Friday, February 8, 2013

The Complexity of Violent Extremism The threat posed by violent extremism is neither constrained by international borders nor limited to any single ideology. Groups and individuals inspired by a range of religious, political, or other ideological beliefs have promoted and used violence against the homeland. Increasingly sophisticated use of the Internet, mainstream and social media, and information technology by violent extremists adds an additional layer of complexity. Partnering to Better Understand Violent Extremism To counter violent extremism (CVE), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) works with a broad range of partners to gain a better understanding of the behaviors, tactics, and other indicators that could point to potential terrorist activity within the United States, and the best ways to mitigate or prevent that activity. We are an important partner in supporting the National Strategy on Empowering Local Partners to Prevent Violent Extremism, which President Obama released on Aug. 3, 2011. Supporting Local Communities As part of its effort to support local networks to counter violent extremism, DHS has launched a number of core initiatives: DHS Conferences and Workshops on CVE: With our federal partners, DHS hosts conferences and workshops for law enforcement to better educate them about CVE. Training Initiatives: DHS is working with DOJ, and has trained hundreds of thousands of front line officers on Suspicious Activities Reporting and CVE. Grants: DHS has prioritized prevention activities through our grants that directly support local law enforcement efforts to understand, recognize, prepare for, prevent, and respond to terrorist pre-cursor activity, and separately to raise public awareness and vigilance through the If You See Something, Say Something campaign. International Partnerships DHS also has CVE partnerships with the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Canada, Belgium, Spain, Denmark, and Australia, as well as partnerships with international law enforcement organizations such as Europol. For the past year, DHS, Europol, and E.U. partners have exchanged information on U.S. and E.U. based fusion center best practices, CVE training standards, and research and case studies, including a joint case study on the 2011 Norway attacks. DHS signed a U.S.-Australia Joint Statement on Countering Transnational Crime, Terrorism, and Violent Extremism in Canberra in May 2012. Since 2010, DHS has partnered with Canadian counterparts to share best practices and research related to CVE and promote community-based and community driven efforts. What's New Written testimony of Secretary Napolitano for a Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs hearing titled “Homeland Threats and Agency Responses” September 19, 2012 Written testimony of I&A for a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on The Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights hearing titled “Hate Crimes and the Threat of Domestic Extremism” September 19, 2012 Secretary Napolitano Meets with State, Local, and Tribal Law Enforcement on Countering Violent Extremism January 18, 2012 More News Resource Directory Law Enforcement Resources The Office for State and Local Law Enforcement DHS State and Local Law Enforcement Resource Catalog More Resources

The Complexity of Violent Extremism

The threat posed by violent extremism is neither constrained by international borders nor limited to any single ideology. Groups and individuals inspired by a range of religious, political, or other ideological beliefs have promoted and used violence against the homeland.
Increasingly sophisticated use of the Internet, mainstream and social media, and information technology by violent extremists adds an additional layer of complexity.

Partnering to Better Understand Violent Extremism

To counter violent extremism (CVE), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) works with a broad range of partners to gain a better understanding of the behaviors, tactics, and other indicators that could point to potential terrorist activity within the United States, and the best ways to mitigate or prevent that activity.
We are an important partner in supporting the National Strategy on Empowering Local Partners to Prevent Violent Extremism, which President Obama released on Aug. 3, 2011.

Supporting Local Communities

As part of its effort to support local networks to counter violent extremism, DHS has launched a number of core initiatives:
  • DHS Conferences and Workshops on CVE: With our federal partners, DHS hosts conferences and workshops for law enforcement to better educate them about CVE.
  • Training Initiatives:  DHS is working with DOJ, and has trained hundreds of thousands of front line officers on Suspicious Activities Reporting and CVE. 
  • Grants: DHS has prioritized prevention activities through our grants that directly support local law enforcement efforts to understand, recognize, prepare for, prevent, and respond to terrorist pre-cursor activity, and separately to raise public awareness and vigilance through the If You See Something, Say Something campaign.

International Partnerships

DHS also has CVE partnerships with the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Canada, Belgium, Spain, Denmark, and Australia, as well as partnerships with international law enforcement organizations such as Europol.
  • For the past year, DHS, Europol, and E.U. partners have exchanged information on U.S. and E.U. based fusion center best practices, CVE training standards, and research and case studies, including a joint case study on the 2011 Norway attacks.
  • DHS signed a U.S.-Australia Joint Statement on Countering Transnational Crime, Terrorism, and Violent Extremism in Canberra in May 2012. 
  • Since 2010, DHS has partnered with Canadian counterparts to share best practices and research related to CVE and promote community-based and community driven efforts.  

To more effectively organize our efforts, the Administration is establishing a new Interagency Working Group to Counter Online Radicalization to Violence, chaired by the National Security Staff at the White House and involving specialists in countering violent extremism, Internet safety experts, and civil liberties and privacy practitioners from across the United States Government. This Working Group will be responsible for developing plans to implement an Internet safety approach to address online violent extremism, coordinating the Federal Government’s activities and assessing our progress against these plans, and identifying additional activities to pursue for countering online radicalization to violence.

To more effectively organize our efforts, the Administration is establishing a new Interagency Working Group to Counter Online Radicalization to Violence, chaired by the National Security Staff at the White House and involving specialists in countering violent extremism, Internet safety experts, and civil liberties and privacy practitioners from across the United States Government. This Working Group will be responsible for developing plans to implement an Internet safety approach to address online violent extremism, coordinating the Federal Government’s activities and assessing our progress against these plans, and identifying additional activities to pursue for countering online radicalization to violence.

hello anonymous here come the white house after all of us protesting on the internet

white house blog Working to Counter Online Radicalization to Violence in the United States


