Bradley Manning Trial: Defense Counsel Ask How Passing Info to Journalist is “Aiding and Abetting the Enemy”?

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Photo Credit: APThe defence team representing Bradley Manning, the US soldier who leaked reams of state secrets to WikiLeaks, has made one last attempt to persuade the judge presiding over his court martial to dismiss the most serious charge against him: that he “aided the enemy”.

Manning’s civilian lawyer David Coombs said that to convict the army private of such a severe offence would set an “extremely bad precedent”. It would place US society on a “very slippery slope, of basically punishing people for getting information out to the press.”

Addressing the judge in a military court in Fort Meade, Coombs said that “no case has ever been prosecuted under this type of theory: that an individual, by the nature of giving information to a journalistic organisation, would then be subject to” a charge of “aiding the enemy”. Conviction of such an office would bring “a hammer down on any whistleblower or anybody who wants to put information out”.

The lawyer’s comments were recorded by the Freedom of the Press Foundation, which is employing court stenographers during the Manning trial as a way of overcoming the high level of official secrecy that surrounds the case.

The “aiding the enemy” charge has become the seminal battle in Manning’s prosecution, with the US government, in its determination to come down hard on official leakers, ranged against advocates of freedom of information. Under the terms of the charge, Manning is accused of having given valuable intelligence to Osama bin Laden, al-Qaida and its affiliate groups simply by dint of having leaked documents that were then posted by WikiLeaks on the internet.

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Hispanic Networks Granted Exclusive Interviews With Obama But Fail to Ask Even One Question About Zimmerman

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Photo Credit: qnrLeading Hispanic television networks Univision and Telemundo were granted two interviews apiece with President Obama today, but not one interviewer asked the president a question about the verdict in the George Zimmerman trial, according to transcripts and sources familiar with the interviews.

The four interviews were intended to focus on immigration reform, but the absence of any inquiry related to the high-profile court case surprised even the White House…

Television industry executives also expressed surprise: “It’s unbelievable that any journalist with access to the President this week wouldn’t ask the first African-American president about his reaction to the verdict,” said one D.C.-based executive.

Instead, the interviewers focused on immigration reform, giving President Obama the opportunity to tout the economic benefits of reform and to criticize House Republicans for opposing the immigration bill on political grounds.

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Rand Paul, Ted Cruz Set Off GOP Scramble on Military Sex Assault

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Photo Credit: APSenate Republicans scrambled for cover Tuesday after Sens. Rand Paul and Ted Cruz partnered with a budding bipartisan coalition pushing the Pentagon to overhaul how it handles military sexual assault cases.

GOP lawmakers said they planned to quickly schedule a closed-door conference meeting to hear out the two tea party firebrands on their decision to cosponsor legislation removing the chain of command from military prosecutions, a measure the Pentagon opposes.

Republican leaders also will give Sen. Kelly Ayotte the floor at the meeting to explain an alternative approach adopted last month by the Armed Services Committee. The alternative also aims to reduce the number of unreported sexual assault cases – estimated around 23,000 last year – without stripping commanders of their authority to convene a court martial.

Several Republican lawmakers, including the top Republican on the Armed Services Committee Sen. Jim Inhofe and the panel’s former chairman, Sen. John McCain, are supporting the bill that passed out of committee…

Paul and Cruz are no strangers in pushing their Republican colleagues into uncomfortable terrain. Just look at what the Kentucky freshman did in March in staging a 13-hour filibuster over drone strikes on U.S. soil.

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Mark Levin Proposes Article V Constitutional Convention, Intended as End-Run Around Federal Tyranny

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[On his radio show this week, Mark] Levin previewed an argument under Article Five of the United States Constitution which expresses how the Constitution can be changed through the amendment process by using the traditional passage of a proposed amendment by two-thirds of both the House of Representatives and the Senate; then on to the several states for ratification. Once three-fourths of the states have ratified the proposed amendment, the approved Amendment becomes part of our United States Constitution.

What Levin also said was that the States could also propose a convention to add a specific amendment or reject a current amendment by calling an Amendment Convention. This convention would have no bearing on the existing framework of the Constitution, but would only affect the addition or subtraction of an amendment at hand.

Levin reported that under Article V of the Constitution, two-thirds of the several states could form a convention on their own through actions initiated through their own state legislatures. Once an amendment is successfully proposed, it could be ratified by approval of three-fourths of the legislatures of the several states, and then imparted into the Constitution.

The Founders placed this alternative method of amending the Constitution as an end-around the possible tyranny of an all-powerful federal government. The Founders knew the federal leviathan could never be completely trusted with policing itself and therefore gave ultimate authority to the states to make changes when they deemed it necessary.

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World Trade Center Owners in Court Trying to Collect Billions from Airline Companies

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Photo Credit: cliff1066™One of the last lawsuits tied to the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks kicks off in a Manhattan courtroom tomorrow where Massport faces “billions” in potential damages.

The anticipated three-day federal bench trial is being held to decide whether World Trade Center Properties, owner of the World Trade Center towers brought down by terrorists, can seek more compensation from airlines and the Massachusetts Port Authority than the $4.9 billion insurance payouts they’ve already received. The attack destroyed a third building as well.

“You’re talking about billions (of dollars) in this lawsuit,” said retired Federal Aviation Administration Special Agent Brian Sullivan, who pointed out security holes at Logan International Airport prior to the attacks. The two planes that brought down the twin towers left from Logan.

The suit alleges the airlines and other aviation-related companies were negligent, allowing terrorists to board airplanes and overtake their crews before plunging the planes into the trade center complex.

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Feds Admit that IRS Targeted Political Candidates for Audit

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Photo Credit: Evan VucciThe Treasury Department has admitted for the first time that confidential tax records of several political candidates and campaign donors were improperly scrutinized by government officials, but the Justice Department has declined to prosecute any of the cases.

