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Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Twitter Faces $50 Million Lawsuit In France Over Anti-Semitic Tweet Data

The Huffington Post | By Sara Gates Posted: 03/22/2013 4:35 pm EDT | Updated: 03/17/2014 8:59 am EDT

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The Union of French Jewish Students (UEJF) may have won its court case involving anti-Semitic tweets in January, but the controversy did not end there.
As France 24 reports, Twitter allegedly did not follow through on court requirements, so the student union -- in conjunction with another French Jewish group -- decided to take the matter a step further. They sued Twitter for $50 million for failing to release data on the authors of the anti-Semitic tweets within a 15-day period, as is required by the French court.
"Twitter plays the card of indifference by not respecting the January 24th decision," UEJF President Jonathan Hayoun told the Agence France-Presse.
The suit, which was filed Thursday by UEJF and the "J'Accuse" association, demands that Twitter pay 38 million euros (about $50 million) to the Memorial de la Shoah, a museum that commemorates the history of French Jews during World War II.
“We are upping the stakes because Twitter has not been listening to the fact that they have to abide by French law,” French lawyer Stéphane Lilti, who represents the groups, told France 24, adding that the monetary demand "is designed to make them wake up to the fact that protecting the authors of racist tweets is not acceptable in France.”
Responding to the allegations that Twitter did not acknowledge the data request in the allotted time, spokesman Jim Prosser told The Huffington Post in a statement:

We've been in continual discussions with UEJF. As this new filing shows, they are sadly more interested in grandstanding than taking the proper international legal path for this data. We filed our appeal yesterday, and would have filed it sooner if not for UEJF's intentional delay in processing the court's decision.

In October, widespread anti-Semitic tweets were popularized by the French hashtag #UnBonJuif, which translates to "#AGoodJew." Users tweeted statements using the hashtag that were seen as offensive and derogatory to Jewish people.

Though Twitter partially acquiesced to UEJF's request to remove some of the most offensive tweets last year by blocking a majority of them from view, the social media company refused to ban the hashtag altogether -- something that is against company policy. That's when UEJF launched its campaign to get data on the identities of the offending tweeters.
As France 24 notes, the case is expected to go to court in September.

Twitter hit with $124 million lawsuit over private stock sale

By Nate Raymond and Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK Wed Oct 30, 2013 2:15pm EDT

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A person holds a magnifying glass over a computer screen displaying Twitter logos, in this picture illustration taken in Skopje September 10, 2013.

Credit: Reuters/Ognen Teofilovski

Rand Paul blasts EPA’s “illegal” coal restrictions, promises repeal

Matt Naham, Rare Staff
Posted on June 2, 2014 4:33 pm

Rand Paul is pushing to repeal the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) latest ruling, which puts carbon dioxide emissions limits on power plants, on the grounds that it is an “illegal use of executive power.”
“This latest assault on our economy by President Obama will destroy jobs here in Kentucky and across the country, and will hurt middle class families by hiking their utility bills and straining their budgets,” Paul said in a statement. “The excessive rule is an illegal use of executive power, and I will force a vote to repeal it,” he added.
Paul did say back in 2008 that coal was “probably one of the least favorable forms of energy” and “a very dirty form of energy.” He also hinted that he’d like the U.S. to go in the direction of nuclear power, like the nearly oil independent France, when a safe opportunity to do so arises.

