Ronnie Massaro speaking at San Francisco State University. Photo by the author

VICE is exploring America's prison system in the week leading up to our special report with President Obama for HBO. Tune in Sunday, September 27, at 9 PM EST, to see his historic first-ever presidential visit to a federal prison.

During my final year of imprisonment, I wrote a monthly update letter and addressed the envelope to the federal probation office in San Francisco. I had no idea which probation officer would be keeping tabs on me, but I coveted the highest level of liberty possible, and hoped to influence the officer who would be overseeing my release.

Shortly after surrendering to the halfway house in San Fran, I asked Charles, my case manager, if he knew which probation officer I'd be working with. He flipped pages through his thick red file.

"Looks like you've got Christine."

Charles gave me Christine's number and I set up an appointment, where we spoke for an hour. Although she hadn't received any of my letters, she said, she listened to me speak about my adjustment plans for building a career around my journey. Christine expressed support. Although I wasn't obligated, Christine invited me to attend a group meeting she held with other men who'd been released from prison.

I met Ronnie at the first and last group meeting I attended.

By then, many years had passed since I'd left a high-security prison. But when I was among the 2,500 men inside the 40-foot walls that surround the United States Penitentiary in Atlanta where I began my term, you could expected violence to break out on any given dayand when Ronnie walked into Christine's group-counseling session, I instantly recognized him as a shot caller, or gang leader. He had a shaved head. Lightening bolts and demons and swastikas sleeved out his arms in fading blue ink. He sat at the head of the table with a "Don't fuck with me" expression on his face.

Ronnie didn't have to say a word for me to know that he'd served his time in high-security facilities, and probably had done a few sordid deeds to earn his place as a shot caller on the yard. Something that was said often to me was, "It's easy to get respect in the penitentiary, so long as you're willing to pay the price"Ronnie looked like he'd paid the price.

Christine introduced me to the group, telling them I'd been transferred to the halfway house after 25 years in prison.

"I was at that same halfway house," I remember Ronnie snarling. "Didn't last a week."

"Why not, OG?" someone asked. Clearly, the other men looked to Ronnie as a leader.

Ronnie went on to explain how, from the minute he got there, he felt out of sortsor "out of pocket." People were slinging dope, women were turning tricks, and he didn't have a knife or pistol!

The other guys laughed.

Ronnie went on to explain how in In the penor federal penitentiaryeveryone knew exactly how to act. The "big homie" on the yard laid down the law. People stuck to their own kind and adhered to established hierarchies. But none of the rules he'd been living by seemed to matter anymore. When he felt disrespected by a man touching his coffee and threw him inside of a locker, US Marshals showed up with the cuffs and chains.

That sent Ronnie back to prison.

Christine cut in and told us about the growth Ronnie had made since then and how proud she was of his adjustment. He concluded his sentence four years previously, and she considered him a role model because he'd been holding steady employment, an accomplishment few former prisoners can pull off.

Ronnie grew up in Richmond, California, a working-class community just north of Oakland. From the time between his 15th birthday and his release from prison at 49, he'd never experienced more than 12 consecutive months in free society. His last stretch kept him locked up for 20 years.

"Each time I got out before, I just kept doing the same ol' thing. Slinging drugs, doin' what I knew how to do, handlin' business," he said. "When I got out this time, I wanted to do right. Jus' didn't know how. I got a son who starts and quits jobs all the time like it's nothin'. I couldn't catch a job nowhere. Didn't even know how to look. When I go by a spot lookin' for work, they tell me to fill out some application on a computer. Never learnt how to use no computer in prison! Walmart wouldn't hire me 'cause the manager said I didn't exist in the credit world, said I never paid taxes, said I didn't exist. Couldn't believe that I couldn't get a job at Walmart."

"How'd you end up getting hired where you work now?" one of the men in the group who'd been discouraged by the job market asked.

Ronnie explained that a buddy turned him on to a temp agency. "I didn't even know what a temp agency was. Said they give day jobs. I'd been out of work for 18 months and was just trying to do right, trying to get my feet up under me. No one gave me a break. Kept asking about the gap in my resume. Wasn't nothin' there for 30 years. Didn't have no experience, no references.

"Finally got sent out on a couple of labor jobs, making 'bout eight, nine bucks an hour. When I did some dirty work hauling boxes in the hot sun that no one else'd do, I got asked if I wanted a full-time spot. Been working there for two years now, still can't earn a livable wage. Just don't know how to get along in a way to move up."

"What do you mean?" I asked. Like the other men, I was anxious to learn more about the challenges of reentry.

"No one out here in society gets me," Ronnie said, leaning back in his chair. "In prison you learn how to carry yourself in a certain way. I don't know how to smile. I'm not madit's just the way I look. Certain facial expressions frighten people out here. I didn't want people approaching me in prison, so I had to look a certain way. That's just the way I am. Don't even realize that I'm doin' it out here. In prison I didn't want people comin' near me. Out here, people take me the wrong way."

The other guys laughed. They could relate.

"See, I can walk into any prison and I'm instantly gonna know what's going on. Don't even got to know no one in the room. I'm gonna know who's who and what's up. Out here, if I walk into a room of people I don't know, I'm uncomfortable. Don't know how to act. Feel like everyone's lookin' at me, judgin' me. That's why I just keep workin' the job I'm on. Even though I ain't earning much, don't want to go through the whole process of havin' to explain myself and my background all over again."

Ronnie told the group that he wasn't alone. He communicated with a few other guys who served long stretches in the penitentiary. They were the same way. The adjustments they made inside made them feel as if they'd missed something when they returned to society. He's as well-adjusted as he'll ever be, Ronnie said. But he told me that he felt more comfortable in prison than he would ever feel in society. "Those are my people in prison and I know how to handle myself in here. Don't know how to act out here. I missed a generation or something, and it's still a shock. I can't relate."

Six years have passed since Ronnie was released, and he's now finished with supervision from probation. I called him recently to see how the adjustment has progressed. He's 55 years old now, he told me, and somewhat concerned with retirementhe doesn't know what he'll do. He doesn't take vacations, sick days, or any time off. He recently got promoted from working in a warehouse to driving. He's been able to purchase his first house, he said, but had to take in four roommates to make ends meet.

"Now just got to hope that nothin' they're doin' brings me problems," Ronnie says.

His is a fairly typical story. The adjustment patterns that many people find necessary to cope in a "correctional" setting contrast with the adjustment patterns that tend to produce success in society. That's another reason we must reform our nation's sentencing and prison systems: They're designed to perpetuate failure, rather than create functional members of society.

Some former inmates like Ronnie succeed in overcoming anyway.

Follow Michael Santos on Twitter and check out his website here.

London doesn't have the best of reputations. That might be because it's full of toxic smog, statistically one of the most dangerous places in the UK, andas you may have read about literally anywhere at any point in the past decadea ludicrously expensive place to live.

Want some more depressing facts? OK: social housing residents are being carted out of London, splintering families and communities, while developers build floating swimming pools in luxury apartment blocks nobody will ever live in. Gentrification is making the whole of inner London look like Guildford. There's a massive M&M's store in Leicester Square that has somehow managed to become a cultural landmark. We've written about all that, as has pretty much everyone else, because it's all stuff that's impossible to ignore.

However, for all its council-mandated social cleansing, novelty cafes, and Keep Calm souvenirs, London is still an incredible place. For Londoners, their city is unique, incredibly diverse, and defined not just by landmarks or statistics, but people. Although it's not perfect, to them it's the best city in the world.

Here are the stories of eight Londoners:

Visitors and volunteers at The Bike Project (Photo courtesy of The Bike Project)

The Immigrant

Britain's response to the refugee crisis in Europe has been pretty poor. With the government doing the bare minimum to help, volunteer-run organizations like The Bike Project in South Londonset up a couple of years agoare offering refugees and asylum seekers the support they need when trying to build a new life in a strange city. The project fixes up old bikes and donates them to refugees, teaching them mechanic skills and offering them support along the way.

Tam, 19, came to London from Ethiopia a few years ago, arriving in a bitterly cold March to join his dad, who'd arrived in the UK a few years before. He lives with his parents, brother, and two sisters, and although he spoke almost no English when he arrived, he's now studying Sports Management at Lewisham College. He found it difficult to talk to people at first, but he's now made friends at college and through The Bike Project, and can't imagine moving back to Ethiopia any time soon.

For him, London is a place of opportunity:

Starting life in London is one of the best things that can happen. If you work, you can get everything that you want. At the beginning it's hard, but afterward, once you get used to it, things get easier. Going to college, you get the support that you need. There's a lot of support here in London if you lookeverywhere you go there are people and places that can help you. There are a lot of organisations, like this got a big building round the corner from where the Roxy was, just in what is now the grand square in Covent Garden. It was a bomb site, and they started putting on gigs. They had rehearsal rooms, and people like Chrissie Hynde, Steve Strange, various American punk bands that came over, would rehearse there, and we rehearsed there. They put the first ever gig of The Slits on there; 15-year-old Ari Up jumped up on stage and had a pair of knickers over her jeans. Sid Vicious famously shouted out: "You're only up there 'cos Johnny Rotten's knobbing your mum!"

Without The Roxy, punk wouldn't have happened the way it did. They created that focus. It really was like a magnifying glass; it took all that energy and set the whole thing on fire. And everybody who was going to be anything in punkincluding managers and agents, stylists, photographers, filmmakers, journalists, fans, whateverthey all went to the Roxy. Ninety percent of that whole revolution happened because of that focus.

Sheldon Thomas (Photo courtesy of Gangsline)

The Former Gang Member

Sheldon Thomas has been involved with London gangs for over 30 years. As a member of one in the 1970s, he witnessed shootings and experienced racism at the hands of the police and the National Front. After Bernie Grant, one of Britain's first black MPs, helped Sheldon find a way out, he started to help other gang members build a life away from crime.

Now he runs Gangsline, a charity dedicated to engaging with gang members and helping local authorities understand the problems they face. Sheldon knows that life as a young black person in London has never been easy; he says a lack of jobs and opportunities makes it hard for new generations to see any alternative to joining a gang, and with gangs controlling London's drug trade it can offer easy money, too. However, Sheldon still sees London's young people as special, a generation worth investing in:

"I think the uniqueness of London is, among young people, racism is almost non-existent. I think white kids and black kids do not see color, whereas white adults and black adults see colorbut I don't think children see color like we used to; like I did when I was young.

So if you're gonna say, 'What has London got that many cities like New York don't have?' I'd say we're more integrated than America. The reason why we should invest in young people is because they don't have the hangups we as adults have."

N Quentin Woolf

The Writer

London being a city of incredible culturaland as a cultural influence on the worldis a point often made. But when you're trying to work, eat, sleep, and find some time to enjoy yourself, it's easy to miss the absolute wealth of things on offer. As the host of the Londonist Out Loud podcast, N Quentin Woolf spends his days seeking out the hidden culture and history of the city. He recalls first coming to London as a kid, sitting on a Routemaster bus with his granddad and struggling to take in the diversity and life unfolding around him. Now, he's a novelist, and uses the city's rich creative scene to bring his work to life.

It's easy to take for granted the fact that London is a global hub for so many creative worlds: fashion, dance, theater, art, television, literature, and so on. Any one of these would be something special, but the fact that they all intersect here acts as a multiplier. If you want to shoot a film, it's so much easier to find yourself in the orbit of great costume designers, or sound engineers, or actors, and for there to be enough of them that you can find co-collaborators on the same wavelength as you, who are willing to give something a try.

