by Darrah Le Montre

On August 11/12th of last year, a 16-year old girl in Steubenville, Ohio, was allegedly repeatedly sexually assaulted by members of Steubenville High School’s almighty Big Red Football team. When the story subsequently broke worldwide, it divided a small town and forced us to question the future of our men.

If you have already read details of this case, you may have also agonized through a video which was shot on the night in question and prominently features Michael Nodianos, an 18-year old Steubenville High School alum who played for the Big Red team. If not, allow me to offer a *trigger-warning* now before I outline some of the most pertinent details:

A self-described member of a group that call themselves the “Rape Crew,” Nodianos, or “Nodi” as his teammates call him, starred in an incriminating, vile smart phone video that was posted to YouTube on the night of the alleged assault, then taken down, then reposted to the web by KnightSec and Commander X, who are both affiliated with the Anonymous hacktivist hive. This video features “Nodi” – who clearly borders on sociopathic – maniacally laughing and apparently providing a play-by-play of the repeated gang rape of the 16-year old female victim. During the course of his commentary, he frequently refers to her as the “dead body.”

Events like this force people out of their copacetic, pacified state of separateness, and push us to admit we are all connected. Transgressions like these beg questions about social responsibility, technology’s role in our lives, who is teaching what to our children, what it means to be a father and mother, and why we are even debating whether unconscious means consensual.

If you are a woman, you may have been advised that if you are attacked and need help to scream “FIRE!” instead of “RAPE!” –– because people run from rape. People are overwhelmed, confused, scared and paralyzed by the idea and consequence of rape. So much so, that they often blame the victim. As a woman, it’s scary to read about a violent rapist that was sentenced to a few years in prison, then released. Or how, in many cases, trespassing, burglary, and hacking carry a longer prison term than a sexual assault. There is, what can be perceived as, sexual terrorism going on in the world, including in India and the United States, and we’re too scared to talk about it. But if we can’t talk about it, how can we prevent it, understand it, heal from it and help others who have suffered at the hands of it?

There was a time when domestic abuse cases were blamed on female victims. They somehow provoked the men into hitting them. That myth has, for the most part, been dispelled. It’s sad to me that “fault” or “blame” is placed upon women in rape cases still. It seems that whenever a battle of the sexes takes place –– especially when sex is involved –– we can expect immaturity at best, insanity at worst.

When small football towns like Steubenville exist for a long period of time inside a protected bubble, exalting a few to the detriment of others, it’s hard to know whom to blame when a crime like this is shown to the world. Given that youth are involved, and given that adults provided said youth with their foundation, ethics, morals and copious amounts of alcohol, many believe the parents are just as culpable as the boys and young men may be.

Staring Down The Demon: What Rape Culture Looks Like in Steubenvile

Two sixteen-year-old Big Red football players: Trent Mays, a sophomore quarterback, and Ma’lik Richmond, are so far the only boys to be charged with rape stemming from that evening of hard partying and barbarism. Mays is also facing a charge involving illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material. Previous kidnapping charges against the pair were mysteriously dropped, along with charges against Cody Saltsman. Many suggest this was part of a cover-up that was taking place prior to Anonymous stepping in.

Ex-boyfriend of the victim, Saltsman was present for part of the alleged assault. Furthermore, Anonymous believe he may have even been responsible for orchestrating the attack, which may have involved a date rape drug. Saltsman chivalrously live-tweeted about his ex-girlfriend’s condition, describing her limp body as “sloppy” and calling her a “whore.” He posted a shocking photo to his Instagram account that is now widely circulated of the victim being carried seemingly unconscious by her hands and feet by Richmond and possibly Mays. It is unverified whether the photo captures the teen in this case, or another possible victim of the “Rape Crew.” Web analyst and true crime blogger Alexandria Goddard published Saltsman’s tweets along with the photo to Prinniefied.com before Cody had the chance to delete the evidence. He subsequently filed a defamation suit against her that was later dropped. Richmond and Mays are scheduled to be tried February 13th in a juvenile court in Steubenville, however, a change of venue has been requested by Mays’s attorney, Alan Nemann.

Like his buddies, Mays also took to the internet the night of August 11th. Referring to one of the bashes that evening, Mays tweeted: “Huge party!!! Banger!!!!” His tweet was innocuous when compared to the more colorful ones penned by his friends. One such post leads prosecutors to believe the victim was urinated on after the alleged gang rape. At least one witness gave testimony indicating that this in fact happened. Aside from watching, laughing, tweeting, and snapping photos and video, these boys and men were otherwise action-less witnesses that evening. Nobody helped the girl escape from their teammates’ clutches that night.

The boys and men who attended the parties observed the atrocities and did nothing to stop them. To add insult to injury, they victimized the teen girl, and in the subsequent weeks have forced their families into shock, shame, and denial. According to the New York Times, which broke this story back in December 2012, “Richmond’s grandmother, Mae, said the charges surprised her because Ma’lik had been so focused on sports and school, with hopes of leaving Steubenville for a better life than that of his father, who has served time in prison and had been charged with many crimes including manslaughter. “Me and Coach Reno was talking, and he said Ma’lik was just in the wrong place at the wrong time,” she said. But since Nodianos’s damning video surfaced it’s impossible to shrug Ma’lik’s behavior off with such a cliché.

