Friday, May 24, 2013

New Benghazi Whistleblowers: Stevens Was Involved In Buyback Of Stinger Missiles From Al-Qaeda

New Benghazi Whistleblowers: Stevens Was Involved In Buyback Of Stinger Missiles From Al-Qaeda


stevens-obama-clinton
More Benghazi whistleblowers are coming forward according to two former U.S. diplomats. According to the former diplomats, these whistleblowers are obtaining legal counsel because they are not protected by whistleblower laws in the areas that they work in.
PJMedia is reporting of an interview with these diplomats:
The former diplomats inform PJM the new revelations concentrate in two areas — what Ambassador Chris Stevens was actually doing in Benghazi and the pressure put on General Carter Ham, then in command of U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) and therefore responsible for Libya, not to act to protect jeopardized U.S. personnel.
Stevens’ mission in Benghazi, they will say, was to buy back Stinger missiles from al-Qaeda groups issued to them by the State Department, not by the CIA. Such a mission would usually be a CIA effort, but the intelligence agency had opposed the idea because of the high risk involved in arming “insurgents” with powerful weapons that endanger civilian aircraft.
Hillary Clinton still wanted to proceed because, in part, as one of the diplomats said, she wanted “to overthrow Gaddafi on the cheap.”
This left Stevens in the position of having to clean up the scandalous enterprise when it became clear that the “insurgents” actually were al-Qaeda – indeed, in the view of one of the diplomats, the same group that attacked the consulate and ended up killing Stevens.
Now this is interesting in light of the fact that Greg Hicks, the deputy chief of mission in Libya, testified before Congress on May 8, testified that Stevens was sent to Benghazi by Clinton to convert the outpost into a permanent diplomatic facility.
Rep. Lankford (R-OK) questioned Hicks, and he explained: “According to [Ambassador] Chris [Stevens], Secretary Clinton wanted Benghazi converted into a permanent constituent post. Timing for this decision was important. Chris needed to report before Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year, on the physical and the political and security environment in Benghazi to support an action memo to convert Benghazi from a temporary facility to a permanent facility.”
In fact, Jerome Corsi writes, “Hicks explained the directive came from the State Department Office of Near Eastern Affairs, headed by Acting Assistant Secretary Beth Jones, that funds were available to be transferred to Benghazi from a State Department fund set aside for Iraq available, provided the funds transfer had been obligated by September 30.”
“He further testified that in May 2012, during his exit with Secretary Clinton following his being sworn in as U.S. Ambassador for Libya, Stevens promised he would give a priority to making sure the U.S. facility at Benghazi was transformed into a permanent constituent post,” Corsi added.
While damaging to Clinton, it was omitted from the State Department’s Accountability Review Board report. Obviously that would add credibility to Raymond Maxwell’s claims that he believes that Clinton and her staff were running the show on the ARB report’s investigation, not an independent board. Should these claims be brought to light, they would be far more explosive than Hicks’ testimony. It also would add credibility to the theory that the Obama administration was running an international Fast and Furious program.
According to one of the former diplomats, he believes that what took place is similar to the Mike Nichols film Charlie Wilson’s War, which is about a clueless congressman who supplies Stinger missiles to Afghan guerrillas. “It’s as if Hillary and the others just watched that movie and said ‘Hey, let’s do that!’” the diplomat said.
He also believes the leaked emails about former CIA director David Petraeus’s adultery with his biographer Paula Broadwell was intended to silence him., especially since Petraeus had stated that the command to stand down could have only come from Barack Obama. Petraeus testified that he knew Benghazi was terrorist attack instantly.
Additionally, there is indication that ARFICOM had Special Ops “assets in place that could have come to the aid of the Benghazi consulate immediately (not in six hours).”
Apparently General Ham was told by the White House not to send aid to the men under attack in Benghazi, but he disobeyed the orders. However, the White House then “called his deputy and had the deputy threaten to relieve Ham of his command,” according to the diplomat.
Ham quietly retired as head of AFRICOM in April 2013.

Read more: http://freedomoutpost.com/2013/05/new-benghazi-whistleblowers-stevens-was-involved-in-buyback-of-stinger-missiles-from-al-qaeda/#ixzz2UHEhcZxN

US Intelligence Discover Petraeus Adultery After 1 Year, Benghazi Blamed On Video Next Day

US Intelligence Discover Petraeus Adultery After 1 Year, Benghazi Blamed On Video Next Day


DCIA_David_Petraeus-640Well it came as somewhat of a shock yesterday to hear of Central Intelligence Agency Director David Petraeus’ resignation over adultery, but as information continues to come out, it brings more questions of credibility of U.S. intelligence and the Obama administration.
Petraeus’ resignation is predicated on the allegations that the Federal Bureau of Investigations was conducting an investigation into emails that he sent while stationed in Afghanistan as commander of U.S. Forces until some time this year. The four star General had been commander of the U.S Forces from July 4, 2010 until July 18, 2011.
Newsmax reports,
The investigation began last spring, but the FBI then pored over his emails when he was stationed in Afghanistan.
The woman who was having an affair with Petraeus is a journalist who had been writing about him.
Given his top secret clearance and the fact that Petraeus is married, the FBI continued to investigate and intercept Petraeus’ email exchanges with the woman. The emails include sexually explicit references to such items as sex under a desk.
Such a relationship is a breach of top secret security requirements and could have compromised Petraeus.
Paula Broadwell is the journalist many are speculating is the mistress of Petraeus. Broadwell was Petraeus’ biographer. Her book was titled All In: The Education of General David Petraeus.

Though this has been known in the intelligence community for some time now, it seems that the timing of Petraeus’ departure is suspect. After all he is to testify on Benghazi this coming week. Many have speculated that this is to keep him from testifying, but that seems to not be the case. In fact, Rep. Trey Gowdy appeared with Greta Van Susteren “On The Record” and said:
“The fact that he’s resigned and had an affair has nothing to do with whether he will be subpoenaed to Congress. I hope we don’t have to subpoena a four star general and a former CIA director. I would hope he would come voluntarily but if he won’t he will be subpoenaed. And none of what happened today is an offense to a subpoena… He’s either a witness in our case in chief or he’s gonna be a rebuttal witness if Susan Rice and others blame him for their failure of intelligence and failure of information. But there is no way we can get to the bottom of Benghazi without David Petraeus.”
But the timing of bringing all of this to light also makes even more suspect the issue of the attacks on the Benghazi consulate and the deaths of four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens. Why, on the very next day after those attacks were the American people’s collective intelligences insulted by the claim that a silly anti-Islamic video was the reason for the attacks? It apparently has taken over a year to investigate the adultery of David Patraeus, but the White House cited the very same intelligence community as the reason they claimed the video was responsible for the attacks within a matter of hours.
As the saying goes, something in rotten in Denmark.