Artists are highly entrepreneurial, and London is a great place to make stuff happen; it's also diverse enough for you to find an audience, and small enough to stay connected.

Asifa Lahore

The Outsider

Asifa grew up in Southall, West London in a traditional Muslim family. He knew he was gay from an early age, but there was no one in his conservative community who he could to turn to. At 16 he convinced his parents to let him attend the BRIT School for Performing Arts in south London, and it was there he finally felt truly comfortable.

Clubs like Heaven have become mainstream enough to attract straight clubbers on a Saturday night, but London's gay Asian scene is still a refuge for those who can't come out in their own community. Asifa started performing drag a few years ago at nights like Club Kali. Appearing under the name Asifa Lahore, he's Britain's first Muslim drag act.

Asifa points out how London can be whatever you want to make of it.

I'd go between Southall and Croydon and start to make up excuses to my mum and dad about where I was going at the weekends. They weren't aware that I was going nightclubbing at gay venues, so, I mean, at the time, definitely in my late teens, the center of London was like an expression of who I was. It allowed me to be myself, because I was away from family and community eyes.

You've got gay Asian nights all over the place in London. There's North London, where Club Kali is, then I actually set up a night in Ealing in West London. East London has its gay Asian drag parties left, right, and center in places you'd never imagine. You'd see just a normal Indian restaurant in, say, Ilford, and in the basement they'd be having a gay Asian drag party, with 100 or 200 people.

It's interesting; for me, London is all about what's behind everything. What you see in the daytime is totally different in the night time.

@bofrankln

Photo by Flickr user WyoFile Wyo File

Earlier this year, the Public Interest Legal Foundation, a nonprofit law firm founded to "fight lawlessness in Americanelections," issued a report with what, on the surface, looked like alarming statistics: accordingto US census data, in 141 counties, across 21 states, the number of peopleregistered to vote far outnumbered residents who were eligible to votein somecases, very far. In Franklin County, Illinois, for example, voter rollsoutnumbered eligible voters by 90 percent. Inother words, if you are registered to vote in Franklin County, there is a goodchance that you are dead, or don't live there anymore.

There's no actual law against these imbalancesfederalelection law prevents counties from removing voters from the rolls withoutconfirming that they aren't actually ineligible. But PILF is nevertheless threatening to sue the counties if theydon't clean up their books. Claiming that their report's findings are soegregious that they constitute a threat to the integrity of the country'selections, PILF argues that the counties are violating a section of 1993's National Voter Registration Act, which requires local officials tomake reasonable efforts to remove dead or ineligible voters from their rolls.

All this hue and cry is a little shrill, and it's unlikely thatPILF's legal haranguing will actually come to anything. But the problem thegroup points out is real, and widespread. And while these ghost voters may not posethe existential threat that PILF suggests, they are signs of a systemically badbureaucracy that has the potential to cripple the democratic processnationwide.

PILF is just the latest in a long line of organizations toname, shame, and even sue counties for having more voters on the books thanresidents over the past five years or so. In 2011, a similar campaign called out 14 counties in Illinois; another grouptook 24 counties in Iowa and 20 in Colorado to task the next year; and in 2014, Judicial Watch put 11 states and the District of Columbia on noticefor having voter rolls overloaded with people who didn't exist.

A more expansive survey of the problem, conducted by the PewCenter on the States in 2012, found that about one in eight voter records inthe US are inaccurate, out-of-date, or duplicates. Contrary to whatconservative groups like PILF suggest, Pew found that these errors did notappear to result in incidences of voter fraud. But they nevertheless wereinefficient, and put a drag on taxpayer time and money.

J. Christian Adams, PILF's president, believes that the problem is even more widespread. Adams, who served in the Justice Department's Voting Section from 2005 to 2010 and who has since been involved in a number of campaigns to rectify voter rolls, believes that while his team only caught 141 hyper-inflated counties in their recent report, there maybe more than 200 counties nationwide with similar imbalance figures.

That's not a huge number, given that there are 3,143counties or county equivalents in America, so 200 only accounts for 6.4 percent.But national averages show that only about 70 percent of eligible voters are actually registered, a figure against whichmany more counties may be implicated in voter roll inflations. Withinindividual states, the proportion of counties with more registered than eligiblevoters can be quite high. PILF's report identifies 24 offending counties inMichigan, for example, or nearly a third of the counties in the state.

PILFand other organizations concerned with this issue claim that the errors andoversights on the voter rolls make it easy for people to commit fraud at the ballot,diluting ballots, disenfranchising citizens, and corruptingthe electoral system at the core of our democratic government. There'soften a conspiratorial or paranoid tinge to these warnings, suggesting that thecurrent Democratic president and his allies on the left are opposed to cleaning up voterrolls because it allows them to cheat their way into power. Implicitly, andin at least one campaign explicitly, the conclusion is that as long as voter rolls remaincluttered and inaccurate, there's a reason to enact new voting restrictions, like the voter ID laws that have been shown to disenfranchise many eligible voters, many of whom are poor or minorities.

In recent years, most direct claims of voter fraud,by any means, have proved false. And where people do vote as someone they'renot, the issue was usually a clerical error, like signing a voter roll on thewrong line, usually as a relative whose name would show up proximate to yourown, rather than a vote by an illegible voter or a double vote by anyone. So itseems we're pretty well protected against fraud by existing measures, with or without dead voterson the rolls.

And despite a few reportedly successful cases against countieswith inflated voter rolls, it's actually pretty hard to prove that a voterregistration system isn't making due efforts to keep up with changingpopulation. Taken together, it's easy to see PILF's report as overstated and attention-mongering, and dismiss the issue of inflated voter rolls as anodd but ultimately innocuous consequence of outdated record-keeping.

In reality, inflated voter rolls are a problem, for reasonsfar less sexy than voter fraud and fundamental electoral legitimacy.

"If you have someone on your list that should no longer beon your list, and you're still sending them information in the mail, you'restill drawing precinct boundaries thinking they live in a particular place,"said David Becker, director of Election Initiatives at the Pew CharitableTrusts. "There are costs that go along with that... ."

This suggests that, when ERIC and similar tools are used,they can adequately and thoughtfully solve the legitimate problems of voterroll inflation, and eliminate a grounds for paranoia about voter fraud (andsupport for worrying polling restrictions), all at low, pay-for-themselvescosts. So promoting ERIC may be a better tactic, for anyone legitimatelyconcerned about the functionality and legitimacy of American elections, thanthe PILF's lawsuits, and alarmism.

"We've seen in three years that at least the ERIC states areseeing a real benefit," said Baker. "And as more states continue to join, Ithink were going to see that this problem is not entirely solvedbut is getting solved... And we can move on toother issues."

Follow Mark on Twitter.

The story of Jimmy "Orion" Ellis is either one of the greatest cons to be forged in the history of American music or it's one of its greatest unsolved mysteries. It's the story of a masked man with a voice so close to Elvis's that even the King's most die-hard admirers couldn't tell the difference.

The similarities are staggering: Ellis was born to a woman named Gladys (as was Elvis) but was soon adopted, meaning his true identity was never known or discovered. If you then throw in the legendary Sun Records (Elvis's label) as a recording outlet for the singer (his debut album even being called Reborn) and dress him up with a fictional identity, you have Orion: an artist who managed to convincebe it inadvertently or under instructionthousands that he was indeed the King hidden behind a glitter-strewn mask.

However, behind Orion's elaborate jumpsuits, face masks, velvet-drenched vocals, and sense of enigma was a real, non-Elvis person, a confused human trying to figure himself out while locked into the faade (contractually) of having to live the life of someone else.

Ellis was a simple Southern gent in many ways but also an idiosyncratic oddity in others; his penchant for the ladies over the years ran to such an extent that he carried around with him a suitcase full of polaroids of vaginas taken from sexual encounters he had had with women on the road whom he called "Lucys."

All of this is captured in a new documentary called Orion:

The doc is by Jeanie Finlay, a rising star in British documentary filmmaking, having previously made excellent films like Sound It Outabout the last remaining record shop in Stockton on Teesor The Great Hip Hop Hoax,the tale of some Scottish chancers taking on the music industry.

After picking up a record of Orion's in a bargain bin, Finlay set about telling his story. I caught up with Finlay back at this year's Sheffield Doc/Fest, where the film received its UK premiere, and attempted to gently skip around any spoiler alerts about the filmwhich is kind of hard.

VICE: When you picked up that Orion record, were you drawn to make a film based on the story and image of him or did the music grab you too?
Jeanie Finlay: It was more the story. I thought the music was interesting. Some of the songs, like "Honey"used in the title sequenceare amazing. It could be from a David Lynch film. It's haunting and the production is really good but then there are super cheesy songs like "Washing Machine." It was definitely the story.

Orion's son, Jim Jr., who features a lot in the film was initially reticent to speak with you. How did you turn him around?
He agreed, I think a bit reluctantly, to do an interview in person. He assumed that we must be rich and I explained that it was done on a wing and a prayer. Our Nashville-based cameraman had a car and goodwill, we had some development money and bought cheap flights, and one of the guys shooting the film was my husband, so we could split costs. I think he couldn't quite figure it out. He ended up liking us and, when I went back to film on his land, he welcomed us.

What was Orville like to film at and stay in?
You have to remember that Orville is a town with 112 people and people are quite isolated. Somebody's nearest neighbor might be two miles away. It's a very different atmosphere but I think ultimately being a strange, ramshackle British crew in this odd place helped because you can ask stupid questions. It's so small that there wasn't anywhere for us to stay so we had to go to Selma and stay there.

It's very beautiful in a lot of ways but also a place that used to be quite rich but has lost a lot of money over the last 50 years post-segregationit's an area that used to produce cotton. It's odd, as I was thinking that this film in many ways is about the death of the south. It's not overt but thinking about somewhere like Orville I could really understand why Jimmy wanted to break out and be Orion. You have all these houses that have just been taken over by nature or have no money to put into them anymore and then things like the whites-only schools have been bulldozed. It made for interesting scenes, lots of cotton fields, buildings, and outhouses taken over by vines. That felt really important to show... how it's a place that was not what it once was.

There seems to be a real strand of humanity in your films and you work with people that could be victims instead of heroes. Is that a really important aspect to your filmmaking?
It's massively important to me. I want to make films with all of my heart. I want people to recognize themselves when they see the film and that's for good or bad. I think it's good to challenge your expectations of people as well; we'll often structure the edit so that you feel one way about someone at one point and then differently by the end and you challenge your preconceptions.

Because I make independent films I don't have to answer to anyone and if I had the pressures of a broadcaster or an agenda of those things then it would be a lot more difficult to do that. The freedom of doing that myself means that I am now in a much stronger position to say "this is how I do things."

If you want people to recognize themselves in your films, is there any character within this film, or any of your others, that you most closely see yourself in?
Sound It Out is definitely my most personal film, so I feel like a character in that. It started off as my love/hate letter to the North East but the process of making the film made me really love the area again. I got my head kicked in in Stockton, like really badly, kicked in the face and beaten up by five girls on a night out so I was always really wary of it there. But I spent a lot of time going home because my mom was ill with breast cancer and Sound It Out Records was the only place worth going to, so I just felt compelled to make the film.

WATCH: VICE Talks Film with Shane Meadows:

Combined with your last film, The Great Hip Hop Hoax, you've had a good root around in the various corners of the music industry. What are your overall feelings on the music and film industry from your experiences?
I thought about it a lot because of the rise of programs like the X Factor and The Voice, I hate them, I can't watch them. They break my heart, I feel like you can see people's hearts snapping. It's about the industry, it's got nothing to do with if you're a good singer or not. I find them really difficult to watch but it's always been the same.

