The much-maligned Transport Security Authority (TSA) is once again in hot water after it accused an innocent four-year-old girl of attempted gun smuggling as she hugged her grandmother in the security zone.

In a Facebook post that has since gone viral, Michelle Brademeyer describes the story of her family being detained as potential terrorists by the TSA on a flight out of Wichita, Kansas. The TSA is responsible for screening passengers as they board and disembark from planes. Brademeyer was passing through security checks with her mother and her small daughter, Isabella. When the older lady triggered the metal detector, and was told to go for a pat-down, Isabella ran over to and briefly hugged her grandmother. The TSA immediately said Isabella would now also have to undergo a pat-down, in case the grandmother passed contraband to her during the hug. When the child shouted “I don’t want to,” the TSA declared Isabella a “high security threat,” and said that they would close down the airport if she moved.

In a scene of inconceivable horror, these slaughtered elephant carcasses show the barbaric lengths poachers will go to in their hunt for nature's grim booty. - The bodies were among a herd of 22 animals massacred in a helicopter-borne attack by professionals who swooped over their quarry. The scene beneath the rotor blades would have been chilling - panicked mothers shielding their young, hair-raising screeches and a mad scramble through the blood-stained bush as bullets rained down from the sky. When the shooting was over, all of the herd lay dead, one of the worst such killings in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo in living memory.

Israeli officials have sought to downplay the political repercussions of Egypt's abrupt decision to cancel a 20-year gas-supply contract over a payment dispute amid deteriorating ties between the two countries. The gas deal, signed in 2005, has emerged as a focus for public ire in Egypt. Once seen as a vehicle for corruption under Hosni Mubarak, the ousted Egyptian leader, it is now viewed as a hated symbol of the previous regime's close ties with the Jewish state. Israeli officials initially reacted angrily to the Egyptian decision, calling it a "dangerous precedent" that could endanger the 1979 peace treaty between the two countries. But yesterday, Israel back-pedalled on its criticism of Cairo, painting the dispute as purely commercial in nature.

Today the Enterprise has nothing to do but act like the greasiest sitting duck in history. No one should believe that Iran is dumb enough to take the bait. - The aircraft carrier Enterprise has moved into the Persian Gulf, although it’s an antique, slow-moving target and a potential lightning rod for war on Iran. As a retired Navy man told me last month, “A couple of torpedoes would stagger the thing, and then you’ve got the Alamo, the Maine, the Lusitania, Pearl Harbor, the Gulf of Tonkin and 9/11 all over again,” he said, “with Iran in the crosshairs.”

Jailed Ukrainian former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has gone on a hunger strike, protesting her treatment in prison and demanding an end to political repression. - Ukraine's jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has been on a hunger strike for the past five days, protesting her treatment by prison guards and doctors, as well as calling for an end to political repressions in the country, her lawyer said Tuesday, reports AP. She began her hunger strike after being reportedly beaten up by guards who were trying to forcibly move her to a hospital on Friday.

"Three strong men came up to my bed, threw a sheet on me and then started pulling me off the bed by force…They tied up my arms and legs and ... dragged me out in the sheet. I thought it was the last minutes of my life,” says Tymoshenko.

In October, a Ukrainian court sentenced Tymoshenko, who is Ukraine's leading opposition figure, to seven years in prison and banned her from political activities for three years over charges of abusing her power in signing a gas deal with Russia in 2009.

Sheldon Richman: The medicalization of rebellion: Stigmatizing Resistance to Authority
VIDEO: Jeffrey Schaler on the Myth of Mental Illness

Video footage of Gareth Williams's death scene was shown in a court yesterday, unseen by members of his family who could not bear to view the material, which included shots of a bag with the body of Gareth Williams still inside. Examination of the red North Face sports holdall also showed traces of the DNA of another person on the zip toggle and the padlock, the inquest into the computer specialist's death was told. Detective Chief Inspector Jackie Sebire, who led the inquiry into his death, said, "They were two minor components of another contributor's DNA. My thought or my opinion since I went into the scene is that a third party had been involved in the death or by putting the body in the bag." A graphic impression showed the way 34-year-old Mr Williams was found inside the bag – in a foetal position lying on his back, naked, with his knees raised and arms folded across his chest. The key to the padlock was under his right buttock, making it "incredibly difficult" for him to have reached it in an attempt, somehow, to escape.

