Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Minneapolis explosion in Somali neighborhood connects money launderer for al-Shabaab |

Minneapolis explosion in Somali neighborhood connects money launderer for al-Shabaab |

The EC Knows. Why Doesn’t the FBI?

Gates of Vienna blog, Posted on February 22, 2014 by 
Most of the research for the following article was conducted by our Minnesota correspondent Henrietta. I am deeply grateful for her assistance, without which the evidence described below would not be detailed here.
On New Year’s Day 2014 a powerful explosion and fire occurred at 514 Cedar Avenue South in Minneapolis, in a predominantly Somali neighborhood of the city.
The building was gutted by the blaze. Two bodies were found in the rubble, and fourteen people were hospitalized, one of whom died later. Within 72 hours, the building had been pulled down into a heap of rubble by a backhoe.
Two days after the blast, before any real investigation occurred — which could never be conducted, anyway, with the potential crime scene destroyed — Greg Boosalis, the supervisory special agent with the FBI in Minneapolis, told the press that there was “no evidence of terrorist activity”.
Ever since that day I have been asking the question: How did the FBI know there was no terrorist activity without examining the scene of the explosion?

Monday, February 24, 2014

Unclear how Ohio religious-freedom bill fits with church-state divide

How is the woman on the left allowed to have a drivers license and drive with a burka on?  That would be a huge distraction!  I know I saw a mini van full of said woman waiting at a red light and it scared the crap out of me, and made me say what in thee. . . how is this legal, how can they see!?  While American drivers get fined for  driving with much less of a distraction, let's say having to much stuff being on their review mear etc as a distraction. . . . smh

AP FILE PHOTO
The proposed bill might prevent the state from ordering a Muslim woman wearing a hijab, such as the woman on the right, to remove the scarf for a driver’s license photograph, but it would still allow for the removal of a burka, worn by the woman on the left, because the state has a compelling interesting in seeing a person’s face on a driver’s license.

If the U.S. Constitution is the highest law of the land, can a state law rise above it?
No way, says Nick Worner, communications coordinator for the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio.
Absolutely, says Joseph LaRue, of the Phoenix-based Alliance Defending Freedom, who argues that the First Amendment provides only a “baseline” but that states can pass stronger laws if they choose.
The issue is relevant because of House Bill 376, the Ohio Religious Freedom Restoration Act introduced last week by Reps. Tim Derickson, R-Oxford, and Bill Patmon, D-Cleveland, and 45 co-sponsors.
Derickson called the bill “a preventive attempt” to block what he considers further encroachment on expression of religious freedom on issues such as prayer in schools, zoning for churches and public expression of religious faith, such as wearing crosses and displaying Nativity scenes.  MORE

Should Driving While Wearing Burqas Be Illegal? How About Helmets?



Well, here's one that a whole bunch of state motor-vehicle codes probably don't address: Is driving while wearing a burqa a road hazard?
The question arises from the curious case of a 31-year-old Muslim woman fined last week in France for driving while wearing a headscarf. It was reported in some media as a burqa, although that may not be correct.

Muslim dress has become a hot political issue in France, with laws banning headscarves in certain venues. French president Nicholas Sarkozy has taken up a campaign against them, ordering Parliament to debate a law that bans the wearing of full-face veils in public.

The laws have sparked debate over the limits of religious expression in a secular society, despite estimates that fewer than 2,000 of France's 5 million Muslims actually wear the veils. This seems to be the first case in which road safety was used to justify legal action.