I've not been purposely going out to make these music industry films but I've been compelled to do so because they're portraits of layered identities and about maintaining who you are when you're doing what you want to do. That's got a lot of resonance for me as a filmmakerhow do you get your story out there without having to compromise it, to get money?

Orion was something of a victim to the mechanics of the music industry. Did you come away liking him after making the film?
It kind of waxed and waned throughout the process. He loved the ladies and everyone kept telling me that over and over again. Quite often I would be told 'oh, he'd have loved your hair' and I was like 'am I supposed to take that as a compliment?' He certainly didn't make some of the best life choices, but I felt utterly compelled about his situation.

There are a lot of unanswered question in the film overall. Was it always your intention to leave things unanswered or where you left without answers yourself?
The film is about rumor and story telling, not to do with belief. I didn't push that side of things too hard, like trying to get his birth certificate. All the American screenings people were like, 'why didn't you get the DNA' but that would be a different film and not the one I wanted to make.

Lastly, any idea of what happened to the bizarre suitcase of polaroids?Apparently it was burnt. It is no more.

Orion: The Man Who Would Be King is in cinemas from Friday, September 25.

A glacier in Eyjafjallajkull, Iceland. Photo by Andreas Tille via Wikimedia

Last week, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott got the boot. His ousting reminded me of all the bullshit the Australian government has pulled with him in power, and how, on balance, they've got their just desserts, both in terms of Abbott's fate and Australia's image abroad. It seems most people in the Northern Hemisphere are fairly aware of the Australian government's prejudices towards Aborigines and asylum seekers alike; some have even heard of Abbott's dismissal of climate change.

All this made me wonder why the Icelandic government hasn't suffered the same fate, because they've been getting away with some pretty rancid stuff.

Since reelection in the spring of 2013, the ruling conservative coalition has allowed Iceland's already-beleaguered healthcare system to crumble into dust, and is now preparing to privatize our healthcaresomething that's always worked really well for other countries. They've also overseen a spectacularly clumsy attempt by Icelandic police to procure and import Norwegian submachine gunsto a country with practically zero gun crimeciting, of course, "national security" as just cause.

They have actively sought to industrialize Iceland's highlands, selling or overseeing the sale of huge tracts of land to foreign entities, which plan to build power plants and silica refineries. This is consistent with the Icelandic right's view that our economy should be buoyed by industry, an especially infuriating stance in light of the fact that heavy industry constitutes maybe 5 percent of our GDP in a bad year, while tourismthe overwhelming majority of which is nature tourismrakes in millions and millions of dollars every year. Yet, tourism is dismissed as an irrelevant fad to them, resulting in the deterioration of national landmarks, a massive rent spike in Reykjavik due to the unregulated establishment of hotels and Airbnbs, and general overcrowding of the capital, to the point where tourists have been forced to pitch tents and literally take shits on public and private property.

But their dislike of tourism hasn't stopped the Finance Minister's father from monopolizing transport between Reykjavik and Iceland's only international airport. Chances are that if you've been here, you've helped line their coffers, as no public transportation of any kind connects the airport to Reykjavik.

And then there's the racism. Last year, a Nigerian asylum seeker was deported and separated from his family after an assistant of the then-interior minister leaked a memo containing false and misleading information about the man to the media, while a woman running for city council won racist votes by promising to halt the construction of Reykjavik's only mosque.

TRENDING ON BROADLY: Mother Teresa Was Kind of a Heartless Bitch

I understand that all this seems provincialeven cutecompared to the Australian government's offenses, but I'm mystified by how oblivious the world seems to our government's crimes in light of the amount of hype Iceland's been getting, especially for our supposedly "ultra-liberal" politics, which in reality have been limited to ideological gestures by the occasional powerless but outspoken pundit or politician.

Reykjavik's former mayor wore drag once and everyone assumed everything was just fine and dandy up here in Iceland, like we're some kind of liberal paradise. Or there was the time five corrupt bankers were jailed after being caught doing what our whole financial sector was doing before our economy collapsed, and a load of clickbait sites published articles about how we "let the banks fail" (this never happened) and "jailed all our bankers."

The truth is that the banks are soaring, having made massive profits since the collapse, while the rest of Iceland is still stumbling out of it. All the mistakes that led to our meltdown seven years ago are being repeated by the same political parties who presided over it, whom, bizarrely, the Icelandic electorate chose to reelect; meanwhile, the average Icelander sinks deeper into debt as the cost of living rises with inflation while salaries stay the same.

Related: 'Nest of Giants,' our film about Iceland's strongmen.

But no one really cares. It seems people here want to believe the "liberal paradise" myth so badly that there isn't any interest in learning the truth. The average Icelandophile visiting here has been so thoroughly inundated by quirky music videos and cute news stories about how everyone here "believes in elves" (another total fabrication) or how we shun religion and "believe only in ourselves" (our constitution actually guarantees special rights to the Church) that it's very difficult for him or her to see that this is actually a real place with real problems.

I'm not saying you can't visit here and enjoy iton the contrary; perhaps the only way to truly enjoy life here is to come as a tourist, a non-participant in our farcically corrupt society. So by all means, come and inject your delicious foreign money into our economy and help prove our government wrong about tourism. Come see the nature before it's destroyed. Come have a drink while you still can before our state-owned liquor store workers go on strike. Come see a show before all the musicians move abroad, like I'm doing. So come, but come quick, before the people running this country choke it to death.

Follow Sindri Eldon on Twitter.

VICE is exploring America's prison system in the week leading up to our special report with President Obama for HBO. Tune in Sunday, September 27, at 9 PM EST, to see his historic first-ever presidential visit to a federal prison.

It was Monday morning,April 23, 2012, and a friend named Cedric Dean and I had just entered our unit after eating themorning meal. We walked straight to the inmate computer system, hoping that SISthe prison's special investigative supervisorshad released our emails early. Wewere both writers who had caught the attention of the media, and among the executivestaff at our federal prison in North Carolina, we were public enemies number one and two.

About a month earlier, an SIS lieutenant had stopped Dean and me in the middle of the compound, saying he'd just come out of a meeting where we were the main topic."Someone, somewhere will eventually do some creativewriting and get rid of you both," hetold us. "I predict you'll both be shipped out of heresoon."

He was not wrong.

I logged onto my inmate account that Monday and in the top left-hand corner it read, "You have five new messages and areject message."

Oh fuck, I thought.

It was common practicefor the Email Police, as we called them, to reject my incoming and outgoing messages. They were especially hard on Dean and me. I once had all of my emails rejected for 72 hours straightemails that said things like,"I love you mom," "My foot hurts, Carly," and "I'mgoing outside for a walk."

Typically, my emails would be rejected after Iwrote a story or posted comments on social media that officials didn't like.

I went to the reject menuitem and clicked. The email in question was actually my most recentarticle, a piece that I had attempted to send out the night before.

The article was about Sean Hannity and how the FoxNews commentator kept airing incendiary soundbites of the New Black PantherParty. This was soon after the killing of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin, an incident that was causing some tension among a bunch of black and white guys who normally gotalong very well inside. According to the Email Police, the note was rejected becauseit posed a problem to the "good orderly running" of the facility.

"You need to get your assdown to the library and make a copy of this before it's deleted or something," I remember Dean saying. "How can an articleabout what's going on in here cause a safety problem? It can't. You need to fight this, Rob. Otherwise they justgonna keep on fucking us."

The truth of the matter is thatI was well within my rights to write that article and have it published. A court ruling that very month stipulated that prisoners were permitted to write manuscripts, publish under bylines, and haveuncensored contact with the media. Even before that, most prison officials would let your average inmate do this. For example, from 2008 to 2010, while I was housed in thesame North Carolina federal prison facilityFCI Butnerthe staff were some of my biggest fans. I can't counthow many times they commented on one of my blog posts, or asked when my nextprison story was goingto be posted. When Ponzi scheme kingpinBernie Madoff hit the compound, I started writing blog posts that clashed with what the New York Post was publishing about him. The guards loved it.

But all that changed the moment I was unexpectedly transferred to FCI Butner II, anadjacent facility.

Now I was a threat.

On the 7:30 AM movewhen inmates are allowed out of their cellsCedric andI headed straight to the library, one of two places that had printers. Myintention at that point was to make a copy of the Hannity article, in the eventI needed it as a part of a broader civil rights suit I hoped to file related to writing.

But no sooner did I take thecopies out of the printer than a group of correctional officers headed for thelibrary.

"Grab Rosso's legal folderand take it to the lieutenant's office," a CO said. "SIS saidthey want every single of piece of paper that he has on him, and everything inhis cell. He's not to have any property in his possession whatsoever."

For the third time in 15months, I was being taken to the SHU (special housing unit, a.k.a. solitary or "the hole"). The first time it happened was January 27, 2011, the day that officials learned that I had interviewed Madoff. In a piece published in NewYork magazine, Steve Fishman recounted what happened to me: "Then, suddenly, mycommunication with Rosso stopped. I soon learned that prison officials hadthrown him in the holesolitaryconfinementforconducting the interview."

Eightmonths later I was back in the hole again, only this time SIS claimed they didit for my "own protection." According to an SIS techthe officials who track inmate emailan article I wrote about the illegal tobacco trade inside could cause me bodily harm.

"I want the articledown," the SIS officer said. He wanted it off every blog that it was posted on. Nolonger was the article a "safety concern," as they originally lockedme up for, he admitted. Now I was just embarrassing the prison.

He also mentioned a woman named Michelle Heckner and how she had no business writing me.

Heckner was someone Ihad never met, an ex-con on probation who started writing me after she heardradio host Bob Garfield talk about me during On the Media, a segment onNational Public Radio. She started reading some of my blog posts aboutcriminal justice reform, and reached out. But because this official washolding and reading all my mail, he made it his mission to have her sent backto prison for writing me, which was technically a violation of her probation.

On the evening of November 1,2011, I called Carly Halla woman on the outside who ran my blogfrom a phone in the SHU and had her take down thearticle about the illegal tobacco trade. During that recorded phone call, I alsomade it clear that as soon as it came down, I would be released from the hole.

That didn't happen for two moremonths.

When I was released from thehole on January 2, 2012, the first thing I did was have Carly repost the tobacco piece on all of my blogs. Next, I began researchingcivil lawsuits based on "retaliation" and "First Amendment violations." In the short time that I'd been at FCI Butner II, I had beenthrown the hole twice for writing, several of my media contacts had beenblocked for various reasons, three journalists requesting to interview me hadbeen denied, and my mail and emails were constantly being fucked with for noreason.

As we were being taken to thehole from the library, officers made it clear that Cedric Dean was sent to solitary because he was suspected of having an inappropriate relationship with afemale staffer and I was going because of"some article" that I wrote.

On or about May 25, I receivedofficial notice from the SIS tech as to why I was in the hole. Itread as follows:

The email's subject lineis titled'Sean Hannity Radicalizes federal Inmates.' The email is sent to Carly Hall who has created theweb page Convict International at your direction. It is one of several websites created by you that allows you to air your personal reports concerningthe on goings of FCI Butner II as well as multiple subjects. Specifically inthis email, you interviewed black and white inmates concerning the radio talkshow Host Hannity's latest segment of racial ideology. You attempted to send outthe above mentioned email to numerous media outlets alerting them to themovement that is taking place within FCI Butner II.

