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Oligarch Justice – Powerful Pedophiles Roam Free as Journalist Barrett Brown Returns to Jail

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Screen Shot 2015-01-22 at 4.42.04 PMIf Dershowitz was a good friend to Epstein, he was a better lawyer. Along with a dream team of attorneys that included Gerald Lefcourt, Roy Black, and Ken Starr, he was successful in getting federal investigators not to charge Epstein with moving his victims across state lines and other associated crimes. The federal non-prosecution agreement Epstein’s legal team negotiated with the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida immunized all named and unnamed “potential co-conspirators” in Epstein’s child trafficking network, which includes those who allegedly procured minors for Epstein and also any powerbrokers who may have molested them. Although Dershowitz wasn’t a signatory to the plea agreement, the latest filings in Roberts’s case against Epstein accuse Dershowitz of essentially negotiating his own immunity.

From the Gawker article: Flight Logs Put Clinton, Dershowitz on Pedophile Billionaire’s Sex Jet

Today was a very big day for journalist, activist and American political prisoner Barrett Brown. Though he was supposed to be sentenced last month (see: Political Prisoner Barrett Brown to Be Sentenced Tomorrow – Why the Result Matters to Freedom in America), it was delayed until today.

Tragically, he was ultimately sentenced to 63 months in federal prison for some relatively innocuous offenses. For those of us who have been following this saga for several years, it is abundantly clear that Barrett is being punished for exposing the shady behavior of some powerful people within the intelligence-industrial complex. He is one of several people (Aaron Swartz, Thomas Drake, Private Manning, and Julian Assange) who have been aggressively targeted, not for what they have done, but rather for their ability to embarrass and expose the evils of the rich and powerful.

It’s quite fitting that on the same day Barrett is sentenced to an additional three years in jail (he has already served 28 months), Nick Bryant over at Gawker writes a very interesting piece about all of the high profile people who not only befriended, but also repeatedly took flights with, pedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein.

Before I get into the meat of this piece, I want to make it clear that just because certain people were on these flights doesn’t mean they committed any crimes (although it certainly shows horrible judgement of character). Nevertheless, some people mentioned clearly did commit crimes, and when you see how easily these people got off, compared to say Barrett Brown, you’ll see what a sad joke American “justice” has become.

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NBC Correspondent Quarantined for Ebola is Spotted Going Out in New Jersey Anyway

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NBC Chief Medical Correspondent Nancy Snyderman was part of a film crew that worked with freelance cameraman Ashoka Mukpo covering the ebola virus in Monrovia, Liberia. After it was discovered that Mr. Mukpo had come down with the virus, Dr. Snyderman agreed to quarantine herself for 21 days as part of a voluntary arrangement with the Centers for Disease Control and state officials. For example, she tweeted the following on October 2:

Apparently, that didn’t last long. Gawker reports that:

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Official Rules for Success in John Boehner’s Office: “Don’t Talk to the Press” and “Always Say Yes”

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Think you’ve got what it takes to successfully suck up to John Boehner as a summer intern? Don’t worry it isn’t too difficult. In fact, some drunk intern accidentally left the Congressman’s “2013 Intern Manual” at a house party in Washington D.C. Fortunately, the folks at Gawker got a hold of it. The most telling … Read more

“I Feel No More Pain, I am Free”: A Soldier’s Last Words

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My body has become nothing but a cage, a source of pain and constant problems. The illness I have has caused me pain that not even the strongest medicines could dull, and there is no cure. All day, every day a screaming agony in every nerve ending in my body. It is nothing short of torture. My mind is a wasteland, filled with visions of incredible horror, unceasing depression, and crippling anxiety, even with all of the medications the doctors dare give. Simple things that everyone else takes for granted are nearly impossible for me. I can not laugh or cry. I can barely leave the house. I derive no pleasure from any activity. Everything simply comes down to passing time until I can sleep again. Now, to sleep forever seems to be the most merciful thing.

You must not blame yourself. The simple truth is this: During my first deployment, I was made to participate in things, the enormity of which is hard to describe. War crimes, crimes against humanity. Though I did not participate willingly, and made what I thought was my best effort to stop these events, there are some things that a person simply can not come back from. I take some pride in that, actually, as to move on in life after being part of such a thing would be the mark of a sociopath in my mind. These things go far beyond what most are even aware of.

To force me to do these things and then participate in the ensuing coverup is more than any government has the right to demand. Then, the same government has turned around and abandoned me. They offer no help, and actively block the pursuit of gaining outside help via their corrupt agents at the DEA. Any blame rests with them.

Is it any wonder then that the latest figures show 22 veterans killing themselves each day? That is more veterans than children killed at Sandy Hook, every single day. Where are the huge policy initiatives? Why isn’t the president standing with those families at the state of the union? Perhaps because we were not killed by a single lunatic, but rather by his own system of dehumanization, neglect, and indifference.

It leaves us to where all we have to look forward to is constant pain, misery, poverty, and dishonor. I assure you that, when the numbers do finally drop, it will merely be because those who were pushed the farthest are all already dead.

And for what? Bush’s religious lunacy? Cheney’s ever growing fortune and that of his corporate friends? Is this what we destroy lives for?

