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

saturday sept 21

 Syria submits list of chemical weapons arsenal link

U.N. war crimes investigators know of 14 potential chemical attacks in Syria since they began monitoring Syrian human rights abuses in September 2011, the team's chairman said on Monday.  link here

MINT NEWS STATEMENT ON DALE GAVLAK STORY link


Syria Chemical Attacks (from Wikipedia) link here
The Syrian government has been accused of conducting several chemical attacks, the most serious of them being the 2013 Ghouta attacks.

On 29 April, another chemical attack was reported, this time in Saraqib, in which 2 died and 13 were injured. 

On 13 June, the United States announced that there is definitive proof that the Assad government has used limited amounts of chemical weapons on multiple occasions on rebel forces, killing 100 to 150 people.

On 5 August, another chemical attack by the Syrian army was reported by the opposition, who documented the injured with video footage. The activists claim up to 400 people were effected by the attack in Adra and Houma of the Damascus suburbs. 

On 21 August, Syrian activists reported that Assad regime forces struck Jobar, Zamalka, 'Ain Tirma, and Hazzah in the Eastern Ghouta region with chemical weapons. At least 635 people were killed in a nerve gas attack.

REBELS
The rebels have also been accused of conducting several chemical attacks, the most serious of which was the Khan al-Assal chemical attack. The Khan al-Assal attack took place On 19 March 2013






Breaking News Guide---what wrong information gets reported  link


Kenya Nairobi Mall Shooting, 11 killed** (update is 39 killed, more than 150 injured, including family of Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta)  link
The Somali militant group al-Shabab has said it carried out the attack.

On its Twitter feed, the al-Qaeda-linked group said it confirmed it was behind what it called the "Westgate spectacle".

Al-Shabab has carried out a string of attacks in Kenya since 2011, when Kenyan troops moved into southern Somalia to fight the militants there.

"They came and said: 'If you are Muslim, stand up. We've come to rescue you," said Elijah Lamau.

He said the Muslims left with their hands up, and then the gunmen shot two people.

The US state department says it has reports that American citizens were injured in what it called "a senseless act of violence".



TIME magazine graphic compares Navy Yard Shooter to Nidal Hassan, Snowden, Manning ""slipping through the cracks"" link here



ATF success, illegal guns, tough judge gives harsher sentence link
Federal Judge John Gleeson could have given 23-year-old weapon peddler Angel Tejeda 30 months to 37 months in prison — if he had stuck to the guidelines. But Gleeson handed Tejeda a 44-month sentence after Assistant U.S. Attorney Jack Dennehy made note of the recent high-profile shootings.Gleeson, a former prosecutor who won the conviction of Gambino crime boss John (Teflon Don) Gotti, said he was mystified how Tejeda could be looking at such little time.

Tejeda, 23, and co-defendant Amaury Delarosa, 25, were nabbed last year in a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives sting operation dubbed “Operation Young Guns.”

Tejeda was buying the handguns and shotguns from a dealer, and selling the small arsenal to an undercover agent in a Fairway supermarket parking lot on W. 131st St. in Harlem, said ATF agent Patrick Collins.



Military Rape, MJIA, Article 32 hearings, Court Martial link
In a public hearing, they asked the woman, who has accused the three athletes of raping her, whether she wore a bra, how wide she opened her mouth during oral sex 

The aggressive tactics on display this month and last are part of a case that has generated intense public scrutiny and raised alarms about what are called Article 32 proceedings, which help determine whether cases are sent to courts-martial. Article 32 hearings permit questions not allowed in civilian courts and can include cross-examinations of witnesses so intense that legal experts say they frighten many victims from coming forward.



NYPD spies on Muslims, NSA gets email about terror attack from monitoring Pakistan link here 
NO new laws needed, NO new interpretation or FISA court needed!! FIX THE NSA!!!! FIX THE NYPD!! no spying (Didnt lead to any terror cases stopped, STOP stop and frisk!!!)



