American Injustice: Free Speech, Guantanamo, Prosecuting Judge, Drone Judge, Prisons

Obama’s “No Tolerance” Policy for Freedom of Speech. Last week, another case of the Obama Administration’s insatiable appetite for secrecy was revealed via an April 21st memo from the Director of National Intelligence. This memo threatens members of the intelligence community with retaliation for any contact with reporters without the permission of their supervisor, even if the information is not classified.

Global Call to Action to Close Guantanamo. On May 23rd of last year, Obama again promised to close the detention facility at Guantánamo. One year later, far too little has changed: few detained men have left the prison and hunger strikes and forced feeding continue. Join us in Washington DC, New York City, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Hawaii, Germany, London, Sydney and in many more communities around the world to urge Obama and Congress to end indefinite detention and close the detention facility at Guantánamo.

Injustice In America: Cecily McMillan Found Guilty Of 2nd Degree Assault. Judge Zweibel, who consistently suppressed evidence, has demonstrated his clear bias by consistently siding with the prosecution. In addition to suppressing evidence, he placed the burden of proof on the defense, not the prosecution. He is rightly known as ‘a prosecutor in robes’.

Obama Judge Nominee Who Penned Drone Killing Memo Gets Pushback From Left, Right

In a bid to ease confirmation of an appellate judge, the White House on Tuesday said that it would release to senators the memo that justified the targeted drone killing of US citizen Anwar al-Awlaki. The move has been criticized as “falling short” and missing the big picture of why someone who authorized killing without due process should become a judge at all.

Protestors Rally Against Prison System

Opponents of prison “mass incarceration” and solitary confinement held a protest Monday led by Cornel West, a philosophy professor and media celebrity. “When it comes to the ‘New Jim Crow’ system, we say it is a crime against humanity,” West said outside the state Capitol. “Solitary confinement is torture, a crime against humanity to lock folks up when 60 percent of them are there for soft drugs.”

Sources: Common Dreams, Popular Resistance.

Paul Brown is a retired neuroscience professor whose primary interests are human rights, overpopulation, mass extinction, global warming, and the military-industrial complex. Links to all his Before It’s News articles are at /contributor/pages/189/210/stories.html.