http://www.liveleak.com/browse?q=states(country) Sat, 25 May 2013 13:05:40 -0400 Liveleak http://edge.liveleak.com/80281E/u/u/ll2/logo.gif http://www.liveleak.com/browse?q=states(country) Sat, 25 May 2013 07:34:08 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=3b2_1369481557 Bricksnsticks You know you live in a Country run by idiots if: You can get arrested for expired tags on your car but not for being in the country illegally. ---------- You know you live in a Country run by idiots if: Your government believes that the best way to eradicate trillions of dollars of debt is to spend trillions more of our money. ---------- You know you live in a Country run by idiots if: A seven year old boy can be thrown out of school for calling his teacher cute but hosting a sexual exploration or diversity class in grade school is perfectly acceptable. ---------- You know you live in a Country run by idiots if: The Supreme Court of the United States can rule that lower courts cannot display the 10 Commandments in their courtroom, while sitting in front of a display of the 10 Commandments. ---------- You know you live in a Country run by idiots if: Children are forcibly removed from parents who appropriately discipline them while children of underprivileged drug addicts are left to rot in filth infested cesspools. ---------- You know you live in a Country run by idiots if: Working class Americans pay for their own health care (and the health care of everyone else) while unmarried women are free to have child after child on the taxpayers' dime while never being held responsible for their own choices. ---------- You know you live in a Country run by idiots if: Hard work and success are rewarded with higher taxes and government intrusion, while slothful, lazy behavior is rewarded with EBT cards, WIC checks, Medicaid and subsidized housing, and free cell phones. ---------- You know you live in a Country run by idiots if: The government's plan for getting people back to work is to provide 99 weeks of unemployment checks (to not work). ---------- You know you live in a Country run by idiots if: Being self-sufficient is considered a threat to the government. ---------- You know you live in a Country run by idiots if: Politicians think that stripping away the amendments to the constitution is really protecting the rights of the people. ---------- You know you live in a Country run by idiots if: The rights of the Government come before the rights of the individual. ---------- You know you live in a Country run by idiots if: Parents believe the State is responsible for providing for their children. ---------- You know you live in a Country run by idiots if: You can write a post like this just by reading the news headlines. ---------- You know you live in a Country run by idiots if: You pay your mortgage faithfully, denying yourself the newest big screen TV while your neighbor defaults on his mortgage (while buying i-phones, TV's and new cars) and the government forgives his debt and reduces his mortgage (with your tax dollars). ---------- You know you live in a Country run by idiots if: Your government can add anything they want to your kid's water (fluoride, chlorine, etc.) but you are not allowed to give them raw milk. ---------- You know you live in a Country run by idiots if: Being stripped of the ability to defend yourself makes you safe. ---------- You know you live in a Country run by idiots if: You have to have your parents signature to go on a school field trip but not to get an abortion. ---------- You know you live in a Country run by idiots if: An 80 year old woman can be strip-searched by the TSA but a Muslim woman in a burka is only subject to having her neck and head searched. ---------- You know you live in a Country run by idiots if: Using the 'N' word is considered hate speech but writing and singing songs about raping women and killing cops is considered art. ---------- Unfortunately, this list could go on and on. Our country is run by idiots. We are in distress. Where do we go from here? OK, this is getting simply bizarre. On Monday, June 25th 2012, the following occurred: The Supreme Court unanimously yes, UNANIMOUSLY, upheld the portion of Arizona's Immigration Law that directs law enforcement officers to check the immigration status of EVERYONE who is ARRESTED for a crime. It not just "ALLOWS" them to check, but "DIRECTS" them to check. That means it's mandatory. Less than three hours later, the President of the United States issued an executive order BLOCKING THE ENTIRE STATE OF ARIZONA'S ACCESS to the Federal Database that would allow such checks. The only State or Local entity EVER to be blocked. One hour after that (which means they had it all ready in advance), the Department of Justice went live with a toll-free number, a web site, and ads, ASKING FOR PEOPLE TO REPORT BEING RACIALLY PROFILED because of this ruling, so they, THE U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT, can file Civil Rights lawsuits against the Police Departments, Sheriffs, Cities, Counties and State of Arizona. In other words, the American Citizens of the State of Arizona are going to be sued for vast sums of money, BY THEIR OWN FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, for enforcing a law that The Supreme Court UNANIMOUSLY held as constitutional. Is it just me, or is it starting to smell just a wee bit like treason in high places? http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=3b2_1369481557 Bricksnsticks YOU KNOW YOU LIVE IN A COUNTRY RUN BY IDIOTS IF.......... usa, idiots Sat, 25 May 2013 11:20:57 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=2fe_1369494826 Thefool443 An incredible case of corruption bring the city to the dark eighties, highlighting a network of briberies, tax evasions, criminal economy that expose how the luggage wrapping company SafeWrap has ties with money laundering in Panama and Ghana, with the support of an italian family known for being discovered recently of hiding money from tax evasion and money hiding after years of business with Castro family. Miami seems to be back to the 80s, when it was represented by television series like "Miami Vice" or sensational books as "Sins of Miami beach", written by a ex-mayor who has seen all the highlighting shades. Globalization has apparently multiplied the numbers of the scandals, and even the most honest of Mayors, Carlos Jimenez,unable to stop the infiltration of black money into the economy of Florida. The most striking case concerns a contract for the service of wrapping luggage at the airport in Miami. For more than 10 years, the lucrative business has been run by Enrique Ramos and Radames Villalon, owners of SecureWrap, 2 dark entrepreneurs linked to the Miami political underworld political. Without ever making a public tender. Coincidence. In 12 years Miami Airport, a public entity then the American taxpayer, grossed only $ 6 million in royalties from SecureWrap. In 2009, after the intervention of the General Inspector Against Fraud, Miami airport finally decide to make a bid of tender. What is won by a company called TrueStar Group, a multinational company present in 20 countries around the world and with the audited financial statements. This wins at the airport by paying $ 11 million ..... a year. That is twice what the previous company paid in 12 years. Since the beginning, the turnover declared by the new concessionaire is more than double of the previous company. Coincidence? Are the geniuses in the industry .... or were previously hidden and recycling the incomes? And it is here that the mayor Jimenez and the media begin to turn the spotlight on in the sector of the wrapping luggage and Miami Airport. It turns out that Ramos and Villalon "accidentally" have a boat that has, always accidentally, autonomy of the Bahamas island. Clear waters and dark banks: the ideal to hide and launder the incomes of the occult business. SECUREWRAP: THE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT MONEY LAUNDRY...IN SALSA CUBANA. The media are beginning to discover that Ramos and Villalon are always associated, for their business in airports, with politics that always are at the center of scandals. It turns out that the airport of Panama SecureWrap has a partner who is none other than the infamous brother of the President of Panama, Martinelli. A recommended guy: implicated in several cases of arms trafficking, appears wherever is money to be recycled in the Central American country. The President is investigated for a long time to have received contributions from the "Drug cartel". But Martinelli appear almost as a virgin in comparison to the partner with whom Ramos and Villalon operate at the airport in Accra, the capital of Ghana, Africa. This time the capital of Ghana Securewrap ltd., located in the airport, is splitted 50% with Felix Twumasi-Appiah a Member of Parliament who has been indicted and then arrested for smuggling gold and money laundering abroad. The Accra Circuit Court has recently Discovered that the honorable Twumasi in Miami owns a beautiful mansion with 10 bedrooms and a swimming pool painted with gold color. Will certainly not have needed to turn to a real estate agency .... friends and associates Ramos Villalon will certainly be friendly to do that, at least from the bank office in Bahamas to Miami with their fast boat. CUBAN UNDERWORLD COMPANY SECUREWRAP ALLIES WITH AN ITALIAN FAMILY THAT COMES UP IN THE OFFSHORE LEAKS: the role of tax evasion heaven and the Castro ties scandal. Not satisfied with the infamous level of partners in other airports where they operate, Ramos and Villalon are associated in Miami with an Italian family known to have trafficked with the regime in Cuba and the Castro brothers. Giuseppe and Rudolph Gentile, father and son, they run two airlines named Meridiana and Air Italy, the only company in Europe to be awarded by Fidel Castro license to operate in Cuban airports, violating the embargo of the United States of America. Air Italy, in particular, has been at the center of scandals for having organized and facilitated a sleazy sex tourism from Europe to the Cuban beaches, which emerged also the participation of Italian judges and politicians "guests" of the Gentile family. THE ROLE OF POLITIC IN MIAMI: SECUREWRAP "WRAP" THE MIAMI DADE COMMISSIONERS WITH DIRTY MONEY. And in 2013 the big one: the tender for the luggage wrapping is rebuilt on the decision of the Commission of Miami Dade, a political body composed of 11 members elected by the citizens of Miami. The tender was won once again by Truestar Group, which obviously offered more than SecureWrap, which is associated with the Italian company of the Gentile family, creating the joint venture "Safe Wrap USA." Just them, the champions of the fight against the Castro regime, which they associate with those who do