Soldier Says CO Sent Him Back for Ear

The Fort Bragg soldier accused of killing and mutilating an unarmed Afghan said his commander jokingly asked if he had gotten the man’s ear after reporting the incident. Master Sgt. Joseph Newell, 39, of Tecumseh, Mich., testified Monday that before he went back to the Afghan’s body the first time, Capt. James Walters jokingly said, [...]

Blackwater founder, CEO resigns

(CNN) – Erik Prince, founder of the Blackwater Worldwide security firm, announced Monday he has resigned as head of the company, recently renamed Xe. Prince, in an e-mail to employees and independent contractors, said Danielle Esposito will become chief operating officer and executive vice president. Esposito has worked for the firm and its partners for [...]

Man gets 15 years for Tasering Cop

GREAT FALLS – A Great Falls man who took a Taser from an officer during a scuffle and used it on the police officer has been sentenced to 15 years in prison. Neal Walton was charged with assault on an officer. He appeared at the sentencing hearing in Cascade County District Court by video from [...]

Jury awards $3 million in Texas stun gun death

HOUSTON (AP) – A jury in Texas has awarded $3 million to the mother of a mentally ill man who died after he was shocked 18 times with a stun gun and hogtied during an arrest. Shirley Nagel sued four deputies from the Precinct One Constable’s Office after they detained her son, Joel Don Casey, [...]

Hawthorne police review use of Taser on middle school student

Hawthorne police have launched a misconduct investigation of an officer who used a 50,000-volt stun gun on a violent autistic 12-year-old boy at one of the city’s middle schools, authorities said. Such use of electroshock weapons by police on young students is rare, but high-profile incidents have sparked fierce debate around the country over when, [...]

Department of Justice Releases Nine Office of Legal Counsel Memoranda and Opinions

WASHINGTON — The Department of Justice today released two previously undisclosed Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) memoranda and seven previously undisclosed opinions. “Americans deserve a government that operates with transparency and openness,” said Attorney General Eric Holder. “It is my goal to make OLC opinions available when possible while still protecting national security information and [...]

Aussies Drop US Surveillance Program

Australia‘s defense minister said today his government has decided not to go ahead with the U.S. Navy on the next phase of the Broad Area Maritime Surveillance program — an ambitious project to continuously collect and disseminate maritime intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance data. Under Project Air 7000 Phase 1B, the Defense Ministry aims to acquire an uninhabited [...]

Appeal for the removal of Hamas from the EU terror list

Saturday, 28 February 2009 First signataries On the occasion of the June 2009 European elections, we are launching an urgent appeal to all candidates for the 736 seats in the European parliament. We ask that they actively pursue the immediate and unconditional removal of Hamas and all other Palestinian liberation organizations from the European list [...]

Homeland Security Secretary Proposes Increase in Spending for Domestic Surveillance Programs

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano testified before the House Committees on Homeland Security, and said that DHS plans to connect governmental databases containing personal information, expand the government’s employment tracking system, promote passenger screening, use e-passports, employ watchlists and utilize contactless identity verification cards. EPIC has opposed Fusion Centers, the E-Verify program and the use [...]

CA Appeals Court Rule that Federal Law Does Not Block Disclosure of State Records

A California appellate court has ruled that, under the state’s open government law, local officials can’t withhold otherwise public information on the ground that it was submitted to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as “protected critical infrastructure information.” The state court found that the Santa Clara county Geographic Information System basemap was relevant to [...]

Foggo Addendum: In Their Own Words

Court documents released this week in advance of Thursday’s sentencing of former CIA Executive Director Kyle “Dusty” Dustin Foggo provide a remarkable glimpse into the mindset of the key players in a sordid drama involving corruption that reached the highest levels of the CIA and touched the agency’s most sensitive and secret covert operations [1] [...]

Deputies arrest federal prison guard Friday in Victorville

Sheriff’s deputies arrested a federal correctional officer who worked in a High Desert prison Friday morning while he was at work, officials said. Around 8:30 a.m., authorities arrested 31-year-old Apple Valley resident Derrick Christoff on suspicion of battery causing great bodily injury and witness intimidation, according to a Sheriff’s news release. Christoff works at the [...]

Marijuana Milestone: No More Raids on Pot Dispensaries, Says Attorney General

In response to a question at a Wednesday news conference, US Attorney General Eric Holder said the Justice Department will no longer raid medical marijuana dispensaries in states where they are legal under state law. The announcement marks the fulfillment of a President Obama campaign promise, and it marks the end of 13 years of [...]

