Free Showing of The Mauritanian on March 6th (for the first 300 to rsvp)

  Code Pink and World Can't Wait are doing a joint showing of the movie on March 6. The first 300 to RSVP will get to see the film free-- the rest of you will get a link to rent the movie. 

You're invited to watch the film, The Mauritanian without payment
Meet Mohamedou Slahi and Nancy Hollander
Saturday March 6 3:00 - 6:15 pm EST
Organized by CodePink & co-sponsored by World Can't Wait
>> Facebook event you could share
>> Here's where to RSVP for a free ticket and get the Zoom link

Join with the movement to #CloseGITMO and be part of a conversation about The Mauritanian, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Shailene Woodley, Tahar Rahim, and Jodie Foster. Based on a true story, The Mauritanian follows attorney Nancy Hollander, her associate and a military prosecutor who uncover a far-reaching conspiracy while investigating the case of Mohamedou Ould Slahi, tortured over three years during the Bush administration, and unjustly imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for fourteen years.

Special guests will introduce the film at 3:00 pm EST. Following the screening we will have a live Q & A with Mohamedou Ould Slahi, the author of Guantanamo Diary, and Nancy Hollander who represented him -- the real people played by Tahar Rahim and Jodie Foster.

RSVP to receive your link to the community Zoom gathering and Q & A session here. The first 300 people to RSVP will receive a free ticket to watch the film; you can watch the film before Saturday or between the introduction and the Q and A. Those who RSVP after the first 300 will receive a link to rent the film to watch and will also receive the link to the live intro and Q & A.

The Mauritanian...

 I guess the movie is coming out soon. And yes, maybe it will rekindle interest in closing the place but please remember that it was the Obama administration that appealed the release of this man -- causing him to stay in Guantanamo for another six years - while that played out. So, although I remain somewhat hopeful that the place might actually close under Biden - I am only somewhat hopeful.

Read an account of the movie here.

h/o to Walt for the link.

And if you do not have the book yet, what are you waiting for? or better yet buy it from your favorite independent book store- they can order it if they don't have it in stock.

It is a step forward anyway...

 On Friday (Feb. 12), White House press secretary Jen Psaki, when asked whether President Biden will close Guantánamo by the end of his presidency, told reporters, "That certainly is our goal and our intention,” and announced that there would be "a robust interagency policy" to work out how to do so.

Haven't heard that in a while (that someone wants to close the place.

Read more here

Musical Interlude

 It has been a while since I have done one of these but what better time? And so I dedicate this to the  criminal trump team as they start the defense of the criminal former president.

From Roger Fitch and our friends down under at Justinian...

 It seemed to some a redneck revival, a white trash liberation movement with a Confederate battle flag as standard and MAGA hats as the uniting and distinguishing symbol: people that the US class system used to sort-out. 

No longer. Racist thugs, fake patriots and the religiously-deluded now get a pass. 

The insurrectionary rabble comprised more than ignorant buffoons and the usual hate-group suspects. It provided cover for real villains: rogue police, Army reservists, and serving and retired soldiers (including with sniper training). About 20% of those charged had military training.

The attacking mob also contained a lawless lawyer, a disturbed doctor and intruders who knew the capitol layout, e.g, the woman who stole Nancy Pelosi's laptop with a view to selling it to the Russians. 

Indeed, there's evidence that "foreign actors" may have helped fund the rally-riot, in addition to shell companies and dark money connected to, well, Donald Trump. Was it all an autogolpe?

Incredibly, the rally that set-off the Capitol assault was promoted by the Republican Attorneys General Association, proof of the bad lawyering in Republican circles. 

The insurgents may have had inside help (more here), e.g, from Congresswoman Lauren Boebert of Colorado; there was suspicious reconnaissance inside the Capitol on the day before the attack. Boebert is one of congress's two QAnon supporters (the other: barking-mad Georgian Marjorie Taylor Greene).

Even saner members of congress are in legal peril, if they conspired with the Capitol attackers: some congressional ties to extremists are under scrutiny.

*   *   *

"People who say Trump has no empathy are wrong. He has the utmost empathy for degenerate, corrupt, disgraced politicians who perhaps remind him of himself" - Preet Bharara, former Manhattan US Attorney.

Trump's last days offered his venal band a final feeding opportunity, and enterprising mates like Rudolph Giuliani offered themselves as brokers in the business of pardon-trafficking.

On the morning of January 20th, the outgoing president issued 143 pardons and commutations, many as sleazy as expected (more here), including crooked Republican politicians and the odd bent Democrat, e.g, the former mayor of Detroit, Kwame Kilpatrick; Trump had previously commuted the sentence of Rod Blagojevich, the Democrat governor of Illinois serving time for trying to sell Barack Obama's senate seat.

Prosecutors were outraged: pardons included commutation of sentences and foregone restitution in Medicare rort convictions that took years to obtain.

Can pardons be undone? Sometimes. President Biden might have tried to recall pardons not yet accepted, from January 20th. In any case, given Trump's incompetence, some of his pardons may turn out to be ineffective.  

*   *   *

READ THE REST HERE