From April 23 until the end ofOctober, I remained in the hole. During that stretch, my mail was held for weeks at atime and I often wouldn't receive it at all. On oneoccasion, only one of three pages showed up. Perhaps the worst thing that prisonofficials attempted to do to me due to my writing was to have me transferredbefore my cancer was removed. (In September 2004, I wasdiagnosed with Transitional Carcinoma or Bladder cancer, a disease that recursoften. As a prisoner who is in need of chronic medical care, I am considered a"Care Level 3 inmate," meaning I must be housed in a Care Level 3institution. They range from 1 to 4, 1 being the worst.)

In October 2012, I was toldto collect my belongings because I was being transferred to FCI Forrest City, a Care Level 2 institution. When I explained to the SHU lieutenant that I was a Care 3bladder cancer patient currently awaiting surgery, hesaid it didn't matter. I was taken to R&Drelease and dischargeplaced in chains, and headed forthe airlift. On a stroke of luck, Warden Angela Dunbar happened to be walkingout of her office as I was on my way out of the prison and asked thetransport officers what they were doing with me. When she learned that I wasbeing transferred, she flipped out.

"Get him back into the prison now!" she demanded.

Check out the moment President Obama meets with federal prison inmates as part of our upcoming HBO special on the criminal justice system.

Prior to leaving Butner, I wasinformed by a staff member that someone had changed my Care Level 3 to a Care 2 without proper authorization in an effort to expedite my transfer. I couldn't help think that this was in some way related to my writing.

On November 1, 2013, I wastransferred from Butner II to FCI Terre Haute, the Indiana prison where I currentlyreside. Today, my life is very differentand the SIS doesn't bother me so much, though my email continues to be monitored. When I send a message to my fiance, she's sometimes not sure if I am talking to her or the Email Police.

Robert J. Rosso is a federal prisoner serving life without the possibility of release. Born and raised in San Pedro, California, he has been in prison over 18 years straight and currently resides at the Federal Correctional Institution in Terre Haute, Indiana. Robert writes for VICE, The Fix and Gorilla Convict, and is working on a prison novel. Follow him on Twitter.

A Greek refugee camp. Photo via International Rescue Committee.

Last night, European politicians met in Brussels to discuss Europe's biggest-ever refugee crisis. All the government leaders were called into the emergency talks but in the end, little came out of it other than a decision to spend a whole bunch more money trying to stem the flow of people. That and a decision to up the surveillance and be more strict with fingerprinting in Greece and Italy. The chairman of the summit warned that the situation was going to get a lot worse before it would get better.

As more and more refugees continue their journey through the continent, we wanted to know how these peoplewho are fleeing from their war-torn homelandswere being treated at their final destination. In order to get an overview, we reached out to our European offices and asked how refugees should expect to be treated when they arrive.

Sweden

Refugees are offered help immediately after arriving in Sweden. Police officers, migration agency workers, social services, and Red Cross volunteers are at the main train stations 24 hours a day. There are also civilian volunteers offering people food, clothes, and hygiene products. The social services take care of all unaccompanied minors while the migration agency look after the rest. If you are a refugee and want to apply for asylum in Sweden, the migration agency will pay for a taxi to the nearest migration board to deal with the paperwork. After that, they will sort you out with temporary accommodation or a lift to a relative or a friend that you can live with.

Naturally, there's also the usual right-wing idiots but who think that refugees are going to ruin the country, but luckily their numbers pale in comparison to those willing to help. Camila Catalina, Online Editor

France

This year, France will accept 24,000 Syrian refugees. Numerous towns have said openly that they are ready to welcome those arriving. Refugees are also given temporary social benefits of between 3 and 11.45 euros ($3 to12) per day. But things aren't all that simple when it comes to social integration in certain parts of the country that are struggling with employment. Refugees should also be aware that finding work in France is quite difficult right now. A survey conducted in September listed 3 million people as unemployed.

Unfortunately, In recent years, the extreme-right wing Le Pen family has grown in popularity amongst moderate voters and there is a good chance that Marine le Pen will do quite well in the next presidential elections. There's also reports of growing racial tension in places like Calaisa town hit hard by the refugee crisis. milie Fenaughty, Staff Writer

Refugee camp in Calais. Photo by Jake Lewis.

Romania

Upon arriving in Romania, refugees are given 20 a dayisn't supposed last more than a month; but in reality, the verification time for refugees' applications is so long that it can take more than one year. In early 2015, according to the latest report on international security in Italy, 47 percent of asylum applications have been rejected. When the application is rejected, refugees have to be either repatriated or simply expelled from the country. But as the Italian government lacks the resources to do so, migrants quite often find themselves in an uncertain state of illegality.

As if the bureaucratic problems weren't enough, extreme right parties have attacked (sometimes physically) reception centers on various occasions, and politicians such as Matteo Salvinisecretary of Lega Nord, the third political party according to recent opinion pollsrepeatedly tell people that those arriving in Italy are "fake refugees," and that we need to think "to Italian people first."

Luckily, though, civil society seems to function far better than government policies, and you can find activists and groups helping refugees throughout the country. Leonardo Bianchi, News Editor

Watch our documentary, 'Migrants Stranded on Kos':

GREECE

Greece is basically the front gate to Europe right nowwith the vast majority of refugees arriving to one of its many small islands, having crossed the Mediterranean in a dinghy.

The Greek government and local authorities have not yet managed to find a permanent solution for refugees accommodation, medical care, food supply, or transportation to mainland Greece. The system of identification has improved, but the entire process remains time consuming. Refugees are expected to pay for another boat to go to Athens. More often than not, a trafficker will approach you and take you out of the country, in order to continue your journey.

Thankfully, there are a lot of volunteer initiatives to provide a helping hand.

That said, the country has a ton of racists and fascists, like the the members of Golden Dawn, a neo-Nazi party that is currently being prosecuted as a criminal organization yet still managed to become the third-strongest force in Parliamentpredominantly receiving votes from racists who live in the islands or other parts of the country that you now pass through. Unfortunately, as the weather gets cold and the rains start, conditions for refugees will only get worse, especially if they are attempting to cross the Evros area, close to the border, where there is also a fence.

Melpomeni Maragkidou, News Editor

GERMANY

Should you end up in Germany as a refugee, you might be welcomed by a crowd of chanting volunteers handing you bottles of water and free chocolate bars. On the other hand you should be aware that despite all the hospitality and willingness to help, Germans are still obsessed with paperwork, so you will have to wait for months for your asylum request to be processed. You should also know that most refugees centers are overcrowded and sanitary standards are very low. Some people even have to sleep on the street as the authorities are no longer able to cope with the amount of new arrivals. On top of this you might be confronted by racism or xenophobic hooligans looking for trouble. So beware of bald headed Nazis waving the German flag and the so-called "worried citizens" protesting against the "islamization of Germany" and setting fire to planned refugee homes. That said, it's also quite reassuring to see virtually every German celebrity being really outspoken about the need to help refugees and a large part of the public working activelyon social media and in real lifeto put these assholes into their place.

Sophie-Charlotte Claassen, Staff Writer

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a bit further down the road than Germany for most refugees, but the Germans and the Dutch share a talent for organizing things swiftly and efficientlyincluding care for refugees. While a lot of the shelters are overcrowded and understaffed, in recent weeks countless private initiatives have popped up, like people collecting clothing and food or launching an Airbnb-style site that connects refugees with people wanting to take them in. When Red Cross called for volunteers, 10,000 people registered in 24 hours. But at the same time, there have been small-scale protests against planned refugee shelters in countless communities. So it seems that a lot of people are willing to help, as long as the shelter isn't anywhere near their backyard.

This schism is evident in the parliament too: Alexander Pechtold, leader of the progressive liberal center party D66 complimented municipalities in the Netherlands for putting up hundreds of refugees in places like events centers and abandoned holiday parks. Most MPs stood up to applaud him, but right-wing Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders later took to the stage to call the parliament "fake," claiming that its politicians don't represent the "millions" of Dutch people who want nothing to do with refugees. Pechtold then called Wilders "undemocratic," while a Labour Party member tweeted that Wilders was basically a fascist leader, and it all got very awkward and unpleasant there, for a bit.

So if you're coming to the Netherlands as a refugee, you'll be in good hands for a while. If you decide to stay, however, that's a different story: There have been huge cuts in funding for integration processes for migrants and asylum seekers, and getting an actual residence permit can take years. But for now, the Dutch generally think you're very welcome, as long as you're not staying anywhere too close to their home. Lisette Van Eijk, Content Manager

Bailiffs

Yesterday and this morning, residents and activistsoccupying houses on the Sweets Way estate in North London were violentlyevicted by bailiffs and police to make way for 288 swanky new flats and houses, of which only 59will be "affordable." The estate is owned by developer Annington Homes, whichdescribed the properties as being "illegally occupied by squatters."

Themajority of the residents of Sweets Way left at the beginning of this year,leaving behind hundreds of empty homes. Activists, supporters, and some former residentshave spent the last few months moving in to the empty properties and doing themup to make them livable. They called the DIY rebel stronghold Sweetstopia, andit was an attempt to prove that the destruction of the homes is unnecessary.

The occupiers of the estate woke up to shouts of"bailiffs," as around 50 high court enforcement officers forced entry to thehouses to remove the activists and residents still living there. They werebacked up by police, as well as fire and ambulance crews.

Activists had built makeshift barricades around the fewhouses that were still occupied, using whatever they could find from the estateto keep the bailiffs from enteringmostly pallets, cupboard doors, andwooden boards with angry words written on them.

By lunchtime, most of the homes were empty, althoughprotestors had taken to the roofs of some properties, refusing to move.

Bailiffs, flanked by police officers, then used anindustrial scissor lift to get onto the buildings and forcibly remove theactivists.

Some tried to resist. This guy was left hanging fromthe lift as he struggled with the bailiffs. At one point, one bailiff looked asthough he could send the activist splattering to the ground simply by letting go, just to hear the dull thud of his body crumpling into some concrete. Although in fact he was secured to a rope.

Once on the ground, more bailiffs and police piled in,and the activist was arrested. As he was taken away, others chanted "Shame onyou."

This guy, on the other hand, decided to play dead,resulting in him being carried off the roof and away in the manner of a grandfatherclock being delivered.

I spoke to an activist who wanted to remain anonymous,who described being forced out in the early morning: "We woke up to bailiffsand police moving in, and even though the police are here to prevent a breachof the peace, they inevitably take sides. They're prejudiced, and Anningtondon't give a shit about the people living here. They're just out to make asmuch money as possible."

By the end of the day, the only original residentleft on the estate was disabled father of four Mostafa Aliverdipour. He hasbeen offered alternative accommodation by the council, but can't move there asit's unsuitable for his wheelchair.

Related:Watch 'Regeneration Game,' our documentary about the battle to live in London

The court ruling that allows bailiffs to evict Mostafaonly came at around three o'clock in the afternoon, by which time a wall offences, chairs, doors, and broken glass had been built around his home in anattempt to keep the bailiffs out. Around 20 people were in the house, and theytook to the roof as police looked on.

Eventually, reinforcement arrived in the form of threevans full of riot police. They planned to use the pretext of apparently stolenproperty being embedded in the barricade to enter the property. A policehelicopter hovered above, but the officers eventually decided not to riskaggravating the situation any more, and they kept their distance.

