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Who Are We at War With? That’s Classified

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By Cora Currier /ProPublica

In a major national security speech this spring, President Obama said again and again that the U.S. is at war with “Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and their associated forces.”

So who exactly are those associated forces? It’s a secret.

At a hearing in May, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., asked the Defense Department to provide him with a current list of Al Qaeda affiliates.

The Pentagon responded – but Levin’s office told ProPublica they aren’t allowed to share it. Kathleen Long, a spokeswoman for Levin, would say only that the department’s “answer included the information requested.”   [Read more…]

Sen. Ron Wyden On NSA Spying: It’s As Bad As Snowden Says

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By Ron Wyden /Alternet

If we do not seize this moment in history to reform our surveillance laws, we will all live to regret it.

Editor’s note: This is a transcript from a speech given on Tuesday, July 23, at the Center for American Progress in Washington.

When the Patriot Act was last reauthorized, I stood on the floor of the United States Senate and said, “I want to deliver a warning this afternoon. When the American people find out how their government has interpreted the Patriot Act, they are going to be stunned and they are going to be angry.”

From my position on the Senate Intelligence Committee, I had seen government activities conducted under the umbrella of the Patriot Act that I knew would astonish most Americans. At the time, Senate rules about classified information barred me from giving any specifics of what I’d seen except to describe it as “secret law”—a secret interpretation of the Patriot Act, issued by a secret court, that authorizes secret surveillance programs; programs that I and colleagues think go far beyond the intent of the statute.   [Read more…]

Mexican Journalist Marcela Turati: “Don’t Abandon Us”

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In the past 10 years, at least 17 journalists have disappeared and 72 have been killed. None of them have been solved.

By Marcela Turati /Global Investigative Journalism Network

Journalist Marcela Turati has gained global attention for her compassionate and committed reporting on the victims of Mexico’s drug wars. An investigative reporter for the magazine Proceso, she is co-founder of Periodistas de a Pie (Journalists on Foot), a network that supports journalists covering issues such as poverty and human rights. The Nieman Fellows at Harvard University, in choosing her for the 2013 Louis M. Lyons Award for Conscience and Integrity in Journalism, called Turati “a standard-bearer for the journalists who have risked their lives to document the devastating wave of violence in Mexico,” and saluted her “courage… journalistic excellence and leadership.”  

On June 25, Turati gave the keynote speech at the Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) annual conference in San Antonio, Texas. During a lengthy talk, in sometimes halting English,  hundreds of journalists sat silent and fixed on her words. Turati’s message to her colleagues was straightforward: “Don’t abandon us.” 

  [Read more…]

San Diego Gets Another Black Eye: Goldsmith’s #ChalkGate Prosecution Gets World-Wide Coverage

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“Chalk-U-Py” Protest, Petitions Follow Judge’s Gag Order in Bank of America Graffiti Trial

By Doug Porter

Things are going out of control for City Attorney Jan Goldsmith. His office’s decision to prosecute 40 year old Jeff Olson for using children’s washable chalk to scrawl protests on sidewalks adjacent to Bank of America branch offices has garnered world wide notice. And it’s not the kind of publicity the Downtown Tourism folks appreciate.

A newly organized group calling itself Liberals for Liberty has announced plans to create a chalk mural of the Constitution with focus on the First Amendment in front of the San Diego Hall of Justice.  A Facebook page set up for the event calls for local artists to meet up Saturday (June 29th) at the courthouse, 330 West Broadway, San Diego.

At Change.org, a petition went up Friday morning calling upon City Attorney Jan Goldsmith to drop the prosecution of Jeff Olson for chalk graffiti, citing “an obvious abuse of power and a wasteful use of the resources of the City of San Diego.” The influential Daily Kos blog has also announced a petition, saying “prosecuting people who chalk political messages on vandalism charges is a blatant abuse of power.”   [Read more…]

The Private Side of the Intelligence Equation – Corporations Exploit Their Access

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By Doug Porter

Much of the mainstream media has decided that trivializing whistleblower Edward Snowden is a safer course that actually exploring the implications of his disclosures.

John Oliver didn’t have to ponder more than a few seconds on the Daily Show before concluding the media had gone “Us Weekly on the messenger”, citing supposed news stories about Edward Snowden’s middle school experiences and his girlfriend’s pole dancing videos.

Fortunately, a few observers have maintained their dignity amid the rush to sensationalize trivia and trumpet the bloviating of ignorant blowhards seeking political advantage.   [Read more…]

SoCal Edison Pulls the Plug on San Onofre Nuke Plant

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By Doug Porter

Today’s news round up starts with the announcement from Southern California Edison saying that the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station is finished. Kaput. Shutdown. Over.

Citing “continuing uncertainty about when or if it might return to service”, the company concluded that questions over when or if the plant might return to service was not good for customers or investors. Concerns about the environment or planet earth were not mentioned.

Since the shutdown of the nuclear power generating station in January of 2012, there has been an epic struggle over whether the plant could safely be returned to operating status.  A small radioactive leak in faulty steam tubes prompted the closure and subsequent questions over the plant’s processes and procedures have lead to protests, innumerable hearings and calls by California Senator Barbara Boxer for the Justice Department to investigate Southern California Edison and its statements to federal regulators about swapping out generators.   [Read more…]

Military Sexual Assault – It’s the Culture

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By Kathy Gilberd / On Watch

The military is once again in crisis over sexual assaults. In recent weeks, it has become more apparent than ever that the military’s sexual assault policy is a failure, and that sexual assault in the services has become epidemic.