Read more: http://freedomoutpost.com/2012/11/us-intelligence-discover-petraeus-adultery-after-1-year-benghazi-blamed-on-video-next-day/#ixzz2UHDt4Gal

New Taliban Magazine Appeals For Help To Defeat Drone Technology, Says: '[Obama] Wanted Dead Only'; 'We Are Fighting In Khurasan But Our Eyes Are On Palestine'; Secret Jihadi Group In Pakistan Air Force Identified; Encrypted Email Contact Provided

New Taliban Magazine Appeals For Help To Defeat Drone Technology, Says: '[Obama] Wanted Dead Only'; 'We Are Fighting In Khurasan But Our Eyes Are On Palestine'; Secret Jihadi Group In Pakistan Air Force Identified; Encrypted Email Contact Provided
By: Tufail Ahmad*


An image from the new magazine 'Azan'
Introduction
A new jihadi magazine, launched by the Taliban in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border area and comparable to Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula's Inspire magazine, earnestly appeals for help to defeat U.S. drone technology, announces the formation of a death squad to kill former Pakistani military ruler General Pervez Musharraf, seeks to recruit self-radicalizing jihadi youth, produces a full-page image of U.S. President Barack Obama under the words "Wanted Dead Only," and declares that the jihadi forces' ultimate aim is to liberate Palestine from Israel.
Produced in English-language for jihadi youth worldwide, the magazine is called "Azan" – or call to prayer – and has been released by the "Taliban in Khurasan," a geographical region encompassing Afghanistan and Pakistan. The first issue is dated March 2013. The names of editors and publisher are not given, but the expression "Taliban in Khurasan" seeks to remove any distinction between the Pakistani and Afghan Taliban. Contrary to the belief of many Western analysts, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which represents Pakistani jihadis, has always identified itself as part of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, the lead body for Afghan Taliban led by Mullah Muhammad Omar, who is described by Azan as "commander of [all] the believers."
A PDF copy of Azan was released on the Jamia Hafsa Urdu Forum, a jihadi internet forum set up after the 2007 Pakistani army operation in Islamabad's Red Mosque and its adjoining Jamia Hafsa madrassa for women,[1] which was ordered by Pervez Musharraf. It produces an image of militant commander Adnan Rasheed surrounded by masked members of a death squad formed to kill Musharraf, who recently returned to Pakistan to contest elections but is under judicial custody pertaining to court cases against him, including one charging him with treason. Adnan Rasheed, a former Pakistan Air Force commando, is a militant commander who was freed from Pakistani jail by the Taliban.
An unsigned editorial, while stressing the magazine's jihadi mission, notes that it is also aimed at self-radicalizing Muslim youth, stating: "Azan is also a platform for the Muslim men and women abroad who seek to humiliate the tyrants in their own lands. We ask all Muslims holding such noble aspirations of discharging their sacred duty of jihad to contact us…." The editorial outlines a media war, stating: "It is also imperative that the ideological battle that the Crusader-Zionist enemy is waging be fully laid out in front of the Muslim masses and a proper reaction to this onslaught be formalized…."
Perhaps in a reference to the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan by 2014, the editorial observes: "The world today stands at the eve of the return to Khilafah as was destined to happen according to the Ahadith [sayings and deeds] of the Messenger of Allah [Prophet Muhammad]." In this context, the description of Mullah Omar as "commander of [all] the believers" is relevant because contrary to depictions of Mullah Omar in the Western media as leader of the Afghan Taliban, he is indeed deemed by jihadis worldwide as Emir-ul-Momineen, leader of the faithful.
Militant Commander Adnan Rasheed Says He Was Influenced By India's Release Of Maulana Masood Azhar And Later Joined "A Clandestine Jihadi Group That Had Been Working In The [Pakistan] Air Force For Years"