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Government monitors to be placed in newsrooms? This is FUBAR! | Allen B. West - AllenBWest.com

Government monitors to be placed in newsrooms? This is FUBAR! | Allen B. West - AllenBWest.com


Thomas Jefferson, author of our Declaration of Independence stated, “our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.”
Well the first amendment freedom enshrined in our Constitution – like just about everything else about our fundamental principles – means nothing to President Obama and his administration.
I hope you’re sitting down while reading this. The Obama Administration has developed a formula of what it believes the free press should cover, and is going to send government monitors into newsrooms across America to stand over the shoulders of the press as they make editorial decisions. As reported by Red State, the FCC has apparently already selected eight categories of “critical information” “that it believes local newscasters should cover.”
I truly wish this were a “tinfoil hat story,” but the Obama Administration’s Federal Communication Commission (FCC) is poised to place government monitors in newsrooms across the country which Red State calls an “absurdly draconian attempt to intimidate and control the media.”
In fact, it’s so absurdly draconian, even FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai fears the program could be used in “pressuring media organizations into covering certain stories.” As Commissioner Pai explains in the Wall Street Journal:
Last May the FCC proposed an initiative to thrust the federal government into newsrooms across the country. With its “Multi-Market Study of Critical Information Needs,” or CIN, the agency plans to send researchers to grill reporters, editors and station owners about how they decide which stories to run. A field test in Columbia, S.C., is scheduled to begin this spring. The purpose of the CIN, according to the FCC, is to ferret out information from television and radio broadcasters about “the process by which stories are selected” and how often stations cover “critical information needs,” along with “perceived station bias” and “perceived responsiveness to underserved populations.
The abject discomfort and disdain exemplified by President Obama during his Fox News interview with Bill O’Reilly was in full flower as Obama constantly blames Fox News for his travails. He evidently feels he is above reproach when it comes to being questioned on his policy and actions.
But the federal government has absolutely no business determining what stories should and should not be run, what is critical for the American public and what is not, whether it perceives a bias, and whose interests are or are not being served by the free press.

thank you father

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

I don't know if I buy this or not: Department of Homeland Security cancels national license-plate tracking plan after Hundreds of detained immigrants released.

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson on Wednesday ordered the cancellation of a plan by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency to develop a national license-plate tracking system after privacy advocates raised concern about the initiative.
Really?  What does that say about Ohio?

The order came just days after ICE solicited proposals from companies to compile a database of license-plate information from commercial and law enforcement tag readers. Officials said the database was intended to help apprehend fugitive illegal immigrants, but the plan raised concerns that the movements of ordinary citizens under no criminal suspicion could be scrutinized.
The data would have been drawn from readers that scan the tags of every vehicle crossing their paths, and would have been accessed only for “ongoing criminal investigations or to locate wanted individuals,” officials told The Washington Post this week.
“The solicitation, which was posted without the awareness of ICE leadership, has been cancelled,” ICE spokeswoman Gillian Christensen said in a statement. “While we continue to support a range of technologies to help meet our law enforcement mission, this solicitation will be reviewed to ensure the path forward appropriately meets our operational needs.”
Lawmakers and privacy advocates reacted with approval.
The fact that the solicitation was posted without knowledge of ICE leadership “highlights a serious management problem within this DHS component that currently does not have a director nominated by the president,” Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (Miss.), the ranking Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, said in a statement. He added that he hopes officials will consult with the department’s privacy and civil liberties officers in the future.

Hundreds of Detained immigrants released; officials cite sequester cuts


WASHINGTON -- Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have released “several hundred” immigrants from deportation centers across the country, saying the move is an effort to cut costs ahead of budget cuts due to hit later this week. 
Announcing the news Tuesday, ICE officials said that the immigrants were released under supervision and continue to face deportation. After reviewing hundreds of cases, those released were considered low-risk and “noncriminal,” officials said.

