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Screenshot via Tampa Bay Times

Americans may be becoming more apathetic and cynical about politics, but someone forgot to tell Doug Hughes. On Wednesday the 61-year-old made headlines around the world when he flew a gyrocopter loaded with 535 two-page letters to Congress to the Capitol in Washington, DC, to draw attention to campaign finance reform.

Hughes' journey from Florida was documented by Tampa Bay Times reporter Ben Montgomery, who wrote that the Hughes, a mailman, "sees himself as a sort of showman patriot, a mix of Paul Revere and P.T. Barnum." The activist operates a site called TheDemocracyClub.org and believes that "Congress has a lot of work to do and a $ addiction"—a sentiment that many agree with but one that inspires few to engage in acts of civil disobedience via aircraft.

"I thought he was going to get shot down," Montgomery told the Washington Post. It was a legitimate concern. After all, the Federal Aviation Commission doesn't allow aircraft flying below 18,000 feet to pass over buildings like the Capitol and White House, and Hughes planned to fly at 300 feet.

Another concern: Hughes might have crashed of his own accord. The man learned how to fly solely for this mission, according to the Tampa Bay Times profile. And in case you've never seen a gyrocopter, they're basically just flying go-karts. Taking one on a trip of any length—never mind to a off-limits location protected by the world's most powerful military—is not for the faint of heart. It seems like he had to fly about 100 miles from an airport in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where police are investigating a trailer he left behind.

Hughes is not the first person to take an unauthorized vehicle onto elite American lawns. In 1974, Robert K. Preston, who wanted to be a helicopter pilot but was told he wasn't good enough, landed on the White House lawn to prove a point. Then, in 1993, a guy named Frank Eugene Corder drunkenly stole a civilian airplane and died crashing it into the White House South Lawn. His friends said he did it for the attention.

And while Hughes wanted attention, it wasn't for himself. He was trying to get people to wake up and demand that their representatives serve them rather than lobbyists and donors. In the letter he was delivering, he gave politicians three options:

1. You may pretend corruption does not exist.
2. You may pretend to oppose corruption while you sabotage reform.
3. You may actively participate in real reform.

According to Politico, reporters who worked on the original story warned both the Secret Service and the Capitol Police 30 minutes before Hughes was set to land. "This is one of the craziest stories I've ever done. I so hope nobody gets hurt," Montgomery tweeted before the scheduled touchdown time.

But Hughes was apparently set on his message of campaign reform. He wanted to deliver the letters—and possibly save America.

"I'd rather die in the flight than live to be 80 years old and see this country fall," he told Montgomery before taking off.

Follow Allie Conti on Twitter.

*Correction 4/16: Because of an editing error, this post originally stated that the gyrocopter landed on the White House lawn when, in fact, it landed on the west lawn of the US Capitol. The headline also originally suggested the flight was from Florida to Washington, DC. when, in fact, the actual flight was from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. We regret the errors.

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Photo by Flickr user Brett Levin

Marijuana has come a long way since the paranoia of Reefer Madness. States that have legalized the drug are quickly getting rich on tax revenue from it, it's shown promise in treating all sorts of ailments, and there's some evidence that it might reduce addiction and overdoses caused by other drugs. The drug is sold in hipstery farmer's markets, rabbis are finding ways to adopt weed into a kosher lifestyle, and even Martha Stewart admits she rolls joints.

Still, marijuana's position as a Schedule 1 drug means that states' pot programs and research clash against federal law. Today, there was a case before a federal judge to potentially reschedule the drug, but the judge ruled to keep marijuana on the Schedule 1 list.

The ruling came from Judge Kimberly J. Mueller of the Federal District Court in Sacramento, California. The Associated Press reported that Judge Mueller gave a 15-minute court hearing, where she said that "this is not the court and this is not the time" to recategorize the drug. A written ruling is expected by the end of the week.

Paul Armentano, the Deputy Director of NORML and the lead investigator in the case's defense, said he was "disappointed" with today's ruling, but added that "we always felt this had to ultimately be decided by the Ninth Circuit and we have an unprecedented record for the court to consider." In other words, the fight isn't over yet.

Schedule 1 drugs—heroin, LSD, ecstasy, meth, peyote, and marijuana—are classified as having a "high potential for abuse" and having "no currently accepted medical use." Marijuana's presence on this list has been debated for decades, especially with the growing body of research demonstrating marijuana's medical benefits. Upholding the classification as a Schedule 1 drug means that federal authorities can still raid medical marijuana dispensaries in states where it's considered legal, and comprehensive research studies about marijuana's effects are hindered by the extra steps required for researching Schedule 1.

Related: VICE meets Arjan Roskam, 38-time Cannabis Cup winner and self-proclaimed King of Cannabis.

Dan Riffle, Director of Federal Policies at the Marijuana Policy Project, said that we won't know exactly why Judge Mueller ruled the way she did until the written ruling comes out, but "as an attorney, I can tell you that courts are generally very deferential to administrative agencies when reviewing administrative rulings like the DEA's continued classification of marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug. That's why courts have rejected every effort to reschedule marijuana in the courts thus far, and likely the basis for today's ruling."

Marijuana has been listed among other Schedule 1 drugs since 1970, when the Controlled Substances Act was initiated. In 1972, NORML petitioned to move the drug from Schedule 1 to Schedule 2—a challenge that wasn't heard in court until 1986, and was ultimately denied. In 2002, the Coalition for Researching Cannabis filed a petition, this time suggesting that marijuana should be classified as either Schedule 3, 4, or 5, pending scientific research. That petition was also denied.

The fact that marijuana is still considered to have the same abuse-potential and lack of medical benefits as drugs like heroin is "ludicrous," in the words of Riffle, who points to the scientific research we have on the drug. "Marijuana poses a dramatically lower risk of abuse than other drugs in Schedule 1 as well as those in lower schedules, and nearly half of all Americans now live in states with effective medical marijuana laws." Add to that the fact that most Americans support marijuana legalization and recognize that marijuana is less harmful than alcohol—a substance that isn't scheduled at all—and you've got a fairly convincing case that marijuana should be removed from the list of scheduled drugs altogether, rather than recategorized into a lower schedule.

In the meantime, Riffle and many others said that the impetus is on lawmakers to change public policy to recognize the medicinal merits of marijuana.

"While we are very disappointed with the decision, this just really underscores the need for Congress to take action and to reschedule cannabis on a federal level," said Don Duncan, the California Director for Americans for Safe Access, an organization that advocates legal medical marijuana therapeutics and research. One solution, he said, would be for Congress to adopt the CARERS Act, a bill which is currently before the Senate and would allow access to and research on medical marijuana. "So there is a path forward, despite the decision from the judge today."

