Posts Tagged ‘Associated Press’

German sues Macedonia in EU human rights court

Thursday, May 17th, 2012

A German citizen took his claim that the CIA illegally whisked him to a secret prison in Afghanistan to Europe’s human rights court Wednesday in what could be the final chapter of a case that has shed light on U.S. practices in the war on terror.

Khaled El-Masri, who is of Lebanese descent, says he was brutally interrogated at a secret CIA-run prison in Afghanistan for more than four months after being kidnapped from Macedonia in 2003, apparently mistaken for a terror suspect. He says he went on a hunger strike for 27 days and was eventually flown back to Europe and abandoned in a mountainous area in Albania.

Having failed with previous legal efforts in Germany, Macedonia and the United States, el-Masri has turned to the European Court of Human Rights as a last resort in the hope that it will declare that Macedonia breached his basic rights, said his lawyer.

“Mr. El-Masri has spent the last eight years seeking legal redress for the crimes that were committed against him,” James Goldston told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. “There is abundant evidence including data on CIA flights to and from (Macedonia’s capital) Skopje.”

Authorities in Macedonia have denied any involvement in el-Masri’s alleged kidnapping and sought Wednesday to have the Strasbourg, France-based court dismiss the case. A lawyer representing the small southeast European nation argued that el-Masri was too slow in filing his initial criminal complaint in Macedonia.

Goldston is the executive director of the Open Justice Initiative, a group that campaigns against the United States’ so-called extraordinary rendition programs. These involved abducting and interrogating terror suspects without court sanction.

The case has caused diplomatic friction between the United States and Germany, where prosecutors dropped efforts to pursue the CIA agents involved in detaining him after Washington made clear they would not be extradited.

El-Masri himself was not in court as he is currently serving a two-year prison sentence for assaulting the mayor of his hometown in Germany and later a prison employee.

The court is expected to deliver a verdict later this year.

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Torii Hunter’s football star son’s arrest leads MLB star to take leave from team

Tuesday, May 15th, 2012

A top athlete at a suburban Dallas school has been charged in a sexual assault investigation, leading to his arrest and an immediate move that could affect the fortunes of Major League Baseball’s Los Angeles Angels.

Prosper wide receiver Darius Hunter — Rivals.comProsper wide receiver Darius Hunter — Rivals.com

As reported by the Associated Press, Dallas Morning News and NBC DFW, among other sources, five students at Prosper (Texas) High were arrested on Monday in connection with the sexual assault of another student. One of the students arrested, 17-year-old Darius McClinton-Hunter, is the son of star Angels outfielder Torii Hunter.

McClinton-Hunter cleared a $15,000 bail shortly after his arrest on Monday and was released from jail. Shortly thereafter, Hunter was placed on the Angels’ restricted list for unidentified reasons, though Angels manager Mike Scioscia reported that Hunter had left the team for “a personal matter.”

If there were any question over why Torii Hunter was taking an unplanned sabbatical from baseball,they were cleared up via his personal Twitter account later Monday night.

“This is very tough for a father,” Hunter Tweeted. “Thanks for ur prayers and support. Be Blessed everyone!”

This isn’t the first time that Darius McClinton-Hunter has gained a national spotlight, though this is the first time his actions are being scrutinized for their negative impact. Previously, the Prosper junior had gained attention for his athleticism on the football field. A 5-foot-11, 165-pound speedster, Hunter was viewed as a legitimate Division I prospect as a wide receiver, and has already received scholarship offers from Utah, West Virginia, Wake Forest and Texas Tech, among other schools.

His relationship with his father has also been well documented by MLive.com from the younger Hunter’s time in Grand Blanc.

Darius Hunter is one of three Hunter brothers who have emerged as pillars of the Prosper football program. Darius Hunter’s brothers, Moonshadrik “Money” Hunter and Torii Hunter Jr., are also both considered top college football recruits, with Torii Jr. in particular considered a potential difference maker in college football.

 

Whether Darius Hunter ever gets to that stage now remains to be seen. At the moment, he has only been charged with a crime and is innocent until proven guilty, but the troubling nature of the allegations against him — as well as the fact that he will be tried as an adult because he has already turned 17 — raise considerable questions about whether or not the colleges which have expressed interest in him will stick with him.

