DOJ Seeks to Block Bernanke Testimony

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ben-bernanke2WASHINGTON — The government is trying to block questioning of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke in a lawsuit by the former head of American International Group Inc.

The Justice Department told a federal appeals court Friday that high-ranking officials should not have to testify except in extraordinary circumstances.

Former AIG CEO Hank Greenberg sued the government over the $182 billion bailout of the insurance giant that has since been repaid.

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Illegal Aliens Protest for Tuition Benefits (+video)

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students_RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) — Dozens of undocumented students at Wake Technical Community College are pushing for changes to a policy that requires them to pay out-of-state tuition.

The students are forced to pay the out-of-state fees, which are nearly four times the cost of in-state tuition, even if they graduated from a North Carolina high school and have been living in the state for some time.

Five students were arrested at Thursday’s protest after repeated warnings to leave the campus. Wake Tech officials said the group didn’t file the proper paperwork to protest at the college. The five individuals, ranging in age from 17-27, are all charged with second-degree trespassing.

Meanwhile, undocumented students moved their demonstration to the highway demanding equal tuition rights.

“I think it’s discriminatory because they give us the opportunity already to be able to study here. We work really hard,” said undocumented student Jose Rico.

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Hero Soldier Who Charged at Fort Hood Gunman was Shot 12 Times Before Dying

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Photo Credit: Fox News

Photo Credit: Fox News

An Army soldier who died in the Fort Hood attack was shot 12 times as he charged Maj. Nidal Hasan, it was revealed Thursday during Hasan’s court-martial.

Spc. Frederick Greene, 29, of Mountain City, Tenn., was identified as the solider whose gunshot wounds were ‘consistent’ with him trying to charge Hasan, Dr. Phillip Berran, a pathologist, said. He reviewed photos of Greene’s body for the judge before jurors were led into the courtroom.

Greene, who was married with two children, and was known as the ‘Silent Soldier’ around base because he was laid-back. He was active at Baker’s Gap Baptist Church in his hometown while he was growing up, Glenn Arney, the church’s former superintendent and a former co-worker, said shortly after the November 2009 shooting.

“I went to church with him, knew him all of his life. He was one of the finest boys you ever saw,” Arney said.

Greene’s family issued a statement shortly after his death that said, “Fred was a loved and loving son, husband and father, and often acted as the protector of his family. Even before joining the Army, he exemplified the Army values of loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity and personal courage. Many of his fellow soldiers told us he was the quiet professional of the unit, never complaining about a job, and often volunteering when needed.”

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NSA Broke Privacy Rules Thousands of Times Per Year, Audit Finds

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Photo Credit: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA

Photo Credit: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA

The National Security Agency has broken privacy rules or overstepped its legal authority thousands of times each year since Congress granted the agency broad new powers in 2008, according to an internal audit and other top-secret documents.

Most of the infractions involve unauthorized surveillance of Americans or foreign intelligence targets in the United States, both of which are restricted by statute and executive order. They range from significant violations of law to typographical errors that resulted in unintended interception of U.S. e-mails and telephone calls.

The documents, provided earlier this summer to The Washington Post by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, include a level of detail and analysis that is not routinely shared with Congress or the special court that oversees surveillance. In one of the documents, agency personnel are instructed to remove details and substitute more generic language in reports to the Justice Department and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

In one instance, the NSA decided that it need not report the unintended surveillance of Americans. A notable example in 2008 was the interception of a “large number” of calls placed from Washington when a programming error confused the U.S. area code 202 for 20, the international dialing code for Egypt, according to a “quality assurance” review that was not distributed to the NSA’s oversight staff.

In another case, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which has authority over some NSA operations, did not learn about a new collection method until it had been in operation for many months. The court ruled it unconstitutional.

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Oregon Supreme Court finds Portland Law Prohibiting Loaded Guns in Public Places Constitutional

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Photo Credit: Getty Images

Photo Credit: Getty Images

A city of Portland ordinance that prohibits carrying loaded guns in public places does not violate a person’s right to bear arms, the Oregon Supreme Court has ruled.

The decision in State and City of Portland v. Jonathan D. Christian, released Thursday, is believed to be the first time the state’s highest court has weighed in on the ordinance. The justices’ endorsement of the law’s constitutionality comes as communities across the country continue a heated debate over government regulations of firearms.

The ruling, written by Justice Richard Baldwin for the unanimous court, carries implications for more than just Portland, said Harry Auerbach, Chief Deputy City Attorney for Portland. He said several local governments throughout Oregon have similar regulations.

“The ability of cities statewide to protect their citizens was an important consideration” for the court, he said, adding that the ruling bolsters efforts “to protect the safety of people on the streets of Portland by limiting the number of loaded firearms that are out there.”

The city ordinance prohibiting the carrying of loaded firearms in public has existed for decades, although the Portland City Council amended it in December 2010 to add a mandatory jail term of 30 days for violating the ordinance. That amendment was part of a package of new gun laws passed under former Mayor Sam Adams.

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Calif. Man’s Charge Upped to Murder after Boasting about Speeding on Twitter

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Photo Credit: west.m

Photo Credit: west.m

An 18-year-old accused of killing a bicyclist with his car has had a vehicular manslaughter charge upgraded to murder in part because he boasted about speeding on Twitter, prosecutors said Thursday.

