Monday, January 21, 2019
Tuesday, January 15, 2019
From our friends down under at Justinian....
Although not exactly on Gitmo, sometimes you have to be flexible....
Unqualified judges continue to receive important federal judicial appointments, e.g, to US Courts of Appeal. Some are scorned by the ABA, as they have tried few cases and can't write intelligible opinions.
A few party loyalists already on the federal bench are contributing to Republican mischief, e.g, in Texas, where District Judge Reed O'Connor, appointed by G.W. Bush, accepted an "off-the-wall argument" that Obamacare is unconstitutional, simply because the mandate requiring people to have health insurance was repealed. More here.
The decision is widely seen as partisan judicial activism: the judge is a favourite of Republicans who forum-shop for desired but politically-controversial rulings.
O'Connor previously issued a number of orders against Obama initiatives and, in one startling decision, found that the 40-year old Indian Child Welfare Act, favouring adoptions by Native-Americans of their own kin, discriminated against non-indigenous Americans.
* * *
Barr: a lot of time in the top paddock
Attorney General Jeff Sessions was also let go by Trump, in much the way the one-time reality TV star disposed of "losers" on The Apprentice.
Replacing the AG offers Mr Trump another chance to hobble DoJ's investigation of Russian involvement in the 2016 elections, newly confirmed in two reports commissioned by a bipartisan US senate.
Trump's choice for acting AG, Matthew Whitaker, has long opposed the Mueller investigation he would be overseeing. The DoJ Office of Legal Counsel attempted to justifyhis appointment, but there was an ethics review. Whitaker then rejected his own department's finding that he should recuse himself from involvement in the Mueller investigation based on previous prejudicial remarks.
Now there's a nominee for permanent AG, bad as the old one, and it's sad news for Guantanameros: William Barr was AG for Bush père when the notorious internment camp was first set up. Barr's anti-Mueller views are well known; last year he sent an unsolicited memo to DOJ arguing for presidential immunity from many criminal laws, including obstruction of justice.
Email Friday, January 11, 2019
To the mothers of the men being held at Guantanamo...
I usually play this song on this blog on mother's day but with my client (and the remaining men) in their 18th year without charge it somehow felt right to play this today.
Thursday, January 10, 2019
An insiders look at Gitmo....
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What does the naval station at Guantánamo Bay look like? How
does it feel to visit the men detained in the prison? Just two of the
questions our Advocacy Program Manager Aliya Hussain asked Senior Staff Attorney Wells Dixon and Senior Managing Attorney Shayana Kadidal in “Close and personal with
Guantánamo,” the 10th episode of “The Activist Files.” Wells and Shayana have
been working with clients in Gitmo for more than a decade and give us an
insider look into what Guantánamo was and what it has become.
From the food options on the island to the experience of
meeting a client for the first time while having to deliver them shocking
news, our lawyers explain why it’s crucial to keep fighting against the
continued indefinite detention of Muslim men detained at Guantánamo without
charge or fair trial.
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TOMORROW IN WASHINGTON, D.C.: Join
us for two important events to mark the 17th anniversary of the prison’s
opening: Congressional briefing on Guantánamo and afternoon rally to close Guantánamo and
call for a stop to the cruelty, fear, racism, and Islamophobia perpetuated by
this administration.
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Tuesday, January 8, 2019
Was there a black site at Guantanamo?
Just in time for the anniversary of Guantanamo's opening Carol Rosenberg has a new report suggesting that a black site was run out of Guantanamo. And that CIA director Gina Haspel was in charge of the site.
Wouldn't surprise me....
Read more here.
Wouldn't surprise me....
Read more here.
Sunday, January 6, 2019
MORE on the events sponsored by "close guantanamo now....."
Details of the events are below:
Friday January 11, 12.15 pm-1.45 pm: Seventeen Years of Guantánamo
New America, 740 15th St. NW #900, Washington, D.C. 20005
Tom Wilner and Andy Worthington, with Laura Pitter, the interim deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Americas program, discuss the prison’s present and future, in a panel discussion moderated by New America’s David Sterman, asking, "What will happen to the prison and its detainees in the remaining years of the Trump administration? Will anyone else be released? Will the prison ever close?"
