Autopsy Shows Capitol Police Shot Unarmed Mother in Back of Head
First they called her a terrorist threat.
When she turned out to be an unarmed suburban mother, they said she was on drugs.
Now, WND has exclusively learned, without a trace of doubt, that was wrong, too.
WND can also now report Miriam Carey was shot in the back of the head by U.S. Capitol Police officers and uniformed Secret Service agents six months ago, on Oct. 3, 2013.
The official police investigation still has not been released. But Carey family attorney Eric Sanders obtained the toxicology and autopsy report on this macabre anniversary.
The report showed there were no drugs in Carey’s system, prescription or otherwise, when she was shot dead.
Two B-52 and two B-2 bombers perform 20-hour long synchronized attack on Hawaii’s training range
Even if global strike missions are routinely conducted “to ensure the U.S. has a credible capability to respond to a variety of levels of threats and to provide the President a variety of options he may need to protect the nation or its allies and partners,” launching two B-52s and two B-2s in a synchronized strike attack training mission does not happen every day.
Image: B-2 Bomber (Wiki Commons).
The U.S. Air Force has recently conducted a long-range mission with two B-52 Stratofortresses from Barksdale Air Force Base, La., and two B-2 Spirit stealth bombers from Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo.
The strategic bombers flew a non-stop for more than 20 hours and covered about 8,000 miles from their home stations to drop ordnance against target located inside Hawaii’s Pohakuloa military weapon range.
According to the Air Force, it was a coordinated range operation which included low approach training that enabled the air force to put their strategic force’s capability to plan, coordinate and execute such a complex mission with “the right mix” of attack platforms.
As said, since most bomber missions are that long; last year round-trip extended deterrence missions were flown over the Korean peninsula following Kim Jong Un’s threats to U.S. and its allies. What make such operation particularly interesting is the fact that it involved different types of bombers providing a means to both fleets to improve coordination capabilities as well as flying skills.
House Intel Boss: Obama’s War On Terror “Kinder, Gentler”
Retiring House intelligence boss cites terror meme to portray Obama as weak
Kurt Nimmo
Infowars.com
March 4, 2014
Infowars.com
March 4, 2014
Rep. Mike Rogers ignores the expansion of the drone war and growth of unconstitutional surveillance.
During an interview with Time posted on Thursday, retiring House Intelligence Committee chairmanMike Rogers said the Obama administration has pursued a “kinder, gentler approach” to the war on terror.
Pressed for details, Rogers said he is not authorized the divulge specifics. He said, however, under Obama the United States has “taken people off the battlefield that have been disruptive” to the ability of al-Qaeda to plan and carry out operations.
Mr. Rogers omitted the fact Obama has significantly expanded the use of drones, first introduced by his predecessor, and has not closed the concentration camp located Guantanamo Bay, as promised when he ran for president.
Upon taking office in 2009, Obama “almost immediately made drones one of his key national security tools. By mid-April 2013, he had already authorized 307 strikes in Pakistan, six times more than the number of strikes carried out during President Bush’s entire eight years in office,” notes Peter Bergen, the director of the National Security Studies Program at the New America Foundation.
Moreover, as admitted by Bush’s NSA director, Michael Hayden, unconstitutional surveillance programs have “expanded” under Obama. This should be a fact Rogers is keenly aware of as the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.
Apart from al-Qaeda, Rogers said cyber terrorism is the “biggest national-security threat I’ve ever seen, one that we’re not prepared to deal with.” He said reducing the size of the U.S. military “has said to countries they can invade their neighbors without fear of retribution.” Rogers said Iran and its “interest in getting a nuclear weapon” also poses a threat.
Rogers appears to be uninformed on the subject of Iran and nuclear weapons. In 2012, U.S. intelligence agencies unanimously concluded Iran had earlier abandoned an effort o construct a nuclear weapon. James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, and David Petraeus, the former director of the CIA, told the Senate in January, 2012, there is no evidence Iran is working on a nuclear weapon.
As for the alleged grave threat posed by cyber terrorism, a number of experts have dispelled it as greatly exaggerated. Bruce Schneier, an American cryptographer, computer security and privacy specialist wrote for CNN in 2010 the “entire national debate on cyberwar is plagued with exaggerations and hyperbole.” Schneier added that “the risks of a cyberwar are no greater than the risks of a ground invasion.”
Rogers also said former NSA analyst Edward Snowden “is definitely under the influence of Russian officials,” is “living about a mile from the FSB [Russian security service] facilities,” allegedly “has regular conversations with the FSB” and is “putting the U.S. at risk.”
