By Blogbot
Cory Doctorow reads an excerpt from his “optimistic disaster novel” Walkaway at the Buena Vista Branch Library in Burbank, CA on Thursday, August 10, 2017.
For more on Cory and Walkaway, read our interview here.
by Sandor Stern
Dear Republican Friends
Regarding Your Presidential Nomination
It’s been four years since I’ve contacted you but your choice for President has me too curious to remain silent. You have nominated Donald Trump who advocates deporting eleven million illegal immigrants, building an insurmountable wall along the Mexican border, and preventing Muslims from entering this country. He has been recently waffling over the Muslim ban and the President of Mexico has told him that Mexico will not pay for that wall. No one knows where he’ll end up but you nominated him when he was adamant about all these issues. You believed in them. There is an old adage: “Be careful what you wish for.” It would be wise to examine your wish. Let’s just start with deportation.
The deportation of millions of people has not been seen since Nazi Germany sent their “illegals” to concentration camps. Of course these victims had not illegally entered Germany. They were either German citizens or citizens of Nazi conquered countries. But in the eyes of the Nazis they were all illegal human beings who deserved to die. Can you grasp the enormity of the hostile reaction from around the world over Trump’s deportation plans? The United States of America, the democratic beacon to the world for two hundred years would employ this fascist draconian measure to uproot and send eleven million human beings — three out of every one hundred men, women, and children to countries in which they have no family, friends, jobs or familiarity. Can you imagine the recruitment bonanza for terrorist organizations? What destinations are we considering? Do you believe that all these people came from Mexico? They came from around the world including Europe, Africa, Asia, and South America. Why would you assume that their country of origin would accept them? They were not sent here by government decree. You expect these governments to welcome a strain on their economies? Do you think all you have to do is put these millions of people on airplanes and drop them in the respective countries? How? By parachute? No country is obligated to allow planes to land at their airports. Do we force that? How? A threat of military action?
Trump speaks of a force that will round up these people. How big and how costly will this force be? How long will it take to round up eleven million people? Do you think that they will all go like lambs to the slaughter? People born here, people who have lived here twenty years, people who have established businesses and professions — they will all bow peacefully to the inevitable? There will be people who will constantly move one step ahead of the deportation decree adding to the costs. There will be people so outraged by this government action against them they will take up arms. And what of their citizen neighbors? There will be millions of citizens who oppose this fascist act who will do everything in their power to help these illegals escape the deportation. And there will be millions of citizens like you who will aid the deportation. Trump is sowing the seeds for an armed revolution and you have placed him in the position of Commander in Chief.
The estimated cost of deporting eleven million people is in the hundreds of billions of dollars. But that is only the cost of the deportation force and the ancillary costs such as travel and food. There is a much bigger cost to add. What about the costs to landlords when millions of rental apartments and houses are emptied? What about the costs to businesses that lose employees and the retail businesses that lose customers? Those are costs passed on to the federal government in the form of lower tax revenues. And speaking of tax revenues, you have been fed a steady diet of misinformation regarding illegal immigrants. The vast majority of them pay taxes. If they are drawing a paycheck, that paycheck has tax deductions. Any employer who does not make those deductions is guilty of a crime. That’s his crime not the employee’s. Illegal employees represent a large chunk of Federal and State income. Even those who do not pay income tax pay sales tax on their purchases.
You have also been misinformed about the social welfare bestowed on these “undeserving illegals.” Those illegals who have social security and Medicare payments deducted from their paychecks will never receive a social security check or Medicare coverage when they retire because they have no social security ID or use a false one to get employment. You somehow envision all illegals as those groups of men standing in the parking lots of Home Depot hoping to get a day job. Would you like to live a life like that? Would you be happy picking fruit in the orchards of California, washing cars, bussing dishes, cleaning houses? These men and women are doing jobs that citizens will not do. The work is too hard and the pay too little. What happens when those illegals are deported? Who will do the work? Trump’s deportation policy will strip all these businesses of employees unless they pay living wages. The very reason they hire illegals is because they cannot afford increasing their costs. They will do that or go out of business. How happy will you be when you see the rising costs of everything including groceries?
