I go away for a week and what happens? All hell breaks loose in my home of Boston and environs, and it becomes the news center of the world as a horrible example of urban terrorism in action.
Having been glued yesterday to the television coverage of the tracking of the surviving Boston Marathon bomber, like much of the rest of the country, Im kind of glad I wasnt around for the rest of the week. It gets tiring, almost numbing, watching the repetitious coverage. The main benefit was that all the TV coverage was provided sans advertising.
Im as glad as everyone that the suspects were taken off the street. On the lighter side, I kind of wondered, seeing the aunts and uncles of the Tsarnaev brothers interviewed, how the hell these guys took the risk of pissing off their families–those are some tough people, and if I were one of the brothers, I would have almost been more afraid of incurring their wrath than that of the cops.
Seriously, though, in the back of my mind, I worry that the events, and especially the glorification of the police actions, will be used like 9-11 was used–as an excuse to further encroach on civil liberties. Like I said, its a back-of-the-mind kind of thing right now, but watching the law-enforcement people literally falling all over themselves to grab some of the limelight in the aftermath of the suspects capture, I felt uneasy. Especially hearing Carmen Ortiz, the U.S. Attorney for the Boston area, say that bomber suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, picked up hiding in the boat, didnt need to be read his Miranda Rights (the right to remain silent, have an attorney present while being questioned) because it was a public safety issue. Ortiz, if you’ll remember, is the U.S. Attorney who helped drive software hacker suspect Aaron Swartz to commit suicide by piling on the charges.
Sorry, but the American way is to assert that this suspects rights will be respected, even if those of the suspects ilk wouldnt respect the rights of Americans. Thats why we have a Bill of Rights and Miranda Rights judicial precedent.
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Its been a tough week for Wisconsin farmer Vernon Hershberger, as well. His chicken coop and machine shed burned down in the middle of the night a few days ago. He may be looking for community help in rebuilding it. It comes at an inopportune time, as hes preparing to defend himself against misdemeanor charges in connection with the distribution of raw milk and other food to members of his food club.
A Facebook page has gone up with details of the upcoming trial, set to begin May 20. Make your plans now to attend if you possibly can.
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A very nice comment from food fermentation guru Sandor Katz about my upcoming book (due out in June), Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Food Rights: This book will get you fired up! David Gumpert makes an eloquent case for the importance of food rights and documents the actions of government regulators against small farms and buyers clubs. These infuriating stories are woven together and contextualized by Gumperts insightful legal and political analysis. For anyone interested in reclaiming food, this book shows you that you are part of a larger political struggle. Many thanks to Sandor for taking the time to read the bound galleys.
It does give one an uneasy feeling; perhaps U.S. Attorney Ortiz and her law-enforcement people aught to consider this statement by Martin Luther King, Jr.
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
In listening to an American official on CNN correctly suggest that these bombings were a heinous act against innocent civilians, I couldnt help but think of the heinous acts American government officials have committed against innocent men, women and children outside and within its own borders. Perhaps the American Government aught to think carefully about these comments made by Jesus Christ, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them who despitefully use you, and persecute you all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged: and with what measure you measure, it shall be measured to you again.
Ken
I had read the bomber’s mother was caught stealing from a Lord & Taylor’s last year I think it was.
http://www.politicususa.com/obama-rejects-war-terror-boston-bombing-suspect-civilian-court.html
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/20/us-usa-explosions-boston-fbi-idUSBRE93J04F20130420
Sylvia,
You may be speaking more from hope than reality. Your first link doesn’t work, and the second one says only that American law enforcement knew about these brothers well in advance of the bombings. The Boston NPR outlet has been repeating today that Dzokhar Tsarnaev was not read his Miranda rights, and interviewed a Harvard Law School professor at length who said that fact wasn’t a big deal, since the allegations against him don’t require a confession.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Dzokhar “will be interviewed by a special counterterrorism group created to question high-value detainees.”
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324493704578434893975585744.html?mod=WSJ_hps_LEFTTopStories
Maybe there is a more sinister reason prosecutors don’t want Dzokhar questioned in front of a lawyer, or any outsiders. The fact that American law enforcement knew about these guys feeds into a report being put out by an Israeli intelligence site I have found to be pretty reliable in the past. It concludes these brothers were double agents, originally hired by the U.S. and Saudi Arabia…who then defected to Al Quaeda. The interview of the brothers by FBI agents in 2011, at the request of Russia, can be seen as an effort to check up on whether these guys were doing what they were supposed to be doing for our side, based on suspicions by the Russians that the brothers had already turned radical. In this analysis, the FBI knew the brothers were suspects before even seeing the video that came out on Thursday. I strongly suggest taking a look at this.
http://www.debka.com/article/22914/The-Tsarnaev-brothers-were-double-agents-who-decoyed-US-into-terror-trap
One other thing: the drumbeat for more restrictions on our privacy has already begun. A Congressman, who is on the House Homeland Security Committee, is using the Boston Marathon bombing to push for more government video cameras to keep track of our movements. He may want to get something pushed through quickly, before ever more doubts arise about who knew what about whom, and when.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324763404578433143080413704.html?mod=WSJ_hps_LEFTTopStories
In the meantime, don’t expect to learn anything you can trust about what interrogators learn from Dzokhar. It will be considered too classified for public disclosure.
I have a child in the Gulf right now and we were talking about this and I made the comment that years ago, I was forced to suffer through my husbands old spy movies and one of the first things that popped into my mind was a “mole” .
I would not expect to get the full truth along with facts from our govt. Your links will be interesting reading.
If Jesus Christ intends to treat the Philistines as you urge, please point me to chapter & verse. The version I have in hand says that when He returns, his enemies will be brought before him so he can slay them. Such false teachings as you put forth – unloaded on you by the state-licenced race traitors in the pulpits of Ham-merica – have everything to do with the dire state this nation is in today
Christs comments above if we chose to abide by them are for our own worldly good and represent the truth that will set us free from evils influence on our lives.
Ken
Yes, I did get the first link to work. The article seems contradictory, says at different points that suspect will and won’t be read Miranda rights, that he may or may not be tried in a civilian court. I heard today that Sen. John McCain is pushing hard for suspect to be tried as “enemy combatant,” which I presume means being thrown into Guantanamo.
Your links are very informative.
http://reason.com/blog/2013/04/19/could-drones-find-boston-terror-suspect
I think police/military are going to be using this as a springboard for even more privacy invasion. They may get more than they bargained for. But we already know the perpetrators of these invasions will be protected by our corrupt legal system.
If people aren’t catching on, they should be. Those of us who already have a clue, are getting sick of the games.
Steve, I would want all t’s crossed and i’s dotted, a fail proof case.
My humanness must be fading, it’s taken 9 tries to post.