Poor Mojo's Newswire

Record begins: 4:10pm [David House is sworn in and informed of his rights] Patrick Murphy: Would you please state your full name for the record? David House: My name is David House. PM: Did you meet Bradley Manning in January 2010? DH: On the advice of counsel, I invoke my right to remain silent under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. I am concerned that this grand jury is seeking information designed to infringe or chill my associational privacy, and that of others, guaranteed by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, and that it is using information obtained without a search warrant in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. I define the preceding statement as “invoke”, and when I say “I invoke” in the future I am referring to this statement. Deborah Curtis: Exhibit 1-A? PM: Mr. House, please direct your attention to the screen behind you, exhibit 1-A. DC: I can’t make it bigger. PM: Try… here, remove that bar on the side. DC: That didn’t work. DH: Do you guys need help? DC: We just need to make it bigger. Can everyone see this okay? PM: Ok… we’re going to continue. [A still image from the Frontline PBS special is displayed on the screen. Four figures are standing in front of the BUILDS logo, one figure has her back turned.] PM: Mr. House, can you identify the man on the right? DH: I invoke. PM: Can you identify the man standing second from right? DH: I invoke. PM: Ok, can you identify the person with bright-colored hair, standing here? DH: I invoke. PM: Are we to believe that identifying that individual would somehow incriminate you? DH: On the advice of counsel, I invoke my right to remain silent under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. I am concerned that this grand jury is seeking information designed to infringe or chill my associational privacy, and that of others, guaranteed by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, and that it is using information obtained without a search warrant in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. PM: Ok, can you identify the man on the left? PM: I would like to observe for the record that Mr. House is taking notes. DH: As to the previous question, I invoke. PM: Why are you taking notes? DH: Invoke. Bob Wiechering: I’d like to recommend, at this point, that we take a break and talk to your counsel. . . .

HOUSTON, Texas — All Sabu Williams wanted to do on Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend was register voters. One can imagine his surprise, then, when soon thereafter he received a letter from the state supervisor of elections threatening him with prosecution. The letter claimed Williams, president of the Okaloosa County NAACP, had run afoul of Florida’s new voter suppression law, which was passed by the Republican-controlled legislature last year. The law cut the state’s early voting period in half and enacted a host of new requirements on voter registration groups, including that they must turn in completed forms within 48 hours exactly or face a fine. (The 48-hour rule has since been blocked by a federal judge.) After the rule was first put in place, the NAACP was the only group in Okaloosa County that braved the new pitfalls and continued to register voters. However, when they registered voters over MLK weekend, they were charged with submitting the forms an hour late on Tuesday, despite the fact that they were unable to submit forms on Monday because it was a holiday. “We’re here the very first day that you’re open at 2 o’clock in the afternoon and you’re saying that we’re an hour late?” Williams asked. “You’ve got to be kidding me.” He soon received a letter from the state supervisor of elections. “We appreciate you going out and registering voters,” the letter read. “However, you were late for two of those and if you’re late anymore we’re going to turn this over to the Florida Department of Justice . . .