Now that the proverbial shit has hit the very real public fan, Michael “Nodi” Nodianos is sorry about the tape. He’s “ashamed” of his comments. He “regrets” them, his lawyer, Dennis McNamara reported in a statement released Monday. Especially given that Nodi lost his scholarship at Ohio State, where he planned to study engineering. According to Kent Patch, Kent State University has also said it is reviewing the scholarship of an incoming Steubenville High School football player who may have hosted one of the several parties at which the girl was allegedly raped.

Sources at Anonymous also suggest that the “Rape Crew” may be a clan of sexual criminals –– teens and young men who drug, rape and take photos and video of their victims –– that has existed in different incarnations, since 1975. Scarier still, is the adult protection these perpetrators may have received.

After The Agony: Now What?

KnightSec set up a page on LocalLeaks to keep the public up to date on emerging details of the case. This exhaustive resource called “The Steubenville Files” provides a timeline of the alleged events on and surrounding August 11-12th and background on those involved. It catalogs tips they’ve received from Steubenville High School students and others, as well as evidence they’ve ascertained via hacking.

In response to the LocalLeaks site, which has received massive amounts of traffic, the City of Steubenville and its Police Department launched their own website called Steubenville Facts. This sterile site, created to level the emotional intensity surrounding their town and the synonymous rape case, lists Ohio laws and doles out mental health resources. It also questionably links to Fox News’ coverage of its launch.

On Wednesday, Steubenville High School’s website homepage reported news of a security threat –– later found unviable –– that shut the school down for over an hour. It now features a media statement that says they’ve added “education programs to further raise awareness of sexual harassment, bullying, date rape and substance abuse.” It’s obvious that Steubenville, population 18,000, is under nationwide scrutiny, and pleading with itself and the country to repair its damaged reputation.

Speaking of reputations, one of the most stomach churning after effects of a reported rape is the character assassinations slung against the alleged victim. Shortly after the rape was reported, Big Red volunteer coach Nate Hubbard, 27, accused the victim of covering up a night of partying with a fake rape charge. He said, “The rape was just an excuse, I think. What else are you going to tell your parents when you come home drunk like that and after a night like that? She had to make up something. Now people are trying to blow up our football program because of it.”

Walter Madison, Richmond’s lawyer, claimed that before that night in August the victim had posted provocative comments and photographs on her Twitter page over time. He contended that those online posts demonstrated that she was sexually active and showed that she was “clearly engaged in at-risk behavior.”

Yes, because no rape case would be complete without making damn sure everybody knows that that slut was wearing something slutty, tweeting about her sluttiness, and – gasp – engaging in slutty sex. We can all go home folks. She asked for it. By having a vagina and having used it at least once, she tempted those vulnerable boys. Wait, it doesn’t matter if she was near unconscious. It doesn’t matter that virgins are raped. This girl –– like countless others –– should be held accountable for having recreational sex in the past, or at least the XX chromosome, to stay true to the banner double standard for which this fine world remains oxygenated with comments like Madison’s.

Defense attorneys have gone back and forth about whether any sexual activity took place that night. According to the New York Times story, which ran in December, Nemann, Mays’s lawyer, said “The whole question is consent. Was she conscious enough to give consent or not? We think she was. She gave out the pass code to her phone after the sexual assault was said to have occurred.” A month later, according to CNN, “Lawyers for both defendants have said their clients are not guilty. ‘We deny the accusations completely. We deny the lack of consent. We deny that there was sexual activity. We deny that there was a rape. And we steadfastly maintain that,’ Nemann said.” Scrambling to explain away this picture, which shows a limp and seemingly unconscious victim being carried to a party by at least one suspect, one defense attorney claims, “it was staged.” These desperate attempts to show that the alleged female victim was, in fact, coherent enough to give consent, is insulting to all women and a ghastly example to boys and men everywhere.

Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can’t Lose

There are so many layers and players in this case and everyone appears entangled in this tight-knit community. It has been reported that Prosecuting Attorney for Jefferson County, Jane Hanlin tried to convince the victim and her family not to report the rape. Hanlin is the mother of a Big Red football player not charged with a crime.

A LocaLeaks post states: “When the family of the victim went to file the charges, Jane Hanlin [the prosecutor] was present. She strongly discouraged them from filing. Hanlin frightened not only the victim, but the parents as well. Telling them that her name was going to be dragged through the mud, she will be in and out of court for well over two years, the press wouldn’t leave any of the family alone once the crime was made public. Scared out of their wits, the parents said they didn’t want that and Hanlin then said not to worry just leave it up to her and the detectives on the case.”

Big Red friend and webmaster of a fansite for the team, Jim Parker, may have known about the “Rape Crew” and may have even helped them secure the date rape drug. At the very least he condoned the boy’s abhorrent actions. Indecent photos of underage girls were discovered on his computer by Anonymous, some may even be of the “Rape Crew’s” victims. Big Red Coach Reno Saccoccia, whose alleged motto is “lie till you die,” testified as a character witness for the defense and failed to bench alleged members of the “Rape Crew” even after news of the alleged assault broke and the incriminating pictures went viral online.

The New York Times reports: “Approached in November to be interviewed about the case, Saccoccia said he did not ‘do the Internet,’ so he had not seen the comments and photographs posted online from that night. When asked again about the players involved and why he chose not to discipline them, he became agitated. ‘You made me mad now,’ he said, throwing in several expletives as he walked from the high school to his car. Nearly nose to nose with a reporter, he growled: ‘You’re going to get yours. And if you don’t get yours, somebody close to you will.’”

