Close Guantanamo Camps Now

There is currently an operation underway to demand that the concentration camps at Guantanamo Bay be closed forever. Truth be told, this offshore hellhole should never have been opened to begin with and it is a disgrace to anyone in the world that has a sense of reasoning and fairness. There has never been justice for anyone in any of these camps and it is far past time to close its doors forever and release all prisoners.

President Obama made a promise prior to the 2008 election and now we need to demand that he keep that promise. You know what they are doing to the prisoners in the Guantanamo Bay camps and your silence makes you complicit.

For more information on how you can do your part to demand this dump be closed forever, visit:

We are closing Guantanamo Bay for good

I can tell you that after 5pm EST the White House stops answering telephone lines and there is no system in place to leave messages except via the fax #. Please make your calls on Monday, 20 May 2013, if you have not already. This operation is supposed to be 17-19 May, though it should be extended until the camps are closed. Please sign the petition if you have not already.

There are those that blame Congress for blocking President Obama's intended closing of the camps, but I do not buy it. If you do, then dial your congressman today, tomorrow, and every day until GTMO is closed.

The existence of this offshore concentration camp is an outrageous slap in the face to US citizens and the rest of the world. Demand it be closed forever!

A Murder in Kern County

David Silva was beaten to death by 7 Kern County, California Sheriff's deputies and 2 California Highway Patrol officers on Wednesday, the 8th of May. What was his crime? He was accused of "possibly being intoxicated," but we really do not know if that is even true. He "resisted" a deputy and a vicious canine and for that, he was beaten to death with batons by a gang of angry thugs. 

How does a man on the ground resist a police canine?

This is Rodney King all over again and multiplied, which equals death with cops today. And these bad boys cover their crimes - videos taken by bystanders on cell phones were later confiscated by deputies and at least one witness was harassed and arrested on false charges. A woman dialed 911 while David Silva was being beaten to death and stated that she got it all on videotape.

Cops actually went to the homes of witnesses and confiscated their cellphones with the video evidence. They entered one woman's home uninvited. Please read the account here:

Debate erupts over cell phone video of Silva beating by officers. Witness: "I can still hear him."

We the people must demand that these bad cops are held accountable. At this point the Kern County Sheriff's Office is investigating the actions of its own officers and that will never be acceptable. The investigation must be by the DOJ Civil Rights Division. It is the Eastern District of California, Fresno Office that serves Kern County.

What can we do?

Call the US Attorney's Office in Fresno and demand accountability at (559)497-4000 or fax (559)497-4099. The more people that call to demand that there is a real investigation and all officers are held accountable the better. Please remember to be polite and state that you are a citizen demanding an investigation into the killing of David Silva:

United States Attorney's Office Eastern District of California Fresno Office

Complaints should also be made here. Scroll to "Criminal" and you will see a list of complaints handled by this division, including: Excessive force or other Constitutional violations by persons acting as law enforcement officials or public officials

US Department of Justice Civil Rights Division

David Silva's killers must be held accountable!

 

 

UPDATE on 12 May 2013 @6pm:

 

At least the Kern County Sheriff's Office has publicly named the deputies involved in David Silva's murder, which is more information than is ever offered in Orange County, Florida when a victim is killed in police custody. In Orange County, they're always referred to as John Doe Deputy 1, John Doe Deputy 2 etc... until or unless the public demands names and they're forced to comply. The deputies involved in David Silva's killing are:

 

Sgt. Douglas Sword

Deputy Ryan Greer

Deputy Tanner Miller

Deputy Jeffrey Kelly

Deputy Luis Almanza

Deputy Brian Brock

Deputy David Stephens

 

In Custody Death Investigation - 05/09/2013 2:48pm

 

We also need the names of the two California Highway Patrol officers.

How Dare I

Tonight I decided that it was time to do some redecorating around here. I last did a major post purge in early August of 2012, though this time there are not so many posts to worry about. No particular reason for this except that I believe in cleaning house. Well, okay - I also intend to stick with the topic of injustice in its various forms and at this moment there are off-topic posts that need to go.

Please do your part to close GTMO once and for all. For more information read:

We are closing Guantanamo Bay for Good

I'll post more on the upcoming operation to close GTMO in a new post.

I have decided to offer the PDF of Memoirs of an Accused Madam FREE. If you appreciate the story, please purchase the paperback on Amazon. To download the free PDF click HERE.

Peace to you!

Cocoa Cops: First Impression

It was back on June 6, 2007, at 2am in the City of Cocoa, Florida, when my son was returning from a WWE event that he went to in Orlando earlier in the evening on the 5th, his birthday, when he was pulled-over by the constitution violating asshat with the Cocoa Police Department. This was Alex's first encounter with a traffic stop in Cocoa. The cop was Officer David Allen Baker and he was on a motorcycle.

Yes, this is the first post of many on the topic of abusive police officers and Cocoa has always had a bad reputation so I figure that it's a good place to start. There is not much information out there about the abuses in Cocoa or nearby Rockledge and I feel that there should be. I probably have 10 different stories to tell and I certainly intend to.

I heard this freak scream at my son like a Marine drill sergeant. Shortly after the initial screaming Alex was ordered to end the call and get out of the vehicle. The location of the traffic stop was less than 1/2 mile from the Cocoa house that we lived in at the time and I could testify to the fact that he did not make it home for more than 45 minutes.

After Officer David Baker ordered Alex out of the vehicle, he ordered him to place his hands on the trunk area while he awaited information from dispatch. He demanded (not asked) to search the vehicle and even though he was clearly told that he did NOT have permission, he proceeded, looking in the glovebox, the center console, and in and around the seats. Alex was ordered to stand aside while he searched the trunk.

Throughout this encounter the abusive officer screamed like a drill sergeant. According to documents that I later received showing the call-log, he was trying to get a dog there, but the only available dog at the time was busy in Melbourne. It is a commonly known fact in this area that former Officer Frank Carter kept the dog busy harassing motorists in Melbourne, so that was not surprising.

Baker did not discover anything illegal in the vehicle, of course, and then chose to write two tickets: The first was for "driving a vehicle in unsafe condition" and was written based on 1 of the 2 tag-lights being out. The second was for "failure to stop at a traffic signal" and was pure BS. In other words, this was a false arrest.

When a police officer pulls a motorist over and writes a ticket, it is indeed an arrest. It is immaterial that the person is not taken to jail or that it is a traffic ticket: it is an arrest. In Florida there will always be a record of that arrest even if the motorist or defendant is found not guilty or chooses to take a traffic school course to avoid conviction and it should be taken more seriously than it usually is.

By the time Alex finally made it home at close to 3am, I was frantic. I had no clue what had transpired in such a length of time. At most, writing a traffic ticket (whether right or wrong) should take less than 15 minutes. We then drove to the 7-11 about a 1/2 mile past the stop and on Dixon Blvd. so that he could show me what happened and where it happened.