Yahoo’s Chris Moody noted that a spokesman for Rand Paul said in 2010 — when Trey Grayson used the above clip to smear his opponent — that the senator “supports using what coal we have here until a better energy source comes along.”
A Republican National Committee (RNC) press release titled “Obama Gets His War on Coal, but it’s the American Economy that Will Pay the Price” joined the Kentucky Senator in condemning the changes, but particularly from an economic perspective, rather than a legal one.
Perhaps then it is not that Rand Paul suddenly finds coal to be a clean form of energy, but that illegal means do not justify a clean energy end that will cost the economy $50 billion per year and kill 224,000 jobs annually — many of which would come from his own constituency.
Kentucky is the country’s third largest coal producing state.
The Daily Caller’s Michael Bastasch pointed to the Chamber of Commerce’s projections for the economy as a result of the rule that seeks to cut carbon dioxide emissions 30 percent by 2030.
“Overall, the South Atlantic will be hit the hardest in terms of GDP and employment declines. Its GDP losses make up about one-fifth of total U.S.,” Bastasch wrote. “This region also will have an average of 60,000 fewer jobs over the 2014-30 forecast period, hitting a 171,000 job loss trough in 2022.”
Currently, Republicans are generally arguing that the EPA rule is anti-coal, while Democrats like Harry Reid have said that “coal makes you sick.” Neither are unfounded claims.
A recent Wall Street Journal article written by researchers argued that “the assertion that 97% of scientists believe that climate change is a man-made, urgent problem is a fiction,” finding numerous flaws in the sampling data used to get that number.
Black Lung has killed at least 76,000 coal miners since 1968.

Matt Naham is an associate content editor for Rare. Follow him on Twitter @matt_naham.

A CALL TO BEAR ARMS

NOW I AM CALLING THE CALL TO BEAR ARMS
I AM SICK OF BEEN ONBAMAS SLAVE
I AM SICK OF OBAMA KILLING OUR TROOPS
I AM SICK OF OBAMA KILLING OUR VETS
I AM SICK OF OBAMA FUNDING TERRORIST TO KILL AMERICANS
I AM SICK OF OBAMA FUNDING TERRORIST TO KILL CHRISTIANS
I AM SICK OF CONGRESS AND THE SENATE AND OUR JUSTICE NOT REMOVE IN OBAMA FROM OFFICE
I AM SICK OF OBAMA TAKEING OUR LANDS OUR HOMES OUR RIGHTS
I NOW CALL FOR EVERY AMERICAN TO RISE UP AND BEAR ARMS
THE MUSLIMS ARE COMEING THE MUSLIMS ARE COMEING

Pentagon Official: Why Obama Made The Taliban Trade

President Barack Obama stands for the national anthem with Lt. Gen. F.L. Hagenbeck before speaking to graduates of the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., Saturday, May 22, 2010. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Pentagon Official: Why Obama Made The Taliban Trade

9:45 PM 06/02/2014

Joseph Miller

Here is the truth: The deal to trade five senior Taliban detainees to secure the release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl was political. It was publicly justified with lies, it breaks decades of U.S. policy, it breaks American law, it puts Americans at risk, it undermines the government of Afghanistan, and it passes responsibility on to the next administration.
But first of all, it was political.
But no, it was not to take the spot light off of the failures at the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Simply stated, it was because so long as Bergdahl remained in Taliban captivity in Pakistan, the Obama administration would never be able to close the chapter of the failed Afghanistan campaign it has owned since approving — and then under-resourcing — a surge of U.S. forces in the country. (Pentagon Official: Obama Conducting Foreign Policy Based On Polling — Not US Safety)
Bergdahl’s captivity served as a constant reminder of President Barack Obama’s strategic failures while U.S. forces prepare to withdraw from Afghanistan. That’s something the Democrats cannot allow going into 2014 and 2016 elections. So the president agreed to an unprecedented deal in blatant violation of U.S. law and established precedent that undermines the safety and security of the United States and her citizens, once again choosing short-term political gain over long-term security interests. (Pentagon Official: Obama’s Afghanistan Fantasy Today Is America’s Nightmare Tomorrow)
Claims of new information on Bergdahl’s deteriorating health are simply false justifications. Bergdahl’s health was in no worse shape than should be reasonably expected of someone who had been a prisoner for five years. He walked without assistance into the waiting company of U.S. special operations forces, and then climbed aboard the waiting helicopter. He was mentally sound enough to recognize what was going on around him and to communicate with American forces. And none of the medical or psychological issues that he has displayed symptoms are life threatening. So this was just another example of the administration trying to justify its actions.
Additionally, the decision breaks with a decades-old standing U.S. policy to never negotiate with terrorists. Bergdahl was being held by the Haqqani Network in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. The Obama administration designated the Haqqani Network a terrorist organization just a few years ago. By negotiating with the Haqqani Network through the government of Qatar, the administration violated the policy. (Pentagon Official: Obama’s #ForeignPolicy? #AskMichelle)
Though this is not how the Obama administration sees it.