An image of Adnan Rasheed with his death squad formed to kill General Musharraf
Adnan Rasheed was jailed in Pakistan for his role in an assassination bid on General Pervez Musharraf. However, he was freed in a daring jailbreak launched by hundreds of Taliban militants in the Pakistani town of Bannu in April 2012. "Azan" carries a long interview in which Adnan Rasheed recounts his childhood and school days spent in Lahore and his joining the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) in 1997 and interactions with non-Muslim soldiers, and how a feeling engulfed him that he is "a slave without chains" in the Pakistani government.
Asked what inspired him for jihad, Adnan Rasheed says: "The very first time the jihad inspired me, that was the release of a certain popular scholar from jail [Maulana Masood Azhar, released by India in exchange for passengers of an Indian plane hijacked to Kandahar in 1999] when he announced the formation of the organization known as Jaish-e-Muhammad. The second time I was with the Tablighi Jamaat for three days in Karachi. Whilst in a mosque with them, I found the book Fadayl-e-Jihad (The Virtues of Jihad) [authored by Masood Azhar]."
He also talks about his job dissatisfaction in the Pakistan Air Force and how he had planned to go to Germany for higher studies when the 9/11 attacks took place and he "didn't believe how America could have been attacked." Narrating how he was persuaded by a colleague to join the Mullah Omar-led Taliban after 9/11, he says: "This eventually became an issue of the heart and mind. I was dreaming of (going to) Europe when 9/11 happened; suddenly, my brothers in faith – the Taliban – needed me."
In October 2001, as the U.S. invaded Afghanistan, Adnan Rasheed was introduced to Maulana Masood Azhar and proceeded to the Mansehra terror training camp, where he spent 23 days and was interviewed by several militant commanders. "[The interviewers] said that they had made my Tashkeel (delegation) back to my Air Force squadron. They told me that I should work there and give the dawah [invitation] of jihad, and that the Islamic Emirate had collapsed and so there was no job for me in the Taliban Air Force." The fact that the jihadi interviewers decided to send him back to the PAF indicates that they were working for Pakistani military commanders.
Adnan Rasheed states: "In December 2001, the relationship between India and Pakistan deteriorated suddenly so our squadron was ordered to move forward to base Murid in the Chakwal area of Punjab; the Air Headquarters ordered the imams [prayer leaders] of PAF mosques to mobilize the PAF personnel for jihad. So it was a golden chance for us to give dawah openly. About 30 brothers joined us. Meanwhile, one day, a brother named Y came to us from Shorkot base. He came with the invitation to join a clandestine jihadi group that had been working in the Air Force for years. After authenticating his claims, we three gave Bayah (oath of allegiance) to brother Y for Emir-ul-Momineen Mullah Mohammad Omar."
Adnan Rasheed identifies the secret jihadi group in the PAF as "Idarat-ul-Pakistan," or institution of Pakistan. He states: "The mission of this group… named Idarat-ul-Pakistan was to prepare mujahideen in all three forces – Army, Navy, and Air Force - for a future takeover. But until then, its mission was to get training from Jaish-e-Muhammad and to fight in Afghanistan under their setup [organizational leadership]. We were of the view that Maulana Masood Azhar was a special Emir for Pakistan from Mullah Omar; so we were following Masood Azhar in Pakistan…."
"I Want To Give … [My Prison Inmates] Glad Tidings That Soon Our Brothers Will Strike On Their Cages To Free Them"; "The Jihad Is The Only Solution To The Plight Of Our Ummah… It Cannot Be Stopped Now"
Adnan Rasheed then goes to narrate how a jihadi-minded officer granted him four months' leave to go to Afghanistan, and later when he returned he found that he was basically working for Jaish-e-Muhammad under the command of the Pakistani military's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). He observes: "I decided to talk to my officer commanding, Wing Commander Mushtaq, directly. So I went to him. He used to call me Taliban. I said, 'Sir, do you know that a martyr will take 70 people along with him to Jannah [paradise]?' He said, 'yes.' I said, 'I want to go in the path of Allah for 4 months; so I need a leave. I promise you that if I get martyrdom, I will take you to Jannah!' He said, 'Promise?' I said, 'Yes.' He then said that my leave was guaranteed [sic, granted]; so then I left for Jaish-e-Muhammad [training camp in Afghanistan]."
"[Later, it] was revealed to me that neither Masood Azhar nor [militant commander] Haji Abul Jabbar was officially appointed Emir for Pakistan [by Mullah Omar]; they were working under the ISI. So, I went to my Emir of Idara[t-ul-Pakistan], Dr. Y and told him that, 'Brother, we are wronged! There is no difference between us and Jaish-e-Muhammad. We are soldiers in uniform and they are soldiers without uniform. How strange it is that we follow them and they take instruction from our institutions – the ISI!"
Adnan Rasheed's interview is perhaps the most authentic evidence about security experts' established view that the Pakistani military's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has been creating and nurturing jihadi organizations in Pakistan so that they can be used to advance Pakistan's foreign policy objectives in Afghanistan and against India. "Finally in July 2003, we declared our independence from the Pakistani organizations and decided to somehow approach Emir-ul-Momineen [Mullah Omar] directly," the militant commander adds.
Adnan Rasheed's image is published surrounded by a group of armed masked militants who form a death squad to kill General Musharraf. Referring to Musharraf's return from self-exile to Pakistan, he states: "When jackal's death approaches, it heads towards the city. The mujahideen of Islam have prepared a special squad to send Pervez Musharraf to hell. The squad includes martyrdom bombers, special assault team, sniper team, and a close combat team." He identifies three reasons for previous assassination plots on Musharraf: i) his decision to make Pakistan a frontline state in the war on terror; ii) arrests of foreign jihadis and their handover to America; and iii) assistance to the U.S. and NATO in the war against the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. Asked when he decided it was haram (forbidden in Islam) to be working for Pakistani military, he says it was U.S. President George Bush who "asked everyone in the world to be with them or against them. So, when the Pakistan armed forces sided with him, I chose to be against him."
Adnan Rasheed discusses the Pakistani military's insincerity in the use of jihadis and talks about his time in prison, stating: "My other fellows – 13 in number – are still in jails. You are all requested to make dua [prayer] for their release. Yes, I want to give them glad tidings that soon our brothers will strike on their cages to free them, Allah willing." He sums up his mission: "The jihad is the only solution to the plight of our ummah. We are suffering today from the mistakes of the past, and the biggest mistake was forsaking the jihad. It cannot be stopped now…."
Magazine Appeals For Help To Defeat U.S. Drone Technology, Says: "Before 9/11, There Was Only Afghanistan; Today, It Is Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Mali, Algeria, Yemen, Iraq, Syria… The List [Of Jihadi Movements] Will Only Continue To Grow"

In an image, the magazine says: "We are fighting in Khurasan but our eyes are on Palestine"
While the highlight of the magazine is Adnan Rasheed's detailed interview, there are several articles worth noting.  In an article titled "The Drone Chain," a writer named Jaffer Hussain narrates the tragedy brought by the U.S. drone strikes, and how poor people in the Pakistani tribal region are given money to plant chips, leading to the drone attacks. Hussain blames the Pakistani military for assisting in the U.S. drone program.
The article calls upon Muslims to provide assistance to defeat the drone technology, noting: "These drones can be hacked and manipulated, as evidenced by the efforts of the Iraq mujahideen. Furthermore, they can be destroyed using various technologies that the mujahideen are working on. But the Muslims of the world must question themselves as to what role they are playing in helping these innocent Muslims with the abilities that Allah has given them. This is a call to anyone in the Islamic ummah with knowledge, expertise, and theories regarding anti-drone technology. The Ummah is not short of brilliant minds – from the millions of Muslims that live all over the world, there would possibly be quite a few who would assist their brothers in combating these evil missiles designed by the devils of the world.
"Any opinions, thoughts, ideas, and practical implementations to defeat this drone technology must be communicated to us as early as possible because these would aid the Ummah greatly in its war against the Crusader-Zionist enemy," the article adds, calling earnestly for help.
In another article, "On U-Turns And The Pakistan Army Doctrine," the writer Ikrimah Anwar discusses "the role of nationalistic 'Muslim' armies that have supported the Crusader-Zionist alliance in their satanic assault on Allah's Earth." Anwar criticizes the Pakistani military's recent move to focus on the Taliban on the Afghan border by deprioritizing India, which has been traditionally the number one enemy.
Anwar observes:  "The Pakistan Army recently published their new army doctrine, that marked a curious day in the history of its existence. The doctrine states that the 'Army is turning its face away from ominous eastern borders [against India], looking now to disruptive western [Afghan] borders, and deeming internal [terrorist] threats as being more pressing than external, (i.e. Indian) aggression.'"
He traces Pakistan Army's role against jihadi forces right from the early days of Pakistan since its creation in 1947, its operations in Baluchistan, the fighting against east Pakistanis and defeat in 1971, the post-2001 role as an ally of the Crusaders, the 2007 military operation against armed female students of Red Mosque and Jamia Hafsa madrassa in Islamabad, etc., to stress that the Pakistani military has been working in the interests of infidels.
"Islam Negates Every War That Is Fought For Wealth, Family, Tribe, Or Nation; In Islam, The Only War That Is Justified And Obligatory Is That Which Is Fought In The Way Of Allah"