There were several Cocoa P.D. officers in 7-11. I do not recall what specifically I stated that started the conversation, but I ended-up describing the right turn that resulted in the "failure to stop at a traffic signal" ticket to one officer and he informed me that all my son needed to do was take pictures of the intersection and the traffic lanes with him to court because a motorist does not need to stop at that light before making a right turn. As a matter of the fact, the vehicle would turn right 25+ feet before the light and never actually reaches the intersection anyway. A driver could not stop at that light when in the far-right lane if they wanted to.

So Alex pled not guilty and went to court and was found not guilty on that particular ticket. The judge was nice; however, would not let him state for the record what happened during this traffic stop. She kept stopping him by stating, "Mr. ---, you have already won...." It is my opinion that the particular judge had previous experience with motorists that Officer Baker had written tickets and already knew exactly how he abused people and violated constitutional rights.

Alex chose to plead guilty to the "driving vehicle in unsafe condition" ticket as at the time, it cost a mere $7.50 to the clerk's office and $4 for any officer to do a safety check of the vehicle. For $11.50, it seemed like the best option at the time.

I must finally take a moment to say FU to Officer David Allen Baker for that BS ticket. If he was truly unable to see the tag # (his claim) because one of its two tag-lights were out, he should get his flippin' eyes checked. But then we all know that is not the case. The one light worked fine and the tag # was easily viewed by anyone driving behind the vehicle. That ticket ended-up costing Alex an added $100 per month in insurance for three entire years. The total cost for that ticket was $3600 + the $11.50. FU again David Baker.

Would you like to know what former officer David Baker does today? He's an attorney. This constitution violating, screaming asshat is an attorney in Brevard County. Lucky for area defendants that he is not in criminal defense:

David Baker Law 

Scary Bad Cops in Hernando County Florida

This was previously posted with the title, "Overzealous Scary Cops in Hernando County Florida" and is being reposted due to several requests. I removed it in my big post purge in August 2012. It was originally an early (March) 2011 post, so this did not actually happen last night. Back by popular demand:

Last night my son and a friend had a frightening encounter with several (4) Hernando County Sheriff's Office deputies out in the rural area referred to as Ridge Manor, Florida. Either three or four patrol cars arrived at the scene with a total of 4 deputies. My son was driving a Toyota Prius and had the vehicle papers and his valid driver's license to hand the deputy and was puzzled as to the reason for the stop as he is ever so careful not to commit any sort of traffic infraction whatsoever.

Alex has learned to just stay a smart distance from cops and has been taught to understand that a police officer is more powerful than the POTUS. One must fear that a cop could plant drugs or shoot them dead as the result of a simple traffic stop in Florida.

The only time I shake is if I am being pulled-over by a cop as there is no telling what will happen next. No one wants to die at the hands of a whacko cop that later claims to have seen a weapon and trust me, it happens too often in Florida. And we aren't even Black. I fear for the Black motorist in this lousy state – refer to my posts on former officer Frank Carter of the Melbourne Police Department.

Alex was driving at a speed of 52 mph and the speed limit before the stop was 60 mph, so he knew the pull-over had nothing to do with speeding. The car is almost new and sure didn't have any light out or faulty equipment issue. Knowing that he had done nothing illegal or even incorrect, he had his friend dial me the minute that he heard the siren and had the brights in his face as the cop turned around to come after him. The second that police vehicle #1 got behind my son, vehicle #2 and vehicle #3 (and possibly a #4) appeared from nowhere and were also behind him with flashing lights on.

Alex pulled to the grassy area on the side of the road right next to the intersection of Croom Rital Rd. and Kettering Rd. in Hernando County, Florida. I was on the phone with his friend at that point. This is exactly what happened next and Deputy #3 and Deputy #4 remained in the background throughout never saying anything to them. [my thoughts and Alex's descriptions are in brackets]:


Unknown Deputy #1: License and registration

Alex: Yes sir. May I ask why we were pulled over?

Deputy #1: We received a complaint of objects being thrown out this window at the vehicle behind you.

Alex: I don't know what you're talking about. We didn't throw anything.

Deputy #1: I'm going to be real with you. I'm a dickhead who doesn't give a fuck about anything. I don't have time for fucking games. If I find out one of you is lying I'm going to seize this vehicle and everything in it and you're both going to jail. The vehicle behind you has a witness, the vehicle behind them, that is willing to write statements. [took driver's license and car paperwork and walked back to his vehicle] [I heard the entire conversation - the deputy was loud, but not screaming like an angry Marine as some do]

[within a couple (3) minutes]

Deputy #1: Passenger out of the vehicle. [brought my son's friend to side of deputy's car]. [I heard this].

Friend described: [The deputy asked what happened here and friend told him the story]

What really happened: We were behind a car driving about 15 mph under the speed limit. There was no lane to pass him, but two other vehicles went around both of us. I waited until there was a second lane to pass and went around the slow driver. The driver attempted to run me off the road by speeding-up as soon as he saw I was trying to pass him. I passed him anyway by speeding-up. He was right on my rear and turned on his brights and this went on for about five minutes. He pulled-off and about 10 minutes later I am being pulled-over, but have no idea why.

The friend thought the cop asked him to empty out his pockets and was starting to do this when 3 deputies went for their weapons and 1 grabbed him by the shoulder and shoved him against the car. The deputy told him to place his hands on the car and then patted him down, placing his hands in friend's pockets, and searched him. Scared him to death.

Deputy #1: Mr. -------

Alex [got out of car and walked towards deputy #1]

Deputy #2: GET OFF THE PHONE! [I heard this]

Alex: It's my mother. What...

Deputy #2: GET OFF THE PHONE NOW! You're 18. Hang it up.[I heard this]
[I had instructed my son to ask the deputy's name and where/what police department he was with as my son had no idea where they were specifically at that time]

Alex: Yes sir. [he hung-up on me]

Deputy #1: Your buddy over here admitted everything so you want to be smart as well and go ahead and confess to what happened.

Alex: [repeated story of what actually happened]

Deputy #1: Do you have any weapons, guns, drugs, hand grenades [?] paraphernalia?

Alex: No sir.

Deputy #1: PUT YOUR HANDS ON THE CAR! [deputy starts going through Alex's pockets and searching him and looked through his wallet]

Deputy #1: Do you have any drugs, weapons, guns, paraphernalia, hand grenades, or dead bodies [?] in the vehicle? So then I have permission to search, right? [exact quote]

Alex: Yes sir.

Deputy #1: Turn around and face my partner. [Alex no longer had any visual of vehicle] [deputy searched for about 4 minutes]

Deputy #2: [starts asking both Alex and friend questions]. [He pointed at a vehicle and asked both at the same time if they recognized it and both responded “no it doesn't look familiar”.

Deputy #2: What are you doing way out here?

Alex: Visiting a friend.

Deputy #1: [pulls out posters and flyers from back seat]

Deputy #2: Why do you have all of those?