If you aren’t a Friday Night Lights fan and you didn’t grow up in a small town that revolves around athletics, you’ll be surprised to learn that after 30-plus years of coaching, Coach Saccoccia has a status not unlike that of the late-Joe Paterno at Penn State. Coach Reno has so much power, in fact, that Steubenville High School’s principal and superintendent relied upon him to discipline the players.

The New York Times reports, “Shawn Crosier, the principal of Steubenville High, and Michael McVey, the superintendent of Steubenville schools, said they entrusted Saccoccia with determining whether any players should be disciplined for what they might have done or saw the night of Aug. 11. Neither Crosier nor McVey spoke to any students about the events of that summer night, they said, because they were satisfied that Saccoccia would handle it.”

Furthermore, Saccoccia may have even told his team to delete any evidence still remaining on their cell phones such as pictures and video. No longer at the helm of the investigation, Saccoccia’s friend, Jefferson County Sheriff Fred Abdalla, is now receiving death threats as anger rises at the apparent collusion among prosecutors, coaches, teachers, parents and police.

An aside: In case you were wondering, as was I, why the victim was asked for the passcode to her phone, it was later reported by CNN’s Anderson Cooper that “she sent a text to one of the people saying she wasn’t raped or ‘I know you didn’t rape me.’” CNN reports that this text is one that the defense plans to use in court. However, according to “KY”, the leader of KnightSec, he uncovered tweets indicating that the alleged victim lost her phone right after that evening and it is possible that, if that text indeed exists, someone else sent it using her phone. So much cover up, so much conspiracy, it’s hard to keep track.

Let’s return to the infamous video and what “Nodi” said in the twelve minute long tape, filmed at 2 AM after the victim was allegedly dragged, lifeless after one assault to another party, then another.

“She is so raped right now. There won’t be any foreplay for a dead girl. It ain’t wet now, to be honest. Trust me, I’m a doctor.”

McNamara, the attorney for “Nodi” said, “He was not raised to act in this manner.”

But, how was he raised? How were any of these boys raised?

Who’s Responsible? Raising Rapists – or Princes, Magicians and Lovers

Rosalind Wiseman, author of the bestselling book Queen Bees and Wannabes appeared on CNN as part of a panel which also included Dr. Drew. They discussed the Steubenville case, underage drinking, and attempted to address WHY none of the witnesses that evening came to the defense of the teenage victim.

Wiseman, who has worked with kids for decades as an educator and author, surmised: “These boys feel that if they said anything about it, that they would not be believed or that the adults in the community would not take care of it…There’s a lot of boys in this community who do not have faith in the adults that they will do the right thing.”

Rosalind continues, “Parents are saying to boys four things. They are saying, be a gentleman, but they’re not really saying what that looks like. Then they’re also saying things like, don’t get her pregnant, don’t get an STD. If you do something, don’t do something stupid, and if you do something stupid, don’t get caught.”

Given that kids spend the majority of their time at school, and the fact that athletes have after school practices and form insurmountable bonds with each other and their coaches, whom they look up to as role models, Wiseman astutely observes, “Coaches are so meaningful to kids… they are so much more than teaching boys on the field. They are teaching boys about what it means to be a man. And so what I’m thinking is, is that the coach failed these children in the most fundamental way possible.”

While we struggle to understand and deconstruct the psychology of gang rape, the effects of media on girls and women, and how in the hell all this shit could have gone down in such a small town, one thing is abundantly clear; What we’re doing now and how we’re doing it, isn’t working. Girls and women are not the only victims of patriarchal thinking. Boys and men are falling asunder too. And, until we cherish every sex equally and begin taking responsibility for the education of our youth, we’ll continue to read about cases like these.

As Wiseman poignantly asked, “Even if this is not rape, let’s just say that that’s not the case. Do you actually want boys to conduct themselves and have relationships with girls and talk about girls in this way?”

Lightning Strikes and Eyes Are Forced Open

Every man is born from the body of a woman. And, if he’s lucky, he’ll die in the arms of one. It’s the time in between that he’s responsible for protecting us. It is every man’s duty to watch over the women in his life from near or far, and to obstruct injustices that are forced upon her. If he does not –– he has failed at his job.

There are times when religion and the tyranny of the majority feels so archaic and repressive in how it trains us to raise children. A friend wrote me with profundity following news of Delhi gang rape victim Jyoti Singh Pandey’s death. He said: “I fully believe that we are entering an age of rational matriarchy, and leaving behind the age of irrational patriarchy. And during the transition there will be many horrors. But ultimately we’ll live in a better age of reason and healing.”

I pray that the gang rape in India and the subsequent protests and international outcry will help the women of India. I pray that the alleged gang rape in Steubenville, Ohio, likewise, results in a reexamination of the exaltation of athletes and the promotion of criminal sexual behavior in our culture. Let lives lost and souls robbed and our tears not be shed in vein.

Whatever happened the night of August 11th, 2012, the remnants indicate at the very least a lapse in humility, decency and empathy, and a chasm between reality and a technology obsessed and fueled unreality. As a race, we must figure out what we stand for, which team we’re playing on, who our “god” is, what motivates us, and what determines us each day, in every action, in every way. Is it money? Peace? Pride? Winning? Ego? Mindlessness? Drugs? Hope? Action? Because it is that blank, once filled in, that will motivate us as individuals, and ultimately save or damn our humanity. We must consistently question and challenge authority, and be judicious about whose lead we follow.

In an effort to challenge failed authority, over 2,000 protesters, including those wearing Anonymous’s trademark Guy Fawkes masks gathered in Ohio to “Occupy Steubenville” and alert the town to that fact that “the world is watching.” This chant provided a staccato rhythm for those carrying signs adorned with adages like “Unconscious is not consent,” and “Rape is not a sport.”

