Occupy America blogs

U.S. Acknowledges Killing 4 Americans in Overseas Attacks

Diane Sweet — Thu, 23 May 2013 01:31:55 +0000

The Obama administration acknowledged for the first time Wednesday that four American citizens have been killed in drone strikes since 2009 in Pakistan and Yemen. The disclosure, in a letter from Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, comes on the eve of a major national security speech by President Barack Obama.

Al-Awlaki, a radical Muslim cleric, was killed in a drone strike in September 2011 in Yemen. Holder said three other Americans were killed by drones in counterterrorism operations since 2009 but were not targeted.

The three are Samir Khan, who was killed in the same drone strike as al-Awlaki; al-Awlaki's 16-year-old son, Abdulrahman, who also was killed in Yemen two weeks later; and Jude Kennan Mohammed, who was killed in a drone strike in Pakistan.

WaPo:

Holder said that only Anwar al-Awlaki was “specifically targeted.” Khan was known to have been killed by the strike that targeted Awlaki, while the 16-year-old was killed in what senior administration officials described as a “mistake,” when he was in the company of another targeted individual shortly after his father’s death.

Mohammad was indicted in 2009 by a federal grand jury in North Carolina, where he had lived near Raleigh. The indictment said he was believed to have left the United States for Pakistan in 2008 to “engage in violent jihad.”
...

Reached in North Carolina Wednesday, Mohammad’s mother, Elena Mohammad, said she had been aware for some time that her son had been killed in a drone strike, but was told by people in Pakistan, not by U.S. authorities. Her ex-husband is Pakistani.

Mohammad said she had no details on when or where her son was killed. She also said she had no interest in discussing her son’s past.

“I dealt with that and I don’t have to deal with it anymore because it’s already over with,” she said in the phone interview. “So whatever transpired I don’t want it back in my life anymore. It’s gone. There are no questions. I don’t have to hear any authorities; the FBI has finished coming to my house. It’s over. That’s it.”

During Obama's scheduled counterterrorism policy speech on Thursday, he will discuss his belief that it's in the best interests of the nation to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

It is not clear whether or not the President will discuss the transfer of detainees, or the repatriation of those cleared for release during Thursday's speech.

Holder said in his letter, that Obama “has made clear his commitment to providing Congress and the American people with as much information as possible about our sensitive counterterrorism operations.”

You can read Holder's letter here.

Arizona Abortion Law Struck Down

Diane Sweet — Wed, 22 May 2013 17:00:00 +0000

Arizona’s abortion law is unconstitutional, according to a federal appeals court. About a year ago, the state banned abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy except in medical emergencies. But a circuit court now ruled that the government has no right to ban an abortion before a fetus “is viable.” The judge said the state “may not proscribe a woman from electing abortion, nor may it impose an undue burden on her choice through regulation.” Time will tell what this ruling means—particularly in other states with tough abortion restrictions such as North Dakota, which has banned abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.

The Hill:

“Today’s decision is a huge victory in the fight to protect women’s fundamental reproductive rights, and it should send a clear message to anti-choice politicians that their attempts to deprive pregnant women of critical health care are clearly unconstitutional and will not hold up in court," said Sally Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights.

TYT: Lena Moffitt Weighs in on Pet Coke Stored on Detroit River

Diane Sweet — Wed, 22 May 2013 15:30:54 +0000

Guest host Mark Thompson, “The War Room” host Michael Shure, Sierra Club Washington representative Lena Moffitt and BuzzFeed contributor Michael Hastings break down the Koch brothers’ involvement in petroleum coke being openly stored on the banks of Detroit River. Petroleum coke is a by-product of the oil refining process and can be harmful to the environment when burned. “This is the dirtiest by-product from the dirtiest source of oil on the planet,” Moffit says, adding that the 42817 ZIP code in Detroit “is one of the most polluted ZIP codes in the country. … This is the unfortunate lab where we can see what it means to bring tar sands to our country.”

Tell the Bankers that the People are Too Big To Fail

Diane Sweet — Wed, 22 May 2013 14:00:14 +0000

Carmen is a 23 year-old fighting to keep her family's home. Yesterday she was electrocuted by a taser at the Department of Justice while peacefully protesting with Occupy Our Homes and the Home Defenders League for her rights as a homeowner.

