Tag Archives: Kafkaesque

Effort Launched To Free Missouri Man Serving Life For Marijuana Charge

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“Efforts to release Jeff Mizanskey, the only man in Missouri serving a life-without-parole sentence for a nonviolent marijuana charge, are continuing this month with help from Show-Me Cannabis and Change.org.  Show-Me Cannabis has bought billboard space on I-70 near Kansas City (and near Sedalia, where Mizanskey was arrested). The billboard features a photo of Mizanskey and says: ‘Life without parole for cannabis? It’s time we fix our unjust marijuana laws.’  A photo of the billboard, which is on I-70 in Saline County, not far from where Mizanskey was arrested in Sedalia, can be seen above.”

http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/dailyrft/2014/04/free_jeff_mizanskey_efforts_co.php

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Why might you be denied entry to the US?

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“As [Nigella Lawson’s] case demonstrates, the rules are liable to change. Weeks after her confession, she flew into America on New Year’s Day to film a live interview promoting the second series of The Taste USA. So those will a criminal history who had no problem getting in once, may fail to do so on other occasions.  There have also been dozens of incidents where travellers have been denied entry or even taken into custody for more unusual reasons than Nigella.  Other celebrities to have been prevented from entering the US for bad behaviour include Lily Allen, Pete Doherty, Amy Winehouse, footballer Jermaine Pennant and Boy George.”

http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-news/what-gets-you-rejected-by-the-us-20140407-367s1.html

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Alleged Silk Road founder: If Bitcoin isn’t money, how did I launder it?

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“Ross Ulbricht, who stands accused of running the Silk Road black market under the name ‘Dread Pirate Roberts,’ says that new federal bitcoin laws make the charges against him invalid. In a filing over the weekend, Ulbricht’s lawyers defended him against charges of hacking, narcotics trafficking, operating a criminal conspiracy, and money laundering. The first three charges, his lawyers argue, are ‘unconstitutionally broad’ and can’t be applied to the normal operation of a website, even one whose business is illegal goods. And the last charge, they say, makes no sense if there isn’t actual money involved — a possibility implied by a recent IRS decision.”

http://www.theverge.com/2014/4/1/5570984/alleged-silk-road-owner-says-he-cant-be-guilty-of-money-laundering

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After seven years, exactly one person gets off the gov’t no-fly list

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“Ibrahim’s case, as just one of hundreds of thousands of individuals who have been placed on such lists, shows the system’s opacity. First, the only surefire way to even determine if one is on such a list in the US is to attempt to board a flight and be denied. Even after that happens, when a denied person inquires about his or her status, the likely response will be that the government ‘can neither confirm nor deny’ the placement on such lists.  The government’s surrender in Ibrahim comes on the heels of a new report by the American Civil Liberties Union that shows just how insanely difficult it is to contest one’s status on the government blacklists.”

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/03/after-seven-years-exactly-one-person-gets-off-the-govt-no-fly-list/

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Supreme Court Confirms: You Really Are Guilty Until Proven Innocent

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“A grand jury indictment is now sufficient for the feds to throw you in prison and seize virtually everything you own.  Sure, the assets are supposed to be tainted in order for prosecutors to seize them. A grand jury must believe there is probable cause that you’re guilty of a crime, and that the assets in question were derived from that crime. But, as an old judge in Tennessee once told me, ‘A grand jury in the hands of a skilled prosecutor could indict a ham sandwich.’  Is this just? What happened to innocent-until-proven-guilty and the right to due process?”

http://www.nestmann.com/supreme-court-confirms-you-really-are-guilty-until-proven-innocent

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Supreme Court rejects appeal of shoplifter serving life sentence

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“The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Monday to review the case of an Oklahoma City woman who received a life sentence in 2009 for shoplifting.  Without comment, the court rejected the appeal of Cecilia Cathleen Rodriguez, whose life sentence was imposed by an Oklahoma County judge because of a long list of previous convictions.  Rodriguez’s appeal was her second to the high court; in 2012, the justices sent the case back to Oklahoma and ordered a review of whether she had received adequate legal assistance when she entered a ‘blind plea’ to charges of stealing two purses from a Dillard’s department store.”

http://newsok.com/u.s.-supreme-court-rejects-appeal-of-oklahoma-shoplifter-serving-life-sentence/article/3941945

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Head of Dutch Libertarian Party Arrested Just Weeks Before Election

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“The former chairman of the Dutch Libertarian Party, Toine Manders has been kidnapped in Cyprus by the FIOD (the Dutch IRS) and is currently locked away in the Netherlands in complete isolation (aside from his lawyer), in an undisclosed location. He is being held for an extended 90-day period, the charges for which are unknown.  Toine Manders began his career by giving legal advice  to young Dutch men who wanted to avoid military conscription.  Toine Manders had attracted special attention from the government by running controversial ads that stated ‘Taxation is theft’, and that it was people’s moral duty to pay as little in taxes as possible, as the government is a criminal enterprise.”

http://isil.org/head-of-dutch-libertarian-party-arrested-just-weeks-before-election/

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The TSA is looking for Bitcoin

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“TSA has been trained, although poorly, to look for Bitcoin. They are apparently now trying to catch money launderers in addition to terrorists, and large tubes of tooth paste. My hoodie is probably what caught their attention, and everything after that received extra attention. When they saw all the metal lapel pins in my bag they probably thought they hit the jackpot on a stockpile of Casascius coins. Whatever training they had it probably included that stock photo of brass tokens everyone uses. My evasiveness only quickened their blood lust, as they imagined a big bust, and possibly a promotion down the security track.  It was an open faced lie when they said they ‘saw’ Bitcoins in my bag.”

http://dailyanarchist.com/2014/02/24/the-tsa-is-looking-for-bitcoin/

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Exonerations On The Rise, And Not Just Because Of DNA

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“At least 87 people were set free for crimes they did not commit last year, the highest number since researchers began keeping track more than 20 years ago. Some of those people spent decades in prison before release.  And it’s no longer just DNA evidence that’s driving exonerations, the registry’s report finds. It’s because police and prosecutors have been more willing to investigate themselves.  Only one-fifth of the exonerations last year relied on newly tested DNA. More than 30 percent occurred because law enforcement agencies reopened a long-closed case or handed over their records to someone else who wanted to take a look.”

http://www.npr.org/2014/02/04/271120630/exonerations-on-the-rise-and-not-just-because-of-dna

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How Obama Officials Cried ‘Terrorism’ to Cover Up a Paperwork Error

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“FBI agent Kevin Kelley was investigating Muslims in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2004 when he checked the wrong box on a terrorism form, erroneously placing Rahinah Ibrahim on the no-fly list.  What happened next was the real shame. Instead of admitting to the error, high-ranking President Barack Obama administration officials spent years covering it up.  After seven years of litigation, two trips to a federal appeals court and $3.8 million worth of lawyer time, the public has finally learned why a wheelchair-bound Stanford University scholar was cuffed, detained and denied a flight from San Francisco to Hawaii: FBI human error.”

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2014/02/no-fly-coverup/

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