Trump is talking about deporting the illegals and then allowing them to return legally. He is talking about vetting eleven million people. It will take years. What will these people do for income in the countries in which they have been deposited? The vast majority of these countries have huge unemployment which is the reason these people fled in the first place. And what of those who manage to be vetted and return? To what do they return? Will their old job be there? If they have no job to go to, will we allow them to return and join the ranks of the unemployed? Has anyone in your party bothered to think this policy through?
The deportation is about more than dollar costs. It is about our humanity. How can you watch families torn apart? How can you witness people being forced from their homes at gunpoint? How can you accept a high school or college student brought here as a toddler or born here forced to return to a country he/she has never known? I guess if you have no heart, you have no problem with this? I’m praying you have a heart and on examining what you’ve wished for, you will find it.
Just saying…
Your friend,
Sandy
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by Dennis J. Bernstein and Greg Palast
If you believe the Republican hysteria machine, there’s an unprecedented election crime wave sweeping America involving a staggering 7.2 million suspected double voters. Thousands of these supposed criminals — who, if found guilty, have committed a felony punishable by 5-years in the slammer — have already lost their right to vote, with 41,000 people in Virginia alone being struck off voter roles. Statistical analysis of the evidence uncovered by investigative reporter Greg Palast shows that one million Americans may lose their vote by November. It also shows that a high proportion of these black, white, and brown voters have one thing in common: they tend to vote blue. In this week’s Best Democracy Money Can Buy: Election Crimes Bulletin, Palast gives Flashpoints’ Dennis J. Bernstein the skinny on this election crime wave, which in reality is little more than a GOP-generated racist sham designed to filter the blue out of the votes at the polls.
Listen to the podcast in the player below or subscribe to it on iTunes. (Transcript available here.)
It’s frightening how little the West understands The People’s Republic of China. And what we don’t know is hurting us — and them. Inside China’s borders resides the largest population on the planet (1.357 billion compared to the United States’ paltry 318 million), which is guarded by the largest army in terms of active personnel and a formidable nuclear arsenal. China also hosts one of the fastest growing economies, and as a result, the planet’s largest middle class. The Republic is therefore revered by more open capitalist cultures as much as it is feared.
Those within China who have benefited from its unprecedented prosperity have paid a high price, however, in terms of freedom of expression and oppression. Meanwhile the foreign corporations that do business there, in order to continue to reap the rewards of China’s burgeoning markets, choose to turn a blind eye to these human rights abuses — they have to, since it’s the only way the state allows them to function. Thus, the Chinese government and the overseas corporations doing business within the Republic’s borders are essentially in cahoots in maintaining the status quo; The Great Wall of China is no longer a physical one protecting the insular nation, but one built on silence.
Chinese lawyer and human rights activist Chen Guangcheng.
Enter documentarian Vanessa Hope, whose previous credits include William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe and China in Three Words. Through the language of film, Vanessa — who has dedicated her personal and professional life to exploring China’s culture — hopes to foster greater understanding and break the state imposed and business endorsed wall of silence.
Her latest project All Eyes And Ears is remarkable, both in terms of scope and access. Through Vanessa’s lens, we follow the former Mormon Governor of Utah, Jon Huntsman, as he moves to China with his glamorous wife Mary Kaye and their adopted Chinese daughter Gracie to take up office as the Obama-appointed U.S. Ambassador. Vanessa took a longitudinal approach, filming over the course of five years from the end of 2009 through the beginning of 2014. Consequently, Huntsman’s term in office and Vanessa’s film bears witness not ony to the rise of authoritarian leader Xi Jinping, but also the rise of the proletariat in the Occupy-inspired Jasmine Spring. The arc of Huntsman’s story also converges with that of the blind, self-taught Chinese human rights lawyer Chen Guangcheng, who escaped from house arrest in 2012 to claim asylum at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. This unexpected turn of events, which occurred during a key international diplomatic summit, sparked one of the greatest crisis in U.S. / China relations in recent times.