Working to Counter Online Radicalization to Violence in the United States

The American public increasingly relies on the Internet for socializing, business transactions, gathering information, entertainment, and creating and sharing content. The rapid growth of the Internet has brought opportunities but also risks, and the Federal Government is committed to empowering members of the public to protect themselves against the full range of online threats, including online radicalization to violence.
Violent extremist groups ─ like al-Qa’ida and its affiliates and adherents, violent supremacist groups, and violent “sovereign citizens” ─ are leveraging online tools and resources to propagate messages of violence and division. These groups use the Internet to disseminate propaganda, identify and groom potential recruits, and supplement their real-world recruitment efforts.  Some members and supporters of these groups visit mainstream fora to see whether individuals might be recruited or encouraged to commit acts of violence, look for opportunities to draw targets into private exchanges, and exploit popular media like music videos and online video games.  Although the Internet offers countless opportunities for Americans to connect, it has also provided violent extremists with access to new audiences and instruments for radicalization.
As a starting point to prevent online radicalization to violence in the homeland, the Federal Government initially will focus on raising awareness about the threat and providing communities with practical information and tools for staying safe online. In this process, we will work closely with the technology industry to consider policies, technologies, and tools that can help counter violent extremism online. Companies already have developed voluntary measures to promote Internet safety ─ such as fraud warnings, identity protection, and Internet safety tips ─ and we will collaborate with industry to explore how we might counter online violent extremism without interfering with lawful Internet use or the privacy and civil liberties of individual users.
This approach is consistent with Internet safety principles that have helped keep communities safe from a range of online threats, such as cyber bullies, scammers, gangs, and sexual predators. While each of these threats is unique, experience has shown that a well-informed public, armed with tools and resources to stay safe online, is critical to protecting communities. Pursuing such an approach is also consistent with the community-based framework we outlined in Empowering Local Partners to Prevent Violent Extremism in the United States and the Strategic Implementation Plan for Empowering Local Partners to Prevent Violent Extremism in the United States.
A New Interagency Working Group
To more effectively organize our efforts, the Administration is establishing a new Interagency Working Group to Counter Online Radicalization to Violence, chaired by the National Security Staff at the White House and involving specialists in countering violent extremism, Internet safety experts, and civil liberties and privacy practitioners from across the United States Government. This Working Group will be responsible for developing plans to implement an Internet safety approach to address online violent extremism, coordinating the Federal Government’s activities and assessing our progress against these plans, and identifying additional activities to pursue for countering online radicalization to violence.
Raising Awareness through Existing Initiatives
In the coming months, the Working Group will coordinate with Federal departments and agencies to raise awareness and disseminate tools for staying safe from online violent extremism primarily through three means.
First, information about online violent extremism will be incorporated into existing Federal Government Internet safety initiatives.  Internet safety initiatives at the Department of Education, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Federal Trade Commission, the Department of Homeland Security, and other agencies provide platforms that already reach millions of Americans, and relevant departments and agencies will work to add materials related to online radicalization.
The primary government platform for raising awareness about Internet safety is OnGuard Online, managed by the Federal Trade Commission and involving 16 departments and agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, and the Department of Education.  OnGuard Online─ in addition to other Federal Government Internet safety platforms like Stop.Think.Connect and Safe Online Surfing─ will begin including information about online violent extremism.  This information also will be posted on the Countering Violent Extremism homepage on the Department of Homeland Security’s website and updated to reflect new best practices and research.
Second, the Federal Government will work with local organizations throughout the country to disseminate information about the threat.  One reason for the success of Federal Government Internet safety awareness efforts is that they work closely with local organizations — such as school districts, Parent Teacher Associations, local government, and law enforcement — to communicate to communities.  Law enforcement is a particularly important partner in raising awareness about radicalization to violence and is already developing materials with support from the Department of Justice. Law enforcement departments and agencies have established Internet safety programs and relationships with community members and local organizations that can reach multiple audiences with critical information about the threat of online violent extremism and recruitment. Departments and agencies will provide the latest assessments of this threat to our local partners and encourage them to incorporate this information into their programs and initiatives.
Third, departments and agencies will use our preexisting engagement with communities to provide information about Internet safety and details about how violent extremists are using the Internet to target and exploit communities.  U.S. Attorneys throughout the country, who historically have engaged with communities on a range of public safety issues, are coordinating these Federal engagement efforts at the local level, with support from other departments and agencies, such as the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Department of Education.  U.S. Attorneys and others involved in community engagement will seek to incorporate information about Internet radicalization to violence into their efforts, as appropriate.  At the same time, the Federal Government will engage with State, local, and tribal government and law enforcement officials to learn from their experiences in addressing online threats, including violent extremism.
Going Forward
As the Federal Government implements this effort in the coming months, we will continue to investigate and prosecute those who use the Internet to recruit others to plan or carry out acts of violence, while ensuring that we also continue to uphold individual privacy and civil liberties.  Preventing online radicalization to violence requires both proactive solutions to reduce the likelihood that violent extremists affect their target audiences as well as ensuring that laws are rigorously enforced.

For a fact sheet on Countering Online Radicalization to Violence, click here.

white house blog Working to Counter Online Radicalization to Violence in the United States


Working to Counter Online Radicalization to Violence in the United States

The American public increasingly relies on the Internet for socializing, business transactions, gathering information, entertainment, and creating and sharing content. The rapid growth of the Internet has brought opportunities but also risks, and the Federal Government is committed to empowering members of the public to protect themselves against the full range of online threats, including online radicalization to violence.
Violent extremist groups ─ like al-Qa’ida and its affiliates and adherents, violent supremacist groups, and violent “sovereign citizens” ─ are leveraging online tools and resources to propagate messages of violence and division. These groups use the Internet to disseminate propaganda, identify and groom potential recruits, and supplement their real-world recruitment efforts.  Some members and supporters of these groups visit mainstream fora to see whether individuals might be recruited or encouraged to commit acts of violence, look for opportunities to draw targets into private exchanges, and exploit popular media like music videos and online video games.  Although the Internet offers countless opportunities for Americans to connect, it has also provided violent extremists with access to new audiences and instruments for radicalization.
As a starting point to prevent online radicalization to violence in the homeland, the Federal Government initially will focus on raising awareness about the threat and providing communities with practical information and tools for staying safe online. In this process, we will work closely with the technology industry to consider policies, technologies, and tools that can help counter violent extremism online. Companies already have developed voluntary measures to promote Internet safety ─ such as fraud warnings, identity protection, and Internet safety tips ─ and we will collaborate with industry to explore how we might counter online violent extremism without interfering with lawful Internet use or the privacy and civil liberties of individual users.
This approach is consistent with Internet safety principles that have helped keep communities safe from a range of online threats, such as cyber bullies, scammers, gangs, and sexual predators. While each of these threats is unique, experience has shown that a well-informed public, armed with tools and resources to stay safe online, is critical to protecting communities. Pursuing such an approach is also consistent with the community-based framework we outlined in Empowering Local Partners to Prevent Violent Extremism in the United States and the Strategic Implementation Plan for Empowering Local Partners to Prevent Violent Extremism in the United States.
A New Interagency Working Group
To more effectively organize our efforts, the Administration is establishing a new Interagency Working Group to Counter Online Radicalization to Violence, chaired by the National Security Staff at the White House and involving specialists in countering violent extremism, Internet safety experts, and civil liberties and privacy practitioners from across the United States Government. This Working Group will be responsible for developing plans to implement an Internet safety approach to address online violent extremism, coordinating the Federal Government’s activities and assessing our progress against these plans, and identifying additional activities to pursue for countering online radicalization to violence.
Raising Awareness through Existing Initiatives
In the coming months, the Working Group will coordinate with Federal departments and agencies to raise awareness and disseminate tools for staying safe from online violent extremism primarily through three means.
First, information about online violent extremism will be incorporated into existing Federal Government Internet safety initiatives.  Internet safety initiatives at the Department of Education, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Federal Trade Commission, the Department of Homeland Security, and other agencies provide platforms that already reach millions of Americans, and relevant departments and agencies will work to add materials related to online radicalization.
The primary government platform for raising awareness about Internet safety is OnGuard Online, managed by the Federal Trade Commission and involving 16 departments and agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, and the Department of Education.  OnGuard Online─ in addition to other Federal Government Internet safety platforms like Stop.Think.Connect and Safe Online Surfing─ will begin including information about online violent extremism.  This information also will be posted on the Countering Violent Extremism homepage on the Department of Homeland Security’s website and updated to reflect new best practices and research.
Second, the Federal Government will work with local organizations throughout the country to disseminate information about the threat.  One reason for the success of Federal Government Internet safety awareness efforts is that they work closely with local organizations — such as school districts, Parent Teacher Associations, local government, and law enforcement — to communicate to communities.  Law enforcement is a particularly important partner in raising awareness about radicalization to violence and is already developing materials with support from the Department of Justice. Law enforcement departments and agencies have established Internet safety programs and relationships with community members and local organizations that can reach multiple audiences with critical information about the threat of online violent extremism and recruitment. Departments and agencies will provide the latest assessments of this threat to our local partners and encourage them to incorporate this information into their programs and initiatives.
Third, departments and agencies will use our preexisting engagement with communities to provide information about Internet safety and details about how violent extremists are using the Internet to target and exploit communities.  U.S. Attorneys throughout the country, who historically have engaged with communities on a range of public safety issues, are coordinating these Federal engagement efforts at the local level, with support from other departments and agencies, such as the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Department of Education.  U.S. Attorneys and others involved in community engagement will seek to incorporate information about Internet radicalization to violence into their efforts, as appropriate.  At the same time, the Federal Government will engage with State, local, and tribal government and law enforcement officials to learn from their experiences in addressing online threats, including violent extremism.
Going Forward
As the Federal Government implements this effort in the coming months, we will continue to investigate and prosecute those who use the Internet to recruit others to plan or carry out acts of violence, while ensuring that we also continue to uphold individual privacy and civil liberties.  Preventing online radicalization to violence requires both proactive solutions to reduce the likelihood that violent extremists affect their target audiences as well as ensuring that laws are rigorously enforced.

