Breaking News and Commentary from Citizens for Legitimate Government
18 Aug 2012
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US in pursuit of Assange, cables reveal 18 Aug 2012 Australian diplomats have no doubt the United States is still gunning for Julian Assange, according to Foreign Affairs Department documents obtained by The Saturday Age. The Australian embassy in Washington has been tracking a US espionage investigation targeting the WikiLeaks publisher for more than 18 months. The declassified diplomatic cables, released under freedom of information laws, show Australia's diplomatic service takes seriously the likelihood that Assange will eventually be extradited to the US on charges arising from WikiLeaks obtaining leaked US military and diplomatic documents.
British threats in WikiLeaks case 'stupid' - expert 18 Aug 2012 Britain is considering using an obscure law to extract Julian Assange from Ecuador's embassy in London, but experts say the possibility is slim -- and one says London's actions are "stupid". Before it granted asylum to the WikiLeaks founder on Thursday, Ecuador made an angry rebuttal of what it saw as Britain's threats to invade its embassy in London to arrest the Australian and extradite him to Sweden. In a meeting in Quito on Wednesday, Britain's charge d'affaires reminded Ecuadorean ministers of a British law which can ultimately allow the government to withdraw diplomatic status from any embassy on its territory.
Russia issues warning to Britain over Assange 17 Aug 2012 Russia on Friday warned Britain against violating fundamental diplomatic principles after London suggested it could arrest WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange inside Ecuador's embassy. "What is happening gives grounds to contemplate the observance of the spirit and the letter of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, and in particular the Article 22 spelling out the inviolability of diplomatic premises," the Russian foreign ministry said. Ecuador on Thursday granted asylum to Assange -- whose website enraged the United States by publishing a vast cache of confidential government files -- but Britain has vowed not to grant him safe passage out of the country.
Six arrested after holding sit-in inside Obama campaign headquarters 16 Aug 2012 Six out of seven protesters were arrested Thursday night after holding a sit-in inside President Obama's campaign headquarters and refusing to leave. The protesters marched to the headquarters after a 5 p.m. rally in Frank Ogawa Plaza in support of Bradley Manning, a former U.S. Army intelligence analyst accused of leaking classified information to WikiLeaks. The march of several dozen protesters arrived at the campaign headquarters on Telegraph Avenue about an hour later, and seven protesters entered the building.
Correa Says Assange May Stay in Ecuador Embassy Indefinitely 17 Aug 2012 Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa said he doesn't expect the U.K. to allow WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange to leave Ecuador's embassy in London after the South American nation granted him asylum yesterday. "The problem is that they aren't going to give safe passage," Correa said today in an interview on local radio channel, Radio Loja. "Julian Assange could stay indefinitely in our embassy."
Ecuador grants political asylum to Julian Assange, angering Britain 16 Aug 2012 Ecuador granted political asylum to Julian Assange on Thursday, ratcheting up tension in a standoff with Britain which has warned it could revoke the diplomatic status of Quito's embassy in London to allow the extradition of the WikiLeaks founder. Britain has said it is determined to extradite him to Sweden, where he is accused of rape and sexual assault.
Poland Shedding Light on Secret CIA Prison 14 Aug 2012 On an idyllic lake surrounded by woods and a double row of mesh-and-razor-wire fences about 100 miles north of Warsaw, there stands a secluded villa that the CIA once used to interrogate - and allegedly torture - top al-Qaida [al-CIAduh] suspects. On the grounds of the Polish intelligence-training academy and nicknamed "Markus Wolf" for the former East German spy chief, it's the focal point for a top-secret probe that Polish prosecutors have launched into how their government tolerated rampant violations of international and Polish law. If former officials are brought to trial, or if the stacks of classified files in the prosecutors' offices are made public, the result will be revelations about an American anti-terrorism operation whose details U.S. officials are fighting to keep secret.
NRO Officials Accused of Contracting Crimes 14 Aug 2012 A senior officer with the nation's spy satellite agency is being investigated over criminal allegations related to contracting even as the agency's No. 2 official is accused of trying to illegally shield the subordinate from scrutiny, McClatchy Newspapers has learned. The inspector general of the National Reconnaissance Office opened the criminal inquiry after meeting secretly in May with four top officers of the agency, who told her about "a series of allegations of malfeasant actions" by a colleague, according to agency documents obtained by McClatchy Newspapers. The agency's deputy director, Air Force Maj. Gen. Susan Mashiko, then heard about the investigation and made what the inspector general described as an illegal threat of retaliation against the whistleblowers.
There's no money for Medicare, but: U.S. plans to beef up rural police forces in Afghanistan [so they can kill more US soldiers to 'justify' the need to give billions to US mercenary firms who train Afghan police to kill US soldiers. We can't get a road built or a bridge fixed on US soil because of the 'deficit.' Get it? Start reading.] 17 Aug 2012 The Obama administration plans to double the size of a rural police force in Afghanistan and arm it with heavier weapons to fight insurgents as U.S. troops withdraw, despite Pentagon and Afghan government concern about the village self-defense units becoming predatory criminal gangs or defecting to the Taliban. The danger was highlighted Friday when a new member of the Afghan Local Police shot and killed two U.S. special operations troops and wounded a third moments after they gave him his service weapon during a ceremony for new recruits in the western province of Farah.
