Kafkaesque

Jim Bovard: Farmers fight for the right to grow raisins

"Marvin Horne, a 67-year-old raisin farmer in Fresno, Calif., was fined almost $700,000 for refusing to surrender control of much of his harvest to the federal committee in 2002. Horne, who has been growing raisins for more than 40 years, has battled the raisin committee for more than a decade and describes its regime as 'involuntary servitude.' His challenge -- which is supported by many California raisin growers -- landed in front of the Supreme Court last month. According to the Obama Administration and USDA, the Raisin Administrative Committee needs vast power to protect farmers from selling too many raisins." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJim Bovard: Farmers fight for the right to grow raisins

German Family Seeking Asylum to Continue Homeschooling Kids in US Fights Deportation

"On April 23, 2013, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments in the case of Romeike v. Holder, where the family will attempt to have the deportation order made against them set aside. While the Romeikes had originally been granted asylum in the United States, on the grounds Germany prevented them from homeschooling their children, that decision was overturned by a panel of the Board of Immigration Appeals. German parents have not been able to legally homeschool their children since the practice was banned by the Nazis in 1938." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGerman Family Seeking Asylum to Continue Homeschooling Kids in US Fights Deportation

Why Is the U.S. Funding International Drug Rehabs Known for Torture and Abuse?

"Children are not exempt from indefinite detainment in these camps. UNICEF-sponsored investigations in Laos found 150 detainees under 18 in 2003, and more than 600 children in 2006. Despite calls from human rights organizations, the United States has continued to pump money into the Somsanga Rehabilitation Center. In March of last year, 12 United Nations agencies, including the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the World Health Organization, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and UNAIDS, issued a joint statement calling for the closure of drug-user detention centers where they identified grave human rights violations." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWhy Is the U.S. Funding International Drug Rehabs Known for Torture and Abuse?

A First-time Offender, Father To Three, Sells Pain Pills To A Friend, Gets 25 Years In Prison.

"You've got a 46-year-old employed father caught selling four bottles of prescription pain pills. Twenty-five years minimum! It costs Florida roughly $19,000 to incarcerate an inmate for a year. So I ask you, dear reader, is keeping non-violent first-time drug offender John Horner locked behind bars in a jumpsuit really the best use of $475,000? For the same price, you could pay a year's tuition for 75 students at Florida State University. Is it accurate to call a system that demands the 25-year prison term mad? Well. Prosecutors offered to shave years off his sentence if he became an informant himself and successfully helped send five others to prison on 25 year terms." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingA First-time Offender, Father To Three, Sells Pain Pills To A Friend, Gets 25 Years In Prison.

Former heart surgeon sues Jackson County, sheriff over false arrest, land seizure

"A former Pascagoula heart surgeon, whose 2009 charges of growing marijuana at his farm were dismissed, has filed a federal lawsuit against Jackson County Sheriff Mike Byrd, the Jackson County Board of Supervisors and the Narcotics Task Force of Jackson County alleging civil, constitutional and human rights violations. Filed in U.S. District Court in Gulfport, the lawsuit says David Bruce Allen was the victim of false arrest, false imprisonment for more than a year, slander and libel, assault and battery, emotional distress and irreparable loss of his property and reputation." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFormer heart surgeon sues Jackson County, sheriff over false arrest, land seizure

Home-schooling family who fled to U.S. from Germany face deportation by Obama administration

"When they took their three oldest children out of school in 2006, police showed up at their house within 24 hours, only leaving after a group of supporters showed up and organized a quick protest. But their legal troubles were just beginning. Germany began fining the family, ultimately racking up a bill of more than 7,000 Euros ($9,000). After they fled to the United States in 2010, the Romeike family initially were granted political asylum and found a home in Tennessee. They had a sixth child. But then U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) appealed the asylum decision in 2012. The federal Board of Immigration Appeals sided with the government." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHome-schooling family who fled to U.S. from Germany face deportation by Obama administration

Resistance is Dangerous; Submission is Frequently Fatal

"In other words: If a cop seeks to abduct you without legal justification, you should submit in the serene confidence that your deprivation of liberty will be temporary and trivial. I have referred to this as the 'Rapist Doctrine,' since rapists and police officers are the only assailants whose victims are encouraged to submit. One hundred years after the New Mexico State Supreme Court published that ruling, the case of New Mexico resident Stephen Slevin demonstrates that this assurance is a cynical lie." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingResistance is Dangerous; Submission is Frequently Fatal

New Mexico’s Torture State

"The habeas corpus guarantee requires that anyone arrested by the police be quickly brought before a judge and either formally charged or released. Slevin was never given a judicial hearing. Nor was he given medical attention by his jailers. He was literally left to rot in solitary confinement until relatives inquired into his case. After being released, Slevin was awarded a $15.5 million tax-funded civil settlement – and nobody has been held accountable for the two years of torture he endured." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNew Mexico’s Torture State

New York man released after being wrongly imprisoned for 23 years

"A New Yorker was freed Thursday after serving more than 20 years in prison for the murder of a rabbi that the authorities now say he did not commit. David Ranta was sentenced to 37 years behind bars after being convicted in 1991 of killing an Orthodox Jewish rabbi during a botched robbery. He always maintained his innocence. The Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office announced an internal probe had found evidence unavailable during the trial that cleared the imprisoned man." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNew York man released after being wrongly imprisoned for 23 years

South Carolina Introduces Anti-NDAA Legislation

"South Carolina Senator Tom Davis has sponsored the Liberty Preservation Act to nullify the National Defense Authorization Act. The bill addresses the fact that 'Section 1021 of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 purports to assert the President’s authority to not only arrest suspected terrorists, but also to determine whether a trial, including the type of trial, will be held for those arrested;' and that 'Section 1022 of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 requires detention without trial by the military for a certain class of terrorist and authorizes, but does not require, the same for citizens of the United States.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSouth Carolina Introduces Anti-NDAA Legislation