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Political Prisoner Oscar Lopez And The United States’ Subjugation Of Puerto Rico

January 19, 2015 By Matt Peppe 4 Comments

With Eric Holder on his way out the door as Attorney General, many Puerto Ricans are stepping up their calls for President Barack Obama to pardon 71-year-old political prisoner Oscar López Rivera, who has spent the last 33 years behind bars for seditious conspiracy. The holiday season is a common time for Presidents to use their power to grant clemency, but this was not to be in 2014 for the President who has granted the fewest pardons in modern times.

For Puerto Ricans, dismissal of their political demands is emblematic of their subjugation as colonial subjects.

In December, at a concert in San Juan, reggaeton singer René Pérez Joglar of the band Calle 13 brought López’s daughter Clarissa on stage to read a letter pleading for her father’s release. After winning the silver medal in judo in the Central American and Caribbean games in November, Augusto Miranda told the press: “I want to use this forum for all the people of Puerto Rico and the United States. It’s an abuse what they’ve done to Oscar López Rivera, political prisoner. It’s time to give him his freedom.”

Filed Under: Civil Liberties, National News Tagged With: #FreeOscarLopez, Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, Alejandro García Padilla, American Indian Movement, apartheid, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Calle 13, CELAC, Chicago Tribune, Church Committee, Clarissa Lopez, clemency, Cointelpro, colonialism, Commonwealth, Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, Congress, decolonization, democracy, Desmond Tutu, entrapment, Eric Holder, FALN, FBI, Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional Puertorriqueña, GOP, Human Rights, indepdenence, Insular Cases, international law, Interstate Commerce Clause, Israel, J. Edgar Hoover, José Mujica, José “Pepe” Mujica, Juan R. Torruella, Latin America, Law 53, Lolita Lebrón, Loretta Lynch, Luis Muñoz Marin, Máiread Corrigan Maguire, Marshall Islands, Medicare, Nationalist Party, Native Americans, Nelson Mandela, Nicolás Maduro, Nobel Peace Prize, occupation, Oscar López, Oscar López Rivera, Partido Popular Democratico, Pedro Albizu Campos, Pedro Pierluisi, Plessy vs. Ferguson, Presidential Pardon, Puerto Rican Senate, Puerto Rico, Pueto Rican Constitution, René Pérez Joglar, Republican Party, SCOTUS, seditious conspiracy, social media, Social Security, Spain, Spanish-American War, Supreme Court, Supreme Court of The United States, UN General Assembly, UN Special Committee on Decolonization, United Nations, United States Attorney General, Universidad de Puerto Rico, UPR, Uroyoán Ramón Emeterio Walker, Uruguay, Venezuela

AL And His Best Bud Gerry Mander

November 19, 2014 By Adam Powell 1 Comment

The Supreme Court is set to hear a case concerning gerrymandering in Alabama, specifically the recent case spearheaded by Alabama Republicans. Generally, as is the case with the current Alabama ballyhoo, politicians squeeze or stretch the lines of voting districts in an effort to stack them in their favor or to hurt their opponent.

The case that the Supreme Court will be hearing concerns changes made in 2010 by Alabama’s majority Republican legislature which consolidated black voters into already majority black districts. The intended outcome of this is obvious: if Southern black voters, who generally vote for Democrats, are consolidated together into voting districts, their vote will have less of an impact in elections.

Our law actually allows for politicians to lump people into voting districts to stack bigger districts with their constituents in an effort to affect the outcome of elections. Therefore, it is not the indecency of southern conservatives that is the root of this problem, it is the age-old practice of gerrymandering that should truly be on trial.

Filed Under: Elections, National News Tagged With: Alabama, democracy, Democratic Party, election 2014, gerrymandering, GOP, Republican Party, SCOTUS, Supreme Court, Supreme Court of The United States

Bush Family And Its Inner Circle Play Central Role In Lawsuits Against Denton Fracking Ban

November 12, 2014 By Steve Horn 2 Comments

On November 4, Denton, Texas, became the first city in the state to ban the process of hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) when 59 percent of voters cast ballots in favor of the initiative. It did so in the heart of the Barnett Shale basin, where George Mitchell — the “father of fracking” — drilled the first sample wells for his company Mitchell Energy.

As promised by the oil and gas industry and by Texas Railroad Commission commissioner David Porter, the vote was met with immediate legal backlash. Both the Texas General Land Office and the Texas Oil and Gas Association (TXOGA) filed lawsuits in Texas courts within roughly 12 hours of the vote taking place, the latest actions in the aggressive months-long campaign by the industry and the Texas state government to fend off the ban.

The Land Office and TXOGA lawsuits, besides making similar legal arguments about state law preempting local law under the Texas Constitution, share something else in common: ties to former President George W. Bush and the Bush family at large.

Filed Under: Elections, Environment, National News Tagged With: Alberto R. Gonzales, American Lawyer, Antonin Scalia, Arbella Exploration, Baker Botts, Baker Botts Amicus Fund, Barnett Shale, Britton Hill Holdings, Clean Water Act, David Porter, Denton, Earthworks, election 2014, Energy Policy Act of 2005, Evan Young, Food and Water Watch, fracked gas, Fracked Oil, fracking, George H.W. Bush, George Mitchell, George P. Bush, George W. Bush, GreenWire, Houston, Hunt Oil, hydraulic fracturing, Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission, Iraq, Iraqi Constitution, Jeb Bush, Jerry Patterson, Kurdish Regional Government, Michael B. Mukasey, Midland, Mitch Jones, Mitchell Energy, National Environmental Policy Act, Ray Hunt, Rick Perry, Robert L. Looney, Ronald Reagan, Safe Drinking Water Act, SCOTUS, Sharon Wilson, St. Augustine Capital Partners, Supreme Court, Supreme Court of The United States, Texas, Texas Constitution, Texas General Land Office, Texas Oil and Gas Association, Texas Oil and Gas PAC, Texas Railroad Commission, Thomas Phillips, TXOGA, United Kalyvryta

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