Let's see what the taxpayer funded in our neighborhood boys and girls

[msfreeh]

John F. Kennedy assassination conspiracy theories - Wikipedia, the ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F._Kennedy_assassination_conspiracy_theories
2 Possible evidence of a cover-up; 3 Allegations of witness tampering, ..... After the assassination, Lt. Fruge contacted Dallas Police Captain Will Fritz regarding ...
‎Umbrella Man - ‎CIA Kennedy assassination - ‎Badge Man
JFK Assassination And Coverup: New Evidence and ... - Storyleak
http://www.storyleak.com/jfk-assassinat ... continues/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Nov 19, 2013 - This same modus operandi applies to the coverup as well. ... Secret Service, FBI and Dallas Police Department had to have had a direct hand ...
Was the Cover-Up Part of the JFK Assassination Plot?
22november1963.org.uk › Further Reading › JFK Assassination FAQs
Is There Evidence of a Cover–Up? The Warren Commission's Attitude. The Dallas police, the District Attorney, the FBI and the Warren Commission consistently ...
Jim Garrison's List of Suspects in the JFK assassination and coverup
mcadams.posc.mu.edu/suspects.htm
If a lot of evidence points to Oswald's guilt, and some of it was produced by the Dallas Police Department, some by the FBI, and some by the Warren Commission ...
JFK Assassination And Coverup: New Evidence and ... - Infowars
http://www.infowars.com/jfk-assassinati ... and-testim.." onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.
Nov 20, 2013 - This same modus operandi applies to the coverup as well. ... Secret Service, FBI and Dallas Police Department had to have had a direct hand ...
A Look at the Deaths of Those Involved - Assassination Research
http://www.assassinationresearch.com/v1n2/deaths.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
COVER-UP / Mysterious Deaths ... By the mid-1960s, people in Dallas already were whispering about the number of persons who died ... Jacqueline Hess, the Committee's chief of research for the JFK investigation, reported: ... Local law enforcement officers and coroners are simply not equipped, either by training or by ...
JFK assassination: CIA and New York Times are still lying to us - Salon
http://www.salon.com/.../the_jfk_assass ... what_happe.." onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.
Nov 6, 2013 - Fifty years later, a complicit media still covers up for the security state. ... of the Dallas Police Department, Bobby and his Justice Department ...

[msfreeh]

see link for full story

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/lo ... vin-booker" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Denver city attorney to seek council OK for $6 million settlement with family of Marvin Booker
Booker died in Denver custody


Nov 26, 2014




DENVER - The city of Denver will pay a $6 million settlement to the family of Marvin Booker, the attorney for Booker's family confirmed to 7NEWS on Wednesday night.

Booker died while in custody in 2010. Denver County deputies shocked him with a Taser while he was handcuffed, put him in a sleeper hold and lay on top of him. The incident was captured on surveillance inside the jail.

Booker's family sued the deputies in civil court after the FBI and the Denver district attorney declined to pursue criminal charges against the deputies.

In October, a federal judge awarded the family $4.65 million. Denver city attorney Scott Martinez initially filed a motion asking the judge to lower the amount.

7NEWS has confirmed this settlement would cover the $4.65 million judgment and $1.35 million in attorney fees.

"The Booker family is very gratified that the case appears to finally be resolving," Booker family attorney Darold Kilmer said in a text message to 7NEWS.

"The settlement brings finality to the legal portion of the Booker case and allows all of us to turn our focus to healing. There is still work to be done. We are zeroed in on strengthening accountability through the deep dive into policies and procedures and ensure they meet the expectations of this community," said Martinez, in a statement released to 7NEWS.

The Denver medical examiner ruled that Booker's death was a homicide, caused by "cardio respiratory arrest during physical restraint. The restraints consisted of weight applied to the decedent's body while held prone on the floor, application of a carotid sleeper hold to the decedent's neck, application of a Taser to a lower extremity in stun drive mode for 8 seconds, restriction of arm movement by cuffing his hands behind his back, and restriction of leg movement by use of an NPN (martial arts nunchuck)," the autopsy report said.