One of the estate's former residents, who was forcedto move her family to Hendon in April and who didn't feel like telling me hername, told me that the protest shows the strength of the community: "I lived here for 15years, but now I'm lost. The council have treated people really badly, it'sdisgusting. Some people have been offered accommodation as far away asBirmingham. What the people are doing is trying to protect the estate, and it'sa beautiful estate... We had an incredible community, we knew our neighbors, itwas safe. To just to build luxury flats, it's disgusting. Theaffordable houses they've promised are not really affordable, and they'll stillbe bought up by landlords just to rent them out and cash the profits."

She added: "I've never seen an eviction so violentbefore. Especially when they started pushing the metal fences against thepeople, it was scary."

In a statement, Annington Homes said "All tenants haveknown since 2009 that the accommodation was temporary subject to redevelopmentof the estate, and all new tenants who have arrived in the intervening yearshave been made aware that this housing was only available for a limitedperiod."

Sian Berry, the Green Party's mayoral candidate, was on the estate supporting the activists. "If you look at the people evictedhere today, they're homeless now. They didn't have anywhere to live, and therewere empty homes here", she said. "They're responding to a natural need, they need a home.We absolutely support them, and I don't want to see homes left empty."

This morning, at around 8 AM, bailiffs finally moved in on Mostafa'shouse, and evicted the last Sweets Way family. Mostafa still doesn't have apermanent place to go. More riot police were brought in to assists bailiffs inremoving people from the roof of Mostafa's former home. Over the two days, nineactivists were arrested. With the last resident now evicted from the estate,Annington are free to start demolishing houses and developing luxury flatswhere the former Housing Association homes once stood.

Follow Bo Franklin on Twitter.

'Salutations, my bulbous brothers and sisters.' Photo via Man Alive!

This article originally appeared on VICE UK

Some things you just can't shake. When I was a kid I was watching a very brave BBC documentary about some troubles somewhereI don't know where; I was a kid, the memory is hazy, but it was in a jungle-like settingand there was this really vivid moment where a guy got shot. There was all this preamble to the guy getting shot: two men blindfolded him, jostled him around, disorientated him, and he was begging. "Please," he was saying, "Please, my brother, my wife and my brother" and then: pofttttt. Single bullet to the base of the skull. Slumped over dead in his fatigues. I just wept. I wasn't expecting it. Both of my parents had to wrestle me out of the room to calm me down. I absolutely lost my mind. And I can still replay every second of that footage in my head. Still hear the sound and then the silence. Stunned and bloodless. Straightforward. Death.

Anyway, Morrissey's written a book, and can we just talk about this passage from it, please? Becauserelated to the above, there is a hook to all thisit will not leave me. The word pair "howling mouth" is writ large when I close my eyes. When I try to find moments of peace, a high quiet hum whispers "bulbous salutation," a cheeky trombone noise of an erection descriptor:

"Eliza and Ezra rolled together into the one giggling snowball of full-figured copulation, screaming and shouting as they playfully bit and pulled at each other in a dangerous and clamorous rollercoaster coil of sexually violent rotation with Eliza's breasts barrel-rolled across Ezra's howling mouth and the pained frenzy of his bulbous salutation extenuating his excitement as it smacked its way into every muscle of Eliza's body except for the otherwise central zone."

Now: I am a relatively un-perverted man. But I would like to see that shagging in action. I would like to watch two people do that shagging. I would like to see what bits go where. Because I have read that maybe 15, 20 times now, and I still can't quite... I mean, screaming and shouting? Am I doing sex wrong, or are they having some sort of foreplay water balloon fight? What in the blue and infinite fuck is a "snowball of full-figured copulation"?

Anyway, I'm still trying to figure out how Ezra and Eliza intend to actually get it in, so the only way to really do that is to go through it line by line. Sorry:

"Eliza and Ezra rolled together into the one giggling snowball of full-figured copulation"

You know in cartoon Westerns, where a fight breaks out and everyone rolls up into a dust ball of flailing limbs, and there are "kapow" noises, and then the whole thing rolls off screen and Bugs Bunny in a cowboy hat and waistcoat just really calmly bites into a carrot? That is how Morrissey thinks sex goes.

"Screaming and shouting as they playfully bit and pulled at each other"

I have a friend who works at a support home for young offenders, and Morrissey's description of foreplay could have been taken verbatim from one of their incident reports.

"A dangerous and clamorous rollercoaster coil of sexually violent rotation."

Play the latest Buzzfeed quiz: Jeremy Clarkson describing a red fast car, or Morrissey imagining some especially athletic foreplay?

"Eliza's breasts barrel-rolled"

Was Morrissey not paying attention, like, at all during health class in grade school? When the girls were all ushered into a separate assembly to be stoically told how periods worked and the boys all had to stay behind in class and learn distantly about ovaries? Was Morrissey just staring out of the window thinking about how important a single stemmed rose was or how sighing a lot is good? Because dude does not know what a titty is. Morrissey does not know what a titty is, or how it works. Morrissey has never beheld a titty and Morrissey has never looked at a diagram of one on a whiteboard. Morrissey just described a titty capable of doing a barrel roll, an aeronautical maneuver exclusive to only the most agile of planes. Morrissey basically just described a titty that clangs. To Morrissey, a titty is essentially nine long iron chains fixed to a bicycle wheel being whipped around excitedly by a group of children. To Morrissey, a titty is small pieces of unwanted scrap metal being dropped inelegantly down a well.

"Ezra's howling mouth and the pained frenzy of his"

"Howling"; "pained frenzy." Going to have to stop you there, Eliza, you metal-tittied queen: you appear to be having sex with a stunned bear.

" bulbous salutation"

I feel like Morrissey took this description of an erection from some court documents where a local eccentric in a closely-knitted provincial town was found extraordinarily guilty of fucking a council-run flower bed. "And what happened to the daffodils, Mr. Richards?" "Dug 'em out, of course. Spaded them up with my bulbous salutation."

"extenuating his excitement as it smacked its way into every muscle of Eliza's body except for the otherwise central zone."

What I am getting from this is Ezra sort of dabbed at Eliza's body with his penis like a beaver tamping a dam down with its tail and then, at the climactic moment of entry, just jammed it vaguely near the erotic, the ethereal, the greatest mystery a woman possesses: her otherwise central zone. Fuckbois of the present and the future were just handed the greatest indistinct vagina description ever in history. "Ey girl, nudes?" they are saying on Tinder right now. "Let me see them titties. Turn around and let me see that peach. Get out the shower and show me your otherwise central zone." Clap it while chanting it: Morrissey. Has. Never. Seen. Another. Naked. Human. In. His. Life.

But who am I? When have a thousand crying dads ever lined up to see me sing on a stage while wearing a plain black shirt and being aggressively vegetarian? Where's my book deal, huh? Where's my Wikipedia page? Essentially, the annals of history will not remember me, but they will remember Morrissey: his pompadour, Salford Lads Club, that iron-strong chin, tits that can flip over 360-degrees while flying high over the English countryside on RAF maneuvers, otherwise central zones. Well played, Morrissey, you mad sexless alien. Well played.

Follow Joel on Twitter.

All photos by Michael Santiago

In the 1920s, African-American farmers made up 14 percent of the agriculture industry in the United States. Today, they comprise less than 1 percent. Their reduced presence can be linked to racist lending policies, corporate farm buyouts, and migration to cities. But the 1 percent who stayed say they still battle with the consequences of this historical racism

For his project Stolen Land, Stolen Future, photographer Michael Santiago spent time with a man he calls Mr. McGill, one of the few African-Americans trying to make a living through farming. In the 1980s, McGill was running a large farm but lost it after being denied a government loan. He's spent the past 30 years trying to make a living by raising pigs on his father's property in rural California. His father has also lost property and land owing to discriminatory loan practices, but has been able to retain the five acres where McGill now lives.

I recently talked to Santiago about McGill's problems and what could be done to alleviate them.

How did you meet him?
I met him through an NGO called Farms to Grow. His story starts in the 80s, when he had a farm of 320 acres. He and his partner needed a loan to avoid going into foreclosure and the US Department of Agriculture denied them. After they were rejected, the person they were dealing with from the agency went and bought the property for a profit. Now he works on five acres of his father's land.

Can he make a living from farming now?
He still does other odd jobs at different ranches. His life is typical for a farmer. He wakes up at the crack of the dawn, gets up to feed the pigs, and do all the farm maintenance in the morning. Goes to other ranches in the early afternoon, then feeds the pigs again and is in bed by seven or eight o'clock at night. That is his day, seven days a week.

While discrimination may not be as blatant as it once was, a lot of farmers never recovered from racist dealings decades ago. What sort of action are people calling for to help?
More direct financial support for the farmers, and organizations to support them. Also, I think the way loans are given out should be restructured to help small farmers. A lot of time the criteria to get loans is based on the size of the farm. So Mr. McGill didn't get approved because his operation wasn't that big. He couldn't get a loan because his farm didn't look like the one that is down the road with extensive land and cattle.

Why do you think farmers like Mr. McGill keep doing this despite tough conditions?
He makes around $2,000 to $3,000 every six months from his pigsso he's not doing this for profit. But it's what he loves to do. He is now 71 and has been doing this for 50 years. His pigs are important to him.

Interview by Laura Rodriguez Castro, follow her on Twitter.

"I just have to be here when the Pope comes," says Femi, a 38-year-old black man sitting behind a table on Philadelphia's Benjamin Franklin Parkway. On green tablecloth, he displays artwork, pictures he drew and wants to sell: one of the Pope caught in a selfie, another of the Pope delivering a speech. He also sells a T-shirt showing the Pope with a sheep around his neck.

The artist's real name is Adetokunbo Oluwafemi Ige, and he sleeps a few feet behind his table on the grass beneath the trees on Parkway.

Femi has been living on the streets for over a year, he says, since he left prison, where was incarcerated for eight years. He's been on Parkway since the end of May.

He is homeless, but not lazy.

Femi would probably sell some of his pictures during the papal visit, since the Pope will come to the Parkway on Saturday and Sunday. The Pope is even scheduled to pass the very spot where Femi is posted up right now during his his motorcade tour. Officials estimate that up to 1.5 million fans and tourists will come to see Pope Francis.

That's a lot of potential customers.

Adetokunbo Oluwafemi Ige, or "Femi," at his spot on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia. All photos by the author

But Femi will almost certainly do no business at all this week, as he's set to get kicked out of the place he calls his "little community" by Thursday at 10 PMalong with around 150 other people living on Parkway and in the surrounding parks and Logan Square. For other big events, it might not be so surprising that homeless folks get cleared out, but this security measure is rather bizarre given Pope Francis's focus on helping poor and homeless people throughout his public life.

Some of the homeless people have already been pushed out.

The western part of Parkway, where many men and women live, is now clear of cars, clear of bikes and clear of people. You can still wander through it, but security officials target anyone who tries to sleep on the grass.

On VICE News: Pope Francis's First American Trip Will Be Heavy on Politics and Prayer

Tonight, the whole Parkway, including Logan Square and its surrounding parks, will be closed and all unofficial residents removed. On Friday morning, homeless people will have the chance to return to the eastern part when the gates open for the public. But there will be restrictions that could make it nearly impossible for them to go about their business.

For instance, homeless people will not be allowed to return to the larger, western part of Parkway. You need a ticket for that, and the 10,000 tickets that were given away for free on the web were gone within 30 seconds. Homeless people can return to the eastern part of Parkway, to Aviator Park and Logan Squarebut only if they store their belonging somewhere. Security procedures do not allow backpacks or bags exceeding the size restrictions (18" x 13" x 7"). That means no carts, no mattresses, no large suitcasesexactly the things that homeless folks usually take with them.