– Iraq Veteran Daniel Somers’ final words before taking his life

The above are excerpts from Daniel Somers’ final letter to his family before committing suicide on June 10, 2013.  The depth, thoughtfulness and pain inherent in this man’s words elicit a sense of anger and sadness that knocked me over emotionally.  RIP Daniel Somers.

Full letter below courtesy of Gawker:

“I Am Sorry That It Has Come to This”:  A Soldiers Last Words

Daniel Somers was a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He was part of Task Force Lightning, an intelligence unit. In 2004-2005, he was mainly assigned to a Tactical Human-Intelligence Team (THT) in Baghdad, Iraq, where he ran more than 400 combat missions as a machine gunner in the turret of a Humvee, interviewed countless Iraqis ranging from concerned citizens to community leaders and and government officials, and interrogated dozens of insurgents and terrorist suspects. In 2006-2007, Daniel worked with Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) through his former unit in Mosul where he ran the Northern Iraq Intelligence Center. His official role was as a senior analyst for the Levant (Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, and part of Turkey). Daniel suffered greatly from PTSD and had been diagnosed with traumatic brain injury and several other war-related conditions. On June 10, 2013, Daniel wrote the following letter to his family before taking his life. Daniel was 30 years old. His wife and family have given permission to publish it.

I am sorry that it has come to this.

The fact is, for as long as I can remember my motivation for getting up every day has been so that you would not have to bury me. As things have continued to get worse, it has become clear that this alone is not a sufficient reason to carry on. The fact is, I am not getting better, I am not going to get better, and I will most certainly deteriorate further as time goes on. From a logical standpoint, it is better to simply end things quickly and let any repercussions from that play out in the short term than to drag things out into the long term.

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Remember Zero Dark Thirty? Turns Out it was a CIA Propaganda Film After All

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In 1977, Carl Bernstein, famed for his Watergate reporting, disclosed that more than 400 journalists and executives of mostly liberal US media organisations had worked for the CIA in the past 25 years. They included journalists from the New York Times, Time and the big TV broadcasters.

– John Pilger in his powerful article, The New Propaganda is Liberal

This isn’t the first time I’ve used the above quote to kick off a post. I also used it in late March for the article:  How Hollywood Became “Propagandist in Chief” by John Pilger.  How right he was in that scathing critique of the artistic joke that has become big budget performing arts in America these days.  Now, courtesy of documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act regarding the CIA’s influence on Hollywood blockbuster Zero Dark Thirty, we discover what a total propaganda joke this film really is.  What an utter embarrassment to cinema.  From Gawker:

Kathryn Bigelow’s Osama bin Laden revenge-porn flick Zero Dark Thirty was the biggest publicity coup for the CIA this century outside of the actual killing of Osama bin Laden. But the extent to which the CIA shaped the film has remained unclear. Now, a memo obtained by Gawker shows that the CIA actively, and apparently successfully, pressured Mark Boal to remove scenes that made them look bad from the Zero Dark Thirty script.

The documents include a 2012 memo—initially classified “SECRET”—summarizing five conference calls between Boal and the CIA’s Office of Public Affairs in late 2011. “The purpose for these discussions was for OPA officers to help promote an appropriate portrayal of the Agency and the Bin Ladin operation,” according to the memo.

During these calls, Boal “verbally shared the screenplay” for Zero Dark Thirty in order to get the CIA’s feedback, and the CIA’s public affairs department verbally asked Boal to take out parts that they objected to. According to the memo, he did.

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18 Year Old Faces 20 Years in Jail on “Terror Charges” for a Facebook Post

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Guess why 18 year old Cameron D’Ambrosio is being held on one-million dollars bail and faces twenty years in prison?  The answer is “terror charges.”  This case is a perfect example of why I am so against using the word “terrorist” in general at this point.  Think about all the pointless wars and erosion of domestic civil liberties that have been justified in the name of this never-ending Orwellian “war on terror.” We’ve been tricked, and in the future anyone that does anything the oligarchs and politicians don’t like will be named a “terrorist” and be subject to the aggressive terror laws that most states passed after 9/11.  We need to take a giant cultural deep breath and react to terrorism in a sane way before we lose what’s left of our dignity and freedom.  Be very suspicious of anyone who uses the word “terror” too often.  They are trying to keep you in fear, and if you are in fear, you are easily controlled.  From Gawker:

Yesterday, D’Ambrosio was absent from school, but messing around online, changing his profile photos and tweaking his status updates. At approximately 12:20 pm, one of his peers alerted MHS administration that the Methuen native had posted “disturbing verbiage” on Facebook, lyrics menacing enough for the school to call the city police.

“He posted a threat in the form of rap where he mentioned the White House, the Boston Marathon bombing, and said ‘Everybody you will see what I am going to do, kill people,'” Methuen Police Chief Joe Solomon paraphrased to the Valley Patriot.

Now, D’Ambrosio is being held on a one-million dollar bail and charged with terroristic threats, a felony punishable for up to 20 years in prison.

It’s unclear what D’Ambrosio wrote exactly, but it’s tough to believe that whatever ill-advised lyrical whimsy he shared justified this response. Even the police are quick to clarify that his verses were vague. “I do want to make clear he did not make a specific threat against the school or any particular individuals but he did threaten to kill a bunch of people and specifically mentioned the Boston Marathon and the White House,” Solomon told the Valley Patriot. “The threat was disturbing enough for us to act and I think our officers did the right thing.”

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