[msfreeh]

UNODC Afghanistan Opium Survey 2014
November 16, 2014

UNODC- Afghan Opium-2014
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime


https://publicintelligence.net/unodc-afghan-opium-2014/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://info.publicintelligence.net/UNOD ... m-2014.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Afghanistan Opium Survey is implemented annually by the Ministry of Counter Narcotics (MCN) of Afghanistan in collaboration with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

Key Findings

The total area under opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan was estimated at 224,000 hectares in 2014, a 7% increase from the previous year.
The vast majority (89%) of opium cultivation took place in nine provinces in Afghanistan’s Southern and Western regions, which include the country’s most insecure provinces.
Hilmand remained Afghanistan’s major opium-cultivating province, followed by Kandahar, Farah, and Nangarhar.
Opium cultivation increased in most of the main poppy-cultivating provinces, but stabilized in Hilmand itself (+3%).
Interestingly, differing trends could be observed in Hilmand. Inside the former “Food Zone” (an alternative livelihood programme), opium cultivation increased by 13% in 2014 (to 41,089 hectares from 36,244 hectares in 2013). However, outside the former Food Zone, where the increases in poppy cultivation seen in previous years were mainly achieved through artificial irrigation, the area under poppy cultivation decreased slightly.
Total eradication of opium poppy decreased by 63% in 2014, to 2,692 hectares. Average opium yield amounted to 28.7 kilograms per hectare in 2014, which was 9% more than in 2013 (26.3 kilograms per hectare).
Opium yields in the Southern region, which drive overall production, increased by 27%, from 23.2 kilograms per hectare in 2013 to 29.5 kilograms per hectare in 2014. However, yields in the Southern region were still at relatively low levels in comparison to their levels prior to 2010.
Potential opium production was estimated at 6,400 tons in 2014, an increase of 17% from its 2013 level (5,500 tons). This increase can be mainly attributed to a strong increase in production in the Southern region, where yields increased by 27% (from 23.2 kilograms per hectare in 2013 to 29.5 kilograms per hectare in 2014).
Accounting for 69% of national production, the Southern region continued to produce the vast majority of opium in Afghanistan. With 16% of national production, the Western region was the country’s second most important opium-producing region in 2014.
At US$ 0.85 billion, or the equivalent of roughly 4% of Afghanistan’s estimated GDP, the farm-gate value of opium production decreased by 13% in 2014.
In 2014, opium prices decreased in all regions of Afghanistan. One probable reason for the decrease was an increase in supply due to an increase in production.
Based on recent data on the morphine content of Afghan opium, the heroin conversion ratio, which describes the amount of opium needed to produce a kilogram of heroin, has been updated. For converting opium to pure heroin base, a ratio of 18.5:1 is estimated; for heroin of export quality (impure heroin of 52% purity), a ratio of 9.6:1 is estimated. These ratios replace the former ratio of 7:1 for converting opium to heroin of unknown purity.
https://publicintelligence.net/wp-conte ... y-2014.png" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
__________________
KILL THE MESSENGER MOVIE-OCT.10, 2014
https://www.change.org/p/universal-pict ... n-theaters" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Gary Webb's Official Facebook Page,edited by Gary's family
https://www.facebook.com/garywebbdarkalliance" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


http://www.powderburns.org" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;




"There is no question in my mind that people affiliated with, on the payroll of, and carrying the credentials of,the CIA were involved in drug trafficking while involved in support of the contras."—Senator John Kerry (1996)


We live in a dirty and dangerous world ... There are some things the general public does not need to know and shouldn't. I believe democracy flourishes when the government can take legitimate steps to keep its secrets and when the press can decide whether to print what it knows. -1988 speech by Washington Post owner Katharine Graham, CIA Headquarters

[msfreeh]

http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow ... story.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;



December 3 2014
Cleveland officer who killed boy, 12, previously deemed unfit for duty
NATION NOW Cleveland officer who killed boy, 12, previously deemed unfit for duty
The officer who shot Tamir Rice as he held a toy gun at a recreation center last month showed a 'dangerous lack of composure' at his previous job, records show.

[msfreeh]

Two San Francisco police officers convicted of theft and conspiracy

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-m ... story.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;



Two San Francisco police officers convicted on theft and conspiracy charges
Sgt. Ian Furminger and Edmond Robles found guilty after a jury trial in U.S. District Court
Two San Francisco police officers were convicted Friday of federal felony charges stemming from the theft of money, drugs and other property from crime scenes in 2009.


