Kafkaesque

What the Passport Pitchmen Don’t Tell You…

"A few years ago, my father had heart problems. I’m his only child, his only living relative, and his sole heir. So I thought that if I could come back to the United States, we could spend time together while we still had the chance and I could be close to my future inheritance. We put in all the paperwork required by U.S. Immigration, paid all the fees, etc. You would think that 'immediate family' members of U.S. citizens would get a residency permit easily right? NOT!!! Long story short, two years later the paperwork was STILL in process. Then, in April this year, I got that call that all of us dread, announcing the death of my father." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWhat the Passport Pitchmen Don’t Tell You…

Snowden plans to settle and work in Russia – lawyer to RT

"Anatoly Kucherena, a Russian lawyer who assists the whistleblower, told RT: 'It’s hard for me to say what his actions would be in terms of a positive decision [on the asylum plea],' Kucherena said. 'We must understand that security is the number one issue in his case. I think the process of adaptation will take some time. It’s an understandable process as he doesn’t know the Russian language, our customs, and our laws.' 'He’s planning to arrange his life here. He plans to get a job. And, I think, that all his further decisions will be made considering the situation he found himself in,' he added." Continue reading →

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Adam Kokesh’s Mail from Jail

"Adam is in a cage in solitary confinement, and he wants to reach out to his friends and fans in person. For the next few hours, he'll be able to interact with his fans through the mail, and he'd like to be able to thank his supporters personally and answer any questions they might have. While the government has desperately struggled to silence Adam, we shouldn't forget about the positivity that defines his approach. I would love for everyone to send him messages about how they woke up to the liberty movement, and how they plan to spread the message of Liberty in their own personal lives. Let's make sure that the Man can't get him down." Continue reading →

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Kafka’s America: Secret Courts, Secret Laws, and Total Surveillance

"A mechanism to protect the American people from unwarranted government surveillance became instead a bureaucratic mechanism to rubber stamp government applications for surveillance. The Court is structured such that applications for surveillance are rarely ever denied. If a judge were to reject an application, that judge would have to immediately write a report detailing every reason for the rejection, then transmit the report to a 3-person court of review. If that court finds that the application was properly denied, it must also write a report, which is then subject to a writ of certiorari by the Supreme Court. No reviews are necessary if an application is granted." Continue reading →

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How to Be a Rogue Superpower: A Manual for the Twenty-First Century

"Highlighted in all this has been a curious fact of our twenty-first-century world. In the Cold War years, asylum was always potentially available. If you opposed one of the two superpowers or its allies, the other was usually ready to open its arms to you, as the U.S. famously did for what were once called 'Soviet dissidents' in great numbers. The Soviets did the same for Americans, Brits, and others, often secret communists, sometimes actual spies, who opposed the leading capitalist power and its global order. Today, if you are a twenty-first-century 'dissident' and need asylum/protection from the only superpower left, there is essentially none to be had." Continue reading →

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Shock report into FBI errors cast doubt on 27 death penalty convictions

"The FBI is reviewing 2,000 cases convicted on hair samples after it has emerged that there has been widespread errors in forensic testing and how the evidence was portrayed in court. As many as 27 prisoners facing the death penalty may have been wrongfully convicted along with potentially thousands of others across the country. Since the 1980s, hundreds of convictions have been overturned on improper forensic science - which includes bite marks, blood analysis and shoe prints along with hair samples. Forensic testing has never been proved 100 per cent accurate by science - but at times, was presented by experts in court as if conclusive." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingShock report into FBI errors cast doubt on 27 death penalty convictions

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden applies for temporary asylum in Russia

"Fugitive US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden has applied for temporary asylum in Russia, a pro-Kremlin lawyer said Tuesday, after President Vladimir Putin accused Washington of 'trapping' him in the country. Snowden, wanted by the United States for revealing sensational details of its vast spying operations, is now spending a fourth week in the transit lounge at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport without crossing the Russian border. Washington has reacted sharply to the possibility that Moscow might offer Snowden a safe haven and accused it of providing him with a 'propaganda platform.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNSA whistleblower Edward Snowden applies for temporary asylum in Russia

Justin Raimondo: The Prisoner

"All this subterfuge about America being the land of the free and an international exemplar of liberal democracy is thrown overboard very quickly, and suddenly it becomes a felony to reveal the decision of a duly constituted court. It becomes a felony to reveal that you’ve received a National Security Letter, or to discuss its contents. And the highest treason of all is trying to escape. I wondered whether I had stumbled on a heretofore unknown episode of The Prisoner, the cult classic 1960s television series written by and starring Patrick McGoohan, in which a former British intelligence agent who has committed some unknown treason finds himself imprisoned in The Village." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJustin Raimondo: The Prisoner

Justin Raimondo: The Prisoner

"All this subterfuge about America being the land of the free and an international exemplar of liberal democracy is thrown overboard very quickly, and suddenly it becomes a felony to reveal the decision of a duly constituted court. It becomes a felony to reveal that you’ve received a National Security Letter, or to discuss its contents. And the highest treason of all is trying to escape. I wondered whether I had stumbled on a heretofore unknown episode of The Prisoner, the cult classic 1960s television series written by and starring Patrick McGoohan, in which a former British intelligence agent who has committed some unknown treason finds himself imprisoned in The Village." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJustin Raimondo: The Prisoner

Glenn Greenwald: U.S. should be ‘on its knees begging’ that nothing happens to Snowden

"'Snowden has enough information to cause harm to the U.S. government in a single minute than any other person has ever had,' said Greenwald. “The U.S. government should be on its knees every day begging that nothing happen to Snowden, because if something does happen to him, all the information will be revealed and it could be its worst nightmare.' Snowden is currently working with Russian authorities to secure temporary asylum in that country. He said Friday that U.S. officials are blocking every effort he makes to seek safe passage to any place that will not extradite him into U.S. custody." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGlenn Greenwald: U.S. should be ‘on its knees begging’ that nothing happens to Snowden