Monday, February 17, 2014

Finally and Who would have thought? smh in disgust; Somali fraudsters exposed in Lewiston, ME and Columbus, Ohio

Posted by Ann Corcoran on February 1, 2014
The Lewiston fraud is your run-of-the-mill welfare fraud (with a little alleged forgery and some lying thrown in!) which we are becoming familiar with in the cities, like Columbus and Lewiston, that have “welcomed” diversity.  The Columbus story adds an interesting and new piece of information about the creative ways refugees are defrauding Uncle Sam.
From the Lewiston Sun Journal  (by the way, when I type ‘Lewiston fraud’ into our search bar this is what I get—lots of previous posts):
AUBURN — A Lewiston couple denied in court Thursday charges that they schemed to defraud the government out of welfare benefits over the past nine years.
Amina H. Ege, 42, of 105 Shawmut St., was indicted by an Androscoggin County grand jury on two counts of theft by deception, four counts of aggravated forgery and 12 counts of unsworn falsification. Six of the charges are felonies punishable by up to 10 years in prison. The remaining charges are misdemeanors.
Abdi A. Hassan, 43, of the same address, was indicted on two counts of theft by deception, seven counts of aggravated forgery, one count of negotiating a worthless instrument and five counts of unsworn falsification. Nine of the charges are felonies, each punishable by up to 10 years in prison, and one of the counts is a felony punishable by up to five years in prison. The rest of the charges are misdemeanors.
According to court documents, the two are accused of lying about the fact that they were living together while Hassan was providing Ege with financial support. She was accused of failing to disclose that she had received a workers’ compensation settlement.
Because of those omissions, according to the indictment, Ege received more than $10,000 worth of benefits from programs such as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and Section 8 housing, among others.

Who knew that the federal ‘No Child Left Behind’ program was paying Somalis to educate kids!

Mussa Farah is a spokesman for the central Ohio Somali community and on Mayor Michael B. Coleman’s Community Relations Commission.
From the Columbus Dispatch (hat tip: ‘pungentpeppers’):
Columbus City Schools are stepping up oversight of independent tutors paid for by the federal No Child Left Behind program, terminating eight contracts this school year.
The problems have ranged from students’ signatures being falsified to employees who weren’t paid, according to district documents.
Last week, the district sent a letter to Horn of Africa, a tutoring program in Linden, stating that it was rescinding its contract based on evidence that employees “falsified dates, times of attendance and student signatures on attendance forms.”
The district conducted an inspection in January of Horn of Africa and said it had found students on computers not receiving instruction, including some playing online games, according to a district report.  >>MORE<<

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Ohio National Guard Training Envisions Right-Wing Terrorism

Portsmouth Chief of Police Bill Raisin told NBC 3 WSAZ-TV in Huntington, West Virginia that the drill accurately represented “the reality of the world we live in,” adding that such training “helps us all be prepared.”
Internal ONG documents provided to Media Trackers after repeated delays provide further context to what WSAZ-TV reported last winter.
In the disaster-preparedness scenario, two Portsmouth Junior High School employees poisoned school lunches with mustard gas, acting on orders from white-nationalist leader William Pierce.
The ONG team discovered biological weapons being produced in the school, requiring activation of containment and decontamination procedures.

Participants in the disaster drill located documents expressing the school employees’ “anti-government” sentiments, as well as a note identifying Pierce as the fictional right-wing terrorists’ leader.
ONG’s 52nd Civil Support Unit participated in a similar drill involving left-wing terrorists with Athens County first responders last year; public officials apologized for that training the next day in response to complaints from local environmentalist groups.
No apology to Ohioans who support limited government and the Second Amendment appears to be forthcoming.  MORE

thank you John

The Swiss close borders to immigrants?!?