Tags: Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Bowe Bergdahl, Elections 2014, Elections 2016, Taliban

When CNN’s Candy Crowley asked National Security Advisor Susan Rice if the U.S. had negotiated with terrorists, Rice once again proved she shouldn’t be allowed on Sunday shows when she said no, because the United States had negotiated the deal through Qatar. But a child can understand that the Qataris passing our messages to the Taliban — and vice versa — makes the Qataris no different than a telephone or email service. We were negotiating with the Haqqanis no matter how you try to spin it.
And when asked why the administration failed to notify Congress about the Guantanamo Bay prison transfer despite U.S. law requiring the administration to notify Congress 30 days in advance of any transfer of prisoners from the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, she said it was because they were worried it would jeopardize the deal.

So Rice and the administration were afraid that congressmen exercising their oversight might object to the release of five battle-hardened terrorists and suspected war criminals, or that the deal could leak. So instead, the administration chose to willfully violate U.S. law by not informing Congress.

And as for fears of a leak, the administration informed members of Congress about the raid that killed Osama bin Laden before it took place — something far more sensitive in terms of intelligence resources. Rice did, however, let us know that the administration had seen fit to consult with the Department of Justice about the deal.
The five detainees released were among the most senior members of the former Taliban government to be captured by the United States. They include the former Taliban minister of the interior, Taliban deputy minister of defense, Taliban deputy minister of intelligence, a senior Taliban military commander, and the Taliban governor of Herat Province.
Several of these men are accused of committing serious war crimes, including genocide. All of these men have Afghan and American blood on their hands.
Although the five Taliban commanders had been declared high risk, some have argued that they are too old and have been in prison for too long to make a successful return to the battlefield. Many detainees released from Guantanamo Bay have done just that, though. Surprise.
As part of the deal, these five men must remain in Qatar for one year before they are permitted to return to Afghanistan. And in doing so, the administration is once again kicking the can down the road.
In one year, the U.S. will have withdrawn all combat forces from Afghanistan — according to the president’s plan. These men will now become the Afghan government’s problem, and we can add them to the growing list of issues, including Iran, North Korea and Syria that this president is passing the buck on.
Finally, the administration failed to consult the government of Afghanistan before agreeing to this deal. In doing so, the Obama administration robbed Afghan President Karzai and his successor of potentially valuable bargaining chips in a larger reconciliation effort.
This deal essentially took chess pieces off of the board for the Afghans at a time when they were needed most, and has left the Afghan government in a position where it looks weak, incompetent and untrustworthy to its ally. That is not a good signal to send to the nation or the world just before the U.S. withdraws its combat forces and begins the final transition of responsibility to the Afghanistan and they’re security forces.
But all that is secondary in the Obama White House, where optics rule.
And the show must go on.
Joseph Miller is the pen name for a senior Department of Defense official with a background is in U.S. special operations and combat experience in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has worked in strategic planning.

What the U.S. Gave Up to Get Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl Back

By Chris Good
@c_good
Arlette Saenz
@ArletteSaenz
Luis Martinez
@LMartinezABC

May 31, 2014 8:01pm

WASHINGTON — Most of the reaction to Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl’s release after five years as a captive of the Taliban has been celebratory, but a pair of lawmakers questioned whether the deal reached with the Taliban was legal and whether the price paid was too high.
The Army sergeant was held captive for nearly five years by the Taliban, mostly in Pakistan, U.S. officials believe, and the president, Defense secretary, secretary of State, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and the sergeant’s parents all expressed relief and gratitude after 18 Taliban handed Bergdahl over to U.S. special forces in Afghanistan, spiriting him back into the care of the U.S. military.
Two senior Republican lawmakers, however, accused Obama of violating the law by failing to notify Congress 30 days before the deal to swap five members of the Taliban held at Guantanamo and voiced concerns that the U.S. gave up too much.
Bergdahl Freed After 5 Years in Taliban Captivity
Taliban Captive ‘Was Never Forgotten,’ Obama Says
The top Republicans on the House and Senate armed-services committees cautioned that “we must carefully examine the means by which we secured [Bergdahl's] freedom,” warning that the U.S. had effectively reneged on its policy not to negotiate with terrorists.
So what exactly did the U.S. give up to get Bergdahl back?
The U.S. has released five Taliban prisoners kept at Guantanamo Bay — all of them either senior Taliban figures or Taliban officials with connections to Taliban leaders, and all labeled by the Pentagon as highly dangerous to the security of the U.S. and its allies if released. They are:

Mohammad Fazl, the former Taliban defense minister during the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, chief of staff of the Taliban army, and commander of its 22nd Division. According to a U.S. Department of Defense document obtained by Wikileaks, Fazl is believed to be an associate of Supreme Taliban Commander Mullah Omar and was “wanted by the UN for possible war crimes including the murder of thousands of Shiites,” surrendered to the Northern Alliance commander Gen. Dostum in November 2001. “Detainee is assessed to be a HIGH risk, as he is likely to pose a threat to the US, its interests, and allies,” his Guantanamo detainee file reads. “If released, detainee would likely rejoin the Taliban and establish ties with ACM [anti-coalition militia] elements participating in hostilities against US and Coalition forces in Afghanistan.”

Mullah Norullah Noori, a former Taliban military commander and Taliban governor of two Afghan provinces, who led Taliban forces against U.S. and coalition troops and was also “wanted by the United Nations (UN) for possible war crimes including the murder of thousands of Shiite Muslims” as Fazl was, according to Noori’s Guantanamo prisoner file as obtained and posted by Wikileaks. He is also believed to be associated with Supreme Taliban Commander Mullah Omar. Noori commanded the Taliban in the northern city of Mazar e-Sharif. Like Fazl, he surrendered to Gen. Dostum in 2001.
Rated a “HIGH” threat to U.S. security interests if released, Noori is or was associated with members of al Qaeda, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, and Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin.

Mohammed Nabi, another senior Taliban official with ties to al Qaeda, the Haqqani Network, Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin, and other anti-U.S., Taliban-allied groups, according to his Guantanamo Bay file as posted by Wikileaks. Also rated as a “HIGH” security threat if released, Nabi fought with the mujahideen against the Soviets. After that, he told the Americans who captured and detained him, he was an off-and-on Taliban member in the early 2000s, worked for the chief of the Taliban’s Border Department, which controlled smuggling. In early spring of 2002, he left the Taliban to sell used cars in a small village near Khowst and became a CIA informant.
According to his Defense Dept. file, Nabi was involved in attacks against U.S. and coalition forces and facilitated smuggling routes for the Taliban and al Qaeda.

Khairullah Khairkhwa, a direct associate of Osama bin Laden according to his Defense Dept. detainee file obtained by Wikileaks, and a senior Taliban military commander who also served as the Taliban’s minister of Interior and the governor of Herat. He represented the Taliban at meetings with Iranian officials seeking to support actions against U.S. and coalition forces after the Sept. 11 attacks, according to the document. He attended a meeting at the direction of bin Laden, reportedly accompanied by members of Hamas, the document says, and is believe to have been one of the major opium lords of western Afghanistan.
In 2002, he sought to negotiate an integration into the new government through Wali Karzai, the brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai who has been accused of corruption and drug smuggling, but was arrested by Pakistani border patrol and released by Pakistan into U.S. custody.
He is also deemed a “HIGH” threat if released.

Abdul Haq Wasiq, the Taliban’s former deputy minister of intelligence, had direct connections to Taliban leadership and was “central to the Taliban’s efforts to form alliances with other Islamic fundamentalist groups” to fight against U.S. and coalition forces, according to his Defense Dept. file obtained by Wikileaks. He also used his position to support al Qaeda, assist Taliban personnel in eluding capture, and arranged for al Qaeda members to train Taliban intelligence staff, according to the file.
He seems to have later turned informant, as his file notes that Wasiq was arrested after a meeting with two Americans and a translator, in which he was supposed to deliver information leading to the capture of Mullah Omar. Shortly after the meeting, U.S. forces arrested him.