Twelve women spoke of their sexual assaults that had gone without investigation for up to twenty years. The activists rallied in support of the teen victim and girls and women like her. No doubt Occupy Steubenville and actions like it will cause a ripple effect. Why such a drastic turn of events has to take place for the world to open its eyes, I don’t know. But I’m just grateful that, for now, it has.

For more information on breaking details of the case follow The Atlantic and LocalLeaks. Read this interview with a member of Anonymous, and please consider donating to LocalLeaks.

by Steven Whitney

Last week, the House of Representatives voted on Bill HR-41, finally funding disaster relief for all the towns, cities, and states that Sandy devastated just over ten weeks ago.

Why it took so long for the bill to reach the floor and why it approves only 16% of the total Senate disaster package has still to be credibly explained.

Led by the inimitable Paul Ryan, 67 Republicans voted against the bill, stern in the belief that the millions of Americans who were ravaged by the storm of the century could pull themselves up by their soaked bootstraps and rebuild without the government’s meddlesome intervention. Or perhaps they hope that concerts by McCartney, Springsteen, Bon Jovi, Clapton and the rest of the rock community can eventually pay for all the damage, one concert at a time – over the next 50 or 150 years.

Actually, Republicans have been very clear about how relief from catastrophic calamities that befall others should be administered.

First, they don’t want to spend one dollar on assistance unless it is taken (or stolen) by equal cuts from so-called “entitlement” programs like Medicare, Social Security, Title X, and anything else that benefits underprivileged Americans. To get $10 billion in relief, how about a $10 billion in spending cuts on breast and uterine exams? You want $10 billion more? All right, let’s cut food stamps and starve the poorest among us. You want another $40 billion? Okay, we’ll just confiscate everyone’s social security accounts and let the old geezers fend for themselves.

The idea here is to pick the pocket of poor Americans to provide aid to other devastated Americans. Just as long as anyone who actually has money – maybe even a nest egg – doesn’t have to pay an extra penny.

Secondly, Republicans have long wanted to completely privatize disaster relief so corporations can make a 20% (or more) profit on providing aid to the needy. Really, you can’t make this stuff up. And I’d bet a dime to a dollar that, following the Dick Cheney playbook, Halliburton has already done an internal study on how to reap maximum profits from the misfortune of others.

The Marine Corps, perhaps the proudest of all our institutions, lives by the maxim that no one is left behind. No one. Ever. It not only defines their extraordinary code of honor, it is the foundation of ethics and morality by which most Americans live.

I say “most” because these 67 Republicans apparently want nothing to do with ethics, morality, or a code of honor.

You don’t have to have a liberal bias to confirm the facts. Every single Democrat voted to help their fellow citizens in a time of dire need. And these 67 Republicans – with their state and district numbers – voted for leaving millions of their fellow Americans behind:

Justin Amash R MI-3
Andy Barr R KY-6
Dan Benishek R MI-1
Kerry Bentivolio R MI-11
Marsha Blackburn R TN-7
Jim Bridenstine R OK-1
Mo Brooks R AL-5
Paul Broun R GA-10
Steven J. Chabot R OH-1
Doug Collins R GA-9
K. Michael Conaway R TX-11
Tom Cotton R AR-4
Steve Daines R MT-1
Ron DeSantis R FL-6
Scott DesJarlais R TN-4
Sean Duffy R WI-7
Jeffrey Duncan R SC-3
John J. Duncan Jr. R TN-2
Stephen Fincher R TN-8
John Fleming R LA-4
Bill Flores R TX-17
Virginia Foxx R NC-5
Trent Franks R AZ-8
Louie Gohmert R TX-1
Robert W. Goodlatte R VA-6
Paul Gosar R AZ-4
Trey Gowdy R SC-4
Sam Graves R MO-6
Tom Graves R GA-14
Andy Harris R MD-1
George Holding R NC-13
Richard Hudson R NC-8
Tim Huelskamp R KS-1
Randy Hultgren R IL-14
Lynn Jenkins R KS-2
Jim Jordan R OH-4
Doug Lamborn R CO-5
Kenny Marchant R TX-24
Thomas Massie R KY-4
Tom McClintock R CA-4
Mark Meadows R NC-11
Markwayne Mullin R OK-2
Mick Mulvaney R SC-5
Randy Neugebauer R TX-19
Steven Palazzo R MS-4
Steve Pearce R NM-2
Scott Perry R PA-4
Tom Petri R WI-6
Mike Pompeo R KS-4
Tom Price R GA-6
Phil Roe R TN-1
Todd Rokita R IN-4
Keith Rothfus R PA-12
Ed Royce R CA-39
Paul D. Ryan R WI-1
Matt Salmon R AZ-5
David Schweikert R AZ-6
F. James Sensenbrenner R WI-5
Marlin Stutzman R IN-3
William M. Thornberry R TX-13
Randy Weber R TX-14
Brad Wenstrup R OH-2
Roger Williams R TX-25
Joe Wilson R SC-2
Rob Woodall R GA-7
Kevin Yoder R KS-3
Ted Yoho R FL-3

Those who criticize Republicans have a misguided belief that they can listen and change if the right argument is put to them. But that assumes reasonable people and these fools are anything but reasonable – they don’t listen to common sense or possess any human morality and have no concept of the common good of a nation and its people. So let’s all stop criticizing these court jesters and just ridicule them.