For a fact sheet on Countering Online Radicalization to Violence, click here.

Quintan Wiktorowicz is the White House Senior Director for Community Partnerships, on the National Security Staff

Feinstein and Boxer Ask Californians to Lay Down Their Weapons During Statewide Manhunt

Feinstein and Boxer Ask Californians to Lay Down Their Weapons During Statewide Manhunt

(PP)- As an ex-Los Angeles police officer killed three people and went on a deadly shooting rampage in a vendetta to punish those he attributed for his firing, California Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer pleaded for calm, and asked both law enforcement and civilians to lay down their weapons.
1An intense manhunt  for Christopher Dorner that aroused fear across several states and Mexico focused late Thursday on Big Bear Lake, about 80 miles east of Los Angeles, where police found a burned-out pickup truck that belonged to the ex-military and former police officer Dorner.
Throughout the day, Senators Feinstein and Boxer made desperate pleas for their California constituents to turn in their guns and not confront the crazed gunman because this would be a perfect test of their anti-gun proposals.
“The Senators feel the best course of action is to remove all weapons from law enforcement and private citizens so no one else gets hurt,” said a Senate communications intern. “When the gunman realizes that nobody else is armed, he will lay down his weapons and turn himself in…. that’s just human nature.”
2“I will bring unconventional and asymmetrical warfare to Los Angeles Police Department officers, on or off duty,” said Dorner in his angry manifesto published online. The rant also claimed that: “Unfortunately, I will not be alive to see my name cleared. That’s what this is about, my name. A man is nothing without his name.”
Other California lawmakers chimed in on the Senators’ anti-gun stance with Los Angeles’ Democrat Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa saying disarmament was a good idea, except for public officials. Republicans thought the idea was just crazy.
“Feinstein and Boxer want everybody to go unarmed as a madman is running a round shooting people,” said a Riverside, CA. alderman. “If that is the truth… I’m never going to San Francisco again… something must be in the water to make them that insane.”
3Dorner, 33, had multiple weapons including a frivolously banned assault rifle, said Los Angeles police Chief Charlie Beck, who urged the suspect to surrender at an unusual press conference in an underground high security room where police were shaking in their boots.
“Of course he knows what he’s doing, we trained him. He was also a member of the Armed Forces,” he said. “It is extremely worrisome and scary.”
The Palookaville Post has learned that nearly 10,000-members of the LAPD were dispatched to protect more than 108 potential targets across the region on Thursday. The department also said that the federal government was in fact more dangerous than the lone suspect because their ideas of weapon confiscation can hurt millions of Americans over several generations.
Putting down their weapons is simply not an option for all legal gun owners. It is their Constitutional right and moral responsibility to protect their loved ones…. it should be obvious.

Presidential Memorandum--Child Soldiers Prevention Act

Presidential Determination
No.       2011-4
MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF STATE
SUBJECT:    Presidential Determination with Respect to Section 404(c) of the Child Soldiers Prevention Act of 2008
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, pursuant to section 404(c) of the Child Soldiers Prevention Act of 2008 (CSPA), title IV of the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (Public Law 110 457), I hereby determine that it is in the national interest of the United States to waive the application to Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, and Yemen of the prohibition in section 404(a) of the CSPA.
You are authorized and directed to submit this determination to the Congress, along with the accompanying memorandum of justification, and to publish it in the Federal Register.
                        BARACK OBAMA

Presidential Memorandum -- Presidential Determination with respect to the Child Soldiers Prevention Act of 2008

MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF STATE
SUBJECT: Determination with Respect to the Child Soldiers Prevention Act of 2008
Pursuant to section 404 of the Child Soldiers Prevention Act of 2008 (CSPA) (title IV, Public Law 110-457), I hereby determine that it is in the national interest of the United States to waive the application of the prohibition in section 404(a) of the CSPA with respect to Libya, South Sudan, and Yemen; and further determine that it is in the national interest of the United States to waive in part the application of the prohibition in section 404(a) of the CSPA with respect to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to allow for continued provision of International Military Education and Training funds and nonlethal Excess Defense Articles, and the issuance of licenses for direct commercial sales of U.S. origin defense articles; and I hereby waive such provisions accordingly.
You are authorized and directed to submit this determination to the Congress, along with the accompanying Memorandum of Justification, and to publish the determination in the Federal Register.
BARACK OBAMA

Presidential Memorandum -- Presidential Determination with respect to the Child Soldiers Prevention Act of 2008 MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF STATE SUBJECT: Determination with Respect to the Child Soldiers Prevention Act of 2008 Pursuant to section 404 of the Child Soldiers Prevention Act of 2008 (CSPA) (title IV, Public Law 110-457), I hereby determine that it is in the national interest of the United States to waive the application of the prohibition in section 404(a) of the CSPA with respect to Libya, South Sudan, and Yemen; and further determine that it is in the national interest of the United States to waive in part the application of the prohibition in section 404(a) of the CSPA with respect to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to allow for continued provision of International Military Education and Training funds and nonlethal Excess Defense Articles, and the issuance of licenses for direct commercial sales of U.S. origin defense articles; and I hereby waive such provisions accordingly. You are authorized and directed to submit this determination to the Congress, along with the accompanying Memorandum of Justification, and to publish the determination in the Federal Register. BARACK OBAMA

Presidential Memorandum -- Presidential Determination with respect to the Child Soldiers Prevention Act of 2008

MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF STATE
SUBJECT: Determination with Respect to the Child Soldiers Prevention Act of 2008
Pursuant to section 404 of the Child Soldiers Prevention Act of 2008 (CSPA) (title IV, Public Law 110-457), I hereby determine that it is in the national interest of the United States to waive the application of the prohibition in section 404(a) of the CSPA with respect to Libya, South Sudan, and Yemen; and further determine that it is in the national interest of the United States to waive in part the application of the prohibition in section 404(a) of the CSPA with respect to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to allow for continued provision of International Military Education and Training funds and nonlethal Excess Defense Articles, and the issuance of licenses for direct commercial sales of U.S. origin defense articles; and I hereby waive such provisions accordingly.
You are authorized and directed to submit this determination to the Congress, along with the accompanying Memorandum of Justification, and to publish the determination in the Federal Register.
BARACK OBAMA

Obama Guts Child Soldier Act In Favor of Shipping Cash & Arms to Middle East


Obama Guts Child Soldier Act In Favor of Shipping Cash & Arms to Middle East

child-soldier-cspa
Child Soldier of The Congo

On September 28, 2012 U.S. President Barack Obama issued a presidential memorandum which completely gutted former President Bush’s Child Soldiers Prevention Act of 2008(CSPA or CSAA, the name was changed to Child soldiers Accountability Act prior to finalization), a Bill which made it a federal crime to recruit or use soldiers under the age of 15 and a measure which forbade our government from selling weaponry and providing financial assistance to countries who enslave child soldiers. The law also gave the US authority to “prosecute, deport or deny entry to individuals who have knowingly recruited children as soldiers.”
Judging from the verbiage of the memorandum, which you will find in a screen clip below, the newly white listed countries include Libya, South Sudan, Yemen and the Democratic Republic of the Congo – all countries which are  notorious for their use of child military labor.

