Land Of The Flea

Woman violently arrested for playing banjo in wrong place at Syria war protest

"Iraq war veteran Emily Yates was arrested on Friday after a dispute with police about where she could stand while playing her banjo during a protest against U.S. military action in Syria. Video uploaded to Live Leak shows Yates asking Federal Parks Police why she could not stand in a shaded area of Independence Mall in Philadelphia. After several minutes of discussion, two officers bent Yates over a park bench and handcuffed her. By the time Yates is dragged from the park, at least eight officers are participating in the arrest." Continue reading →

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How many U.S. immigrant-citizens renounce their prior citizenships?

"What’s the rate of compliance with these single-citizenship laws? Not very high; perhaps half at most, judging from Japanese and South Korean data. In a minority of cases, failure to report your new citizenship to the government of your country of origin may indeed represent an attempt to game the system. However, in most cases, it’s simply due to benign neglect: you are no longer under the jurisdiction of the 'old country', and have no future intention of exercising any rights there, so you don’t bother with the rules of their system. And of course, civilised countries do not presume guilt in such cases, nor impose life-altering fines on emigrants for failure to comply with obscure paperwork." Continue reading →

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Finally, a reasonable newspaper article on why people renounce citizenship

"'Wages in the United States are low and many hard working people struggle to afford life’s basic necessities. Other burning issues include a degrading public health system, a half-dead retail sector and an arguably chaotic political environment … Americans who have relatives and friends outside of the United States are choosing to renounce their U.S. citizenship and relocate to countries with better economies.' Oh wait, I seem to have inadvertently misquoted the article. We at the Isaac Brock Society deeply regret this editing error. It’s actually talking about the reasons why citizens of Botswana renounce." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFinally, a reasonable newspaper article on why people renounce citizenship

U.S. court grants Nigerian asylum-seeker the right to testify about his own torture

"The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decided today that a Nigerian man, Olakunle Oshodi, will be allowed to testify fully at his deportation hearing about the torture he suffered as a political dissident at the hands of Nigerian officials before he fled his homeland. The lower courts and dissenting judges refused to hear what happened the first time an unsympathetic immigration judge deported him, back in 1978. Oshodi returned to the United States in 1981, eventually married a citizen and had a child. Despite that, he faced deportation years later and then applied for political asylum." Continue reading →

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Gitmo defendant’s lawyers: CIA gave ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ makers more info than us

"The CIA cooperated with the makers of the Hollywood movie about the hunt for Osama bin Laden, and has acknowledged one character was 'modeled after' Connell’s client, Ammar al Baluchi, an alleged al Qaeda money mover also known as Ali Abdul Aziz Ali. He is Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s nephew. The movie showed interrogators stringing up the Ammar character with a rope, forcing him to wear a dog collar, waterboarding him and stuffing him into a coffin-like box. The CIA has not acknowledged using those techniques on Baluchi but has admitted using them on other prisoners." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGitmo defendant’s lawyers: CIA gave ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ makers more info than us

2 of the Worst Warmongering Neocons Demand To Know

"Why were Beyonce and Jay Z allowed to visit Cuba? Of course, the real question is: how dare the state order us to stay away from places we want to go, East German style? I must say, I'd love to visit Cuba myself. I am told that if one does, one can go through Mexico City and the Cubans do not stamp your passport. Indeed, I'd like to visit Iran, Syria, Gaza, North Korea, and all the other places the parasites don't want us to go." Continue reading →

Continue Reading2 of the Worst Warmongering Neocons Demand To Know

Zurich bank cuts Cuba’s last Swiss franc channel

"Zurich's cantonal bank is halting all transfers to Cuba starting next month to avoid activities deemed in violation of a US embargo on the communist-ruled island. Bank spokeswoman Evelyne Brönnimann told AFP that new rules meant ZKB must now attest to its banking partners in the United States that its activities are in line with the US Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) rules. 'If this is not the case, the United States can take actions against the banks like freezing their holdings,' the bank statement said. The head of the Swiss-Cuban Chamber of Commerce harshly criticised ZKB's decision, lamenting that the bank was removing the only banking channel operating in Swiss francs." Continue reading →

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Human rights court blocks extradition of U.K.-based terror suspect to U.S.

"Extraditing a UK-based terror suspect to an American 'supermax' high security prison would constitute 'inhuman or degrading treatment', the European court of human rights (ECHR) has ruled. The Strasbourg court barred the removal of Haroon Aswat, whose nationality is unknown, from Broadmoor psychiatric hospital to the US on account of his severe mental illness. Aswat, who suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, has been indicted in the US as a co-conspirator in a plan to establish a jihad training camp in Oregon. He was arrested in 2005 in Britain following a request from US authorities for extradition. His lawyers have resisted his removal since then in a series of appeals." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHuman rights court blocks extradition of U.K.-based terror suspect to U.S.

Documenting “Detainee Treatment [sic for ‘Torture’]“

"'The report of the blue ribbon Task Force on Detainee Treatment[sic for 'torture'] is the most comprehensive, bipartisan investigation into the detention and treatment [sic for 'torture'] of suspected terrorists yet published. The report's first 'finding' states, 'U.S. forces, in many instances, used interrogation techniques on detainees that constitute torture. American personnel conducted an even larger number of interrogations that involved 'cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.' Both categories of actions violate U.S. laws and international treaties. Such conduct was directly counter to values of the Constitution and our nation.' And remember, these are people who like Leviathan!" Continue reading →

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Two Algerians repatriated from Guantanamo: Pentagon

"Two long-held Algerian detainees at Guantanamo Bay have been returned to their homeland, the first such transfer since US President Barack Obama renewed his pledge to close the controversial jail. The Pentagon announced Thursday that Nabil Said Hadjarab, 34, and Mutia Sadiq Ahmad Sayyab, 36, were handed over to the government of Algeria, completing a process outlined last month by the United States. The US-run prison in Cuba, set up in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks, still holds 164 detainees more than four years after Obama took office and first vowed to shut it down." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTwo Algerians repatriated from Guantanamo: Pentagon