Cover page of the magazine
In an article, "On the Road to Khilafah," writer Muhammad Qasim discusses the system of caliphate as envisaged in the Koran and sayings and deeds of Prophet Muhammad. Reviewing major developments of the past century such as World War I, which ended the Islamic caliphate in 1924, he goes on to describe an emergence of the caliphate again, especially since the Taliban began implementation of Islamic sharia in Afghanistan from 1996-2001. 
The author of the article then reviews jihadi movements across the world – in Afghanistan, Yemen, Pakistan, Mali, Somalia, Chechnya, Nigeria, Libya, and Syria – and presents them as the pathways to a global Islamic caliphate. "The world is watching as the path to Khilafah foretold by Prophet Muhammad is weaving itself forthright under the noses of the Western powers. Before 9/11, there was only Afghanistan. Today, it is Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Mali, Algeria, Yemen, Iraq, Syria – and of course, the list will only continue to grow. The West spent its entirety on trying to abolish the Khilafah and the jihad but they could only provide more cause for these very aspects of Islam to brighten forth." Separate articles on jihadi movements in Syria and Mali are also produced in the magazine.
"Malala, Education, And An Unruly Media," is the title of another article, whose author criticizes the international media for lauding Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teenager who was attacked by jihadis for writing an online diary for the BBCUrdu.com in favor of girls' rights after the Taliban imposed a total ban on female education in 2009. The writer also blames the BBC for hatching a plan against the Taliban by getting Malala to write the diary. An article written by slain Al-Qaeda militant Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi criticizing freedom of belief and expression is produced to contrast Islam and democracy, describing the former as "a complete system based on obedience to Allah" and the latter as "a complete religion based on obedience to the people."
An article titled "Nationalism And Islam" is also produced, to negate the notion of territorial nationalism, stating: "Islam negates every war that is fought for wealth, family, tribe, or nation. In Islam, the only war that is justified and obligatory is that which is fought in the way of Allah, and for the establishment and victory of His Religion…. But, according to the Tawagheet (false idols) of today, such a war is not allowed. According to them, only a war that is waged for the 'nation state' is allowed…. But fighting for nationalism is clearly haram (prohibited) in Islam."
"Azan" Offers Encryption-Based Contact For Self-Radicalizing Muslim Youth Worldwide, Gives Details Of Software Code For Secret Communication
The magazine also contains a number of articles and quotes from jihadis worldwide, including Anwar Al-Awlaki, Osama bin Laden, and a court statement of Faisal Shahzad, a Taliban jihadi who tried unsuccessfully to explode a car bomb in New York's Times Square on May 1, 2010. Shahzad is quoted as telling the U.S. court:
"This is only one life. If I were to be given a thousand lives then I would spend each of them waging jihad in the path of Allah, defending my lands, and raising the Law of Allah to be the highest. Allah's law is supreme and it surpasses all other man-made systems and laws. We do not follow these man-made laws because they are always corrupt."
Importantly, the magazine offers self-radicalizing Muslim youth contact details and encryption codes to get in touch with the jihadi leaders. It says: "If you would like to contribute to the magazine or to the global jihad against the Crusader-Zionist alliance – or if you would like to ask questions or give some comments, then contact us using the following email address: azan23452@yahoo.com."
It also notes details about the software used by the jihadis for secret communication: "The procedure for secret communication with us is the same as with the Inspire magazine. All communications will go through the Asrar-ul-Mujahideen Ver. 2 Program. Instructions on using that program can be found in the first issue of Inspire magazine of AQAP, as well as on the websites where the software is available: >> www.ansar1.info, >> www.ribatmarkaz.co.nr. "(Our email address and public key will be changed with every issue InshaAllah). Please note our public key…. [software code here edited out]"
* Tufail Ahmad is Director of MEMRI's South Asia Studies Project (www.memri.org/sasp)

Endnotes:
[1] Jamia Hafsa Urdu Forum, May 5, 2013. The original English of the quotes has been mildly edited for clarity and standardization.

Islamists on the march? Move along; nothing to see here…


Author
By Erik Rush (Bio and Archives)  Friday, May 24, 2013
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Obama, Cameron, Islamic violence
The gruesome killing of a British soldier in London this week by Islamists and the attendant reactions by the press and politicians make clear two things: One, that Islam cannot be treated as a legitimate faith in the American tradition and in the context of the First Amendment, and two, Americans must wrest control of our country from liberal-progressives with all due speed, and by any means necessary.
I borrow the phrase “by any means necessary” from 1960s civil rights leader Malcolm X (who ironically, was a Muslim) for the same reason he did. While he knew a call for armed insurgence by blacks would have brought down the wrath of the entire law enforcement machine upon him and his colleagues, he also knew it was important to impart a sense of relational gravity to the struggle. Hadn’t those who initiated the American Revolution done so over less injustice than blacks had suffered under segregation and Jim Crow laws?
It has also been pointed out that those who initiated the American Revolution did so over far less than that which the Federal government currently practices across many fronts – but I digress… 
Days after the machete and meat cleaver killing of the British soldier, it still took some effort to find any information on the soldier, even his name. He was consistently referred to in the press as “an active duty British soldier,” or simply “a British soldier.” In any case, the young man who was hacked to death in broad daylight on a London street this week was 25-year-old Drummer Lee Rigby, of the 2nd Battalion Royal Regiment of Fusiliers.
It is apparent that the lack of references to his identity was an avoidance to humanizing Rigby on the part of the press, risking the ire of his fellow human beings, who disdain such barbarity. Thus, Rigby remained an obscure living piece of meat to which some angry men put an end because they were angry.
On May 22, British Prime Minister David Cameron called the killing “a betrayal of Islam,” and said that “there is nothing in Islam that justifies this truly dreadful act.” We know this to be false, however, relegating Cameron’s words to abject propaganda. Despite the admonitions in Islamic scripture encouraging all manner of violence and the rhetoric of Islamists, politicians in Europe and America continue to apologize for this perverse cult, and savvy Muslims capitalize on this, claiming in the face of atrocity after atrocity committed by Muslims that Islam is a “religion of peace,” and that we simply do not understand it.
On the heels of this crime, which has understandably drawn international attention, President Barack Obama came under fire from Republican leaders for urging the repeal of the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF), the 2001 law that essentially authorized the War on Terror. The President explained that he wants to fight terrorism without keeping the country on a “perpetual wartime footing.”
Given Obama’s painfully evident affinity for Islam and the goals of Islamists, only a fool would fail to recognize that his intention is to further weaken America’s resolve in fighting Islamists. Like David Cameron, after the April 15 Boston Marathon bombing, the Obama administration made every effort to play down Islamist connections with regard to the brothers Tsarnaev, despite all evidence supporting same.
So, despite the fact that America ought to remain on a wartime footing, it’s business as usual for Obama, using whomever remains willing to shill for him. Unmindful of several scandals that threaten his administration, he ignores the risk of further shaking the faith of the American people and forges ahead with attempt to undermine the War on Terror, essentially asserting that it is either over or does not exist, as Islamists turn up the heat worldwide.
Why is it an imperative for liberal elites such as Cameron, Obama, and their ilk to render their countrymen defenseless against common criminals and machete-wielding primitives? I would submit that there are varied rationale, some being similar and more general. In general, liberal elites hold to a fantasy that they can control violent crime and terrorism, and that the sparse victims of same are a small price to pay versus the danger of having a populace that is actually able to defend itself – and possibly rise up against tyranny someday.
In Obama’s case, it runs a bit deeper. He is a leftist elite and a tyrant, to be sure, but he also wishes to see Americans suffer. Raised with a deep disdain for the American system and the prosperity and comfort that we have enjoyed for so long, his goal has always been to entirely supplant the system and attenuate our level of prosperity… by any means necessary. Whether it is through an “orderly decline of the dollar” as his benefactor George Soros has offered, an abrupt economic collapse, or widespread civil unrest brought about by jihadis is hardly relevant. Rest assured that the administration has contingencies for each.
With Islamists on the march however, and the emerging scandals revealing more evidence of this administration’s criminality on a daily basis, resistance is beginning to mount in areas that have been heretofore either passive or outright enabling; these would be Republican leaders and the press. Whether the administration has crossed an imperceptible line of acceptability, or these agencies are just beginning to see the malevolence of the Obama agenda (in which case I’ve given them far more credit for intelligence than they deserve), the administration is now clearly off-balance.
The fact that they may not yet perceive this, like a prize fighter who has just suffer the first stunning blow of their career, does not matter. It is time to close in.