I agree with David Thomson's remarks (17 April) on the death of Willie MacRae in April 1985. Of course he was investigated by MI5 and the other intelligence agencies because of his successful campaign against government nuclear plans, but there is another virtually unknown factor in the case – his very active membership of the Scotland-UN committee, where he was one of its two legal advisers. This is where the tie-up with his close confidant John McGill (FSA Scot) of Kilmarnock began to attract the attention of MI5 or whatever.

Oil contamination has devastated the lives of the people in the Niger Delta -- destroyed their livelihoods, undermined their access to clean water and food, and put their health at serious risk. Hundreds of thousands of people are affected, particularly the poorest. The failure by the oil industry to properly address pollution exacerbates human suffering and environmental damage. For example, the two major oil spills which occurred in 2008 in Bodo, Ogoniland continued for weeks before they were stopped, and three years on Shell has still not cleaned up the pollution.

In August 2011, following its landmark assessment of oil contamination in Ogoniland, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) found that Shell has failed to effectively clean up oil pollution for years, and identified $1 billion as the start-up amount needed to establish an independent fund to clean up pollution in Ogoniland. Call on Shell to OWN UP to the reality of pollution in the Niger Delta, and PAY UP for the costs of a CLEAN UP operation -- the full $1 billion recommended by the UNEP report. Read More...

Photo: British environmental guru James Lovelock, seen on March 17, 2009 in Paris, admits he was "alarmist" about climate change in the past. (Jacques Demarthon/ AFP/Getty Images)

James Lovelock, the maverick scientist who became a guru to the environmental movement with his “Gaia” theory of the Earth as a single organism, has admitted to being “alarmist” about climate change and says other environmental commentators, such as Al Gore, were too.

Lovelock, 92, is writing a new book in which he will say climate change is still happening, but not as quickly as he once feared. He previously painted some of the direst visions of the effects of climate change. In 2006, in an article in the U.K.’s Independent newspaper, he wrote that “before this century is over billions of us will die and the few breeding pairs of people that survive will be in the Arctic where the climate remains tolerable.” However, the professor admitted in a telephone interview with msnbc.com that he now thinks he had been “extrapolating too far." The new book, due to be published next year, will be the third in a trilogy, following his earlier works, “Revenge of Gaia: Why the Earth Is Fighting Back – and How We Can Still Save Humanity,” and “The Vanishing Face of Gaia: A Final Warning: Enjoy It While You Can.” The new book will discuss how humanity can change the way it acts in order to help regulate the Earth’s natural systems, performing a role similar to the harmonious one played by plants when they absorb carbon dioxide and produce oxygen.

The first new case of mad cow disease in the US since 2006 has been discovered in a dairy cow in California, but health authorities said the animal never posed a threat to the nation's food supply. The infected cow, the fourth ever discovered in the US, was found as part of an Agriculture Department surveillance program that tests about 40,000 cows a year for the fatal brain disease. No meat from the cow was bound for the food supply, said John Clifford, the department's chief veterinary officer.

As part of a plan to further ramp up its spying operations worldwide, the Pentagon today announced the creation of another spying unit named the Defense Clandestine Service (DCS). - With the military’s other spying units focusing on spying in places where the military is actually involved, the DCS focus will be on spying in nations that the US isn’t currently attacking or occupying. This seemingly puts it in direct competition with the CIA, but officials say that the goal will be for the DCS to work closely with the CIA, particularly in places like Iran where the US military doesn’t have an official presence. Officials say that the DCS creation is part of a major overhaul of all military spying, but declined to offer any specifics on what exactly is being overhauled, insisting that was a secret.

