You’ll Never Guess How Much Money the DEA Stole From a Black Man, Assuming He Was a Drug Dealer

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Photo Credit: The Grio

Photo Credit: The Grio

Last month Joseph Rivers set out on a train trip from Michigan to Los Angeles, armed with his life savings and dreams of making it big in Hollywood. Unfortunately, before he made it to California, he fell victim to a legal form of government highway robbery.

On April 15th, 22 year old Rivers changed trains at the Amtrak station in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with bags containing his clothes, a few other possessions and an envelope that contained $16,000 in cash that he had raised with the help of his family.

The Albuquerque Journal reports that’s when agents with the Drug Enforcement Administration got on and began looking for people who might be trafficking drugs. It is routine for agents to randomly stop passengers and ask them what their destination is and their reason for travel.

However, Rivers was the only black person on the train, and according to witnesses – his interrogation went much further than anyone else’s. The agent on board requested to go through Rivers’ bag – and when the young man complied his money was seized under suspicion of being linked to the sale of narcotics . . .

“These officers took everything that I had worked so hard to save and even money that was given to me by family that believed in me,” Rivers told the Journal. “I told (the DEA agents) I had no money and no means to survive in Los Angeles if they took my money. They informed me that it was my responsibility to figure out how I was going to do that.” (Read more from “You’ll Never Guess How Much Money the DEA Stole From a Black Man, Assuming He Was a Drug Dealer” HERE)

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‘I Know I’m Dying’: Two Mississippi Cops Shot to Death During Traffic Stop Horror

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ms-fb-officers-1024x768Two Mississippi police officers — one a rookie — were shot to death during an evening traffic turned violent, a state law enforcement spokesman said Sunday. Three suspects were in custody, including two who are charged with capital murder.

The deaths of the officers are the first to hit the southern Mississippi city of Hattiesburg in three decades — and come amid a national debate on policing, race and the use of deadly force, following the recent killings of unarmed black men by police in Missouri, South Carolina and elsewhere.

The officers’ deaths also follow by a day the funeral of a New York City officer who was shot in the head while stopping a man suspected of carrying a handgun.

Warren Strain, a spokesman for the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, told The Associated Press that 29-year-old Marvin Banks and 22-year-old Joanie Calloway were each charged with two counts of capital murder . . .

“At this point a weapon has not been recovered. However, warrants have been issued to search several properties in the Hattiesburg area. We are hopeful and believe that the murder weapon will be recovered,” Strain added. “At this point, it appears to have been only one weapon.” (Read more from “‘I Know I’m Dying’: Two Mississippi Cops Shot to Death During Traffic Stop Horror” HERE)

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Congress and Obama Administration Make Shocking, Arrogant Claims Before Two Separate Courts

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Photo Credit: The Intercept

Photo Credit: The Intercept

By Lee Fang. In a little-noticed brief filed last summer, lawyers for the House of Representatives claimed that an SEC investigation of congressional insider trading should be blocked on principle, because lawmakers and their staff are constitutionally protected from such inquiries given the nature of their work.

The legal team led by Kerry W. Kircher, who was appointed House General Counsel by Speaker John Boehner in 2011, claimed that the insider trading probe violated the separation of powers between the legislative and executive branch.

In 2012, members of Congress patted themselves on the back for passing the STOCK Act, a bill meant to curb insider trading for lawmakers and their staff. “We all know that Washington is broken and today members of both parties took a big step forward to fix it,” said Rep. Bill Johnson, R-Ohio, upon passage of the law.

But as the Securities and Exchange Commission made news with the first major investigation of political insider trading, Congress moved to block the inquiry.

The SEC investigation focused on how Brian Sutter, then a staffer for the House Ways and Means Committee, allegedly passed along information about an upcoming Medicare decision to a lobbyist, who then shared the tip with other firms. Leading hedge funds used the insider tip to trade on health insurance stocks that were affected by the soon-to-be announced Medicare decision. (Read more about Congress and Obama Administration making shocking judicial claims HERE)

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U.S. Government: We Can Classify Anything and Judges Can’t Stop Us

By Sam Sacks. At a hearing today on a lawsuit seeking to make videotapes of force-feedings at Guantánamo public, Justice Department attorneys argued that the courts cannot order evidence used in trial to be unsealed if it has been classified by the government. “We don’t think there is a First Amendment right to classified documents,” stated Justice Department lawyer Catherine Dorsey.

The judges at the D.C. Court of Appeals appeared skeptical. Chief Judge Merrick Garland characterized the government’s position as tantamount to claiming the court “has absolutely no authority” to unseal evidence even if it’s clear the government’s bid to keep it secret is based on “irrationality” or that it’s “hiding something.”