Now Fact: All aspects ObamaGov Completely Corrupt/Criminal

Now Fact: All aspects ObamaGov Completely Corrupt/Criminal

Author
By Sher Zieve (Bio and Archives)  Wednesday, May 22, 2013
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No, folks. The Obama syndicate was never incompetent. It was and is, however, the most corrupt, criminal and openly tyrannical US government, which is now openly attacking the USA and its people, that has existed in US history.
It has also, until recently, been able to keep all aspects of its tyranny under wraps…with the assistance and collaboration of the equally corrupt US media. Even today, many media outlets are still working for Obama, in order to minimize his visible complicity in the assassinations of US citizens in Benghazi, his illegal spying on and record-seizing of news agencies and their reporters (to date the AP and Fox News), his illegal and Gestapo-like usage of one of the most powerful and suppressive agencies ever to exist…the IRS…to threaten and intimidate US citizens (aka conservatives) who do not agree with his Hitlerian and Stalinistic programs and policies with their own and their families’ personal destruction; along with Obama’s continuing active destruction of virtually every aspect of what was once the United States of America.
The ObamaGov is unabashedly a criminal syndicate that has been getting away with its criminalities via stonewalling Congress (which recently finally decided to actually fight back) during committee investigation questioning, providing the answer “I don’t know” to virtually everything asked of them (on Benghazi Hillary consistently said “I don’t know” and “what difference does it make” and regarding his DOJ Holder says he “knows nothing” about what‘s going on in his department if he is implicated in its ongoing criminalities). And now, a top IRS official (who has been rewarded by Obama for her criminal behaviors with her new position of “Head Enforcer of ObamaCare“) Lois Lerner has invoked the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination during today’s House Oversight Committee. Sitting there with her stone-faced “you can’t touch me” demeanor, Lerner repeatedly told Chairman Darrell Issa ‘I refuse to answer any questions on the subject posed by the committee today’. BTW, if you didn’t already know it, this scandal (and others around the country) was perpetrated by Lerner’s IRS lackeys who affected the let’s-go-after-all-Conservatives-and-Constitutionalist-and-get-’em-good programs.
Guys and gals, this is what I and others have been writing about for years. I have repeatedly written that we are living under tyranny since 2009 when Obama began seizing power from both Congress and SCOTUS…with few to no “peeps” from either of those bodies. Almost every day now, some new Obama scandal seems to be developing. We certainly must wonder how long the dyed in the wool pro-Obama leftists and their media will continue to fall on swords and/or continue to support and protect this far-worse-than-Nixon illegal POTUS. Are the media also supporting the criminalization and end of the USA? Sure seems so…doesn’t it?
“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places ”—Ephesians 6:12
Hillary What Difference Does It Make: 
 
Eric Holder “I don’t know” (video):
Top IRS official refuses to testify at hearing, invokes 5th Amendment:


Comments
Sher Zieve is an author and political commentator. Zieve’s op-ed columns are widely carried by multiple internet journals and sites, and she also writes hard news. Her columns have also appeared in The Oregon Herald, Dallas Times, Sacramento Sun, in international news publications, and on multiple university websites. Sher is also a guest on multiple national radio shows.
Sher can be reached at sherzieve@bajabb.com

WHY DO TROOPS WORK FOR THE GOVERMENT WHEN THEY DONT CARE ABOUT US AND ARE ISLAMIC AND ONLY WANT OUR GUNS SO THIS CAN HAPPEN HERE PROOF QUEEN IS ISLAMIC

Target of London machete attack identified as 25-year-old father with a 2-year-old son

Target of London machete attack identified as 25-year-old father with a 2-year-old son
The British soldier targeted by yesterday’s horrific Islamist terrorist attack on the streets of London has been identified as 25-year-old Lee Rigby, a drummer with the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers.  From the Washington Times:
Mr. Rigby, 25, joined the British army in 2006 and was stationed in London on a recruiting stint, the British military said in a release.
He is being remembered by friends and family for being a “loving father to his son Jack, aged 2 years,” the military statement added.
Mr. Rigby previously served in the Helmand province of Afghanistan.
He was described as an “an extremely popular and witty soldier,” the military said.
“Drummer Rigby was a larger than life personality within the Corps of Drums and was well known, liked and respected across the Second Fusiliers. He was a passionate and life-long Manchester United fan,” the military said.
The UK Daily Mail has more details of his military service:
‘His first posting was as a machine gunner in Cyprus where the Battalion was serving as the resident Infantry Battalion in Dhekelia.

‘Having performed a plethora of tasks while in Cyprus, he returned to the UK in the early part of 2008 to Hounslow, west London. Here, Drummer Rigby stood proudly outside the Royal Palaces as part of the Battalion’s public duties commitment.

‘He was an integral member of the Corps of Drums throughout the Battalion’s time on public duties, the highlight of which was being a part of the Household Division’s Beating the Retreat – a real honour for a line infantry Corps of Drums.
‘In April 2009 Drummer Rigby deployed on Operations for the first time to Helmand province, Afghanistan, where he served as a member of the Fire Support Group in Patrol Base Woqab.

‘On returning to the UK he completed a second tour of public duties and then moved with the Battalion to Celle, Germany, to be held at a state of high readiness for contingency operations as part of the Small Scale Contingency Battle Group.
He was working as a military recruiter, and had served as a ceremonial palace guard in the past.  It turned out he was safer in Afghanistan than he was in London.
Flowers and notes have been laid at the site of Rigby’s murder by “military wives, police, and members of the public.”
One note left said simply: ‘So sorry. Our thoughts are with your family, friends and comrades.’
Another read: ‘A true hero. May you rest in peace forever! Such a sad day and it disgusts me to think my son will have to grow up in a world like this full of violence. I never knew you but you’ll forever be in my heart and thoughts.’
A third person wrote: ‘We never knew you, but fly high with the angels.’
Another said: ‘To a hero taken from us too soon, may you rest in peace. Always in our hearts, Martin, Faye and Hope, fellow soldier family.’