Clipped from http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/09/28/presidential-memorandum-presidential-determination-respect-child-soldier
While I was  perusing the White House web site searching for other references to Child Soldiers I quickly discovered TWO(2) other memorandums which accomplished the same thing, one from 2010 relinquishing the sanctions on Chad, and another from 2011 in reference to the Congo only – making this 2012 measure Barack Obama’s 3rd and most sweeping and egregious free pass for countries enslaving children as child soldiers – and once again allowing the United States to continue funneling arms and cash to those countries. To add insult to injury, 2010 represented the first year that the Bush inspired CSPA bipartisan measure was to go into effect.
Ironically it was President Obama himself who deemed child soldiers a form of “slavery” less than a week after issuing his latest memorandum:
DALLAS, October 3, 2012 – “When a little boy is kidnapped, turned into a child soldier, forced to kill or be killed — that’s slavery. It is barbaric, and it is evil, and it has no place in a civilized world. Now, as a nation, we’ve long rejected such cruelty.”  -Barack Obama
The addition of Libya to the list of countries now allowed to enslave children and be rewarded for it is of particularly disturbing. During the Libyan revolt of 2011 US-backed rebels used children as young as seven to assist in their war effort.
What’s also troubling in regards to Libya revolves around the Muslim Brotherhood’s February 17 Brigade which slurps U.S. funds from Egypt’s annual 1.5 Billion dollar “financial aid” package sponsored by American taxpayers. Feb 17 is notorious for their use of child soldiers and ironically was charged with the responsibility of providing security at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi during the time of the  September 11th 2012 attack which took the life of Ambassador Chris Stevens and 3 military operatives.  Feb 17 was a a no call no show on that night which helped facilitate the death of the aforementioned men as well as the theft of highly classified documents from the embassy building regarding oil contracts, lists of safe houses protecting U.S. informants and other less than savory information – which this author believes was the reasoning for the attack in the first place. But, I digress.
The mainstream media has completely blacklisted any mention of these presidential memorandums regarding CSPA and a quick search of google referencing “Obama child soldier” will prove that point. There is one small reference from ABCnews to the 2011 memorandum but all other search results are by new media websites and citizen journalists.
But while Obama’s mainstream media is on board assisting their president to diplomatically enslave innocent children in impoverished 3rd world countries, it appears the United Nations is not. Just a few days ago The Cable issued a report claiming that even the U.N. is asking the President to stop waiving sanctions on these countries who enslave child soldiers. On Tuesday, the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child released a report containing recommendations on how countries can address the issue of child soldiers — along with some criticism of Barack Obama’s insistence of allowing the exploitation of children by militaristic regime’s via his memorandum pen:
“The Committee urges the [United States] to enact and apply a full prohibition of arms exports, including small arms and light weapons as well as any kind of military assistance to countries where children are known to be, or may potentially be, recruited or used in armed conflict and/or hostilities. To this end, the [United States] is encouraged to review and amend the 2008 Child Soldiers Prevention Act with the view to withdrawing the possibility to allow for presidential waivers to these countries,” the report stated.
And now, for the final uppercut; not only did then Senator Barack Obama vote for S. 2135 Child Soldiers Accountability Act of 2008 – he COSPONSORED it in 2007! Scroll and open the ‘cosponsors’ tab found at that link. It’s right there in black and white. And while we’re at it, here’s Senator Obama’s complete senatorial voting record.
Why is the President of the United States gutting legislation which he himself cosponsored and helped make law just 5 short years ago while in the Senate? What new revelations could have possibly presented themselves to him in that short span of time that would make him shift so drastically from wanting to protect children across the globe to waiving his own law and dismissing their agony and suffering?
This is the guy we’re supposed to trust with an across the board blind drone policy which states he can order the killing of Americans without trial based on his opinion and definition of what he considers “senior operational leaders” of al-Qaida or “an associated force.”  This is the president that Lindsey “lintseed” Graham(r-sc) has came rushing to defend, giving the President an A in reference to his drone policy and going so far as to codify the President as a victim of his own libertarian and democrat constituents in Washington because they all condemn the policy.
Considering President Obama’s motivations for waiving these very important CSPA restrictions and sanctions on those who employee and enslave children into their military ranks – motivations which are transparently obvious, ie.  so he can continue sending arms and crated-cash shipments to those respective governments – based on the stipulations of his “targeted drone strike” policy  Barack Obama should drone strike himself because he’s showing all the signs of being a “senior operational leader” of terror sponsoring countries worldwide.
I’ll spare you his arms deals and 1.5 billion dollar annual payments to the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and his financial support of Hamas for now – but mark these words: Barack Obama is sending what little American wealth that remains overseas to our very own enemies – and he’s getting better and better at doing it without so much as a peep from our mainstream media which represents a very alarming situation because as soon as media stops reporting these guys and gals in Washington will be completely free of public scrutiny and they can finally relax and finish raping whats left of  the American taxpayer as well as what few morals our society once possessed.
If anyone, supporters of the President or whomever, can offer some insight into why it’s in the best interest of the United States to send funds and hardware to violence prone African and Mid-East nations especially considering our national debt and our beleaguered economy, while simultaneously allowing children to be exploited in the name of war I would be relieved to hear it.
(many apologies to my readers for missing this when it happened back in September. This administration has gotten extremely good at sneaking real news past all of us, myself included, and I spend a few hours per day pouring over news stories. Also, many thanks to Laurie Struder for bringing this situation to my attention.)