Naturally, those considerations are distinctly secondary to worries about Hunter’s safety and his ability to clear his name if the allegations against him are false … and the family’s ability to move on and cope with his difficult future if they prove to be true, regardless of how far from the perceived character of Hunter’s sons they seem to be.

“It’s cool. I’ve been through that process. My brothers have been through that process. Just to see this come back around with my kids, it’s good. It brings back old memories,” Torii Hunter Sr. told Rivals.com affiliate Orangebloods.com in a previous interview. “And they’re good kids. They’re not just good athletes but they’re good students and characters at school. Teachers love them, players love them and coaches love them. That’s what I really worry about.”

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Texas inmate has strong showing against Obama in WV primary

Wednesday, May 9th, 2012

A federal inmate serving time in Texas won more than 40 percent of the vote in the West Virginia Democratic primary election, and he ended up close to Mitt Romney‘s total on the Republican side.

Keith Judd won 41 percent of the vote in the Democratic primary for president. Barack Obama won the race with 59 percent.

In total votes, Obama won 102,028 and Judd had 69,799. On the Republican side, Romney won with 72,818, or 71 percent of the vote.

Judd is serving time in the Beaumont, Texas, Federal Correctional Institution for making threats at the University of New Mexico in 1999, according to media reports.

Judd has run for president in 1996, 2000, 2004 and 2008, according to Project Vote Smart.

Judd was able to get on the state ballot by paying a $2,500 fee and filing a form known as a notarized certification of announcement, Secretary of State spokesman Jake Glance told The Associated Press.

Normally, attracting at least 15 percent of the vote would qualify a candidate for a delegate to the Democratic National Convention, the AP reported. West Virginia Democratic Party Executive Director Derek Scarbro said that because nobody filed to be a delegate for Judd, that won’t happen. Judd also failed to file required paperwork, Scarbro told the AP.

As of this morning, Judd had won the race in eight of West Virginia’s 55 counties, according to unofficial results listed on the Secretary of State’s website. He won more than 50 percent of the vote in Boone, Clay, Gilmer, Hardy, Logan, Mingo, Webster and Wyoming counties. The Secretary of State’s website had no results listed for 14 counties as of 8:30 a.m.

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CONDUCT UNDER FIRE

Tuesday, April 24th, 2012

The Psycho-politician may well find himself under attack as an individual or a member of a group. He may be attacked as a Communist, through some leak in the organization, he may be attacked for malpractice. He may be attacked by the families of people whom he has injured.In all cases his conduct of the situation should be calm and aloof. He should have behind him the authority of many years of training, and he should have participated fully in the building of defenses in the field of insanity which give him the only statement as to the conditions of the mind.

If he has not done his work well, hostile feeling groups may expose an individual Psycho-politician. These may call into question the efficacy of psychiatric treatment such as shock, drugs, and brain surgery. Therefore,the Psycho-political operative must have to hand innumerable documents which assert enormously encouraging figures on the subject of recovery by reason of shock, brain surgery, drugs, and general treatment. Not one of these cases cited need be real, but they should be documented and printed in such a fashion as to form excellent court evidence. Note: Something to be remembered when you serve on a jury !

More importantly, he should rule into scorn, by reason of his authority, the sanity of the person attacking him, and if the psycho-political archives of the country are adequate many defamatory data can be unearthed and presented as a rebuttal.

Should anyone attempt to expose psychotherapy as a psycho-political activity, the best defense is calling into question the sanity of the attacker.* The next best defense is authority. The next best defense is a validation of psychiatric practices in terms of long and impressive figures. The next best defense is the actual removal of the attacker by giving him, or them, treatment sufficient to bring about a period of insanity for the duration of the trial. This, more than anything else, would discredit them, but it is dangerous to practice this, in the extreme. *Note: This is why many anti-Communists are referred to as “members of the lunatic fringe (right)?”

Psycho-politics should avoid murder and violence, unless it is done in the safety of the institution, on persons who have been proven to be insane. Where institution deaths appear to be unnecessary, or to rise in “unreasonable number,” political capital might be made of this by city officials or legislature. If the Psycho-political operative has, himself, or if his group has done a thorough job, defamatory data concerning the person, or connections, of the would-be attacker should be on file, should be documented, and should be used in such a way as to discourage the inquiry. Note: In the United States, over 300,000 people die each year do to “mistakes” made in hospitals. All Western nations, including Japan, have the same problem.