Darryl Williams is furious about this. A small man with very bad teeth, he walks restlessly around on the grass of Aviator Park next to Parkway, where he lives. Williams does not believe that he has to leave Parkway because of security reasons.

"There will be cameras from all around the world hereand they don't want us in the picture," he says, wandering faster and faster while talking. "This violates our civil rights. Is this America or is this Nazi Germany?" he shouts. "They could just as well take us and burn us."

Another black man wearing a new sweater, clean jeans, and a chain with a cross around his neck, steps up to calm Williams, but shares the man's disappointment.

"The Pope is coming for the poor," he says. "He wants to see the homeless. But they don't let him see us."

This is Malik Robinson; he lived on Parkway for three years, and was addicted to cocaine. Now he's clean and lives in a shelter, but comes to see his old community frequently during the day.

"People should see this," he says. "The Pope should see this."

Philadelphia's most vulnerable aren't the only ones pissed off; the organizations that care for them are agitated as well. Will O'Brien is the special projects coordinator of Project Home, a local organization that provides help for people living on the streets. He is humble and low-key, but can't help getting a bit fiery.

"The whole security plan feels excessive to me," O'Brien tells VICE. "And a lot of people feel angry about that in Philadelphia." (Multiple calls to the Secret Service, which is helping coordinate preparations for the papal visit, were not returned.)

While some Philadelphians are mostly concerned about whether they will get to work on time or where to park their car, the Parkway homeless feel likeas usualthey're getting the worst of it.

Check out our documentary about the spandex-laden crusaders working to help Montreal's homeless population.

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter's office isn't saying a whole lot about the people being cleared out for the papal visit.

"Once areas are cleared, anyone including the homeless can come back into the Parkway area through magnetometers," Mark McDonald, the mayor's press secretary, writes in an email. Asked whether he thinks it appropriate to shut them out for one night and to forbid bringing larger bags afterwards, McDonald writes, "The measures in place are appropriate to the security task."

Marie Nahikian from the Office of Supportive Housing in Philadelphia assures that there will be additional beds in shelters for "the residents experiencing homelessness" during the Pope's visit. "When the sweeps are happening, there will be outreach teams out there," she explains. "The residents experiencing homelessness will be offered places to go. They will have a choice."

But the people living on the Parkway are not fond of city shelters.

"It is often not very secure there," says Mark Wise, a formerly homeless man who used to live on the Parkway and has since gotten off he street but still returns as a volunteer. "There is a lot of criminal activity going on and you have to obey to a lot of rules. I never liked it there and neither do the guys from Parkway."

Just outside the city center (where, according to homeless people, cops do not tend to allow them to congregate), the Parkwaywith many benches, and lots of grass to sleep onhas been a natural destination for homeless people in Philadelphia for years. They get served free meals there; they can get vouchers to get an ID; the library on the other side of the street has a caf where they can sit as long as they want and where they can recharge their phones.

"None of us likes it here on Parkway," Williams says angrily. "But it is a place close to everything."

For one man, it will be especially hard to leave. Karlo Dudley, or "KD," claims he's lived on the Parkway for 34 years, since 1981. He may be not very reliablehe also says that he has met the Pope three weeks ago for dinner and that he is the head of the Pope's security teambut Carol Thomas, director of homeless services at Project Home, knows him well.

She also knows that he hates to leave his spot.

"During Hurricane Sandy he slept outside on the cathedral's steps," she recalls. The Cathedral Basilica of St Peter and Paul is right next to Parkway and Logan Square.

"KD said, 'I'll be fine.' We came very early in the morning to look after him. He was still sleeping, just slept over the storm."

KD at his spot

KD remembers the storm and says he wanted to stay outside that day to witness it. He also calls himself "head of CIA" and wears a red jacket covered with signs and writing drawn with a felt pen on all sides.

He is probably schizophrenic, according to Thomas. But he's also a friendly guy who only gets anxious when taken away from his spot against his will.

This will be a problem.

"We hope that he will come with us and does not have to be taken by the police," Thomas says. "He really wants to see the Pope." Thomas already offered to help KD return within the security zone on Saturday to see witness the visit, but the procedures make it very difficult. "I'm not sure he will make it," she says.

Femi, the artist, wants to stay too. "They haven't thrown us out yet. We are standing strong," he says. "I like to be underneath the law."

He does not seem to understand that the plans to kick him out are finalized.

"Maybe Cuba did it better," Thomas says, having seen the pictures from the Pope's trip there. "Everyone was there to see the Pope. They probably don't have the concerns about security that we have."

Follow Lisa Nienhaus on Twitter.

Okay, Jennifer, sure. Photo via Tumblr

I've always despised having big boobs.

While most teenage girls look forward to shopping for a prom dress, for me the process was rife with stress. The reason? I couldn't stuff my massive breasts into anything with a tight bodice.

This was particularly frustrating because I have a small frameI am 5'2"so while my lower torso was basically a size small, the top half was an XL. Bikinis meant a guaranteed nip slip (still do, tbh). I never had a proper bra fitting, but my largest was a DD.

On the shitty-meter, all of that paled in comparison to the unwanted attention from teenage boys. At a party once, I was standing in the kitchen with a pretty cute dude when he started leering at me. He leaned in, breath reeking of Bacardi, and proclaimed, "Your tits are HUGE." Then he bit my forehead. This was a common occurrence (minus the forehead part).

During Christmas break of my senior year, I went through with a breast reduction. I was keen on a B cup but my surgeon was all "no, no" and insisted on Cs. Even though there was a pretty intense recovery process, I was much happier post-op. My shirts fit, my boobs didn't chafe, and guys paid slightly more attention to my face.

So when I see campaigns like the #youdontneedthis hashtag telling women they "don't need" cosmetic surgery, I can't help but think they're misguided.

Related: Watch VICE's film about illegal butt enhancements, 'Buttloads of Pain'

In a Toronto Star article published yesterday, Jennifer Dawson, a digital marketing prof at Seneca College, talked about her beef with Toronto Cosmetic Clinic's TTC advertisements.

"As a woman, it can be a bit infuriating to have to ride a subway on your daily commute and look at these posters," she said.

In response, she's taken to defacing signs promoting things like liposuction and boob jobs by writing, "You don't need this" across them and posting photos of her work to social media. As of yesterday, the hashtag was trending and similarly defaced ads were seen in NYC.

Dawson, whose Facebook feed features professionally shot images of her, is an attractive woman. She is clearly confident and that's great. But I'm not convinced she's in the best position to judge what other women do and don't "need" when it comes to how they feel about their bodies. And inadvertently, messages like that reinforce negative stereotypes about those who do opt to have a lil nip/tuck.

"You're naturally beautiful so it's not even fair!" one commenter wrote in response to the story about Dawson. "Anyone who knows me, knows this small town boy finds (plastic surgery) gross and insecure. It's just easy to tell someone they don't need to look beautiful when you're already in the 'chosen' few, beautiful people."

This guy sounds like kind of a douche, but he illustrates both of my points. It's easy enough for people who don't have self-image issues to tell others that they shouldn't worry about that stuff. Meanwhile, people who do get work done, which can include anything from Botox to labiaplasty, often feel ashamed of it.

A few years ago, I did a story about the rise of plastic surgery among teens. Despite my past, I went into it thinking the piece would take a stancd against the trend and that parents who let their kids go through it were irresponsible. Then I met Sandra Annan, 18 at the time, who had her nose altered in the summer between Grade 11 and 12. She had a bump that had bothered her since childhood and had been subject to bullying both online and in person.

"I didn't have great self-esteem," Annan told me. Looking at her, no one would guess she'd had a nose job, but she said her confidence buoyed because of it. Her dad agreed.

That's when it dawned on me: who the fuck am I to judge? Yes, it sucks that there's societal pressure to look perfect, but people undergo cosmetic procedures for a number of reasons, including their personal health and happiness. Being told by outsiders that they shouldn't want that only enhances stigma and ultimately might do more harm than good.

Follow Manisha Krishnan on Twitter.

This is not where you will find terrorists hanging out. Image via Wiki

Read: The Future of Terrorism According to VICE

Just a week after a Muslim kid got arrested for bringing a homemade clock to school, the Guardian reports that a student of counterterrorism has been accused of being a terrorist for reading a book in his university library about how to counter terrorism.

Mohammed Umar Farooq, a student on the terrorism, crime, and global security master's degree at Staffordshire University, was questioned by the university authorities after being seen reading a textbook called Terrorism Studies in the college library.

The incident took place back in March, but has come to light after the university apologized to Farooq, stating that the official who questioned him in the university library had only been trained for a few hours. Farooq was asked for his views on the Islamic State throwing gay men out of buildings, as well as his general opinion on Islam and al Qaeda.

Cage, the UK advocacy group, claims this is part of a broader problem. "Since October 2014, Cage has received almost 100 cases . What this case displays is something we have seen frequently: most notably the over-reporting of normative behavior, and a fear-based approach that alienates and antagonizes communities."

A spokesperson for the university said, "We have apologized to Mr. Farooq and are in dialogue with him on how we can support him to continue his studies with us. In light of recent legislation, we are ensuring all staff at the university have the right guidance and training."

The author's baby

I gotta tell you, I'm not a big fan of baby clothes. Way toomany colors and patterns, hella bows and ribbons, extraneous straps andbuttons, none of the shit matches any of the other shit and half the shit don'teven match itself. It's loud as fuck, like 30 different shades of pink and 20different powder blues. Corny little jokes on the t-shirtit's like calm down,dude, what is this clown ass garbage you're trying to sell me? You want my babyto look like a damn fool?

People be like "Who cares? It's a baby, throw some garbageass joke t-shirt on it." Naw, fuck that. Drape your baby in vintage Polo. Getyour baby some Flyknits and couture yoga pants to wear in the VIP section ofwhatever bootsy festival is poppin' in town. Your baby's Jordans should befresher than yours. Your baby knows what to do in those thingsthe fuck youknow how to do? Not pull out, that's for damn sure. I feel like people betaking advantage of the fact that a baby is too polite to tell you that onesieyou bought them is weak as fuck.

Also, you don't have to throw some raggedy, wrinkly ass bow on ashirt just to let fools know it's a girl or put hella trucks on some shorts tomake sure everybody knows it's a dude. Are you seriously that nervous that somerandom stranger on the street might not know what genitalia this tiny,barely-formed human being has? Who the fuck cares?

As far as brands go, I'm not mad at The Gap (never thought I'dsay that). They have some mellow, low key, simple shit for a baby. The Baby GapI believe they call it. Also nice: Zara. Carter's go hard too. It's madeespecially for babies but it's not on some clown shit. Uh, what else... Gucci,Prada, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Calvin Klein, Ferragamo, Fendi, Armani... all thatshit go pretty hard. Get your baby a tiny Rolex, the baby will wake up at sixin the morning on the dot, pointing to the tiny little Roly like, "Look,the second hand don't even tick, bruh. It glide."

Swing by the Mishka store get the baby some jeans and maybe atank top. Get the baby a tiny fitted cap with your local sports team. Or maybea tiny snapback. Get the baby an XXXL Adult White T and an XXXL Adult Black Tfrom the corner store. Get the baby a FUBU sweatsuit and a Triple 5 Soul buckethat. Get the baby a throwback Rocawear velour number. Get the baby a Hierobeanie. Get the baby a Tommy Hilfiger windbreaker. Get the baby a Cross Coloursletterman or maybe a Members Only jacket, I hear they're catching a third orfourth wind. I also heard Rodarte is having another moment, but who knows? Takethe baby to Opening Ceremony. Cop some rare Highland gear. Get the baby in some couture sweatpants. Get it atiny wave cap (colloquially, du-rag) so the rows don't fray overnight. Give thebaby tiny sweatbands so it looks sporty. Give the baby girl red bottoms earlyto set the bar high for the next little crop of rich boy rappers. Get the babyin them Bad Gyal Ri Ri Puma creepers. She'll be throwing Ghetto Gothik partiesat daycare. Get some Alexander Wang and Marc Jacobs for the baby. Can't gowrong with Baby HBA and Baby Bape. Buy some tiny Dolce & Gabbana.