And no more trying to convince them to “do the right thing.” These Republicans need to be punished. So take action! If you see on this list any Representative from your state, immediately start a Petition of Impeachment and get the signatures of every person of voting age in your state. And join with those from disaster areas like New York and New Jersey and March on Washington – let’s say 30 million strong. Then surround the Capitol Building until these 67 jerks surrender en masse to the mercy of those they would leave behind.

May a swarm of locusts invade their houses…and frogs inhabit their borders…and lice crawl on the endless boils of their skin…and their sightless eyes see the darkness of their ways…and a pox settle on all their houses.

That is less admonishment than they deserve.

It’s time to punish the 67!

[..]

by Rachel Allshiny

“What are you doing for New Year’s?” The question, posed by friends and family members this past week, seemed innocent enough. When I cheerfully answered, “Protesting the prison industrial complex,” however, most people were taken aback.

My sister-in-law tried to convince me that a prison protest on New Year’s Eve would accomplish nothing beyond annoying the guards. A friend said I should take the day off of political activism and do something fun. My parents have given up making sense of my extracurricular activities altogether.

But to me, a prison noise demonstration was the only place I wanted to be. I have been very active in supporting political prisoners this past year, primarily the NATO 5 and Jeremy Hammond. Through my interactions with them and the system that has taken them hostage, I have come to recognize how many lives are ruined when we lock people in cages. I no longer trust the “justice” system to determine guilt or innocence, and I know that the prisons have done far more harm to individuals and our society as a whole than can ever be justified.

The first noise demonstration began mid-afternoon at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in downtown Chicago, a federal prison. Like many protest actions I have attended, there was a festive spirit to the gathering. Many protesters wore brightly colored masks and used a variety of New Year’s party noisemakers to add to the general ruckus. The plaza was still cordoned off with yellow CRIME SCENE tape from a recent prison break, in which two bank robbers successfully wove a rope out of bed sheets and lowered themselves down 15 stories. One of the men remains at large. We asked people to bring their old bed sheets and knotted them into a rope of our own right there in the plaza. It was a symbol of liberation for all who are incarcerated as well as an embarrassing reminder of the facility’s recent security breach.

We chanted and sang, shouted and danced. A few people swung the bed sheets like a jump rope. We marched around the building, followed closely by Chicago Police Department and Department of Homeland Security vehicles. The building goes straight up and has only the narrowest of windows, but we were soon able to see prisoners waving at us from every floor. Some turned their lights off and on repeatedly to get our attention. We cheered. The guards just stood their ground and glared at us.

The first noise demo ended at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) building. A woman spoke about travesty of workplace raids, as well as whole families rounded up in home raids, all resulting in record numbers of deportations. These immigration detention centers are like a shadow prison system – “detention” is not considered “incarceration” and a different set of rules apply to the undocumented.

After a short break to allow people to warm up, we met at Cook County Jail for a second noise demo. This time we armed ourselves with glow sticks and were joined by a ragtag anarchist marching band. Also joining us was a veritable fleet of CPD and Cook County Sheriff cars, and two bike cops who must have drawn the short end of the stick. By this point it was very cold, and getting colder by the minute.

The plan was to circle the perimeter of the jail, which is close to a 2-mile walk. (Cook County is not only one of the most notorious jails in the country, but also the largest, and houses 10,000 inmates at any given time.) But first we veered off course and crossed the street to stop by Division 11, the newest section of the jail, built outside of the main compound. The other divisions are set back behind rolls of razor wire or overlap with other buildings, blocking our view of the windows. But Division 11 has windows facing directly onto an open plaza, and we were able to easily see and be seen by those inside.

The reaction of the inmates to our presence was incredible. We saw rows of silhouettes waving, clapping, dancing, jumping with joy. They banged on the windows and flickered their lights at us. One inmate took off his uniform shirt and swung it around his head. It was the most electric, uplifting feeling imaginable. The band played louder, we danced and clapped and made some noise. We ignored the guards yelling at us and the lights flashing atop squad cars and gave it everything we had. When we finally turned back to circle the main compound, a young woman stopped banging on a pot lid long enough to exchange a high five and irrepressible grin with me.

The jubilant spirit did not last long. Within a few minutes, we were having a tense confrontation with our law enforcement escorts, which result in a violent and entirely unnecessary arrest. The protester would later be charged with felony aggravated battery, but the only violence I saw that night was perpetrated by officers of the law on unarmed, peaceful activists.

Still, we made a complete circuit around the jail. On the last leg of the journey we spent some time blocking a side street with the bed sheet rope snaked between us, dancing and singing. It was a glorious moment, in no way diminished by the police officers watching us dubiously from every direction.

As a society, we try to hide our problems, to lock them away instead of working proactively on solutions. When our problems inevitably worsen and multiply we lock those away, too – and find a way to make the whole system profitable for well-connected individuals and corporations. We do everything possible to make prisoners –– most of whom are serving time for non-violent offenses, most of whom have dark skin –– invisible.

Noise demos such as these, in solidarity with others held on New Year’s Eve across the globe, refuse to buy in to that mentality. We stand up and say: They have hidden you away, but we see you. They have told us to forget, but we remember you. They have demanded that jail be miserable and dehumanizing –– but we brought you a marching band.

In a call from Cook County Jail on the morning of December 31st, one of the NATO 5 explained to me: “It’s hard to be in here this time of year. Even if you aren’t big on celebrating the holidays, other people are feeling it. Everybody is missing someone.”