lucrative business with the regime itself. Here it is a fact that even the jaded eyes of the citizens of Miami had never seen. Despite this further victory by Truestar, despite the assignment of the tender by the technical Commitee airport, despite the mayor Jimenez has countersigned the assignment ..... the Miami Dade Commission meets in a hurry and deliberately decides to reject the victory of Truestar and assign the tender to those who have offered less, ie SafeWrap, then subtracting public money to the community. The public session in which everything happens is a masterpiece of corruption and falsehood, between the public were also present all the numerous family of Ramos and Villalon, as if to intimidate the Commissioners, in the style of Al Capone with his supporters. The team of lobbyists from SafeWrap fielded also the boyfriend of one of the present commissioner, in defiance of decency and transparency of each. Or perhaps to remind the commissioners about the infamous and corruptive pact that a little later will take shape. The committee chairman, Rebeca Sosa, despite the veto of Mayor Jimenez, who attended the meeting, suddenly and without discussion, decided to vote to award the tender in favour of SafeWrap, despite the result of the same, and against the advice of the technical and financial committee of ' Miami Airport. Some commissioners do not occur and therefore reduce the number of necessary votes in the coup. The girlfriend of the lobbyist SafeWrap, Ms. Emerson, members Bell and especially Pepe Diaz seem to look forward to award the tender to the joint venture between money launderers, SafeWrap USA. Rebeca Sosa, more attentive to his hairstyle than to comply with the law, will also be decided to quickly vote in favor of the obscure entrepreneurs. And so it happens, to the amazement of all impartial observers present and the disbelief of the mayor Jimenez. Everything goes according to plan. SafeWrap can return to declare half of the incomes, with lots of greetings to the IRS, they can come back using the boat in Miami-Bahamas route; Rebeca Sosa will finally have a lot of money for his next campaign for mayor of Miami, right up against Jimenez; the commissioner Pepe Diaz will ride serenely his beautiful Mercedes GL 500 full option purchased only two months ago in cash, the commissioner Audrey Edmonson will continue to be in love with the SafeWrap lobbyst Roosevelt Bradley. And the Gentile family? WHY THE GENTILE FAMILY DECIDED TO Participate IN THE BIG CORRUPTION IN MIAMI AIRPORT? THE OFFSHORE LEAKS Reveals THE TRUTH. What's with the Gentile with SafeWrap? Why a family from Rome decides to invest money in the airport of Miami in company with the likes of Ramos and Villalon? Why agree to participate in a tender to 13,000 kilometers away from their home? Many have wondered why. The answer came recently when ICIJ-The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists has begun to spread throughout the world the now famous "Offshore leaks", a database of thousands of data that contain the full names of the tax evaders and money launderers around the planet earth. A global scandal as global corruption and money laundering in the shadow economy is. Offshore leaks scandal has opened investigations in governments across the world, from France to Indonesia, from Pakistan to the United States to Paraguay. Even in Italy. It turned out that the Gentile have tens of millions of dollars hidden in the tax haven of Samoa. An island that is located in the Pacific Ocean but has a peculiarity: one part of the island is autonomous, the other is in the territory of the United States. What better way to clean up and then get the money in our area of the black economy in the form of a bank guarantee? That bank guarantee, look what a coincidence, just the Gentile are committed to provide to Miami airport. THE ORIGIN OF THE GENTILE FAMILY FORTUNE: THE BREAKDOWN OF 2 RECENT AIRLINES IN ITALY. Since 2 months ago, the elder Gentile was CEO and co-owner of 2 airlines in Italy, in strict connection with the Castro regime in Cuba (Gentile is one of the few entrepreneur with an official authorization to land and take off in all the cuban airports). The other shareholder, the famous and glamorous Karim Aga Khan, discovered frauds and briberies put in place by the CEO Gentile. And kicking him off the company. Where has been hiden the money stolen by the CEO? Well .... the Offshore leaks give us the answer: in a hot and hospitable paradise. But this is just a part of the story. We are sure that the reality of this dirty tricks involve the Miami Dade Commissioners. That is only the top of the iceberg, and the reality is not very well hiden below. And we know that ... the climate is going warmer everywhere ... the icebergs are melting. Back soon. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=2fe_1369494826 Thefool443 MIAMI AIRPORT: A HUGE MONEY LAUNDERING CASE DISCOVERED BY OFFSHORE LEAKS THAT INVOLVES MIAMI POLITIC, MIAMI ENTREPRENEURS AND AN ITALIAN FAMILY LINKED MIAMI AIRPORT, SafeWrap, Castro, Rudolph Gentile, Giuseppe Gentile, Air Italy, Meridiana, Fri, 24 May 2013 21:37:45 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=fe2_1369445700 USMC_SRT For his 107th Memorial Day, Richard Arvine Overton, who saw many of his fellow soldiers fall in the line of duty in World War II and even more die over the following decades, is planning a quiet day at the Texas home he built after returning home from World War II. He wouldn't want it any other way. Overton, who is believed to be the nation's oldest veteran, told FoxNews.com he'll likely spend the day on the porch of his East Austin home with a cigar nestled in his right hand, perhaps with a cup of whiskey-stiffened coffee nearby. "I don't know, some people might do something for me, but I'll be glad just to sit down and rest," the Army veteran said during a phone interview. "I'm no young man no more." "I'm no young man no more."- Richard Overton, 107 Overton, who was born on May, 11, 1906, in Texas' Bastrop County, has gotten used to being the center of attention of late. In addition to being formally recognized by Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell on May 9, Overton traveled to Washington, D.C., on May 17 as part of Honor Flight, a nonprofit group that transports veterans free of charge to memorials dedicated to their service. Despite serving in the South Pacific from 1942 through 1945, including stops in Hawaii, Guam, Palau and Iwo Jima to name a few, it was Overton's first time in the nation's capital. "I was really honored when I got there," Overton said of his visit to the World War II Memorial. "There were so many people, it was up in the thousands. And we danced and we jumped ... them people tickled me to death. It made me happy as can be." The entire experience gave Overton a "good thrill," he said, and the significance of visiting the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial at a time when an African-American holds the country's highest elected office was not lost him. "I was very, very happy," Overton continued, adding that he wasn't deterred by Washington's expansive National Mall. "At my age and my strength, I'm able to stand up and do anything. My mind is good, so I'm able to do what I want." Overton credits his longevity to aspirin, which he takes daily, and the relatively stress-free life he's enjoyed since getting out of the service in October 1945. He then worked at local furniture stores before taking a position with the Texas Treasury Department in Austin. He married twice but never fathered any children and still attends church every Sunday. "I got good health and I don't take any medicine," he said. "I also stay busy around the yards, I trim trees, help with the horses. The driveways get dirty, so I clean them. I do something to keep myself moving. I don't watch television." Overton also passes his time with up to 12 cigars a day and a little whiskey in his morning coffee. The hooch helps keep Overton spry, he said. "I may drink a little in the evening too with some soda water, but that's it," he said. "Whiskey's a good medicine. It keeps your muscles tender." Overton's secrets may be unorthodox to some, but it's hard to argue with someone approaching supercentenarian status - an individual aged 110 or older. There are believed to be just 57 people worldwide that meet that classification, including 114-year-old Jeralean Talley, of Inkster, Mich., who is the oldest person in the United States according to the Gerontology Research Group. (Talley, who was born in 1899, reportedly celebrated her birthday on Thursday and passes her time listening to baseball on the radio and watching television.) Among U.S. veterans, it's extremely difficult - if not impossible - to confirm Overton's place as the oldest living former soldier since just roughly 9 million of the nation's 22 million vets are registered with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. But that didn't stop the city of Austin from recognizing him as the oldest veteran in Texas during his birthday proclamation at City Hall. Mayor Leffingwell, in a statement to FoxNews.com, said Austin is "honored" to call Overton one of its own. "I've spoken with Mr. Overton on a few different occasions, and admire his spirit for life and his country," the statement read. "He is truly one of our unsung heroes and we are privileged that he calls Austin his home." Overton, for his part, believes he's the oldest veteran in the country, although he said he feels decades younger and doesn't really embrace the part. He wishes he could spend a few hours this Memorial Day reliving war stories with fellow veterans, but he's outlived most - if not all - of them. "I know I had someone from my platoon until recently, but he passed so now I don't have anyone that I know," he said. "So I feel lonesome by myself sometimes. I would love to ask some of them some questions, but nobody is here. Everybody's passed." Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/05/24/america-oldest-veteran-to-spend-quiet-memorial-day-at-texas-home/?cmpid=prn_aol#ixzz2UGRZfgfU http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=fe2_1369445700 USMC_SRT America's oldest veteran to spend quiet Memorial Day at Texas home Army, WW2, Oldest, Vet Fri, 24 May 2013 18:29:48 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=ae5_1369434445 USMC_SRT He was outnumbered. Most of his Marines were dead. But through courage and commitment, John Basilone and a section of surviving machine gunners killed over 3,000 Japanese enemy fighters in the battle of Guadacanal during WWII. For his actions, Basilone was awarded the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest award for combat valor. Upon his redeployment to the United States, Basilone toured the country selling war bonds. He was offered an officer's comission and the opportunity to remain stateside. He refused. Basilone was determined to fufill a promise he made to his Marines the day he left combat - that he would deploy to the Pacific and fight once again by their sides. He did. This time at Iwo Jima. He fought courageously until he was killed by an enemy mortar. But that wasn't the end of Basilone's legacy. For the first time in history, a Reserve Marine was awarded the Gunnery Sgt. John Basilone Award for Courage and Commitment in a ceremony here May 19, 2013. Staff Sgt. Alec Haralovich, a Silver Star and Purple Heart recipient, received the award from Lt. Col. Dion A. Anglin, the 4th Reconnaissance Battalion commander. "I'm truly honored to have received this award," said Haralovich. "It's even more humbling to end up being in the same roles as reconnaissance legends such as John Mosser Brian Blonder... not to mention John Basilone himself." According to his fellow Marines, Haralovich's name belongs aside those same Marine Corps legends. Haralovich's father could not be prouder. " The John Basilone award is a rare and honorable thing to have," said George Haralovich, who is a U.S. Navy and Vietnam veteran. "I raised and I know the kind of man that he's become.... He personifies the Marine values of personal sacrifice and commitment." George said his son first displayed courage when he deployed with the California-based 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment to Iraq on active duty. "He rescued a Marine in Fallujah; that was done completely anonymously," George Haralovich said. "I could barely pull it out of him. But other Marines I met at the 2/7 barbecue filled me in on it. I'm not surprised that he would behave the way he did and take action the way he did. He chose the Marine career, so I think he's ready to go anywhere, anytime. It's the Marine Corps, you get your orders and you go, and that is where he's at." According to Maj. Benjamin Everett, the inspector-instructor for Company E, 4th Recon. Bn., the award honors the legacy of Basilone and emphazises the contribution of the noncommissioned officer to the current fight. The final stamp of approval for the award comes from the highest-ranking enlisted Marine serving, the Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps. The recipient of the award is someone who embodies the spirit and character of Basilone. His combat exploits contributed greatly to his selection as the recipient, said Everett, and Haralovich's likeness to Basilone could not be more evident. " comes back stateside to sell war bonds and through his own force of will finds his way back... in theater to serve with his Marines," he said. "And you see a Marine Reservist, who has done active duty, come into the Reserves, volunteer for a deployment in Afghanistan and volunteer yet again. So there's definitely some similarities there both in courage and commitment." After the ceremony, Haralovich took time to mingle with his fellow Marines and have a private conversation with his father before he left for a volunteer deployment, again. * The 4th Reconnaissance Battalion commander, Lt. Col. Dion A. Anglin, presents Staff Sgt. Alec Haralovich with the Gunnery Sgt. John Basilone Award for Courage and Commitment during a ceremony here, May 19, 2013. Anglin, who is from Warshaw, Ind., traveled from his San Antonio-based unit headquarters to bestow Haralovich with the honor. Harolovich,who is from Bloomington, Ind., is currently assigned to Company E, a section assign to Anglin. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=ae5_1369434445 USMC_SRT Indiana Marine awarded the 2013 Gunnery Sgt. John Basilone Award for Courage and Commitment USMC, Marines, Award, Courage Fri, 24 May 2013 18:07:19 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=090_1369432920 plokiju President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden met in the Oval Office on Tuesday with three people who are in the country in violation of U.S. immigration laws but who have received "deferred action" allowing them to stay in the country under the terms of a "memorandum" issued unilaterally last year by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. While conceding that she had no legal authority to change the "immigration status" of illegal aliens or provide them with a "pathway to citizenship," Napolitano instructed the top officials at Customs and Border Protection, Citizenship and Immigration Services, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement to use what she called "prosecutorial discretion" in not enforcing the immigration laws against certain classes of immigration lawbreakers. These included illegal aliens who arrived in the United States before their sixteenth birthday, had graduated from high school or served in the military, had not been convicted of "significant" or "multiple" misdemeanors, and had not yet turned thirty. Before Napolitano issued this unilateral order allowing the illegal aliens to remain in the country in violation of the law, President Obama's allies in Congress had failed to secure passage of the Dream Act, which would have allowed such persons to became legal residents in the United States. In all, Obama and Biden met on Tuesday with eight people who are advocating immigration reform, according to White House readout of the meeting. The White House readout listed three of those as having received "deferred action." Most others were legally in the United States with relatives who were illegal aliens. A White House blog entry on the meeting included an official White House photograph of it that carried a caption describing some of the attendees as people "who have received Deferred Action and U.S. citizen family members of undocumented immigrants." "At the meeting, the president reiterated his commitment to passing a bipartisan, commonsense immigration reform bill this year," said the White House readout of the meeting. "He made clear that while the current bill is not perfect, it does represent an important step towards the broad principles that need to be part of any immigration reform package." On Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee sent an immigration bill to the full Senate. It includes what its supporters call a "pathway to citizenship," and what its opponents call "amnesty." "The President and the Vice President thanked participants for their leadership, courage and on-going efforts to move immigration reform legislation forward," said the White House statement about the president's Tuesday meeting. "The Dreamers shared how their lives have been positively affected by the deferred action process and emphasized that they and their families need a permanent solution that will allow them to fully contribute to the country they call home." The White House listed the following people as having participated: - "Angie Kim. Angie is a South Korean immigrant who resides in New York, New York; she received deferred action." - "Kevin Lee. Kevin is a South Korean immigrant who received deferred action. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California. Both of his parents are undocumented." - "Justino Mora. Justino received deferred action; he currently resides in Los Angeles, California." - "Diana Colin. Diana is a legal permanent resident who currently resides in Los Angeles, California. One of her brothers received deferred action." - "Kate Kahan, Legislative Director, Center for Community Change. Kate is the Legislative Director for the Center for Community Change, a national social justice organization that is a member of the Alliance for Citizenship coalition in support of commonsense immigration reform." - "Miguel Leal. Miguel is a U.S. citizen who resides in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. He is an Iraq war veteran. Miguel is an immigrant from Cuba; his wife in undocumented." - "Mehdi Mahraoui. Mehdi came to the United States from Morocco when he was 7 years old. He is a legal permanent resident and lives in New York, New York. His parents and his older sister remain undocumented." - "Melissa McGuire-Maniau. Melissa's husband is an undocumented immigrant from Mexico. Melissa is a U.S. veteran; she and her husband reside in Winter Park, Florida." Bob Dane, spokesman for the Federation of Americans for Immigration Reform, said this shows disrespect for the law from the president who swore to uphold the laws of the United States. "It's staged to reinforce the one message that for this president is unambiguous - violating immigration laws now, in and of themselves, is just entirely inconsequential," Dane told CNSNews.com. "The laws will not be enforced, and the public just needs to get used to it. Illegal aliens are here. They're proud. They're not going anywhere, and they can sit and stand anywhere they want, including the United States Capitol and the White House, and this president will bend the laws to suit their circumstances, and his political needs, with no regard whatsoever for American workers and taxpayers," he added. http://cnsnews.com/news/article/obama-meets-oval-office-illegal-aliens The union of law enforcement officers charged with protecting our nation's borders, the National Immigration and Customs Enforcement Council, has been highly critical of the program because it makes their jobs almost impossible to perform. But Obama has refused to meet with them on that issue, or the immigration bill currently in the Senate. On Thursday, Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., co-signed a letter to Obama asking him to meet with the ICE officers. "To be effective any immigration reform bill must heed the warnings from our federal immigration agents," the letter reads. "Unfortunately, far from being included in the process, ICE officers have been shut out and have even had their day-to-day operations handcuffed by DHS officials to the point of being unable to carry out their sworn duties. These brave whistleblowers have been left with no other option but to file a lawsuit in federal court to fight the abuse of power from DHS leadership." http://washingtonexaminer.com/obama-refuses-to-meet-border-agents-invites-illegal-immigrants-to-oval-office/article/2530464 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=090_1369432920 plokiju Obama Meets In Oval Office With Illegal Aliens, refuses to meet border agents Obama, Meets, In, Oval, Office, With, Illegal, Aliens, refuses, to, meet, border, agents Fri, 24 May 2013 14:22:39 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=c57_1369419664 omniradar From Iraq to Syria: US Political Impotence in the Middle East by Ramzy Baroud , May 24, 2013 Print This Share This In an article published May 15, 2013, American historical social scientist Immanuel Wallerstein wrote, "Nothing illustrates more the limitations of Western power than