Alex: I do some promoting for Club Firestone.

Deputy #1: [walks to his vehicle] You might want to stay in Merritt Island boys and don't come around here again. We are a bunch of fucking pricks who don't give a shit and will cause you some fucking problems. [Deputy threw Alex's driver's license in the grass]

Alex: [we got back in our vehicle and noted Deputy #1 walked to the vehicle that we couldn't identify].


So what in the hell is going on in Hernando County? Apparently they sure do not want anyone that doesn't live there entering the area. My son has had many traffic stops for no reason whatsoever, but none as scary as this one because they really do not know the area at all and even though he has met cops that were screaming like Marines throughout the encounter, they do not normally threaten to seize a vehicle and take the driver and passenger to jail – this is the unique issue here. Of course the search demand was because they expected to find drugs.

I have since dialed the non-emergency number for the Hernando County Sheriff's Office and the operator was helpful. She stated that the deputy that made the stop (deputy #1) is Deputy Genovese. She was unable to locate any information for the other deputies or did not offer the information if she did.

To Deputy Genovese with the Hernando County Sheriff's Office:

I have taught my son to always fear cops as truly you are more powerful than the POTUS and capable of absolutely anything. You prove my point. I also taught him to never give a police officer permission to search, no matter that there is nothing illegal or even incorrect in the vehicle. However, when I heard your threat of seizing the vehicle and taking them both to jail, I knew (from your own words) that you are indeed a total prick capable of anything and since we all knew there was nothing illegal in the vehicle, I told my son to agree to any search prior to him hanging-up the phone.

This is the United States and no one should be coerced into a search and threatened as you did to these two late last night (1am). Do you think you own Hernando County? Do you believe that you actually have the authority to tell any motorist to never return to Hernando County? Guess what prick – you don't own shit and I'll drive through Hernando County any fucking time I want to.

My son really feared that you would plant something in the vehicle (drugs). Why did you instruct him to turn around and face your partner so that the vehicle was no longer in his line of vision? That is something I have never run into and it shouldn't be considered legal.

I will offer a short scenario of the events to follow if you had taken them to jail last night:

Of course I would attempt to bond them out immediately, but not knowing anything about how it all works in Hernando County, well, I may or may not have been successful. No matter what, I would have them out on Monday before the morning was over. Each of them would then be filing a false arrest suit against you, the unknown deputies that joined you, and the Sheriff of Hernando County.

This is not a lawsuit worthy encounter and this is the last you'll hear of us Deputy Genovese, but someone needs to take some of your power away. Cops like you are why I have instilled it in my son's mind that he should never trust any cop anywhere for any reason. You really are a fucking prick – you said it.


Added on 26 December 2012:

I must wonder if Deputy Genovese is stil employed by the Hernando County Sheriff's Office. If he is, I also blame the sheriff and the county - they have had almost 2 years to get rid of his bad cop ass.

What was the DC Madam case about?

With the blessed passing of yet another election cycle, we might reflect on another one from the recent past which resulted in a significant routing of the GOP by the Democrats: the deeply contentious 2006 national midterms. There's at least one major political sex scandal that takes down a significant politician in the United States every election cycle, generally speaking, two years, with overlap for higher office.

After the fall of the Director of the CIA at the hands of the surveillance state, we might reflect on the DC Madam case and look at the same themes and actions at play.

Jeane got this, maybe more towards the end:

On 3/15/08, Jeane Palfrey <jeanepalfrey@sprynet.com> wrote:

Bil… yes, I saw it. This further supports my belief that escort and adult services – which cater to powerful and influential clients – are being used as the new "hunting grounds" in American politics. –Jeane PS if interested, I will be on Geraldo and Coast to Coast Radio (10:30pm PDT) tonight. Newsweek also has done a piece on me, that is coming out in Monday's edition. It should be available online, by late tonight/tomorrow.

Yet, it appears that the GOP practically brought their own scandal to the attention of the American public. This kind of calculated stupidity is completely in character for them. I walked away from this train wreck a few days after this email. This all began with a leak by federal prosecutors to Bill Bastone and the Smoking Gun, they wanted it out there.

Why do this? Damage control knowing that you can redefine a problem. 2006 had a lot to do with corruption, how much the public will take of it, and damage control rather than the willingness to change or to take responsibility like adults. There are no adults, don’t kid yourself. You look at events differently once you’ve been on the inside of them. Whether others like it or not, Jeane allowed me to take in a lot for a purpose. She invited me to sneak a peek behind the curtain, and indeed, some impotent clowns resembling the Wizard of Oz were incompetently pulling levers that affect people’s lives, tripping, falling over each other, and they were just as blunderingly human and frail as I expected them to be. What the case was about is right in front of your eyes, every day, therefore invisible. It wasn’t a mistake that defense and intelligence technology contractor SAIC and the CPU giant Qualcomm were in Jeane’s phone records, or that they were visiting my website any more than it was that so many arrows pointed to San Diego and numerous military personnel, many of them officers. It wasn’t coincidence that put Lockheed Martin in her phone bills for her escort service, that a World Bank executive was in them, that a major league GOP operative like Jack Burkman was too, and there were many others, others I haven’t even included in my account of what I believe happened and what the case meant. Judge Kessler saw no coincidences when she granted Jeane subpoena power over the intelligence community.

This was a tale of partisan politics and statism, but also where the lines blur in those constructs, because interests overlap, making for the strangest bedfellows of all. Why the 2006 midterms? I believe this election is the key to understanding why an interim-appointed U.S. Attorney named Jeffrey A. Taylor decided to move on Deborah Jeane Palfrey, the press-dubbed “DC Madam,” only one month after she’d shuttered her escort service. I’m assuming here that someone tipped her off. Why waste millions on a small escort service like that? This was first of all about damage control for the part of the public that can be reached when presented with stupid things like facts and corroborated evidence, empiricism, stuff that's not entertainment. Without wanting to, I have no faith in the rank-and-file of either major party, and I think Palfrey’s own apathy about politics and her ignorance of it was instrumental in her undoing, word to the wise. Being the one-eyed man in the kingdom of the blind doesn’t elevate you to the throne.

She knew some significant things about her predicament and her place, but clearly, not enough. What still surprises me is that before I brought the timing of the search of the Vallejo residence to her attention, she, her counsel, and others assisting her, hadn’t considered it—not even journalists she was encountering were expressing their observations of this. For an openly partisan Republican prosecutor to move on a suspect who, perhaps unknowingly, holds information damaging to his party and other related interests, is an unmistakable political act. Breaking the law to achieve damage control and to protect the defense and intelligence contracting game was implicit to their theater and the media was only too happy to play along.