Call President Obama at (202) 456-1111 and tell him to arrest bankers, not homeowners.

Occupiers, allies and community members from across the country came together in front of the DOJ to demand that Attorney General Eric Holder arrest the bankers responsible for upending the international economy through the housing crisis.

President Obama’s Attorney General and his Justice Department have failed to file a single criminal charge, letting the banks have a free pass on money laundering for drug cartels, violating Securities Laws, the nationwide AG settlement on foreclosure fraud, and so much more.

Carmen and the other 2 million underwater homeowners can't wait any longer. And neither can the 7 million families going through some part of the foreclosure process since the housing crisis started.

Tell President Obama that we expect ‘justice’ from his Department of Justice.

We put 1,200 bankers in jail after the Savings and Loan crisis during the Reagan Administration, and we've put hundreds of homeowners like Carmen in economic jail for not being able to withstand this calamity. But not a single bank or banker has had to answer for their crimes.

Demand that Attorney General Eric Holder #EndTooBigToJail and arrest the banksters responsible for this unjust suffering.

Everyday people emblematic of the 99% are making clear that, as foreclosed homeowners, they want justice against the big Wall Street banks who created their untenable situations.

Stand with us in solidarity and demand accountability. Another World is Possible.

-- from the ‘Your Inbox: Occupied’ team

Morning Open Thread

Diane Sweet — Wed, 22 May 2013 11:00:46 +0000

Gas fracking companies revealed in a private PR conference that they're using military psychological warfare tactics (Psyops) on U.S. soil, and described citizens concerned about fracking's threat to health, water and the climate as "an insurgency."

With apologies to Francis Ford Coppola, welcome to Frackalypse.

Now, for more information, visit www.DeSmogBlog.com/Fracking

Also check out MarkFiore.com.

Your morning open thread begins below.

Bernie Sanders Goes After Wall Street Oil Speculators

Diane Sweet — Wed, 22 May 2013 03:51:30 +0000

Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) called on Tuesday for an investigation into oil price manipulation. He also proposed a 30-day deadline for federal regulators to use emergency powers to curb excessive speculation in crude oil markets.

“We must do everything that we can to make sure that oil and gasoline prices are transparent and free from fraud, manipulation, abuse and excessive speculation,” said Sanders, a member of the Senate energy committee.

Over the past five months, the national average price for a gallon of gasoline has gone up by more than 41 cents. The price hikes come at a time when U.S. oil inventories reached a three-decade high while demand for gasoline is lower than four years ago when prices averaged less than $2.30 a gallon.

Sanders spoke about rapidly rising gas prices during a Senate floor speech on two amendments he proposed to the farm bill.

“The skyrocketing cost of gasoline and oil is causing tremendous hardship to the American consumer, small businesses, truckers, airlines and fuel dealers. In fact, as we struggle to claw our way out of this terrible recession, high oil and gas prices are enormously detrimental to the entire economic recovery process,” Sanders said.

One Sanders amendment to the farm bill would make the commission that regulates commodities and the Justice Department’s Oil and Gas Price Fraud Working Group conduct a six-month investigation to determine whether any company or individual in the United States has manipulated the price of gasoline, crude oil, heating oil, diesel fuel or jet fuel.

The investigation would be similar to one already underway in Europe, where the European Commission on May 13th announced that it was investigating the possibility that BP, Shell, Statoil and others “may have colluded in reporting distorted prices to a Price Reporting Agency to manipulate the published prices for a number of oil and biofuel products.”

A second Sanders amendment would give the commission 30 days to use all of its authority, including its emergency powers, to eliminate, prevent or diminish excessive oil speculation. It also would make the commission ensure that oil and gasoline prices are based on the fundamentals of supply and demand.

Exxon Mobil, Goldman Sachs, the American Trucking Association, Delta Airlines, the Petroleum Marketers Association of America, the Consumer Federation of America, the International Monetary Fund and a 2012 report from the St. Louis Federal Reserve all have indicated that excessive oil speculation significantly increases oil and gasoline prices.