the internal controversy its elites are having in public about what the United States in particular and western European states should be doing about the civil war in Syria." Those limitations are palpable in both language and action. A political and military vacuum created by past US failures and forced retreats after the Iraq war made it possible for countries like Russia to reemerge on the scene as an effective player. It is most telling that over two years after the Syrian uprising-turned bloody civil war, the US continues to curb its involvement by indirectly assisting anti-Bashar al-Assad regime opposition forces, through its Arab allies and Turkey. Even its political discourse is indecisive and often times inconsistent. Concurrently, Russia's position remains unswerving and constantly advancing while the US is pushed into a corner, demonstrating incapacity to react except for condemnations and mere statements. This is to the displeasure of its Arab allies. Russia's recent delivery of sophisticated anti-ship missiles and its own buildup of warships in the eastern Mediterranean is a case in point. The move was condemned by the Obama administration as one that is "ill-timed and very unfortunate," according to a statement by Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as reported in the LA Times on May 17. But this American attitude in the region is fairly new. Behind it stands a history so bloody and filled with imprudent foreign policy. Regardless of how the US decides to move on Syria, the chances are that a return to its old dominant approach is no longer an option. Indeed, the current American political impotence in the Middle East is unprecedented, at least since the rapid disintegration of the Soviet bloc in the early 1990's. The dissolution of the Soviet Union had ushered in the rise of a unipolar world, wholly managed by the United States. The rise of the uncontested American hegemony represented a shift in historical dialectics, where great powers found their match and the rest of the world, more or less, accommodated the ensuing competition. Then, the US acted quickly to assert its dominance starting with hasty military adventures such as the invasion of Panama in 1989. A much more calculated move followed with a devastating war against Iraq in 1990-91. In Panama the objective was to remind the US's southern neighbors that the region's cop was still on duty and was capable of intervening at a moment's notice to rearrange the entire political paradigm in any way that Washington deemed necessary - As this has been the case since the CIA-orchestrated coup and war in Guatemala in 1954 and even earlier. The US's massive military involvement in Iraq, however, was that of a conqueror who arrived with an entourage of many countries - regional and western allies - to claim the spoils resulting from the end of the protracted Cold War. It was an arrogant show of force since the target was a single Arab country with humble military and economic means vs. major military powers from near and far. The war devastated Iraq, as its initial aerial bombing campaign alone involved the dropping of 88,500 tons of bombs. Many new weapons were used and tested, while the US media and public celebrated the prowess of their military. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis died or were wounded as a result of one of the most asymmetrical wars in history. Trying to capitalize on its military triumph, Washington quickly pushed for a political settlement between its closest ally, Israel, and Arab countries. The logic behind the Madrid Conference in 1991 was achieving pseudo peace that catered to Israel's interests, while opening up the gate of normalization between Israel and its neighbors. Moreover, the US hoped to achieve some sort of 'stability' that would allow it to manage the Middle East region and its ample resources in a less hostile environment. Eventually, Israel managed to negotiate its own political deal with the Palestinians, thus dividing Arab ranks and ensuring that the 'peace talks' outcome was entirely consistent with Israel's colonial ambitions. As years passed, the US and Israeli political visions moved even closer, but with Washington eventually becoming a mere conduit to Israeli colonial objectives. This fact was underscored repeatedly under the George W. Bush administration, which compounded US failure in the region with even more disastrous and dangerous wars. A major fault in US foreign policy is that it is almost entirely reliant on military power - as in the ability to blow things up. The US war on Iraq which, in various forms, extended from 1990 to 2011, included a devastating blockade and ended with a brutal invasion. This long war was as unscrupulous as it was very violent. Aside from its overwhelming human toll, it was placed within a horrid political strategy aimed at exploiting the country's existing sectarian and other fault lines, therefore triggering a civil war and sectarian hatred from which Iraq is unlikely to cover for many years. But limitations of US military power became quite obvious in later years. The empire was no longer able to bridge the divide between translating its dominance on the ground - itself increasingly challenged by local resistance groups - into a level of political progress required to achieve the minimum amount of 'stability'. Moreover, an economic recession, coupled with the Iraqi retreat and an equally costly debacle in Afghanistan - forced the new administration in Washington, under the leadership of President Barack Obama to rethink Bush's earlier quest for global hegemony. Massive military cuts were soon to follow. Concurrently, the imbalance of global power was slowly, quietly but surely being equalized with the rise of China as a new possible contender. In the midst of the US transition and policy rethink, an upheaval struck the Middle East. Its manifestations - revolutions, civil wars, regional mayhem and conflicts of all sorts - reverberated beyond the Middle East. Shrinking and rising empires alike took notice. Fault lines were quickly determined and exploited. Players changed positions or jockeyed for advanced ones, as a new Great Game was about to begin. The so-called 'Arab Spring' was rapidly becoming a game-changer in a region that seemed resistant to transformations of any kind. The transformation of the Middle East - promising at times, very gory and bloody at others - arrived at a time when the US was making forced adjustments in its military priorities. Putting greater focus on the Pacific region and the South China Sea are such examples. Without much notice, it was forced to reengage with the Middle East, as a whole - not a country at a time. Only then, its weaknesses were seriously exposed and its lack of influence became palpable. Bankrupt is maybe an appropriate term to use in describing the current US policy in the Middle East. Imprudent military adventures devastated the region but achieved no long term objectives. Reckless policies that are predicated on trying to exploit, as opposed to understand the Middle East and its complex political and historical formation and the insistence on keeping Israel a main priority in its approach to the vastly shifting political lines, will unlikely to bode well for US interests. However, unlike the early 1990's, when the US moved to reshape the entire region and established permanent military presence, new dynamics are forcing US hands to change tactics. In this new reality, the US is incapable of reshaping reality but merely trying to offset or control its unfavorable outcomes. "What the United States (and western Europe) want to do is 'control' the situation,' Immanuel Wallerstein argued. "They will not be able to do it. Hence the screams of the 'interventionists' and the foot-dragging of the 'prudent.' It is a lose-lose for the west, while not being at the same time a 'win' for people in the Middle East." This 'lose-lose' scenario might not necessarily translate to a complete American foreign policy meltdown in the near future, but will certainly open the possibility for new/old players to main serious gains, Russia being a lead example. This will likely compel the US to change tactics, despite the incessant objections of neoconservative forces and the Israeli lobby.Read more by Ramzy Baroud Hungry For Freedom In Guantanamo - April 26th, 2013 Deir Yassin, Beit Daras and the Buried History of Massacres - April 17th, 2013 Iraq Back at the Brink - February 15th, 2013 The Imagined, 'Sinister' Iranian Threat in Latin America - January 3rd, 2013 Iraq War's Lessons Lost on US - October 28th, 2011 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=c57_1369419664 omniradar US Political Impotence in the Middle East USA, Middle East Fri, 24 May 2013 14:02:44 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=e68_1369418415 omniradar Human Wrongs Watch By Bill Van Auken, WSWS* , 23 May 2013 - While ostensibly touring the Middle East to discuss a joint US-Russian proposal for peace talks between the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad and Western-backed "rebels," Secretary of State John Kerry met with US allies to prepare for region-wide war. Stopping first in Oman, Kerry held talks with the ruling Sultan, one of the string of monarchical dictators that constitute, together with Israel, the foundation of US influence in the Middle East. The secretary of state's visit coincided with the signing of a $2.1 billion deal between the absolute monarchy and Raytheon Corp. for the sale of advanced weapons systems, including Avenger fire units, Stinger missiles, and Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles, part of a ring of steel that Washington has sought to erect around Iran. The So-called "Friends of Syria" From there, he flew to Amman, Jordan for a meeting Wednesday of the "Friends of Syria," a US-led "coalition of the willing" that is fomenting the war for regime change in Syria. It consists of Washington, its European NATO allies, led by Britain, Turkey, Egypt and the various sheikhdoms and sultanates of the Persian Gulf, including the major arms suppliers to the anti-Assad militias: Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. As the conference was convening Wednesday, Syria's ambassador to Jordan held a press conference to denounce it as "a meeting of Syria's enemies" "Those who want to end the tragedy in Syria need to stop arming and training terrorist gangs in Syria. The war on Syria is unprecedented," said the ambassador, Bahjat Suleiman. Representatives of the Syrian National Coalition, the anti-Assad front cobbled together by the US State Department, were invited to the meeting only at the last minute. It appears there was some doubt if an agreement could be reached on whom the "rebels" would accept as their representative. US Candidate The