The decision by Swiss voters to cap immigration has imperiled relations with other European states, as it has burnished efforts by right-wing populists intent on spreading an anti-foreigner political agenda.
On Sunday, the Swiss narrowly backed a proposal to curb the country's open-borders treaty with the 28-nation European Union, of which it is not a member. Voters were stoked by fears of overpopulation and Europe's rising numbers of Muslims.
The vote's impact is echoing well beyond the country's Alpine peaks, bringing retaliatory threats from leaders across the continent and worries that the move could shake the European economy.
People are uneasy about unlimited freedom of movement
GERMANY’S WOLFGANG SCHAEUBLE
The vote in Switzerland - home to Nestle, the world's biggest food company, and international drugmakers Roche Holding and Novartis - could make it difficult to hire foreigners, some business leaders warned.
The government has three years to implement the new rules, which will primarily affect workers from the EU, many of them highly qualified.
About 20 per cent of Swiss residents are foreigners and 45 per cent of employees in the country's chemical, pharmaceutical and biotech industry are not Swiss.
Officials in Brussels, the EU's administrative capital, warned that the vote could threaten Switzerland's access to the 500 million consumers of the bloc, which stretches from Greece to Ireland and from Latvia to Portugal, and is anchored by economic powers Germany and France.
While not a member of the EU, neutral Switzerland signed a sweeping treaty with its neighbours in 1999. The fear and loathing over immigration that drove the referendum can also be seen in countries across the region.
"Switzerland is playing the role of a pioneer for the whole of Europe now," Toni Brunner - chairman of the Swiss People's Party, which backed the referendum and has launched an initiative to ban mosque minarets - told the Neue Zuerchernewspaper. "EU open borders, in the form they exist in today, will have to be discussed."
Hard economic times persist in much of Europe, the legacy of a multi-year debt crisis. And that leaves immigrants vulnerable to public wrath from Britain to Greece. Hungary's far-right Jobbik party - anti-immigrant, anti-Roma and anti-Semitic - has moved from the political fringes into the halls of parliament and is campaigning heavily before April elections.
Paramilitaries with the Golden Dawn in Athens have launched street battles against immigrants, staging a number of well-documented attacks. The flow of Syrian refugees into Europe has also helped boost the popularity of anti-immigrant nationalists in Bulgaria.
Advocates of a more united Europe are bracing for European Parliament elections this May, when anti-immigrant nationalists from France, Holland, Britain, Finland and elsewhere are expected to capture as many as one-third of the seats.
With many far-right European parties adopting protectionist stances, observers note that substantial victories for nationalists could jeopardise European parliamentary approval of a sweeping free-trade accord that is now being negotiated with the United States.
"Immigration is the big theme of 2014 in Europe," said Mats Persson, director of Open Europe, a think tank that focuses on EU changes. "One of the big risks is that the European Parliament becomes quite polarised after the May elections, filled with federalists who want a closer union in Europe and nationalists who want exactly the opposite."  MORE

Nelson Mandela Entrusts $4.1M Estate to Family, Staff, ANC and Schools


Former South African President Nelson Mandela left his $4.1 million estate to his family, staff, several schools and the African National Congress — the nation's ruling political party of which he was a member — according to a public reading of his will on Monday.
Many expected Mandela's surviving family members to quarrel over how the money was allotted after his wishes were made public, but South African Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke, who read out the anti-apartheid hero's will, reportedly said nothing has been contested. The Nelson Mandela Foundation website published a memo that went along with the will, which we've embedded, below.
After Mandela's will was read to his family in the hours before the public announcement, Moseneke said they only asked for a few clarifications, according to Reuters.
The former president's third wife at the time he died, Graca Machel, is entitled to half his estate under South African marital law, though she could decide not to accept it. If she does, it's not clear what effect that would have on the will's implementation.  MORE