DCXposed (http://s.tt/1zzbf)

Presidential Memorandum--Child Soldiers Prevention Act

Presidential Determination
No.       2011-4
MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF STATE
SUBJECT:    Presidential Determination with Respect to Section 404(c) of the Child Soldiers Prevention Act of 2008
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, pursuant to section 404(c) of the Child Soldiers Prevention Act of 2008 (CSPA), title IV of the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (Public Law 110 457), I hereby determine that it is in the national interest of the United States to waive the application to Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, and Yemen of the prohibition in section 404(a) of the CSPA.
You are authorized and directed to submit this determination to the Congress, along with the accompanying memorandum of justification, and to publish it in the Federal Register.
                        BARACK OBAMA

How I Hacked An Electronic Voting Machine http://www.popsci.com/gadgets/article/2012-11/how-i-hacked-electronic-voting-machine look we have to bust the company that had these voter broths because you have to open the voter boxs and in stall this cirtice broad and you have to do it at the facrouy on in the trut or when they in stall them you just cant haxck these broths w ethe people need a real preident dont this evil fucker take in away our rights

How I Hacked An Electronic Voting Machine  http://www.popsci.com/gadgets/article/2012-11/how-i-hacked-electronic-voting-machine look we have to bust the company that had these voter broths because you have to open the voter boxs and in stall this cirtice broad  and you have to do it at the facrouy on in the trut or when they in stall them you just cant haxck these broths w ethe people need a real preident dont this evil fucker take in away our rights
How I Hacked An Electronic Voting Machine  http://www.popsci.com/gadgets/article/2012-11/how-i-hacked-electronic-voting-machine

Obama Admin Cites 'Int'l Permission,' Not Congress, As 'Legal Basis' For Action In S

Obama Admin Cites 'Int'l Permission,' Not Congress, As 'Legal Basis' For Action In S

 Obama Admin Cites 'Int'l Permission,' Not Congress, As 'Legal Basis' For...: http://youtu.be/5zNwOeyuG84 via @youtube

any one who does this to a child will face god judgement

Report: Saudi Court Releases Imam Who Raped, Murdered 5-Yr. Old Daughter

Tue, February 5, 2013

by: 
Ryan Mauro
Lama al-GhamdiRevolutions and irresistible movements for change don’t happen spontaneously. They are “sparked” by a dramatic moment. In Saudi Arabia, such a “spark” may have been lit. News reports say Islamist preacher Fayhan al-Ghamdi has admitted to torturing and murdering his five-year old daughter, Lama, and is walking away a free man. He even still has custody of his two other children. And now, Saudi activists are taking a stand.
Al-Ghamdi, whose extremist preaching was often on Saudi television, was originally accused of abusing Lama last April. That attack was so vicious that she suffered a fractured skull and brain damage. Tragically, he was still permitted access to her, leading to her death in December.
He was then arrested in November after Lama died. He admits responsibility and says his assault began because he suspected her, a mere five-year old, of losing her virginity. A social worker said she was “raped” everywhere, but her mother says that part of the story isn’t true. Lama was beaten with electric shocks, whips and an iron. Her skull was crushed. Her back and arms were broken. Her ribs were fractured. The hospital said al-Ghamdi even tried to burn her rectum closed.
Al-Ghamdi has reportedly been released, but a member of the Saudi government’s Human Rights Commission told CNN that he’s been in prison for eight months on accusations of torture that led to Lama's death, implying that he was still in jail. CNN says attempts to reach Saudi activits, government officials and Kind Saud hospital were unsuccessful.
The Saudi judge ruled that his short time in jail was adequate punishment, as long as he paid $50,000 in “blood money” to his ex-wife, who is Lama’s mother. That amount is half of the money that would be required if Lama had been a boy. Saudi national laws prevent a father from being executed for murdering his children or his wife, activists told Al-Jazeera.
Shockingly, al-Ghamdi’s other two children have not not been taken away from him, says Lama’s mother.
The three Saudi human rights activists say that the incident has struck a nerve in the country. They have begun a Twitter campaign where users are bringing attention to the case with the hashtag “AnaLama,” meaning “I am Lama” in English.
A Twitter campaign sounds like something that can be dismissed, but it is worth recalling the power of social networking in sustaining the revolutions in the region that have been called the “Arab Spring.” One of the activists, Manal al-Sharif, got global attention in 2011 when she videotaped herself driving a vehicle in defiance of the Saudi ban. She is a popular activist, and if she says that a movement is growing, it is worth listening.
The Saudi government apparently is worried and says it will set up a 24-hour hotline for phone calls reporting child abuse. That is far from what is needed to make amends. The next hearing in the case will be held in two weeks, generating another round of outrage-inducing headlines.
The ingredients exist in Saudi Arabia for social upheaval. In December 2010, Stephen Schwartz of the Center for Islamic Pluralism told me that there exists a “conflict between the younger generation seeking reform and the Wahhabi clerics.” In an interview with RadicalIslam.org, Dr. Ali Alyami of the Center for Democracy and Human Rights in Saudi Arabia, seemed to agree. He explained that there has been a “gradual disconnect from the past, religion and a new perception of the world.”
King Abdullah, who has reformist tendencies when compared with the more hardline Wahhabists, senses the change. On January 11, he appointed 30 women to the Shura Council, which can draft laws for approval by him. The Saudi government recently decided to allow women to work in pharmacies.
A powerful movement for change may give him the confidence to move forward in enacting more far-reaching reform despite Islamist opposition. The West, however, must stand behind the Saudi activists in seizing this moment.
In 2009, the brutal shooting of Neda Soltan made her the face of the Iranian opposition. In 2011, Mohamed Bouazizi’s self-immolation in Tunisia set off the “Arab Spring.” In June 2011, the torturing and murdering of a 13-year old boy named Hamza al-Khatib sparked protests in his name in Syria. In 2013, Lama’s name may became synonymous with an unstoppable movement for change in Saudi Arabia.
Ryan Mauro is RadicalIslam.org's National Security Analyst and a fellow with the Clarion Fund. He is the founder of WorldThreats.com and is frequently interviewed on Fox News.

Lew’s Cayman Islands Fund a Likely Issue at Confirmation Hearings

Lew’s Cayman Islands Fund a Likely Issue at Confirmation Hearings

As recently as 2010, Jack Lew, President Obama‘s nominee to be the next secretary of the Treasury, had $56,000 invested in a CitiGroup venture capital fund based in the Cayman Islands’ notorious Ugland House, a building whose mailboxes are home to nearly 19,000 corporate entities, many of them tax shelters.
The investment has been in public documents for years and drew no attention when Mr. Lew was confirmed to be deputy secretary of state in 2009 and director of the White House Office of Management and Budget in 2010.
But the fund is coming to light as Mr. Obama and Congressional Democrats are zeroing on taxes lost to off-shore entities, including hedge funds, as a way to stave off $1 trillion in across-the-board spending cuts set to begin March 1.
Aides in both parties said it was quite likely to come up during his confirmation hearing Wednesday. Senate Democrats are struggling to come up with a package of spending cuts and tax loophole closings that could stave off the automatic spending cuts — known as sequestration — for at least three months. Tax breaks for hedge fund managers and offshore tax shelters are a prime target.
The Finance Committee held hearings in 2008 burrowing in on Ugland House, a nondescript white building in George Town, Cayman Islands, that shelters a bewildering number of corporate headquarters.
“Today we will take a look at some ostensibly crowded halls, those of the Ugland House in the Cayman Islands,” Senator Max Baucus of Montana, the committee’s chairman, said, opening the hearing. “That is a remarkable five-story building that the G.A.O. tells us has some 18,857 tenants. Today we will examine whether many of those tenants are feasting at America’s taxpayers’ expense.”
Mr. Lew divested himself of the CitiGroup Venture Capital International Growth Partnership in 2010. When confirmed as budget director in 2010, he sold the investment at a loss, for $54,418.
“Jack Lew paid all of his taxes and reported all of the income, gains and losses from the investment on his tax returns,” said Eric Schultz, a White House spokesman. “The existence of Mr. Lew’s investment is not news to the Senate. Mr. Lew disclosed the investment in his prior confirmations, before three separate committees. There are no new facts that provide a basis for senators to reach a different conclusion about Mr. Lew’s nomination than they reached twice before in this administration.”
Mr. Lew did not create, manage or operate the fund, officials said. Republican aides did not suggest any illegality or tax cheating with the disclosure. Indeed, Republicans on the Finance Committee had leaped to the defense of Henry Paulson, President George W. Bush‘s last Treasury secretary, when numerous Cayman Island investments surfaced during his confirmation.
Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, then the Finance Committee’s ranking Republican, accused the president of hypocrisy.
“President Obama has been almost obsessively critical of offshore investments,” Mr. Grassley said. “He called Ugland House ‘either the biggest building or the biggest tax scam on record.’ That makes this Cayman Islands investment of his top official and now Treasury secretary nominee worthy of attention. The irony is thick. Members of the Finance Committee will question Mr. Lew about his foreign investments at the hearing.”