US has promoted Ghassan Hitto, a Texas-based businessman linked to the Muslim Brotherhood who has lived in the US for over 30 years, as the "premier" of a transitional government. There have been increasing reports, however, that his role is strongly opposed by the Sunni sectarian militias that are fighting in Syria. It was reported that the coalition's "acting chief," George Sabra, a former member of the Stalinist Syrian Communist Party, would stand in for the "rebels." While the State Department claims that Kerry's role in this gathering is to prepare for Syrian peace talks-dubbed Geneva 2-which Washington and Moscow have publicly agreed to support, it is evident that the real agenda occupying the US and its allies is how to salvage the war for regime change, under conditions in which the Syrian government is inflicting strategic reverses on the Western-backed forces. This has emerged most clearly in the Syrian army's overrunning of the city of Qusayr in western Syria, just eight miles from the Lebanese border. The town, which had fallen under control of the Western-backed militias, has served as a key pipeline for arms and foreign fighters crossing the Lebanese border. "Rebel" control of the surrounding region also threatened to separate the Syrian capital of Damascus from the city of Aleppo as well as the Syrian coast. Growing Support for the Opposition? Speaking at a news conference in Amman at the opening of the "Friends of Syria" meeting, Kerry warned that if the Assad regime failed to negotiate a political solution, Washington would consider "growing support for the opposition in order to continue to fight for the freedom of their country." With US officials demanding Assad's ouster as a condition for any settlement, it appears that the proposed talks will be turned into a pretext for escalating the US intervention. Kerry's remark came just one day after the Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved by a 15-to-3 vote a proposal for Washington to directly arm the opposition militias. The CIA is already coordinating the arms flows from the Gulf states and has reportedly organized large shipments from Eastern Europe through third parties. Kerry blamed the reversals suffered by Washington's proxy forces in the battle for Qusayr on the role played by fighters of Hezbollah, the Lebanese-based party and militia that is aligned with the Assad government, as well as on alleged Iranian backing for the regime. "Just last week, obviously, Hezbollah intervened very, very significantly," said Kerry. "There are several thousands of Hezbollah militia forces on the ground in Syria who are contributing to this violence and we condemn that." Growing Risk a Full-scale Regional War Hezbollah has acknowledged that its fighters are in Syria, but has denied reports that they are playing any decisive role in the fighting, insisting rather that they are training Lebanese in Syrian border towns to defend themselves. The Western media has also focused on Hezbollah's role, while ignoring the fact that large numbers of Sunni Islamist fighters have also come across the Lebanese border to fight against the Assad regime. The threat that this conflict will spill over the region's borders into a full-scale regional war grows daily. In the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli, at least 11 people have died, including at least two Lebanese army soldiers, in clashes between Sunni militias and Lebanese Alawite supporters of Assad. The clashes have seen exchanges of mortar fire and rocket-propelled grenades, bringing schools, businesses and other activities to a standstill. Denouncing Hezbollah's Role The State Department issued a statement denouncing Hezbollah's role in Syria, charging that it serves to "exacerbate and inflame regional sectarian tensions." No such denunciations were forthcoming when the Islamist forces overran Qusayr, decapitating and shooting members of the substantial Alawite and Christian minority populations in the area and forcing thousands to flee their homes. In one measure of the opposition's desperation, acting National Coalition chief Sabra issued a statement on the eve of the Amman conference calling for the US and its allies to "open a humanitarian corridor" to Qusayr-in other words, to launch a direct Western military intervention on Syrian soil. In a conference call on Tuesday, a senior State Department official acknowledged, "One of the things we'll be talking about here in Amman tomorrow is what else needs to be done with respect to the military balance on the ground." US Proxy War with Iran In advancing its militarist agenda, Washington has stepped up a propaganda campaign charging that Iran is likewise responsible for the reverses suffered by the anti-Assad forces in Syria. A senior State Department official told the Washington Post that Iranian forces are fighting in Syria, repeating totally unsubstantiated allegations by the "rebels" as fact. As the Post pointed out, "The US official's allegation was a tacit acknowledgment that the two-year Syrian conflict has become a regional war and a de facto US proxy fight with Iran." The Post 's columnist David Ignatius noted that while there is public talk of a peace conference in Geneva by next month, "the battling on the ground is so intense, and the demand for additional weapons so vocal, that a skeptical person should ask whether the Geneva talks will take place at all." The American Militarism Washington's ostensible agreement with Moscow on peace talks is merely another tactic to advance its strategic aims in the region, which have been prosecuted through the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and now Syria. Behind the crocodile tears about Syrian civilian casualties, its objective remains the same as that which underlay the eruption of American militarism 12 years ago: the assertion by military means of hegemonic control over strategic energy reserves coveted by its rivals, particularly in China and Russia. As the evolution of the proxy war in Syria demonstrates, this predatory US intervention points directly toward a far wider and catastrophic conflagration that threatens not only war against Iran, but confrontation with Russia and China as well. *This article was published by World Socialist Web Site (WSWS). Go to Original. T he views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of Human Wrongs Watch http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=e68_1369418415 omniradar USA preparing for FSA failure ???? USA v SYRIA Fri, 24 May 2013 13:43:47 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=087_1369415969 Tama7866 It was my first time visit to the United States, in Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, when I was told to stand up and wait right next to a wall. I felt all my blood falling down to my knees as if I had been told that they would take me to Guantanamo, Cuba. Thirty minutes later, an officer came to tell me: "There is a problem with your name!" and asked me to follow him. He took me to a room and asked me to wait there. As I was sitting, I kept cursing, "It's not because of my name; because of Bin Laden, the idiot." Then I was directed to an investigation room, where another officer started querying me. Because my passport had a VISA to Iran, he asked what my purpose was for going there. I answered that my purpose was tourism. By that time he let me out, I had already missed my flight to Nashville. It was the twenty fifth hour since I flown from Bahrain, and I was totally exhausted. I started looking for my sister; and, after seven hours of searching I found her crying. It turned out that she had been told that I was returned back home. If my name had been Jackson, I would not have had all that trouble! After the destruction of the World Trade Center in New York City, by the so-called Islamic terrorists, the world is no longer the same. Because of them, I was stopped and hassled in that airport, millions of Muslims are harassed everyday, and more than one billion Muslims are thought of as potential threats! Because of these terrorists, "42% of Americans of low personal religiosity, and 65% of high personal religiosity perceive Islam as violent" (Christianity Today). I do not blame them because, if I were in their shoes, I would think the same way. If all I were to see and hear about Muslims is what the media broadcast, I will never differentiate between violence and Islam. However, Bin Laden is not Islam, nor does he represent it. Islam is misunderstood by non-Muslims but also by many who falsely claim to be Muslims, like those terrorists. There is no way any Christian, Jew, or Muslim can come out and say he represents all Christians, Jews, or Muslims respectively. There is not a way all Christians, Jews, or Muslims come with one clear definition of their holy scriptures. If this were the case, we would not have seen all these sects diverging from each other in each religion. However, in every religion, one will find extremists who claim the utmost knowledge of its doctrines, although unfortunately, they always go above, beyond, and against such doctrines. One day, I heard a person stating on the news: "Islamic extremists are fighting the United States because it's a Christian country." But I do not agree with him. The mosques bombed by Al-Qaeda during the last year in Iraq were not churches full of Christians! The bakery that was destroyed in Iraq last couple of months was not a US military camp! Most of the time the people that are beheaded day-after-day by Al-Zarqawi's group are not Christians, Jews, or other westerners! The terrorists kill Muslims everyday, and most victims are civilians. Why are they doing this? It is clear that this is not a holy war strictly against non-Muslims but anyone who thinks differently from the terrorists. Some of you non-Muslims might think that the terrorists are like this because Islam's teachings lead to this ideology (i.e. because of the Jihad concept). Well, I strongly disagree. The Koran makes the definition of Jihad very clear: "Fight in the cause of Allah those who fight you, but do not transgress limits; for Allah loveth not transgressors" (2:190). As is the case in all countries, fighting in Islam is mandatory whenever a foreign invasion is in place; however, God asks us not to start the fight. On the contrary, Bin Laden continues to use the concept of Jihad to back his ideas, but he miscalculates it. Jihad is a broad concept; it literally means "struggle." The greatest Jihad is the struggle with the self to get rid of what God forbids. The minor Jihad is the fighting for the Islamic Ummah (community) whenever during an invasion or an all-out war. The Prophet Muhammad has asked Muslims not to cut trees or harm old people, women, and children. Muhammad himself used armed force only when it was necessary. For