it can’t happen here

Guantanamo Bay Authorities Ban Solzhenitsyn’s ‘The Gulag Archipelago’

"The legal team for Shaker Aamer, a British resident who has been detained in Guantanamo without charge or trial for 11 years, attempted to deliver a copy of The Gulag Archipelago by Alexander Solzhenitsyn during a recent visit. Of course, this isn't the first time that 'The Gulag Archipelago' has had problems with the authorities: when it was completed in 1968, it had to be smuggled out of the Soviet Union on microfilm so that it could be published in the West." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGuantanamo Bay Authorities Ban Solzhenitsyn’s ‘The Gulag Archipelago’

NSA’s surveillance “most serious attacks on free speech we’ve ever seen.”

"The chilling of free speech isn’t just a consequence of surveillance. It’s also a motive. We adopt the art of self-censorship, closing down blogs, watching what we say on Facebook, forgoing 'private' email for fear that any errant word may come back to haunt us in one, five or fifteen 15 years. 'The mind's tendency to still feel observed when alone... can be inhibiting,' writes Janna Malamud Smith. Indeed. Peggy Noonan, describing a conversation with longtime civil liberties advocate Nat Hentoff, writes that 'the inevitable end of surveillance is self-censorship.' Hentoff stressed that privacy invasions of this magnitude are 'attempts to try to change who we are as Americans.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNSA’s surveillance “most serious attacks on free speech we’ve ever seen.”

Why Amazon’s Fighting So Hard for a CIA Cloud Contract

"Amazon actually won the contract to build private-cloud infrastructure for the CIA in January, but IBM asked the GAO to reopen the agreement to bidding. Amazon locking down a $600 million cloud contract was clearly viewed as a serious competitive threat by IBM, which already supplies IT infrastructure to the U.S. intelligence community. Big Blue managed to successfully argue that, because it bid lower than Amazon, the contract-approval process should be reconsidered. If Amazon wins the contract and pulls that project off to the CIA’s satisfaction, it could open the door to still more federal contracts—and make the online retailer a genuine threat to longtime fed-tech contractors." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWhy Amazon’s Fighting So Hard for a CIA Cloud Contract

Gun Confiscation Begins in California

"As reported by David Knight, California law enforcement is now confiscating legally purchased guns from registered gun owners who have been labeled 'Armed Prohibited Persons' (APPs.) Police shoved two M16s within inches of gun owner Joe Mendez’s face during a raid on his house to seize his legally-purchased firearms. Fourteen officers total were involved. Police even showed up later to lie to Mendez’s wife about the raid, saying that they were only taking a report after her car was involved in a 'hit and run.' All of the targeted APPs had purchased their firearms legally but the State of California declared afterwards that they were prohibited from gun ownership." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGun Confiscation Begins in California

Gun Confiscation Begins in California

"As reported by David Knight, California law enforcement is now confiscating legally purchased guns from registered gun owners who have been labeled 'Armed Prohibited Persons' (APPs.) Police shoved two M16s within inches of gun owner Joe Mendez’s face during a raid on his house to seize his legally-purchased firearms. Fourteen officers total were involved. Police even showed up later to lie to Mendez’s wife about the raid, saying that they were only taking a report after her car was involved in a 'hit and run.' All of the targeted APPs had purchased their firearms legally but the State of California declared afterwards that they were prohibited from gun ownership." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGun Confiscation Begins in California

Gun Confiscation Begins in California

"As reported by David Knight, California law enforcement is now confiscating legally purchased guns from registered gun owners who have been labeled 'Armed Prohibited Persons' (APPs.) Police shoved two M16s within inches of gun owner Joe Mendez’s face during a raid on his house to seize his legally-purchased firearms. Fourteen officers total were involved. Police even showed up later to lie to Mendez’s wife about the raid, saying that they were only taking a report after her car was involved in a 'hit and run.' All of the targeted APPs had purchased their firearms legally but the State of California declared afterwards that they were prohibited from gun ownership." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGun Confiscation Begins in California

Gun Confiscation Begins in California

"As reported by David Knight, California law enforcement is now confiscating legally purchased guns from registered gun owners who have been labeled 'Armed Prohibited Persons' (APPs.) Police shoved two M16s within inches of gun owner Joe Mendez’s face during a raid on his house to seize his legally-purchased firearms. Fourteen officers total were involved. Police even showed up later to lie to Mendez’s wife about the raid, saying that they were only taking a report after her car was involved in a 'hit and run.' All of the targeted APPs had purchased their firearms legally but the State of California declared afterwards that they were prohibited from gun ownership." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGun Confiscation Begins in California

Gun Confiscation Begins in California

"As reported by David Knight, California law enforcement is now confiscating legally purchased guns from registered gun owners who have been labeled 'Armed Prohibited Persons' (APPs.) Police shoved two M16s within inches of gun owner Joe Mendez’s face during a raid on his house to seize his legally-purchased firearms. Fourteen officers total were involved. Police even showed up later to lie to Mendez’s wife about the raid, saying that they were only taking a report after her car was involved in a 'hit and run.' All of the targeted APPs had purchased their firearms legally but the State of California declared afterwards that they were prohibited from gun ownership." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGun Confiscation Begins in California

David Galland: I’m from the Government, I’m Here to Bend You Over

"Yet, just as a woman can't be 'a little pregnant,' constitutions can't really be a little—or, in the case of the USA these days, a lot—flexible. When that happens, the constitution becomes something else. A document with some general suggestions? A paper with loose ideas that governments are free to accept—or not—depending on the day and circumstance? But it's not a constitution any more. The problem, as I hope you begin to see, is that once a nation—scratch that: once the government of a nation—is allowed to make it up as they go along, the system of laws is certain to quickly deteriorate. The consequences are as clear as the mountain across the valley from where I sit." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDavid Galland: I’m from the Government, I’m Here to Bend You Over

Innocents Betrayed [2003]

"You’ll see the photos, the footage, the people, the faces. You’ll read the laws and hear the proclamations. You’ll witness just enough horror to understand how easy it is for armed killers to slaughter the disarmed, the powerless, the innocents. Genocide examples from all over the world: Russia, China, Germany, Cambodia, Guatemala, Uganda, Rwanda and more. Examples showing how disarmed people in America have suffered persecution, mass murder, slavery, and terrorist attacks. A fast-moving, modern production, Innocents Betrayed presents the entirely true accounts of how civilian disarmament made possible the killing of millions. The point is made sharply, clearly, unforgettably." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingInnocents Betrayed [2003]