Canada floats new citizenship rules that could affect thousands of Chinese

Canada has unveiled sweeping reforms that would require immigrants spend more time as permanent residents, file tax returns and sign an undertaking to continue living in the country if they want to become citizens.
The proposed redrawing of the Citizenship Act, unveiled on Thursday, would lengthen the period of residency required from three years to four years.
Language proficiency requirements would be extended to children as young as 14 and adults as old as 64, and penalties for fraudulent applications toughened.
China is the biggest single source of applications for Canadian permanent residency and among those who may be affected by the changes are the 110,813 mainland Chinese and 3,305 Hongkongers granted permanent residency between 2010 and the middle of last year.
An investigation by the South China Morning Post yesterday revealed tens of thousands of mainland Chinese millionaires had swamped Canada's Hong Kong consulate with applications for its investor immigrant programme, forcing it to be shelved in 2012. It had been the favourite pathway for rich Chinese to obtain foreign citizenship.
The Post reported last year that at least 65,000 Hong Kong-born Canadians had returned to the city since 1996, a process that was not officially acknowledged because neither China nor Hong Kong recognise dual citizenship.
Immigration Minister Chris Alexander said the government was simply asking those applying for citizenship to promise to live in Canada and it would pursue those who lodged deceitful applications. "We know where the high risk of residency fraud is and we are going to focus our investigative resources there," he said.
The changes would affect only applications lodged after the rules were enforced later this year. The ruling Conservative Party enjoys a strong parliamentary majority, making the bill's passage likely.
The new rules also give a stricter definition of what constitutes "residence". Applicants must have spent 1,460 days in Canada over six years. They must also have been there for at least 183 days per year in four of the six years. Time spent in Canada before becoming permanent residents will no longer be counted.
"The only way to get to know this country is by being here and experiencing it," Alexander said.
A continued residency undertaking would deter "reverse migration" by newly minted Canadians, a process particularly extensive in the Chinese community. There are about 295,000 Canadian citizens in Hong Kong, many of them returnees.
Vancouver immigration lawyer Richard Kurland said the reforms were a potential "game changer" for wealth-based Chinese migration to Canada.  MORE

Sunday, February 9, 2014

Migrant/Refugee Resettlement To The USA; Between Religion, the Government, Race, Our Jobs, and Money.


Wyoming governor wants refugee resettlement in state


The Wyoming state government has requested the establishment of refugee resettlement in the state. Up to now it has been the only state without direct refugee resettlement. Republican Governor Matt Mead wrote a letter in September to the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) saying the state is interested in establishing a public/private center to help refugees. (No doubt the request is motivated less by this red state's interest in helping refugees as it is in bringing in labor willing to accept low wages for the state's businesses. )
This map shows the number of refugees arriving in each state in the latest fiscal year with the country of origin for the largest number of refugees. Created by Jenn Harris for the Reporting on Health Collaborative.
This map shows the number of refugees arriving in each state in the latest fiscal year with the country of origin for the largest number of refugees. Created by Jenn Harris for the Reporting on Health Collaborative.


Since we first posted a fact sheet in 2007 and updated it again in 2010 we have had 31,236 visitors access this post.
Please help spread the word on the new 2013 Fact Sheet a collaborative effort between RRW and others!
1.   Since 1975, the U.S. has resettled over 3 million refugees, with annual admissions figures ranging from a high of 207,000 in 1980 to a low of 27,110 in 2002 (in the aftermath of 911) .
The average number of refugees admitted annually since 1980 is about 98,000. Additionally, in recent years, another 40,000 or more per year come in as asylum seekers and Cuban/Haitian entrants – all with the same rights and entitlements as refugees.
All these flows detonate their own chain migration flows in addition to the refugee influx.  These follow-on flows have easily multiplied the original admission numbers by a factor of 4 or more.
The quota for 2013 is 70,000 and it looks like it will be met this year.  There is strong political pressure to get refugee numbers back to over 100,000.  < < < really?!  and more REALLY!
15.   The program has gradually shifted towards the resettlement of refugees from Muslim countries. Some individuals from Muslim countries are Christians or other minorities, but most are Muslims. In the early 90’s the percentage of Muslim refugees was near 0; by 2000 the program was 44% Muslim. The Muslim component decreased after 911, but today is back up to about 40% and is set to rise from here.
Membership in a U.S.-registered Islamic terrorist group is not a bar to entry on the program as long as the refugee was not a “direct participant” in “terrorist” activity.
16.   Refugees, successful asylum seekers, trafficking victim visa holders, “Cuban-Haitian Entrants” (which are mostly Cuban), S.I.V’s (for Iraqis and Afghanis)  and other smaller humanitarian admission groups are eligible for ALL federal, state and local welfare programs 30 days after arrival.
Refugee access to welfare on the same basis as a U.S. citizen has made the program a global magnet.
22. Refugee resettlement is profitable to the organizations involved in it. They receive money from the federal government for each refugee they bring over. They have almost no real responsibilities for these refugees. After 4 months the “sponsoring” organization is not even required to know where the refugee lives.
This chart shows the number of refugees arriving in the U.S. over time from specific regions. Created by Jenn Harris for the Reporting on Health Collaborative.


