Ali Anouzla

The Case of Moroccan Journalist Ali Anouzla 

Moroccan journalist Ali Anouzla jailed for posting a link to a video from Al Qaeda in Maghreb

In one ongoing case in Morocco, the act of linking to a news article that linked to a YouTube video that was posted by a terrorist group has landed a prominent editor in jail, charged with “material assistance” to a terrorist group, “defending terrorism,” and “inciting the execution of terrorist acts.” EFF article

Journalism is not terrorism My blog post

Ali Anouzla article Wikipedia

Ali Anouzla released provisionally Al Jazeera
Moroccan journalist Ali Anouzla was arraigned on Tuesday on terrorism-related charges in a case that has drawn widespread condemnation from human rights organisations and press freedom groups who say the charges are meant to stifle critical reporting.

"Moroccans have the right to know that a terrorist organisation is threatening their rulers," said Jamai, who runs the French version of Lakome, in a phone interview. "The accusation that Ali is promoting terrorism is absurd. Like other media outlets in the world in similar cases, we simply reported the story."

Hearing postponed till October 30th Committee to Protect Journalists

He appeared on Tuesday before an investigating judge in Rabat. The courts examines "terrorism cases," Khadija Riadi, former president of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights and coordinator of the National Committee to Free Anouzla, told me. The judge postponed the hearing to October 30, according to Riadi, and is considering a request to temporarily release Anouzla, according to news reports.

The two charges carry sentences of up to six years and 20 years' imprisonment respectively, according to Amnesty international, which has adopted Anouzla as a "prisoner of conscience."

The London-based human rights group expressed its deep concern that Moroccan authorities failed to make a distinction "between the right to freedom of expression on the one hand, and incitement to terrorism ... on the other hand," and would send the message that "any discussion of terrorism, including criticism of counter-terrorism strategies, will be treated by the government of Morocco as a criminal offence".

Reporters Without Borders Article

sunday sept 29

 


    45 Lies in Obama's UN Speech    link here


Congress seeks to Limit Free Press and Define Journalism with ""Shield Law"" link here

FFIA (Free Flow of Information Act) would ""protect"" journalists from subpoenas--because who needs them when METADATA works even better??  link here


Bagram---The Other GITMO link here
There are about 60 individuals the U.S. government is holding without charge or trial at Bagram (officially known as the Detention Facility at Parwan).

"The detention system and U.S. narrative surrounding it is intentionally dehumanizing and seeks to erase the humanity and histories and individualities of the victims of such policies," says Belal. "By focusing on the accounts of the families of the detainees, we are challenging the U.S. narrative (which is largely based on classified evidence, hearsay, etc.) of these guys being 'bad men' and terrorists by tracing out their histories, gathering their family histories and compiling accounts of their lives."

The United States transferred control of the Bagram facility to the Afghan government in March 2013, after months of delays cause by tensions between the two countries. Despite handing over control, however, the U.S. has continued to hold around 60 individuals under a stated law of war authority – the same legal rationale that applies to the detainees at Guantanamo. All of the U.S.-held detainees at Bagram are non-Afghans, and about two-thirds of them are Pakistani.


NSA Snowden Job Title was Key to Access to Documents link here

NSA Snowden took documents from internal NSA website link here

Q & A with Senator Ron Wyden about NSA link here



Seymour Hersh ""Bin Laden Story One Big Lie"" link here
"Nothing's been done about that story, it's one big lie, not one word of it is true," he says of the dramatic US Navy Seals raid in 2011.
He isn't even sure if the recent revelations about the depth and breadth of surveillance by the National Security Agency will have a lasting effect. Snowden was significant because he provided documentary evidence – although he is skeptical about whether the revelations will change the US government's policy.

Hersh is on full throttle, a whirlwind of amazing stories of how journalism used to be; how he exposed the My Lai massacre in Vietnam, how he got the Abu Ghraib pictures of American soldiers brutalising Iraqi prisoners, and what he thinks of Edward Snowden.

His story of how he uncovered the My Lai atrocity is one of old-fashioned shoe-leather journalism and doggedness. Back in 1969, he got a tip about a 26-year-old platoon leader, William Calley, who had been charged by the army with alleged mass murder.

Instead of picking up the phone to a press officer, he got into his car and started looking for him in the army camp of Fort Benning in Georgia, where he heard he had been detained. From door to door he searched the vast compound....

For students of journalism his message is put the miles and the hours in. He knew about Abu Ghraib five months before he could write about it, having been tipped off by a senior Iraqi army officer who risked his own life by coming out of Baghdad to Damascus to tell him how prisoners had been writing to their families asking them to come and kill them because they had been "despoiled".