The chairman of the commodity commission has stated that Wall Street oil speculators now control more than 80 percent of the energy futures market, a figure that has more than doubled over the past decade. This excessive oil and gasoline speculation is clearly causing major market disturbances that prevent the market from accurately reflecting the forces of supply and demand.

To read the amendment on price fixing, click here.

To read the amendment on emergency action by the CFTC, click here.

Jamie Dimon Remains CEO of JPMorgan

Diane Sweet — Wed, 22 May 2013 02:23:54 +0000

Is Jamie Dimon a ruthless and intimidating banker, or are his suits made of Teflon? The chairman of JPMorgan Chase and his shareholders successfully killed an investors’ proposal to strip him of his title and split the job between two people, sources said Tuesday. While the final tally of the vote has yet to be released, several shareholders who have seen the total confirmed that Dimon did in fact defeat the campaign. It’s not the first time investor groups have tried to oust the silver-haired chief executive officer. A similar proposal was brought to the table in 2011, but failed to pass, garnering only 40 percent of the vote.

Dealbook:

Jamie Dimon and the 10 other directors of JPMorgan Chase were all re-elected at the bank’s annual shareholders meeting in Tampa, Fla., today.
...

Even if JPMorgan shareholders had accepted the proposal, the bank would not have been required to act. But the board will likely make changes to derail future calls for a shake-up. The possibilities include reshuffling the bank’s risk committee or giving its lead director more power.

Oh, yeah give him more power. That'll teach him to be more cautious with other people's money.

No Charges for Fox News Reporter James Rosen in DOJ Leak

Diane Sweet — Wed, 22 May 2013 01:34:31 +0000

According to The Washington Post, the Department of Justice examined Fox News reporter James Rosen’s personal emails, phone records, and visits to the State Department in order to investigate a leak of classified information. Rosen came to the attention of the DOJ after writing an article about CIA analysis of how North Korea might respond to sanctions. The DOJ traced the leak back to State Department worker Stephen Jin-Woo Kim, who now faces charges for leaking intel. Unlike the AP investigation, however, it was thought that the reporter may also face charges as a “co-conspirator.” However, statements made Tuesday by White House spokesman Jay Carney indicate that the Fox News reporter is likely off the hook.

WaPo:

The Kim case began in June 2009, when Rosen reported that U.S. intelligence officials were warning that North Korea was likely to respond to United Nations sanctions with more nuclear tests. The CIA had learned the information, Rosen wrote, from sources inside North Korea.

The story was published online the same day that a top-secret report was made available to a small circle within the intelligence community — including Kim, who at the time was a State Department arms expert with security clearance.

FBI investigators used the security-badge data, phone records and e-mail exchanges to build a case that Kim shared the report with Rosen soon after receiving it, court records show.

In the documents, FBI agent Reginald Reyes described in detail how Kim and Rosen moved in and out of the State Department headquarters at 2201 C St. NW a few hours before the story was published on June 11, 2009.

“Mr. Kim departed DoS at or around 12:02 p.m. followed shortly thereafter by the reporter at or around 12:03 p.m.,” Reyes wrote. Next, the agent said, “Mr. Kim returned to DoS at or around 12:26 p.m. followed shortly thereafter by the reporter at or around 12:30 p.m.”

The activity, Reyes wrote in an affidavit, suggested a “face-to-face” meeting between the two men. “Within a few hours after those nearly simultaneous exits and entries at DoS, the June 2009 article was published on the Internet,” he wrote.

Rosen and Kim used coded signals in emails to communicate, “One asterisk means to contact them, or that previously suggested plans for communication are to proceed as agreed; two asterisks means the opposite.”

According to the affidavit, Rosen also wrote: “What I am interested in, as you might expect, is breaking news ahead of my competitors” including “what intelligence is picking up.” Also: “I’d love to see some internal State Department analyses.”

Investigators who viewed computer records also found that someone who had logged in with Kim’s user profile viewed the classified report “at or around” the same time two calls were placed from his desk phone to Rosen, according to the documents.

According to an AFP report on Tuesday, President Obama does not want journalists prosecuted for doing their jobs, his spokesman Jay Carney said, amid a furor over a Fox News reporter caught up in a Justice Department leak probe.