Follow Arielle Pardes on Twitter.

Our third season of VICE is currently airing Fridays on HBO, and we've got two preview clips from tomorrow's episode to get you excited. So far this season, we've investigated climate change, police militarization, dangerous legal highs, and more. This week, we look at how our antibiotic-crazed culture is creating superbugs that could kill all many as 10 million people by 2050 according to some experts. A team of scientists are scouring the earth to find new natural sources of anti-bacterial compounds before it's too late.

Later in the episode we travel to Indonesia to see how the palm oil boom is wreaking havoc on Indonesian wildlife, indigenous populations, and our climate as a whole. Check out these exclusive clips above and then watch the full episode tomorrow night.

If you want to get involved or learn more about the threat to Indonesian rainforests, check out Forest Heroes, Forest Nature and Environment Aceh, Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program, and Rainforest Action Network.

Watch VICE Fridays at on HBO at 11 PM, 10 PM central, or stream it via HBO Now.

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(Clockwise) Topman shirt, Stone Island jeans; Topman dungarees, vintage jumper; H&M dungarees, vintage jumper; New Look jumper, Volcom trousers

PHOTOGRAPHY: LOUIE BANKS
STYLING: KYLIE GRIFFITHS

Hair: Oskar Pera at Caren, using Oribe for the Drawing Room Hair Salon
Make-up: Adam Burrell using Mac
Production: Tabitha Martin
Set and props: Penny Mills
Photographer's assistant: Stephanie Galea
Stylist's assistants: Mali Koa Hood and Thomas Ramshaw
Make-up assistant: Heidi North
Set assistant: Amy Smith
Models: Simian, Alfie, Dee and Maddie at Elite; Jacques, Sandra and Molly at Kids London, Kye at Scallywags

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Vivienne Westwood Anglomania dress, Claire's Accessories tiara; vintage dress, Claire's Accessories tiara

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Lauren Lake top, McQ trousers; Lauren Lake coat, Rokit shirt, McQ skirt; John Galliano Kids jacket, Lauren Lake mittens; Lauren Lake top

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Diesel top and jacket, vintage jeans, Dr. Martens boots; Diesel jacket, vintage top, New Look jeans, Dr. Martens boots; Alexander Wang jacket, McQ T-shirt, John Galliano for Kids tutu, Dr. Martens boots

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Schott jacket, vintage trousers; Diesel jacket, New Look jeans

[body_image width='959' height='700' path='images/content-images/2015/04/16/' crop='images/content-images-crops/2015/04/16/' filename='canada-was-deporting-people-to-libya-as-the-islamic-state-held-mass-executions-body-image-1429195714.jpg' id='46817']Still from the VICE News video "Libya: A Broken State"

In the year following the Islamic State's official proclamation that Libya was to be the newest province of its far-flung caliphate, the Canadian government deported 15 Libyan nationals back to that country.

Four Libyans living in Canada were deported in in the first three months of 2015. Another 11 were sent back the year prior.

These deportation orders came despite the mass executions and ongoing fighting. Ottawa was putting people living in Canada on planes and sending them back to the thick of it. That didn't end until last month.

[youtube src='//www.youtube.com/embed/bbqf27GIkaw' width='500' height='281']

VICE spoke with one immigration lawyer whose clients—a family with children claiming refugee status—were slated to be deported to the Islamic State's newest foothold.

The Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) confirmed the numbers to VICE earlier this week, but refused to offer any details about the deportations. They confirmed that those deportations did not halt until last month.

"As a result of growing widespread violence effecting the entire Libyan population, the CBSA has imposed an Administrative Deferral of Removals (ADR) to Libya as of March 20, 2015," a spokesperson said via email.

That decision came more than nine months after Canada moved all of its embassy staff to a secure location and warned all Canadians not to travel to the war-ravaged state.

"AVOID ALL TRAVEL," reads an advisory posted to a Government of Canada website on June 1, 2014.

"There is a heightened risk of terrorism throughout Libya, including in Benghazi. Terrorist attacks could occur at any time and could target areas frequented by expatriates and foreign travellers," it reads.

From May 2014 to March 2015, the Department of Foreign Affairs sent out eight missives decrying instability, violence, bombings, and targeted assassinations within Libya.

[youtube src='//www.youtube.com/embed/ML7sD_JKbQc' width='500' height='281']

"Canada deplores in the strongest terms the ongoing violence and destruction in Libya and is appalled by the reported incidents of human rights abuses," then-Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said in a November 2014 statement. "Canada stands with the Libyan people in their struggle to defeat terrorism and violence, restore the rule of law, and build a free, prosperous and democratic society."

Despite this, it was signing orders to have Libyan nationals detained and sent back. An immigration lawyer who deals with a number of refugee claims successfully obtained a temporary stay of deportation for her clients—a family with children—in February, because of a medical condition.

Canada participated in the international effort to oust dictator Muammar Gaddafi and install the more Western-friendly National Transitional Council.

In 2012, Libya formed its first post-Gaddafi democratic government. Over the following two years, rebels and militias pushed back against the internationally-recognized government after a disputed election in June 2014. Within a month, Libya was carved into two sections, with a rogue general launching a bloody and aggressive campaign to retake the country. In the vacuum, Islamic State-linked fighters began capturing territory.

ISIS fighters took the coastal city of Derna in the fall of 2014 and built influence in several other towns and cities, including Tripoli and Benghazi. They carried out a spate of successful bombings, assassinations, and beheadings, most of which were filmed and marked by their now-infamous black standard flag.

The most publicized attack was the beheading of 21 Coptic Christian hostages in February.

It's unclear why, in the face of such extreme violence, Canada continued to enforce deportations to the state.

VICE asked CBSA to clarify the exact dates on which the Libyan nations were sent back to the sea of increasing violence.

"It is not a practice of the CBSA to divulge/disclose the enforcement of a removal order," the spokesperson said. "What we can tell you is that between January 2015 and March 20, 2015, four Libyan nationals were removed to Libya."

VICE asked whether or not that moratorium on deportations—the ADR—exists for Yemen, which is currently facing a civil war and an invasion from neighbouring countries. CBSA responded by sending a list of every country for which there is an ADR in place.

"The CBSA currently has an ADR on: certain regions in Somalia (Middle Shabelle, Afgoye, and Mogadishu: since December 9, 2011); the Gaza Strip (since November 27, 2012); Syria (since March 15, 2012); Mali (since January 31, 2013); the Central African Republic (since June 19, 2014); and South Sudan (since November 4, 2014)," a spokesperson wrote.