We caught up with Vanessa by phone to talk about the project. Read our exclusive interview with Vanessa on SuicideGirls.
For more information visit alleyesandears.org, and follow @VHopeful and @alleyesearsdoc on Twitter. If you’d like to support All Eyes And Ears, visit the Indiegogo page.
By Blogbot
This Wednesday, May 27th on SuicideGirls Radio, Nicole Powers will be joined by Xenia Sin, the badass lady who is responsible for bringing the Femen movement to North America. Society calls Femen feminists, they call themselves sextremists. There’s a major difference. We’ll find out what it is, and how they turned boobs into bombs, nipples into missiles, and bodies into the kind of manifestos that had men and women up in arms all around the globe!
You can listen – and watch – the world’s leading BYOB radio show live on Wednesday nights from 8 til 9 PM [note new day/time] at our state-of-the-art all digital home: TradioV.com.
If you have questions for the SG Radio crew or our guests, you can call in during the live broadcast at: 1-855-TRV-inLA (1-855-878-4652)
For updates on all things SG Radio-related, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
**UPDATE**
Our show feat. @XeniaFemen and @SageHack was a riot — watch it here:
One of the most intriguing characters in the new series of House of Cards, is that of hacker Gavin Orsay played by Jimmi Simpson. The political drama, which is written and produced by Beau Willimon and stars Kevin Spacey as the Machiavellian politician Francis Underwood, is highly addictive and a breakout hit on Netflix.
One of the secrets of the show’s success is that it exposes the down and dirty machinations behind the sanitized spin we’re usually presented with in the media. Indeed, much of the House of Cards action is centered around not only the insider intrigues within the White House, but the power play between politicians and the press.
We’re first introduced to Orsay in House of Cards, when a Washington Herald journalist, Lucas Goddwin (played by Sebastian Arcelus), seeks out the help of the online collective Anonymous, after more traditional forms of investigation lead to nothing but dead ends. Wanting to maintain House of Cards’ consummate sense of authenticity, when Willimon delved into the world of the hactivist hive he sought advice from one of its most respected members, Gregg Housh, who is credited as being one of the people who put the iconic Guy Fawkes mask on the group.
When it comes to recreating reality, the devil is in the detail, and one such detail Willimon included in his fictional series as a result of his association with Housh has had positive repercussions in real life. In a scene in which Orsay is negotiating his way out from under the thumb of an FBI agent, he also requests that “all of Barrett Brown’s charges are dropped.” For the uninitiated, Brown is a talented and colorful Vanity Fair and Guardian journalist with a penchant for red wine and bubble baths, who is currently residing in a Texas penitentiary facing charges related to the sharing of a hyperlink. The case is potentially precedent-setting –– and with threats of a 105-year jail term, has had a chilling effect on journalism –– so a pointed mention in such a highly respected and successful show was lauded by Brown’s supporters, online activists, and journalists alike.
SuicideGirls spoke with Simpson by phone on a Saturday in early March. The actor, who has had memorable recurring roles in the TV series 24, Breakout Kings, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and Psych, and prominent supporting roles in the films The Invention of Lying, Date Night, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, and White House Down, among others, also happens to be a member of our community. Our interview was arranged during enforced downtime, while Simpson was awaiting surgery on his collarbone. Though under doctor’s orders to take things easy himself, he spoke to us while he was waiting for a group of his friends to jump out of a plane.
Read our exclusive interview with Jimmi Simpson on SuicideGirls.com/.
by Blogbot
This Thursday, November 21st on SuicideGirls Radio, hosts Nicole Powers and Juturna Suicide will be joined in studio by investigative reporter Jason Leopold, documentary filmmaker Brian Knappenberger, and SG political correspondent David Seaman.