After a month-long trial, a U.S. District Court jury convicted Sgt. Ian Furminger and Officer Edmund Robles of wire fraud, conspiracy to violate civil rights and conspiracy to commit theft related to a federally funded program.

[msfreeh]

two reads about FBI and torture



1.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2014/12/09 ... re-report/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Required reading: Prequels to the torture report

Despite attempts to keep CIA's torture program secret, details of it came out in documents released over the years.
Tue Dec 9, 2014 5:14AM GMT

More to CIA torture report than failure
As early as tomorrow, the long-awaited Senate torture report will finally see the light of day. If all goes as planned, the Senate Intelligence Committee will release the roughly 500-page executive summary of its 6,000-page report concerning the CIA's "rendition, detention, and interrogation" program. The report is said to be highly critical of the program.

Former President Bush came out over the weekend to defend the CIA against the report's conclusions. That's not surprising, considering his own responsibility for the CIA's brutal policies.

Despite attempts to keep the program secret, details of it came out, bit by bit, in documents released over the years. Some, but not all, of the most shocking documents – including the memos comprising the legal infrastructure of the program – are listed below. Hopefully by tomorrow, the story they tell will be more complete.

The memos

In 2002 and 2003, Justice Department lawyers issued a series of legal memos that laid the foundation for the Bush administration's torture program. Two of the most famous are the twin August 2002 memos authored by Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Yoo and signed by Assistant Attorney General Jay S. Bybee.

One of those memos twisted the definition of torture, concluding that in order to violate the law prohibiting torture, the resulting pain "must be equivalent in intensity to the pain accompanying serious physical injury, such as organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or even death." It also concluded that prosecution under the law might be barred as an infringement on the president's war authority.

The other memo approved the CIA's use of torture techniques including waterboarding, cramped confinement, and sleep deprivation on Abu Zubaydah who was being held at a secret prison in Thailand. He would eventually be waterboarded 83 times.

Revelations of torture at Guantanamo Bay

In 2005, TIME magazine published a previously secret interrogation log describing brutal 20-hour interrogation sessions of Mohammed al-Qahtani at Guantánamo from November 23, 2002, to January 11, 2003. On December 2, 2002, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld approved the application of harsher interrogation techniques on Mr. al-Qahtani. Among other things, the log describes sleep deprivation, forced shaving, use of the "Invasion of Space by a Female" technique, and in one incident, interrogators forcing Mr. al-Qahtani to bark like a dog.

Rumsfeld okays the use of torture at Guantanamo

In this memo from 2002, Rumsfeld authorized the military to use harsh interrogation techniques including stress positions, nudity, forced grooming, use of phobias, pushing, and grabbing. He famously added a note next to his signature:

I stand for 8-10 hours a day. Why is standing limited to 4 hours?

At the time, Navy General Counsel Alberto Mora raised concerns that some of the methods authorized in the memo could rise to the level of torture. Mora later documented his persistent attempts to get the Defense Department to change course in a 22-page memo written in July 2004.

Yoo backs use of torture by military interrogators

A 2003 memo, written by Justice Department attorney John Yoo, gave the Defense Department expansive authority to torture and abuse detainees. It was premised on the same flawed analysis that Yoo had adopted in the 2002 memos provided to the CIA.

The CIA's inspector general launches an investigation

In May 2004, CIA Inspector General John Helgerson issued a report of his internal investigation of possible illegal conduct in the CIA's secret prisons. The report detailed the use of torture techniques that were never authorized by the Justice Department, including mock executions, "racking" a gun near a detainee's head, revving a power drill while a detainee stood naked and hooded, and forcing detainees to inhale smoke until they vomited. The report also revealed that the CIA waterboarded Abu Zubaydah 83 times and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed 183 times. The report was released to the public in redacted form in 2009 as a result of the ACLU's FOIA lawsuit.

FBI agents report abuses

In a series of emails released in an ACLU FOIA, FBI agents detailed the abuses they witnessed at Guantanamo Bay. In the most notorious of these, from August 2004, an FBI agent described detainees chained to the floor and left without water or food for 24 hours or more, who had urinated or defecated on themselves. One detainee was described as:

…almost unconscious on the floor, with a pile of hair next to him. He had apparently been literally pulling his own hair out throughout the night.

