Kafkaesque

Glenn Beck calls for celebrating Ramadan by shooting all Guantanamo prisoners in the head

"Let's save some money... here's the thing... We can't let them starve themselves to death? Damn right we can. We can also shoot them in the head, which is the other option and the one I'm for. SHOOT THEM. But, the other is let them starve to death and I'm totally fine with that. I don't want to starve anybody myself; but I don't want to do that. I want to be the country that we all love and appreciate. You know the one that is feared by its enemies, but should not be a country that is feared by all. But is feared by its enemies." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGlenn Beck calls for celebrating Ramadan by shooting all Guantanamo prisoners in the head

Louisiana Drug Lifer Struggles For Freedom… Someday

"So what did Butler do to get life in 'the Alacatraz of the South'? Possession of small amounts of marijuana and crack cocaine found on him after police stopped and frisked him as he rode away from them on his bicycle. Last October 3, it appeared it had. On that date, the Louisiana 4th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned his conviction, ruling that New Orleans police officers 'illegally searched Butler and seized his drugs without probable cause.' The state Supreme Court then upheld the original life-without-parole sentence -- because he had ridden his bicycle on a sidewalk as he rode away from police!" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingLouisiana Drug Lifer Struggles For Freedom… Someday

Marc Emery Released from Solitary Confinement

"Emery has already served four years of a five-year sentence in the US for selling marijuana seeds online from Canada. With the permission of prison officials in the Special Investigative Service (SIS), photos of his band were put up on Emery’s Cannabis Culture blog in April. Emery was under investigation by the same SIS authorities who gave permission for the photos; they claimed that the pictures had been taken with a prohibited smart phone. Officials put him in 'the hole' while they looked into the matter. On Tuesday, June 11, Emery was released from solitary confinement after a staff person admitted he had taken the photos." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMarc Emery Released from Solitary Confinement

30,000 California inmates launch hunger strike against ‘state-sanctioned torture’

"At any one time, California holds about 12,000 inmates in extreme isolation, including some who have been in windowless boxes known as security housing units (SHUs) for decades. They are allowed out for an hour a day to exercise – some in a yard, others in a kennel-size cage. Supporters say the strike is a legitimate response to cruel and inhumane conditions. 'The use of prolonged solitary confinement is a form of torture,” said Laura Downton, director for US Policy and Program at the National Religious Campaign Against Torture. California has an unusual policy of indefinitely putting suspected gang members in solitary until they identify fellow gang members." Continue reading →

Continue Reading30,000 California inmates launch hunger strike against ‘state-sanctioned torture’

Russian lawmaker: Snowden agrees to Venezuela offer of asylum

"NSA leaker Edward Snowden has accepted Venezuela's offer of asylum, a key Russian lawmaker tweeted Tuesday. Alexei Pushkov, the chairman of Russian Duma's international affairs panel, tweeted that Snowden had accepted the offer from Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. 'Predictably, Snowden has agreed to Maduro’s offer of political asylum,' Pushkov tweeted in Russian, according to Russia Today. 'Apparently, this option appeared most reliable to Snowden.' Pushkov later tweeted that his information came from a Russian newcast. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki warned Monday of consequences after Maduro made his offer." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRussian lawmaker: Snowden agrees to Venezuela offer of asylum

World Service Authority Issues World Passport to Edward Snowden

"Edward Snowden is an alleged National Security Agency whistleblower who exposed the mass monitoring of U.S. citizens. Deprived of his United States Passport, he is currently immobilized in a Moscow Airport Transit Lounge with no ongoing ticket to any nation. This is a flagrant violation of Article 13 (2) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states the following: (Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.) The World Service Authority (WSA), a Washington D.C. corporation and executive branch of the World Government of World Citizens, has issued Mr. Snowden a World Passport so he can travel without limitation." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWorld Service Authority Issues World Passport to Edward Snowden

Is Actor Johnny Revilla Stateless?

"Actor Johnny Revilla, who starred in 'The Strangers', now sits as a representative of the Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) Family Club in the Philippine House of Representatives, after taking oath on the 26th of June, 2014, could face up to seven years of imprisonment if he is a U.S. citizen. Documentation obtained from the Philippine Bureau of Immigration shows that he travelled using an American passport from 2002 up to 2009. According to OFW Family Club Rep. Roy Seneres of OFW, the former Philippine Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, Johnny cannot be a citizen of the Philippines if he is a citizen of America. Yet, such is not the case." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIs Actor Johnny Revilla Stateless?

Snowden fate in balance as Cuba backs asylum bid

"US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden won support from Cuba for his bid to seek asylum in Latin America as he began his third week in limbo at a Moscow airport on Monday. Cuba, a key transit point from Russia on the way to Latin America, supported the leaders of Bolivia, Venezuela and Nicaragua, who have offered the 30-year-old fugitive a possible lifeline as he remains marooned without documents in the transit area of a Moscow airport. Even if Snowden receives a new passport or travel document and manages to board a flight to Latin America, there are no guarantees that his plane would not be grounded once it reaches European airspace, analysts say." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSnowden fate in balance as Cuba backs asylum bid

Tyranny is Infinitely More Obscene than Naughty Words

"Barboza wasn’t happy about the ticket. When he mailed his payment to the Sullivan County Court, the 22-year-old included a vulgar message expressing contempt for the town, to which he referred as 'Tyranny' rather than 'Liberty,' New York. The court rejected his payment and ordered Barboza to make a two-hour trip to attend court. At the October 2012 hearing, a judge upbraided Barboza for his language, and police handcuffed and arrested him for violating the state’s “aggravated harassment” statute. Barboza was booked, fingerprinted, handcuffed to a bench, and forced to pay $200 bail. He has filed a lawsuit against the police officers who arrested him." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTyranny is Infinitely More Obscene than Naughty Words

When Vice Enforcement is a Capital Crime

"Alexa Hamme of Salt Lake City was 25 years old when she died in a jail cell. She had been arrested four days earlier on suspicion of drug possession and endangerment of a child or adult. That last charge is a sentence enhancer often tacked on to a drug arrest as a way of escalating the potential penalties and extorting a guilty plea to a lesser charge. Using drugs is unwise and self-destructive. The same is true of other personal vices, as well. But government has no moral or legal mandate to punish people for indulging vices. Doing so is itself a crime – and as the tragic death of Alexa Hamme illustrates, it is frequently a capital offense." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWhen Vice Enforcement is a Capital Crime