Source: Atlanta Journal

MIDDLESBORO, Ky. — A snake-handling pastor who appeared on the National Geographic television reality show "Snake Salvation" has died after being bitten by a snake during a weekend church service in Kentucky.

Jamie Coots was handling a rattlesnake at his Full Gospel Tabernacle in Jesus Name Church in Middlesboro when he was bitten on the hand Saturday night, another preacher, Cody Winn, told WBIR-TV (http://on.wbir.com/1cLrs8A ). After the bite, Coots dropped the snakes, but then picked them back up and continued on. Within minutes, Winn said Coots headed to the bathroom.

"He had one of the rattlers in his hand, he came over and he was standing beside me. It was plain view, it just turned its head and bit him in the back of the hand ... within a second," Winn said.


Read more: http://www.ajc.com/ap/ap/entertainment/snake-handling-ky-pastor-dies-from-snake-bite/ndQnk/

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Never saw THAT coming.

Source: Wash Post

Watch this video, taken from a police raid in Des Moines, Iowa. Send it to some people. When critics (like me) warn about the dangers of police militarization, this is what we’re talking about. You’ll see the raid team, dressed in battle-dress uniforms, helmets and face-covering balaclava hoods take down the family’s door with a battering ram. You’ll see them storm the home with ballistics shields, guns at the ready. More troubling still, you’ll see not one but two officers attempt to prevent the family from having an independent record of the raid, one by destroying a surveillance camera, another by blocking another camera’s lens.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/opinions/wp/2014/02/04/scenes-from-a-militarized-america-iowa-family-terrorized//?print=1

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This "no knock" shit has got to stop.

Source: NY Times blog

With just days left until the start on Friday of the Sochi Winter Olympics, Human Rights Watch released a video on Tuesday that highlights the disturbing violence and discrimination that gay, lesbian, transgender and bisexual people face in Russia.


In a statement accompanying the footage, Human Rights Watch urged the Russian authorities to address the “deteriorating situation” of abuse against LGBT people and activists, saying that a failure to act has exposed them to further harassment and violence and has emboldened attackers.

Read more: http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/02/04/rights-group-releases-video-of-lgbt-attacks-in-russia/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_php=true&_type=blogs&src=twr&_r=1&

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And this is before the Olympics. Wonder how much repression we'll see DURING?