Husband of jailed Pussy Riot member speaks with Democracy Now!

Three members of the Russian band Pussy Riot have now spent some six months in jail for staging a protest against Vladimir Putin in an Orthodox Church. The women danced around, played punk music and sang for the Virgin Mary to oust Putin.

Prominent female voices of the activist community, including Burmese pro-democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi, have been calling for the group's release. On Friday Pussy Riot was also awarded the LennonOno Grant for Peace award by artist and activist, Yoko Ono. In the meantime, Pyotr Verzilov, husband of jailed Pussy Riot member Nadia Tolokonnikova, and Alisa Obraztsova, member of the band's defense team, have traveled to the United States on behalf of the band. Both also appeared on the most recent edition of Democracy Now! 

While it seems the world is on Pussy Riot's side, in reality, the band and their arrest has caused a great deal of controversy in Russia, especially amongst member of the Orthodox church. The BBC reports that nine were arrested at a pro-Pussy Riot exhibition in Russia that opened on Friday.

Blog Roundup!

Lida Vasilevskaya gives an insider's account of what was going on in the courtroom during the Pussy Riot trial.

Game of Thrones author George R. R. Martin airs his frustrations over GOP voter suppression efforts (and ended up having to shut down the comments section on his blog as a result).

Pressthink dissects everything that's wrong with political journalism in one Washington Post item.

Informed Comment lists the top ten differences in media language when reporting on white terrorists and other terrorists.

Occupy Wallstreet crackdowns: Tyranny isn't always centralized.

And finally, the power of the press release: Doubtful Newsblog shows how dozens of major media outlets, including The Guardian and ABC, proliferated an erroneous story about a women-only city to be built in Saudi Arabia, all based on misreading (or not reading) one press release.