Obamacare’ rule could hike grocer costs by $1 billion


‘Obamacare’ rule could hike grocer costs by $1 billion

Mugshot ** FILE ** A customer looks at fresh vegetables at a Kroger Co. supermarket in Cincinnati on Monday, March 1, 2011. (AP Photo/Al Behrman)
New Food and Drug Administration rules to be imposed under ‘Obamacare’ could lead to higher food prices, according to grocery store executives who are casting wary eyes on the looming mandate.
The mandate could boost grocery owners’ costs by $1 billion in its first year, Fox News reports. And that means higher food costs to consumers.
“When you incur a significant cost, there is no way that that doesn’t get passed on to the customer in some form,” said Tom Heinen, a grocery store owner quoted in a Fox News report.
Under Obamacare, restaurants will have to add nutritional information to menus; store owners will have to note similarly on food bars, salad bars, bakery items and soups, Fox News reports.
Get the information wrong — and pay dearly.
“If you get it wrong, it’s a federal crime and you could face jail time and thousands of dollars worth of ones,” said Erik Lieberman, regulatory counsel at the Food Marketing Institute, in the Fox News report.

The Use of Reference Man in Radiation Protection Standards and Guidance with Recommendations for Change

The Use of Reference Man in Radiation Protection Standards and Guidance with Recommendations for Change

1. The use of Reference Man, a hypothetical 20 to 30 year old “Caucasian male,” in radiation protection regulations and guidelines, including those designed to protect the general public, is pervasive. This is scientifically inappropriate because the vast majority of people, including women and children, fall outside the definition. In general, it also does not protect those most at risk, who are often women and children.
2. Radiation protection regulations are generally given in terms of limits on radiation dose per year or in terms of maximum allowable concentrations of radionuclides in the environment, which also serve to limit radiation dose. The use of Reference Man in radiation dose calculations underestimates dose to children in a large number of situations, and to women in some situations. The underestimation of dose results in an underestimation of cancer risk.
IEER’s “Reference Man” recommendations and the correspondence between Senator Obama and Chairman Waxman and the Environmental Protection Agency regarding Reference Man are in the full report.

Government to Dispose of Radioactive Waste By Putting It In Our SILVERWARE Posted on January 28, 2013 by WashingtonsBlog 114982596706602958 cAlWuJMP b Government to Dispose of Radioactive Waste By Putting It In Our SILVERWARE

Department of Energy Wants to Let Radioactive Scrap Metal Back into Consumer Products

The overwhelming scientific consensus is that any amount of radiation – no matter how small – can cause cancer and other serious health effects.
(Current safety standards are based on the ridiculous assumption that everyone exposed is a healthy man in his 20s – and that radioactive particles ingested into the body cause no more damage than radiation hitting the outside of the body. In the real world, however, even low doses of radiation can cause cancer. Moreover, small particles of radiation – called “internal emitters” – which get inside the body are much more dangerous than general exposures to radiation. See this and this. And radiation affects small children much more than full-grown adults.)
But the Department of Energy – the agency which is responsible for the design, testing and production of all U.S. nuclear weapons, promotes nuclear energy as one of its core functions, which has been covering up nuclear accidents for decades, and has used mutant lines of human cells to promote voodoo, anti-scientific arguments – proposes letting radiation into our silverware.
Counterpunch notes:
Even the deregulation-happy Wall St. Journal sounded shocked: “The Department of Energy is proposing to allow the sale of tons of scrap metal from government nuclear sites — an attempt to reduce waste that critics say could lead to radiation-tainted belt buckles, surgical implants and other consumer products.”
Having failed in the ‘80s and ‘90s to free the nuclear bomb factories and national laboratories of millions of tons of their radioactively contaminated scrap and nickel, the DOE is trying again. Its latest proposal is moving ahead without even an Environmental Impact Statement. Those messy EISs involve public hearings, so you can imagine the DOE’s reluctance to face the public over adding yet more radiation to the doses we’re already accumulating.
Congressman Markey writes:
A Department of Energy proposal to allow up to 14,000 metric tons of its radioactive scrap metal to be recycled into consumer products was called into question today by Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) due to concerns over public health. In a letter sent to DOE head Steven Chu, Rep. Markey expressed “grave concerns” over the potential of these metals becoming jewelry, cutlery, or other consumer products that could exceed healthy doses of radiation without any knowledge by the consumer. DOE made the proposal to rescind its earlier moratorium on radioactive scrap metal recycling in December, 2012.
The proposal follows an incident from 2012 involving Bed, Bath & Beyond stores in America recalling tissue holders made in India that were contaminated with the radio-isotope cobalt-60. Those products were shipped to 200 stores in 20 states. In response to that incident, a Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesperson advised members of the public to return the products even though the amount of contamination was not considered to be a health risk.
This is not the first time this has happened.
As the Progressive reported in 1998, radioactive scrap metal was ending up in everything from silverware to frying pans and belt buckles:
The Department of Energy has a problem: what to do with millions of tons of radioactive material. So the DOE has come up with an ingenious plan to dispose of its troublesome tons of nickel, copper, steel and aluminum. It wants to let scrap companies collect the metal, try to take the radioactivity out, and sell the metal to foundries, which would in turn sell it to manufacturers who could use it for everyday household products: pots, pans, forks, spoons, even your eyeglasses.
You may not know this, but the government already permits some companies under special licenses, to buy, reprocess and sell radioactive metal: 7,500 tons in 1996, by one industry estimate. But the amount of this reprocessing could increase drastically if the DOE, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), and the burgeoning radioactive metal processing industry get their way.
They are pressing for a new, lax standard that would do away with special permits and allow companies to buy and resell millions of tons of low-level radioactive metal.
***
The standard the companies seek could cause nearly 100,000 cancer fatalities in the United States, by the NRC’s own estimate.
(A couple of years later, Congressman Markey successfully banned most radioactive scrap … but now DOE is trying to bring it back.)
Radioactive scrap is a global problem. As Bloomberg reported last year:
“The major risk we face in our industry is radiation,” said Paul de Bruin, radiation-safety chief for Jewometaal Stainless Processing, one of the world’s biggest stainless-steel scrap yards. “You can talk about security all you want, but I’ve found weapons-grade uranium in scrap. Where was the security?
More than 120 shipments of contaminated goods, including cutlery, buckles and work tools such as hammers and screwdrivers, were denied U.S. entry between 2003 and 2008 after customs and the Department of Homeland Security boosted radiation monitoring at borders.
The department declined to provide updated figures or comment on how the metal tissue boxes at Bed, Bath & Beyond, tainted with cobalt-60 used in medical instruments to diagnose and treat cancer, evaded detection.
***
The general public basically isn’t aware that they’re living in a radioactive world,” according to Ross Bartley, technical director for the recycling bureau, who said the contamination has led to lost sales. “Those tissue boxes are problematic because they’re radioactive and they had to be put in radioactive disposal.”
Abandoned medical scanners, food-processing devices and mining equipment containing radioactive metals such as cesium-137 and cobalt-60 are picked up by scrap collectors, sold to recyclers and melted down by foundries, the IAEA says.
Dangerous scrap comes from derelict hospitals and military bases, as well as defunct government agencies that have lost tools with radioactive elements.
Chronic exposure to low doses of radiation can lead to cataracts, cancer and birth defects, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. A 2005 study of more than 6,000 Taiwanese who lived in apartments built with radioactive reinforcing steel from 1983 to 2005 showed a statistically significant increase in leukemia and breast cancer.
***
India and China were the top sources of radioactive goods shipped to the U.S. through 2008, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Bartley, a metallurgist who has tracked radioactive contamination since the early 1990s, said there’s no evidence the situation has improved.
***
Two years after an Indian scrap-metal worker died from radiation exposure, the world’s second-most populous country hasn’t installed alarms, the Ministry of Shipping said in December.
***
The same thing could easily happen again tomorrow,” said Deepak Jain, 65, who owns the yard where the worker died. “We have no protection. The government promised a lot, but has delivered absolutely nothing.”
Indeed, we are being bombarded with low-level radiation from all sides:
  • In Japan, radioactive crops are being mixed into non-irradiated foods
(The government has even treated some people as guinea pigs.)
What can we do? Counterpunch notes:
You can tell the DOE to continue to keep its radioactive metal out of the commercial metal supply, commerce, and our personal items. You can demand a full environmental impact statement. Comment deadline is Feb. 9, 2013. Email to: scrap_PEAcomments@hq.doe.gov (with an underscore after “scrap_”). Snail mail to: Jane Summerson / DOE NNSA / PO Box 5400, Bldg. 401K. AFB East / Albuquerque, New Mexico 87185
* This photo is used only for illustrative purposes and does not mean to imply that this highly imaginative silver cutlery set is poisonous. We borrowed the photo under what might be called ‘creative license’ under the protection of ‘fair use’, to effectively draw your attention to this important news. For more information about the work of this artist, please visit www.andrelassen.com.