"I went five months looking for a document, because without a document, there's nothing there, it doesn't go anywhere."

"The Bush era, I felt it was much easier to be critical than it is [of] Obama. Much more difficult in the Obama era," he said.

MY COMMENTS ON HERSH
On Seymour Hersh-----I respect him a lot, he is a great reporter----but am waiting for more on this story----He was wrong (as far as I know about Bush attacking Iran ""in the near future"" in 2006---so we will see)



Debt Battle---Where's Paul Ryan??


CR  (Continuing [Budget] Resolution) Fatigue link here
If you thought this week was bad, get used to it. The dysfunction in Congress is likely to make Capitol Hill life miserable for at least the next two months — if it doesn’t consume yet another holiday season.


Blah Blah Blah The Government Shutdown is Coming link here
A government shutdown is only [fill in the blank] days, [fill in the blank] hours and [fill in the blank] minutes away. The countdown clock shows the seconds ticking by. The end is near.

Well, maybe that’s true. Maybe the government is going to shut down. The national parks will close. You won’t be able to renew your passport, making it impossible for you to flee to some enlightened land where the government is still open and operating normally. You’ll have to re-schedule your visit to the Washington Monument. (Actually, it is closed for repairs anyway, so don’t blame the shutdown, if there is one.)

Or maybe all of the coverage is just a wee bit exaggerated and premature. Maybe the government won’t shut down at all.

Pardon my blasé attitude about it all, but I’ve seen this movie before, and unless they changed the ending — and it certainly is possible they did — I’m not getting too excited yet.

No Internet Security Bill likely until 2014

Would Feds Punish the District for Shutdown Showdown? link here

District officials have been warned that bucking requirements to suspend nonessential services if the federal government shuts down could result in arrests or hefty fines, but prospects of federal prosecution or a punishment from Capitol Hill appear slim.

“The reality of how so-called shutdowns work are that, retroactively, we pay every federal employee, including the ones that stay home. So from a practical standpoint in these short-term shutdowns, there is no money being saved by sending people home,” said Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif. “I rather doubt that Congress would take punitive actions against the District of Columbia for keeping their personnel on.”

Decode DC Podcast---Budget Battles and Budget Games

GOP still won't call Obamacare the law link here
Republicans often refer to President Obama’s signature healthcare law either as “ObamaCare” or a healthcare “bill” — subtly implying that it’s not truly permanent.
SYRIA CHEMICAL WEAPONS link here

On Friday, the U.N. said chemical or biological weapons might have been deployed three more times after the Aug. 21 attack.

U.N. officials in Syria say in the next few days, they will investigate incidents reported just days after in Bahhariyeh Aug. 22, in Jobar Aug. 24, and in Ashrafiah Sahnaya Aug. 25. 

Altogether, seven incidents were reported this year where chemical weapons might have been used. The three earlier events happened in March and April. 

Inspectors plan to launch their investigation by Tuesday and hope to have a report completed by late October, the United Nations said. 

GOP plans to let guns on Military Bases after DC Navy Yard Shooting link here

The bill is a response to this month's shooting spree on a Washington, D.C., naval base that left 13 dead.

House Republicans on Thursday introduced legislation that would end the ban on carrying firearms on military bases in response to this month's shooting spree on a Washington, D.C., naval base that left 13 dead, including the shooter.

Rep. Steve Stockman (R-Texas) proposed the Safe Military Bases Act, H.R. 3199, along with six other House Republicans. Stockman said the bill would reverse the Clinton-era gun policy that he said has led to two mass shootings on bases.

"Our disarmed military bases are vulnerable targets for terrorists, as we saw in Fort Hood and the Navy Yard," Stockman said Thursday. "Despite that, soldiers trained to use guns cannot carry on base.

Pensions---How Wall St Robs State Public Workers link here

2011 Debt Ceiling fight leads to S & P Downgrade BECAUASE OF POLITICS link here


NSA---Telco Exec released from jail after 4 years link here
However, it was only later that it started to come out that Nacchio was alone among all of the major telco execs to tell the NSA to get lost when they came calling, demanding the ability to basically tap Qwest's entire network. For years, Nacchio has insisted that the entire lawsuit against him was retaliation for his refusal. When he first made those claims, it sounded far fetched and ridiculous. However, in the intervening years, as more and more details of the NSA's activities have become clear, Nacchio's initial arguments seem a hell of a lot more plausible.





Larry Ellison of Oracle---after 9/11 promoted National ID Cards link here

thursday sept 19

I've been busy last few days, so no posts, this will include all links     VERY VERY LONG!!!