Torture in aggregate

In December 2004, the CIA provided a backgrounder to the Justice Department to use in drafting more legal memos authorizing torture. It describes step-by-step how the CIA carried out unlawful extraordinary renditions and interrogations. It also demonstrates that the CIA routinely applied a rapidly accelerating set of harsh interrogation techniques, including nudity, sleep deprivation, dietary manipulation, slaps, facial holds, and attention grasps to nearly every "high-value" detainees. Finally, it details other interrogations techniques in their arsenal including walling, water dousing, the use of stress positions, wall standing and cramped confinement. The "day-to-day look" at a sample interrogation starting on page 9 is particularly chilling.

"No torture here"

On May 10, 2005, Justice Department attorney Steven Bradbury concluded in a pair of memos that the use of each of the methods described in the CIA's backgrounder – including waterboarding– did not violate the law against torture when used individually or in combination. He followed that up on May 30, 2005, with a legal opinion concluding that the CIA's program also did not violate the prohibition on cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

The ICRC obtains access to detainees

On September 6, 2006, the Bush administration announced that 14 so-called "high-value" detainees had been transferred from CIA detention to Guantánamo Bay. That was the first public acknowledgment that the CIA's secret detention program existed.
In October 2006, the Inte



2.

Kenneth Michael Trentadue - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Michael_Trentadue
Kenneth Michael Trentadue (December 19, 1950 – August 21, 1995) was an ... The government then performed an autopsy on Trentadue, but did not notify the ...
‎Early life - ‎Arrest and death - ‎Connection to the Oklahoma ... - ‎Investigation
Ken Trentadue Murdered By Oklahoma
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/OKC_Trentadue.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Kenny Trentadue was murdered in a federal penitentiary after he was mistaken for ..... the family of Ken's injuries or the fact that an autopsy had been performed.
Review of the Death of Kenneth Michael Trentadue
http://www.justice.gov/oig/special/9912.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Later that day, Trentadue's body was taken to the Oklahoma State Medical Examiner's Office (MEO), where an autopsy was performed. Because of the condition ...
Attorney: Sealed Documents Indicate OKC Inside Job
http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/fe ... idejob.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Feb 23, 2007 - In January 1996, Trentadue received an anonymous phone call ... Kenneth Trentadue's autopsy photos clearly betray a violent beating and ...
Freaky (Factual) Tale Friday: The terrifying death of Kenneth Michael ...
http://www.ramblingbeachcat.com/2012/.. ... rifying.ht.." onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.
Apr 21, 2012 - Kenneth Michael Trentadue (or Kenney, as his friends and family called .... wall as his primary reason for changing his cause of death ruling.
Kenneth Michael Trentadue Murder Reward | Rewards TV ...
http://www.rewardstv.net/cold-case/2500 ... r-suicide/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Aug 26, 2012 - Kenneth Trentadue Autopsy Photo. CrimePAY$ $250,000 Reward 1-888-755- TIPS (8477). Kenneth Michael Trentadue (December 19, 1950 ...
The Kenneth Trentadue Scandal | JONATHAN TURLEY
jonathanturley.org/2007/11/28/the-kenneth-trentadue-scandal/
Nov 28, 2007 - 21, 1995, Kenneth Trentadue was found hanging from a bed sheet in ... suspicious and stopped the cremation for a privately funded autopsy.
kenneth trentadue | americanbunker - WordPress.com
https://americanbunker.wordpress.com/ta ... trentadue/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Posts about kenneth trentadue written by americanbunker. ... Archive. Posts Tagged 'kenneth trentadue' ... Kenneth Trentadue Autopsy Photo. Per Dr William ...
Kenneth Trentadue | Coach is Right
http://www.coachisright.com/tag/kenneth-trentadue/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The official government report on cause of death presented to Trentadue's family stated that Kenneth had hanged himself in his cell. But massive bruises and ...
The Truth Will Out - The New American
http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/cr ... h-will-out" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Nov 27, 2005 - On the morning of August 21, 1995, Kenneth Michael Trentadue died there in cell A-709. The alleged cause of death was suicide by hanging.

