Last summer, three peace activists broke into a nuclear weapons site. A chain reaction followed.
If you’ve got some free time, WaPo has a pretty look profile on the three activists who broke into the Y-12 nuclear facility in Tennessee last year, all of whom still face up to 30 years in federal prison on charges related to the break-in. It’s an interesting read, which we highly recommend to anybody with a bit of free time, but definitely not a short one.
“Special interests purporting to represent gun owners but really advancing the interests of an ideological fringe have used big money and influence to cow Congress into submission. Rather than working to find the balance between our rights and the regulation of a dangerous product, these groups have cast simple protections for our communities as existential threats to individual liberties. Rather than conducting a dialogue, they threaten those who divert from their orthodoxy with political extinction.
As a result, we are more vulnerable to gun violence. Weapons designed for the battlefield have a home in our streets. Criminals and the mentally ill can easily purchase guns by avoiding background checks. Firearm accessories designed for killing at a high rate are legal and widely available. And gun owners are less responsible for the misuse of their weapons than they are for their automobiles.
Forget the boogeyman of big, bad government coming to dispossess you of your firearms. As a Western woman and a Persian Gulf War combat veteran who have exercised our Second Amendment rights, we don’t want to take away your guns any more than we want to give up the two guns we have locked in a safe at home. What we do want is what the majority of NRA members and other Americans want: responsible changes in our laws to require responsible gun ownership and reduce gun violence.
We saw from the NRA leadership’s defiant and unsympathetic response to the Newtown, Conn., massacre that winning even the most common-sense reforms will require a fight. But whether it has been in campaigns or in Congress, in combat or in space, fighting for what we believe in has always been what we do.”
Giffords and Kelly are taking the right approach here.
Democracy In (NSFW) Action: Naked protesters gathered inside of Speaker of the House John Boehner’s office today to voice their displeasure with potential “fiscal cliff” budget cuts that could target HIV/AIDS-funding. To our knowledge, Speaker Boehner has not commented on the incident at this time. Our hats off to the recently rebooted Digg for finding this one. source
The Taliban have kidnapped me and tortured me in the past for promoting women’s development, but now they are threatening the entire family.Reyatullah Khan, father of 17-year-old Pakistani activist Hinna Khan - Hinna recently received a phone call, allegedly from Taliban gunmen in Pakistan’s Swat valley, claiming that she and her family would be killed if they did not stop speaking out against the militant group. Her parents have long opposed the Taliban presence in Pakistan, and were thrown out of their home for such opposition during the Taliban takeover of the Swat valley in 2009. Many believe the Taliban are attempting to re-establish legitimacy in the region after gunmen, who opened fired at point blank range, failed to kill 14-year-old Malala Yousufzai earlier this month. source
A Pakistani schoolgirl shot in the head by the Taliban has every chance of making a “good recovery”, British doctors said on Monday as 14-year-old Malala Yousufzai arrived at a hospital in central England for treatment of her severe wounds.
Yousufzai, who was shot for advocating education for girls, was flown from Pakistan to receive specialist treatment at Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital at a unit expert in dealing with complex trauma cases that has treated hundreds of soldiers wounded in Afghanistan.
“Doctors…believe she has a chance of making a good recovery on every level,” said Dr Dave Rosser, the hospital’s medical director, adding that her treatment and rehabilitation could take months.
Promising news regarding the health of Malala Yousufzai, an outspoken 14-year-old critic of the Taliban, whose school bus was attacked by multiple gunmen last week. While Yousufzai underwent successful surgery to remove a bullet near her spinal cord the day after the attack, she will need intensive follow-up care and treatment, and will hopefully make a full recovery with the aid of British health experts.