DC NAVY YARD SHOOTING  Wikipedia links to everything else link

VICTIMS  list from Wikipedia article from ABC news  link

1. Michael Arnold, age 59
2. Martin Bodrog, age 53
3. Arthur Daniels, age 51
4. Sylvia Frasier, age 53
5. Kathy Gaarde, age 62
6. John Roger Johnson, age 73
7. Mary Francis Knight, age 51
8. Frank Kohler, age 50
9. Vishnu Pandit, age 61
10. Kenneth Bernard Proctor, age 46
11. Gerald Read, age 58
12. Richard Michael Ridgell, age 52

Anti gay hate crimes are up in NYC  link

Iran releases political prisoners multiple links below
NPR link

Washington Post link
Still unclear, however, is whether Wednesday’s releases will have any bearing on the fates of the two main leaders of the 2009 opposition movement, Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, who have been under house arrest since 2011. Mousavi and Karroubi were presidential candidates and had contested the validity of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s reelection.

BBC link

NYT link
2 Presidential Candidates from 2009 and an American Marine of Iranian descent are NOT yet released

Two presidential candidates in 2009 — former Prime Minister Mir Hussein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, a former Parliament speaker — have been under house arrest since 2011, along with Mr. Mousavi’s wife, Zahra Rahnavard. During his election campaign, Mr. Rouhani said he would work to secure their release.

An imprisoned American of Iranian descent, Amir Hekmati, was not among those freed on Wednesday. Mr. Hekmati, 30, a former Marine, was arrested more than two years ago on espionage charges during what his family called an innocent visit to his grandmother. Mr. Hekmati’s family, who is from Flint, Mich., has been publicly pleading for his release, and American officials, including Secretary of State John Kerry, have been calling on Mr. Rouhani’s government to let Mr. Hekmati go home.

On Tuesday, Mr. Hekmati’s congressman, Daniel T. Kildee, sent a letter to Samantha Power, the new American ambassador to the United Nations, urging her to press the issue when Mr. Rouhani visits for the General Assembly session next week.

Gates, Panetta Criticize Obama on Syria,  
POLITICO link
they would have told him not to seek Congress' approval for a strike on President Bashar Assad's forces.
both were skeptical and sometimes sarcastic about the current Russia-backed negotiations to have Syria turn over its chemical weapons.

(personal note, MAN I LOVE Robert Gates)

Panetta said he supported a strike because Obama needed to enforce the "red line" he set over Syria's use of chemical weapons.

"When the president of the United States draws a red line, the credibility of this country is dependent on him backing up his word," Panetta said.

But Gates said a strike would be like "throwing gasoline on an extremely complex fire in the Middle East." He brought up past interventions in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya as examples of how American military action can lead to unintended consequences.

He also dismissed attacking Syria to enforce a red line.

"I believe to blow a bunch of stuff up over a couple of days to underscore or validate a point or principle is not a strategy," he said.

he thought America's most recent presidents "have become too quick to reach for a gun to solve an international problem."


Foreign Policy Article on Gates, Panetta and Navy Yard Shooting  (brought to you by Lockheed Martin??!!) link 

But Gates two weeks ago urged Congress to vote yes to a strike. Politico's Mike Allen, on Sept. 5: "[Gates]... is urging Congress to back the administration on Syria - and says a defeat for the White House would have ‘dangerous consequences' for the U.S. around the world. Gates, in a statement to POLITICO Sept. 5: "I strongly urge the Congress, both Democrats and Republicans, to approve the president's request for authorization to use force in Syria. "Whatever one's views on current U.S. policy toward Syria, failure by Congress to approve the request would, in my view, have profoundly negative and dangerous consequences for the United States not just in the Middle East but around the world both now and in the future." That bit here.

Did Gates contradict himself? Probably not, but something may have been lost to nuance. Although Gates urged Congress to act, his statement to Politico is based on his position that once Obama asked Congress to vote on the authorization of force, Congress should act. That's one thing. But Gates' own views on Syria policy are another, and came out last night: the administration's attempt to adhere to its redline isn't a strategy.

from Democracy Now! link

Ex-Pentagon Chiefs Criticize Obama on Syria 

President Obama’s approach to Syria has came under criticism from his first two defense secretaries. At a public event in Dallas, Leon Panetta said Obama should have followed through on a threat of U.S. military attack, while Robert Gates called for increased military aid to Syrian rebels.

Leon Panetta: "My view would have been that once the president came to that conclusion, that he should have directed limited action going after Assad to make very clear to the world that when we draw a line and we give our word, dammit, we back it up."