example, in the battle of Ahzab, in the beginning of Islam, this was a clear aggression on the part of the unbelievers in Mecca, who had traveled 300 miles from Mecca to Medina to attack Muslims. The Prophet ordered a trench be dug in order to avoid armed confrontation instead of going to war with them (Athar, Shahid). God says: ... if any one slew a person - unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land - it would be as if he slew the whole people: and if any one saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people. Then although there came to them Our apostles with clear signs, yet, even after that, many of them continued to commit excesses in the land. (Koran 5:32) Many people question the use of suicides by most of these terrorists, and whether or not it has a base in the religion. Al-Qaeda cheats many people by convincing them that, by committing suicides, they will be considered martyrs who will get to heaven. However, hell is the final destiny for such practices. In Islam, anything that indirectly harms the self is prohibited; such as alcohol, pork, tattoos, etc. So, if directly harming the self is allowed, then there would be a clear contradiction in the religion itself! The life and body are sacred in Islam, and nothing justifies harming them; God says, "... And spend of your substance in the cause of Allah, and make not your own hands contribute to destruction ..." "... Nor kill yourselves: for verily Allah hath been to you Most Merciful! ..." "...Whether open or secret; take not life, which Allah hath made sacred, except by way of justice and law ..." (Koran 2:195, 4:29, 6:151). Islam, the word itself, means "peace and submission." One of the attributes of God is As-Salaam, the peace giver. The path of Islam is called the path of peace. The ideal society in Islam is called Darus-Salaam. That is the city of peace. It is for this reason that Jerusalem was originally named as Salem, city of peace, by Canaanite Righteous King Melchisedeck, a contemporary of Prophet Abraham and was changed later to Urousalem and then to Jerusalem. The mission of Islam, as given to Prophet Mohammad, was "to be merciful to mankind" the Quran (Athar, Shahid). If one really investigates Islam, one will understand that terrorists' practices have nothing to do with its doctrines; that explains why, in spite of the 11 September attack, more than 30,000 Americans have converted to Islam since then (The Learn the Bible), and Islam is currently the fastest growing religion, according to the Guinness Book of World Records 2005. If Islam is proven to be a religion of tolerance, why would some of its practitioners turn to intolerance? There many reasons, especially politics. Why does Al-Qaeda not have its main base in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, etc.? Why did Osama Bin Laden left Arabia? Where was Al-Qaeda created? Who supported it? Al-Qaeda was not wanted in Arabia, so its members went to Afghanistan, where they received the support and money from many countries, including the United States, to fight the invading Russians. With Al-Quaeda's barbarian mentality, it was the best choice. However, Al-Qaeda expanded, seized Afghanistan, and then, using Islam for justification, started blowing-up buildings and people everywhere. We must all remember that not all terrorists are Muslims! There is a lot of terrorism in Ireland, Latin America, and Sri Lanka, where Muslims are not present. As a result of these misguided terrorists, Islam and Muslims are put first in the list whenever any bad disaster happens. Thank God, the Tsunami was not blamed on Muslims! The real problem is that many countries now are issuing statues that limit the freedom of individuals in the name of limiting terrorism. It extends to imprisoning suspected people, just because of their appearance. One of my friends, who wears veil, was asked in the Chicago's O'Hare International Airport to take off her clothes in front of God and everybody; to make sure she was not carrying any weapons of mass destruction! Muslim girls are forced to remove their Islamic head scarves in Germany and some other western countries; where is the freedom? This was the case in France, so a number of girls shaved their heads so as not to show their hair! The world should understand that Islam is all about fighting such barbarian practices. The world should understand that we Muslims are against terror and with the war on terrorism. However, to fight terrorism, the world should understand who the real terrorists are, who support them, and how to not to pull the trigger on the wrong target. The world should no longer sleep, and I hope it will awake one day to learn the truth about Islam versus the terrorism. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=087_1369415969 Tama7866 Islam Versus Terrorism (A view from the profiled) Muslim,Islam,Terror,911,WTC,Terrorism,debate,death Fri, 24 May 2013 07:18:21 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=715_1369394139 Detroit Iron By Michael Isikoff National Investigative Correspondent, NBC News Attorney General Eric Holder signed off on a controversial search warrant that identified Fox News reporter James Rosen as a "possible co-conspirator" in violations of the Espionage Act and authorized seizure of his private emails, a law enforcement official told NBC News on Thursday.The disclosure of the attorney general's role came as President Barack Obama, in a major speech on his counterterrorism policy, said Holder had agreed to review Justice Department guidelines governing investigations that involve journalists. "I am troubled by the possibility that leak investigations may chill the investigative journalism that holds government accountable," Obama said. "Journalists should not be at legal risk for doing their jobs." Rosen, who has not been charged in the case, was nonetheless the target of a search warrant that enabled Justice Department investigators to secretly seize his private emails after an FBI agent said he had "asked, solicited and encouraged ... (a source) to disclose sensitive United States internal documents and intelligence information." Obama's comments follow a firestorm of criticism that has erupted over disclosures that in separate investigations of leaks of classified information, the Justice Department had obtained private emails that Rosen exchanged with a source and the phone records of Associated Press reporters. Holder previously said he recused himself from the AP subpoena because he had been questioned as a witness in the underlying investigation into a leak about a foiled bomb plot in Yemen. His role in personally approving the Rosen search warrant had not been previously reported. A Justice Department spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Department of Justice later issued a statement about the review of media guidelines: "This review is consistent with Attorney General Holder's long-standing belief that freedom of the press is essential to our democracy," it said. "At the same time, the attorney general believes that leaks of classified information damage our national security and must be investigated using appropriate law enforcement tools. We remain steadfast in our commitment to following all laws and regulations intended to safeguard national security as well as the First Amendment interests of the press in reporting the news and the public in receiving it." The law enforcement official said Holder's approval of the Rosen search, in the spring of 2010, came after senior Justice officials concluded there was "probable cause" that Rosen's communications with his source, identified as intelligence analyst Stephen Kim, met the legal burden for such searches. "It was approved at the highest levels-- and I mean the highest," said the law enforcement official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. He said that explicitly included Holder. Kim has since been indicted on charges that he leaked classified information to Rosen about how North Korea would respond to a United Nations resolution condemning the country's nuclear program. He has denied the charges. In an affidavit in support of a search warrant to Google for Rosen's emails, an FBI agent wrote that the Fox News journalist -- identified only as "the Reporter" -- had "asked, solicited and encouraged Mr. Kim to disclose sensitive United States internal documents and intelligence information." "The Reporter did so by employing flattery and playing to Mr. Kim's vanity and ego," it continued. "Much like an intelligence officer would run a clandestine intelligence source, the Reporter instructed Mr. Kim on a covert communications plan that involved" emails from his gmail account. The affidavit states that FBI agents had tracked Rosen's entrances and exits of the State Department in order to show that they had coincided with Kim's movements. Based on that and other findings, the affidavit by FBI Agent Reginald B. Reyes, stated, "There is probable cause to believe that the Reporter has committed a violation" of the Espionage Act "at the very least, either as an aider, abettor and/or co-conspirator of Mr. Kim." It also said that Google was specifically instructed not to notify "the subscriber" -- Rosen -- that his emails were being seized. In new documents disclosed Thursday, the Justice Department sought and obtained approval to keep the search warrant, which was approved by a federal magistrate, under seal. It was unsealed in November 2011, but never made a part of the docket of Kim's case and went unnoticed until this week. Justice officials have since said they do not intend to criminally charge Rosen, but media groups have condemned the issuance of the search warrant itself. "The Justice Department's decision to treat routine newsgathering efforts as evidence of criminality is extremely troubling and corrodes time-honored understandings between the public and the government about the role of the free press," said Bruce Brown, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. In his speech Thursday, Obama reiterated his determination to pursue leak investigations. "We must enforce consequences for those who break the law and breach their commitment to protect classified information," he said. But, he said, "Our focus must be on those who break the law," not journalists. He said he was calling on Congress to pass a media shield law and had raised the issue with Holder, "who shares my concern." As part of the Justice Department review of guidelines, the president said, Holder will convene a group of media organizations to hear their views and "report back to me by July 12th." NBC News Chief Justice Correspondent Pete Williams contributed to this report. http://openchannel.