After a period of indoctrination, a country will expect insanity to be met by psycho-political violence. Psycho-political activities should become the only recognized treatment for insanity. Indeed, this can be extended to such a length that it could be made illegal for electric shock and brain surgery to be omitted in the treatment of a patient.

In order to defend psycho-political activities, a great complexity should be made of psychiatric, Psychoanalytical, and psychological technology. Any hearing should be burdened by terminology too difficult to be transcribed easily. A great deal should be made out of such terms as schizophrenia, paranoia, and other relatively indefinable states.

Psycho-political tests need not necessarily be in agreement, one to another, where they are available to the public. Various types of insanity should be characterized by difficult terms. The actual state should be made obscure, but by this verbiage it can be built into the court or investigating mind that a scientific approach exists and that it is too complex for him to understand. It is not to be imagined that a judge or a committee of investigation should inquire too deeply into the subject of insanity, since they, themselves, part of the indoctrinated masses, are already intimidated if the psycho-political activity has caused itself to be well-documented in terms of horror in magazines.

In case of a hearing or trial, the terrible nature of insanity itself, its threat to the society, should be exaggerated until the court or committee believes that the Psycho-political operative is vitally necessary in his post and should not be harassed for the activities of persons who are irrational. Note: This is also done by newspapers, in order to justify massive intrusive government.

An immediate attack upon the sanity of the attacker before any possible hearing can take place is the very best defense. It should become well known that “only the insane attack psychiatrists.” The by-word should be built into the society that paranoia is a condition “in which the individual believes he is being attacked by Communists.” It will be found that this defense is effective. Note: The Schizophrenic Soc. of Psychiatrists recently released figures indicating the suicide rates are four times the national rate. Of Sigmund Freud’s original group of 12 psychiatrists, seven committed suicide.

Part of the effective defenses should include the entire lack in the society of any real psychotherapy. This must be systematically stamped out, since a real psychotherapy might possibly uncover the results of psycho-political activities.

Jurisprudence, in a Capitalistic nation, is of such clumsiness that cases are invariably tried in their newspapers. We have handled these things much better in Russia, and have uniformly brought people to trial with full confessions already arrived at (being implanted) before the trial took place.

Should any whisper, or pamphlet, against Psycho-political activities be published, it should be laughed into scorn, branded an immediate hoax, and its perpetrator or publisher should be, at the first opportunity, branded as insane, and by the use of drugs the insanity should be confirmed.

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Trayvon Martin’s Mother Moves to Trademark Phrases that Have Become Rallying Cries in Wake of Son’s Death

Wednesday, March 28th, 2012

While Trayvon Martin‘s mother accused authorities of smearing her son, her lawyer revealed she’s moved to trademark slogans that have been popularized amid the outcry over his killing.

Sybrina Fulton, the slain teen’s mother, has sought to trademark two phrases: “Justice for Trayvon” and “I Am Trayvon,” attorney Kimra Major-Morris confirmed in an email Monday in which she said the move was not intended to reap a profit, the Associated Press reported.

The two sayings have become like rallying cries since the 17-year-old was shot to death during a still-murky encounter with neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman on Feb. 26 in Sanford, Fla.

{snip}

The trademark applications said the catch phrases could be used on DVDs and CDs—but the mother’s lawyer indicated their use would be to support those who find themselves suffering for the same reasons as Fulton.

In confirming the applications to the AP, trademark attorney Kimra Major-Morris wrote in an email that the grieving mother wants to safeguard intellectual property rights for “projects that will assist other families who experience similar tragedies.”

When a reporter for the wire service asked if the mother had any designs to make a profit, Major-Morris responded, “None.”

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Head of school that hosted anti-gay band resigns

Friday, March 16th, 2012

The principal of an Iowa secondary school that allowed members of a Christian rock band to espouse their anti-gay, anti-abortion views while showing students images of fetuses that had apparently been aborted is resigning, the district superintendent said.

Mike Cooper, who oversees grades 7-12 at the school in Dunkerton, will tender his resignation Monday and remain on the job through the end of the school year, Dunkerton Superintendent Jim Stanton told the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier for a story published Tuesday.

Cooper declined to comment to the newspaper Tuesday about his pending departure, and he did not immediately respond Wednesday to a phone message left at his office by The Associated Press.

Stanton said Cooper’s decision is not related to Cooper’s recommendation that the district invite the band Junkyard Prophet to perform at last week’s assembly, and said the plan had been “in the works” for nearly a month.