Ray Kelly in 2000 ""stop and frisk hurts communities, doesnt help link here
By KEVIN FLYNN
Published: April 5, 2000

Former Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly (1992-1994) assailed the Giuliani administration's police strategies last weekend, saying it had abandoned community policing, increased firepower and fumbled minority hiring in a way that bred mistrust among many blacks and Latinos.

''A large reservoir of good will was under construction when I left the Police Department in 1994,'' Mr. Kelly said. ''It was called community policing. But it was quickly abandoned for tough-sounding rhetoric and dubious stop-and-frisk tactics that sowed new seeds of community mistrust.''

Soon after taking office, Mayor Giuliani replaced Mr. Kelly with William J. Bratton and denigrated the community policing program, which used beat officers to build community relationships, as an ineffectual policy that resembled social work.

Police officials characterized Mr. Kelly's speech, which included criticism of the decision to switch from 10-shot to 16-shot pistols, as unfair. They denied that they had abandoned community policing and said that, despite the increase in firepower, the number of shots fired by officers had declined in recent years.



ACLU report on Marijuana use versus arrests---usage is equal among blacks and whites, but blacks are arrested more often  link here

Twitter DM Spam DONT OPEN THE LINKS DONT SIGN INTO FACEBOOK
http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2012/09/24/twitter_direct_message_hack_facebook_youtube_video_links_lead_to_malware.html

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-57519494-83/twitter-users-may-be-victims-of-direct-message-malware/


Thomas Drake, NSA Whistleblower
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/05/23/110523fa_fact_mayer

When President Barack Obama took office, in 2009, he championed the cause of government transparency, and spoke admiringly of whistle-blowers, whom he described as “often the best source of information about waste, fraud, and abuse in government.” But the Obama Administration has pursued leak prosecutions with a surprising relentlessness. Including the Drake case, it has been using the Espionage Act to press criminal charges in five alleged instances of national-security leaks—more such prosecutions than have occurred in all previous Administrations combined. The Drake case is one of two that Obama’s Justice Department has carried over from the Bush years.
Drake, a registered Republican, had not only expected the President to roll back the prosecutions launched by the Bush Administration; he had thought that Bush Administration officials would be investigated for overstepping the law in the “war on terror.

Drake says ""I did not tell secrets. I am facing prison for having raised an alarm, period. I went to a reporter with a few key things: fraud, waste, and abuse, and the fact that there were legal alternatives to the Bush Administration’s ‘dark side’ ”—in particular, warrantless domestic spying by the N.S.A.""

Jack Balkin, a liberal law professor at Yale, agrees that the increase in leak prosecutions is part of a larger transformation. “We are witnessing the bipartisan normalization and legitimization of a national-surveillance state,

On March 28th, Obama held a meeting in the White House with five advocates for greater transparency in government. During the discussion, the President drew a sharp distinction between whistle-blowers who exclusively reveal wrongdoing and those who jeopardize national security. The importance of maintaining secrecy about the impending raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound was likely on Obama’s mind. The White House has been particularly bedevilled by the ongoing release of classified documents by WikiLeaks, the group led by Julian Assange. Last year, WikiLeaks began releasing a vast trove of sensitive government documents allegedly leaked by a U.S. soldier, Bradley Manning; the documents included references to a courier for bin Laden who had moved his family to Abbottabad—the town where bin Laden was hiding out. Manning has been charged with “aiding the enemy.”

THOMAS DRAKE

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-are-we-subverting-the-constitution-in-the-name-of-security/2011/08/25/gIQANnrheJ_story.html

THOMAS DRAKE
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/NSAW



Daniel Ellsberg on Wikileaks 
http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2010/07/daniel_ellsberg_interview
Ellsberg says ""I would've thought that the National Security Agency could penetrate them and keep them from giving anonymity to leakers""

But the administration's surprise at these revelations indicates that Julian Assange is delivering to sources what he said he could—anonymity. And the reason that one person has been brought up on charges, Bradley Manning, is not due to any fault in the Wikileaks technology, but to Bradley Manning's own choice to reveal himself to someone who in turn informed on him. So I hope that his being under charges won't discourage other people from using the Wikileaks technology. I understand that Assange has offered, or plans to offer, this same technology or software to newspapers so that they can do Wikileaks's job on a larger scale. And I hope they take advantage of that.