[msfreeh]

Ferguson, New York Cases Used to Push Nationalized Police
The New American-12 hours ago
Should someone object to abuses by federal agents in either of these two areas, the ... After the raid's failure, the FBI took over and conducted a 51-day siege

[msfreeh]

http://m.hawaiinewsnow.com/hawaiinewsno ... d=pafHcJZD" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;



EXCLUSIVE: Suspension lifted for HPD officer involved in police brutality case

Dec 13, 2014 12:03 AM
HONOLULU

The FBI and Internal affairs investigation into a police brutality case continues but sources tell me, Honolulu Police Officer Vince Morre is already back at work.

Morre is seen on video, only obtained by Hawaii News Now, punching, kicking, and then throwing a chair at a man on September 5th at a game room near Ala Moana.

The unprovoked attack left the 25-year old victim with staples in his head and a broken bone in his hand.

[msfreeh]

http://www.courthousenews.com/2014/12/1 ... ickets.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;





Friday, December 19, 2014Last Update: 10:26 AM PT
Missouri Sues Cities for 'Predatory' Tickets




- Missouri's attorney general on Thursday sued 13 St. Louis County cities for alleged "predatory traffic ticketing" in their municipal courts.
Attorney General Chris Koster said the municipalities violate the Macks Creek law.
The law states that no municipality may receive more than 30 percent of its annual revenue from fines, and that court costs for traffic violations and fines in excess of 30 percent must be turned over to the director of revenue to be distributed among local school districts.
The defendant cities include Beverly Hills, Pagedale, Breckenridge Hills, Pasadena Park, Upland Park, Crystal Lake, Velda Village Hills, the village of Hillsdale, the village of Mackenzie, Bellerive Acres, Moline Acres, Normandy and the village of Vinita Terrace.
Macks Creek law requires every city to file an accurate annual financial report to the state auditor. Failure to file could cause that city's municipal court to lose jurisdiction over traffic-related offenses

[msfreeh]

Youth Center Guard sentenced for sexually abusing a minor
12/20/2014 By U.S. Department of Justice


http://www.thebaynet.com/articles/1214/ ... minor.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

During the summer of 2013, CID investigators learned that Williams may have had illegal sexual contact with at least one boy he met at the center. The boy’s mother found text messages between her son and Williams referencing sexual acts. When interviewed by officers of the Citrus County, Florida, Sheriff’s Office, and later by CID, the boy said he attended the center while in 7th grade and participated in the P2M programs. One day while at the center, Williams asked the boy to go to the attic of the center to get equipment. Once there, Williams asked the boy to take his clothes off. The boy refused. Williams put the boy’s hands on Williams’ genital area, and Williams then touched the boy’s genital area. Williams was about 25 years old, and the boy 12 years old, during this incident. Williams also sent the boy at least one photo of his exposed genital area.

[msfreeh]

couple of reads


http://www.wcpo.com/news/state/ohio-pol ... s-training" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Ohio police advisory group studies training

2:32 PM, Dec 21, 2014

A group formed by Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine will recommend changes to the way Ohio trains officers after several fatal police-involved shootings


