04/28/11

Permalink POLICE STATE: Talk show host Nicole Sandler arrested at tea party Rep’s town hall - Video

At a town hall meeting last night in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., staged by Rep. Allen West (R-FL), liberal talk show host Nicole Sandler was taken out of the event hall and arrested on camera. She was initially just being removed from the hall, but Sandler shouted at the officer to take his hands off of her as they were escorting her out, likely providing a trigger for the arrest. Confronted by Sandler's boyfriend, the officer did not say why he was arresting her. Similar to other recent Republican town hall meetings, this event was loud and angry, with numerous hecklers hammering Rep. West on his vote to cut Medicare.


Permalink Nato fire 'kills Misrata rebels'

At least 11 rebel fighters have been killed in a Nato air strike in the besieged Libyan port city of Misrata, say reports. A rebel commander and witnesses told reporters a Nato warplane had carried out Wednesday's bombing, but Nato refused to confirm or deny the reports. A doctor told Reuters news agency seven rebels had also been killed in fire from government forces. There has been intense fighting over Misrata's strategically crucial port. Rebel fighters, backed by Nato air strikes, claim they have driven back soldiers loyal to Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi.

BusinessWeek: NATO Strikes Forces Near Misrata Amid Reports of Rebel Deaths
Jason Ditz: US Envoy: Libya Death Toll Could Be 30,000 (Says Reliable Numbers Will Come Once Troops Are 'On the Ground')


Permalink Wikileaks media partner, Andy Worthington on the Guantanamo Files and the War on Terror

Andy Worthington is a journalist, blogger, and author of The Guantánamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America’s Illegal Prison. He is also co-director of a new documentary film, “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo”.

In 2009, Worthington revealed information about the demise of Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi the former US 'ghost prisoner' whose alleged suicide death in a Libyan jail is still under suspicion. Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi's testimony, which was obtained under torture and coercion, and later recanted, was cited by the George W. Bush Administration in the months preceding the 2003 invasion of Iraq as evidence of a connection between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda. The head of the Washington office of Human Rights Watch stated al-Libi was "Exhibit A" in hearings on the relationship between pre-Iraq War false intelligence and torture. Confirmation of al-Libi's location came two weeks prior to his death. Most recently, Worthington partnered with WikiLeaks on its latest release of thousands of pages of documents regarding the cases of 758 out of 779 Guantanamo detainees dating between 2002 and 2008. The documents consist of memoranda from JTF-GTMO, the Joint Task Force at Guantánamo Bay, to US Southern Command in Miami, Florida.


Permalink Iceland Declares Independence from International Banks

Iceland is free. And it will remain so, so long as her people wish to remain autonomous of the foreign domination of her would-be masters — in this case, international bankers.

On April 9, the fiercely independent people of island-nation defeated a referendum that would have bailed out the UK and the Netherlands who had covered the deposits of British and Dutch investors who had lost funds in Icesave bank in 2008. At the time of the bank’s failure, Iceland refused to cover the losses. But the UK and Netherlands nonetheless have demanded that Iceland repay them for the “loan” as a condition for admission into the European Union. In response, the Icelandic people have told Europe to go pound sand. The final vote was 103,207 to 69,462, or 58.9 percent to 39.7 percent. “Taxpayers should not be responsible for paying the debts of a private institution,” said Sigriur Andersen, a spokeswoman for the Advice group that opposed the bailout. A similar referendum in 2009 on the issue, although with harsher terms, found 93.2 percent of the Icelandic electorate rejecting a proposal to guarantee the deposits of foreign investors who had funds in the Icelandic bank. The referendum was invoked when President Olafur Ragnur Grimmson vetoed legislation the Althingi, Iceland’s parliament, had passed to pay back the British and Dutch.


Permalink FBI serves Grand Jury subpoena likely relating to WikiLeaks

In the wake of a massive disclosure of Guantanamo files by WikiLeaks, the FBI yesterday served a Grand Jury subpoena in Boston on a Cambridge resident, compelling his appearance to testify in Alexandria, Virgina. Alexandria is where a Grand Jury has been convened to criminally investigate WikiLeaks and Julian Assange and determine whether an indictment against them is warranted. The individual served has been publicly linked to the WikiLeaks case, and it is highly likely that the Subpoena was issued in connection with that investigation.

Notably, the Subopena explicitly indicates that the Grand Jury is investigating possible violations of the Espionage Act (18 U.S.C. 793), a draconian 1917 law under which no non-government-employee has ever been convicted for disclosing classified information. The most strident anti-WikiLeaks politicians -- such as Dianne Feinstein and Newt Gingrich -- have called for the prosecution of the whistle-blowing group under this law, and it appears that the Obama DOJ is at least strongly considering that possibility.


Permalink Weekly Report On Israeli Human Rights Violations in Occupied Palestine

Israeli violations of international law and humanitarian law in the OPT continued during the reporting period (21 – 27 April 2011)

Shootings: During the reporting period, IOF wounded eight civilians, including a child, in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Five of the wounded, including a child and a Spanish human rights defender, were wounded in peaceful protests in the West Bank and a Palestinian worker was wounded in the far southwest of Hebron while trying to have access to Israel for work. In the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian farmer was wounded when IOF fired at Palestinian farmers in the northern Gaza Strip.