“That is our position,” Dorsey agreed. She added that a more appropriate tool to compel the release of the videos was through a Freedom of Information Act request.

Sixteen media organizations, including First Look Media, are seeking footage of Abu Wa’el Dhiab being repeatedly force-fed at Guantánamo. Dhiab was held by the U.S. for 12 years without charges or trial before being released to Uruguay last December.

“There is a public right at stake,” David Schultz told the panel of judges on behalf of the media outlets, adding that the videos depict “illegal conduct by government employees.” (Read more from this story HERE)

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Judge Throws out Lawsuit From Redditor Who Found an FBI Tracking Device on His Car

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Photo Credit: Tech Dirt

Photo Credit: Tech Dirt

Back in 2010, Redditor Yasir Afifi found an unusual device on his car while taking it in for an oil change.

Other Redditors surmised it was some sort of tracking device — something that was confirmed a few days later when two SUVs full of cops and FBI agents showed up to reclaim it. While doing so, the FBI agent also asked the sort of probing questions that make the agency an indispensable part of our nation’s counterterrorism efforts . . .

They also said other, more unsettling things:

After returning the GPS device, defendant Kanaan made several comments to the plaintiff [Redditor Yasir Afifi] that indicated to the plaintiff that the FBI had knowledge of the plaintiff’s movements, including commenting on certain restaurants at which the plaintiff ate, a friend with whom he associated, and a new job at which he worked. At the end of the encounter, the plaintiff alleges that defendant Kanaan suggested to him that he was not a national security threat and that he was no longer of use to the FBI.

Apparently, part of the justification for deploying this tracking device was a comment one of Afifi’s friends had left at Reddit — a comment that skewers a lot of unproductive terrorism hysteria (and the agencies that thrive in this atmosphere). . . End result? A tracking device on Afifi’s car, and for something he didn’t even write. So, he sued the FBI and the DOJ for violating his First, Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights. (Read more from “Judge Throws out Lawsuit From Redditor Who Found an FBI Tracking Device on His Car” HERE)

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Unearthed Audio: Hillary Made This Unbelievable Statement About Her Stance on Illegal Aliens

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download (11)Though you wouldn’t know it from her remarks earlier this week, Hillary Clinton was once “adamantly” against illegal immigration and was for erecting a border fence similar to one that protects Israel.

“I am adamantly against illegal immigrants,” then-Sen. Clinton said on the John Grambling radio show in Feb. 2003 . . .

“Come up to Westchester, go to Suffolk and Nassau counties,” Clinton continued. “Stand in the street corners in Brooklyn or the Bronx. You’re going to see loads of people waiting to get picked up to get yard work, and construction work, and domestic work.”

Those remarks are remnants of a distant political past for Clinton, who unveiled her new stance on immigration at a roundtable discussion at a Las Vegas high school on Tuesday. Clinton called for a path to citizenship for all and said that she would act unilaterally to extend amnesty to many more undocumented immigrants in the country . . .

In 2006, she told the New York Daily News that while she favored a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, she also wanted to build a fence in some areas along the southern border. (Read more from “Unearthed Audio: Hillary Made This Shocking Statement About Her Stance on Illegal Aliens” HERE)

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ISIS Activity Prompts Threat Level Increase at Military Bases Throughout US

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140616-isis-iraq-jms-1914_dfd9d334d657162e5efe720e4f206e29Security conditions at U.S. military bases have been increased over growing concerns about terror threats, officials said Friday.

A U.S. official confirmed to CNN that U.S. military bases are now at “Force Protection Bravo,” which is defined by the Pentagon as an “increased and predictable threat of terrorism.” It is the third-highest threat level on a five-tier scale used by the Department of Defense.

U.S. military officials added Friday that the announcement, which comes in the aftermath of the shooting at a Texas cartoon contest featuring drawings of the Prophet Mohammed, was not the result of a specific threat but because the military had become concerned about several recent incidents.

The military became alarmed when one of the jihadists linked to the Garland attack tweeted the name and address of a U.S. military officer connected to the military’s Syrian rebel training program, a U.S. military official told CNN.

The tweet, first published on an account connected to British-born jihadist Junaid Hussain, was sent out a few days before the attack on the cartoon exhibit and appeared to encourage an attack on the address. (Read more from “ISIS Activity Prompts Threat Level Increase at Bases” HERE)

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What America Thinks: Americans Want Freedom to Choose Health Insurance

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healthcareVoters still haven’t warmed up to President Obama’s health care reform law for a variety of reasons, and one thing they’ve been consistently adamant about is personal choice when it comes to health insurance coverage. What does that mean? We decided to find out what America thinks.