Its investigators also are probing two allegations that the Internal Revenue Service “targeted for audit candidates for public office,” the Treasury’s inspector general for tax administration, J. Russell George, has privately told Sen. Chuck Grassley.

In a written response to a request by Mr. Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, Mr. George said a review turned up four cases since 2006 in which unidentified government officials took part in “unauthorized access or disclosure of tax records of political donors or candidates,” including one case he described as “willful.” In four additional cases, Mr. George said, allegations of improper access of IRS records were not substantiated by the evidence.

Mr. Grassley has asked Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to explain why the Justice Department chose not to prosecute any of the cases. The Iowa Republican told The Washington Times that the IRS “is required to act with neutrality and professionalism, not political bias.”

The investigation did not name the government officials who obtained the IRS records improperly, nor did it reveal the identities or political parties of the people whose tax records were compromised. By law, taxpayer records at the IRS are supposed to be confidential.

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Somehow Federal Debt Has Remained Exactly the Same for Two Months: $25 Million Below Legal Limit

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Photo Credit: APAccording to the Daily Treasury Statement for July 12, which the U.S. Treasury released this afternoon, the federal debt that is currently subject to a legal limit of $16,699,421,095,673.60 has stood at exactly $16,699,396,000,000.00 for 56 straight days.

That means that for 56 straight days the federal debt has remained approximately $25 million below the legal limit.

Even though the portion of the federal debt that is subject to a legal limit has not changed in almost two months, the Treasury has continued to sell bills, notes and bonds at a value that exceeds the value of the bills, notes and bonds it has been redeeming.

The “public debt subject to limit”–as the Treasury calls the portion of the federal debt that is legally limited by Congress–first hit $16,699,396,000,000.00 at the close of business on May 17.

Up to that point in fiscal 2013, according to the Daily Treasury Statement, the Treasury had already redeemed approximately $4,776,995,000,000.00 in U.S. debt instruments (bills, notes and bonds) that had matured. At the same time, the Treasury had issued $5,354,508,000,000.00 in new debt instruments. That means that, on net, as of May 17, the part of the federal government’s debt publicly circulated in instruments likes bills, notes and bonds had increased $577,513,000,000 for the fiscal year.

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Black American Leadership Alliance Marches With Thousands in DC for Jobs and Against Amnesty

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Photo Credit: APBy Matthew Boyle. Thousands of grassroots activists from all around the country descended on Washington, D.C., on Monday for the Black American Leadership Alliance (BALA) March For Jobs, a movement against amnesty aimed at defeating the Senate “Gang of Eight” immigration bill.

The activists convened at Freedom Plaza early and several speakers rose up against amnesty there before they marched from the downtown landmark near the White House up Pennsylvania Avenue onto Capitol Hill. Rep. Steve King (R-IA) spoke at Freedom Plaza and then led the march through the capital to Congress.

“We have a great country,” King said at Freedom Plaza. “Our Founding Fathers framed it for us. Their job was harder than ours is. They had to identify the pillars of American exceptionalism. We just have to defend them.”

“The rule of law,” King continued. “You can’t be a great nation without the rule of law. And you can’t have amnesty and still have the rule of law. All Democrats and Independents in the Senate believe there ought to be amnesty. Some Republicans think that also.” Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: APRev. Peterson: working class black Americans don’t want immigration bill

By Tony Lee. Reverend Jesse Lee Peterson, who founded the South Central Los Angeles Tea Party, emphasized on Monday that working class black Americans and those at the bottom of the economic ladder oppose the Senate’s immigration bill, contrary to what politicians and those who represent them in Congress may claim.

“Politicians want amnesty,” Peterson said on Breitbart News’ exclusive broadcast of the D.C. March for Jobs rally. “People don’t.” Read more from this story HERE.

Top Aide to Michele Bachmann Arrested by Capitol Police

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Photo Credit: Gage SkidmoreA top aide to Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., was arrested by Capitol Police in connection with a string of burglaries in the Rayburn House Office Building, The Hill reported.

Javier Sanchez, 37, of Virginia, is Bachmann’s senior legislative assistant. He was charged with Theft II, and police issued the following statement on Monday:

“Earlier this year the United States Capitol Police was apprised of thefts that occurred in the Rayburn House Office Building,” spokesperson Shennell Antro told The Hill. “The USCP conducted an investigation and were able to identify a subject. The investigation resulted in the arrest of 37-year-old Javier Sanchez of Virginia.”

Sanchez was arrested July 11, Antro said.

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Indiana Doctor Arrested in Four Omaha Murders, Cops Allege He Has “Serial Killer” Profile

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Photo Credit: APAn Indiana doctor was arrested Monday in connection with the unsolved killings of four people, including an 11-year-old boy, who all had ties to the Nebraska medical school he had attended before being fired.

Omaha authorities say 40-year-old Dr. Anthony Garcia is suspected in the May deaths of Creighton University professor Roger Brumback and his wife, Mary, as well as the 2008 stabbing deaths of 11-year-old Thomas Hunter and his family housekeeper, Shirlee Sherman.

Roger Brumback and Thomas Hunter’s father worked in Creighton’s medical school pathology department and the men had fired Garcia for erratic behavior in 2001, when he was a pathology resident, Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer said.

The murders of Thomas Hunter and Sherman at the Hunter family’s 3,700-square-foot home in Dundee were featured last year on “America’s Most Wanted,” and a $54,000 reward was offered for information.

Schmaderer tells Fox 42 that a special task force was created last year after investigators discovered Garcia had been in Omaha during all four of the murders, and the task force has been monitoring him for an unspecified amount of time.

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