Not even a nearly unprecedented economic crisis was going to overcome the racist backlash over the 2008 election of Barack Obama and it temporarily breathed new life into an ashen GOP, perhaps for the final time, since it was coming from a demographic of angry, aging white Americans whose political significance has been rapidly eroding over the last few decades. In their bigotry, they fear this massive influx of Hispanic refugees, most of them desperate Mexicans fleeing social chaos, generations of poverty, the militarization of the drug war, corrupt federales, goons, police, the cartels, and enslavement in the maquiladora factories that line the Free Trade Zone along the border, and now, private security, the CIA and drones. Such a happy family relationship between nations brought the dictator Porfirio Diaz to remark, “Poor Mexico, so far from God, and so close to the United States.” Yet, thanks to this ruthless repression and exploitation, there were some unexpected results: a new dynamic where Latin Americans are now heading towards being the future of politics, and possibly the labor movement, in the United States. And with this realization among the nativist rabble element came the inevitable Know-nothing reaction of hounding immigrants, which, like lynching, is a time-honored American tradition. Does the public ever truly learn? Which one would that be in a divided nation when these racists are becoming the minority? They're also the staggering idiots who tolerate an emergent police state and runaway defense spending while at the same time painting themselves inaccurately as rebels. That's called a fool. This is why it wasn't surprising to me that these same people--if you want to call them that--run to conspiracy theories that never truly touch on those power centers. Chasing ghosts and being ineffectual is the safest thing in the world. 2006 wasn't especially different from now.

At this, the halfway mark of the second and unfortunate term of George W. Bush, when the future Tea Party members were cheering the illegal occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan and police state tactics in the war on terror, Republican Party officeholders were paying the price for more skeletons in their closet than the Marquis de Sade or Al Capone. The litany of corrupt acts, antisocial behaviors, and general high weirdness, was widespread enough in their elected ranks to warrant decades of inquiries, yet, no, according to President Obama, we must “continue to look forward,” sounding as much like Scarface as the Republicans. Of great note, one of the cappers that went over the line was Florida congressman Mark Foley, who was accused of pedophilia. This is all about breaking the law and surviving through until the next ever-tightening election cycle. Controlling the DOJ never hurts. Besides, you can always fire your Attorney General and appoint another one the public can grow to hate as an arch-criminal the more they get to know about them. Almost a year earlier the profoundly illegal warrantless wiretapping program that bypassed the judicial oversight of the FISA court (housed at the DOJ, and I suspect they knew), initiated by the White House, was no longer being sat on by the traditionally submissive New York Times. (They had done this for a full year, so that the 2004 elections could pass by safely for the GOP, at least regarding that particular skeleton.)

You know that there’s a political crisis going on when the culture of politics has shifted so far to the right, that all the partisan hacks can talk about is a non-existent center. Most of what you’re going to be hearing from the official channels when a system ossifies is unbridled crap and lies, more obfuscations, apologies to power, ignoring the growing herd of elephants (the only one), until this game no longer works. Rather than looking at all of what we’re learning about rampant corruption as an excuse to cop-out (pun very much intended) and run to the temporary safety of jaded apathy, we should be glad that we know about these crimes at all, because knowledge really is power. But then the problem is that you’re forced to decide to do something about it. I made that decision getting involved in this case, hoping that I could bear witness to history and to accumulate whatever materials I could for the record. I was successful in that endeavor. Too often, the residue of events is lost to the ages. Collecting these materials was done so that the information could be out there and the public has the option to discover, more generally, how the private sector and government collude, and I've put it out there, with more to come.

An incredible effort was mounted to neutralize the destructive potential of what the charges against the late Ms. Palfrey were really about. To re-frame a story, and by doing so, redefining it, is a common practice in, ours, the most propagandized modern society outside of the former Soviet Union and China under Mao. "Sunlight is the best disinfectant." This is why corrupt government contractors need to operate in the dark, and that’s what the DC Madam case, a branch of Hookergate, was about: to hide their criminal behavior and bury the evidence of their much greater crimes. When you keep raising this glaring discrepancy between how Palfrey was treated under the law on the one hand and how her privileged clients were on the other, and it’s never addressed in any substantial sense by government prosecutors, career spokesmen like P.J. Crowley, those clients like Senator Vitter, law enforcement, the hierarchy at the DOJ, you begin to realize the fix is in. Mind you, this was being said by many of us during the proceedings very loudly, and to no avail, because the mainstream press did its best to let it die by its own hand, and I mean that literally, because they also knew that Jeane was suicidally inclined. Brecht couldn't have dreamed this nightmare up. That's not murder, it's willful negligence

There had been a very serious scandal in 2006—one of many—that eventually fizzled-out named “Hookergate,” the standard cigar and hooker parties that are held in and around the Beltway for hungry contractors, to obtain coveted, high dollar jobs and assuage the seething addictions of sociopath Republican horndogs (as opposed to Democratic ones) with a taste for the high life on your dime. Yes, this is all about the war on terror and the moronic, runaway militarization of America, the biggest buyer of unnecessary, clunky military hardware in the entire world, six hundred times the spending in this area than of all the other nations of the world combined. That’s pretty stupid—nay—exceptional. We not only have the right to blow our balls off in this manner, but we still somehow have the right to speak about it thanks to a historical accident that began during the Colonial period, freedom of speech and the press. Things working out will never be good enough for the species. In our meanness and selfish tendencies that have been fostered into the emotional equivalents of plutonium, another poison we’ve refined, so as to illustrate our collective wretchedness, we have contaminated the world with our greed. From the moral rot of John Jacob Astor, to the senseless greed of the speculator Jay Gould, America’s first millionaires, on down to the Robber Barons like Carnegie, Rockefeller, and Morgan, men who childish fools have emulated ever since, we compromised with the bad guys and lost our way long ago as a nation, and we’re finally running out of road for the last time. This is our last chance. All of this is what the DC Madam case was about, the culmination of generations of baseness and barbarity. Either this is the beginning, the end, or both, but we’ve undoubtedly come full circle, which is rarely a good sign for the little people out there, the rest of us out here in television land.

This has happened before. Our out of control defense spending is doing to American democracy what it did to that system in Athens, first, by bankrupting their Treasury, then the inevitable collapse into anarchy and dictatorship, wrought by irrational military adventurism. Ask the Greeks how long it’s taken to come back from that one. And, so today, we have a similar situation in place thanks to the same kinds of criminals bent on power at any cost: a crisis on several fundamental levels—political, economic, social, cultural, and environmental. Not so long after Jeane died I conveyed to her former counselor Montgomery Blair Sibley that she may as well have stayed alive since, what with the encroaching economic catastrophe, she could have walked out of prison once there was no money to house her anymore (it elicited no response). What was the DC Madam case about? The fall of America by militarized self-immolation and general greed, nihilism.

The Children of Tomorrow

The song Wind of Change written by Klaus Meine of the Scorpions references the "children of tomorrow" with hope for a better future. For me it signifies German reunification, as it did for the Scorpions when it was written, as far as I am aware. I spent my later childhood, teenage and early adult years in Germany and the destruction of the Berlin Wall was a significant moment in time for me, though I was in the US by then (9 November 1989 is a recognized date).