I feel good about how we spent New Year’s Eve. It was exciting to see prisoners expressing joy, which they get to do so rarely. It was cathartic to unleash my own pent up frustration at the jail’s unforgiving walls in the form of a primal, wordless scream. Most of all, it was inspiring to see so many others committed to supporting prisoners in 2013 and beyond.

This is what solidarity looks like.

Photos courtesy of Lee Klawans and Chicago Indymedia.

[..]

by Sandor Stern

Dear Republican Friends,

Regarding your stance on gun control…

On December 14th, 20 schoolchildren and 6 adults were massacred by gunfire at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut. The following day, the Los Angeles Times front page headline read: “Evil Visited This Community.” Really? Evil? Have we come so far in the 21st Century that our response to a horrendous act by a mentally unbalanced man is couched in the terms of the 17th Century? Are we still responding to human initiated barbarity with labels like “evil” or perhaps “witch”? Does the impulsive action of one demented soul approach the level of planned and organized mass killings that rightly bear the description of evil. To label the actions of this man as evil is to suggest a fateful biblical connotation allowing us to throw up our hands in despair and defeat.

Lets be real. This act was not biblical. It was not evil. Even though human perpetrated, it was a natural disaster like any other natural disaster –– hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunami’s, tornados –– the list is small but the results are devastating. Until we approach mass killings as natural disasters we will continue to do nothing about them but bury our dead and chew up paper and airtime in a repetitive gnashing of teeth and rending of cloth. We cannot prevent natural disasters but we can reduce their fatality rate. Earthquakes kill less people in communities that institute proper building codes. That’s the reason less people die and fewer buildings are destroyed in Los Angeles as compared to Mexico or China. New Orleans would have suffered quantitatively less damage from flooding had there been the foresight and the will to strengthen their levees. Hurricane Sandy is a prime example of foresight and will. The City of Long Beach, NY suffered enormous property damage while the beach cities on either side faired much better. Why? Because in 2006 all beach cities were offered the opportunity to have the Army Corp Of Engineers build protective sand dune barriers at the cost to each city of 10%, while the government paid the additional 90%. Beach cities on either side of Long Beach said yes. The Long Beach City Council voted 5-0 against it.

As for the catastrophe of mass killings, though we will never prevent them, we can through foresight and will reduce the number of victims. In the Los Angeles Times on the same day as the headline quoted above, another article appeared. At an elementary school in China, a man attacked and slashed 22 children. Slashed –– he had no gun. Of the children attacked, four were hospitalized with serious wounds. None were killed. This was the first such attack in a year. This is a country with four times our population. Newtown was the seventh mass killing in the USA this year. Since 1982 there have been 61 mass killings in this country. The weapons used totaled 139 firearms. And this is only the tally for mass killings. Every year more than thirty thousand people die in the US from gunshot wounds. Eight thousand are homicide deaths. Sixteen thousand are suicides and another thousand are accidental deaths. The remainder of deaths are police related. If we have the foresight and will to reduce our death toll it is obvious that firearms are the key.

This is not about illegal weapons. Of the weapons used in mass killings since 1982, more than three quarters were legally purchased. This is not about the interpretation or misinterpretation of the 2nd Amendment –- even though it begins with the words “a well regulated militia” and makes one muse on the militia status of the vast majority of gun owners. This is about the type of weapon allowed in the hands of any citizen. The victims in Newtown were shot multiple times. The killer used a Bushmaster .223-caliber rifle that can hold up to thirty rounds. So what hunter needs a rifle that fires thirty rounds? What homeowner needs thirty rounds of rapid fire to protect his property from a robber? This is madness, folks, and it is a madness on an organized level. The NRA and its lobbying and bullying must bear the brunt of this lack of foresight and planning. I say to any of you who will not support gun control laws that you are enablers of mass murder. Think about that when you cry over those innocent lives lost last Friday. Perhaps it’s not too late to find your conscience.

Your friend,

Sandy

Related Posts
Dear Republican Friends: Regarding Your Lexicon
Dear Republican Friends: Regarding the Presidential Election
Dear Republican Friends: Regarding Your Hostility Towards President Obama
Dear Republican Friends: Regarding Your Candidate
Dear Republican Friends: Regarding Healthcare – A Tale Of Two Countries
Dear Republican Friends: Regarding Your Stand On Healthcare…
Dear Republican Friends: Regarding Your Stand On Taxation…

by Nicole Powers

“I believe that we are at the brink of a 1,000 year Dark Age and unless we stand up viscerally and powerfully and with civil disobedience and everything we’ve got, if we don’t start fighting for a different kind of future, then we’re not going to have a future.”

~ Kalle Lasn, Adbusters

Adbusters co-founder and Occupy Wall Street protagonist Kalle Lasn is hoping his new book, Meme Wars, will ultimately facilitate the occupation of the world’s financial institutions, corporations, and governments from within. It’s a lofty goal and a long game, but as Lasn so eloquently puts it: “If we don’t start fighting for a different kind of future then we’re not going to have a future.”

Over the course of Meme War’s 400+ pages, Lasn challenges students in the economics departments of learning institutions around the globe to rise up, reeducate their professors, and demand they cast aside the failed tenets of orthodox economics. He also sets forth a more holistic curriculum which takes into account the psychological and environmental costs of doing business and redefines the concept of wealth to include mental and ecological health.

We spoke with Lasn, who was born in Estonia but is Vancouver based, by phone.

Read our interview with Kalle Lasn on SuicideGirls.com.

