Tag Archives: Kafkaesque

That Was the GDR – A History of the Other Germany (1993)

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“This astonishing chronicle of the German Democratic Republic (or as we called it, East Germany) features illuminating interviews complimented by rare archival materials from film, photographs, posters, caricatures, popular songs and speeches. Former citizens both prominent and unknown reflect on cultural, economic, and political developments from the founding of the GDR in 1949 to German unification in 1990. This is the ultimate film history of events such as the suppression of the Prague Spring in 1968, the rise and fall of the Berlin Wall, economic stagnation, Stasi activity, and the popular upheavals that finally brought down the state.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fwQv5h7Lq8&index=1&list=PLzwtC7Sq85Jt7W__FrlDhLt-0-cgg8KIJ

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Nanny State Lessons from a German Homeschooling Family

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“In its June 26, 2013, brief to the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, Obama’s DOJ argued that ‘teaching tolerance to children of all backgrounds helps to develop the ability to interact as a fully functioning citizen of Germany.’  So according to the Obama administration, intolerant governments somehow foster toleration among schoolchildren. The Romeikes lost their 2013 asylum appeal, and last month the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear their case. Just one day later, the Department of Homeland Security suddenly reversed its opposition and informed the Romeikes they could remain in the United States indefinitely.”

http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=4980

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Why the IRS Can Now “Ground” You

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“If you’re a US citizen and believe you have an unfettered right to leave your country – and come back – think again.  Since the events of 9/11, your government has imposed draconian restrictions on international travel:  Initiatives like the ‘Automated Targeting System’ and ‘Secure Flight’ require airlines to turn over passenger data to the government.  ‘No-fly lists’ keep hundreds of citizens trapped in other countries, unable to return to their US homes.  Hundreds of thousands of US citizens can’t leave the US because they’re ineligible for a US passport, many because they’re behind in child support payments.  And we can now add ‘tax’ to the list of reasons.”

http://www.nestmann.com/why-the-irs-can-now-ground-you

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Secrets, lies and Snowden’s email: why I was forced to shut down Lavabit

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“It took a week for me to identify an attorney who could adequately represent me, given the complex technological and legal issues involved – and we were in contact for less than a day when agents served me with a summons ordering me to appear in a Virginia courtroom, over 1,000 miles from my home. Two days later, I was served the first subpoena for the encryption keys.  With such short notice, my first attorney was unable to appear alongside me in court. Because the whole case was under seal, I couldn’t even admit to anyone who wasn’t an attorney that I needed a lawyer, let alone why. I also discovered that as a third party in a federal criminal indictment, I had no right to counsel.”

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/may/20/why-did-lavabit-shut-down-snowden-email

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Homeless Veteran Dies In 100 Degree New York Jail Cell

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“Psychotropic medications can impair the body’s ability to cool itself by sweating, experts say. That’s a particular concern as the number of mentally ill inmates who take such drugs has risen steadily. According to Bureau of Justice Statistics from 2005, the most recent year available, more than half of all jail and state prison inmates had a mental  health problem. Nationally, the bureau doesn’t track heat-related deaths in jails and prisons. But they do occur.  A report issued last month by the University of Texas School of Law’s Human Rights Clinic found that at least 14 inmates have died from exposure to extreme heat since 2007 in state correctional facilities. ”

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=313359409

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Holder Admits, Calls For Rollback Of ‘Excessive’ Use Of Juvenile Solitary

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“Attorney General Eric Holder called for an end to ‘excessive’ use of solitary confinement in juvenile facilities on Wednesday, saying that the practice ‘can be dangerous, and a serious impediment to the ability of juveniles to succeed once released.’  DOJ has previously taken action against juvenile correctional facilities in Ohio and California, and Holder said the Justice Department has received reports ‘of young people who have been held in solitary confinement for up to 23 hours a day, often with no human interaction at all.’ In some cases, Holder said, ‘children were held in small rooms with windows that were barely the width of their own hands.'”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/14/holder-solitary-confinement_n_5324768.html

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Federal Lawsuit Questions if Washington State Can Tax Marijuana

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“The case arises from the state’s attempt to collect sales taxes from a medical marijuana dispensary. But lawyer Douglas Hiatt said it could throw a wrench in Washington’s plans for collecting taxes on recreational marijuana, too.  The author of Washington’s recreational pot law, Alison Holcomb, disagreed.  Hiatt is representing the dispensary’s operator, Martin Nickerson, who is simultaneously being prosecuted criminally for marijuana distribution and targeted by the state Department of Revenue for not collecting and remitting taxes on the pot he was allegedly distributing. Nickerson can’t pay the tax without incriminating himself in the criminal case, Hiatt argued.”

http://www.boston.com/health/2014/05/09/federal-lawsuit-questions-washington-can-tax-marijuana/dzQBlomNIGBLMZlYQ7KSfO/story.html

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Oklahoma execution renews debate on doctors’ role in lethal injection

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“A botched lethal injection in Oklahoma this week has renewed a debate on whether doctors should be banned from executions — or required to participate to make the process more humane.  Some of the nation’s 32 death penalty states mandate doctor participation — including Oklahoma — but critics say what happened there proves a doctor’s presence can’t guarantee the process will go smoothly.  The AMA says it’s unethical for doctors to be involved except in a peripheral way. That’s one reason why the number and identities of physicians who do participate are shrouded in secrecy.”

http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/breaking-news/index.ssf/2014/05/oklahoma_execution_renews_deba.html

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Study: At least 4.1% of U.S. death row defendants are innocent

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“The high rate of exoneration among death-sentenced defendants appears to be driven by the threat of execution, but most death-sentenced defendants are removed from death row and resentenced to life imprisonment, after which the likelihood of exoneration drops sharply. We use survival analysis to model this effect, and estimate that if all death-sentenced defendants remained under sentence of death indefinitely, at least 4.1% would be exonerated. We conclude that this is a conservative estimate of the proportion of false conviction among death sentences in the United States.”

http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2014/04/23/1306417111

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How I Renounced My US Citizenship and Why, Part II

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“One very critical point to understand is that you should NEVER state that you are expatriating to avoid taxes. It could end up complicating matters if you ever intend to return to the US.  If your dossier with the US government states that you renounced for tax purposes, that information should be assumed to be readily available to any number of agencies—including those dealing with visas and immigration.  Although the authority to exclude a person from re-entering US on that basis is of questionable validity, and formal regulations on this have never even been proposed, State Department guidance to overseas posts does explicitly state this as a reason to reject a visa application.”

http://www.internationalman.com/articles/how-i-renounced-my-us-citizenship-and-why,-part-ii

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