Makea baby fashion mood board with keywords like "rogue," "fierce,""ingnue," "1968," "Futurism," "Ivy,""Balayage," "Moon Stone," etc. Notice lighting. Thebuilding is garment for space. A garment is an envelope for a love letter inthe form of human being. Pick up a copy of BabywearDaily. Is that a thing? Tried to google it but I'm not getting internetright now. Pick up a copy of Baby Vogue.Fashion is beyond the garment, fashion is an attitude. Consider half-chewedpieces of banana as accessories. Hand dye a couple t-shirts with berry juice.Get creative with it. A baby needs a mean walk. Watch Prt--Porter on mute while listening to Ini Kamoze.

So in conclusion: it's fashion, baby. Play with it, darling. Have some fun. Just refuse to dress your baby like trash. This is important. The baby needs to look fly if it's gona be fly, feel me? If you need some examples, check out @kool_days on Instagram. That's my daughter, styled by her mom, @cultdays, who also made a few of those pieces the baby's wearing. If you see anything you like, feel free to hit her up but her prices are steep cause this is couture. It's fashion, baby.

Follow Kool A.D. on Twitter.

All photos by Ryan Lowry

On Tuesday, TacoBell Cantina in Chicago officially opened its doors as the first Taco Bell inAmerica to serve alcohol. Over the course of a few hours thatnight, a few hundred customersfiltered through the new Wicker Park location of the fast-food chain, whichfeatured brightly colored alcoholic slushies and a noticeably more upscale andurban dcorexposed brick walls, loads of wood paneling, a graffiti muralmoreakin to a caf than your average drive-through fast-food restaurant.

Booze options included a line of "TwistedFreezes"named Mountain Dew Baja Blast (teal green), Cantina Punch (cherry red),and Cantina Margarita (neon green)that have rum, tequila, or vodka added in.Beer such as Dos Equis and wine were also available. The new location will openuntil 2 AM (4 AM on the weekends), and a security guard will be present on theweekends. With Starbucks serving alcohol at more than 70 locations and a San Francisco Taco Bell Cantina location opening soon, it seems part of a growing trend.

VICE sentphotographer Ryan Lowry to scope out the scene of people drinking and eating at Taco Bell.

VICE: Why do you like Taco Bell?
Neil Borkan, owner: I love Taco Bell. I've owned them for 30 years. I eat it everyday and love how innovative they are. I was able to collaborate on the idea for this one.

What are you drinking?
Baja Blast slushie with tequila.

Why do you want to drink at Taco Bell?
Gives people more options!

Why do you like Taco Bell?
Vincent Uribe: The choices are endless.

What are you drinking?
Baja Blast Freeze twist with rum.

Why do you want to drink at Taco Bell?
It's everything I ever dream about.

Why do you like Taco Bell?
Spencer Stucky: The Chipotle Chicken Loaded Griller has over two grams of dietary fiber.

What are you drinking?
I'm sipping someone's Baja Blast thing while they are not looking.

Why do you want to drink at Taco Bell?
I thought it was a drought.

Why do you like Taco Bell?
Kayla Lopez: Because I can scrap change up from my purse when I'm broke and get myself a meal.

What are you drinking?
A Baja Blast Freeze with tequila.

Why do you want to drink at Taco Bell?
Because a genius decided to put shots in Baja Blast Freezes.

What are you drinking?
Anna Mort: I'm drinking a virgin Baja Blast Freeze.

Why are you drinking at Taco Bell?
I don't want to drink at Taco Bell. I want to remember everything.

Why do you like Taco Bell?
Clay Cunningham: 'Cause it's cheap and good.

What are you drinking?
Frozen Baja Blast with Don Julio.

Why do you want to drink at Taco Bell?
Because it's a Baja blessing.

Why do you like Taco Bell?
Camille Rodriguez: I like Taco Bell because they are open late.

What are you drinking?
I am drinking a Cantina Punch slushie with a shot of tequila.

Why do you want to drink at Taco Bell?
I want to drink at Taco Bell because I guess I can now!

Steven and Paul.

Why do you like Taco Bell?
Jillian Kaye (left): They'll appease my pickiness and there's something for everyone.

What are you drinking?
Dos Equis.

Why do you want to drink at Taco Bell?
To keep the party going!

Why do you like Taco Bell?
Danielle Campbell (right): I like Taco Bell for its nostalgic irony.

What are you drinking?
Margarita twisty freeze thing.

Why do you want to drink at Taco Bell?
I want to drink at Taco Bell because what else are you supposed to do while eating tacos?

Why do you want to drink at Taco Bell?
: It's kind of a little guilty pleasure of mine.

What are you drinking?
Sangria slushie.

Why do you want to drink at Taco Bell?
Because it's a good spot to take a date.

What are you drinking?
Baja with vodka.

Why do you want to drink at Taco Bell?
Why wouldn't you?

What are you drinking?
Baja Blast with tequila.

Why do you want to drink at Taco Bell?
Drinking here is kind of a novelty and kind of expensive. I don't think I will ever get a slushie again. Probably just a beer.

Why do you like Taco Bell?
Steven: I don't.

What are you drinking?
Baja Blast with tequila.

Why do you want to drink at Taco Bell?
I don't.

Ryan Lowry is a photographer based in Chicago.

An injury sustained by one of the young people allegedly tortured by Greek police in Athens. Photos by Panagiotis Medi

This article originally appeared on VICE Greece.

In front of Athens's Evelpidon courthouse, nine peoplemost of them minorsstood handcuffed and surrounded by police. You could clearly spot the wounds from their arrest the night before. Broken digits, baton marks on their bodies, smashed teeth, and black eyes. The mass arrest, which took place last Thursday evening, was spurred on by unidentified attackers hurling Molotov cocktails and stones at the police station in Exarcheia, injuring a police officer. Three of the accused were aged between 17 and 19 and the rest were under 17. One of them was only 13 years old.

On Friday morning, people had gathered outside the prosecutor's building to voice support and show their solidarity. Among them were the detainees' families, who were understandably outraged at the way their kids had been treated. Amidst the protestors, I met Antonia Legaki, a defense lawyer for one of the accused.

"After the attack on the police station, the Delta unit decided to carry out an operation in Exarcheia. There weren't even any Delta teams present at the station during the attack, so they can't possibly have seen the incident, but they were still the ones carrying out all the arrests. They basically pounced on any kid they found in Exarcheia," she said. "These kids have been abused. They were heavily beaten during their arrest. When the police officers handcuffed them, it was almost a form of torture."

She gave me some examples of the brutality: "The 13-year-old boy was handcuffed and laying in the street when four Delta members began beating him with batons. A beating that left him with both of his arms broken. We are talking about a kid who is barely five feet tall and weighs about 40 kilos . Now one of his arms is in a cast almost up to his shoulder," she explained. "Another example is my 19-year-old client. The police both stepped on his head and beat him with batons in the exact same spot, which only proves that these were 'methodical' beatings. There was clear intent to cause damage. Then, as they lifted him, one of the officers held him up while his colleague ran over his foot with a motorbike, breaking his big toe. They gave another boy a black eye, as you saw, and they broke a girl's hand. They broke the teeth of another minor by pushing the baton into his mouth."

Annie Paparousou, a lawyer representing one of the arrested, was also at Evelpidon.

"In this case, it's clear to see the unjustified mass arrests of minors. But worse than that is the fact that the defendants have been heavily abused during their arrest. Which means that they have been tortured for no reason. Torture is obviously a crime and the police should be prosecuted. The physical injuries these kids have sustained don't justify the alleged crimes they were arrested for," she said.

Those arrested on Thursday evening were taken to police headquarters before being allowed to go to the hospital. One of the arrested was denied seeing a doctor, seemingly because his injuries were less visible than others. "There isn't one child here who hasn't suffered harm and torture. We are talking about a co-ordinated action by Delta teams that operate in the same way as Latin American 'death squads.' They are trained to act like this," Legaki told me.

Related: Watch VICE's film 'Drag the Red' about the volunteers searching for bodies in Winnipeg's Red River

The arrests took place in several locations across Exarcheiaa neighborhood famous for being the Greek anarchists' stomping ground. Those arrested didn't even know each other.

"My client is accused of carrying Molotov cocktails in his backpack and throwing them at around 9:15 PM. All he had in his backpack was a map, three books by Brecht, and one by Oscar Wilde," Legaki told me. "He also had the receipt for the bookswhich was issued at 9:05 PM. So, one moment he was buying books in Amerikis Square, and a few minutes later he was allegedly throwing Molotov cocktails in Kallidromiou Street. That pretty much sums up just how ridiculous the arrests were."

Legaki concluded, "We have asked the prosecutor to investigate the case, to make an indictment and to fully investigate not only the physical injuries, but the accusations of torture as well."

The police's internal affairs bureau has since contacted the lawyers representing the accused to inform them that they're preparing a full case against the officers involved.

On Monday, two of the nine arrestees were told they were free to go. Despite this, they still have to check in at a police station twice a month.

Still from 'Camp Gyno,' the viral commercial about young girls using tampons

Jemma-Louise Roberts died after using a tampon. The 13-year-old girl, whose family was later told had toxic shock syndrome, reportedly visited a doctor for vomiting and diarrhea when she fell ill in Marchbut her symptoms were dismissed as a simple stomach bug. A week later, she was dead.

Now, in honor of Sepsis Awareness Month, her mother Diane Roberts is speaking to the media with a message: toxic shock syndrome, or TSS, is not just a thing of the past.

In the early 1980s, fears about TSS were rampant. In 1980, 813 cases of TSS in menstruating women were reported to the Centers for Disease Control38 of which were fatal. Tampon manufacturers faced lawsuits, and the popular super-absorbent Rely tampons were soon pulled off the market. By 1982, tampon manufacturers were required by law to include a warning on their products: "Attention," the label read. "Tampons are associated with Toxic Shock Syndrome... a rare but serious disease that may cause death."

On Motherboard: Why Are Tampons Still a Thing?

But TSS hasn't gone away. Earlier this year, Los Angeles model Lauren Wasser announced her lawsuit against Kotex after she had her right leg amputated from complications of TSS.

Though more than 30 years have passed since those initial scares, Philip Tierno, a professor of microbiology and pathology at the New York University School of Medicine, says that TSS should worry tampon users. The disease is rare, he adds, but tampon companies could still push for even greater safety with their products.

"Toxic shock syndrome is a disease of the youth." Dr. Philip Tierno

In the 1980s, Tierno was at the forefront of linking TSS with the synthetic materials used in tamponsprompted after his wife showed him an article in Cosmopolitan about women getting rashes, vomiting, and having fevers after wearing tampons." seemed to have a few things in common," Tierno told me. "They used tampons, they were menstruating, and they had staph."

He said his wife turned to him and asked, "Aren't you an expert in staph? Isn't there something you can figure out?'

So Tierno looked at samples of the then-popular Rely tampons, which were made of synthetic materials that turned into a "jellied mass" when liquid hit it, creating a "petri dish" of sorts for Staphylococcus aureus, or staph bacteria. Tierno had a breakthrough: This was what was causing the problem.