Two of whom are being prosecuted for acts carried out under George Bush and for which Bush chose not to prosecute—Thomas Drake, who is under indictment, and Shamai Leibowitz, who pleaded guilty (a mistake in my mind)

So Obama's famous position of not looking backward seems to apply only to crimes like torture or illegal warrantless surveillance

 The Apache video was wrongly withheld from Reuters, which tried for two years to get it in order to shed light on why their two employees, unarmed journalists, were shot in Iraq

I don't advise people to put out classified material they haven't read

What I did say was that my first choice still would be the press. In fact, it would be the press rather than Congress—I think I wasted a year and half trying to get hearings in Congress without the pressure of the press. Of course, I was unsuccessful there—they just held on to the papers. 

Nixon brought a dozen CIA assets, under the direction of Howard Hunt and Gordon Liddy, up from Miami on May 3rd 1972, with orders to incapacitate me totally. That was done covertly and was one of the factors that led to Nixon's resignation. Obama has now announced, through his then-head of intelligence, Dennis Blair, that we have a list of those who can be assassinated by special-forces operators. And this president has even approved names of American citizens on that list. Now that's an astonishing change, not in our covert policy—presidents have been involved in covert assassination plots repeatedly—but to announce that publicly as a supposedly legitimate policy. That negates the Magna Carta. It's a kind of power that no king of England has asserted since John I.

SYG Titusville

Stand Your Ground Blog Post from my other blog http://lib2view.blogspot.com/

http://lib2view.blogspot.com/2013/09/syg-titusville-case.html

monday sept 16

Breaking News Shooting at Washington DC Navy Yards link

Shooting was in a very secure area link


UN chem report on Syria
Rockets armed with the banned chemical nerve agent sarin were used in a mass killing near Damascus on Aug. 21, United Nations chemical weapons inspectors reported Monday in the first official confirmation by nonpartisan scientific experts, saying such munitions had been deployed “on a relatively large scale” in the Syria conflict. link

UN Report PDF link
The international community has a moral responsibility to hold accountable those
responsible and for ensuring that chemical weapons can never re-emerge as an instrument
of warfare.
The accession of the Syrian Arab Republic on 14 September 2013 to the Convention on
the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical
Weapons and on their Destruction is a welcome development.
The Secretary-General reiterates that any use of chemical weapons by anyone under
any circumstances is a grave violation of international law.


SYRIA CHEM WEAPONS ROUND UP link


Britain and the United States joined France on Monday in declaring that details contained in a report by U.N. investigators confirms that Syria's government, not the opposition, was behind an August 21 attack with sarin gas. link

France, Britain and the US are to seek a "strong" UN resolution with "serious consequences" if Syria fails to hand over its chemical weapons.
Mr Kerry added that all the countries involved, including Russia, had agreed that military intervention could be an option "should diplomacy fail".
"The framework fully commits the United States and Russia to impose measures under Chapter 7 of the UN charter in the event of non-compliance." link

Obama Speech marking 5 years after Recession, Financial Crisis, Lehman Collapse text of speech
Obama blasts GOP budget battles, "irresponsibility" link


Larry Summers drops out of Fed Chair Bid (stocks rise) link
Summers withdrew after an intense uproar among liberal Democrats, women’s groups and other advocacy organizations against his potential nomination — a highly unusual assault on the candidate who President Obama favored for the job.
Obama has said he is considering two other candidates for the post, Fed Vice Chairman Janet L. Yellen and former Fed vice chairman Don Kohn


U.S. stocks soared Monday morning after Lawrence Summers, a top candidate to be the next Federal Reserve chair, withdrew his name from consideration, Bloomberg News reports link

Bill Thompson drops out of NYC mayor race, concedes to Bill de Blasio link