Via Raw Story:

While declining to comment on specific cases, White House spokesman Jay Carney said that Obama was deeply committed to freedom of the press, enshrined in the First Amendment to the US constitution.

“The president believes this deeply — that the press is allowed to pursue investigative journalism freely. He is a fierce defender of the First Amendment, of press freedom, and will continue to be.

“If you’re asking me whether the president believes that journalists should be prosecuted for doing their jobs, the answer is no.”

Carney, a former Time magazine reporter, was hammered over Rosen’s case in his daily briefing on Monday, and said he had subsequently talked to his boss about the issue to further divine his thoughts.

While it seems that Rosen is off the hook, Mr. Kim is not likely to be so lucky.
Last week, Obama argued that there was a balance to be struck between press freedoms and the lives of covert US operatives overseas.

“Leaks related to national security can put people at risk,” Obama said.

Confusion Over Oklahoma Tornado Death Toll

Diane Sweet — Tue, 21 May 2013 17:00:03 +0000

A spokeswoman for the Oklahoma City medical examiner said Tuesday morning that the number of deaths reported on Monday night, 91, was "no longer accurate." The spokeswoman confirmed 24 deaths and 145 injuries, including 70 children. Other officials say that as the frantic search for survivors of the mile-wide tornado continues, the death toll will undoubtedly rise. Integris Southwest Medical Center in Oklahoma City had already received dozens of patients by Monday night—with more continuing to arrive into Tuesday morning. “They’ve been coming in minute by minute,” a spokesperson said. Experts have classified the storm, which decimated several neighborhoods and two elementary schools, as a Category Four (out of five) on the Enhanced Fujita scale.

NYT:

On Monday night, Amy Elliott, the spokeswoman for the Oklahoma City medical examiner, said at least 51 people had died and 40 more bodies were on their way, but on Tuesday, Ms. Elliott said that count “is no longer accurate.”

As of Tuesday morning, the medical examiner had confirmed 24 deaths, she said.

On Monday night, hospitals reported at least 145 people injured, 70 of them children.

Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore was reduced to a pile of twisted metal and toppled walls. Rescue workers were able to pull several children from the rubble, and on Tuesday, as a chilly rain swept through the area, crews were still struggling to cut through fallen beams and clear debris.

“The sun is starting to rise,” said Jayme Shelton, a Moore spokesman. “We are still definitely in search-and-rescue mode.”

Meteorologists warn that the severe weather may not be over. Officials say that 9.5 million people -- from Texas to Arkansas -- remain under the threat of potentially catastrophic tornadoes. In an announcement Tuesday morning, Weather Channel meteorologist Kevin Roth delivered a warning to residents of central/east Texas and central Arkansas, where the storm is heading. “Another day of large and devastating tornadoes is possible,” he said. By Tuesday morning, thunderstorms were already wreaking havoc in Arkansas, with winds up to 60 miles per hour.

Congressmen to Hagel: Where Are the Missing War Records?

ProPublica — Tue, 21 May 2013 15:30:00 +0000

by Peter Sleeth, Special to ProPublica

The top Republican and Democrat on the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs are demanding more information from defense Secretary Chuck Hagel about lost Army field records from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the subject of a ProPublica investigation last year.

In an unusually detailed letter sent Friday to Hagel, Reps. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., and Michael Michaud, D-Maine, said the Defense Department's response to an earlier request about why records are missing — and what the military is doing about it — didn't go far enough.

"Congress must have a clear understanding of the extent of the lost records in order to safeguard the best interests of our service members and veterans,'' the letter says.

The 12 questions posed to Hagel in the letter focus largely on the Army because it has the largest records deficit. Among other things, the congressmen want to know what happened to operational records for the 1st Armored Division and the 82nd Airborne Division and what is being done to reconstruct them.

In November, ProPublica and the Seattle Times reported that they were among numerous Army units that had lost or failed to keep battlefield records as required, making it harder for some veterans to obtain benefits and for historians to recount what actually happened.

"Operational records can be used to track the history of our nation's military, plan for future operations and support innovative medical research,'' Miller and Michaud wrote to Hagel.

In addition to chairing the veterans' panel, Miller sits on the House Armed Services Committee, which has direct oversight responsibility for the Defense Department and service branches.

The department did not return a phone call seeking comment.