As an adult in the US, when I watched areas of the Berlin Wall picked apart one piece at a time on television, I cried and cried. There was so much hope for the future back then and it was the end of Checkpoint Charlie, a crossing that I had gone through numerous times as a child.

As a teenager I had friends from the East - East Germany, Poland, Hungary, Yugoslavia, and Russia. A lady by the name of Helena that I lived with used to bring people from different places home and really I had no clue where she found them, but it was cool to get to know people from other cultures. Not to generalize, but all of the people I met from Poland sure could drink wodka (vodka).

Helena taught me to speak German using comic books and television. There was little on tv in English. I recall US Armed Forces Europe station that had a couple of shows a week from the US, but that was about it back in the 70s. There was one show that was famous in the US called "Family" and in German it was, "Eine Amerikanische Familie," and many Germans I knew back then thought that this is how American families in the US were in real life. Sort of funny when you think about it and completely Hollywood. lol

There was so much hope for the future back then, during the Cold War. I have decided that cold wars are far better than hot ones as we have going today. At least millions of people were not killed and it was more spy games than anything else. I feel little hope for the future today, though this may be my age (52) speaking; I doubt it though because I do not know anyone that has much hope for the future. Those in their 20s today (in the US) see little to look forward to. Life is different.

This little walk down memory lane is the result of the terrible US military mess that's been going on for over 10 days now. I think about these people involved and realize how very different they are, how everything is about luxury and money, money, money. Most people are so fake today. They accept war, death, drones, Guantanamo camps, extraordinary rendition, US prison camps in remote and faraway places, wiretaps without warrant, and so much more without much thought. Of course all of the people are not like this, but few dare to speak in our population, if they are concerned.

What really gets me is that so many consider this freedom and the US a free country with all sorts of freedoms. Hell, they obviously need to get out and see the rest of the world. Believe me, I would if I could. I'd be out of here in a NY minute, as the saying goes, and I'd never come back again.

I suppose that prior to this current fiasco, I thought that these people really believed the BS they talk publicly about war and terrorists etc... I figured they were all just plain ignorant to the fact that illegal invasions of sovereign nations create terrorists. When I realized that really it is just one big flippin' party circuit, well, it was enlightening. Even they do not believe what they state publicly. It's all about big bank accounts and money - lots and lots of money.

No, I do not feel bad at all about ridiculing their groupies. The fact is that that woman in Tampa (yeah you already know her name) was allowed to ride the coattails of highest ranking military / CIA officers in the US. She got to sip champagne, fly on a special US military jet, and use the non-profit categorization to party - somewhere around $43K was spent on "entertainment" - while claiming to do some sort of cancer research and sucking-up to the top brass in the country and attemping to put together $multi-million deals. According to her, US General sought her assistance. Meanwhile, people like me have no access to any health care whatsoever.

Bradley Manning suffers in some crappy US government hellhole because he exposed the root of the big party and what they really do. Jeremy Hammond suffers in some federal lockup because he's accused of exposing the flourishing intelligence community of Stratfor, while they're all paid the big$s to spy on all of us. Well, their spying sure bit them all in the ass last week, now didn't it? I bet they wish there were checks and balances in place now, don't they?

When the people looked to President Obama for answers about the fiasco, the first thing he did was thank everyone involved for their exemplary service. Sort of makes you want to puke, doesn't it?

I will always love the song by the Scorpions, but all hope is lost in my eyes and the children of tomorrow have nothing good to look forward to in the future. As long as all of the major participants in this War on Terror are raking in the big$$$$s and partying on military jets, they have no reason or desire to end it. As long as the groupies flock to the war party, that party will live on without ending.

On that note dear blog readers, I will be taking leave of this blog for some time. I may return in a week or a month or never.

Sergeant Robert Bales: Made in the USA

For the unaware, Sergeant Robert Bales is accused of murdering 16 Afghan citizens in cold blood in March of 2012. The case against Bales is currently in the status of determining if there is enough evidence for a court-martial. Bales was trained at Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Tacoma, Washington - he is far from the first to be accused of cold-blooded murder that was trained on that base, which should signal a problem to those in authority.

Bales is a soldier that could easily define my last post on this blog. His enlistment date is November 8, 2001. This was his fourth deployment to the Middle East, with the first three to Iraq. He is a poster child of the Bush administration and its statements that, "Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists," and clearly viewed the victims as not with us at all. His service record: Staff Sgt. Robert Bales identified in Afghan killings

We should be wondering how many murders Sergeant Robert Bales committed during his 3 deployments to Iraq. I can guarantee that his mindset did not just happen more than a decade after joining the US Armed Forces and on his fourth deployment to the Middle East. There were warning signs and obviously, if we view his lengthy awards list, those signs were ignored by many people.

We should also be wondering how many lesser versions of Bales are walking around in Iraq and Afghanistan today and have walked around over the last decade. Murder 16 innocent people in cold blood and it becomes major news, but kill one here and one there and, well, no one really notices except for the grieving relatives left behind.

His wife defends him and claims that there is no way he committed these cold-blooded murders. That is her job and to be expected; however, I am shocked that she is smiling while stating her defense and at the same time claiming that her, "heart goes out to the families that lost loved ones". The smirk on her face makes me ill: Wife of alleged Afghan murderer: He's Innocent

While Bales denies remembering anything that happened that night, his words to fellow soldiers reveals something entirely different. Kudos to those soldiers that came forward and testified to his true mindset and his actual statements. They are the real soldiers and Bales is something else. While he is only accused at this point, there is also DNA evidence and eyewitness testimony to his comings and goings on the night of the murderous rampage.

This reminds me of cases that Paul Bergrin defended in past, prior to the US DOJ pursuing him over false allegations. In one such case, Begrin brought-up the Rules of Engagement and I must wonder if that is a theory that we will hear from the Bales defense at a later date. The victims were innocent, but often such victims are referred to as collateral damage, or "collateral murder" in the case of the video allegedly released by Bradley Manning in which journalists were gunned-down in the streets.

As the preliminary hearing winds down today, his First Sergeant (Vernon Bigham) testified via video-link from Kandahar Air Field in Afghanistan. I do expect to see court-martial recommended in this case as the evidence demands it. As a person against the death penalty, I hope this is taken off the table and life imprisonment without any possibility of release is substituted. You see, I despise Bales and murderers like him, but do not wish death on anyone - a major difference between me and my detractors. I seek peace - not death and war.

Bales is currently being housed in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas at the same military prison as hero Brad Manning.

Lawyers to wrap up Afghan rampage hearing for U.S. Soldier 

 

On the Culture and Acceptance of War

Life has changed so much since September 11, 2001, that sometimes it is hard to remember how it used to be. Over eleven years have passed and the people have been inundated and indoctrinated by mainstream media to the point that today war and killing is not only acceptable, it is believed admirable and appreciated by the great majority. Oh how I long for the days of yesteryear when diplomacy, offering a helping hand, and questioning motivation were the traits admired in our citizenry. The inquisitive mind was appreciated - not attacked.