The CBSA confirmed that four Yemen nationals were deported in 2014.

An ADR, however, is not absolute.

"To ensure the safety and security of Canadians, an ADR does not apply to individuals who pose a security threat to Canada, are criminals, or have been convicted of war crimes or crimes against humanity," the spokesperson said.

That means a criminal conviction—any criminal conviction—could get you sent back to a war zone. That conviction doesn't even have to be under Canadian law—one Toronto business-owner was deported over a 20-year-old conviction he received in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which he claims was politically motivated.

Even those who are currently saved from being sent back could be returned at any time.

"The CBSA will continue to monitor the situation in Libya and once conditions improve, a decision will be made on whether all removals can be reinstated," the spokesperson acknowledged.

The ADR does not appear on any government site, and hasn't been communicated in any formal way.

Individuals up for deportation can appeal the decision on humanitarian or compassionate grounds, which usually take into account personal factors about the individual—whether they have health issues, whether they have young children, whether they will be a target for violence if they are returned to their home country.

Janet Dench, Executive Director at the Canadian Council for Refugees, says the former process preferred by the government—a Temporary Suspension of Removals (TSR)—was openly communicated.

She says the new practise is "TSR-lite," and that it could be confusing for those who still face deportation orders despite the removal moratorium being in place. It's like a "hologram," she says.

Dench says it can be particularly tricky because as long as a moratorium is place, most on the list can get work permits, but can't apply for permanent residency. Their situation then becomes a sort of "limbo," as their deportation orders could be reactivated at any time.

There is a more stringent ban on deporting individuals back to three countries: Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Even in those cases, a criminal conviction could result in deportation.

"Canada removes to all countries," the spokesperson told VICE. "Remove" is government parlance for "deport."

As the Toronto Star reported last year, Canada aggressively sends foreign nationals back home, even if "home" is a failed state.

Their numbers show that 131 individuals were deported to Libya between June 2004 and June 2014.

Follow Justin Ling on Twitter.

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Image via Wellcome Library

It's been just over five years since I first picked up a cigarette—at a party, surrounded by people who seemed much cooler than me by dint of their smoking. Determined to fit in with my new social circle and with my new city—New York, a place where even the corpulent look interesting with a hand-rolled cigarette hanging from their lips—I started smoking socially, and eventually, regularly.

Through the years I've quit dozens of times, to no avail. This, like any addiction, is a personal struggle. If you're an addict, no amount of disappointed friend-shaming, bummer chats with parents, or losses of potential girlfriends can make you do something you're not ready to do. I get it. Cigarettes are bad. And yet, despite all that I know about cigarettes and why they're bad, I still fucking like them.

Related: Dying for Treatment

All of which brings me to my current situation. After trying for so long to quit, only to disappointingly flip between stopping and guiltily falling off the wagon, I've found a "healthy" medium, a half-happy place where I can smoke casually. Actually casually.

It started a few months ago, when, feeling dangerously worn out for a 24-year-old, I quit smoking. I knew I wanted 2015 to be different, and I didn't want to wait until my New Year's Resolution to make it so. I joined a gym, changed my diet, and started exercising five times a week.

Since November, I've kept it up, shedding some pounds and, more important, feeling better about myself as a human being. Part of this is due to the fact that, about a month into my new routine, I decided that I was doing OK and should probably ease up on my cigarette abstinence. Maybe I could be the kind of guy who keeps a pack at work, I thought, smoking a few here and there.

Surprisingly, this worked out pretty well. I continued going to the gym and eating and sleeping well, all while sneaking a few smokes, balancing the good with the bad on a daily basis and seemingly achieving the impossible—gaming the system, being a healthy person while not being an entirely healthy person. The dichotomy also inspired a mutual motivation—if I had a good work out, I definitely deserved a smoke, and if I smoked heavily on a particular day, I definitely ate a healthy lunch.

With the devil on one shoulder and angel on the other, I felt like I'd found universal balance. Maybe I didn't have to fully quit after all. Maybe it's possible to lead a healthy life while continuing to smoke regularly. Do we not have to quit? I decided to investigate.

"It's important to first define what is meant by 'a healthy lifestyle,'" said Dr. Azure B. Thompson, the associate director of policy and research at the CASAColumbia addiction center. Thompson, an expert on the social determinants of substance abuse, said that while a healthy lifestyle is defined by eating well, being active and managing stress, "people may comply with some of these activities and believe they are leading an 'otherwise healthy lifestyle,' but by smoking cigarettes regularly you are not protecting yourself from harm." Harm, of course, being stuff like long-term lung damage and increased risk of cancer, heart disease, respiratory disease, and stroke.

By smoking while living healthily, you're welcoming dangerous entrants into your body, but it's not like I was smoking a pack a day. If I am letting toxins in, at least it's not like they're waltzing in through the front door. It's more like they're sneaking in through the window I cracked. In theory, I should be able to keep doing what I'm doing so long as I don't fall back into my pack-a-day habit, right?

"I think that is a natural sentiment," Thompson countered. "With some potentially unhealthy behaviors," like eating junk food or drinking alcohol, "we are told that they are OK in moderation, but there is no way to game the harmful effects when it comes to cigarette smoking."

According to Thompson, not only am I not supposed to smoke if I want to live a healthy life, but I'm not even supposed to be near a place where smoking is happening. "Any exposure to tobacco smoke is harmful," she assured me. "Risks are not limited to heavy or long-term smokers." Still, living a totally smoke-free existence is an unrealistic ideal: if you're a social person in your 20s, you're bound to be regularly surrounded by smoking peers, and if you live in a major city, second-hand smoke is almost unavoidable.

Thompson gave me the answer I knew was coming—of course the addiction researcher is going to tell me not to be addicted! I needed input from another source, so I reached out to Jonathan Henry, a certified personal trainer. Though Henry is a kindergarten teacher who knows a bit about how to compromise with crying six-year-olds, he doesn't compromise in his night work, which is making sure people stop putzing around with their bodies and get healthy to stay that way.

"It is not possible to lead an otherwise healthy lifestyle while smoking cigarettes," he told me as soon as I brought up the question of whether or not I could lift and still smoke. "Doing so is the exact contradiction to living a healthy lifestyle," he added for clarity.

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Image via Flickr

I should note here that Jonathan trained me once—when I was in my heavy-smoking phase—and nearly made me pass out by telling me to do 100 jumping jacks. Before doing the jumping jacks, I looked and felt like a normal person. "Even if an individual doesn't look out of shape due to their fast metabolism, eats well, and does some type of exercise," Henry told me, through smoking, "damage is being done to the vital organs and will eventually be visible to the individual and the world."