Robert Gates: "My view is significantly increasing the amount of covert assistance to selected rebel groups, opposition groups. I would not provide them with surfaced air missiles, but I would give them heavier weapons and more of them."

Fed Chair ""Govt spending cuts hurts economy"" 
"The tightening of financial conditions observed in recent months, if sustained, could slow the pace of improvement in the economy and labor market," the Fed said in a statement after the meeting. "The [Fed] decided to await more evidence that progress will be sustained before adjusting the pace of its purchases." link

"A government shutdown, and perhaps even more so a failure to raise the debt limit, could have very serious consequences for the financial markets and for the economy," Fed chairman Ben Bernanke warned at a news conference.  link

Boehner ""we need to cut govt spending to help economy, ""JOBS, JOBS, JOBS,"" repeal obamacare  

But a bloc of 43 House Republicans undercut the speaker’s deficit-reduction focus, introducing yearlong funding legislation that would increase Pentagon and veterans spending and delay President Obama’s health care law for a year — most likely adding to the budget deficit. That bloc is large enough to thwart any compromise that does not attract Democratic support link

REMINDERS OF 2011 MARKET SWOON link
In 2011, as Republicans and Democrats fought over spending cuts and a debt limit hike, U.S. financial markets swooned because of all the uncertainty created by the inability of the two parties to work together. Between July 7 and August 9 of that year, the Dow Jones Industrial Average blue-chip stocks fell 16.9 percent.

S & P 2011 STATEMENT REDUCING CREDIT RATING----IT WAS ABOUT POLITICS MORE THAN  FINANCES!!!!!  link

• The downgrade reflects our opinion that the fiscal consolidation plan that Congress and the Administration recently agreed to falls short of what, in our view, would be necessary to stabilize the government's medium-term debt dynamics.
• More broadly, the downgrade reflects our view that the effectiveness, stability, and predictability of American policymaking and political institutions have weakened at a time of ongoing fiscal and economic challenges to a degree more than we envisioned when we assigned a negative outlook to the rating on April 18, 2011.

NC police shoot unarmed man link
Officer Randall Kerrick, 27, is charged with voluntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting of Jonathan Ferrell, 24, shot 10 times after asking for help in the middle of the night after getting into a car accident.
Police said in a statement that Kerrick "did not have a lawful right to discharge his weapon during this encounter."

NSA sends letter to its ""family"" saying ""we will weather storm'' link


Occupy Wall Street turns 2 years old (September 17th)

From Wall St. Journal 5 Ways OCCUPY Changed the Debate link

Occupy Offshoots continue activism link

"Operation Tripwire" -- the FBI, the Private Sector, and the Monitoring of Occupy Wall Street link





SENATE COMMITTEE’S SHIELD LAW PROJECT THREATENS INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM  link

The draft federal law on the protection of journalists’ sources – the so-called media “shield law” - that the Senate Judiciary Committee approved on 12 September unfortunately falls far short of Reporters Without Borders’s recommendation on this subject.  RWB RECOMMENDATIONS HERE

“There is no freedom of information worthy of its name without protection of journalists’ sources,” Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Christophe Deloire said. “Spying on journalists’ investigative reporting violates democratic principles.”  

The future law must extend the categories covered by protection of sources.
The protection of sources must apply not only to journalists but also to all media employees and to all those who help to gather, process, prepare, produce or disseminate news and information, regardless of the media. The protection of sources should also apply to documentary filmmakers, the authors of books of a journalistic nature (even if they are not “journalists”), bloggers and netizens who provide information.




Old news very relevant these past few weeks (John Kerry in 1971, Bloomberg and Guns, )

US News and World Report (may 3, 2004) 1971, The Way They (Kerry and Bush)
2004 John Kerry names 1969 version of himself as running mate (THE ONION) link

Newsweek February 16, 2004 How "Liberal" is Kerry? (Article Titled THE WEDGE WAR) link
The aim: to define Kerry as a tax-raising, big-spending, criminal-coddling lefty who opposes the death penalty and restrictions on abortion, and who has advocated cutting funding for intelligence agencies and for weapons programs during his 20 years in national politics. 

They [Bush Campaign] will focus on his advocacy, early in his [Kerry's] tenure, of cuts in spending on the CIA and on his opposition--as a candidate for the first time in 1984--to an array of weapons, among them the B-1 bomber and the Tomahawk and Patriot missiles.



Sunday, January 8, 2006 NY Daily News by David Saltonstall    Mike Bloomberg will round up Mayor's and use his cash to push for US gun laws  (Article was announcing Mayors Against Illegal Guns, )