There are 9 main major refugee resettlement organizations (Volags from “Voluntary Agency”) with approximately 450 affiliated organizations throughout the country; many are run by former refugees.   Below are the 9 Volags that operate today:

IHRC 114 DuBois, Rachel Davis, Papers, ca. 1917-1974 17 Linear Feet 

AbstractDuBois was born in Clarkesboro, NJ, the daughter of Quaker farmers.  She attended Bucknell University, and taught in the schools of Glassboro, NJ, until 1920.  From 1920 to 1924, she was active in the peace movement.  Subsequently, improvement of racial and ethnic group relations and development of greater appreciation for American society's diverse cultural strains became her life's work.  She helped develop the assembly program technique, which combined assembly programs on contributions of various ethnic or racial groups to American life with classroom follow-up.  After moving to New York City in 1929, DuBois initiated and participated in a series of intercultural curriculum experiments in schools in Washington, DC; Philadelphia, PA; and Englewood, NJ.  She received her doctorate in educational sociology from NYU.  In 1934, she founded the Service Bureau for Education in Human Relations, later identified as the Service Bureau for Intercultural Education.In 1941, DuBois founded the Intercultural Education Workshop, which in 1946 was incorporated as the Workshop for Cultural Democracy.  It remained in existence until about 1958.  In 1951, the State Department sent DuBois to West Germany to aid in post-war reconstruction.  When she returned, the Workshop focused its efforts on programs to train "leaders of leaders" on a nationwide basis.  After its dissolution, she was invited by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to lead a program to lessen race tensions in the South.  Her lifetime activities as teacher, author, lecturer, and organizational leader earned her many commendations and distinctions.  Papers include both personal papers and organizational records documenting much of DuBois's life and career, and are comprised of correspondence, minutes, reports, publications, and curricular materials.  In English.  Inventory available.  Related collections: Bureau for Intercultural Education; Stewart G. Cole.Dr. DuBois’ great and increasing interest in issues of race is reflected in the seventh series, RACE RELATIONS. The 21 folders span the years 1943-1973, but mostly relate to DuBois’ involvement in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in the 1960s. The papers relating to her relationship with Dr. W.E.B. DuBois and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. are not very extensive, but quite interesting and valuable. Most of this series consists of reports of projects DuBois started or was involved in, such as the “Ten Cities Project” of the S.C.L.C. and the Southern Rural Action Project.  Series VIII, RESOURCES, is the largest of the collection, and includes seven boxes of published and unpublished writings that DuBois received and collected during her life. In contrast to the other series of collection, most of this series is arranged by subject. In some cases the original arrangement and folder titles of Dr. DuBois were retained, but most of the materials of this series were divided in a new manner. The first ca. 40 folders hold magazine articles and newspaper clippings on books, ethnic and race relations, 24 different ethnic and racial groups, intercultural education, and more. The remainder of the series consists of newspapers, newsletters, magazines, reports, pamphlets, and writings by others. The latter subdivision covers the period 1922-1955 and contains some interesting unpublished and published material by Louis Adamic, Franz Boas, W.E.B. DuBois, and Bruno Lasker.