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/23/18451142-holder-okd-search-warrant-for-fox-news-reporters-private-emails-official-says?lite http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=715_1369394139 Detroit Iron Holder OK'd search warrant for Fox News reporter's private emails, official says Attorney General Eric Holder, Fox News reporter James Rosen Thu, 23 May 2013 20:05:10 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=e40_1369353690 swordblow_25 http://m.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/may/23/woolwich-attack-terrorism-blowback Two men yesterday engaged in a horrific act of violence on the streets of London by using what appeared to be a meat cleaver to hack to death a British soldier. In the wake of claims that the assailants shouted "Allahu Akbar" during the killing, and a video showing one of the assailants citing Islam as well as a desire to avenge and stop continuous UK violence against Muslims, media outlets ( including the Guardian ) and British politicians instantly characterized the attack as "terrorism". That this was a barbaric and horrendous act goes without saying, but given the legal, military, cultural and political significance of the term "terrorism", it is vital to ask: is that term really applicable to this act of violence? To begin with, in order for an act of violence to be "terrorism", many argue that it must deliberately target civilians. That's the most common means used by those who try to distinguish the violence engaged in by western nations from that used by the "terrorists": sure, we kill civilians sometimes, but we don't deliberately target them the way the "terrorists" do . But here, just as was true for Nidal Hasan's attack on a Fort Hood military base , the victim of the violence was a soldier of a nation at war, not a civilian. He was stationed at an army barracks quite close to the attack. The killer made clear that he knew he had attacked a soldier when he said afterward: "this British soldier is an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth." The US, the UK and its allies have repeatedly killed Muslim civilians over the past decade (and before that), but defenders of those governments insist that this cannot be "terrorism" because it is combatants, not civilians, who are the targets. Can it really be the case that when western nations continuously kill Muslim civilians, that's not "terrorism", but when Muslims kill western soldiers , that is terrorism? Amazingly, the US has even imprisoned people at Guantanamo and elsewhere on accusations of "terrorism" who are accused of nothing more than engaging in violence against US soldiers who invaded their country . It's true that the soldier who was killed yesterday was out of uniform and not engaged in combat at the time he was attacked. But the same is true for the vast bulk of killings carried out by the US and its allies over the last decade, where people are killed in their homes, in their cars, at work, while asleep (in fact, the US has re-defined "militant" to mean "any military-aged male in a strike zone"). Indeed, at a recent Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on drone killings, Gen. James Cartwright and Sen. Lindsey Graham both agreed that the US has the right to kill its enemies even while they are "asleep", that you don't "have to wake them up before you shoot them" and "make it a fair fight". Once you declare that the "entire globe is a battlefield" (which includes London) and that any "combatant" (defined as broadly as possible) is fair game to be killed - as the US has done - then how can the killing of a solider of a nation engaged in that war, horrific though it is, possibly be "terrorism"? When I asked on Twitter this morning what specific attributes of this attack make it "terrorism" given that it was a soldier who was killed, the most frequent answer I received was that "terrorism" means any act of violence designed to achieve political change, or more specifically, to induce a civilian population to change their government or its policies of out fear of violence. Because, this line of reasoning went, one of the attackers here said that "the only reasons we killed this man is because Muslims are dying daily" and warned that "you people will never be safe. Remove your government", the intent of the violence was to induce political change, thus making it "terrorism". That is at least a coherent definition. But doesn't that then encompass the vast majority of violent acts undertaken by the US and its allies over the last decade? What was the US/UK "shock and awe" attack on Baghdad if not a campaign to intimidate the population with a massive show of violence into submitting to the invading armies and ceasing their support for Saddam's regime? That was clearly its functional intent and even its stated intent . That definition would also immediately include the massive air bombings of German cities during World War II. It would include the Central American civilian-slaughtering militias supported, funded and armed by the Reagan administration throughout the 1980s, the Bangledeshi death squads trained and funded by the UK , and countless other groups supported by the west that used violence against civilians to achieve political ends. The ongoing US drone attacks unquestionably have the effect, and one could reasonably argue the intent , of terrorizing the local populations so that they cease harboring or supporting those the west deems to be enemies. The brutal sanctions regime imposed by the west on Iraq and Iran, which kills large numbers of people, clearly has the intent of terrorizing the population into changing its governments' policies and even the government itself. How can one create a definition of "terrorism" that includes Wednesday's London attack on this British soldier without including many acts of violence undertaken by the US, the UK and its allies and partners? Can that be done? I know this vital caveat will fall on deaf ears for some, but nothing about this discussion has anything to do with justifiability. An act can be vile, evil, and devoid of justification without being "terrorism": indeed, most of the worst atrocities of the 20th Century, from the Holocaust to the wanton slaughter of Stalin and Pol Pot and the massive destruction of human life in Vietnam, are not typically described as "terrorism". To question whether something qualifies as "terrorism" is not remotely to justify or even mitigate it. That should go without saying, though I know it doesn't. The reason it's so crucial to ask this question is that there are few terms - if there are any - that pack the political, cultural and emotional punch that "terrorism" provides. When it comes to the actions of western governments, it is a conversation-stopper, justifying virtually anything those governments want to do. It's a term that is used to start wars, engage in sustained military action, send people to prison for decades or life, to target suspects for due-process-free execution, shield government actions behind a wall of secrecy, and instantly shape public perceptions around the world. It matters what the definition of the term is, or whether there is a consistent and coherent definition. It matters a great deal. There is ample scholarship proving that the term has no such clear or consistently applied meaning (see the penultimate section here , and my interview with Remi Brulin here ). It is very hard to escape the conclusion that, operationally, the term has no real definition at this point beyond "violence engaged in by Muslims in retaliation against western violence toward Muslims". When media reports yesterday began saying that "there are indications that this may be act of terror", it seems clear that what was really meant was: "there are indications that the perpetrators were Muslims driven by political grievances against the west" (earlier this month, an elderly British Muslim was stabbed to death in an apparent anti-Muslim hate crime and nobody called that "terrorism"). Put another way, the term at this point seems to have no function other than propagandistically and legally legitimizing the violence of western states against Muslims while delegitimizing any and all violence done in return to those states. One last point: in the wake of the Boston Marathon attacks, I documented that the perpetrators of virtually every recent attempted and successful "terrorist" attack against the west cited as their motive the continuous violence by western states against Muslim civilians. It's certainly true that Islam plays an important role in making these individuals willing to fight and die for this perceived just cause (just as Christianity , Judaism , Buddhism , and nationalism lead some people to be willing to fight and die for their cause). But the proximate cause of these attacks are plainly political grievances: namely, the belief that engaging in violence against aggressive western nations is the only way to deter and/or avenge western violence that kills Muslim civilians. Add the London knife attack on this soldier to that growing list. One of the perpetrators said on camera that "the only reason we killed this man is because Muslims are dying daily" and "we apologize that women had to see this today, but in our lands our women have to see the same." As I've endlessly pointed out, highlighting this causation doesn't remotely justify the acts. But it should make it anything other than surprising. On Twitter last night, Michael Moore sardonically summarized western reaction to the London killing this way: I am outraged that we can't kill people in other counties without them trying to kill us!" Basic human nature simply does not allow you to cheer on your government as it carries out massive violence in multiple countries around the world and then have you be completely immune from having that violence returned. Drone admissionsIn not unrelated news, the US government yesterday admitted for the first time what everyone has long known: that it killed four Muslim American citizens with drones during the Obama presidency, including a US-born teenager whom everyone acknowledges was guilty of nothing. As Jeremy Scahill - whose soon-to-be-released film "Dirty Wars" examines US covert killings aimed at Muslims - noted yesterday about this admission , it "leaves totally unexplained why the United States has killed so many innocent non-American citizens in its strikes in Pakistan and Yemen". Related to all of these issues, please watch this two-minute trailer for "Dirty Wars", which I reviewed a few weeks ago here : NoteThe headline briefly referred to the attack as a "machete killing", which is how initial reports described it, but the word "machete" was deleted to reflect uncertainty over the exact type of knife use. As the first paragraph now indicates, the weapon appeared to be some sort of meat cleaver. UPDATEIn the Guardian today, former British soldier Joe Glenton, who served in the war in Afghanistan, writes under the headline "Woolwich attack: of course British foreign policy had a role". He explains: "While nothing can justify the savage killing in Woolwich yesterday of a man since confirmed to have been a serving British soldier, it should not be hard to explain why the murder happened. . . . It should by now be self-evident that by attacking Muslims overseas, you will occasionally spawn twisted and, as we saw yesterday, even murderous hatred at home. We need to recognise that, given the continued role our government has chosen to play in the US imperial project in the Middle East, we are lucky that these attacks are so few and far between." This is one of those points so glaringly obvious that it is difficult to believe that it has to be repeated. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=e40_1369353690 swordblow_25 Was the London killing of a British soldier 'terrorism'? soldier, england, UK, woolwich, terrorism, iraq, afghanistan, islam, muslim, attack, london, usa, america Thu, 23 May 2013 17:50:14 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=59b_1369345645 USMC_SRT The government of Japan has bestowed one of that nation's highest honors on a Japanese-American, a former U.S. Soldier and World War II veteran, for his work furthering relationships between the Japanese and Americans. During a ceremony, May 21, 2013, at the home of Kenichiro Sasae, the Japanese ambassador to the United States, Terry Shima was awarded the "Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette" award. The award comes from both the prime minister and emperor of Japan. Shima is a "Nisei," or second-generation Japanese-American. During World War II, he joined the 442nd Infantry Regiment in 1945 in Italy, where he was assigned to public relations. When the unit returned in July 1946, he continued to handle public relations for the veterans association in New York, in Washington, D.C., and in Honolulu. Following two years in the Army, he worked for the Foreign Service for 30 years. Shima also served as the executive director of the Japanese-American Veterans Association, or JAVE, in 2004. He'd only been with the organization for three years. His work there furthered recognition of the contributions of Japanese-Americans in the U.S., helped strengthen relationships between Japanese-Americans and the people of Japan, and also ensured that Japanese-Americans remember how they were interred during World War II. Shima continues that work today, still with JAVE, where he serves as the chairman of its committee on outreach and education. In the citation for the award, it is noted that Shima is "a citizen of the United States." Sasae drew attention to that phrase, saying it carried special significance. "That phrase in the decoration, 'citizen of the United States of America' has special meaning to Shima-san and his generation. Citizens of the United States, this was the identity for those who lived each day loyal to these words, until his very loyalty was tested," Sasae said. The ambassador said it was a test of loyalty that, during that time, many Japanese-Americans had been imprisoned as a result of the outbreak of war with Japan. Yet many "went directly from being imprisoned in an internment camp to fighting for their country that had imprisoned them," Sasae said. "Fathers told sons to make them proud once again, and they did," Sasae said. "Eight hundred Nisei gave what the very best and most loyal citizens could give, their very lives. They died for those who were coming in the future, the children and the grandchildren." He said that it is Shima who helps ensure those descendants remember what happened to their families during World War II. "Shima-san, you have done your work well," the ambassador said. After accepting the award, which included both a medal and a large certificate printed in Japanese, Shima addressed the audience which included many Japanese-Americans, including Japanese-American service members. "I am deeply humbled to be selected to receive the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette," Shima said. "I will accept it on behalf of the other volunteers and some 30,000 Japanese-Americans who served during World War II, and the 800 who were left behind on the battlefields of France and Italy and the Pacific." He told those at the ambassador's residence that it is his work now, "in the trenches," to ensure that Japanese-Americans know about their history during World War II within the U.S., and to also further relations with Japan. "Japanese-Americans are proud of their racial and cultural heritage, as we are proud to be Americans," he said. "When Americans questioned Japanese-American loyalty, Nisei volunteered to serve in combat to prove their loyalty. And President Truman affirmed it, on July 15, 1946, at the Ellipse. The president's affirmation resonated across the land." Shima finished by thanking those involved, including the Japanese, for recognizing his contributions to relations between the two countries. "Thank you again Mr. Ambassador for this high recognition, and congratulations to the post-World War II Japanese-Americans, who have competed with the best of the best to contribute to America's greatness, and also, God bless America for the U.S./Japan alliance," Shima said. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=59b_1369345645 USMC_SRT WWII vet gets 'Order of the Rising Sun' from Japan's ambassador Army, Soldier, Award, Japanese Thu, 23 May 2013 15:45:13 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=1cb_1369334116 Catalytic By: Danny Danon President Obama can demonstrate his commitment to Israel by releasing the convicted spy.All of us here in Israel welcomed wholeheartedly the announcement by the White House that President Obama will visit Israel next month . Over the past two years, the president has made critical policy decisions that have enhanced Israel's security. Now, it is my hope that the president will use his upcoming trip not only to meet our political leaders, but to forge a bond with the people of Israel. The best way to do this is to finally pardon Jonathan Pollard , a U.S. citizen convicted of spying for Israel, and allow him to come home to Israel ahead of the presidential visit in March. This would not only right an historic wrong, but will also serve to remove an unfortunate stain from an otherwise close American-Israeli relationship.Earlier in his presidency, Obama made a number of decisions that some of us felt were not helpful in terms of our geopolitical standing and strengthening our negotiating position with our neighbors. Thankfully, during the second half of his first term it seems that he began to chart a new course. The Obama administration stood resolutely by Israel's side at the United Nations as the Palestinians attempted to nullify our signed agreements by forcing a vote on unilateral statehood. Similarly he has joined the US congress in placing - and enforcing - biting sanctions that are aimed at curtailing the Iranian nuclear program. Nevertheless, the feeling persisted here that President Obama has not connected with Israelis on a visceral and emotional level. While the steps the president has taken over the past two years have helped reassure leaders in Israel about the president's intentions, a pardon for Jonathan Pollard would go a long way in showing the Israeli people where his heart lays.Many question the necessity of the president of the United States emotionally connecting with the Israeli electorate. After all, they do not elect the president and he does not report to them. On the other hand, Obama's predecessors -- from both American political parties -- understood that if they want Israel to trust them on matters of grave importance such as the very survival of the Jewish State, then a strong connection must be sustained with the people of Israel. By inviting Ilan Ramon to partake in a NASA mission Bill Clinton further solidified an already strong bond that he had built with the Israeli people and George W. Bush was well aware of the significance of his two visits to Israel while we were celebrating sixty years of our independence. These presidents understood that if they were going to ask Israel to trust the U.S. on the most important matters of national security then they must set the right tone through significant gestures to create good will.Jonathan Pollard has been imprisoned for almost twenty eight years. It is now clear that in passing information to an American ally about dangerous nations that threatened Israel's security, Pollard thought he was acting in the best interests of both nations. More importantly, experts including former senior cabinet ministers and a large number of senators and congressmen, now agree that the punishment of a life sentence that Pollard received was disproportionate to the charges for which he pleaded guilty. Even former CIA Director James Woolsey has said "There is absolutely no reason for Pollard to be imprisoned substantially longer than spies from other friendly, allied and neutral countries."I understand that a decision by President Obama to pardon Pollard and release him from prison will not be without controversy. But I urge Americans to consider the positive effects this act will achieve. Not only will this be an act of justice and compassion by the President, but I know for a fact that it will be universally applauded by regular Israelis. Not all Israelis understand fully what Pollard did and many criticize his actions, but there is wide agreement that the time has come to end this saga and relegate it to the past. O pinion polls in Israel show few issues of mass agreement stronger than the country's call for Jonathan Pollard to be freed now.I do not pretend that all disagreements between our two governments will vanish with Pollard's release. We sometimes differ with the Obama administration on a range of policies; from what is the best way to restart the peace process to how urgently the world must act to end Iran's march towards a nuclear bomb. I do know, however, that if President Obama plans on asking the Israeli people to trust him during what promises to be a tumultuous four years, bringing Jonathan home would be a just and noble way to do so. Member of the Knesset Danny Danon is chairman of the Word Likud and author of Israel: The Will to Prevail. In addition to its own editorials, USA TODAY publishes diverse opinions from outside writers, including our Board of Contributors. http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2013/02/26/obama-visit-israel-column/1937301/ http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=1cb_1369334116 Catalytic Free Jonathan Pollard: A Column by Israeli Deputy Minister Of Defence Danny Danon Israel, Jews, Convicted, spy, traitor, Jonathan, Pollard,