Meme Wars: The Creative Destruction of Neoclassical Economics is published by Seven Stories.

by Nicole Powers

These days, it’s kinda like your computer illiterate granddad is laying down the law on the internet. Only worse. Cause your computer illiterate granddad doesn’t have the power to send your ass to jail for longer than most rapists for the crime of clicking on the wrong http link. Which is something the US government is trying to do. Fo’ realz. Yep. That.

Case in point. Andrew Alan Escher Auernheimer, a.k.a. @rabite, a.k.a. Weev. He’s just been found guilty on one count of not actually hacking anything and one count of having a list of email addresses, even though no one bothered to prove he ever actually had ’em, tho everyone agrees his mate did. Confusing right? You can totally imagine Gramps throwing his hands in the air at this point and saying to hell with this good-for-nothing with two too many silly-ass names – which is pretty much what the US government is doing.

Part of the problem is that the laws Andrew Alan Escher Auernheimer, fuck it, let’s just call him Weev, has been found guilty of violating – which came into being under the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) – predate Hypertext Transfer Protocol, the first documented version of which, V0.9, was codified in 1991. In light of the fact that we’ve yet to come up with a fully functioning flux capacitor, as you can imagine, the application of the CFAA on today’s internet works about as well as Doc Brown’s DeLorean time machine.

“Couldn’t it be argued that Weev actually did something good and beneficial for society?”

Wait? Wut? If that’s the case, remind me why Grampa Government is trying to throw his ass in jail?

I’m chatting with Jay Leiderman, a chap who knows a thing or three about the law and the internet. He’s an elite California State Bar Certified Criminal Law Specialist-grade lawyer who’s defended several high profile hacktivist types, including Raynaldo Rivera of LulzSec and Commander X of the Peoples Liberation Front. He also happens to be a Twitter ninja, which is how I got to know him. A quick perusal of his @LeidermanDevine twitter feed will tell you Jay’s a rare legit legal animal who clearly gets today’s wobbly whirly web, which is why I called him up to discuss Weev’s wobbly whirly situation, which is as follows…

On November 20, 2012, in a Newark, NJ court, Weev was convicted of USC 1028, “identity theft” (as in “stealing” a list of email addresses) and USC 1030 “conspiracy to access a computer device without authorization” –– which, according to Jay, is something we technically all do multiple times every day. Given that Weev was singled out of the entirety of America’s online population for prosecution, in real terms, it’s safe to say what he’s actually more guilty of is embarrassing the fuck out of a Fortune 500 company…and the government no likey that.

Let me explain: Back in 2010 when the iPad first came out, Weev’s mate figured out that AT&T was doing a sloppy ass job with autofill on an app, and in the course of achieving this great technological feat had publicly published the e-mail addresses and ICC-IDs (the identifiers that match a person to their SIM card in a mobile device) of its entire iPad customer base on the web – with no password, no firewall, no fuck off or die warning, no nothing to protect them. Yep. Really. They were that dumb.

“There’s an AT&T web app that had a URL on it with a number at the end, and if you added one to the number you would see the next email address,” explains Weev by phone after I tracked his ass down via teh twitters. Obviously there’s quicker ways to get kicks online than adding a digit to a URL and hitting return (have you tried Googling Goatse?), so Weeve’s ever resourceful mate, Daniel Spitler, created an app called the “iPad 3G Account Slurper” which sucked up well over 100,000 addresses. “My friend just wrote a script to irate though and add one to the number again and again and again,” Weeve tells me. “It’s not fucking rocket science. It’s basic arithmetic. It could have been done manually on any iPad.”

So that explains how they “stole” the list of publicly published email addresses, but why might be a better question to ask. “Comment and criticism against large companies which go unchecked in our country,” replies Weev, when I ask him. “And making a public spectacle and ridiculing them, which I think frankly makes me the best fucking American in the room. We used to be a country that valued criticism of the powerful, and we haven’t really been in the past three decades.”

To add context, at the time, Weev and his mate (who copped a plea bargain) were working under the banner of Goatse Security, and as such, their mission in life was to explore gaping holes (I told you to Google Goatse!). AT&T’s might not have been the sexiest of holes, but it was gaping and it could be argued that it was in the public interest that Goatse Security rummage around in it.

Among the private email addresses that AT&T were publicly publishing were ones belonging to politicians (New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel), members of the military and multiple government agencies (DARPA, DHS, NSA, FAA and FCC), and high profile media types (Diane Sawyer and New York Times CEO Janet Robinson). Goatse Security could have had much lulz with the list and/or sold it for mucho dinero, an option which the duo allegedly discussed in IRC chats but put aside. Instead, they decided to go to the press to speak truth to power, which was really when the trouble began.

Weev served as Goatse’s spokesperson and spin master. It was his job to liaise with the media and present stories in a way that might titillate us lazy-ass scribes. “Hey, look, I just found a list of email addresses on a bunch publicly accessible web pages” might have been accurate, but it wasn’t the kind of story that would make copy even on the slowest of news days, so Weev sexed it up a bit. In a press release sent to several news outlets he wrote, “I stole your email,” and, like a magician offering to explain a trick, followed it up with, “Let me explain the method of theft.”

Because of this hyperbole, Weev essentially convicted himself on the first count of “identity theft.” The prosecution spent much of their time with Weeve on the stand discussing his use of the words “stole” and “theft” during cross-examination. I mean, I know it’s said that sarcasm is the lowest form of humor, but I didn’t know it was illegal! And speaking of the law’s humor bind spot, the prosecution also referred to Weev’s Encyclopedia Dramatica entry and used that against him, which, given the spoof nature of the site, is tantamount to using a Saturday Night Live skit as legitimate and damning character evidence. I. Kid. You. Not.