2.
Harris, D. (1999) "The stories, the statistics, and the law: Why 'Driving While Black' matters", 84 Minnesota Law Review. pp. 265-326. Retrieved May 7, 2007.
Tyler, Tom R. (2002). Trust in the Law. Sage. ISBN 0-87154-889-5. esp. Part IV. Ethnic Group Differences with Experiences with the Law
"Police officers suspended without pay for racial profiling - Montreal - CBC News". Cbc.ca. 2012-12-10. Retrieved 2013-06-10.
Wyatt, Nelson (July 28, 2010). "Black man says Quebec police stopped him because of his skin colour". The Globe and Mail (Montreal). Retrieved 29 July 2010.
"New trial ordered in Quebec racial profiling case - Montreal - CBC News". Cbc.ca. 2011-11-17. Retrieved 2013-06-10.
"Black man with 'Quebecois' name files complaint against Longueuil police". CTV Montreal. July 28, 2010. Retrieved 29 July 2010.
Driver says he was victim of racial profiling by police, court hears[dead link]
Thomas Sowell (Oct 31, 2007). "‘Driving While Black’". Jewishworldreview.com. Retrieved 2013-06-10.
Mosedale, M. (2007) Critics say a Minneapolis law criminalizes walking while black: What Lurks Beneath?" City Pages. 28(1369). Retrieved May 7, 2007.
Morse, J. (2002) "Learning while black", TIME Retrieved May 7, 2007.
Coolican, P. (2003) "Chief vows to root out profiling by Patrol," Seattle Times. 11/21/2003. Retrieved May 7, 2007
"ACLU of Nebraska Wins "Flying While Black" Case". ACLU. May 2, 2001. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
Cloud, J. (2001) "What's Race Got to do With It?", Time magazine. Retrieved 5/17/08.
Washington, J. (2000) U.S. Customs Applies A Double Standard In Two Directions At Once, JINN. Pacific News Service. Retrieved May 7, 2007.
Brittney Cooper (2013-11-12). "Asking for help while black: How it became a capital offense". Salon.com. Retrieved 2013-11-17.
Ackerman, S. (2013) "When, And Why, to Call a Bombing ‘Terrorism'" Wired. 16/04/2013. Retrieved April 17, 2013
Sison, B. (2013) "Sources: Injured Saudi man not a suspect in Boston attacks" CBS News. 16/04/2013. Retrieved April 17, 2013
"Men in Black II - Wikiquote". En.wikiquote.org. Retrieved 2013-06-10.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0271668/quotes" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Further readingEdit

Kelvin R. Davis (2001). Driving While Black: Coverup. Interstate International Pub. ISBN 0-931904-03-X.
David Harris (1999). Driving While Black: Racial Profiling on our Nation's Highways. ACLU.
Kowalski, B.R.; Lundman, R.J. (2007). "Vehicle stops by police for driving while Black: Common problems and some tentative solutions". Journal of Criminal Justice 35 (2): 165–181. doi:10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2007.01.004. Retrieved 2007-06-12.
Kenneth Meeks (2000). Driving While Black: What To Do If You Are A Victim of Racial Profiling. New York: Broadway. ISBN 0-7679-0549-0.
Wikipedia ® Mobile‌Desktop

[msfreeh]

white police black man

posting.php?mode=reply&f=20&t=28393" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Ohio man imprisoned for nearly two decades for murder is acquitted
Prosecutors drop charges but do not concede Anthony Lemons’s innocence
Lemons jailed for 1994 shooting but released on parole in December 2012
Witness testified he was wearing shoes not manufactured at the time

Wednesday 24 December 2014 15.10 EST

A man imprisoned for murder for nearly two decades was acquitted Tuesday as prosecutors in Cleveland dropped the charges against him but stopped short of conceding his innocence.

Anthony Lemons, 40, had sought to clear his name and said a burden was lifted from him as a Cuyahoga County judge acquitted him, the Plain Dealer of Cleveland reported. He said he will pursue state compensation for wrongful imprisonment and would use any such payment to start a program to help released inmates transition back to life outside prison.

“I hope that any man willing to stand up – tired of our community falling apart, tired of injustice, period – help me along the way,” Lemons said.

Lemons was imprisoned for a 1994 shooting that authorities said resulted from a dispute over drug money. He steadfastly denied involvement and was released on parole in December 2012.

In granting him a new trial last year, the judge had noted that police reports withheld from the defense during the original trial contained important information that could raise doubts about a key witness. Among the issues: the witness said Lemons was wearing shoes that police later determined hadn’t even been manufactured at the time.

Assistant prosecutor Blaise Thomas said the office doesn’t concede

[msfreeh]

http://beforeitsnews.com/u-s-politics/2 ... 58028.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Was Kwanzaa Created By The FBI? | U. S. Politics - Before It's News
beforeitsnews.com/u-s.../was-kwanzaa-created-by-the-fbi-2458028.html
Dec 26, 2013 - It is a fact that Kwanzaa was invented in 1966 by a black radical FBI stooge, Ron Karenga — aka Dr. Maulana Karenga — founder of United ...