This article was posted: Friday, April 4, 2014 at 1:52 pm
JUDGE DISMISSES LAWSUIT OVER DRONE STRIKES
| |||||||||||||
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A federal judge on Friday dismissed a lawsuit against Obama administration officials for the 2011 drone-strike killings of three U.S. citizens in Yemen, including an al-Qaida cleric.
U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer said the case raises serious constitutional issues and is not easy to answer, but that "on these facts and under this circuit's precedent," the court will grant the Obama administration's request.
The suit was against then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, then-CIA Director David Petraeus and two commanders in the military's Special Operations forces.
Permitting a lawsuit against individual officials "under the circumstances of this case would impermissibly draw the court into `the heart of executive and military planning and deliberation,'" said Collyer. She said the suit would require the court to examine national security policy and the military chain of command as well as operational combat decisions regarding the designation of targets and how best to counter threats to the United States.
"Defendants must be trusted and expected to act in accordance with the U.S. Constitution when they intentionally target a U.S. citizen abroad at the direction of the president and with the concurrence of Congress," said Collyer. "They cannot be held personally responsible in monetary damages for conducting war." The lawsuit sought unspecified damages.
Hina Shamsi, director of the ACLU National Security Project, called it a "deeply troubling decision that treats the government's allegations as proof while refusing to allow those allegations to be tested in court."
"The court's view that it cannot provide a remedy for extrajudicial killings when the government claims to be at war, even far from any battlefield, is profoundly at odds with the Constitution," said Shamsi, one of the attorneys who argued the case.
At oral arguments last July, the judge challenged the Obama administration's position repeatedly, pointedly asking "where was the due process in this case?" for the now-dead U.S. citizens targeted in the drone attacks. When an administration lawyer said there were checks in place, including reviews done by the executive branch, Collyer said "No, no, no, no, no," declaring that "the executive is not an effective check on the executive" when it comes to protecting constitutional rights. But in Friday's ruling, it was clear that the administration's arguments had a strong impact on the judge, who was appointed by President George W. Bush.
The government argued that the issue is best left to Congress and the executive branch, not judges, and that courts have recognized that the defense of the nation should be left to those political branches.
Anwar al-Awlaki's classification as a key leader raises fundamental questions regarding the conduct of armed conflict, Collyer's 41-page opinion stated. The Constitution commits decision-making in this area to the president, as commander in chief, and to Congress, the judge said.
U.S.-born al-Qaida leader al-Awlaki and Samir Khan, an al-Qaida propagandist, were killed in a drone strike in September 2011. Al-Awlaki's 16-year-old son, Abdulrahman, was killed the following month.
The lawsuit was filed by Nasser al-Awlaki - Anwar's father and the teen's grandfather - and by Sarah Khan, Samir Khan's mother
Al-Awlaki had been linked to the planning and execution of several attacks targeting U.S. and Western interests, including a 2009 attempt on Christmas Day on a Detroit-bound airliner and a 2010 plot against cargo planes.
"The fact is that Anwar al-Awlaki was an active and exceedingly dangerous enemy of the United States, irrespective of his distance, location, and citizenship," said Collyer. "As evidenced by his participation in the Christmas Day attack, Anwar al-Awlaki was able to persuade, direct, and wage war against the United States from his location in Yemen, without being present on an official battlefield or in a hot war zone."
She said that the U.S. government moved against al-Awlaki as authorized by the defendants and she said the officials acted in accordance with the Authorization for Use of Military Force, which was enacted by Congress after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Also impacting the outcome was the type of lawsuit, commonly known as a Bivens action, which seeks to hold liable individual officials as opposed to being a legal action against an entity. Bevens actions have a high legal hurdle to meet in order to survive.
"Allowing plaintiffs to bring a Bivens action against defendants would hinder their ability in the future to act decisively and without hesitation in defense of U.S. interests," Collyer said.
"Although it gave this court pause, a plaintiff's U.S. citizenship has not affected the analysis of Bivens special factors by the circuit courts," she added.
"The Supreme Court has never suggested that citizenship matters to a claim under Bivens," said Collyer's opinion, quoting from a federal appeals court case.
The Obama administration argued that the lawsuit should be thrown out based on the political question doctrine, which excludes from judicial review controversies revolving around policy choices to be resolved by Congress or the executive branch.
