Time to close Guantanamo Bay prison and end all occupation of Cuba

The prison camp at Guantanamo bay in Cuba that houses so-called ‘enemy combatants’ has been an atrocity, with those taken into custody in the so-called ‘War on Terror’ being housed there and subject to torture and the denial of basic human rights such as being held indefinitely under appalling conditions and without prospect of a trial, or force-feeding hunger strikers. Calling them ‘enemy combatants’ instead of ‘prisoners of war’ is the fig-leaf used by the US government to violate the Geneva Conventions .The US likes the fact that the ambiguous status of the prison territory enables it to skirt US law in the way it treats detainees. enabling substantial abuses.
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The Sackler family epitomizes greed and sleaziness

I have written many times before about the Sackler family that made billions of dollars by pushing their company Purdue Pharmaceuticals to get doctors to overprescribe the opioid painkiller OxyContin and making the dosage stronger, resulting in the massive drug addiction problem we have now that have caused so many deaths.

Investigative reporter Patrick Radden Keefe has written a new book Empire of Pain about the Sackler family and he was interviewed on the radio program Fresh Air about how the family went to great efforts to push the drug while at the same time keeping their name separate from the company so that they could build up their reputations as philanthropists and have their name attached to many public and university buildings. He explained how they are trying to shield their personal fortunes from the many lawsuits against them by shifting company money into their private accounts and then putting the company into bankruptcy.
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The ‘Trump made me do it’ defense is not working

As the trials start to unfold for those who took part in the January 6th insurrection, we see the various defenses being brought forward. One that is being tried is “I was following Trump’s leadership”. One of those trying it in order to get out on bail is a 51-year old geophysicist from Colorado named Jeffrey Sabot who, after returning home, tried to destroy evidence by zapping his phone in the microwave (would that even work?) and making other moves. His problem is that he is seen on videos attacking a police officer at the Capitol. He then decided to flee to Switzerland (which with the US does not have an extradition treaty) and say that he was going to ski.

But after arriving in Boston and going to the airport to leave the country, he panicked when he saw police officers whom he thought were coming for him so he left the airport and drove south in a rented car, throwing his phone over a bridge along the way. But he was caught and arrested anyway.
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Review: American Insurrection (2021)

The PBS investigative program Frontline has been investigating hate groups in American for the last few years and I linked to two earlier documentaries that they produced in 2018. One was Documenting Hate: Charlottesville and the other was Documenting Hate: New American Nazis. Hence they were well positioned to explore the roots of the insurrection that occurred on January 6th because its chief correspondent A. C. Thompson already knew many of the key players in those groups.
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And now we have Walgreens Karen

A woman in Florida (of course!) was asked by a Walgreens store employee to wear a mask but simply walked past. When another female customer, who happens to be a Muslim, told her that an employee was talking to her, she let loose an incredibly ugly and racist tirade. She then made the classic maneuver that identifies her as a Karen by calling the police and saying that she is the victim under threat. You should watch the video to the end when the tables are turned on her when the police do not take her side and her swagger disappears to be replaced by whimpering.

Police officer who prevented chokehold exonerated after 15 years

Derek Chauvin is currently on trial for the murder of George Floyd after restraining him with a form of chokehold by kneeling on his neck for nine minutes. Three other officers stood by, not only doing nothing to stop Chauvin but making sure that no member of the gathered crowd that was pleading for Floyd to be released were able to do anything either. Eric Garner also died in 2014 after being placed in a chokehold by a police officer.

It turns out that back in 2006, a Black police officer intervened when a white colleague placed a Black man in a chokehold, likely saving his life. So what happened to her? She was later fired and forfeited her pension. She sued but a court upheld her firing. But just this week, over a decade later, that ruling was reversed by a higher court that took what happened to Floyd and Garner into account.
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The US and its NATO allies to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan

Joe Biden has announced that the US and its NATO allies will withdraw all their troops from Afghanistan by September 11, 2021.

US president Joe Biden has declared it was time “to end America’s longest war” as he announced that nearly 10,000 US and Nato troops would return home from Afghanistan in the run-up to the 20th anniversary of 9/11.

Addressing the world from the White House, Biden said 2,500 US troops plus a further 7,000 from “Nato allies” including 750 from the UK would gradually leave the country starting on 1 May. “The plan has long been in together, out together,” he added.

“We cannot continue the cycle of extending or expanding our military presence in Afghanistan, hoping to create ideal conditions for the withdrawal and expecting a different result,” Biden said in a late afternoon speech.

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