourage even more extreme illegal actions by Israel.

Demand that your government officials take enforcement action now.

The post Israeli Attack on Flotilla Violated the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea appeared first on World BEYOND War.

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British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has been criticised for linking pro-Palestine marches to antisemitic violence after saying that "if you stand alongside people who say 'globalise the intifada', you are calling for terrorism against Jews and people who use that phrase should be prosecuted".

The prime minister made the comments in an address to the nation following the stabbing of two Jewish men, aged 34 and 76, in Golders Green, a neighbourhood of northwest London with a large Jewish population.

A 45-year-old Somali-born British national was arrested on Wednesday afternoon after the attack. He had left a psychiatric hospital just days before the attack, Channel 4 reported on Thursday.

On Friday, London's Metropolitan Police announced that Essa Suleiman had been charged not with terrorism offences, but with two counts of attempted murder and one count of possession of a bladed article in a public place.

'The Apprentice' Reboot "Not In Active Development" At Amazon, its Head of Unscripted and Documentary Television Jenn Levy said on May 1.