In the first hour of the show we’ll be getting the inside scoop on Jason Leopold’s series of stories for Al Jazeera based upon the secret diaries of Guantanamo prisoner Abu Zubaydah (see part one, two, and three). Zubaydah, who is a Saudi Arabian citizen, was the first high value detainee captured after 9/11. He was arrested in Pakistan in March 2002, and, as a guinea pig for George Bush’s torture program, was waterboarded 83 times.
During the second hour we’ll be exploring the case of Jeremy Hammond, a hacktivist who was sentenced to 10 years in jail in a New York court last week. We’ll be chatting to those familiar with the case, including Rachel Allshiny, who has provided prison support to Jeremy since his arrest in March of 1012, and popular Blog Talk Radio host and twilebrity Vince Tocce aka VinceInTheBay, who provided compelling victim testimony during last Friday’s court hearing.
You can listen – and watch – the world’s leading naked radio show live on Thursday nights from 6 til 8 PM at our new state-of-the-art all digital home: TradioV.com.
You’ll also be able to listen to our podcasts via Stitcher – download the app now!
If you have questions for the SG Radio crew or our guests, you can call in during the live broadcast at: 1-855-TRV-inLA (1-855-878-4652)
For updates on all things SG Radio-related, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
About Jason Leopold | @JasonLeopold
Jason Leopold is an investigative reporter covering Guantanamo, counterterrorism, national security, human rights, open government and civil liberties issues. He’s been called a “FOIA Terrorist” by federal employees for his aggressive use of the Freedom of Information Act, which included suing the FBI and forcing the agency to changes its policies. He is currently a contributing editor for Al Jazeera and is the recipient of a Freedom of Press Foundation grant. He’s the author of the national bestseller, News Junkie, and an investigative report, From Hopeful to Immigrant to FBI Informant: The Inside Story of the Other Abu Zubaidah, which was published in the form of an ebook. Leopold’s investigative reporting highlights includes “Revised Guantanamo Force-Feed Policy Exposed,” a story based on a military document he exclusively obtained, and “Sold Into ‘A Piece of Hell’: A Death of Innocence at Gitmo,” about the suspicious death in September 2012 of prisoner Adnan Latif. A radio documentary about Leopold’s life, based on his book News Junkie, was broadcast by the award-winning podcast, Love + Radio and featured on NPR.
About Brian Knappenberger | @knappB
Brian Knappenberger is perhaps best known in the online community as the director of We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists. His latest project, The Internet’s Own Boy, follows internet activist and programming pioneer Aaron Swartz from his teenage emergence on the internet scene and involvement in RSS and Reddit, to his increased interest in political advocacy and the controversial actions he allegedly took in downloading nearly four million academic articles from the online service JSTOR. The film, which is currently in production, explores Aaron’s arrest, the prosecution’s tactics in bringing the case to trial through the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, and the impact a seemingly small hacking gesture had on Aaron’s life and the future of information access on the internet.
For more information visit: aaronswartzthedocumentary.com/
About David Seaman | @d_seaman
David Seaman is an independent journalist. He has been a lively guest on CNN Headline News, FOX News, ABC News Digital, among others, and on his humble YouTube channel, DavidSeamanOnline. Some say he was recently censored by a certain large media corporation for posting a little too much truth… Catch Seaman’s podcasts on iTunes and Stitcher and his brand new crowd-funded show on YouTube.
David has just released a new digital minibook called All Your Favorite Conspiracy Theories Are Wrong, which you can download for $3 via Amazon. It’s a light, high-impact read full of unusual musings, inquisitive gems, and “haven’t you ever wondered” commonalities that will get you excited about being in the human race again. “It’s highly concentrated dishwasher liquid for your mind,” says David, who is known for his sparkling brain cells and remarkably soft hands!
For more on David, visit DavidSeaman.net and follow him on G+ and Twitter.
**UPDATE**
ICYMI: Last night’s show feat. Jason Leopold, Brian Knappenberger and David Seaman + Andy Stepanian, Rachel Allshiny and VinceInTheBay can be viewed HERE.