2.  The U.S. takes more than twice as many refugees as all countries from the rest of the industrialized world combined.
3. One of the operative assumptions of those in the refugee industry is that, since the U.S. is behind most of the chaos in the world – Syria, here we come!, it is morally obligated to take the lead in resettling the world’s refugees.  Yet, for 2012 the leading countries, in order of numbers of refugees sent to the U.S., were Bhutan, Burma, Iraq, Somalia, Cuba,  Dem. Rep. Congo, Iran, Eritrea, Sudan.  All America’s fault?  In very recent memory the MSM was celebrating Bhutan and suggesting the U.S. had something to learn from the Bhutanese concept of a “Product of National Happiness”.

Forced Migration Online (FMO) is home to a growing collection of resources relating to refugees and forced migration. All our resources are available for free. - See more at: 
Ironically, the U.S. refugee program diverts resources from assistance on the ground to those very countries in the developing world which carry the main burden of refugee crises.
4. In recent years up to 95% of the refugees coming to the U.S. were referred by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) or were the relatives of UN-picked refugees.  Until the late 90’s the U.S. picked the large majority of refugees for resettlement in the U.S.
Considering that the refugee influx causes increases in all legal and illegal immigration as family and social networks are established in the U.S., the U.N. is effectively dictating much of U.S. immigration policy. MORE FACT SHEETS

Fuck Yeah Dead White People! So this is acceptable? Brought to you by:fuckyeahdeadcrackers

thanks for the hat tip :advance






So glorious.  I feel like dancing!

Friday, February 7, 2014

Merck earnings down, but cancer drug collaboration may help

Merck earnings down, but cancer drug collaboration may help | Regional: Western NJ - Home

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'The Pendle Witches' by Christine Goodier MA

People and Stories

Predator Drones FOIA

 a Freedom of Information Act request filed on January 13, 2010, the ACLU asked the government to disclose the legal and factual basis for its use of predator drones to conduct "targeted killings" overseas. In particular, the ACLU seeks to find out when, where, and against whom drone strikes can be authorized, and how the United States ensures compliance with international laws relating to extrajudicial killings.     
The FOIA request was filed with the Department of Defense, the Department of Justice (including the Office of Legal Counsel), the Department of State, and the CIA. The Departments of Defense, Justice, and State responded by releasing some records and withholding others. The CIA denied the request by refusing to confirm or deny whether the CIA drone strike program even exists. The ACLU filed a lawsuitagainst the CIA in June 2010, arguing that the CIA’s response was not lawful because the CIA Director and other officials had already publicly acknowledged the existence of the CIA’s drone program. After the court ruled in favor of the CIA, the ACLU appealed to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. In an important victory for transparency, in March 2013 the appellate court reversed the lower court’s decision by a 3-0 vote, ruling that the CIA could no longer deny its interest in the program. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals remanded the case to the district court, where the CIA will have to release documents that respond to the ACLU’s request or legally justify withholding them.

thank you tony

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

63 Cleveland Police Officers Suspended After An Unarmed Couple Was Shot At 137 Times

Thank you Dave~

Cleveland officials are suspending 63 police officers for their roles in a November car chase that ended in the shooting deaths of an unarmed man and woman, The Plain Dealer reports.
Cleveland Police Chief Michael McGrath said the officers violated police protocol during the chase, according to the newspaper.
Officers' offenses include engaging in a chase without permission and providing false information on police reports, the Plain Dealer reports. The officers will be suspended temporarily, with no one officer being suspended for more than 10 days.
Police officials have not yet reviewed the 13 officers who were involved in the shooting itself, but that's coming in the next and final stage of the investigation, officials told The Plain Dealer. More than 100 officers had some involvement in the chase.

Malissa Williams, 30, and Timothy Russell, 43, were each shot about two dozen times in a police chase that turned deadly. They were shot at 137 times while in their car, which was parked in a middle school parking lot after the chase.
Police called it a "full blown-out" firefight. No officers were injured, and about 60 police vehicles pursued the suspects during the 25-minute chase.
The chase started when officers thought the suspects fired shots at them near Cleveland's downtown Justice Center, but Williams and Russell turned out to be unarmed.Read more: 

Makes you wonder how many real crimes and criminals got away, while it took the 63 Armed Police Officers to presue then slaughter Malissa and Timothy?  bn~

Is it time to get Anglo-Saxon about England's local government?