A serving soldier lay flowers outside the barracks today wearing a Help for Heroes t-shirt, just like the victim.
‘We feel a lot of anger. All I know is that he was a young guy. A soldier just starting out. It’s heartbreaking. The soldiers inside that barracks will really be feeling this,’ he said.

‘I grew up in this area and that’s why I wanted to come down here today and pay my respects. I’ve come wearing a Help for Heroes T-shirt to show that nobody can break us. I wanted to show solidarity for another soldier.
Another note was left with flowers by someone who was “sorry that I couldn’t stop them vile animals.”
london_note

Donations have been pouring into the Help for Heroes charity for UK military veterans in Rigby’s name, evidently forcing the website administrators to make some hasty adjustments to handle all the traffic.
We may have identified the target of the attack, but the U.S. media is still having a very difficult time identifying the attackers.  Newsbusters has a sadly predictable roundup of American networks bending over backwards to avoid using words like “terrorist” or “Islam,” or directly quoting anything the terrorists said during the attack:
What does a murderous jihadist terrorist have to do to get some recognition for his cause? You hack a British soldier to death in broad daylight on a London street while shouting “Allahu akbar” and then “swear by the almighty Allah” that you’ll never stop fighting, and the U.S. broadcast networks still can’t bring themselves to utter a word about Islam.
True, the ABC CBS and NBC evening broadcasts called the attack “terrorism,” but for all the information they gave viewers, the attackers might have been Basque separatists or animal rights zealots.
On “Nightly News” NBC anchor Brian Williams said the attackers allowed “people to take video while they vent their message about religion and politics.” Correspondent Michelle Kosinski said one of the attackers “made a long political statement, weapons still in his blood-covered hands.”
CBS “Evening News with Scott Pelley” went a bit further, as reporter Charlie D’Agata mentioned that “Witnesses said that the men shouted ‘god is great’ in Arabic during the attacks.” Hmmm. Presbyterians maybe?
Over at ABC, on “World News with Diane Sawyer,” reporter Lama Hasan would only say British authorities were trying to find out including “whether or not one of [the attackers] is of African origin with ties to terrorist groups.” Of the one attacker’s video rant, Dian Sawyer said, “officials in the United States and the United Kingdom are studying the meaning of this tape.” Yes, it’s a real head-scratcher.
As Newsbusters notes, British media haven’t been soft-pedaling the nature of the attack this way.  The BBC thinks it has identified one of the attackers as 28-year-old Michael Adebolajo, who has apparently been on the anti-terror radar screen for a while:
Sources said reports the men had featured in “several investigations” in recent years – but were not deemed to be planning an attack – “were not inaccurate”.
According to BBC sources, Mr Adebolajo, a Briton of Nigerian descent, comes from a devout Christian family but took up Islam after leaving college in 2001.
The BBC has uncovered its own footage of one of the alleged Woolwich attackers, taking part in an Islamist demonstration in April 2007 against the arrest of a man from Luton.
Mr Adebolajo can be seen standing in a crowd of men outside Paddington Green police station, holding a placard reading “Crusade Against Muslims”.
He is standing next to Anjem Choudary, who was the leader of al-Muhajiroun, a now-banned organisation.
Mr Choudary said Mr Adebojalo was previously associated with the group, but went his own way in around 2010.
Ah, so he’s another member of that notorious host of “lone wolves” who perpetually orbit radical Islam for unfathomable reasons, carrying out various completely unconnected acts of mayhem.  It looks like this particular lone wolf ran with a sizable pack, because according to Fox News, more arrests have been made in the case:
British police have made two further arrests and searched multiple properties as they widened their investigation into Wednesday’s fatal hacking to death of a British soldier in broad daylight on a busy London street by two Muslim terrorists.
The two arrests, of a man and a woman — both 29 — on suspicion of conspiracy to murder, raises the possibility that the gruesome attack was not a so-called “lone wolf” killing as once thought.  Earlier it had been reported that the attackers were known to both UK authorities and a radical jihadist group well before the shocking attack that has stunned the United Kingdom and risked inflaming tensions between communities.
Fox News also relates the amazing story of Ingrid Loyau-Kennett, “a cub scout leader and mother of two,” who jumped off a bus and was apparently able to talk the terrorists out of attacking bystanders:
She said “a black guy with a black hat and a revolver in one hand and a cleaver in the other came over” and excitedly warned her to stay away from the body.
“I asked him why he had done what he had done,” The Guardian quoted her as saying. “He said he had killed the man because he [the victim] was a British soldier who killed Muslim women and children in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was furious about the British Army being over there.”
She told The Daily Telegraph that the suspected terrorist was “in full control of his decisions” and did not appear to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
When the man told him he was going to kill police when they arrived, she asked him if that was reasonable and tried to keep him engaged.
Then she spoke to the other attacker, who she described as quiet and shy.
“I asked him if he wanted to give me what he was holding in his hand, which was a knife, but I didn’t want to say that,” she said. “He didn’t agree and I asked him: `Do you want to carry on?’ He said: `No, no, no.’ I didn’t want to upset him,” she is quoted as saying in The Guardian.
How many terrible places have American and British troops stormed together over the past century, shoulder to shoulder against inhuman evil?  Rest easy, Mr. Rigby, and may those who would consider such savagery never sleep another wink.