The majority of voters have consistently rated their own health insurance coverage as good or excellent. But more than ever (39%) say they have had to change that coverage because of Obamacare, and they don’t appreciate one-size-fits-all, government-mandated changes in their health insurance. Sizable majorities believe individuals should have the right to choose between insurance plans that cost more and cover nearly all medical procedures and plans that cost less but cover only major medical procedures. They also say Americans should be able to choose between plans with higher deductibles and lower premiums and lower premiums with higher deductibles. Voters think, too, that individuals and employers should be allowed to buy health insurance plans across state lines rather than ones limited to their state.

The cost of health care cost has long been Americans’ number one health care concern, and 61% think more free market competition is the best way to reduce those costs. Half say the same of letting states compete to determine the most effective standards and guidelines rather than having the federal government mandate a single set of standards. (Read more from “Americans Want Freedom to Choose Health Insurance” HERE)

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Huckabee Staff Picks Underline New Focus on Fundraising

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Photo Credit: Time

Photo Credit: Time

At Mike Huckabee’s presidential campaign headquarters just outside downtown Little Rock, Ark., the political team is stacked with veterans of his previous campaigns. His fundraising operation, however, is staffed with almost all new faces who are tasked with avoiding a repeat of Huckabee’s 2008 campaign, which went broke just as he was capturing the GOP’s imagination.

A staff roster, obtained by TIME, shows that of the headquarter’s 19 senior political aides, 12 are veterans of his Huckabee’s earlier efforts, including daughter-turned-campaign manager Sarah Huckabee Sanders. In the finance department, however, five of the six top officials are newcomers to Huckabee’s orbit.

Their resumes include stints working for the presidential campaigns of George W. Bush, Mitt Romney, John McCain, Rick Santorum, Michele Bachmann, Jon Huntsman and Tim Pawlenty.

Huckabee on Tuesday launched his campaign with a speech in his hometown of Hope, Ark., and signaled he would run a more-polished campaign than his 2008’s effort. An upstart eight years ago, Huckabee now is a known candidate whom voters will expect to run a more professional operation . . .

Huckabee Sanders is her father’s top aide but hardly a nepotistic hire. In 2014, she managed John Boozman’s successful Senate campaign in Arkansas and was a top adviser to Tom Cotton’s winning campaign in North Carolina. She previously was an adviser to Pawlenty’s failed 2012 bid for the GOP nomination and guided her father’s 2008 campaign in Iowa to a win as his national political director. (Read more from “Huckabee Staff Picks Underline New Focus on Fundraising” HERE)

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Military Training Exercise Causing More Worry in Texas, but Gov. Perry Says Chill

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Governor-Perry-HeadshotFormer Gov. Rick Perry said Texans — including new Gov. Greg Abbott — don’t have any cause for worry about an upcoming military training exercise in Texas.

Abbott last week directed the Texas State Guard to monitor Operation Jade Helm 15, an eight-week federal training exercise that will bring about 1,200 troops to Texas this summer to simulate special operations, because he’s worried the training could infringe on Texans’ rights.

“I think it’s OK to question your government,” Perry, a potential 2016 presidential candidate, said Tuesday before speaking to a World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth luncheon at the Tower Club in Dallas. “I do it on a pretty regular basis” . . .

Some officials and citizens in Texas, including Congressman Louie Gohmert, see something potentially more nefarious in the exercise.

In a Tuesday statement, Gohmert said his office has been inundated with calls referring to the Jade Helm 15 military exercise scheduled to take place between July 15 and September 15. His statement said the military practice has some concerned that the U.S. Army is preparing for modern-day martial law. He went on to say that he understands these concerns. (Read more from “Military Training Exercise Causing Worry in Texas” HERE)

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Airport Security Advances Clash With Privacy Issues

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Photo Credit: NY Times

Photo Credit: NY Times

At a mock airport in an underground laboratory here at Northeastern University, students pretending to be passengers head through a security exit in the right direction, while a young man enters going the wrong way. On a nearby computer screen, a newly developed video surveillance software program flags the wayward person and sounds an alarm.

In a lab across the street, researchers are developing a new way to detect explosives using radar.

Just down the hall, a professor and a team of students are working on a scanning system that they hope will speed up security lines. The system uses machines installed in walls or other places to scan passengers as they walk past instead of having them walk individually into a conventional scanning machine.

“The goal is to have a system that provides better scanning of individuals going through security, while at the same time making it more convenient,” said Jose Martinez Lorenzo, a professor of mechanical and industrial engineering, who is directing the project.

But the ambitious research in the name of passenger safety and easing air travel delays is colliding with pressure to protect privacy and to reduce federal spending. (Read more from “Airport Security Advances Clash With Privacy Issues” HERE)

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