“He simply wants to be a superintendent,” Stanton said, acknowledging that the timing of the announcement suggested there might be more to it.

Several students and parents said they were puzzled at why the band was invited to the school in Dunkerton, which is 70 miles northwest of Iowa City. The band is affiliated with a Minnesota group, You Can Run But You Cannot Hide, that describes itself as a Christian ministry and that states its extremely conservative views on social issues on its website. The Southern Poverty Law Center classifies it as a hate group.

Students said the March 8 assembly kicked off with a performance by the band and discussion about how some music can negatively influence young people. They said the group then tried to impress upon students that homosexuality, sex and abortion are wrong, displaying images of aborted fetuses on a screen above the stage.

Jennifer Littlefield told the La Crosse Tribune, of Wisconsin, that her daughter Alivia, who is a junior at the school, called her crying so hard after the assembly that she could barely understand her.

“They told my daughter, the girls, that they were going to have mud on their wedding dresses if they weren’t virgins,” said Littlefield, who also said she didn’t appreciate what she described as gay bashing.

“They told these kids that anyone who was gay was going to die at the age of 42. It just blows me away that no one stopped this,” she said.

Stanton apologized to students last week and said he shocked by the group’s message, which he says contradicts the message of tolerance and acceptance that the district stresses.

At a special board meeting Tuesday night, Stanton outlined a plan for the district to deal with the fallout from the assembly and prevent similar problems in the future, including providing counseling for students and faculty members who request it, bolstering the district’s diversity curriculum, notifying parents before future assemblies and vetting future performers more thoroughly.

Some parents said the changes weren’t enough and they called on Stanton to resign as well.

“The kids are suffering over this deal and, Mr. Stanton, you signed the checks,” Tim Westergreen said. “I respectfully ask for your resignation.”

Stanton said he does not plan to quit, and several school board members, including its president, Alen Nagel, said they had no interest in seeing Stanton resign.

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Egypt presidential hopeful attacked in carjacking

Saturday, February 25th, 2012

One of Egypt’s top presidential hopefuls demanded police protection Friday after masked men stopped his car on the way back from a campaign event, beat him with the butt of an automatic rifle and stole his vehicle – an attack that many of his supporters fear may have been deliberate.

A lawmaker from the country’s most powerful political party, the Muslim Brotherhood, also was wounded in a hit-and-run Friday.

The two incidents demonstrate the disintegration of security in the country in the wake of the uprising a year ago that toppled Hosni Mubarak. As the country prepares for presidential elections expected to be held by the end of June, they also raise the spectre of politically-motivated violence as the campaign heats up.

Masked gunmen attacked Abdel-Moneim Abolfotoh late Thursday as he was returning to Cairo from a campaign event north of the capital, said campaign spokesman Ali Bahnasawy. Abolfotoh is a former leader in the Muslim Brotherhood who is running independently for president.

The attackers struck him three times in the head with the butt of an automatic rifle, beat his driver, and then drove off with his vehicle, Bahnasawy said.

Bahnasawy said Abolfotoh requested police protection on Friday, but has not yet been given any.

“The absence of Interior Ministry security around him after the incident is very strange and it’s a big question mark,” Bahnasawy told The Associated Press.

Campaign officials said the motive for the carjacking was not immediately clear, but suspected it might have been a targeted attack.

“We don’t believe it’s random, but we’re not sure yet,” Bahnasawy said.

Abolfotoh was on his way back from a rally in Menoufia, 40 miles (60 kilometers) north of Cairo, when he was attacked.

Bahnasawy said some people in Menoufia had asked questions about Abolfotoh’s travel details before he left the event. He suffered a concussion, but was released from a Cairo hospital Friday, Bahnasawy said.

Once a reformist within the Brotherhood, which now controls nearly half of seats in parliament, Abolfotoh was expelled when he declared he would run in the presidential balloting. The Muslim Brotherhood said it would not field a candidate in the elections, in a move seen as an attempt to allay Western concerns of an Islamist takeover.

An Interior Ministry official said the main presidential candidates will soon be given security at their homes and on the campaign trail. He and other police officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the decision has not yet been publicly announced.

In the second incident, the Muslim Brotherhood said one of its members was attacked Friday. The Brotherhood has emerged as the country’s most organized political force after decades of being banned from politics.