Jonathan went on to say that if I don't quit smoking soon, even while living my otherwise "healthy" lifestyle, my gym routine and diet would eventually fall by the wayside.

Still! I'm feeling mostly OK. I no longer struggle when I walk up a few flights of stairs. I don't have an agonizing chest cough, the sort only fellow pack-a-day smokers could relate to. And I don't smell so much like smoke that my mom winces in dismay when I hug her. Everything's fine.

Besides, sometimes I need a cigarette. Sometimes things aren't going great at work, my relationship feels more taxing than usual, or I'm just crippled with fear about getting older. You know, just normal 20-something stuff, most of which usually fades away after a smoke break. Even if it's clearly not a physically healthy activity, maybe smoking provides some sort of mental health benefits, especially for those of us who do it to relieve personal stress. I reached out for validation from Margie Cohen, a California-based psychotherapist whose ex-wife was a longtime smoker. Surely she'd understand.

"It is my job to track and respect people's choices," said Cohen, "and especially to help them understand and find new ways to manage the emotions that smoking is helping them medicate." Some of which, she said, if unchecked can create a distance between a person and the possibility of living a deeply rewarding life.

According to Cohen, smoking, like any other addictive substance, while typically mislabeled as a stress reliever, functions more so as a distraction from issues lying beneath the surface.

"It has been my experience that a person's relationship to smoking will become less compelling if they are less fearful of their feelings and of their previous traumatic experiences," said Cohen.

Cohen seemed to stand firmly beside Henry and Thompson in the belief that smoking is unequivocally bad, both mentally and physically, though she admitted that quitting—an "empowering choice that will help move a person toward greater fulfillment and happiness"—isn't something she'd push someone to do if they weren't ready.

If a person is quitting simply to "comply with social or internal pressure to 'do what's right,'" said Cohen, "it will probably not be a choice they can manage successfully, and may likely add to their stress, self-blame, shame, and low self-esteem."

So according to the experts I spoke with and common sense, it is not possible to maintain a healthy lifestyle without quitting smoking. But the very reason I started living this new life in the first place was to avoid the feelings of stress and low self-esteem Cohen mentioned above, and for the first time in my young life, I've found a footing between careful and irresponsible by forcing myself to sacrifice while allowing myself transgressions. So for now, I'd rather just keep smoking, blindly soldiering on with this unhealthy addiction no matter how painful it may be in the long run.

Follow Dan on Twitter.

Just after 6 AM on Wednesday morning, hundreds of protesters flooded onto one of Brooklyn's busier intersections outside a McDonald's, chanting and marching for $15-an-hour wages. It was the first of a daylong series of demonstrations against low wages that organizers were calling "the most widespread mobilization ever by US workers seeking higher pay"—a mass coordinated action that was expected to spread across more than 200 US cities and include some 60,000 demonstrators.

It was the largest effort yet for the campaign known as Fight for $15 , which began in 2012 with a fast-food employees strike in New York City and has since expanded into a broader economic justice protest movement, encompassing a range of low-wage workers, from Walmart cashiers to home health care aides and adjunct professors at universities. In the last three years, the crusade has picked up momentum globally, backed by millions of dollars from the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), one of America's largest labor unions.

This morning's action in Brooklyn was a cross-section of that movement, throwing together fast-food workers with building trade unionists, adjunct professors, and groups representing immigrant workers. In addition to calling for what they deem livable wages, the demonstrators protested against an array of workplace practices, such as cutting hours and erratic scheduling systems that require employees to remain "on call" for shifts.

As an NYPD helicopter hovered low over protesters blocking traffic, police deployed portable iron fences to stop the demonstration's advance down Flatbush Avenue toward the Manhattan Bridge. After blocking the busy artery for about 30 minutes, the procession moved over to a quieter street, heading toward Brooklyn's Borough Hall, while a smaller contingent stayed behind at the McDonald's, chanting, "What do we want? $15! When do we want it? Now!"

Among the protesters was Jumal Tarver, 36, who lives in Harlem and makes $8.75 an hour working in a McDonald's kitchen near Manhattan's Columbus Circle. Although he enjoys his job, Tarver told me he struggles to keep his head above water, relying on food stamps and subletting a room in a friend's apartment to get by on his low wages and unreliable hours.

Tarver would like to go back to school. He spent a few months taking business management classes at a private college in Lower Manhattan last year, but had to give up his studies because he could not afford the tuition. If his wages went up to $15 an hour, he said, he could finish his studies and move into his own place.

"I would be able to get an apartment," Tarver said, "so that when I want to spend time with my daughters they can come to my apartment instead of just my coming into my room."

Critics of Fight for $15 have claimed that the demonstrations are largely a PR stunt cooked up by labor unions to boost their declining membership numbers. In a statement Wednesday, McDonald's—the most high-profile target of the low-wage labor movement—said the protests do not truly represent its workers. "Historically—out of approx. 800,000 people who work in McDonald 's restaurants—there have only been about 10 to 15 actual McDonald's workers who have participated in these staged events," a McDonald's spokesperson told VICE in an email. "This is based on direct data from all of our restaurants and confirmed by our regional staff."

If the protest campaign is simply a press ploy, though, it appears to have been strikingly successfully. Earlier this month, after enduring more than two years of protests over its wages, McDonald's pledged that it would raise pay for workers it directly employees to one dollar above each state's effective minimum wage. The vast majority of McDonald's workers, though, are employed by the franchises rather than the company, meaning they are not included in the company's pay raise. In February, Walmart, the nation's largest employer, announced that it would raise its minimum wage to $10 an hour, following a similar public shaming campaign over low wages.

Moreover, if the SEIU's endgame with Fight for $15 is to bolster its dues-paying union membership by expanding into low-wage sectors, the campaign could be an expensive gamble in terms of financial returns. On Wednesday, Reuters reported that the union has spent more than $20 million to organize low-wage workers, directing the money toward "worker organizations whose stated purpose, as cited in labor department filings or online job advertisements, was to work for better conditions in the fast-food and retail industries."

On the other side of the fight, the National Restaurant Association and the US Chamber of Commerce, which oppose raising the minimum wage, spent a combined $342.4 million to in Washington lobbying fees between 2012 and 2014, according to data cited by Reuters.

The payoff for labor would of course be huge if SEIU can actually succeed in turning protesters into union members. But unionization isn't easy. In order to be certified by the federal government, a majority of employees in a workplace need to vote in favor of forming a union, and elections often become messy and heated. At a giant employer like Walmart or McDonald's, the task would likely be almost impossible, particularly given how far those corporations are willing to go to avoid unionization.

