Alaska Defeats NDAA?

Activist Post

What’s the greatest way to derail a movement?

While there are many ways, from discrediting the leadership to jailing the participants, there is one nearly surefire way to kill a political movement.

Pretend you fixed the problem.

On June 26th, 2013, Alaska Governor Sean Parnell signed HB69, a bill that, according to some, would “nullify” the detention provisions in the NDAA. It does nothing of the sort. Although it seems to demonstrate Alaska’s will to stand up for the liberty of its citizens, and tries to take on gun control as well, this law does nothing to protect the inalienable rights of the people.

Breaking it Down

House Passes Ban on Drone Strikes Against US Citizens

Activist Post

An amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2014 that will ban drone strikes against American citizens passed in the House on Friday.

However, the amendment does contain an exception for Americans "actively engaged in combat against the United States".

Below is the full amendment:

Rand Paul Still Seeking "Due Process" Answers for Drone Strikes

Activist Post

This week the Department of Justice finally admitted that the U.S. has indeed killed American citizens with drones. President Obama followed up this admission with a "war on terror" policy speech.

Although Obama spoke of a less aggressive stance on drones, the administration maintains that top secret evidence and his advisers provide sufficient "due process" when targeting Americans suspected of being a terrorist for assassination.

Rand Paul (R-KY) disagrees. Appearing Sunday on ABC's "This Week" Paul said he was pleased that the president is finally addressing this issue but that he still had questions regarding due process.

"I was pleased with his words and I was pleased that he did respond to this. However, there still is a question in my mind of what he thinks due process is," Paul said.

Obama Admits to Killing Four Americans with Drones

Dees Illustration

Activist Post

Up until now the Obama Administration has been coy about their policy to kill Americans abroad using drones.

Today, Attorney General Eric Holder confirmed that this administration has killed four Americans with drone strikes in Yemen and Pakistan, and admitted one was killed deliberately.

According to the New York Times:

In a letter to Congressional leaders obtained by The New York Times, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. disclosed that the administration had deliberately killed Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical Muslim cleric who was killed in a drone strike in September 2011 in Yemen. 

The American responsibility for Mr. Awlaki’s death has been widely reported, but the administration had until now refused to confirm or deny it. 

The letter also said that the United States had killed three other Americans: Samir Khan, who was killed in the same strike; Mr. Awlaki’s son Abdulrahman al-Awlaki, who was also killed in Yemen; and Jude Mohammed, who was killed in a strike in Pakistan. 

The letter says "Since 2009, the United States, in the conduct of U.S. counterterrorism operations against al-Qa'ida and its associated forces outside of areas of active hostilities, has specifically targeted and killed one U.S. citizen, Anwar al-Aulaqi (Awlaki)."

Disturbing report indicates Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s requests for a lawyer were ignored

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev

Madison Ruppert

A recent report reveals a disturbing fact about the treatment of Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev: his multiple requests for a lawyer during his interrogation were ignored.

While reports indicating that Tsarnaev’s Miranda rights were being withheld were disturbing enough, this new aspect pointed out today by Glenn Greenwald is far worse.

Apparently, Tsarnaev was Mirandized only because a federal magistrate decided to hold an in-hospital hearing for the suspect during which he was advised of his right to remain silent and appointed a lawyer.

This hearing interrupted an interrogation that had lasted some 16 hours up to that point. The Mirandizing of Tsarnaev upset former Mayor of New York City Rudy Giuliani who called it “mind-boggling” and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers who called the decision to intervene a “God-awful policy.”

Drone Assassinations are Egregious Abuse of Power by Obama

Youtube - TYT

American citizens were executed abroad in targeted drone strikes, and now, a leaked Justice Department memo outlines how the U.S. government could order drones strikes on them and others for no clear reason.
Source article: http://openchannel.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/04/16843014-exclusive-justice-department-memo-reveals-legal-case-for-drone-strikes-on-american

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No automatic right to lawyer in US civil cases: court

The US Supreme Court in Washington
© AFP/File Karen Bleier

AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US Supreme Court ruled Monday that states did not have an automatic duty to provide counsel in civil courts in the case of a divorced father who was jailed for failing to pay child support.

By a majority 5-4 vote, the justices found that while the South Carolina father's rights had been violated because he was not given free counsel, US states did not have to provide such advice in all civil contempt cases.

The case was being highly watched and had become emblematic of what civil rights groups have called a trend towards "debtors' prisons" in America.

US: We will kill Zawahiri just like bin Laden

Editor's Note:  He's so evil he doesn't deserve charges or a fair trial. And forget about the intelligence that we could get if we captured him alive, he's a shoot-on-sight threat.  Please, courageously send unmanned drones to get him and keep us safe from the bearded brown men.

Zawahiri has been Al-Qaeda's number
two for many years
© AFP/SITE/Handout/File

AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States Thursday dismissed new Al-Qaeda supremo Ayman al-Zawahiri as a pale imitation of Osama bin Laden and warned the Egyptian to expect a similar fate to his slain predecessor.

US officials painted the 59-year-old long-time number two as an "armchair general" with no combat experience, saying he not only lacked charisma and leadership skills but was also a divisive figure who could fracture Al-Qaeda.

Top US military officer Admiral Mike Mullen told Zawahiri to expect the same treatment meted out to bin Laden, who was killed by US commandos in the dead of night in a May 2 raid on his hideout in Pakistan.

