Kafkaesque

No way out: Julian Assange marks one year inside Ecuadorian embassy in UK

"Julian Assange is still there, holed up inside Ecuador’s embassy in central London. And on Wednesday this week it’ll be a full year since he walked into the embassy claiming political asylum. Julian Assange knows that despite having been granted asylum by the Latin American nation in August 2012, if he steps outside the building he’ll be immediately arrested by UK police and likely extradited to Sweden to face questioning over two alleged sexual assaults in the country. The 41-year-old WikiLeaks founder denies any wrongdoing, but fears that being transferred to Sweden could ultimately result in him being handed over to the US authorities." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNo way out: Julian Assange marks one year inside Ecuadorian embassy in UK

Effort to block NDAA indefinite detention fails in U.S. House

"Indefinite detention remains in effect, but this week an effort was made to fix the problem with the Smith-Gibson amendment to the 2014 NDAA act. This bi-partisan amendment, sponsored by Republican Chris Gibson of New York and Democrat Adam Smith of Washington, would have guaranteed any detainee a trial and prohibited the transfer of anyone arrested in the United States to military custody. As happened with the substantially similar Smith-Amash amendment last year, this effort failed by a close 226 to 200 vote on the floor of the House." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEffort to block NDAA indefinite detention fails in U.S. House

Bill Gates Buys into Massive Security and Prison Management Company

"The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust and Cascade Investment, an asset management firm owned by Bill Gates, increased their combined holding in G4S to 3.2 percent last week. G4S is the world's largest securities firm and which runs services such as cash transportation and prison management in over 125 countries. According to their web site, they have more than 50,000 employees across the United States and Canada. alone. Worldwide, G4S has around 657,000 employee. G4S services include providing supplies security equipment and services for use at Israeli prisons, checkpoints and settlements in the West Bank." Continue reading →

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James Bamford: The Secret War

"Tens of thousands of people move through more than 50 buildings—the city has its own post office, fire department, and police force. But as if designed by Kafka, it sits among a forest of trees, surrounded by electrified fences and heavily armed guards, protected by antitank barriers, monitored by sensitive motion detectors, and watched by rotating cameras. To block any telltale electromagnetic signals from escaping, the inner walls of the buildings are wrapped in protective copper shielding and the one-way windows are embedded with a fine copper mesh. This is the undisputed domain of General Keith Alexander, a man few even in Washington would likely recognize." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJames Bamford: The Secret War

Assange on NSA leak: Snowden will be prosecuted for years

"The ex-CIA man who blew the lid off America's vast NSA public surveillance net - is promising more explosive revelations. Edward Snowden's supporters are mobilizing too - with tens of thousands signing a petition to pardon the whistleblower. With us now, a man who knows what it's like to blow the whistle in a big way, and incur the wrath of Washington - Julian Assange. He joins talks to RT via broadband from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAssange on NSA leak: Snowden will be prosecuted for years

Bradley Manning’s trial is no more than a ‘judicial lynching’

"The military trial of Bradley Manning is a judicial lynching. The government has effectively muzzled the defense team. The Army private first class is not permitted to argue that he had a moral and legal obligation under international law to make public the war crimes he uncovered. The documents that detail the crimes, torture and killing that Manning revealed, because they are classified, have been barred from discussion in court, effectively removing the fundamental issue of war crimes from the trial. Manning is forbidden by the court to challenge the government’s unverified assertion that he harmed national security." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBradley Manning’s trial is no more than a ‘judicial lynching’

The NSA’s Secret Cops, Known as “Q Group,” are Hunting Down Edward Snowden

"The people tasked with hunting down Edward Snowden work for the Associate Directorate for Security and Counterintelligence, reports The Daily Beast. The directorate is sometimes known as 'the Q Group.' The security and counterintelligence directorate serves as the NSA’s internal police force. It has the authority to interview an NSA contractor or employee’s known associates, and even to activate a digital dragnet capable of finding out where a target travels, what the target has purchased, and the target’s online activity, reports DB. Bottom line: The data collection that Snowden leaked about is now being used to track him." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe NSA’s Secret Cops, Known as “Q Group,” are Hunting Down Edward Snowden

Imprisoned CIA Torture Whistleblower John Kiriakou Pens “Letter from Loretto”

"Greetings from the Federal Correctional Institution at Loretto, Pennsylvania. I arrived here on February 28, 2013 to serve a 30-month sentence for violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982. At least that’s what the government wants people to believe. In truth, this is my punishment for blowing the whistle on the CIA’s illegal torture program and for telling the public that torture was official U.S. government policy. But that’s a different story. The purpose of this letter is to tell you about prison life." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingImprisoned CIA Torture Whistleblower John Kiriakou Pens “Letter from Loretto”

‘The Rendition Project’ sheds new light on U.S. global kidnap and secret detention program

"A groundbreaking research project has mapped the US government’s global kidnap and secret detention programme, shedding unprecedented light on one of the most controversial secret operations of recent years. The interactive online project – by two British universities and a legal charity – has uncovered new details of the way in which the so-called extraordinary rendition programme operated for years in the wake of the September 11 attacks, and the techniques used by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to avoid detection in the face of growing public concern." Continue reading →

Continue Reading‘The Rendition Project’ sheds new light on U.S. global kidnap and secret detention program

Texas Man Transporting His Unloaded Firearms Through NJ Now Doing 3-5 Years in Prison

"A TX man, who was in the process of moving to Maine, made a very simple mistake, and never made it to his hew home. Dustin Reininger is serving a 3-5 year prison sentence in the Garden State because he made a mistake, he stopped to take a nap in NJ during his multi day drive from Texas to Maine. Police approached Reininger’s car when he was taking a nap near a bank in Readington, NJ. Reininger would not have been arrested if his guns were simply in locked cases, or if he possessed a NJ Firearm Owner’s Identification Card, which not being a resident of NJ, he obviously did not possess." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTexas Man Transporting His Unloaded Firearms Through NJ Now Doing 3-5 Years in Prison