Gun control push causing mass awakening among conservatives about psychiatric drugs

Gun control push causing mass awakening among conservatives about psychiatric drugs








naturalnews.com
February 8, 2013
Well, Natural News has been making the connection for some time now, and it appears that, finally, other media outlets are beginning to do the same thing: Other media outlets, including the so-called conservative press – which has been reluctant to do so until recently – are reporting that many of the mass murders committed over the past 10-15 years have involved shooters who were taking, or had been taking, some sort of prescription psychotropic.
Conservative commentator Alan Caruba, in a recent blog post, noted the connection in an essay entitled, “Making Little Murderers by Prescription,” in which he observed that one positive thing that could come out of the Newtown, Conn., massacre is, finally, “a national discussion of the role of various psychological medications that have been foisted on a generation or two of young Americans in the nation’s schools.”
Like us, Caruba mentioned a specific class of drugs as being particularly dangerous and, perhaps, ultimately responsible: SSRIs, or Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors, which are psychotropic medications that work to alter chemical levels in the brain which impact behavior and mood.
 (NaturalNews) Well, Natural News has been making the connection for some time now, and it appears that, finally, other media outlets are beginning to do the same thing: Other media outlets, including the so-called conservative press - which has been reluctant to do so until recently - are reporting that many of the mass murders committed over the past 10-15 years have involved shooters who were taking, or had been taking, some sort of prescription psychotropic.

Conservative commentator Alan Caruba, in a recent blog post, noted the connection in an essay entitled, "Making Little Murderers by Prescription," in which he observed that one positive thing that could come out of the Newtown, Conn., massacre is, finally, "a national discussion of the role of various psychological medications that have been foisted on a generation or two of young Americans in the nation's schools."

More writers seeing the light

Like us, Caruba mentioned a specific class of drugs as being particularly dangerous and, perhaps, ultimately responsible: SSRIs, or Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors, which are psychotropic medications that work to alter chemical levels in the brain which impact behavior and mood.

Where you won't hear this connection made is at the White House, the New York gubernatorial statehouse, in the city council chambers of Chicago and New York City, and scores of other places where statist gun controllers are completely ignoring the connection. Rather, they are blaming the guns, gun makers and you, the honest gun-owning American.

Caruba's not the only one establishing the link between SSRIs and mass murder. Conservative columnist Harvard Ph.D Jerome R. Corsi wrote recently that dangerous psychotropics have had a role in about "90 percent of school shootings over more than a decade." He cited British psychiatrist Dr. David Healy, "a founder of RxISK.org, an independent website for researching and reporting on prescription drugs."

Corsi, who is a senior staff reporter for WorldNetDaily.com, said one of Healy's websites, ssristories.com, contains more than 4,800 reports of violence where antidepressants are mentioned. (Note: The most common SSRIs include Zoloft, Celexa, Prozac, Lexapro and Luvox. (Dis)honorable mentions include Cymbalta, Remeron, Effexor, Anafranil and Prestiq.)

Others are catching on as well. Writing in CanadaFreePress.com, American Policy Center president Tom DeWeese said, "As communities reel from one massive act of student violence after another, most recently in Newtown, Connecticut, the nation looks for answers. How many are looking at the schools themselves as the conduit through which millions of students are drugged with mind-altering drugs?"

Continuing, DeWeese cited statistics:

Today more than 7,000,000 children have been labeled, stamped and registered as permanent patients of the school system. 10 to 12 percent of all boys between the ages of six and 14 in the United States have been diagnosed as having ADD. One in every 30 Americans between the ages of five and 19 years old has a prescription for Ritalin. And the fuse burns as the "patients" sit in the classroom.

Nationally syndicated columnist and multiple No. 1 New York Times bestselling author Ann Coulter, talked about the 800-pound gorilla in the room few politicians, academics and pundits want to recognize, when framing the gun-control debate: "Consequently, whenever a psychopath with a million gigantic warning signs commits a shocking murder, the knee-jerk reaction is to place yet more controls on guns. By now, guns are the most heavily regulated product in America."

We'll continue to report on this heinous connection

Adds Healy on his website: "Antidepressants have been recognized as potential inducers of mania and psychosis since their introduction in the 1950s. Since the introduction of Prozac in December 1987, there has been a massive increase in the number of people taking antidepressants."

As we have reported in the past, at least 14 recent shootings at schools have been committed by someone taking or withdrawing from psychiatric drugs. The results are telling: 58 killed, 109 wounded.

In other school shootings, "information about their drug use was never made public - neither confirming or refuting if they were under the influence of prescribed drugs," the Citizens Commission on Human Rights International revealed.

It is well and good to see an increasing number of columnists, writers and news outlets report and discuss the connection between psychotropics and mass murder, because it's about time. There are still too few of them doing so, but rest assured that we'll continue to do our part.