At no time did Goatse ever make the list publicly available – AT&T were the only ones doing that. The prosecution never really attempted to prove that Weev possessed the full list of email addresses. What neither side disputes is that Weev tapped the list for a handful of press email contacts (something he would have likely got by calling the media outlets direct anyways), then merely passed on a link to it to a journalist for verification. The journalist in question was Ryan Tate of Gawker. His story ran on June 9th, 2010, and it was because of this that the shit hit the proverbial fan.

“This access would have gone unnoticed if I hadn’t gone to the press. If I hadn’t informed AT&T’s customers,” says Weev. “They’re not really pissed about the access, they’re pissed about the speech attached to the access. God forbid corporations be subject to fair comment and criticism.”

Talking of access, the second count Weev was convicted of – “conspiracy to access a computer device without authorization” – is something that should be cause for concern for anyone that has ever clicked on anything on the web. The way this law – which predates all of One Direction and the hyperlinked internet as we know it – is interpreted means that accessing a “protected computer” could get your ass slung in jail. But what is a “protected computer” and how the fuck are you supposed to know when you’re accessing one? This is where the law gets interesting. And by interesting, I mean really fucking stupid.

“The definition of protected computer comes from comes from the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986, and in 1986 http hadn’t been invented yet,” says Weev. “This was a long time ago when servers were things that were only accessible by dial-up that every single one universally had a password for. There wasn’t the concept of a public network. At the time, if you were accessing a remote server, and you didn’t have permission to be there it’s clear that it wasn’t public data. But now it’s the age of the internet. We click links every day. You’ve never gotten Google’s permission to go to Google, you’ve never gotten any website’s permission that you’ve visited. It’s the universally understood aspect of the web that you can visit a public http server without pre-written authorization. It’s a ridiculous notion that you need it. And the prosecutor is using an ancient antiquated definition of a protected system, which is any system that engages in interstate commerce. So essentially, every cell phone, every computer, every public web server is a protected system, and the minute you do something that a website operator doesn’t like – if they’re rich enough of course, if they’re a Fortune 500 company – then they can have you.”

That might sound rather dramatic, but Jay, my favorite SG-lovin’ lawyer agrees. “Based upon this case, the government’s new position is that you are required to be clairvoyant in terms of determining what a protected computer is and what a non protected one is,” he tells me. “From now on you have to be a psychic…because if it isn’t password protected but it’s a ‘protected computer’ you’re potentially going to be found guilty like Weev was.”

Thank god there’s free tittysprinkles on the internet, because otherwise the risks of clicking on something you shouldn’t wouldn’t be worth price. As Weev puts it, “The law says every time that you click a link, if the person at the other end has enough money and connections, and they just don’t like you, they can have you arbitrarily thrown in jail by declaring your access – after the fact – unauthorized.”

But how did we get from “something good and beneficial for society” to “free tittysprinkles”? Well, some might see a very obvious linear connection, but those that don’t should consider this; There’s a cat and mouse game that goes on between big business and the internet security community, but it’s a symbiotic relationship nevertheless. And as consumers who are clueless when it comes to code, we should be grateful to those that are scanning for flaws, and pressuring big corporations to sort their shit out on our behalf.

“Perhaps the greatest lesson of Weev’s case is that not only is there no reward for helping these companies patch their holes and fix themselves, indeed now you’re going to be facing ten or fifteen years of prison if you do,” says Jay. “What’s the incentive to make these companies more secure? I mean, you’re better off just hacking them now. You’re better off just hacking these companies and not telling them. If you get caught essentially you’re facing about the same punishment anyway so what’s the difference?”

Weev is currently in the process of appealing his conviction. You can donate to help with his legal costs here.

And tell Grampa Government to get off our lawn and out of our emails.

Isn’t it time we upgraded our legal operating system?

by Nicole Powers

This year is the 20th anniversary of Buy Nothing Day, which began in Mexico in 1992. The day of protest was started by Vancouver artist Ted Dave, and was subsequently championed by the Canadian-based anti-consumerist media organization Adbusters. It is now marked annually around the globe, on the day after US Thanksgiving in North America (a Black Friday in more ways than one!) and on the following Saturday internationally.

There are many economic, spiritual, and social reasons why you should participate, but when we spoke to Adbusters co-founder Kalle Lasn recently he focused in on the environmental imperative for taking a stand against the great American tradition of conspicuous consumption.

“If everybody on the planet lived like we do in North America, then we would need five planets. There’s seven billion people on the planet, and at the moment there’s just one billion that are living high on the hog. We’re the five planet lifestyle people,” explains Lasn, who challenges the wisdom of our society’s desire – and economic need – for infinite growth in a world with finite resources in a new book, Meme Wars: The Creative Destruction of Neoclassical Economics. (A longform SG interview will be forthcoming.)

“In a way I think there’s some kind of shaming that has to go on,” Lasn continues. “Buy Nothing Day is the perfect time to ask – How much is enough? How much is enough for me, for my family? How much is enough for my city? How much is enough for this country that I live in? Isn’t there something unethical about me having a five-planet lifestyle, and saying what President Bush said many years ago, that the American way of life is not negotiable. Well, Buy Nothing Day is a day when you wake up to the fact that it is negotiable – and it has to be renegotiated.”

For more on Buy Nothing Day visit: adbusters.org/campaigns/bnd