Collyer disagreed, saying that the powers granted to the executive and Congress to wage war and provide for national security does not give them carte blanche to deprive a U.S. citizen of his life without due process and without any judicial review.
|
Michigan Cops to Track Cell Phone Calls with Military Hardware
Oakland County police purchase device with Department of Homeland Security grant
Kurt Nimmo
Infowars,com
April 4, 2014
Infowars,com
April 4, 2014
“We aren’t the CIA, NSA and FBI. We are a local law enforcement agency doing a damn good job of keeping the community safe,” police argue. Photo: John Fingas
Police in Oakland County, Michigan, will soon use a Hailstorm device to track cell phone calls. The secret device is manufactured by Harris Corp., a Florida-based international telecommunications equipment company and military contractor.
“It’s all very secretive and information about (Stingray and Hailstorm) is tightly controlled, which makes it (difficult) to have a broad discussion about these tools,” Alan Butler, a lawyer for the Electronic Privacy Information Center, told the Detroit News.
In 2011, use of the Stingray, considered the most widely used surveillance device by government to track cell phones, was questioned during an Arizona court case. The Department of Justice issued a memorandum at the time admitting use of the device constituted “a Fourth Amendment search and seizure.”
Police in Florida and California are using the Stingray to track cell phone calls. It is also used by the FBI, DEA, BATF, Secret Service and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. According to the ACLU, police in Florida have used the device at least 200 times without a search warrant.
Asked about Stingray by Arstechnica, the FBI characterized the tracking device as a “vital component” used as the agency “strives to protect our country and its people.”
Undersheriff Michael McCabe of the Oakland County police argued the $170,000 Hailstorm device will be used to “helps us capture fugitives from the law, people wanted for murder and rape.”
McCabe said the device, purchased with a Homeland Security grant, is “not a tool to spy on people, unequivocally.”
“We’re not spying on anyone,” McCabe said. “We’re not authorized to spy on anyone. We aren’t the CIA, NSA and FBI. We are a local law enforcement agency doing a damn good job of keeping the community safe.”
The Michigan newspaper filed a Freedom of Information Act request to find out more about the device, but the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office turned back the request.
It said information about the device is protected by anti-terror laws and includes “investigating records compiled for law enforcement purposes that would disclose law enforcement investigative techniques or procedures,” according to the newspaper.
This article was posted: Friday, April 4, 2014 at 9:43 am
Obama’s NSA overhaul may require phone carriers to store more data
President Barack Obama’s plan for overhauling the National Security Agency’s phone surveillance program could force carriers to collect and store customer data that they are not now legally obliged to keep, according to U.S. officials.
One complication arises from the popularity of flat-rate or unlimited calling plans, which are used by the vast majority of Americans.
While the Federal Communications Commission requires phone companies to retain for 18 months records on “toll” or long-distance calls, the rule’s application is vague for subscribers of unlimited phone plans because they do not get billed for individual calls.
Have We Become a “Surveillance State”? A Five-Part Test
At a panel in Toronto recently I was asked whether I thought the United States had become a “surveillance state.”
How to answer that question? At first glance it’s an impossibly fuzzy question, the answer to which is relative depending on whether one has in mind life in an 18th century American town, or the Stasi. At the same time, if we can impose some structure on how we approach the question, it is an opportunity to take stock of where we stand—probably a healthy exercise.
Thinking it over, I came up with a five-part test by which we can consider the question.
Botch A Drug Raid? No Problem, Just Seal The Warrant, Citizen Complaint And Gag Order Itself
Anyone can make a mistake. The best solution is to acknowledge it, make amends if needed, and move forward, striving to learn from the experience. Far too many entities opt instead for bluster, obfuscation and intimidation, rather than deal with the consequences of their screwup. This is especially true for law enforcement agencies, who often use everything in their power to avoid having to admit anything went wrong, much less take responsibility for it.
Photo of a raid taking place as part of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Operation Mallorca
A Benedict Avenue resident contends Huron County deputies forced their way into his home Tuesday without a search warrant.John Collins, who lives in one unit of a triplex home at 114 Benedict Ave., contends deputies got the wrong address when they executed the search warrant. The warrant was for the unit next to his, he said.The deputies handcuffed him and left him lying on the floor in his unit for 20 minutes after they realized the mistake, Collins said.
Bad enough, but it gets worse.
They tore through his home, he said, after cuffing him and forcing him to the floor facedown. “They searched my whole house, pulled stuff out my closet, broke a couple knick knacks” he said.One deputy also stepped on his tablet, shattering its screen. Another broke a ceramic decoration that once belonged to his now-deceased son, Collins said…Two deputies must have realized the mistake, Collins said, because they recognized him from their school days and had to have known he was not the man identified in the search warrant. The deputies went next door, he said. They made contact with the residents there — who were later arrested for drug trafficking.But six or so other deputies continued searching Collins’ home.