I have no private spite. But I have political spite. Our being in jail is a clear and distinct sign that freedom is being taken away from the whole country. And this threat of destruction of the liberating, emancipatory forces of Russia is what makes me angry.Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, imprisoned Pussy Riot member • In a letter to supporters, given to a member of her defense team, thanking supporters and warning of the precedent that could be set with their incarceration. Tolokonnikova did not mention co-defendants Maria Alyokhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich by name, she did say that they appreciated everyone who has pushed for the band’s release. The verdict in the trial of the three women is expected tomorrow, and a guilty verdict could carry a maximum of 3-years in prison. source (via • follow)
How did it happen that our performance, which was a small and clumsy stunt, brought so much trouble? How can this happen in a healthy society? And now it takes thousands of people around the world to prove the obvious, to prove that the three of us are innocent.Maria Alekhina, member of Russian punk band Pussy Riot • Expressing disbelief that Pussy Riot’s decision to stage an anti-Putin protest on the alter of Moscow’s Christ the Saviour Cathedral has created such an uproar. While Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for a lenient sentencing by the court, some believe that his statements reveal a hidden presumption of guilt which they worry will be shared by jurors. In addition to Alekhina, co-defendants Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Yekaterina Samutsevich stood by their decision to protest, and said they were more free behind bars than prosecutors who can “only say what political censorship allows.” A verdict is expected to be delivered on August 17. source (via • follow)
The court sessions are lasting 11 hours a day, and our clients are not being allowed to eat or sleep adequately.Violetta Volkova, defense attorney for Russian punk band Pussy Riot • Telling reporters that Russian authorities have not been treating Maria Alyokhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, and Yekaterina Samutsevich humanely since their trial began earlier this week. Proceedings were interrupted for multiple hours during the third day of the trial, while medical personnel attended to Mariya Alekhina, who felt unwell due to low blood-sugar levels. source (via • follow)
I’m moving back to New York in a few days. Unlike past...
OMG. I got so...
In this week’s Newsweek, a little...
Tumblr this morning. [h/t anne]
#@#$%!.tumblr.com
Here’s a hidden feature that shipped in...
In May, Twitter sought to quash a subpoena for Occupy Wall Street protestor Malcolm Harris’s tweets, location, and other data over a 90-day period flanking his October 1st arrest for disorderly conduct on the Brooklyn Bridge. On Saturday, Judge Matthew Sciarrino Jr. upheld an earlier ruling that Harris himself had no standing to contest the subpoena, ruled that Harris had no expectation of privacy in a public tweet, and denied Twitter’s claim that the subpoena constituted an unreasonable burden on the company.
In short, only Twitter can fight a criminal court subpoena for user information, and for most requests for once-public information, the company will be expected by the court to hand it over. Unlike a privately sent email, “[t]here can be no reasonable expectation of privacy in a tweet sent around the world,” writes Judge Sciarrino Jr.
Sciarrino also makes it clear that in his opinion, the logic and implications of the ruling are not limited to Twitter alone, but all forms of social media.
It’s not the first time Twitter fought against giving away its users’ data in court.
The Internet Defense League
The Internet can always use more heroes and Alexis Ohanian, founder of Reddit, and Fight for the Future have formed the Internet Defense League to make it so.
Public enemy number one: ACTA and CISPA style legislation that seems to sprout like mushrooms these days.
Via Forbes:
Ohanian describes the project, which they plan to officially launch next month, as a “Bat-Signal for the Internet.” Any website owner can sign up on the group’s website to add a bit of code to his or her site–or receive that code by email at the time of a certain campaign–that can be triggered in the case of a political crisis like SOPA, adding an activist call-to-action to all the sites involved, such as a widget or banner asking users to sign petitions, call lawmakers, or boycott companies.
“People who wish to be tapped can see, oh look, the Bat-Signal is up. Time to do something,” says Ohanian. “Whatever website you own, this is a way for you to be notified if something comes up and take some basic actions…If we aggregate everyone that’s doing it, the numbers start exploding.”
Developers are encouraged to join the League. GitHub is here, a Google Group here and Tracker is here.
Love that Alexis Ohanian has jumped into online activism with both feet. It may be an even bigger gift to the Web than Reddit was.
Meet Josef Miles: While walking around the Washburn University campus with his mother, Josef noticed a group of protesters from the Westboro Baptist Church. After reading the group’s signs, Miles asked his mother if he could create his own sign. A sign featuring his thoughts on God’s worldview. With the approval of his mother, Patty Akrouche, Josef wrote “God Hates No One” on a notepad, crossed the street, and proceeded to spend a few minutes staging a protest of his own. (Photo via Morris News Service) source
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