Meet the New Boss… Same as the Old Boss?

Washington Post Saturday:
Obama administration officials, fearing a battle with Congress that could stall plans to close the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, are crafting language for an executive order that would reassert presidential authority to incarcerate terrorism suspects indefinitely, according to three senior government officials with knowledge of White House deliberations.
Such an order would [...]

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International Solidarity

A few photos making the rounds on Twitter:

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Authority Gone Awry

I held off from writing about this local story because it was just one man’s claim that he’d been assaulted by police. There was no evidence to support him, aside from his wounds, which could have been self-inflicted. But now that the grand jury testimony of another cop on the scene has [...]

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Ask Bush if McCain was Tortured

Sullivan raises a point so devastating to the right’s support of torture yet so obvious that I can’t believe it hadn’t occurred to me.
In all the discussion of John McCain’s recently recovered memory of a religious epiphany in Vietnam, one thing has been missing. The torture that was deployed against McCain emerges in all the [...]

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Authority Gone Awry

This one has made the rounds on the cable news nets already but still deserves mention, even if I’m late to the party:

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Authority Gone Awry

From Gothamist, video of an NYPD officer assaulting a rider during last week’s Critical Mass ride.

Although a judge ruled in 2006 that the monthly Critical Mass bicycle rides could proceed without a permit, the NYPD’s stance remains somewhat adversarial. Though the city has not been enforcing the controversial parade permit law [...]

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Maryland Protest Groups Spied On by State Police and Added to Federal List of Terrorist Suspects

UPI via Washington Times:
Undercover Maryland state troopers infiltrated three groups advocating peace and protesting the death penalty — attending meetings and sending reports on their activities to U.S. intelligence and military agencies, according to documents released Thursday.
The documents show the activities occurred from at least March 2005 to May 2006 and that officers used [...]

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Authority Gone Awry II

New York Daily News: Charges dropped for Brooklyn grandmother arrested for prostitution on her way to the hospital
Contrary to Officer Sean Spencer’s claim in a sworn complaint, she had never before been arrested for prostitution – or anything else, according to her lawyer Richard Cardinale.
“Clearly, Officer Spencer, who has been sued for civil rights [...]

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Authority Gone Awry

WJHL: Tennessee man arrested for taking a photo of a cop during a traffic stop
The cell phone photographer says the arrest was intimidation, but the deputy says he feared for his life.
“Here’s a guy who takes me out of the car and arrests me in front of my kids. For what? To [...]

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More on Ahmad Batebi

Today’s NY Times has picked up Batebi’s story and has published some of his escape footage.

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Human Rights Activist Escapes From Iranian Prison

Some might remember that photo of Ahmad Batebi, taken at the Iranian Student Protests of 1999. He is holding a shirt stained with the blood of a fellow protestor who was beaten by the Basij Resistance Force. It made the front cover of The Economist and he was soon after arrested and sentenced [...]

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