[msfreeh]

see link for full story

http://www.indiana.edu/~oah/nl/98feb/jfk.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;



JFK Assassination Review

See also Kermit Hall, " The Kennedy Assassination in the Age of Open Secrets", OAH Newsletter, 25 (February).
One year ago, Kermit Hall reported some of the findings of the JFK Assassination Records Review Board in the OAH Newsletter. The board has since been hard at work opening and processing relevant documents. Many of them were released last November, and are published here for the first time. In addition to the noteworthy reaction of Soviet officials to the President's death, the documents also reveal U.S. plots against the Cuban government that had approval at the highest levels in this country. The following notes were provided by Anna Nelson, one of the Review Board members. Transcriptions of the original documents follow Professor Nelson's notes.

Note: Facscimiles of the documents which are referred to in the text are not yet online.

Document One
This is an FBI document that illustrates the information originally "redacted" and the document as it now appears. It is an interesting document because it discusses Soviet reaction to the assassination It also illustrates the FBI at work at counter-espionage.

Document Two
The body of this document which describes the substance of a Communist party meeting in Steubenville, Ohio was opened but the first page was almost completely black. This page lists sources of FBI information. It is interesting, not only because the meeting discusses the assassination but because the FBI was concerned about the meeting of 7 people (at least three of whom were FBI sources).

Document Three
This is one of the CIA documents describing their operations in Mexico City (noted by symbol LI) and Oswald's trip there in October 1963. CIA had covered all the information between the brackets so the reader, for example, would not know the source was a double agent. This document also illustrates the use of substitute language for sensitive operations. In this case, "designated meeting times" has been substituted to protect the vulnerable agents still in Mexico or Cuba.

Document Four
This document from the National Security Agency indicates that as early as Dec. 6, 1963, John J. McCloy, a member of the Warren Commission, had misgivings about the "credibility" of that investigation. The original release completely obscured this information.

Documents Five, Six, and Seven
These documents are part of a larger body of material released by the Department last November. Five is from the Papers of Joseph Califano, who was a special assistant and counsel to the Secretary of the Army. Six and Seven come from the Joint Chiefs of Staff. They are of great interest because they illustrate that the CIA was not the only agency plotting the demise of Fidel Castro. While Five has samples of their ideas, Six indicates that the President approved the anti-Castro efforts. Seven has special interest because it is dated after the Cuban Missile Crisis and only five months before Kennedy's death. These pages are small examples of the countless meetings and papers on Cuba within the Defense Department in 1962-63.

Document 1

1 - Mr. DeLoach

1 - Mr. Wick

1 - Mr. Gale

1 - Mr. Sullivan

1 - Mr. Branigan

1 - Mr. Lenihan


December 1, 1966


REACTION OF SOVIET AND COMMUNIST PARTY OFFICIALS TO THE ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY


A source who has furnished reliable information in the past and who was in Russia on the date of the assassination of the late President John F. Kennedy advised on December 4, 1963, that the news of the assassination of President Kennedy was flashed to the Soviet people almost immediately after its occurrence. It was greeted by great shock and consternation and church bells were tolled in the memory of President Kennedy.

According to our source, officials of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union believed there was some well-organized conspiracy on the part of the "ultraright" in the United States to effect a "coup." They seemed convinced that the assassination was not the deed of one man, but that it rose out of a carefully planned campaign in which several people played a part. They felt those elements interested in utilizing the assassination and playing on anticommunist sentiments in the United States would then utilize this act to stop negotiations with the Soviet Union, attack Cuba and thereafter spread the war. As a result of these feelings, the Soviet Union immediately went into a state of national alert.

Our source further stated that Soviet officials were fearful that without leadership, some irresponsible general in the United States might launch a missile at the Soviet Union. It was the further opinion of the Soviet officials that only maniacs would think that the "left" forces in the United States, as represented by the Communist Party, USA, would assassinate President Kennedy, especially in view of the abuse the Communist Party, USA, has taken from the "ultraleft" as a result of its support of peaceful coexistence and disarmament policies of the Kennedy administration.

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REACTION OF SOVIET AND COMMUNIST PARTY OFFICIALS TO THE ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY


According to our source, Soviet officials claimed that Lee Harvey Oswald had no connection whatsoever with the Soviet Union. They described him as a neurotic maniac who was disloyal to his own country and everything else. They noted that Oswald never belonged to any organization in the Soviet Union and was never given Soviet citizenship.