Confirmed: Lerner participated in persecution of Tea Party groups

Confirmed: Lerner participated in persecution of Tea Party groups

Confirmed: Lerner participated in persecution of Tea Party groups
It seems like only yesterday that IRS Director of Exempt Organizations Lois Lerner was claiming she knew nothing about the dastardly work of those shadowy “low-level employees in the Cincinnati office” – who somehow remain shadowy to this day, despite having been blamed for the worst abuse-of-power scandal in living memory.  The Incompetence Defense beloved of this Administration, and so effective with a media that would never accept it from a Republican official, was deployed with gusto.  Lerner was shocked, shocked, to discover gambling against Tea Party groups going on at Rick’s Tax Exempt Organizations Cafe American.
But now National Review has uncovered documentation proving Lerner was up to her neck in the operation, over nine months after she claims she learned about it:
Lerner, the director of the IRS exempt organizations office in Washington, D.C., signed cover letters to 15 conservative organizations currently represented by the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) between in March and April of 2012. The letters, such as this one sent to the Ohio Liberty Council on March 16, 2012, informed the groups applying for tax-exempt status that the IRS was “unable to make a final determination on your exempt status without additional information,” and included a list of detailed questions of the kind that a Treasury inspector general’s audit found to be inappropriate. Some of the groups to which Lerner sent letters are still awaiting approval.
I guess she could try the “What am I signing, Radar?” mutation of the Incompetence Defense, and claim this stuff was shoved under her nose by more of those rogue low-level employees, who tricked her into signing it without reading it.  I’ve been wondering if we might hear that one from Attorney General Eric Holder, too.
The intimidation factor of a top-ranking IRS official’s signature on these letters is huge:
“One thing is clear: this correspondence shows [Lerner’s] direct involvement in the scheme,” wrote Jay Sekulow, chief counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice. “Further, sending a letter from the top person in the IRS Exempt Organization division to a small Tea Party group also underscores the intimidation used in this targeting ploy.”
Sekulow’s organization has received complaints from conservative organizations who say this abusive behavior continued long after IRS officials claim it was halted, in May 2012.
No wonder Lois Lerner took the Fifth Amendment, instead of testifying!  There’s so much she desperately needs to not talk about.
There’s currently a lively debate over whether Lerner waived her Fifth Amendment privileges by dumping her little “I did nothing wrong” soliloquy on the House Oversight Committee this week.  For what it’s worth, star lawyer Alan Dershowitz thinks she blew it, and Congress can hold her in contempt if she tries it again, when House Oversight chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) summons her for a return appearance:
“You can’t simply make statements about a subject and then plead the Fifth in response to questions about the very same subject,” the renowned Harvard Law professor said.
“Once you open the door to an area of inquiry, you have waived your Fifth Amendment right . . . you’ve waived your self-incrimination right on that subject matter.”
He said the fact that Lerner went ahead with her proclamation of could be considered malpractice on the part of her attorney — although it’s possible she overruled the advice she received.
“It should never have been allowed. She should have been told by her attorney that the law is clear, that once you open up an area of inquiry for interrogation, you have to respond,” he said.
“Now she may have made a political decision that it’s worth it to take the risk . . . That’s just not the way the law works. It may be the way politics works . . . but she can’t invoke the Fifth.”
As Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) said in a statement, capped off with a memorable declaration:
“Like all Americans, government officials have constitutional rights. They also have a duty to the taxpayers to be forthcoming about misconduct in their agencies. If government officials are not cooperating with an investigation of admitted wrongdoing in their agency, they should be immediately suspended from their duties until the investigation is complete. The IRS is free to plead the Fifth. We will continue to plead the First.
Lerner was placed on “administrative leave” Thursday – i.e. time off with full pay.  According to Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA), she insisted on holding her post, despite being asked to resign:
“My understanding is the new acting IRS commissioner asked for Ms. Lerner’s resignation, and she refused to resign.  She was then put on administrative leave instead,” Grassley stated.  ”The IRS owes it to taxpayers to resolve her situation quickly.  The agency needs to move on to fix the conditions that led to the targeting debacle. She shouldn’t be in limbo indefinitely on the taxpayers’ dime.”
She shouldn’t have her job for one more hour, but at least she’s being kept away from taxpayers while she’s on administrative leave.  It’s too bad America doesn’t have some sort of chief executive who could take charge at a time like this, and step forward to demand Lerner’s resignation more forcefully.

Police Response to Concerned Citizens… “You’re on your own.”

self reliance

James O’Keefe is that gutsy young man who, together with Hannah Giles, went undercover as a pimp and ‘ho, and captured ACORN staffers on tape advising them to circumvent the law.
Since then, O’Keefe and his investigative team are continuing to uncover political corruption through his Project Veritas organization — “to investigate and expose corruption, dishonesty, self-dealing, waste, fraud, and other misconduct in both public and private institutions in order to achieve a more ethical and transparent society.”
For Project Veritas’ latest sting operation, they visited police stations across America and asked law enforcement officials if, in the event of an armed break-in, what we should do in the minutes (or more than an hour in the case of Dallas) between calling 911 and the police’s arrival.
One officer instructed, “Go get some bleach. Go get ammonia.” Another officer instructed the undercover journalist to, “lock yourself in a bedroom” and “start yelling and screaming.”
VPOS Joe Biden recently advised Americans to “get a shotgun” for home protection. But when asked whether or not they should follow Biden’s advice, law enforcement officials told the undercover journalists they would be arrested for doing so.

Now Fact: All Aspects ObamaGov Completely Corrupt/Criminal

irsreach
No, folks.  The Obama syndicate was never incompetent.  It was and is, however, the most corrupt, criminal and openly tyrannical US government, which is now openly attacking the USA and its people, that has existed in US history.  It has also, until recently, been able to keep all aspects of its tyranny under wraps…with the assistance and collaboration of the equally corrupt US media.  Even today, many media outlets are still working for Obama, in order to minimize his visible complicity in the assassinations of US citizens in Benghazi, his illegal spying on and record-seizing of news agencies and their reporters (to date the AP and Fox News), his illegal and Gestapo-like usage of one of the most powerful and suppressive agencies ever to exist…the IRS…to threaten and intimidate US citizens (aka conservatives) who do not agree with his Hitlerian and Stalinistic programs and policies with their own and their families’ personal destruction; along with Obama’s continuing active destruction of virtually every aspect of what was once the United States of America.
IRS-logoThe ObamaGov is unabashedly a criminal syndicate that has been getting away with its criminalities via stonewalling Congress (which recently finally decided to actually fight back) during committee investigation questioning, providing the answer “I don’t know” to virtually everything asked of them (on Benghazi Hillary consistently said “I don’t know” and “what difference does it make” and regarding his DOJ Holder says he “knows nothing” about what‘s going on in his department if he is implicated in its ongoing criminalities).  And now, a top IRS official (who has been rewarded by Obama for her criminal behaviors with her new position of “Head Enforcer of ObamaCare“) Lois Lerner has invoked the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination during today’s House Oversight Committee.  Sitting there with her stone-faced “you can’t touch me” demeanor, Lerner repeatedly told Chairman Darrell Issa ‘I refuse to answer any questions on the subject posed by the committee today’.   BTW, if you didn’t already know it, this scandal (and others around the country) was perpetrated by Lerner’s IRS lackeys who affected the let’s-go-after-all-Conservatives-and-Constitutionalist-and-get-’em-good programs.
Guys and gals, this is what I and other have been writing about for years.  I have repeatedly written that we are living under tyranny since 2009 when Obama began seizing power from both Congress and SCOTUS…with few to no “peeps” from either of those bodies.   Almost every day now, some new Obama scandal seems to be developing.   We certainly must wonder how long the dyed in the wool pro-Obama leftists and their media will continue to fall on swords and/or continue to support and protect this far-worse-than-Nixon illegal POTUS.  Are the media also supporting the criminalization and end of the USA?  Sure seems so…doesn’t it?
“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places”
–Ephesians 6:12
Hillary What Difference Does It Make:
at youtube.com
Eric Holder “I don’t know” (video):
at youtube.com
Top IRS official refuses to testify at hearing, invokes 5th Amendment:
at foxnews.com
DOJ Targeting Of Fox News Reporter James Rosen Risks Criminalizing Journalism:
at huffingtonpost.com
AP Scandal: Plurality Disapprove Of DOJ’s Actions, Poll Finds:
at huffingtonpost.com