Seized Domains Fight Back

Abigail Phillips
EFF

Since last year, we’ve watched withdismay Immigration and Customs Enforcement's increasing use of domain name seizures as part of its stepped-up IP enforcement strategy. Today, one of the seized domains is taking the issue to court.

Puerto 80, the Spanish company behind Rojadirecta.com and Rojadirecta.org, which were seized in January of this year, today filed apetition in the Southern District of New York for the return of those domains. The Rojadirecta site, which is made up of user forums and link indexes, has been found by two Spanish courts specifically not to violate copyright. The substantive brief in support of the petition outlines not only the reasons why the domains should be returned, but also the absurd roadblocks Puerto 80 has encountered in its efforts to work with government authorities to get this matter resolved without judicial intervention.

We're very glad that Rojadirecta is fighting back so that this and other domain name seizures can receive more careful judicial consideration. We'll be following the case closely and expect to weigh in as amicus as well.

Attachment                                                                       Size
Petition for Release of Seized Goods Final.pdf            96.55 KB
MPA ISO Petition For Return of Property.pdf              208.51 KB

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State Department Grilled About Bradley Manning's Treatment (Video)

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IRS to increase "pre-crime" enforcement

Minority Report/Fox/Dreamworks

Simon Black
Sovereign Man

Did you ever see Minority Report? It's one of Steven Spielberg's often forgotten about movies based on the short story by Philip K. Dick.  In the movie, pre-couch Tom Cruise plays a police officer in the year 2054 who works for the highly specialized 'pre-crime' division.

Using a bizarre array of technology and metaphysics, the pre-crime division sees into the future and stops criminals in their tracks, arresting them before they commit a crime... sometimes before they even think about committing a crime.

This very elaborate and morally ambiguous law enforcement system is predicated on the government determining what your actions and intentions will be, often before you do.  It's not all science fiction.

Supreme Court rejects Guantanamo appeals

© AFP

AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US Supreme Court on Monday rejected three appeals by Guantanamo detainees protesting their indefinite detention.

The highest US court did not decide three other appeals, including one filed by ethnic Uighur Chinese Muslims who were arrested in error in Afghanistan in 2001, and are still being held at the US military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The three appeals denied had asserted that the inmates' rights to challenge their detention had been violated and maintained that the indefinite detentions violated international rights law.

© AFP -- Published at Activist Post with license

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Supporters of DHS Domain Name Seizures Undervalue Important Constitutional Protections

David Makarewicz, Contributing Writer
Activist Post

This site has been generally critical of recent United States policy toward copyright issues.  We have expressed discomfort with the Obama Administration's statements in support of Internet freedom, which seem to clash with a proposal to wiretap suspected infringers and the introduction of COICA legislation.

The most troubling issue has undoubtedly been the series of Government domain name seizures, through which the DHS takes the domain names of accused infringers without first giving the accused a chance to defend their site at a hearing.

Although we question the Constitutionality of the seizures, these issues deserve a vigorous debate that presents the well-reasoned arguments of all sides, including those that are convinced that the Government seizures are right and legal.  Unfortunately, last week, Terry Hart of Copyhype, who has been a vocal defender of the domain name seizures, chose to go beyond that defense to question the motives of the critics of the domain name seizures such as SitesAndBlogs.com and Techdirt.comand attempted to dismiss the importance of the Constitutional issues we have raised.

Judge Napolitano on Obama's EO to Hold Detainees Indefinitely (Video)

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5 Ways DHS Violates the Constitution with Website Domain Seizures

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

US Gov't Attorneys: Providing Detailed Charges to Those on Terror Lists 'Extremely Burdensome'

Dees Illustration

Activist Post

Defense lawyers for organizations on the U.S. government's "terror list" are frustrated fighting the designation, and seizure of assets in many cases, because the government claims it is too tedious to give an explanation of the charges. "It would be extremely burdensome to give a list of charges," said the government's attorney, Douglas Letter, the Associated Press reported today:

Attorneys for the U.S. government told a federal appeals court Wednesday that informing each person and organization listed as a global terrorist of the reasons they are so designated would be too much work. 

They made the argument in a case involving the government's seizure of assets belonging to the U.S. chapter of Al Haramain Islamic Foundation Inc., a Saudi Arabia-based charity. The case is being heard by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. 

Al Haramain attorney David Cole said outside court that representatives of Al Haramain were left in the dark after the organization was put on the global terrorist list. They continued to fight the designation without knowing what was driving it. 

Cole said he and other attorneys could have provided a much more effective defense for the organization if they knew the reasons for the charges.

Organizations that are arbitrarily placed on the terror list who have their assets frozen are finding the burden of proof to be on them.  Yet, they don't even know what they are supposed to prove given the lack of detailed charges.

In a previous case, U.S. Judge, Gary Karr, ruled that freezing the assets of organizations suspected of terrorist ties has been done without due process by the Treasury Department.  However, he also ruled that the "Treasury Department Office of Foreign Assets Control needed only a reasonable belief that the charity was a component of a larger organization that funds terrorism" to take action.

This erosion of due process and reversal of burden of proof, along with Obama's recent Executive Order to detain suspected terrorists indefinitely, are troubling signs for the "Land of the Free."

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