Russia Today: New US spy service targets China and Iran
SF Gate: Military may spend $1 billion on satellite program

About two dozen people have been killed in attacks by the Yemeni army and US assassination drones in southern and eastern Yemen. - The Yemeni Defense Ministry said on Monday that the army shelled "suspected militants" in the southern province of Abyan. The attack occurred near the city of Loder late on Sunday, killing 13 people. At least three others were killed in an airstrike on several vehicles in a remote desert region in the eastern province of Marib, the Yemeni Defense Ministry said. Also on Sunday, a strike by a US assassination drone killed three people in the southern province of Shabwa. Local sources said that four more people lost their lives when a Yemeni jet attacked their vehicles in Loder. About 275 people have been killed in fighting and airstrikes in southern Yemen over the past two weeks.

As our petition states:

It is hard to conceive of a more profound constitutional violation than the torture of a U.S. citizen on U.S. soil. With the court of appeals' holding that Mr. Padilla's claims of torture — and those of any future victim of similar abuses — are nonjusticiable, our legal system has arrived at the bottom of the slippery slope.

The petition filed by Mr. Padilla and his mother, Estela Lebron, offers the Court — and the country — a critical opportunity to vindicate our laws and our values. If the Court once again averts its eyes from the terrible things that were done to prisoners in our name, it may be a long time before we have another such opportunity.

Raw Story: Mother of tortured U.S. citizen appeals case to Supreme Court

Turkey has refused to allow Israel to take part in a NATO summit next month because the Jewish state has not apologized for the 2010 killing of Turkish activists in a raid on a ship taking aid to Palestinians, a Turkish official said on Monday. - Relations between the regional powers deteriorated sharply after Israeli commandos raided the Mavi Marmara aid vessel in May 2010 to enforce a naval blockade of the Gaza Strip and killed nine Turks in clashes with activists. Last September, Turkey expelled Israel's envoy and froze military cooperation after a U.N. report on the raid failed to prompt an apology from Israel.

Though the overall terms of the agreement remain a closely guarded secret, the Pentagon today confirmed that the deal that will keep US troops in Afghanistan through 2024 does not include any guarantees of specific funding for Afghan forces. - Afghan President Hamid Karzai had initially demanded a minimum of $2 billion per year in guaranteed funding for the pact to go through. US officials have said they plan to spend considerably more than that but didn’t want it in writing. The reason for that is clear and administration officials have been upfront about it. Any financial pledges would make the deal to commit to another decade of occupation subject to Congressional oversight, and the administration had no interest in bringing the deal before Congress for a vote, particularly with the war so overwhelmingly unpopular.

Patrick Martin: US makes a pact with its Afghan puppet

Army major's despair at our 'pointless war': Senior officer's damning emails reveal plummeting morale at heart of Afghan campaign that has cost 409 British lives - They are stark words that reveal the despair of our forces fighting in Afghanistan. Emails sent to a former military chaplain paint a damning picture of sinking morale among Servicemen who feel the human cost of the conflict can no longer be justified. Dr Peter Lee, a university lecturer who spent seven years as an RAF padre, has released the emails to highlight the extent of disillusionment within the ranks. The correspondence includes two emails sent by a major on the brink of a fresh deployment to the region. He likens the prospect to 'being put on for the last two minutes of a lost game' of rugby.

The Navy on Thursday initiated dismissal proceedings against two Marines from a squad that killed 24 unarmed Iraqi civilians in 2005, saying they lied to military investigators after the massacre. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus made the decision, and Sgt. Sanick Dela Cruz and Sgt. Humberto Mendoza were notified of the move Thursday, said Lt. Cmdr. Tamara Lawrence, a Navy spokeswoman. The Marine Corps dropped criminal charges against both men in exchange for their testimony at the trial of former Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, the squad leader and lone Marine convicted in the Haditha killings.