Press-free NATO summit? Filming cops on the street illegal in Chicago


Press-free NATO summit? Filming cops on the street illegal in Chicago

Published time: February 07, 2012 18:27
Edited time: February 07, 2012 22:27
Chicago police (Scott Olson/Getty Images/AFP)
Chicago police (Scott Olson/Getty Images/AFP)
Chicago, Illinois plans to host more than 7,500 international dignitaries and 3,000 journalists at the G8 Summit this spring.
But if history is any indication, those numbers will be dwarfed by tens of thousands of demonstrators descending on the Windy City this year to protest the massive gathering of world leaders.
And as police prepare to clash with protesters who picket the annual meeting of the minds, the crime scenes that are expected to be marred by messy arrests might never be made available outside of Chicago. In the state of Illinois, an obscure eavesdropping law prohibits recordings of unknowing individuals. Even if a cop is caught clobbering a protester on the streets of Chicago, recording the incident can land both amateur photographers and seasoned journalists alike behind bars, where they could face sentencing on par with charges of rape and murder.
The law in question is an antiquated eavesdropping rule that can bring about felony charges for producing an audio recording without ones’ consent. Critics have come after the law and challenged its constitutionality — or lack thereof — but as of now the offense is on the books and is likely to stay that way come springtime. For the Chicago cops that will be tasked with controlling a swarm of protesters at the summit, it could be to their benefit. The same, sadly, can’t be said for the freedom of the press.
To say Chicago will become the scene of a mass protest might be an understatement. By comparison, the 1999 World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference in Seattle, Washington spawned 600 arrests and prompted police to use tear gas, pepper spray and physical force on protesters. A decade later, the 2009 G-20 Summit in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania yielded 190 arrests and still more incidents of police violence. The same summit a year later in Toronto, Canada caused police to put more than 1,000 citizens in handcuffs, making it the largest mass arrest in the country’s history. With riots rendering nearly a million dollars worth of damages as well, it was also one of the biggest uprisings that Canada has seen in recent memory.
With the Occupy Wall Street movement only heightening awareness of corrupt politics in America and across the globe, dissatisfaction with the establishment and its decisions that impact the world are more rampant than ever. Protesters are already planning how they will respond to the summit scheduled for this May, but under current law, video cameras that capture sound are just as illegal as assault weapons.
Under the Eavesdropping Act in Illinois, catching a cop crack down on a protester is a Class 1 felony. If budding videographers think they might be the exception come this spring, think again.
Christopher Drew thought he was exercising his First Amendment when he recorded an altercation with cops in 2009, but for the Chicago, Illinois artist, he couldn’t be further from the truth. He was approached by an officer with the Chicago Police Department three years ago and questioned about the artwork he was selling on the city’s State Street. When law enforcement realized that they were being recorded, Drew was dished felony charges under the eavesdropping law and ended up spending a few days in jail. Drew asked an Illinois judge to dismiss the hefty felony charge, but the court rejected his plea. Later this year his case is expected to go to trial, and if found guilty, Drew could serve 15 years in prison.
“In a democracy you are suppose to oversee your public servants. If they’re doing wrong you’re suppose to bring it to the attention of other citizens and to the court,” Drew explained to RT. “They have no privacy right, they are in public and they are on the public dime and doing public duty. That means that we’re their employer. We have a right to record our employees and bring that evidence to the system that they are doing wrong.”
Michael Allison has become a victim of the police state’s bizarre law, too. He was at his mom’s house in Illinois when cops showed up and questions the automobiles he had parked on the property. When Allison began recording his conversation with the cops, he was cuffed and charged with violating the eavesdropping law. Those charges included five counts of eavesdropping, each with a maximum of 15 years in prison.
For videotaping his own conversation with a cop on his family property, Allison could have served the rest of his life behind bars.
Circuit Court Judge David Frankland would later say that the case against Allison was unconstitutional, but that decision was just a small exception. The eavesdropping law still stands today, even if it has opponents sitting on judicial benches.
“A statute intended to prevent unwarranted intrusions into a citizen’s privacy cannot be used as a shield for public officials who cannot assert a comparable right of privacy in their public duties,” the judge wrote.“Such action impedes the free flow of information concerning public officials and violates the First Amendment right to gather such information,” added Judge Frankland.
Drew, Allison and Judge Frankland are just a small sampling of many opponents of the controversial law, but unless those numbers grow before the G8, the protests that are almost certain to be countered with excessive police force will be illegal to record.
Some state lawmakers are trying to overturn the legislation before this spring, but it is a challenge that stands to be complicated with a goal only a few months into the future. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan has asked the state Supreme Court for a new decision on the constitutionality of the law and others have come to her side. Some have even proposed an exception that will allow citizens to record the police, which is allowed in most jurisdictions in America.
"I don't believe there is an expectation of privacy for public officials on public property doing public duties," Rep. Elaine Nekritz, a local sponsor of the re-write, tells the Associated Press.
The US Court of Appeals in Boston, Massachusetts countered a similar wiretapping law last year, with a judge ruling in August that filming the police is a “basic and well-established liberty safeguarded by the First Amendment.”
Many outside of Boston agree, and if the law isn’t changed in Illinois before spring, Chicago’s G-8 summit is expected to still be caught on film, law notwithstanding. But as thousands plans to flood the streets of the city to demonstrate against the meeting of leaders from the US, France, Russia, Italy and elsewhere, cops will be tasked with countering not just riled protesters, with journalists of all sorts gripping their cameras. Come springtime, the Chicago PD will have to determine which First Amendment guarantee is more important to crush: the freedom of the press or the freedom to assemble.

Luckily America’s most well-known constitutional law professor and former Chicago resident will be in town that week. What do you think Barack Obama has to say about the law?

KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK

There are links at the bottom of this blog linking you to reports of mosques up and down the country that have been attacked in response to the attack on soldier Lee Rigby. But will this hinder the movement? For a while now different orgs in the movement have been working hard to remove the racist thug tag that the Left and the media have given us. So will the attacks on mosques put us back to square one? First of all not much is known about these attacks untill they happen, there are no rumours within the movements that this or that is about too happen. Which tells me that its more than likely pissed off teenagers and pissed off joe public that are the culprits.
I agree that Islam has no place in our country, its barbarick backward and dangerous! But are mosque attacks the way forward? some people would call it direct action. I would rather go down the peacefull protest route myself, i believe feet on the street is the way forward, but thats my choice. However you choose to fight militant islam, do it to the best of your ability and stay safe.
Here are the links:

 http://www.itv.com/news/meridian/update/2013-05-24/andrew-grindlay-denies-mosque-vandalism/

 http://files.evfblog.webnode.com/system_preview_detail_200000422-d7c94d8c3d/muslims-go-home-al-farooq-vandalism2-300x225.jpg


 http://evfblog.webnode.com/images/200000422-d7c94d8c3d/muslims-go-home-al-farooq-vandalism2-300x225.jpg






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