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Judge Blocks Portion of NDAA
A federal judge Wednesday issued an injunction against a National Defense Authorization Act provision that grants the military the right to detain anyone it suspects of involvement in terrorism. U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest ruled in favor of a group of plaintiffs, including Truthdig columnist Chris Hedges, who filed a lawsuit against the legislation within weeks of President Obama signing it.
Hedges was joined in the suit by linguist, author and dissident Noam Chomsky, Pentagon whistle-blower Daniel Ellsberg and other high-profile activists, scholars and politicians.
Hedges argued in his testimony that his work as a journalist would bring him into contact with terrorist organizations that would, given the scope of the law, qualify him for indefinite detention. The plaintiffs argued that the threat of detention alone would be an unconstitutional encroachment on their First Amendment rights to free expression and association, as well as a violation of the Fifth Amendment right to due process.
Government lawyers and Obama had previously said the provision merely reaffirmed an existing law recognizing the military’s right to perform certain routine duties.
Are cops drugging Occupy Wall Street protesters in Minnesota?
After footage surfaced of Occupy Wall Street protesters in Minnesota making claims that they’ve been drugged by police officers, authorities in the state have opened up a criminal investigation.
At least one Minnesota state trooper has been placed on paid leave since law enforcement officers began investigating allegations that cops arrived at Occupy Wall Street encampments and drugged protesters.
Independent filmmakers and journalists in the state say that they have encountered members of local Occupy offshoots who say they have been offered drugs by law enforcement officers. Protesters who opt in to the program are stoned for free while, in turn, cops monitor the effects of the intoxicants.
A Ron Paul Revolution is brewing
Yes, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney won the Nevada caucuses in February, capturing 50 percent of the vote.
Why then did last weekend’s headlines read that Texas Rep. Ron Paul won almost all of Nevada’s national delegates?
For that, we have the country’s cumbersome and arcane system for nominating presidential candidates to blame. You see, a simple vote doesn’t determine the winner when you’re talking presidential politics.
Here is a six-part primer to help you make sense of the strange results and what it all means once Republicans arrive in Tampa, Fla., for their national convention.
How could Romney win the caucuses but Paul win the conventions?
The caucuses — which Romney won handily — are simply the first step in selecting delegates to the national convention, which in modern times has become a highly choreographed coronation of the party’s presidential nominee.
At the caucuses, delegates to the county convention are elected. At the county convention, state delegates are elected. And at the state convention, national delegates are elected.
Generally, it doesn’t matter who actually goes as a delegate because the nominee is already decided.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0512/76125.html#ixzz1uT15qglkFor the first time the Fed has allowed large Chinese bank to purchase a U.S. bank
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The Federal Reserve gave three state-owned Chinese banks its stamp of approval Thursday to expand their presence in the United States.
The central bank accepted an application from Industrial and Commerce Bank of China Ltd. (IDCBY) (ICBC), along with China Investment Corporation and Central Huijin Investment, to become bank holding companies by purchasing up to an 80% stake in New York-based Bank of East Asia U.S.A.
The approval marks the first time the Fed has allowed any large Chinese bank to purchase a U.S. bank, and it could boost merger and acquisition activity "as Chinese banks may look to acquire regional banks in order to establish a U.S. footprint," said Guggenheim senior policy analyst Jaret Seiberg, in a research note.
ICBC entered into an agreement with the Bank of East Asia in January 2011, and has been waiting for the Fed's okay.
"The issue [had] been whether the Federal Reserve would bless the Chinese regulatory system," said Seiberg. Now, the Fed's approval means that "the Chinese met the key supervisory standard required for its banks to own U.S. banks and to take U.S. deposits."
Army Admits Re-Education Camp Manual “Not Intended For Public Release”
Fort Leonard Wood Public Affairs director Tiffany Wood has provided the first official response to the shocking U.S. Army document that outlines the implementation of re-education camps, admitting that the manual was “not intended for public release” and claiming that its provisions only apply outside the United States, a contention completely disproved by the language contained in the document itself.
After a reader sent Wood a link to where the manual, entitled FM 3-39.40 Internment and Resettlement Operations (PDF), can be downloaded on the army.mil website (but only by military employees with special credentials), Wood responded by stating that the document should not be in the public domain.
“The document was not intended for public release,” said Wood, adding, “Any other questions regarding the
document, you will need to file a FOIA request.”
This means that either hackers have obtained access to a secure military website and downloaded the manual or it was leaked by a military employee concerned about the content of the document.
As we have exhaustively illustrated, the document is a training manual for U.S. Army personnel that details how to treat detainees incarcerated in prison camps both abroad and inside the United States.
How “Secure Communities” makes us all insecure
The Massachusetts version of Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio has something to celebrate.
Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson, the man who brought low tech chain gangs to Massachusetts in 1999 and who (unsuccessfully) this year pushed Dickensian legislation to make inmates pay rent of $5 per day called the ICE announcement that it would implement high tech “Secure Communities” statewide in Massachusetts on May 15 “great news for law enforcement and citizens.”
But law enforcement and citizens of Massachusetts: Be warned! The “Secure Communities” (S-Comm) program may be targeting immigrant communities, but it potentially affects everyone. Here’s why.
U.S. drone strike riles Pakistani politicians
(AP) ISLAMABAD - Pakistani officials on Monday condemned the U.S. for carrying out its first drone strike in the country since parliament demanded they end two weeks ago, but qualified that it should be seen in light of the presence of Islamist militants on Pakistani soil.
The mixed signals indicate the delicate tightrope the government is trying to walk with the American attacks. They are very unpopular in Pakistan, so opposing them makes sense for political reasons. But the government does not seem to want the strikes to torpedo attempts to patch up ties with the U.S., which could free up over $1 billion in American military aid.
Meanwhile, in the most detailed comments by an administration official on the long-used practice, White House counterterrorism official John Brennan publicly acknowledged the covert practice of drone strikes against al Qaeda targets.
President Obama significantly ramped up strikes in Pakistan when he took office in 2009. Brennan, speaking before a Washington think tank Monday, said Mr. Obama wants to be more open with the American public a year after raid that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Navy SEALs killed bin Laden on May 2.
Brennan said targets are chosen by weighing whether there is a way to capture the person against how much of a threat the person presents to Americans. He said the strikes are precise, but acknowledged that civilians have been killed. Brennan said in most cases, drone strikes are carried out with the cooperation of a host government.
Ex-CIA counterterror chief says Pelosi ‘LIED’ about waterboarding
In an explosive memoir released today, former CIA counterterrorism chief Jose Rodriguez provides new evidence that Rep. Nancy Pelosi lied when she declared she had not been briefed about the use of waterboarding.
Recall that in a Capitol Hill news conference three years ago, Pelosi (D-Calif.) vehemently denied being told about the use of waterboarding at a CIA briefing in September 2002. “We were not — I repeat — were not told that waterboarding or any of these other enhanced interrogation methods were used,” Pelosi said. She later changed her story, telling reporters, “We were told explicitly that waterboarding was not being used.” She claimed she learned about the use of waterboarding the following year, only after other lawmakers were told by the CIA. “I wasn’t briefed, I was informed that somebody else had been briefed about it,” she said.
If Rodriguez is right, each of these statements is false. But other than a chart released by the CIA noting that Pelosi, then the ranking member of the House intelligence committee, and Rep. Porter Goss (R-Fla.), then chairman of the committee, had been given a “description of the particular [enhanced interrogation techniques] that had been employed,” there was little public evidence to contradict Pelosi’s claims. So she got away with it — until today.
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