But regardless of the outcome, the level of influence labor groups have asserted over the mainstream political dialogue marks a significant victory for private-sector unions, which have experienced steep declines in membership over the last two decades. The Fight for $15 movement has been credited with publicizing the problems facing low-wage workers, coinciding with a push from Democrats and progressive activists toward raising the minimum wage. In 2014, voters in several states approved ballot measures to increase the minimum wage, and cities like Chicago and Seattle have passed similar proposals at the local level.

Prominent Democrats have also gotten on board. Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren tweeted her support for Fight for $15 protesters Wednesday, as did New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who has called for a change in state law that would let the city's minimum wage rise to $15 an hour by 2019. In Oakland, former US Labor Secretary Robert Reich led a walkout at a McDonald's, coaxing workers there to go on strike. The protests could also pressure newly-announced presidential candidate Hillary Clinton to articulate her stance on the minimum wage as she tries to shore up support with her party's progressive wing.

As support for the Fight for $15 has grown, the campaign has expanded into a broader social justice movement that seeks more robust economic opportunity and civil rights for low income and minority Americans. Most notably, labor groups have coordinated with Black Lives Matter activists, building on an alliance that formed in the wake of the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson last fall.

In some cases, protest groups originally organized to fight police brutality have began to focus also on low-wage restaurants and retailers. At a demonstration in New York, where protesters blocked lanes on the Brooklyn Bridge, participants carried signs that addressed both police brutality and fairness in pay.

Outside of the Flatbush Avenue McDonald's on Wednesday, the Fight for $15 message blended together with other progressive slogans. "This is what democracy looks like," Shantel Walker, a demonstrator who makes $9 an hour at Papa John's told me, repeating a popular line from Occupy Wall Street. "We're not living life at its fullest, we're tired of not making enough money to feed our families."

Follow Spencer Woodman on Twitter.

In the latest update from VICE's alternative election trail, host Gavin Haynes is driven blindfolded to the secret headquarters of a fundamentalist party running against UKIP leader Nigel Farage in South Thanet, Kent.

Are the Al-Zebabist Nation of OOOG for real? What do you think? We meet the party's leader, Zebadiah Abu Obadiah, to talk about why they don't have time for spoof parties, why every female in Britain should wear a hijab, and why everyone should take a massive fatal heroin overdose on their 50th birthday.

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PEI, a province as beautiful as it is politically retrograde. Photo via Flickr user Steve Sutherland

Legal abortion access won't be coming to PEI anytime soon, affirmed the two men who have a shot at being premier of the Island after the May 4 election.

At a Tuesday morning debate on women's issues, newly minted Progressive Conservative leader Rob Lantz said point-blank he won't be bringing abortion services to the province.

He joins his Liberal counterpart, Wade MacLauchlan, in that decision, dashing pro-choice advocates' hopes that the province will provide surgical abortion for the first time in 30 years.

After pressuring the last administration, abortion advocates had hoped new leaders of the province's two main political parties (the Liberals and Tories have been trading power since 1854) might change the province's policy.

But that won't be the case for the time being.

MacLauchlan's position was made public earlier, but for many in the room Tuesday, Lantz's was new.

"I've travelled the province and even some of those who self-identify as pro-choice have indicated to me they recognize the current arrangement as an acceptable compromise," said Lantz.

Many in the audience erupted in sarcastic laughter after Lantz's comment.

"It was a pretty significant response," said Emily Rutledge, a spokeswoman for the Abortion Rights Network.

"It was the very first time the whole room—or anyone in the room—laughed at an answer. That never happened again throughout the debate. Then he didn't get any applause from that point onward."

The abortion policy was established by the Island's incumbent Liberal government under former premier Robert Ghiz.

The province will pay for an abortion in Halifax, but will not perform them on-Island. Anyone needing an abortion is responsible for getting themselves to Nova Scotia and back out of their own pocket.

It's about a four-hour drive from Charlottetown to Halifax. Bridge fare to leave the Island costs $45.50, plus gas, road tolls, and accommodations.

Both the Greens and the NDP promised a women's health clinic, which would include abortion services, and called the Liberal and PC's reaction "unacceptable." Neither party has a shot at forming government: each were polling between 10 and 15 percent before the writ was dropped.

"Jane"—not her real name—is a woman in her 20s who lives and works in Charlottetown. She estimates her abortion last year cost about $200.

But she considers herself one of the lucky ones—her boyfriend was supportive and drove her there, and they had a place where they could stay overnight for free. She called in sick to work.

They both have jobs that allow them to save a bit of money, and it wasn't in the winter, when the Island is hit with a barrage of snowstorms that often make travel impossible.

Still, navigating a health care system where abortion is taboo was difficult. By the time Jane managed to get to Halifax, it was a full month after she discovered she was pregnant.

"It was a lot harder and more arduous than I thought it would be, and I had been following the pro-choice movement on PEI for the last few years," she said.

"I think [politicians] just have no idea what the actual process is and aren't trying to understand. I didn't know what it was like before I had to get one, honestly."

Abortions aren't illegal on PEI. In the 80s, an elected hospital board voted to keep abortion out of the main hospital. When the Ghiz government was pressured in 2011, government officials said no doctors wanted to perform abortions, and that paying for abortion would be another cost to an already-poor province.

Pro-choice lobbyists responded by finding a doctor who was willing to come to the province part-time to provide the service. Internal documents obtained by CBC News show their proposed plan was actually more cost-efficient than paying for Islanders' abortions off-Island.

But politicians with the provincial government clamped down, repeating the "status quo" is a good compromise.

"I think they are limiting access for political reasons," said Green Party Leader Peter Bevan-Baker. "No government, whether red or blue, has had the fortitude to do anything about this."

At the heart of the issue is the massively popular anti-abortion movement, which is well-funded and active, often buying billboards and full-page ads in the province's newspaper.

They promote the Island as Canada's last "Life Sanctuary."

Rutledge is an active member of the Abortion Rights Network, as well as an academic who researches how pro-choice advocates have been treated after coming out as pro-choice on PEI.

"A lot of people have had sort of job instability, a lot of people feel they can't speak out because they'll lose their jobs," she said.

PEI Right to Life did not respond to requests to be interviewed.

Follow Kate McKenna on Twitter.

[youtube src='//www.youtube.com/embed/9W90MjvGYSw' width='500' height='281']

It's a cut the Trailer Park Boys, Jonovision, and Snoop Dogg can't handle.

The Trailer Park Boys and Jonathan Torrens rallied with at least 1,000 protesters outside the Nova Scotia legislature Wednesday, while inside, the finance minister defended her government's decision to kill most of the province's film tax credit.