Today it is the soldier, the recent veteran, Navy SEALS, the Army wives, and in general, anyone that has served the US military forces in Iraq, Afghanistan, or elsewhere in the Middle East on its mission to disrupt, pummel, and kill an entire civilization and that benefits financially and receives and expects thanks for their dirty deeds on a daily basis.

Yesteryear was so different. The era when my parents joined the military was one in which truth prevailed, no one expected thanks, and the great majority that joined did so to escape poverty at home. The military was a great thing for my parents and both joined to see the world, learn about new cultures, and earn a decent living with many benefits. Neither of them expected you to pat them on the back every day and thank them for their service. Yes, prior to September 11, 2001, most people that joined the military did so to have a better life and had no issue admitting that fact. They were thankful for opportunities afforded by the military.

Things have changed, and not for the better. Following that fateful day in 2001, we had gang members from inner cities, bigots and racists, and people that needed a way out of the poverty they were destined to joining the military forces. I'm sure there were a few good guys in there somewhere, but they were not the majority by any level of measurement. While some may be secretly thankful for the change in destination, the great majority would prefer that those refusing to thank them for their service (like me) in the War on Terror were dead.

The people that claim to defend our freedoms today actually helped the US government bury any real freedoms forever. Our culture is all about war and death today. As former president G.W. Bush stated in September of 2001, "Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists." Blind obedience was what he demanded from the American people and over time it is exactly what he has received for the most part. The rest of us with questioning personalities were labeled terrorists, criminals, traitors, and agitators.

Mainstream media is to blame

I read an article several days ago in which the writer brought-up the importance of media in forming thoughts of the citizenry in the pro-war culture we exist in today and I cannot locate it - if I find it I'll link it herein. Anyway, shortly after September 11, 2001 (November 20th), my time was occupied by my arrest and the subsequent harassment by agents of the Orlando MBI. I had little time to think about what anyone was doing in the Middle East until after my trial and acquittal in January of 2003. I rarely watched television and I have not changed even today. Indeed, I was preoccupied.

Back in early 2003, before I took a long trip to South Texas, I was working with a friend on occasion as a caregiver for an elderly woman when my friend needed a night off or had some other reason that she couldn't be there. The woman that she took care of was named Marianne. Well, Marianne had the television on all night long and she'd sit in her chair, watching CNN, and cheering the embedded reporters and the military soldiers they traveled with in Iraq. Marianne was an armchair warrior like so many others in the US. After watching it for a short while, I couldn't take it anymore and stopped helping my friend.

The entire idea of embedded reporters sucked-in so many that were previously disconnected from the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. For many of them, it was not much different than a game - like so many of those Xbox and Wii war and soldier games. Probably half of the country became armchair warriors during the years of embedded reporters. There is an entire generation that is growing-up with a war and death mentality that society has yet to deal with; good luck with that.

I mentioned Army wives in the second paragraph herein and it was included as a result of the tv show, "Army Wives" that seems to have taken over the Lifetime channel. I used to enjoy an occasional movie on Lifetime, such as, "The Interrogation of Michael Crowe," but these days the good ones are few and far between. I have never watched that show about Army wives and imagine that it has no interest except from, well, Army (include all military branches) wives to be general. Who gives a rat's behind? Not me. Some have jobs, but most live off of their husband's war pay (i.e. the American taxpayers).

Yeah, that last thought will result in yet unknown backlash, but whatever - if the shoe fits. It is a culture that appreciates, profits from, and even loves war. Somehow being called a traitor by any one of them diminishes the word in general. Yeah, we are all traitors because we do not support your war machine money tree. Right. How dare we abhor and speak out against killing and death! Get indignant because it fits the created mold.

The Information Game

Sometimes the information game is a game of misinformation as it is with Alex Jones. Jones and people like him killed the real 911 truth movement with wild, unsubstantiated theories, often referred to as conspiracy theories. As a result, anyone that doubts any information disseminated by the US government and its representatives today have the label of 'conspiracy theorist' or 'crazy lady'.

As if demanding to know where NORAD was on that fateful day that changed our society forever is somehow a conspiracy theory. As if knowing the real-time futures and options trade information for the time period surrounding that day can be categorized as theory at all. As if finding passports of the alleged terrorists in the rubble remaining or picturing jets hijacked with box cutters is not a conspiracy theory. Not all of us fell off of the turnip truck somewhere in Idaho.

Along came Bradley Manning, accused whistleblower extraordinaire. How dare he help the American people to be more informed and know precisely what these warriors are really doing in their name. How dare he. Go ahead - be indignant and call him the traitor of all traitors because it fits the mold you have created. We are supposed to be like the image of the three monkeys and remain silent while murder, death, and the end of an entire civilization takes place in our name. We dare not speak lest we also be called traitor. Yup, you've got the system down to a perfection and this is your time to shine.

Of course none of that real and accurate information could have been disseminated without the involvement of those real journalists and publishers that had no interest in embedded reporters from CNN et al. of past. Today we also have the information advantage of hacktivists and an entirely different culture that is sick and tired of lies, murder, drones, and armchair warriors. Yes, you can apply that 'traitor' label as we expect you to, but it won't shut anyone down on the topic. We know that the true meaning of the label was diminished long before you entered the game and is utterly meaningless today, at least as it relates to the actual definition.

So pull out those angry, indignant sock puppets and promote your cause, which is little more than money in your bank account. You may fool most of the people, but many are drugged these days so that's not any sort of accomplishment. You will never fool all of the people.

Oh how I long for the days of time past.

Online Anonymity and Sock Puppets

This is a revised post from August 2011 that I deleted in the early August 2012 post purge.

I do appreciate that sometimes there is a reason to be anonymous online; really, I do. However, I find that online anonymity is often used to abuse others while hiding true identity. These days anonymous posters on forums are best referred to as sock puppets or trolls. I find that people on forums using their actual names are usually polite, cordial, and argue a point without vicious name-calling, attacks, and abusive behavior. Libelous name-calling is not anything that a "real name" forum poster does.

My reasoning for posting here and anywhere using my real (legal) name has to do with a prior bad experience on an Orlando Sentinel Topix board. This was back in late 2007, when the sales reps from the Orlando Weekly were arrested by the MBI while conducting a job fair in downtown Orlando hotel. I posted a variety of negative, and true, statements about the MBI. I was posting under a pseudonym and I was attacked and ridiculed by several anonymous posters, one that actually used the name of the main case agent in my case - a main reason that I kept working on the Memoirs book and published it. From that point forward, I decided that I would use my real name. Why? Because calling my alias a pimp is not libelous. The person doesn't exist. Calling Vicky Gallas such a term is indeed libelous.