How did the offending deputies rectify the situation after they realized they had both the wrong home and the wrong person? They uncuffed him and left, as if all of the above had never happened.
Collins filed a complaint against the Huron County Sheriff’s Department and asked for a copy of the search warrant. This is when the department went on full lockdown with some help from the local judiciary.
Huron County Common Pleas Court Judge Timothy Cardwell issued a secret gag order March 21 to seal the search warrant. The gag order is also secret, Cardwell’s court clerk said after the Register asked for a copy of the order.
Even Collins’ complaint itself is now under seal, and the Sheriff’s Department is circling the wagons, digging a moat around the circle and filling that moat with blustery statements and unanswered phones.
First, the department flatout denied it had done anything wrong, calling Collins’ story a “rumor” that was “highly inaccurate.” And, who knows, maybe that would still be up for debate (citizen v. cop and all that), but then the department went and had the complaint sealed. And the warrant. And the gag order itself. It also issued a contradictory statement a few days later.
“We finished a search warrant at 114-1/2 Benedict Ave,” he said Thursday. “Our next move then was to check on an individual who may have a warrant in close proximity.”Patrick said deputies “became aware of warrants for an individual in close proximity, which was next door.”
Now, the story has changed. According to this narrative, the department supposedly had a warrant for Collins’ address but then decided to pursue a different warrant after tossing the first house for twenty minutes while its resident lay face down on the floor, handcuffed. Warrant news must travel really slowly in Huron County, though. The warrant that deputies “became aware of” during their search of the wrong address was issued in 2012.
From that point on, the department (wisely, or at least as close to “wise” as any of this gets) decided to cut the lines of communication, as Matt Westerhold of the Sandusky Register notes in his description of the department’s “Plan B.”
As Sheriff’s Howard’s spokesman, make yourself as unavailable and be unfriendly as possible to any reporter who has questions about the inconsistent story you’re trying to make sure the public hears.
Still, the department (via Capt. Ted Patrick) continues to insist that it did nothing wrong. But it’s completely unwilling to provide any evidence to back that assertion up. Instead, it expects to just push its way through the mess it’s created without ever having to explain exactly what went on that night, all with the implicit blessing of a local judge.
This article was posted: Friday, April 4, 2014 at 11:24 am
Cop Pulls Gun On Fifth Graders Building Tree Fort
Cop aims gun at young children after neighbor calls police over “environment-hurting” tree fort
Mikael ThalenInfowars.com
April 4, 2014
April 4, 2014
Police in Georgia forced a group of fifth graders to the ground at gunpoint this week as they attempted to build a tree fort in their own neighborhood.
According to 911 records, Henry County Police were called after a neighbor noticed the children “chopping off tree limbs,” an activity she claimed was hurting the environment and creating “tripping hazards.”
Police arrived on scene to find 11-year-old Omari Grant and his friends playing in a small patch of trees, prompting at least one officer to reportedly draw his firearm and force the boys to the ground.
“I was thinking that I don’t want to be shot today, so I just listened to what they said,” Grant said.
As the children lay face down, the officer allegedly screamed profanities as he forced them to spread their arms and legs. Grant’s mother, Janice Baptiste, detailed her son’s experience in an interview with WSB-TV.
“All he could get out at the time was, ‘Mom, he had a gun in my face, he had a gun in my face,’” Baptiste said. “So my son was of course traumatized by that.”
After the children were searched, Grant was taken back to his home by the officer, who also startled Baptiste with his unstable appearance.
“He just came with such an attitude,” Baptiste said. “His whole physical appearance was one of, ‘I’m Mr. Big and bad.’”
Grant says he is now hesitant to play outside in his own neighborhood, afraid of the very police he always looked up to.
“I learned that they’re supposed to help you, not make you feel scared to even come outside,” Grant said.
Edgar Dillard, whose wife made the 911 call, was reportedly stunned to hear of the neighbor boys’ encounter with police.
“Yeah, that’s pretty shocking to hear that a gun was pulled on a child,” Dillard said.
Baptiste has filed an excessive force complaint with the department, which has now opened an internal investigation. When questioned about the officer’s actions, Sgt. Joey Smith remained relatively tight-lipped.
“If it was justified then we’ll deal with it, if it wasn’t we’ll address it as well,” Smith said.
Despite the investigation, both officers remain on duty.
Unfortunately, police officers across the country who work to become positive role models for children, like the Texas cop who recently stopped to play catch with a young boy, are overshadowed by officers who abuse their power.
This article was posted: Friday, April 4, 2014 at 5:10 am
No comments:
Post a Comment