Cody Hall, of Pleasanton, was being held without bail after he was charged Wednesday with the murder of 58-year-old Diana Hersevoort, the San Francisco Chronicle and Oakland Tribune reported.

Hall was going more than 80 mph in a 40 mph zone when he hit Hersevoort and her husband along a busy boulevard in Dublin on June 9, prosecutors allege. Hersevoort’s husband only broke an arm, but she was killed.

An analysis of Hall’s driving record, along with Twitter posts in which he discussed how fast he liked to drive, persuaded prosecutors to change the charge to murder, the Alameda County district attorney’s office told the Chronicle.

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Snowden Downloaded NSA Secrets While Working for Dell, Sources Say

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Photo Credit: Affiliate

Photo Credit: Affiliate

Former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden began downloading documents describing the U.S. government’s electronic spying programs while he was working for Dell Inc in April 2012, almost a year earlier than previously reported, according to U.S. officials and other sources familiar with the matter.

Snowden, who was granted a year’s asylum by Russia on Aug. 1, worked for Dell from 2009 until earlier this year, assigned as a contractor to U.S. National Security Agency facilities in the United States and Japan.

Snowden downloaded information while employed by Dell about eavesdropping programs run by the NSA and Britain’s Government Communications Headquarters, and left an electronic footprint indicating when he accessed the documents, said the sources, speaking on condition of anonymity.

David Frink, a spokesman for Round Rock, Texas-based Dell, declined to comment on any aspect of Snowden’s employment with the company, saying Dell’s “customer” – presumably the NSA – had asked Dell not to talk publicly about him.

Since Snowden disclosed documents on previously secret U.S. internet and phone surveillance programs in June, his three-month tenure with U.S. contractor Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corp starting in late March of this year has been the focus of considerable attention. His time at Dell has received little attention.

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Hagel Announces New Measures to Try to Stamp out Sex Assaults in the Military

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Photo Credit: Pete MarovichThe Pentagon has unveiled a range of initiatives to curb sexual assault in the ranks and tackle what military leaders have described as a “crisis” of confidence which prevents victims coming forward.

The new initiatives, to be implemented immediately, include greater protections of victims, including the expansion of an air force initiative to provide victims with a legal advocacy programme. Other changes include ensuring that pretrial investigations are conducted by judge advocate generals and improved tracking and follow-up of sexual assault cases.

In a memo to staff, Chuck Hagel, the defence secretary, described sexual assault as “a stain on the honor of our men and women who honorably serve our country, as well as a threat to the discipline and the cohesion of our force.”

He said the measures would “improve victim support, strengthen pretrial investigations, enhance oversight, and make prevention and response efforts more consistent across the military services”.

But the moves fell short of the overhaul in the system victims advocates and some lawmakers say is needed. Military critics say that to address the breakdown of trust in its handling of such cases, the responsibility for prosecuting sexual assault has to be removed from the chain of command.

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FreedomWorks Makes Big Anti-Obamacare Push

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Photo Credit: John ShinkleConservatives are plotting an aggressive push during the last two weeks of August to boost the controversial effort in Congress to oppose spending bills this fall that contain funding for Obamacare.

FreedomWorks is working with local conservative activists to question senators at home-state events about their objections to a letter spearheaded by Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) vowing to vote against bills with funding for the health care law. That letter is stuck at 13 signers and FreedomWorks is keeping a running tally of senators’ support or opposition to the letter. Heritage Action for America also plans a barnstorming tour this month intended to drive more senators’ support to the letter.

“It’s sad to see once-great organizations sacrifice years of credibility on the altar of bad strategy,” said a Republican Senate aide.

Among the lawmakers being targeted by FreedomWorks are GOP Sens. Richard Burr of North Carolina, Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and John Cornyn of Texas. The activists plan to demonstrate outside the office of Burr in response to his comment that a shutdown over Obamacare funding is the “dumbest idea I’ve ever heard of” and attend a Coburn town hall in Muskogee, Okla., to ask why Coburn considers the tactic “dishonest.”

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Feds Ran another Massive Deficit but Obama’s Debt Clock Stays Frozen at $16.7 Trillion

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Photo Credit: woodleywonderworks The Treasury Department’s Financial Management Service (FMS), which publishes both the federal government’s official Daily Treasury Statement and its official Monthly Treasury Statement, is reporting that in July the federal government ran a deficit of $98 billion but that the federal government’s debt remained exactly $16,699,396,000,000 for the entire month.

…The FMS said the debt stayed at exactly $16,699,396,000,000 in its Daily Treasury Statements, which are published every business day. The Daily Treasury Statements show the daily value of the federal government debt that is subject to a legal limit set by Congress.

At the static $16,699,396,000,000 level that the Treasury reported for every day of July, the debt was just $25 million below the legal limit of $16,699,421,000,000 that was set in a law passed by Congress and signed by President Barack Obama.

If Treasury’s daily statements were to declare that the government had borrowed an additional net $98 billion to cover the $98 billion deficit the Treasury declared in its monthly statement for July, the Treasury would be conceding that the government had already surpassed the legal limit on the debt–and has been violating the law by continuing to borrowing additional money.

Instead, even as the Treasury was running up the $98-billion deficit it reported in the July Monthly Treasury Statement, every one of the 22 Daily Treasury Statements published for July said the Treasury had closed out the previous business day with exactly $16,699,396,000,000 in debt.

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