This practice of using my real name has kept my attackers in line to an extent, until the obnoxious few from certain forums came along and just didn't give a rat's ass in July of 2011, and now again, on a different forum, in September of 2012. They figured that I wouldn't bother to file a libel suit, and they may be correct. It is time consuming and an energy waster, though I certainly know how and I always keep my options open.

But all bets are off when one of those sock puppets publicly accuses me of crimes and follows-up by making a false police report, especially when I know the sock puppet's actual name. An author using a pseudonym to post on a forum is nothing more than a sock puppet or a troll when its behavior is abusive. In this one particular situation with the specific person, I have no choice except to pursue all available legal options and fully intend to.

The worst part about all of that is the fact that the few participants, including the one that filed the false police report, were pulled into the messy fiasco by someone that hates me for my anti-war stance and support of Julian Assange, Bradley Manning, and others. The fact is that if I had to choose one party to file a suit against, it would not be the instigator - it would be the party that filed a false police report.

Interesting enough, that instigator is now using a couple of sock puppet accounts to subtly go after the other participants, whether they are aware or not. I'm beginning to view the entire strategy as a game of sorts to this instigator. In the end, it may indeed be named in a civil suit because I do know its real name and I certainly have a case - when combined with the fact that it has the $$$s, it's a winning combination. Knowing a real name saves the trouble of subpoenaing information to get the suit rolling, so it's not all that complicated to file it.

When I have been attacked on this blog it has always been from someone posting as “anonymous”. You see, these scum of the earth do not dare put a name and a face to their attacks. Sure, people will be sarcastic or “snarky” as they refer to themselves on some forums when posting with a real name, but rarely do the snarky cross the line to libelous. I certainly never have. But this blog is not the issue - I can simply delete the comments instead of publishing any.

I always give a person posting on a forum with their real name a higher credibility factor. Why? That person is definitely identifiable and findable. They have something to lose and it is a rare occasion that the line is crossed. We can all be sarcastic, but vile lies, defaming attacks, and gangs acting in concert on forums are not the norm for a group of people using their actual names.

In so far as forum posting is concerned, the only solution that I can see is the requirement that anyone wanting to post do so using a real name. Make no mistake - that forum has become exponentially worse since my last post on 26 September 2012. The instigator has pursued someone else with a vengeance, making public statements so vile and defaming, while at the same time doing what sock puppets do: Creating additional accounts to support its position and calling in friends from elsewhere to open accounts and further support its position. This is all too obvious by its many supporters with brand new accounts (September-October and several in the last few days).

No actual newcomers to a publishing forum are going to jump into such a fiasco and attack one party when they've missed most of the story, including the beginning. This is an author / publisher forum and really there is no excuse for posting with aliases. Really the admin is to be blamed for not promptly removing each disruptive party (including the new victim) by blocking accounts and then IP addresses.

In the end, going after the sock puppets is too much trouble, but pursuing the instigator legally is not necessarily, whether it believes so or not. Additionally, if that instigator actually has an attorney that advised it to post a "cease and desist" notification on a forum, well, it won't be much trouble at all to obtain a judgment in a suit and as it so often states, it does have the $$$s - a worthwhile combination. Any decent attorney would have instructed the instigator to stop posting.

My advice to the instigator's new victim that has fallen into the trap from the very first day: Yes, you made some mistakes, but nothing remotely equal to what this nasty person has stated on a public forum about you. When I first viewed the horrific accusation made by the instigator, I did begin to "watch" each thread it moved to, so if you neglected to "watch" the threads and receive its posts in email, I have the worst of them. I was waiting for it, and its sock puppet pals, to back-up the horrific statements, but none ever did. Obviously the statements were made with the sole intention to make the rest of the forum members despise you. But stop reacting and find an attorney - that is your best revenge.


Old unused accounts revived for sock puppetry

I have already addressed the issue with brand new accounts used for bolstering credibility, but I see that now there is a resurrection of an old account used for the same purpose.  Some people open accounts and post using numerous names and when one can no longer be used, it's easy to revive an account that has minimal posts, but was opened a couple of years ago for the sole purpose of publishing a crochet book.

Of course several new accounts disappeared entirely after this was posted. (lol) Sock puppetry on forums can include any or all of the above tricks and games and is only limited by human imagination. Here's an eye-opening document on the topic now published on Scribd: The Gentleperson's Guide to Forum Spies - For Decoding


Ya gotta love it!

Drug War Failure: The Case of James Martin Malone

While researching in PACER last night I decided to download numerous documents in the James Martin Malone case. Malone was a fugitive for 22 years and lived in Ecuador until his arrest earlier this year. He originally went to trial in the case, but fled before the trial was over and the jury acquitted him on one count and convicted him on the other. On 26 September 2012, he was sentenced to 262 months (almost 22 years) in federal prison.

Here is a man that lived a productive and peaceful life in Ecuador for almost 22 years while a fugitive only to be brought back to the US at great expense to be incarcerated for the next 20+ years at an even greater expense. I am curious how much money was spent to arrest and extradite Malone to the US. There should be an accounting of expenditures for all of those involved. If you read Drug War Profiteers not the usual suspects, then you'll have an idea where all of the money ended-up.

James Martin Malone had a relatively minor role in a case sensationalized to support a government agenda. In short, he was a part of a set-up by a DEA confidential informant (CI). To understand his actual part, refer to pages 5-6 in this document:

Malone objection to presentence investigation 31 May 2012

If you have read the relevant two pages, you're now aware that Malone did not actually import the cocaine and had no part in the importation. His co-defendant in the case and the CI were the importers and Malone just picked-up his co-defendant at the marina, some of the cocaine was loaded into his trunk, and then they drove to the co-defendant's home. He was arrested the following day. Basically, Malone was just a driver that transported the co-defendant and his drugs to a residence.

Somehow the government managed to justify charging Malone with conspiracy to import cocaine. If actually importing the cocaine there is a 20 year mandatory minimum sentence. The statute reads 20 to life for the particular count of importing cocaine, but Malone was acquitted in trial on that. The jury verdict never attributed a specific amount of cocaine to Malone and that alone should eliminate the 20 year sentence. It is possible that the sentence will be overturned on appeal, but if it is not, it's probable that Malone will die in a US prison.

I have seen far too many of these mandatory minimum drug conspiracy cases to remain silent and have been a supporter of Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM) since its inception in the early 1990s. Often it is the low-level participant that ends-up with the most serious sentence. Participants at higher levels usually have enough information and assistance to exchange for much better deals.

In this case, there is little doubt that the CI was caught-up in his own serious charges and turned informant, setting-up an unknown number of people for the agents. There is no CI named in any of the documents and never will be; however, the entire scenario fits a CI that I used to know. All of the elements are there: the year of 1989; Moore's Island in the Bahamas; transported to a Miami marina.

The CI that I used to know (long story) was working for the DEA in Miami and setting-up people to import cocaine from Moore's Island area in the Bahamas to Miami via cigarette boats. Remember those? He had been busted in the Bahamas in a messy case involving a freighter commissioned by a group of Colombians and faced a life sentence when he began working with the DEA. Of course he took everyone down with him, and a couple are serving life sentences. In the end and as a result of his substantial assistance, he served just under 10 years in a US prison under an alias.

