US vs. the US 2
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Gore Vidal and the Upside of American Military Prisons
So, here we are bringing democracy to the poor Afghans, but only the real democracy, of course, in the prisons, which we specialize in everywhere and which—one interesting thing that came out of all that mess was now the world knows how we treat Americans in American prisons. – Gore Vidal Only the late Gore Vidal, who the American media was almost universal in describing as iconoclastic in his obituaries, could find an upside to the torture of prisoners by American soldiers. And only Vidal could find an upside that would be at the same time deeply witty, cynical, sensationalistic, and completely factual. I say completely factual because the torture and brutality that shocked the world in American military prisons from Guantanamo bay to Bagram to Abu Ghraib closely parallels and mirrors the United States’s own domestic treatment of prisoners.57UN : Well known sign from # Anaheim ! Hey Kids! Check out my military police! Spread it. Share it. Steal it!
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Occupy Wall Street’s (OWS) nationwide May Day campaign was undertaken in New York and some 100-plus other cities. Its goal was twofold. First, it sought to focus attention on the major banks, the principal culprits in the still lingering fiscal crisis. Second, it sought to highlight the growing inequality deforming American society, which still resonance as an election-year issue. The day’s gathering drew thousands across the country. Those who assembled were enraged and, for the most part, law-abiding citizen who drew the expected responses from local law enforcement agents, those duly sworn to protect the interests of the 1 percent — clubbings, roundups and arrests.
The New Police Surveillance State
The Real Crime in Anaheim
“He was a documented gang member,” say the Anaheim police of Manuel Diaz, a 25 year old unarmed man they shot dead around 4:00 pm Sunday. They shot him in the buttocks as he ran, and as he stooped to his knees in someone’s yard they followed up by a bullet to the back of his head. Then they handcuffed their immobile quarry with a bloody face and a hole in his skull (as described by a 17 year old neighborhood resident), and searched his pockets before sending him to the hospital to die within three hours. As I understand it, California law states: “Any person who actively participates in any criminal street gang with knowledge that its members engage in or have engaged in a pattern of criminal gang activity, and who willfully promotes,furthers, or assists in any felonious criminal conduct by members of that gang, shall be punished by imprisonment in a county jail for a period not to exceed one year, or by imprisonment in the state prison for 16 months, or two or three years.”
They are just some of the victims of wholesale torture taking place inside the U.S. prison system that we uncovered during a four-month investigation for BBC Channel 4 . It’s terrible to watch some of the videos and realise that you’re not only seeing torture in action but, in the most extreme cases, you are witnessing young men dying. The prison guards stand over their captives with electric cattle prods, stun guns, and dogs. Many of the prisoners have been ordered to strip naked. The guards are yelling abuse at them, ordering them to lie on the ground and crawl. ‘Crawl, motherf*****s, crawl.’
The Torture Inc.: America’s Brutal, Inhumane, Anti-”Human Rights” Prisons
Strange things are happening in the United States these days, and every day seems to bring additional scary news. The similarity to the erosion of civil liberties in Germany during the 1930s is a bit too close for comfort. Many will regard this statement as hyperbole, and, to some extent, it is.
Slouching Towards Nuremberg?
Iran/Contra: Oliver North Questioned About Plans to Suspend the U.S. Constitution
Posted by Good German on July 22, 2012 Oliver North questioned over plans to suspend American Constitution by Jack Brooks. Notice how angry Oliver North looks at about 10 seconds into it when he folds his arms. If looks could kill eh?! Also at about 40 seconds into it check out the guy on the back row who puts his head in his hands.White House Rejects Medical Marijuana As A Treatment For PTSD «
Despite mounting anecdotal and clinical evidence that medical marijuana can be beneficial to those suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, the White House wants to make one thing clear: You can go fight multiple tours for this country in useless wars, but if the horrors of war mess with your head, you’re not allowed to smoke weed when you get home . Responding to a petition by former Air Force sergeant Mike Krawitz asking the White House to consider medical marijuana as a treatment for PTSD, Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske said no go. Saying marijuana is not a “benign drug,” Kerlikowske asserted that it does not meet standards of safe or effective medicine. ”We know from an array of treatment admission information and federal data that marijuana use is a significant source for voluntary drug treatment admissions and visits to emergency rooms,” he wrote.
The first strike, on Sept. 30, killed a group of people including Anwar al-Awlaki , a radical Muslim cleric who was born in New Mexico, and , a naturalized American citizen who lived at times in Queens, Long Island and North Carolina. The second, on Oct. 14, killed a group of people including Mr. Awlaki’s 16-year-old son, Abdulrahman al-Awlaki, who was born in Colorado.
U.S. Officials Sued Over Citizens Killed in Yemen
Internet operator Nicholas Merrill received a National Security letter in 2004. He describes his experience. The fact that this lawsuit seems to involve CREDO makes me wonder if the feds aren't simply going after left-wing political activists, and not terrorists. I am deeply disappointed over the Obama administration's willingness to expand the warrantless surveillance state, but not surprised.
Phone Company Fights National Security Letter In Court
Police surveillance of demonstrators during the NATO summit protests in Chicago. Photo by Kate Harnedy Post by Aaron Cynic American law enforcement agencies continue to increase their surveillance on an otherwise fairly complacent citizenry , logging an incredible amount of requests for information regarding cell phone and social media use.
The Increased Criminalization of Dissent
WASHINGTON -- U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald’s prosecution of former CIA officer John Kiriakou for talking to journalists about the Bush/Cheney torture program has at least one thing in common with his conviction of I. Lewis (“Scooter”) Libby in 2007. In both cases, Fitzgerald went for the little fish. But the big fish got away. ( See related story on the Kiriakou case .) In the Plame case, Fitzgerald prosecuted Libby, then-vice president Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, for perjury and obstruction of justice related to the leak of Valerie Plame Wilson’s identity as a covert CIA operative.
Patrick Fitzgerald's Legacy: Letting Rove And Cheney Go
Justice Department Wins Rosemary Award for Worst Open Government Performance in 2011
Washington, DC, February 14, 2012 – The U.S. Department of Justice has won the infamous Rosemary Award for worst open government performance over the past year, according to the citation posted on the Web today by the National Security Archive ( www.nsarchive.org ). The award is named after President Nixon's secretary, Rose Mary Woods, who erased 18 1/2 minutes of a crucial Watergate tape. The Rosemary Award citation includes a multi-count indictment of Justice's transparency performance in 2011, including:UN Envoys Still Wait For a Response To Letter On Occupy Brutality
How can these U.N. troublemakers not see the difference? In other countries, they're protesting against unemployment, political corruption and control by an oligarchy, and their goverment is repressing them with military tactics. Here, they're... just malcontents! Yeah, that's it: WASHINGTON -- Federal officials have yet to respond to two United Nations human rights envoys who formally requested that the U.S. government protect Occupy protesters against excessive force by law enforcement officials.Published time: May 24, 2012 21:23 Edited time: May 25, 2012 01:23 NJ finds NYPD Muslim surveillance is legal The New Jersey State attorney general concluded a three month investigation on Thursday, ruling that law enforcement officers with the New York Police Department were not at fault by profiling and spying on Muslims outside of their jurisdiction. New Jersey Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa finished his probe into a lengthy scandal involving the NYPD on Thursday and determined that the Big Apple’s boys in blue committed no wrongdoing by traveling across state lines and conducting clandestine surveillance of Muslims at venues that included community centers, places of worship and restaurants. Chisea’s findings come following an investigation spearheaded by the Associated Press that revealed that NYPD officers had repeatedly traveled outside of the state and the country to go on intelligence gathering missions aimed at Muslims around the world.