In early May, the Department of Defense (DoD) released new figures showing a significant increase in reported and unreported assaults – DoD estimates that over 26,000 service members were assaulted in 2012, with only 3,374 of these cases reported to the military.

Just as the figures were released, the Air Force was rocked by news that the head of its Sexual Assault Prevention and Response program had been arrested for sexual battery. More recently, the Sexual Assault Response Coordinator for Ft. Hood was charged with sexual assault and pandering. On May 12, the Washington Post published an article recounting a number of incidents of sexual misconduct and sexual assault of potential recruits by military recruiters.   [Read more…]

NSA Phone Tap ‘Scandal’: Can We Finally Talk About What the Government is Doing to ‘Keep Us Safe’?

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By Doug Porter

It’s a one topic day for this news roundup.

The Guardian newspaper has a major scoop on its hands. Reporter Glen Greenwald yesterday published a leaked copy of a Patriot Act Section 215 order. The order itself is the scoop, since Section 215 orders are secretly authorized by a secret court to tell individuals to take actions in secret.

Revealing the existence of one of these secret orders is against the law. So we can expect a Federal investigation with its own set of secret court orders into who leaked this document.

And, sorry conservatives, this isn’t anything unique to the Obama administration. Members of both parties have been playing this hush-hush sport for way too long. Before 9/11 even.   [Read more…]

Bradley Manning’s Legal Duty to Expose War Crimes

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Although whistleblower Bradley Manning pled guilty to 10 offenses that will garner him 20 years in custody, military prosecutors are pursuing further charges – aiding the enemy and violation of the Espionage Act – that carry life in prison.

By Marjorie Cohn, Truthout

The court-martial of Bradley Manning, the most significant whistleblower case since Daniel Ellsberg leaked the Pentagon Papers, has begun. Although Manning pled guilty earlier this year to 10 offenses that will garner him 20 years in custody, military prosecutors insist on pursuing charges of aiding the enemy and violation of the Espionage Act, carrying life in prison. The Obama administration, which has prosecuted more whistleblowers under the Espionage Act than all prior presidencies combined, seeks to send a strong message to would-be whistleblowers to keep their mouths shut.   [Read more…]

No, NBC News, We Don’t Know That Bradley Manning “Stole” Diplomatic Cables & Military Documents

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By  / Firedoglake / The Dissenter

As the trial of Pfc. Bradley Manning is about to begin at Fort Meade, Maryland some US media outlets are rediscovering his case and posting “rundowns” so Americans can understand what will be happening at the trial.

NBC News’ “rundown” stated:

This much is undisputed: Manning, while serving in Iraq, stole U.S. diplomatic cables and other military documents. While on leave in Maryland in 2010, he began sending them to WikiLeaks.

That it is “undisputed” that he “stole” cables or military documents could not be more false. He has not pled guilty to any of the five specifications or counts he faces, which allege that he stole, purloined or knowingly converted the information.   [Read more…]

Politics Trumped History on Memorial Day in San Diego

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Press covers ceremony honoring death of paid mercenaries, traditional military sacrifice honors ignored

By Fran Zimmerman

Now that Memorial Day 2013  is over, let’s record how the red/blue politics of the day trumped history and tradition and every lemming newspaper in this Navy town went along.

Apparently the Los Angeles Times, U-T San Diego, San Diego Reader and La Jolla Light forgot that San Diego is home to Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery, final resting place for more than 115,000 servicemembers and their families from all branches of the armed forces and site of the largest Memorial Day commemoration in the city.

Each of those newspapers carried stories with photographs, some prominent on Page One, of ceremonies in La Jolla at the “Mt. Soledad Veterans’ Memorial” underneath the controversial hilltop Christian cross. Not one journal mentioned that the Supreme Court has upheld the U.S. 9th District Court finding that this towering cross represents an illegal and unconstitutional expression of religion in a public place.

And not one mentioned that there is no consecrated ground there.
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Guantanamo, Drone Strikes and the Non-War Terror War: Obama Speaks

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By Marjorie Cohn / Truth-Out.org

As one of the 1,200-plus signatories to the full-page ad that appeared in The New York Times, calling for the closure of Guantanamo, I was disappointed in President Barack Obama’s speech Thursday on counterterrorism, drones and Guantanamo.

Torture and Indefinite Detention at Guantanamo

In a carefully crafted – at times defensive, discourse, Obama said, “In some cases, I believe we compromised our basic values – by using torture to interrogate our enemies and detaining individuals in a way that ran counter to the rule of law,” adding, “We unequivocally banned torture.” But Obama failed to note that the United Nations Human Rights Commission determined in 2006 that the violent force-feeding of detainees at Guantanamo amounted to torture and that he has continued that policy. More than half the remaining detainees are refusing food to protest their treatment and indefinite detention, many having been held for more than a decade with no criminal charges. In only a brief, but telling, mention of his administration’s violent force-feeding of hunger strikers at Guantanamo, Obama asked, “Is that who we are? Is that something that our founders foresaw? Is that the America we want to leave to our children? Our sense of justice is stronger than that.”   [Read more…]

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