Sources:

http://www.ammoland.com

http://abcnews.go.com

http://www.wnd.com

Seattle Mayor Bans Police From Using Drones

Seattle Mayor Bans Police From Using Drones




  • SPD Drone Unveiling: http://youtu.be/adnxjrvjv1g via @youtube


     


Backlash against spy craft exploding nationwideSEATTLE POLICE'S EYE IN THE SKY: http://youtu.be/QI13yDN2gi0 via @youtube

Steve Watson
Infowars.com
Feb 8, 2013

The backlash against government and law enforcement plans to use surveillance drones is continuing apace across the nation, with the latest victory for privacy coming in Seattle.
AP reports that Mayor Mike McGinn ordered the city police department to scrap extensive plans it had to roll out drones it has already acquired through federal grant money.
“Today I spoke with Seattle Police Chief John Diaz, and we agreed that it was time to end the unmanned aerial vehicle program, so that SPD can focus its resources on public safety and the community building work that is the department’s priority,” a statement from the Mayor read.
Residents and anti-drone activists have been leading protests against the drone plans for some time. A City Council meeting on Wednesday saw many speak out against the plans, influencing the decision to block authority for police to use the unmanned craft.
Doug Honig, a spokesman for the Washington chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said “We applaud the mayor’s action… Drones would have given the police unprecedented abilities to engage in surveillance and intrude on the privacy of people in Seattle … and there was a never a strong case made that Seattle needed them for public safety.”
The Seattle Police Department had planned to deploy unmanned surveillance drones over the city after it became one of the first law enforcement agencies in the US to be granted permission by the federal government to do so.
Privacy and civil rights concerns raised by residents prompted police to issue a draft operating policy manual that stated “…the onboard cameras will be turned … away from occupied structures, to minimize inadvertent video or still images of uninvolved persons.”
This still wasn’t enough to convince lawmakers that the drones were appropriate for use in Seattle skies.
The Sky Valley Chronicle, which also took issue with the drone roll out, noted last year that the SPD is “the same police department that the U.S. Justice Department found – after an 11-month probe – had engaged in “a pattern or practice of excessive force that violates the Constitution and federal law.”
“And that was with no drones in the air.” the newspaper urged.
Since they acquired the drones, officers have paraded them to the public in several presentations.
The unmanned craft purchased by police were fitted with surveillance cameras with face-recognition software, as well as separate cameras offering thermal infrared video, low light “dusk-dawn” video, and a 1080p HD video camera attachment. The Draganflyer X-6 drone, seen in the videos below, can travel up to 30 mph and can fly as high as 8,000 feet.
Several other states and cities are considering legislation to prohibit the use of drones in domestic skies. Oregon became the latest state to do so this week with the introduction of a bill setting out licensing requirements for drone use in the state. The bill would fine those who use unlicensed drones to conduct surveillance. New limitations are also being proposed for federal evidence collected by drone use in a state court.
The FAA this week released an updated list of domestic drone authorizations, showing more than 20 new drone operators, and bringing to 81 the total number of public entities that have applied for FAA drone authorizations through October 2012.
After Congress passed the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization last year, requiring the FAA to permit the operation of drones weighing 25 pounds or less, observers predicted that anything up to 30,000 spy drones could be flying in U.S. skies by 2020.
As we reported in December, thousands of pages of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) documents newly released under the Freedom Of Information Act have revealed that the military, as well as law enforcement agencies, are already extensively flying surveillance drones in non-restricted skies throughout the country.
In addition, information via news items, Department of Homeland Security press releases, and word of mouth has made it apparent that the Department of Homeland Security is overseeing predator drone flights for a range of local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies.
Last October, the DHS announced in a solicitation that it would be testing small spy drones at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, signaling that the devices will be used for “public safety” applications in the near future.
Much larger drones are already being used in law enforcement operations across the country. The most infamous case involved the Brossart family in North Dakota, who were targeted for surveillance with a Predator B drone last year after six missing cows wandered onto their land. Police had already used the drone, which is based at Grand Forks Air Force Base, on two dozen occasions beforehand.
Plans to roll out drones by law enforcement agencies in California and Buffalo have recently met with stern opposition.
As we have previously reported, some police departments have expressed a willingness to arm drones with rubber bullets and tear gas.
Police departments are also attempting to get approval to use surveillance blimps that hover over cities and watch for “suspicious activity.”
The U.S. Army recently tested a football field-sized blimp over the city of New Jersey. The blimp can fly for a period of 21 hours and “is equipped with high-tech sensors that can monitor insurgents from above.”
Recently released FAA documents obtained by the Center for Investigative Reporting revealed that the FAA gave the green light for surveillance drones to be used in U.S. skies despite the fact that during the FAA’s own tests the drones crashed numerous times even in areas of airspace where no other aircraft were flying.
The documents illustrate how the drones pose a huge public safety risk, contradicting a recent coordinated PR campaign on behalf of the drone industry which sought to portray drones as safe, reliable and privacy-friendly.
Critics have warned that the FAA has not acted to establish any safeguards whatsoever, and that congress is not holding the agency to account.
FAA documents recently obtained and released by the Electronic Frontier Foundation have confirmed that the roll out of domestic unmanned drones will, for the most part, be focused solely on the mass surveillance of the American people. In a report, EPIC recently noted:
With some exceptions, drone flights in the U.S. have been all about developing and testing surveillance technology.  The North Little Rock Police Department, for instance, wrote that their SR30 helicopter-type drone “can carry day zoom cameras, infrared cameras, or both simultaneously.”
The Miami-Dade Police Department and Texas Department of Public Safety have employed drones capable of both daytime and nighttime video cameras, and according to the Texas Department of Public Safety’s Certificate of Authorization (COA) paperwork, their drone was to be employed in support of “critical law enforcement operations.”
However, the FAA didn’t just rubber stamp all drone requests. For example, the Ogden Police Department wanted to use its “nocturnal surveillance airship [aka blimp] . . . for law enforcement surveillance of high crime areas of Ogden City.” The FAA disapproved the request, finding Odgen’s proposed use “presents an unacceptable high risk to the National Airspace System (NAS).”
Another report released recently, by the Congressional Research Service found that ”the prospect of drone use inside the United States raises far-reaching issues concerning the extent of government surveillance authority, the value of privacy in the digital age, and the role of Congress in reconciling these issues.”
“Police officers who were once relegated to naked eye observations may soon have, or in some cases already possess, the capability to see through walls or track an individual’s movements from the sky,” the report notes. “One might question, then: What is the proper balance between the necessity of the government to keep people safe and the privacy needs of individuals?”
The “ability to closely monitor an individual’s movements with pinpoint accuracy may raise more significant constitutional concerns than some other types of surveillance technology,” CRS says.
“Unless a meaningful distinction can be made between drone surveillance and more traditional forms of government tracking,” the report notes, “existing jurisprudence suggests that a reviewing court would likely uphold drone surveillance conducted with no individualized suspicion when conducted for purposes other than strict law enforcement.”
The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), the biggest union of law officials in the US, issued a stark warning about increased drone use.  The union released guidelines calling for a reassessment of the potential widespread use of aerial drones for domestic policing.
In another recent development, a prominent private investigator operating out of New York and Texas noted that anyone engaging in any large scale protest, is now subjected to scanning by drones that skim their personal information from their cell phones.
Despite all these facts, close to half of Americans indicated recently that they are in favour of police departments deploying surveillance drones domestically.
—————————————————————-
Steve Watson is the London based writer and editor for Alex Jones’ Infowars.com, and Prisonplanet.com. He has a Masters Degree in International Relations from the School of Politics at The University of Nottingham, and a Bachelor Of Arts Degree in Literature and Creative Writing from Nottingham Trent University.