"The tax credit as it exists is too rich for this province," Finance Minister Diana Whalen said during question period. "It costs taxpayers dollars, a great deal of taxpayer dollars, that people that don't have subsidies are paying for this film tax credit."

When Whalen first hinted at changes to the tax credit in early April, the Trailer Park Boys kicked off a social media campaign and video #SaveSunnyvale, prompting decidedly non-Bluenosers such as Snoop Dogg and Axl Rose to tweet support for Nova Scotia film jobs.

On April 9, the Liberal government announced a plan to slash the 100-percent-refundable tax credit to only 25-percent-refundable. The credit costs the province $24 million each year. The new budget includes a new $6-million fund for film and related industries starting in 2016.

Protesters say Premier Stephen McNeil had the audacity to cut the credit despite a 2013 election promise to extend it by five years.

Film-industry workers said the tax credit encourages crews to shoot shows like This Hour Has 22 Minutes, Book of Negroes, Haven, Mr. D, and Hope for Wildlife in Nova Scotia.

The province's film industry directly generated about 1,140 full-time jobs in 2013-14, according to the Canadian Media Production Association. That number grows to 2,730 full-time jobs if you include spin-offs. People in the industry are worried those jobs will now migrate elsewhere along with the cash those employees spend in NS.

The province certainly slighted an industry that knows how to put on a show.

Jonathan Torrens hosted the rally from a stage flanked by PAs and 15-foot-wide screens.

"Our industry is growing, our families are growing and yes, the amount of income tax we pay is growing because this is working," Torrens said of the tax credit.

"Most importantly today, let's be very clear: we're here as taxpayers, we're here as voters, and we're here as skilled labourers who want to stay in this place we love, doing the jobs we love, and continuing to contribute to this economy."

It was poor timing for federal Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, who happened to be in Halifax Wednesday campaigning for the upcoming election a few blocks away from the rally.

Actor and director Cory Bowles, best known for his supporting part in Trailer Park Boys, said he spoke to the Liberal leader at Halifax's new central library and asked him about the film tax credit.

"We really just spoke about the dire situation that we're in right now, and we were really just asking where his leadership is in all this," Bowles said.

"We were basically making it clear to him that this has a profound effect on the Liberals as a whole, and the sense of betrayal we felt, and the breach of trust and the fact that it was done without any consultation."

In a video of the exchange, Trudeau promised to bring the concerns about the tax credit to the NS Liberals.

"I'm glad you guys are sharing this message with Mr. McNeil," the Liberal leader said. "I will pass along personally this message you brought with me to Mr. McNeil, and from the federal side, one of the things that I campaign on, one of the things that I engage with from the very beginning is a federal government that is a much better partner, not just on arts and culture, but a partner to provincial governments.

"I can do nothing but tell you that I will pass on your message to Mr. McNeil, and share how important this is, and re-emphasize that arts and culture is important to me as I know it is important to Liberals everywhere, and I look forward to seeing how this gets resolved," Trudeau said.

"We hope that we made a bit of a dent, and we'll see," Bowles told VICE.

"We will meet with the industry on Friday," Whalen promised during question period.

"There is definitely room for common ground and I would think everybody in the industry should wait and see how their representatives and the government can come to that common place," she said.

Follow Hilary Beaumont on Twitter.

Today's video - VICE founder Suroosh Alvi digs deeper into homegrown radicalization in Calgary, students protest in the UK with elections coming up, and satirical porn in Montreal rubs a music festival the wrong way.

Exclusive: Homegrown Radicals, Part 2

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All photos provided by AD4X Films

Quebec is a global powerhouse in the porn industry. Dubbed the porn capital of Canada and the third-largest producer of porn in the world, we're pretty good at helping people splooge via video. We're also pretty resourceful when it comes to recruitment, as seen with our porn acting academy and porn casting parties.

AD4X Films, a production company known for its controversial (and hilarious) content, has taken this recruitment movement to a whole new level. Led by president Andre de la Seine, the company has been touring around to at least a dozen music festivals in Quebec, holding castings and shooting scenes with random people from the festival in his trailer under the radar of festival organizers. Rockfest, a music festival held in Montebello, Quebec, recently discovered that de la Seine shot a porno during the event. The organizers are interested in taking legal action, although it looks like there's not much they can do.

I recently reached out to de la Seine over the phone to chat about dealing with the criticism, touring around music festivals, and asking random dudes to bump uglies with a pornstar in his trailer.

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VICE: Hey Andre, where did you get the idea to do this?
Andre de la Seine: We got a lot of exposure from our police parody, Agente 728, and after winning the $250,000 lawsuit with the Supreme Court, we had people come up to us asking when we would be having a casting. So we did our first casting in a bar, with four porn stars outside in a motorhome. The event was $15. If they were selected, then the participant got to meet one of the porn stars and receive either handjob, blowjob, or full-on sex, but always at the discretion of the actresses. People were coming in and out of the trailer all evening. At one point there was about 12 people in the motorhome, including couples and other female participants. It got pretty smelly in there.

So then you thought, let's take this on the road?
Yeah, well because we had a motorhome rental for a week, we asked ourselves "what are we going to do with this [the motorhome]?" And someone said, "Why don't we go do a casting at the cowboy festival in St-Tite?" So we went to St-Tite, parked the motorhome, picked up some cowboys, and did our thing. Afterwards, we went to Montebello. So that's where we got the idea to do what we do.

Take me through the process of how you go up to people at music festivals and how it goes from there.
We usually walk around with one or more actresses—like, at Rockfest it was Pamela Kayne—and we go to a bunch of guys who look fun, and say something like, "Hey guys, who wants a blowjob!?" Like 25 guys will come over, so we have to go, "Whoa, whoa, we only needed ten!" (laughs). Then we always check if they are 18 with proper ID and, if it works out, then we invite them off-grounds into the trailer and shoot.

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So how does the average festival "Joe Blow" compare to a pornstar, performance-wise?
We've had some people that are comparable to LA and European pornstars, but most people are a bit nervous, which is understandable because there's a difference between sitting at home alone with a beer on a Friday night and jerking off in front of the computer, and fucking someone in front of three others guys and two cameras in front of you. However, out of respect, we don't feature these guys in the videos. If someone can't get or keep it up, we respect that. We don't laugh at them. I mean, it's already something that they even showed up. So they leave afterwards, bravo merci.

There was this one time, actually, where a guy couldn't get it up at a casting. He drove three hours from Montreal to a second casting and asked us for another chance. Of course, we said yes, and the second time around he was a total champ. He was so happy, he said, "Oh, I knew the first time it was weird. I didn't know what to expect, but this time it all went so well." Was it because he took a Viagra? I don't know. Was it because he wasn't as drunk as the first time? I don't know. But he was happy. So that's all that matters.