So anyway, here is James Martin Malone living a peaceful life in Montanita, Ecuador with his wife and now adult child when he was arrested. There are numerous letters in support for Malone in the case file and he was a family man, entrepreneurial business owner, contractor, and often helped the indigenous people in the area. The man was a peaceful surfer. Now he is remanded into custody to live the rest of his life in a US prison, unless the sentence is overturned on appeal, but even then there's little doubt that he would face at least 10 years.

This case elicits various emotions including sadness and anger. Malone is far from alone. The US War on Drugs has, undoubtedly, sucked more lives down the proverbial drain than there are deaths as a result of using those drugs. The so-called cure is far worse than the problem.

Updated on 9 November 2012 @3am:  Mr. Malone (Martin) has contacted me. He has a blog set-up by his family with his contact information for friends that wish to contact him: James Martin Malone

Martin is currently in a federal facility in downtown Miami, but expects to be transferred in the next week or two to a Central Florida facility. If you want to contact him via snail mail, it is best to wait until the transfer is complete. I will update this post and I'm sure the information will be posted on Martin's blog as well.

The Truth about the Plight of Julian Assange

The main reason for this post is to discuss the probability that there is a sealed indictment with Julian Assange's name on it in Alexandria, Virginia. I want the unaware to understand how the system truly works in the US and what is unique about Alexandria and the Eastern District of Virginia. However, the allegations in Sweden must be addressed first to understand the implications.

The Allegations in Sweden

I will summarize the allegations in Sweden with the following statement, quoted from an article in The Guardian dated 17 December 2010:

"By Friday 20 August, Miss W had texted Miss A looking for help in finding Assange. The two women met and compared stories."

Take that simple, but important, statement and the understanding that Assange was seen in public with each of these women after the alleged acts occurred. There may indeed have been a broken condom - this happens sometimes when adults have sex and could not possibly be considered to be the fault of either person. I have no knowledge of Swedish laws, but I do know that when two alleged witnesses meet and compare stories, no good can come of it, especially when both were smitten with the target.

Each most likely believed that she was special in his eyes and had started a blossoming relationship, though in reality, he was a man that just had sex and nothing more. Each felt wronged and here we are. I can sympathize with the women for being tossed aside by him; however, have no sympathy for either making a police report about it. Yes, he used you - just move on and get beyond it.

What happens in Alexandria stays in Alexandria

The first case and prosecution out of Alexandria, Virginia that comes to mind is the malicious pursuit of Dr. Sami Al-Arian. A plea deal made by the DOJ in the Middle District of Florida that included the agreement and understanding that Al-Arian would not be a witness in other cases was violated by the government in attempt to force him to testify in a case in Alexandria, Virginia. As far as I am aware, he is still on house arrest as a result of his refusal to testify. The stated defense from prosecutors is that this plea deal was made in a different district. So that means a plea deal in one district is worthless in another even though in both it is a DOJ prosecution.

We can't forget Jennifer Churchill, the photoshop lady, from the Classy DC Escorts case. She was charged with a racketeering count in the Eastern District of Virginia (Alexandria). What did she do? She edited photos of escorts that were sent to her in email by the owner of Classy DC. She then returned the edited photos to him. She lives in California and otherwise had nothing to do with this business. When the government agents raided her home, they took everything electronic - smartphones, Mac, PC etc... There was so much so-called evidence to sift through that it took the feds months.

What did Churchill make for editing photos for Classy DC? She was paid under $500 via PayPal over the course of longer than a year. For this, these fucking idiots confiscated her property and dragged her from her California home in front of a judge in Alexandria. Yes, eventually she made the deal of a lifetime, but only because of her attorney, and it was not voluntary on the government's part. They had little choice. She was ready and willing to go to trial.

Of course we cannot omit the Kim Dotcom et al. prosecution in the Eastern District of Virginia (Alexandria). Defendant Megaupload recently filed a Motion to Dismiss in the case and a Memorandum of Law. The DOJ filed an opposition Memorandum of Law on 3 August 2012. Included in this opposition motion are various documents from a FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) prosecution and in fact, these documents begin on page 6 and end on page 21, at the end of the motion. This document is currently posted on my website, mainly because it shocked me:

Opposition of the United States to Defendant Megaupload Limited's Supplemental Memorandum of Law

Realize that the government is using the model of a terrorist prosecution to go after Kim Dotcom, Megaupload, and the various other defendants. I have no clue if FARC is actually any sort of terrorist organization or not as there are too many conflicting reports, but according to the US government, it is.

While I think that most readers of this blog know that I do not appreciate intellectual property theft or distribution of the intellectual property of another without permission, I also feel that the criminal case is absurd. Let's face it: This prosecution has nothing at all to do with anything except demands by the MPAA and RIAA. They do not give a rat's ass about the independent or the little guy. I also seriously doubt that the artists represented by either organization sanction this criminal prosecution, at least not the majority. The case is a joke and at the least, the criminal prosecution should be dismissed.

Back to Julian Assange

The guy is a journalist and Wikileaks is a whistleblower website, no matter how you attempt to paint the picture. Bradley Manning is accused of uploading documents to the whistleblower website. Because of this, the stupid majority in the US want to see Julian Assange executed on a street or tried in an Alexandria, Virginia courtroom or lost in a US black site prison camp somewhere in the world. If brought to the US, Assange would never make it to trial.

A Close Look at Alexandria

What sort of person sits on a grand jury in Alexandria, Virginia? Some are retired military with lucrative jobs in the defense sector. Some are US government contractors. Some are in one branch or another of the US military. The great majority are bought and paid for by the US government.

What entity was most offended by the Wikileaks documents published? The answer, of course, is the US government. Agents and actors of the government have done anything possible to suppress the circulation of these documents. Is there anyone out there that actually believes that Anti Leaks is a bunch of script kiddies or renegade hackers in support of the government? Well, considering that the Anti Leaks Twitter account had a mere 48 tweets the last time I looked and a couple stated, "Semper Fi" and "tango down," you'd have a hard time supporting that argument.

In conclusion, there are baseless unspecific allegations against Assange and no actual charges, yet officials in Sweden refuse any sort of compromise in their quest to interview Julian Assange. I'd say that he has a hell of a sealed indictment awaiting him. There are certainly people that are aware of this indictment by the grand jury convened to investigate Wikileaks specifically.

Besides, anyone with any knowledge of legal proceedings in the US, is well-aware that a grand jury will indict a ham sandwich. Grand juries always err in favor of prosecutors and defense attorneys have no representation or ability to speak in such proceedings. It's a gathering of pro-prosecution people that have no issue with indicting someone that edits photos using photoshop for an adult business. What do you really think was done in Assange's situation? 

Would they indict the photoshop lady and not Julian Assange?