See the event page here, and please RSVP if you’re coming along.
New America, 740 15th St. NW #900, Washington, D.C. 20005
Tom Wilner and Andy Worthington, with Laura Pitter, the interim deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Americas program, discuss the prison’s present and future, in a panel discussion moderated by New America’s David Sterman, asking, "What will happen to the prison and its detainees in the remaining years of the Trump administration? Will anyone else be released? Will the prison ever close?"
See the event page here, and please RSVP if you’re coming along.
Friday January 11, 2.30-4pm: Rally to Close Guantánamo - Rule of Law, Not Rule of Trump
Outside the White House, Lafayette Square, 1608 H St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20006
Andy Worthington joins speakers from 12 rights organizations at the annual vigil outside the White House calling for the closure of Guantánamo: Amnesty International USA, the Center for Constitutional Rights, Close Guantánamo, CODEPINK: Women For Peace, Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Defending Rights & Dissent, Justice for Muslims Collective, September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International (TASSC), Voices for Creative Nonviolence, Witness Against Torture and the World Can't Wait.
See the event page on Facebook here.
Outside the White House, Lafayette Square, 1608 H St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20006
Andy Worthington joins speakers from 12 rights organizations at the annual vigil outside the White House calling for the closure of Guantánamo: Amnesty International USA, the Center for Constitutional Rights, Close Guantánamo, CODEPINK: Women For Peace, Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Defending Rights & Dissent, Justice for Muslims Collective, September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International (TASSC), Voices for Creative Nonviolence, Witness Against Torture and the World Can't Wait.
See the event page on Facebook here.
Please also check out Witness Against Torture’s page about their Fast for Justice, a week of events in Washington, D.C. involving fasting and political actions.
Sunday January 13, 5-7pm: Andy Worthington Talks at Revolution Books NY
Revolution Books, 437 Malcolm X Boulevard/Lenox Ave (at 132nd Street), New York 10037
As Revolution Books states, "Andy Worthington, the British journalist who has covered the men imprisoned in the U.S. torture camp at Guantánamo since 2006, speaks on the state of the prison under Trump; the 40 men who are still held, and on what released prisoners have encountered as they've been scattered across the world. Andy, a member of The Four Fathers, may sing for us. Q&A to follow."
See the event page on Facebook here.
Revolution Books, 437 Malcolm X Boulevard/Lenox Ave (at 132nd Street), New York 10037
As Revolution Books states, "Andy Worthington, the British journalist who has covered the men imprisoned in the U.S. torture camp at Guantánamo since 2006, speaks on the state of the prison under Trump; the 40 men who are still held, and on what released prisoners have encountered as they've been scattered across the world. Andy, a member of The Four Fathers, may sing for us. Q&A to follow."
See the event page on Facebook here.
Join "Close Guantanamo Now" events in DC and NYC January 11th.....
Events marking the 17th
anniversary of the opening of Guantánamo
Dear friends and supporters,
Seven years ago, on January 11, 2012, the 10th anniversary of the opening of the prison at Guantánamo Bay, the attorney Tom Wilner and I set up the Close Guantánamo campaign, to maintain the pressure on Barack Obama to fulfill the promise to close the prison that he made when he first took office three years before.
As we all now know, Obama sadly failed to fulfill his promise, and we’re now nearing the start of Donald Trump’s third year as president, in which Obama’s failed promise has been discarded as though it never existed.
Donald Trump is an enthusiast for keeping Guantánamo open, an imbecile who lacks the ability to understand that the prison’s very existence is fundamentally, devastatingly wrong, as its creator, George W. Bush, finally recognized in his second term in office, and as Barack Obama also recognized throughout his presidency, even though he lacked the political will to follow through adequately on this recognition.
To mark the disgraceful 17th anniversary of the opening of the prison, where 40 men are still held, mostly without charge or trial, our co-founders Andy Worthington and Tom Wilner will be in Washington, D.C. for two events — a panel discussion and a vigil outside the White House — and Andy, who is visiting from the UK, will also be in New York for an event two days later.