Four civilians killed in US-led airstrike in Afghanistan 18 Aug 2012 At least four Afghan civilians have been killed in an airstrike carried out by the US-led forces in eastern Afghanistan, Press TV reports. The casualties came after US forces dropped bombs in Kunar Province on Saturday, according to Afghan officials. Hundreds of civilians have lost their lives in the US-led operations in various parts of Afghanistan over the past few months, with Afghans becoming increasingly outraged at the seemingly endless number of the deadly assaults.
Afghan soldier opens fire on US troopers injures 2 17 Aug 2012 Two American troopers have been wounded by an Afghan soldier in a new 'green-on-blue' attack in Afghanistan's troubled southern province of Kandahar. The 'green-on-blue' shootings have been on the rise in the war-torn country where 39 US-led troopers have been so far killed by their Afghan counterparts in 2012.
US-led trooper killed in S Afghanistan IED blast 16 Aug 2012 An improvised explosive device (IED) blast in the restive southern Afghanistan has killed one US-led trooper, enlisted by the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), Press TV reports. Earlier in the day, seven American forces were killed in a helicopter crash in the Kandahar province in southern Afghanistan.
Army suicides doubled last month from June's total 16 Aug 2012 The Army says suicides among active-duty soldiers more than doubled in July from the month before. That marks an acceleration of a military-wide trend this year that has caused Pentagon leaders to step up their search for solutions to a problem that has worsened in 2012 as the pace of combat has eased. The Army had 26 suicides in July among active-duty soldiers, compared to 12 in June.
Attacks on US mosques prompt Muslim security concerns 17 Aug 2012 On Sunday and Monday, when Muslims will celebrate the end of Ramadan, even many who are less observant the rest of the year will be at mosques to pray. But many worshippers will celebrate amid heightened security after a recent spike in attacks on mosques and other places of worship... This is not the first time that Muslims have been advised to exercise caution.
Security guard shot at conservative group's DC office 15 Aug 2012 A gunman who shot a security guard Wednesday at the Family Research Council office in Washington, D.C., was carrying a handgun and several additional rounds of ammunition, federal investigators told NBC News. Washington, D.C., police say the man walked into the headquarters of the conservative Christian lobbying group around 10:45 a.m. When challenged by the security guard, the gunman shot the guard in the arm with a Sig Sauer 9 mm handgun he pulled from a backpack.
Federal court rules cops can warrantlessly track suspects via cellphone --Geo-data received based on 'reasonable grounds' phone was connected to a crime 14 Aug 2012 In a 2-1 ruling, the US Circuit Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has ruled that law enforcement has the right to obtain location data from a cellphone in order to track a suspect without a warrant. The case involves a man named Melvin Skinner, a newly convicted drug trafficker, who was part of a cross-country, large-scale drug operation organized by another man, James Michael West. His attorneys argued that the government's use of his GPS location information from his phone, which led to his arrest, constituted a warrantless search in violation of the Fourth Amendment.
Charlotte Police Department: We're ready for DNC protesters --Charlotte will add thousands of police from outside departments and spend millions on training, equipment, and temporary barriers 04 Aug 2012 For this summer's Democratic National Convention, Charlotte will add thousands of police from outside departments and spend millions on training, equipment and temporary barriers. But their biggest aid in crowd control will be one they didn't have to purchase, build or teach: The layout of the city itself. The city of 760,000 is spending $50 million in federal funds to buy new equipment, train officers and make other security adjustments for the convention being held from Sept. 4-6.
Federal Court Rules that Florida Voting Changes Are Discriminatory 17 Aug 2012 In a vindication for those who are fighting the changes in voting rules across the country, a U.S. federal court has ruled that Florida's decision to reduce the number of early voting days is a violation of 1965′s Voting Rights Act because it discriminates against minorities. The court stopped the changes from going into effect in five of the state's 67 counties. Lawyers who fought the voting changes likely will file suit now to stop the changes in the 62 other counties in the state by claiming that state law must be uniform.
Romney says his tax rate was at least 13% in last 10 years --'Prove it' by releasing more returns, the Obama campaign responds. 16 Aug 2012 Trying to defuse Democratic criticism of his refusal to release more tax returns, Mitt Romney said Thursday that he paid a federal tax rate of at least 13% in each of the last 10 years, and his wife, Ann, said there would be no further tax disclosures lest the couple become a bigger target for critics. [I wouldn't believe anything Mitt RMoney said if his tongue came notarized. --LRP]
Drought sends Mississippi into 'uncharted territory' 15 Aug 2012 The drought of 2012 has humbled the mighty Mississippi River. A year after near-historic flooding, the river's water levels are at near-historic lows from Cairo, Ill., where the Ohio River empties into it, to New Orleans, just north of its endpoint at the Gulf of Mexico. In July, water levels in Cairo, Memphis, Tenn., and Vicksburg, Miss., dipped below those of the historic drought of 1988.
Soldier's Family Dog Stricken While In United Airlines' Care 17 Aug 2012 A dog returning to the United States with a soldier's family was euthanized after suffering heat stroke in Houston while in the care of [corpora-terrorists] United Airlines. Rachel Estes tells the Houston Chronicle that she and her 5-year-old daughter were returning to North Carolina from South Korea, where her husband was completing a tour of duty. She says the family's two cats arrived in Charlotte, N.C., a day after the family's arrival, but their 14-pound terrier had to be euthanized at a veterinary clinic near Bush Intercontinental Airport.
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CLG Editor-in-Chief: Lori Price. CLG Founder: Michael Rectenwald, Ph.D. Copyright © 2012, Citizens for Legitimate Government ® All rights reserved.
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