So it's really not hard to find people from all over Quebec who are willing to hop in your RV?
Nope! For one casting, no one showed up for the first few hours. Come 11 PM, we had 396 people in the bar. At one point, some twins who wanted an experience even showed up. The funny part is that most people that show up want to do it "openly." We offer them to wear a mask, but they say, "Hey, I'm doing this once in my life. I'd like to see my fantasy." So a lot of the time, people who are truly interested approach us. If there's a guy who's sitting in a corner not talking to anyone at a casting, obviously we won't go up to him.

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What kind of people normally come to the castings that aren't at festivals? Younger, older?
It's funny you ask. At one point, we had a guy who was 18-and-a-half come lose his virginity with a porn star. We've also had a 65-year-old guy whose wife had died two years prior from cancer and whose fantasy was to do a porn scene. He never thought we'd choose him, but we did. He actually performed well. Like really, really well. Maybe it's funny to us, but to him, it really meant something. So we've had people from 18-78 show up at our castings.

So what's been the overall reception of these projects? Are you surprised by other the positive or negative feedback?
It's black and white, really. There are people of either find it super cool, or people like in Montebello and Ottawa who think we really shouldn't be doing this sort of thing. I've said before, it's perfectly legal business, on private grounds between consenting, of-age adults. I'm really taken aback by people who are offended by this kind of thing. Like, if it doesn't interest you, you don't have to watch it. No one's forcing you to watch it on VOD services, and no one is forcing you to sign up on my website. It's a question of free will. Unfortunately, it's the most puritanical people that are vocally against it.

So what's next for you and this project, or is it top secret?
It's top secret! We're working on something for this year, but I can't tell you where. But in terms of our casting events, we've done them multiple times. We've done them in Montreal, St-Hyacinthe... We're planning to do another in Montreal, in Quebec. That's really the basis of what we do. We pick people at random to live out their fantasies of being with a pornstar.

Follow Stephen Keefe on Twitter.

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Katie bound and blindfolded

This article originally appeared on VICE UK.

To the ignorant ear, being a professional submissive doesn't sound all that appealing. Imagine the job posting on Monster: "Yeah, you'll pretty much just be tied up and flogged by a stranger for an hour." Probably not going to get too many clicks.

Of course, if you enjoy that kind of thing—and get paid well to do it—it's actually not far from the perfect job. But considering that more than three quarters of women who enjoy BDSM are believed to be submissive, there are relatively few professional subs compared with dominatrices.

Subby Katie, an American who now lives in London, is one of the few working in the UK. I spoke to her recently to find out a little about her day-to-day life.

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VICE: What made you decide that you wanted to be a professional submissive?
Katie: I got laid off at my job, and the job market was absolutely awful at the time. I couldn't find another job and was very stressed out. I went out for drinks one night with my ex-girlfriend, and she, knowing my proclivity towards all things BDSM, suggested looking into work in a dungeon.

The next day I started doing research and applied to a few dungeons. I got hired at a very beautiful dungeon in midtown and trained there. It was mainly dom work, with some submissive sessions on occasion. I don't have a dom bone in my body, so being a dom always felt forced. In this profession, if you don't love what you're doing, it's very obvious, very unfair to the client, and not good for the worker. For that reason, I decided to take everything I'd learned at the dungeon and start freelancing, doing strictly submissive sessions. It was a great decision, and now I absolutely love what I do.

Is being a submissive your only source of income?
It's definitely my only source of income. I get some people who disapprove of sex work and ask why I don't get a respectable job, and I always have to giggle. I'm my own boss, I make my own hours, I chose my clients, and I make more in a few hours than most people make in a month. I was actually just asked by a friend of a friend if this was what I envisioned myself doing when I was little. I think my goal, being raised by a strong woman, was always to be independent, so the answer to that question would be a huge yes.

How much do you make each session?
It really depends on what the session entails. It's normally between £300 to £600 [about $450 to $900] an hour.

And what do your sessions typically entail?
Caning and bare-handed spanking are very popular. Role play as well—usually the classic schoolgirl or secretary. I find lots of clients like controlled orgasms, which involves restraining me in some way, then using a vibrator to stimulate me but not allowing me to orgasm without their permission. If I do so before they allow it then there is some form of punishment. Forced orgasms are also a favorite of my clients. They're pretty much exactly what they sound like: I'm restrained and made to orgasm repeatedly. It sounds amazing, but becomes very intense and painful. A forced orgasm session was actually one of the only times I've ever used my safe word. Those are some of the things I do, but if you can think about it, I've most likely done it—or at least been asked to.

For more on BDSM, watch our doc 'Slutever: Love Is Pain':

What's the strangest request you've ever had from a client?
I've been doing this for so long that nothing seems strange. I had a man who asked me to lie in an ice bath for as long as I could take it and then lie perfectly still in silence. There was also a client who was completely symmetry-based. All bruises and marks had to match, so after so many hits with a cane on the left side, the other side had to then be marked exactly the same amount. I had a client who wanted me covered in as many clothes pins as he could clamp on. The entire session was spent with him counting the number of pins he could attach to my skin. Really, though, nothing shocks me or seems that strange anymore.

Do you ever worry for your safety, since you give these men an element of control over you?
Yes, definitely. By the very definition of their profession, submissives allow themselves to be dominated, and that comes with a lot of risk. That being said, pro subs aren't a huge market, so those who seek us out do so not for malicious intentions, but because we offer something they're looking for. Also, I never meet a client who can't give me a phone number or address. For the most part, I meet new clients in public for a coffee or a glass of wine first, and if anything feels off, I apologize and leave.

Do you think that being a submissive is riskier than providing other adult services—for example, escorting?
Riskier? I'm not sure. I think it has the potential to be, certainly, but any adult service where you meet a client alone has its risks. Sure, we allow ourselves to be restrained and dominated, but because of those things we have specific systems in place to make it as safe as possible. Someone always knows the name, phone number, and address of the person I'm meeting. I text when I arrive and when I leave. Although the danger factor that is associated with pro subs might seem more obvious, I think that all sex workers are at risk, and that backwards laws and discrimination make our jobs unsafe. As long as we're criminalized and thought of as a lesser part of society, no one in the sex work industry will ever be completely safe.

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What kind of men use your service? Do you have a typical client?
Not really. The majority are middle-aged professionals, many in the financial sector or CEO types. I do get a very broad range of clients, though. I have some who are more my age who tend to want to learn about and explore BDSM in a safe and nonjudgmental environment. I also have much older clients, who are looking for some younger companionship. I had an absolutely amazing client for a while who was 89 years old, but you would never have guessed it by the strength with which he could spank.