The Government of the Germans, and that of all the northern nations, who established themselves on the ruins of Rome, was always extremely free; and those fierce people, accustomed to independance and enured to arms, were more guided by persuasion than authority, in the submission which they paid to their princes. The military despotism, which had taken place in the Roman empire, and which, previously to the irruption of those conquerors, had sunk the genius of men, and destroyed every noble principle of science and virtue, was unable to resist the vigorous efforts of a free people; and Europe, as from a new epoch, rekindled her ancient spirit, and shook off the base servitude to arbitrary will and authority, under which she had so long laboured. The free constitutions then established, however impaired by the encroachments of succeeding princes, still preserve an air of independance and legal administration, which distinguish the European nations; and if that part of the globe maintain sentiments of liberty, honour, equity, and valour superior to the rest of mankind, it owes these advantages chiefly to the seeds implanted by those generous barbarians.


The Saxons,First Saxon government. who subdued Britain, as they enjoyed great liberty in their own country, obstinately retained that invaluable possession in their new settlement; and they imported into this island the same principles of independance, which they had inherited from their ancestors. The chieftains (for such they were, more properly than kings or princes) who commanded them in those military expeditions, still possessed a very limited authority; and as the Saxons exterminated, rather than subdued the ancient inhabitants, they were indeed transplanted into a new territory, but preserved unaltered all their civil and military institutions. The language was pure Saxon; even the names of places, which often remain while the tongue entirely changes, were almost all affixed by the conquerors; the manners and customs were wholly German; and the same picture of a fierce and bold liberty, which is drawn by the masterly pencil of Tacitus, will suit those founders of the English government. The king, so far from being invested with arbitrary power, was only considered as the first among the citizens; his authority depended more on his personal qualities than on his station; he was even so far on a level with the people, that a stated price was fixed for his head, and a legal fine was levied upon his murderer, which, though proportionate to his station, and superior to that paid for the life of a subject, was a sensible mark of his subordination to the community.  >>more<<


26 April 2012            


Is it time to get "Anglo-Saxon" on our politics?
To go back to the days of "pre-England", when the rival kingdoms of Wessex, Mercia, East Anglia and Northumbria slugged it out for dominance of the lands abandoned in the early 5th Century by the Romans?
The period characterised by many as the "dark ages" is sometimes credited with a level of engagement in local politics that the Electoral Commission could only dream of.
According to its admirers, Anglo-Saxon government originated in "moots", meetings - perhaps held under oak trees - where small communities thrashed out their differences.
'Cattle-rustling'
If this was not conclusive, disputes moved up to the shire court and, eventually, came up for discussion at "witans", great councils involving the great and good, including the king.
Jonas Armstrong as Robin Hood Good arrows: Does the popularity of the Robin Hood myth hold deeper meanings?
It was, supporters say, a glorious time of real, grassroots government, where the concerns of the lowest in society could efficiently reach those at the top.
This created a merry consensus in direct opposition to the repression introduced by the Normans after 1066, they add.
Matthew Innes, professor of history at London's Birkbeck College, is sceptical.
He said: "There's little evidence of an Anglo-Saxon golden age. I find it really difficult to believe these things were ever really representative or democratic.
"Five people on horseback might have turned up and told their fellows that they would be killed if they didn't do what they were told."
He added: "A lot of the issues dealt with seemed to revolve around cattle-rustling.
"They used to round up posses of people to deal with the criminals in a way that's a bit reminiscent of the wild west."
The idea that the Anglo-Saxons had a superior system to any which has followed formed an important part of the inspiration for pro-democracy movements, including the 17th Century Levellers and the 19th Century Chartists.
Its influence remains.

Bound for Glory - I Stood