We've been defamed by Amnesty International again!

Amnesty International in such a worthless group it make the ACLU look mainstream. But every year we get rated by this group and again, this year, we got called bad names. Really cool.

I won't go through the whole thing. If drugs ain't helping you sleep, this will. Here are some highlights and commentary:

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Head of state and government: Barack H. Obama

Forty-three men were executed during the year, and concerns about cruel prison conditions continued. Scores of detainees remained in indefinite military detention at Guantánamo. Pre-trial proceedings continued in six cases in which the administration was intending to seek the death penalty following trials by military commission. Use of lethal force in the counter-terrorism context continued to raise
serious concerns, as did continuing reports of the use of excessive force in domestic law enforcement.

Well we tried to change the head of state and government but that didn't work out. Oh well. And I'm proud to say my state, Texas, was again number on in executions in both total and per capital basis.

Counter-terror and security

Detentions at Guantánamo

At the end of 2012, nearly three years after President Obama’s deadline for closure of the Guantánamo detention facility, 166 men were still held at the base,the vast majority without charge or criminal trial....

And you believed him. You're dumber than you look!

Use of lethal force

...At least 42 people across 20 states died after being struck by police Tasers, bringing the total number of such deaths since 2001 to 540. Tasers have been listed as a cause or contributory factor in more than 60 deaths. Most of those who died after being struck with a Taser were not armed and did not appear to pose a serious threat when the Taser was deployed.

In May the American Heart Association published a report which presented the first scientific, peer reviewed evidence concluding that Tasers can cause cardiac arrest and death. The study analyzed information including autopsy reports, medical records and police data from eight cases in which individuals had lost consciousness after being shocked with a Taser X26 weapon.

On 20 June, 39-year-old Macadam Mason died outside his home in Thetford, Vermont, after being struck with a Taser deployed by a state trooper. In September the New Hampshire Medical Examiner’s Office concluded that Macadam Mason had suffered “sudden cardiac arrest due to the conducted electricalweapon discharge”.

In October, the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General reported that it was reviewing US Border Patrol policies on the use of lethal force. The review, which remained ongoing at the end of the year, followed a series of deadly shootings by Border Patrol agents along the US border with Mexico. In October, 16-year-old José Antonio Elena Rodríguez died of gunshot wounds. The US authorities said that a Border Patrol agent from Nogales, Arizona, had opened fire after two individuals suspected of drug smuggling had fled across the border and begun throwing rocks. The case was under investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Mexican officials at the end of the year...

The propaganda is slanted to make one believe a Taser is a use of deadly force. No, it's intermediate force. But like other intermediate weapons it can lead to more serious injuries. Pepper spray is designed to disable someone but it can, in limited cases, cause serious breathing cases or death. An officer using a baton my be striking at the thigh but hit the knee or head (suspect lunches forward). That's legitimate use of intermediate force, but more serious injuries or death can occur. If you don't like it, I have a suggestion. Don't break the law!

Prison conditions

Incarceration rates remained at historically high levels.

Thousands of prisoners across the USA remained in isolation in “super-maximum security” prisons. They were confined to cells for 22-24 hours a day, without adequate access to natural light, exercise or rehabilitation programmes. Conditions in such facilities violated international standards and in some cases amounted to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment...

You know, the people they murdered, injured or raped may not think of three hots and a cot for the rest of their lives at no cost is not cruel, inhuman or degrading. The purpose of incarceration is to separate theses animals from the general public, the prison staff and the other prisoners. Again, don't like it, don't break the law.

Right to health

In June, the US Supreme Court upheld The Affordable Health Care Act, passed in 2010, which would expand health care coverage by 2014 to more
than 30 million people in the USA who lack medical insurance...

I don't know what is more pathetic. They actually believe in a right to health care or that Obamacare will actually expand health care to millions. Enough said.

Death penalty

Forty-three prisoners – all of them men – were executed in the USA during the year, all by lethal injection. Fifteen of the executions were carried out in Texas. By the end of 2012, Texas accounted for 492 of the 1,320 executions in the USA since 1976, when the US Supreme Court approved new capital laws. In April, Connecticut became the 17th abolitionist state in the USA. In November, the California electorate, by a vote of about 53% to 47%, rejected “Proposition 34”, an initiative that would have abolished the state’s death penalty and commuted over 700 death sentences to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

Again, Texas is number one. We permanently rehabilitate more waste of sperm than any state. And 53% of the electorate give me hope for the People's Republic of California.

All in all a waste of electrons but it's good to know we can annoy the right people. Amnesty International, if you want to impress me, go and say this crap to the Mullahs' in Tehran or the big boys of China.