Is your main motivation sexual or financial?
First and foremost, this is my job. It's how I make my living, and I definitely think of it as such. That being said, I don't think you could do this job if you didn't enjoy it. If you aren't enjoying the session, the client can tell.

Why do you think dominatrices receive so much publicity but professional submissives receive so little?
Being a dominatrix is, for the most part, fairly acceptable in our culture. Doms are generally portrayed as being strong, powerful women, which is an image that many people are comfortable with. Society looks at professional submissives as victims. They assume that we're weak because we allow ourselves to be tied up, spanked, and flogged, and because our hair gets pulled and we beg. They think that we somehow need saving, and believe that we promote violence against women. None of this is true; submissives are very strong people who are in no way victims. We enjoy what we do, and anyone in the BDSM community will tell you that we are certainly not weak or helpless in any way. I think society definitely needs to start understanding what we do and giving us the respect that we deserve.

How accurate do you think 50 Shades of Grey's portrayal of a submissive was?
I didn't read the whole book; the writing was so godawful that I couldn't get through it. It made me want to stab myself in the eye. That said, I read a good chunk, and even if you forgive everything else, the fact that, at one point, the girl calls her safe word and it's ignored means that the book is supporting domestic violence. Anyone in the fetish community knows that the safe word is everything, and if it's spoken, everything stops. If, like in the book, it's called and ignored, the person that ignored it is not only an asshole, but also a criminal.

Finally, what advice would you give to women who are interested in becoming professional submissives?
First and foremost, don't do this job if you don't truly enjoy being submissive. I've talked to many women who, because they'd done escort work, thought they could switch to pro sub work, and they were miserable. It's very easy to fake your way through a role play session or some light bondage, but when taking a caning, or even a hard spanking, the pain is very real. I would also say to always trust your instincts. If a situation feels off, leave. If you meet a new client and you have even the slightest gut feeling that something is off, walk away.

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All images by Ryoma Furutani

On the surface Ryoma Furutani's work is direct and unfussy. Shooting largely around Osaka, Japan, he favors bold lines and colors—a tap, a light, a street sign. But after repeated viewing they feel increasingly enigmatic. Nothing is explained or contextualized. He's slow to offer more than "#minimal #minimalism #simple" in his captions. Conversations with him follow the same themes. Although polite, responsive, and easy to chat to it was only after the interview that I realized how little he'd given away. Like his work, he's friendly but totally illusive.

VICE: How does photography fit into your life?
Ryoma Furutani: Photography is something I do to satisfy my creative urges. To tell the truth, I didn't take photos with iPhone very often before. To me it feels like photographic recording. But now I enjoy it.

Why use an iPhone though?
I don't have to think about technical things—exposure or distance—when I shoot and can get enough quality. I just care about composition.

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What other things do you look for in a photo besides color and composition?
I look for shapes, lines, patterns, textures, natural lights and shadows.

What do you do besides photography?
I love music so I listen to music, cook, go clubbing, drink with my friends, or do something creative. I occasionally use my photos as materials and create simple graphic design or collage. Currently I'm a full-time worker and I mainly retouch photos and edit videos for advertising or promotion.

Does your retouching work influence your photography?
I observe photos closely and I try to find a good and bad part when I do retouching. For example: What are their charm points? Oh, he has nice thick eyebrows, or the color of her eyes are amazing so let's enhance that. When I shoot outside or crop pictures, I think it's kind of the same process. I walk around and find my favorite part from street and capture it.

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What makes your style different to other photographers?
I focus on colors and I try to make composition simple and flat as possible as I can.

Your photography is very carefully composed, almost like graphic design. Are you influenced by any graphic designers?
I like graphic design but I don't have any favorite graphic designers at the moment. I guess I'm influenced by flat design which is the one of the recent web design trends.

What attracts you to flat design?
It's dynamic, sophisticated, and beautiful. It's very easy to create simple design but it's very difficult to create attractive simple design. Maybe I'm attracted to the exquisite balance of flat design.

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What attracted you to minimalism?
Simpleness. Simpleness adapts to everything and is timeless. It brings out the appeal of colors and objects. I think this is why I'm attracted by minimalism.

What makes Osaka a special city for photography?
Osaka is energetic. People tend to like flashy taste. To be honest, I sometimes think it's too much. Google "supermarket Tamade." Osaka is full of colors.

Does the maximal design of of things like Super Tamade feel overwhelming?
No, I think I have a flexible mind. Or should I say, I have an open mind? Maximal design is a kind of spice to me.

Interviewed by Ben Thomson. Follow him on Instagram.

A recent series of lawsuits over gun violence in a Nevada state prison just outside Las Vegas have turned the spotlight on the sheer number of triggers being pulled at the facility. Somehow, guns have been fired more than 200 times over a recent five-year period, according to records uncovered by Nevada State Senator Richard S. "Tick" Segerblom.

High Desert State Prison made the news earlier this month when a lawsuit was filed in state court on April 7. The suit, filed by the family of slain inmate Carlos Manuel Perez Jr., accused guards at the facility of creating a "gladiator-like" combat situation in which two cuffed prisoners—Perez and Andre Jay Arevalo—were allowed to fight before a guard opened fire on the men with a shotgun, killing Perez and wounding Arevalo.

More troubling than the isolated incident is the fact that a lot of shootings happen at High Desert, which is the largest facility in the state system. According to numbers given by Segerblom to the AP, there were 215 shots fired at the prison from 2006 to 2011—compared with only 124 in the state's 21 other prisons over the same period.

CJ Potter, the lawyer for Perez's family, told VICE he hadn't heard about the number of shooting incidents at High Desert until he read the AP story, but he confirmed that he now has a total of seven clients who are High Desert inmates. "It seems to be a pervasive problem," he said. "In the past couple days I've been contacted by inmates who have nightmares of their white prison shirts turning red or copper from blood."

Related: Watch our prison correspondent attempt to navigate life after incarceration:

One of Potter's clients, Dario Olivas, was shot in one eye and blinded when a guard allegedly use shotgun fire to break up a fight between two other prisoners. Potter said his clients claim that guards who cause non-life-threatening injuries with shotgun blasts "refuse to remove the birdshot even though it's causing them pain."

High Desert State Prison officials did not return requests for comment about these allegations.

When asked if he planned to bring a class action lawsuit against the Nevada Department of Corrections, Potter said he didn't know, but he added he'd be pleased if he could "change the way things are done, and bring some accountability."

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