“Trading five senior Taliban leaders from detention in Guantanamo Bay for Berghdal’s release may have consequences for the rest of our forces and all Americans. Our terrorist adversaries now have a strong incentive to capture Americans. That incentive will put our forces in Afghanistan and around the world at even greater risk,” said House Armed Services Chairman Howard P. “Buck” McKeon, R-Calif., and Senate Armed Services Ranking Member James Inhofe, R-Okla., in a joint statement.

HT mullah mohammad fazl abdul haq wasiq blur h jt 140531 16x9 608 What the U.S. Gave Up to Get Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl Back

Mullah Mohammad Fazl, left, and Abdul Haq Wasiq are shown in these undated photos. Image credit: Department of Defense

“In executing this transfer, the President also clearly violated laws which require him to notify Congress thirty days before any transfer of terrorists from Guantanamo Bay and to explain how the threat posed by such terrorists has been substantially mitigated. Our joy at Sergeant Berghdal’s release is tempered by the fact that President Obama chose to ignore the law, not to mention sound policy, to achieve it,” they said in the joint statement.
A senior administration official responded: “Due to a near-term opportunity to save Sergeant Bergdahl’s life, we moved as quickly as possible. The administration determined that given these unique and exigent circumstances, such a transfer should go forward notwithstanding the notice requirement” of the National Defense Authorization Act, the law in which Congress levied the Guantanamo-transfer restrictions.
The detainees left Guantanamo this afternoon for Qatar, which will take them into custody. After that, it’s not clear exactly what their status will be.
Obama said today that he has received “assurances that [Qatar] will put in place measures to protect our national security,” and a senior Defense official told ABC that Qatar will be able to secure the detainees. They will also be subject to a travel ban for one year, the Defense official said.
It’s not entirely clear what freedom of movement and communication these now-former detainees will enjoy.
The exchange had been discussed previously, and an opportunity to pursue it arose this week, U.S. administration officials said. It was facilitated by Qatar and its emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, with whom Obama said he has spoken.
Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry thanked the Qatari leader in their statements on Bergdahl’s release.
ABC’s Ali Weinberg contributed to this report.

Daily Mail: “Taliban claim captured U.S. solider has converted to Islam and is teaching its fighters bomb-making skills”

Tuesday, June 3, 2014 7:37

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(Before It's News)

Nah. Can’t be.

Captured: U.S. solider Private Bowe Bergdahl, pictured in a video released in April, is teaching the Taliban bomb-making skills, according to one of his captors
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1305184/Bowe-Bergdahl-Taliban-claim-captured-U-S-solider-teaching-fighters-bomb-making skills according to one of his captors

From the UK Daily Mail:

A captured American soldier is training Taliban fighters bomb-making and ambush skills, according to one of his captors and Afghan intelligence officials.
Private Bowe Bergdahl disappeared in June 2009 while based in eastern Afghanistan and is thought to be the only U.S. serviceman in captivity.
The 24-year-old has converted to Islam and now has the Muslim name Abdullah, one of his captors told The Sunday Times.
A Taliban deputy district commander in Paktika, who called himself Haji Nadeem, told the newspaper that Bergdahl taught him how to dismantle a mobile phone and turn it into a remote control for a roadside bomb.
Nadeem claimed he also received basic ambush training from the U.S. soldier.”

Source: http://therealrevo.com/blog/?p=117508

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Twitter Faces $50 Million Lawsuit In France Over Anti-Semitic Tweet Data

Twitter hit with $124 million lawsuit over private stock sale

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Rand Paul blasts EPA’s “illegal” coal restrictions, promises repeal

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Pentagon Official: Why Obama Made The Taliban Trade

What the U.S. Gave Up to Get Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl Back

Daily Mail: “Taliban claim captured U.S. solider has converted to Islam and is teaching its fighters bomb-making skills”