Read: A Guide to Periods for Men

In the late 1980s, Tierno and his colleague, Bruce Hanna, published a study that showed a link between TSS and several of the synthetic materials used to make tampons. Those materialsmany of which have since been bannedhelped create an ideal environment for staph toxins to multiply and potentially spread into the bloodstream.

For the 33 percent of people that carry staph, TSS can quickly become a problem.

"I always sort of make the analogy of the D-day invasion on Omaha Beach," said John Townes, medical director of Infection Prevention and Control at Oregon Health & Science University. "You had to get a certain amount of troops landing on the beach to establish a beachhead, and once they had amassed enough people they could move in and start throwing bombs and grenades at the enemy."

Most people have small numbers of staph bacteria on their skin and it's no problem, Townes explained. "But when you get a large number of them reproducing all at once," he added, "those bacteria can start producing toxins that make you sick."

"People think, 'That's gone. It's a thing of the 80s.' It's not. To this day, I testify in death cases." Tierno

Townes was clear: Tampons, themselves, don't cause TSS, and good hygiene reduces a lot of the risk. But for young girls like Roberts, TSSand specifically TSST-1, the toxin produced by staphcan pose more of a threat.

As a person gets older, the body usually produces a protective antibody that keeps them from being as susceptible. But "if that person is infected with a strain that produces TSST-1 and they don't have an antibody, they can get a full blown syndrome," Townes said.

Because of that, Tierno said,doctors should know to ask further questions of an adolescent girl with flu-like symptoms. He said Roberts should have been asked questions like: "Are you menstruating? And if you are, are you using tampons? And if so: stop."

"TSS is a disease of the youth," Tierno added.

In his book, The Secret Life of Germs, Tierno writes that only half of teenage girls under age 16 have the appropriate antibodies to fight off TSST-1. And if they wear a tampon for too longmaybe nine, ten hours as they sleep in on a Saturday morningthe risk of TSS increases.

"Most people, when they put a tampon in, don't leave it in for a long period of time," Townes said. "The idea is that the staph that are collecting the vaginal area do not have time to multiply."

Though the likelihood of having that protective antibody increases with age, the threat doesn't completely disappear. Women in their 40s have died from TSS. This April, US Representative Carolyn Maloney, a Democrat from New York, introduced a bill called the Robin Danielson Feminine Hygiene Product Safety Act, named for a woman who died at age 44 after using conventional tampons.

On Motherboard: Tampons Could Be Toxic, But Congress Doesn't Care

So if people know that tampons made with synthetic materials create a haven for staph toxins, then why not make them from all cotton? Tierno said that's a question he's been asking for decadesespecially because, he added, there has never been a TSS case from all-cotton tampons.

"Many people think that with the current tampons there is no problem," he said. "They think, 'That's gone. It's a thing of the 80s.' It's not. To this day, I testify in death cases."

Diane Roberts has the same message. "My husband had never heard of TSS," she told the Manchester Evening News this week. "If one dad reads this and his daughter falls ill, it could save her life."

Knowing that a woman will use as many as 16,800 tampons in her lifetime, Tierno said he continues to put pressure on tampon manufacturers to convert to an all-cotton product. He said he's even asked companies to add a skull and crossbones to their labels.

He points to Maloney, who has been pushing for increased tampon safety regulations since 1997.

"She reintroduces it again and again and again," Tierno said. "If men had vaginas this bill would have been passed the first time. That's the truth."

Follow Leah Sottile on Twitter.

'The Mindy Project.' Photo courtesy of Hulu.

Asa kid growing up in suburban Connecticut in the late 90s and early 2000s, myonly reference to any vaguely relatable Indian-American woman in the public eyewas Jhumpa Lahiri, a Pulitzer-winning author with a Victorian seriousness. Knownfor her tailored and proper fiction about a newly emerging Indian diaspora,Lahiri was brilliant, if a bit prim. Nearly two decades later we have MindyKaling, star and creator of the eponymously titled show The Mindy Project. As thecharacter of Mindy Lahiri, an OB/GYN with guy problems, Kaling appears to givea winking nod to the author's cultural significance.

Somuch of Asian-American diasporic literature and film focuses on profound issuesof existence and identity, but seldom do Asian-Americans have the space andagency to, well, be shallow, interested in boys, nail art, and You've Got Mail. For one thing, MindyLahiri, the protagonist and simultaneous anti-heroine, is both the clich modelminority (a successful doctor) and the conventional hot mess (think Meg Ryanmeets Lena Dunham). For another, both Mindys get annoyed at any mention ofotherness or ethnicity.

Perhaps it's an in-your-face response to the whiteness of rom-coms, where she, a self-described 'chubby' Indian woman, is the center of attention, the narcissistic, flawed, and inscrutable object of desire.

Kaling,the Dartmouth-educated child of Indian immigrants, author of two best-sellingbooks and former cast-member of TheOffice, is frequently on the receiving end of questions about race. When askedin 2014 whether it was a conscious decision for her to be the only femaledoctor of color on the show, Kaling snapped, "I'm a fucking Indian woman who has herown fucking network television show, OK?" Shecontinued, exasperated: "I have four series regulars that are womenon my show, and no one asks any of the shows I adore why no leads on theirshows are women or of color." Speaking with NPR that same year, she opined, "I think that it's insidious to be spending more of yourtime reflecting about your otherness rather than doing the hard work of yourjob." Kaling seems uninterested in joining theranks of comedians like Aziz Ansari, Russell Peters, or Kal Penn, who frequentlyrefer to their race and cultural background. And yet by simply being herself,Kaling already isand always has beenapart of that heritage. The decision to assimilate, after all, is an equallyvalid, if less popular reaction to diaspora.

Manycritics disdain her rejection of identity politics, though perhaps her stance is a meaningful act in itself. For the character of Mindy Lahiri, it means aworld where she is allowed to be shallow, where she can make it all about cuteguys and awkward failures and one-liner zingers and besties if she wants to. By employing numerous references to mainstream love stories incinema, Kaling has spun her own protagonist's romantic plight into a kind ofrosy and idealistic web. Kaling, the author, even writes in her second book, Why Not Me?: "I don't want to be real! When I think of thingsthat are 'real,' I think of income taxes and Putin's invasion of Ukraine. Realis bad! I want fantasy!"

Despiteher desire to avoid such realities, at times it seems Kaling wishes to subvertthe average-girl-next-door rom-com image, conveying the message that one doesn'thave to be a petite blonde with socioeconomic means to getpowerful, attractive white men and possibly achieve a happy ending. Perhapsit's an in-your-face response to the whiteness of rom-coms, where she, a self-described"chubby" Indian woman, is the center of attention, the narcissistic, flawed,and inscrutable object of desire. In fact, Kaling's protagonist is soself-involved that Al Jazeera calledMindy Lahiri's character "ahistorical," arguing that Kaling "appears to be a woman without any family orcommunity," "a character simply born of the imagined community of lovelorncareer women whose identities are defined purely by what they buy."

Thatmay have been true, until now. Season four begins with just that issue, furtherturning Mindy Lahiri's world into a gleeful caricature of itself. The wholeepisode is bisected into two bizarre situations: Mindy is dreaming throughoutthe whole episode while Danny, unbeknownst to her, is in India with herparents. In her dream, Mindy is still in her 20s, happily married to Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a handsomereality-show producer; she and Danny (Chris Messina)her love interestthroughout the series and father of the unborn childare no longer on talkingterms; she is having a steamy affair with the holistic quack above her OB/GYNpractice; she has a lavish apartment; and, the kicker, she is no longerpregnant.

Meanwhile,in real life, Danny made the dramatic trek to India to convince a pair of hipLahiri parents (who drop pop-culture references every other sentence and appearjust as quirky and vain as their daughter) to give Mindy to him in good faith.He tells them he loves Mindy and is the father of her child, but doesn't wantto get married. They give him their blessing because, as forward-thinkingpeople, they are just glad that somebody loves her the way Danny does. Thecasualness with which Kaling introduces a character's family history is tellingof her interest in the future, rather than the past.

Andthe future is what Kaling embodies very self-consciously. She knows there hasnever been a situation where an Indian-American woman on TV is giving birth outof wedlock with parents who are uncommonly chill about it. There has never beenan Indian-American woman who makes her male characters constantly comment onher weight only to humorously brush it off (Kaling has often said she would bemore offended by being called not smart or witty than not beautiful). Kalingunderstands all these statements about her being a "pioneer," but rejects it. Her act ofdissent, it would seem, is to just make all this seem normallike the contentis no big deal. It refuses to acknowledge that her place in life as a majorplayer in the world of comedy, especially as a woman of color, took a lot ofhustle.

Kaling'sworldand, indeed, perhaps the world of the futureis one where she doesn'thave to look like Meg Ryan to be worthy of desire, where a dream of romancesold to white girls can now be sold back (and bought, believed, fantasizedabout) by a brown girl. It's a feat to normalize a consistently othered face,and despite the critics' cries, Kaling knows that very well.

Follow Janaki on Twitter.

The Mindy Project airs on Tuesdays on Hulu.

The place where the two Afghans were foundat the Romanian borders with Hungary and Serbia.

This article originally appeared on VICE Romania.

Last week, a local newspaper reported that two Afghan refugees found themselves in the area surrounding Beba Vechea Romanian village near the borders of Serbia and Hungary. This was kind of a big deal for Romanians becausein contrast to central and southern European countries whose streets and train stations seem to be currently full of weary people who've just fled war and deathour country has yet to see any noticeable amounts of immigration. Engaging with the immigration crisis, struggling to contain it, and getting really angry about it all just like our Western sisters and brothers, would be a reason for Romanians to finally feel European. The whole country rejoiced.

On VICE News: In Photos: The People, Familiesand a CatWho Battled to Reach Europe

And then we found out that the two Afghans had ended up in Romania by mistake. Apparently, they were trying to get to Hungary via Serbia but took the wrong turn exactly where the Hungarian and the Romanian border meet, ending up in Beba Veche. The Romanian Border Police caught them three meters from the border, and told them they were in Romania. So they did what every Romanian does in his heart every time we come back from a trip to the West: They started crying. The whole country empathized.

Later, at the police station, the two Afghans were told they could not get into Hungary so they asked to be sent back to Serbia, instead of staying in Romania. Which is exactly what happened yesterday, based on the agreement of readmission between Serbia and our country. Romania had just missed its chance to receive its only refugees.

Not that the incident did anything to deter local authorities from zealously perfecting their hosting skills. At the beginning of this week, the Romanian Border Police performed a series of refugee reception exercises in the villages neighboring Serbia. They actually set up and then took down about 50 tents overnight to make sure they were prepared in case somebody ever came.

Additionally, the Romanian city of Trgovite (which isn't even near the border) has been preparing to receive 5,000 refugees since August; the Ministry of Internal Affairs is working on a bill that would impose stricter penalties on refugee traffickers and the Police are scouting for 6,000 new employees. "We are looking to up our resources in case there is a crisis situation," said the Romanian government's spokesperson, Corneliu Calot, in a press conference.

When asked, the local townspeople claimed to have no problem with refugees coming into their villages because none of them want to stay there. "They want to live in Sweden and Germany anyway," one guy said.

In another interview, a group of refugees in Budapest didn't even want to hear about moving to Romania because according to them the country is simply too poor.

Luckily for us, earlier in the month the European Union asked Romania to shelter 6,359 refugees. So we can still feel European.