DEA’s Operation Xcellerator is Another Justice Department Dog and Pony Show

Despite the  “Largest and Hardest Hitting Operation to Ever Target” the Sinaloa Cartel, the DEA is Merely Treading Water in the War on Drugs On February 25, the US Department of Justice (DoJ) held a press conference celebrating the culmination of Operation Xcellerator, which it says resulted in the arrests of 755 Sinaloa Cartel members [...]

Veteran convicted of altering medical records

FRESNO, Calif. — A Bakersfield veteran has been convicted of altering medical records to collect more benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs. A federal jury found 55-year-old Roger Remy guilty Thursday of three counts of submitting false claims to the VA. Remy left the military in 1973. Prosecutors say he made a tonsillectomy and [...]

Officer gets 25 years in detainee’s death

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. — A military jury in Kentucky has sentenced an Army officer to 25 years in prison for shooting and killing an Iraqi detainee during an interrogation. A spokesman for the 101st Airborne Division says the panel sentenced 1st Lt. Michael Behenna of Edmond, Okla., on Saturday. Behenna was convicted a day earlier [...]

Ex-Ellsworth officer, charged with rape and incest, wants statements tossed

RAPID CITY, S.D. — A former Air Force sergeant charged with rape, aggravated incest and sexual contact wants his statements to police thrown out. A lawyer for 42-year-old Frank Ashley wants to suppress his client’s statements. Ashley claims he asked for an attorney but was questioned anyway. A judge will hear the arguments next week. [...]

Media Need Not Reveal Web Posters’ Identities

Operators of newspaper Web sites, blogs and chat rooms that allow readers to post anonymous comments using pseudonyms do not have to readily reveal the posters’ identities in defamation suits, Maryland’s highest court ruled yesterday, further shaping an emerging area of First Amendment law in the Internet age. The Maryland Court of Appeals reversed a [...]

Iran allegedly gets info on Obama helicopter from defense contractor

WASHINGTON, Feb. 28 (UPI) — A file-sharing program in a defense contractor’s computer system allowed outside access to data on the U.S. president’s helicopter, a monitor says. Bob Boback, the chief executive officer of Tiversa, told WPXI-TV in Pittsburgh his company found blueprints and avionics information on Marine One at a computer network in Tehran.  [...]

Professor Called Police After Student Pro-CCW Presentation

For Central Connecticut State University student John Wahlberg, a class presentation on campus violence turned into a confrontation with the campus police due to a complaint by the professor. On October 3, 2008, Wahlberg and two other classmates prepared to give an oral presentation for a Communication 140 class that was required to discuss a [...]

Video: Update on Martial Law Preparations – Alex Ansary

The Government seems to have a interesting habit of picking small towns to host Anti-terror drills that involve US Troops patrolling US Streets. The alarming number of drills indicate that the government is accelerating their efforts to be as prepared as they can to deal with an angry American population. source

NAACP seeks records in Pasadena police shooting

PASADENA – Local NAACP officials Thursday called on the Police Department to release crucial documents and video surrounding the death of a local man shot by officers during an altercation last week. The letter sent to the department and news outlets came as police refused to comment further on the events of Feb. 19, when [...]

U.S. Navy Classifies Ship Inspection Reports

The U.S. Navy has classified regular reports about the material condition of its fleet, an about-face from when the reports were accessible as public documents under the Freedom of Information Act. The reports, filed by the Board of Inspection and Survey, or InSurv, contain the findings of meticulous, days-long inspections that cover every detail of [...]

Thousands march against Arpaio in Phoenix

Thousands of opponents of Sheriff Joe Arpaio‘s illegal-immigration policies held their “March to Stop the Hate” in downtown Phoenix on Saturday.. As of 1:30 p.m., the speeches were still being made at the march’s destination, the federal building. According to initial reports, the march was peaceful, with no major incidents as of early Saturday afternoon. [...]

Ex-agent: Probe of head of Riverside office widens

Already under investigation for allegedly punishing agents who did not meet arrest quotas, the head of Riverside’s U.S. Border Patrol office is now being probed for other alleged offenses, according to a former agent and the union representing Riverside agents. Ramon Chavez, patrol agent in charge of the Riverside office, declined to comment. The office [...]

Chiquita wants death lawsuits dismissed

Chiquita Brands International has asked a judge to dismiss lawsuits claiming the group paid Colombian paramilitary groups that killed thousands of people. Lawyers for world famous banana grower insisted that the money it paid over a seven-year period to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia had no direct connection to massacres, kidnappings, assassinations and acts [...]