Brian Becker: Haditha massacre: Covering up war crimes in a criminal war
Naomi Spencer: No prison time for Marine charged in Haditha massacre
AWIP: Marine gets three months in jail for massacring two dozen civilians

The Supreme Court is asked to decide if governnment officials can be held accountable for torturing a US citizen - Two of the most under-discussed afflictions in American political life are inter-related: (1) the heinous, inhumane treatment of prisoners on American soil (often, though certainly not exclusively, Muslim political prisoners), and (2) the virtually complete abdication by subservient federal courts in the post-9/11 era of their duty to hold Executive Branch officials accountable for unconstitutional and otherwise illegal acts in the War on Terror context. Those two disgraceful American trends are vividly illustrated by juxtaposing two events, which I happened to be reminded of yesterday while looking for something else; first, from from a January, 27, 2007, article in The Washington Post:

The prime minister of Canada apologized Friday to Maher Arar and agreed to give $9 million in compensation to the Canadian Arab, who was spirited by U.S. agents to Syria and tortured there after being falsely named as a terrorism suspect. Arar, 36, a former computer engineer who was detained while changing planes at a New York airport in 2002 and imprisoned in a Syrian dungeon for 10 months, said after the announcement that he “feels proud as a Canadian”. . . .

Ben Wizner/ACLU: A Question for America About Torture

The UN is to conduct an investigation into the plight of US Native Americans, the first such mission in its history. A UN statement said:

"This will be the first mission to the US by an independent expert designated by the UN human rights council to report on the rights of the indigenous peoples."

The human rights inquiry led by James Anaya, the UN special rapporteur on indigenous peoples, is scheduled to begin on Monday.

Many of the country's estimated 2.7 million Native Americans live in federally recognised tribal areas which are plagued with unemployment, alcoholism, high suicide rates, incest and other social problems.

The UN mission is potentially contentious, with some US conservatives likely to object to international interference in domestic matters. Since being appointed as rapporteur in 2008, Anaya has focused on natives of Central and South America.

The US signed up in 2010 to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which establishes minimum basic rights for indigenous people globally.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte will tender his resignation to Queen Beatrix on Monday, setting the stage for elections, after the weekend collapse of budget talks, news reports said. The move was expected after the right-wing Freedom Party withdrew its support for the minority coalition government, rejecting calls for additional budget cuts. Strategists said the turmoil threatens the Netherlands' AAA credit rating. Dutch government bond yields jumped, widening the yield premium investors demand to hold Dutch debt over German bunds. The yield on 10-year Dutch government bonds was up 0.06 percentage point at 2.39%, according to electronic trading platform Tradeweb.

Documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) show a disturbingly large interest in drone surveillance within the United States, with a number of city police departments preparing to turn the Obama Administration’s favorite weapon of war inward as a tool of mass surveillance. - Included were a list of all public and private entities that have sought authorization for drone flights, and a number of certificates issued to drone manufacturers showing that the domain of military and CIA spies could soon blanket the entire nation. An indication of how hush-hush this whole thing is, the documents came only after lawsuit by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) to force the FAA to comply with the FOIA requests. EFF warned that the drones pose a serious threat to personal privacy, which of course is the whole point since they are surveillance drones. The documents suggest this is a threat the American public will have to deal with sooner rather than later.

The Sunday Times Columnist watches Big Brother watching him. See more Rod Liddle videos at http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk

Greece continues along a path toward self-sufficiency that could very well see them break free from their debt servitude. - In the wake of their pillaging by international financiers, Greeks who have realized that protesting is likely to bring little relief have begun to implement barter systems to meet their local community needs. Through a combination of decentralization from the Euro, free markets, local cooperation, and the creation of a new currency based on productivity, markets like the one below in Volos are leading the charge to a restoration of the principles that build truly sustainable economies. This is an encouraging sign, and one that is replicating throughout austerity-ridden economies the world over. International currencies are increasingly being rejected in the face of reduced living standards through inflation and outright theft by global banksters. Americans would do well to learn from the truly revolutionary actions taken by individuals in deliberately collapsed countries, because if global (mis)managers have their way, a similar scenario is guaranteed to unfold in the United States.

A former national security adviser to the US President Barack Obama says Washington has no reason to apologize to Israel for its handling of the Iranian nuclear energy program. - “The Israelis have been given very very strong assurances about their security by the United States, and I don’t think the United States has to apologize for anything on that score,” retired General James Jones said in an interview with the Washington Times. Jones comments underscore an increasingly public conflict between Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over Iran’s nuclear energy program. Netanyahu has been mulling a military strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities, while Washington -- Tel Aviv’s strongest ally --insists for more time to allow diplomacy to work.