In the West Bank, during the reporting period, IOF used excessive force to disperse peaceful demonstrations organized in protest to Israeli settlement activities and the construction of the annexation wall in the West Bank. As a result, six civilians, including a child and a Spanish human rights defender, were wounded. Five of them were wounded in Bil'ein ‘sweekly protest in the west of Ramallah, while the child was wounded in Nabi Saleh’s protest in the northwest of Ramallah. In addition, dozens of Palestinian civilians and international human rights defenders participating in peaceful protests in the West Bank suffered from tear gas inhalation and bruises as they were beaten by IOF.


Permalink Settlers Torch Palestinian Stores In Hebron

A group of armed extremist Israeli settlers hurled, on Wednesday at dawn, Molotov cocktails at several Palestinian stores in the southern West Bank city of Hebron, causing fire in four stores, leading to excessive damage, and massive losses.

The Palestine Information Center reported that the attack was carried out in the Kazazeen Market in the old city of Hebron. The stores belong to residents Mohammad Al Shalloudi, Atta Al Shweiki, Sha’ban Hashlamon and Abdulhamid Al Natsha. Palestinian firefighters rushed to the scene but were blocked by Israeli soldiers who claimed that the area is a closed military zone, the Center said. An owner of one of the torched stores said that the settlers are escalating their attacks against the Palestinian people, their property and land in an attempt to scare them out of their country. The settlers tried to offer large sums to store owners to sell their stores and leave the city, and threatened to use force against them should they elect to stay. “This is our land, our soul and heart”, the resident said, “Even if they kill us, we will not leave, we will remain steadfast in our homeland”.


Permalink Gilad Atzmon: Drama in London

A panel discussion titled ‘Zionism, Jewishness and Israel’ will take place at The University of Westminster - Cavendish Campus on Tuesday May the 3rd, from 6:30pm - 8:00pm.

As one may imagine, the Zionist operators in Britain are not happy about the meeting at all: 'Green Engage', a Zionist anti-BDS campaign group launched an immediate campaign, soon after the announcement of the panel. Far from being surprising, within hours, they were joined by Tony Greenstein and the so called Jewish ‘anti Zionist’ network. The original panel was supposed to include John Rose, Ghada Karmi, Alan Hart and myself.

The venue as well as the panelists (except myself funnily enough) came under severe pressure that verged on abuse: one of the panelists admitted to the organisers that he had received twelve phone calls from different Jewish ‘anti-Zionist’ activists, who insisted that -- ‘for the sake of Palestine’-- no one should share a stage with Gilad Atzmon. Panel Event: Zionism, Jewishness and Israel (Facebook)


Permalink The Guantanamo Files

“Obama, like Bush has claimed that the laws don’t apply to him.”

President Obama has turned out to be George W. Bush’s imperial twin, largely identical on “war on terror” policies – as the recently released Wikileaks files on Guantanamo attest. Both presidents rate as hypocrites and liars. “The Obama administration remains committed to continuing the Bush era military tribunals, using hearsay and evidence acquired under torture as evidence.”

Once again, the truly civilized world owes a great debt of thanks to the Wikileaks team. In revealing the extent of mistreatment and torture they have reminded us that once again that the United States may pay lip service to the rule of law, but in fact wants nothing to do with that concept.

President Obama told the world as much in his comments about Bradley Manning, the soldier charged with making documents available to Wikileaks and who has been detained in conditions that can also be described as torture. The president, who is given great kudos for having taught constitutional law, publicly stated that Manning has no presumption of innocence. “We’re a nation of laws. We don’t let individuals make their own decision about how the laws operate. He broke the law.”

“The United States may pay lip service to the rule of law, but in fact wants nothing to do with that concept.”


Permalink US cop punches woman in the face

[LINK] A shocking video has emerged showing an off-duty Atlanta officer punching a woman in the face, an incident that has triggered outrage amid rampant police brutality across the US.

The video, which was shot on Sunday at a restaurant in Atlanta's Buckhead neighborhood in the US state of Georgia, shows a confrontation between police officers and a group of women, followed by a violent scuffle between two cops and one of the women identified as Cynthia Freeman, the New York Daily News reported.

The woman can be seen placing her hand on the officer and trying to convince him that she did not do anything wrong. Shortly after she began to assault him, the officer punched the woman in the face and then attempted to arrest her.

The cause of the incident is still unknown, but a woman who was in the scuffle with the officer, has told Atlanta's WSBTV television that she and her friends were having coffee when an officer told them to quiet down. Four women were arrested in the violence and Freeman herself has sustained injuries. Atlanta Attorney Bobby Aniekwu says he is representing three of the women in what he considers a case of "excessive force."


Permalink Factbox: A look at costs of Afghan war to U.S. taxpayers

Tucked into the recent spending bill that kept the government from shutting down was some $110 billion for the war in Afghanistan. That's more than in any other year since the conflict began, although the Obama administration hopes to start winding it down this year. President Barack Obama plans to begin drawing down his force of 97,000 U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan in July, although the size and nature of that drawdown remains unclear. Here are a few facts about the costs of the Afghan war to U.S. taxpayers:


Permalink Leaked Docs: Osama Didn’t Flee to Pakistan After All

Despite a solid decade of US officials insisting that Osama bin Laden fled from Tora Bora to Pakistan and remains there to this day, new leaked document show that this is not the case. Rather, US officials collected considerable evidence that bin Laden did not flee to Pakistan, but deeper into Afghanistan.

The documents cites information from detainees familiar with the escape, and said bin Laden was escorted out of Tora Bora to the northeast, and wound up in the Kunar Province. He remained there for at least 10 months. There was no indication where he went from there.

Gordon Duff: Years of Deceit: US Openly Accepts bin Laden Long Dead


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