All the details can be found in our latest article, Close Guantánamo Events Marking the 17th Anniversary of the Opening of Guantánamo.
If you’re in Washington, D.C. or New York, we hope to see you — and we hope we can count on your support throughout 2019 as we continue to make the case for why Guantánamo must be closed.
If you can make a donation to support our work it will be very greatly appreciated. To do so, visit the homepage of our website, and click on the ‘Donate’ button to make a payment via PayPal.
If you can make a regular monthly donation, that would be especially welcome. Please tick the box marked, "Make this a monthly donation," and fill in the amount you wish to donate every month.
Many thanks!
The "Close Guantánamo" team
P.S. Please, if you will, also ask your friends and family to join us — just an email address is required to be counted amongst those opposed to the ongoing existence of Guantánamo, and to receive updates of our activities by email. Please also join us on Facebook and Twitter.
Dear friends and supporters,
Seven years ago, on January 11, 2012, the 10th anniversary of the opening of the prison at Guantánamo Bay, the attorney Tom Wilner and I set up the Close Guantánamo campaign, to maintain the pressure on Barack Obama to fulfill the promise to close the prison that he made when he first took office three years before.
As we all now know, Obama sadly failed to fulfill his promise, and we’re now nearing the start of Donald Trump’s third year as president, in which Obama’s failed promise has been discarded as though it never existed.
Donald Trump is an enthusiast for keeping Guantánamo open, an imbecile who lacks the ability to understand that the prison’s very existence is fundamentally, devastatingly wrong, as its creator, George W. Bush, finally recognized in his second term in office, and as Barack Obama also recognized throughout his presidency, even though he lacked the political will to follow through adequately on this recognition.
To mark the disgraceful 17th anniversary of the opening of the prison, where 40 men are still held, mostly without charge or trial, our co-founders Andy Worthington and Tom Wilner will be in Washington, D.C. for two events — a panel discussion and a vigil outside the White House — and Andy, who is visiting from the UK, will also be in New York for an event two days later.
All the details can be found in our latest article, Close Guantánamo Events Marking the 17th Anniversary of the Opening of Guantánamo.
If you’re in Washington, D.C. or New York, we hope to see you — and we hope we can count on your support throughout 2019 as we continue to make the case for why Guantánamo must be closed.
If you can make a donation to support our work it will be very greatly appreciated. To do so, visit the homepage of our website, and click on the ‘Donate’ button to make a payment via PayPal.
If you can make a regular monthly donation, that would be especially welcome. Please tick the box marked, "Make this a monthly donation," and fill in the amount you wish to donate every month.
Many thanks!
The "Close Guantánamo" team
P.S. Please, if you will, also ask your friends and family to join us — just an email address is required to be counted amongst those opposed to the ongoing existence of Guantánamo, and to receive updates of our activities by email. Please also join us on Facebook and Twitter.
Friday, January 4, 2019
January 11, 2002
That is the day Guantanamo opened for business with the first detainees. 20 arrived that first day. They were placed in cages.
Now 40 remain. Many sit in solitary confinement. Most have never been charged with a crime.
Why do they remain at Guantanamo? Because the military can.
It is the symbol of the military's strength in this country.
No politician -- not even the fucking president-- has been allowed into the base to talk with any detainee.
No court -- not even the fucking U.S. Supreme Court -- has been allowed access to these men.
And now we celebrate the 18th year of military control.
Go to D.C. ?..If you dare and raise your voice in protest.
Or sit home and watch a fucking football game.
Now 40 remain. Many sit in solitary confinement. Most have never been charged with a crime.
Why do they remain at Guantanamo? Because the military can.
It is the symbol of the military's strength in this country.
No politician -- not even the fucking president-- has been allowed into the base to talk with any detainee.
No court -- not even the fucking U.S. Supreme Court -- has been allowed access to these men.
And now we celebrate the 18th year of military control.
Go to D.C. ?..If you dare and raise your voice in protest.
Or sit home and watch a fucking football game.
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