Security officials said Hassan al-Brince, who chairs the health committee in the newly-elected parliament, was driving in the northern province of Beheira when a large truck rammed into him and sped off. He was transferred to a nearby hospital, but is in stable condition, police said.

The committee that al-Brince chairs is at the center of one of the most heated discussions in Egypt about whether Mubarak should be moved from the elite military hospital where he’s currently being held to a prison hospital.

The deputy head of the Brotherhood’s political party, Essam el-Arian, said that attacks on political figures “suggest attempts to obstruct real change and the transfer of power to a new regime.” He would not say who he thought were behind such attempts.

Police said they are investigating both incidents and searching for suspects.

Crime has been on the rise in post-Mubarak Egypt, but has focused mainly on personal robberies. Murders have been rare.

During the 18-day uprising, more than 23,000 prisoners were either let out or broke out of prison as the police force collapsed. Police blame most of the crime on roughly 5,000 escaped convicts who have yet to be caught.

While many blame the Interior Ministry for the deteriorating security over the past year, others see it as part of the failure by the ruling military council to steer the country through what was supposed to be a transition to democracy.

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‘No More Towelheads,’ ‘No More Ragheads’ CafePress Shirts Upset Sikh Coalition

Saturday, February 18th, 2012

Nomoreragheadsshirtscafepresssikh

Members of the Sikh community are upset after finding shirts with the phrases “No More Ragheads” and “No More Towelheads” being sold on the merchandise website CafePress.

The slurs, which refer to people who wear turbans, could potentially incite violence and bigotry toward Sikhs and potentially members of the Muslim community, Rajdeep Singh, the Sikh Coalition‘s director of law and policy, told The Huffington Post.

Singh said he recently read an article describing the popularity of merchandise with similar messages. Disturbed by this, he decided to conduct a search for himself and stumbled across the shirts.

On Feb. 17, the Sikh Coalition drafted an open letter to Bob Marino, CEO of CafePress, asking the company to stop selling the shirts, issue an apology and enforce a better internal controls system to prevent similar merchandise from being sold in the future.

The group also attached a petition that received nearly 2,000 online signatures on Friday.

While some might see the shirts as harmless, Singh says it’s hard to see past the messages.

“That’s not just demeaning, that’s threatening, and that’s the problem,” Singh told HuffPost, pointing to hate crimes and violence against members of the Sikh community in the post-9/11 environment.

Since the terrorist attacks on the World Trade CenterSkihs have reported a rise in verbal and physical attacksagainst members of their community, The Blaze reports.

Just this week, the FBI were called in to investigate vandalism on Muslim and Sikh buildings in Detroit, according the the Associated Press.

Singh says he hopes the group’s efforts gain support beyond the Sikh community.

“This isn’t a concern of just the Sikh community, it’s a concern of people anywhere,” he said.

The Huffington Post made several requests to CafePress for comment but has not received a response. As of Friday afternoon, the shirts were no longer available on the website.

According to a description on its site, CafePress “offers sellers complete e-commerce services to independently create and sell a wide variety of products.”

A variety of other shirts with controversial messages have ruffled the feathers of several organizations in recent months.

In August, J.C. Penny stores responded to public outcry regarding girls’ shirtsembroidered with the message: “I’m too pretty to do homework so my brother has to do it for me.”

The company eventually pulled the product and issued an apology stating they “agree that the ‘Too pretty’ t-shirt does not deliver an appropriate message.”

Urban Outfitters also stopped selling a women’s shirt with the phrase “Eat less” in 2010, after some said the company was promoting unhealthy habits.

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CIA’s “Facebook” Program Dramatically Cut Agency’s Costs

Thursday, February 9th, 2012
from Onion News Network Season 1 Episode 9
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Police bust massive underage drinking party near Edwardsburg

Monday, February 6th, 2012

Fifty to sixty minors were caught at an underage drinking party Saturday near Edwardsburg.

Police say the teens got into the Eagle Lake Yacht Club. Officers were called because of all the cars there. What they found inside was that the kids had covered the windows so as not to be seen.

Police say info about the party, including the time and location, was posted on Facebook. They say most of the kids in attendance were from Granger, but some were from Mishawaka and South Bend  as well.

One of the minors trying to get away actually drove through the fence.

30 individuals were charged as minors in possession of alcohol, and police say more charges are pending.


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