(CG 5824-S*)

A second source who has furnished reliable information in the past advised on November 27, 1963, that Nikolai T. Fedorenko, the Permanent Representative to the Soviet Mission to the United Nations, held a brief meeting with all diplomatic personnel employed at the Soviet Mission on November 23, 1963. During this meeting, Fedorenko related for the benefit of all present the news of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and stated that Kennedy's death was very much regretted by the Soviet Union and had caused considerable shock in Soviet Government circles. Fedorenko stated that the Soviet Union would have preferred to have had President Kennedy at the helm of the American Government. He added that President Kennedy had, to some degree, a mutual understanding with the Soviet Union, and had tried seriously to improve relations between the United States and Russia. Fedorenko also added that little or nothing was known by the Soviet Government concerning President Lyndon Johnson and, as a result, the Soviet Government did not know what policies President Johnson would follow in the future regarding the Soviet Union.

According to our source, Colonel Boris Ivanov, Chief of the Soviet Committee for State Security (KGB) Residency in New York City, held a meeting of KGB personnel on the morning of November 25, 1963. Ivanov informed those present that President Kennedy's death had posed a problem for the KGB and stated that it was necessary for all KGB employees to lend their efforts to solving the problem.

According to our source, Ivanov stated that it was his personal feeling that the assassination of President Kennedy had been planned by an organized group rather than being the act of one individual assassin. Ivanov stated that it was therefore necessary that the KGB ascertain with the greatest possible speed the true story surrounding President Kennedy's assassination. Ivanov stated that the KGB was interested in knowing all the factors and all of the possible groups which might have worked behind the scenes to organize and plan this assassination.

REACTION OF SOVIET AND COMMUNIST PARTY OFFICIALS TO THE ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY


Our source added that Ivanov also emphasized that it was of extreme importance to the Soviet Government to determine precisely what kind of man the new President Lyndon Johnson would be. Ivanov said that President Johnson was practically an unknown to the Soviet Government and, accordingly, the KGB had issued instructions to all of its agents to immediately obtain all data available concerning the incumbent President. Ivanov said that it would be necessary for KGB personnel to gather and correlate all information concerning President Johnson, including his background, his past working experience and record in Congress, his present attitude toward the Soviet Union, and particularly all information which might have bearing upon the future foreign policy line he would follow (NY 3653-S*)

On September 16, 1965, this same source reported that the KGB Residency in New York City received instructions approximately September 16, 1965, from KGB headquarters in Moscow to develop all possible information concerning President Lyndon B. Johnson's character, background, personal friends, family, and from which quarters he derives his support in his position as President of the United States. Our source added that in the instructions from Moscow, it was indicated that "now" the KGB was in possession of data purporting to indicate President Johnson was responsible for the assassination of the late President John F. Kennedy. KGB headquarters indicated that in view of this information, it was necessary for the Soviet Government to know the existing personal relationship between President Johnson and the Kennedy family, particularly between President Johnson and Robert and "Ted" Kennedy.

On March 3, 1964, Yuri I. Nosenko, Soviet defector whose bona fides has not been established, advised that he was handling Soviet Committee for State Security (KGB) investigations of tourists from the United States at the time Lee Harvey Oswald visited Russia in 1959, and consequently was fully cognizant of the Lee Harvey Oswald case.

According to Nosenko, Oswald came to the attention of the KGB when he expressed a wish to defect to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics shortly after his arrival in Russia. However, the KGB, after inquiry, decided he was mentally unstable and informed him he had to return to the United States upon completion of his visit. Thereafter, when Oswald missed a sight-seeing tour he was to take, his hotel room was forced open and he was found with one of his wrists badly cut.


Document 2

United State Department of Justice

Federal Bureau of Investigation

File No. CI 100-1910

Cincinnati, Ohio

December 16, 1963


On December 2, 1963, a source, who has furnished reliable information in the past, advised that on November 20, 1963, Genne Kuhn, Wheeling, West Virginia, who has previously been identified by the source as Chairman of the lower Ohio Valley Section of the Communist Party, stated that Anthony Krchmarek, head of the Communist Party in Ohio, and an Arnold, last name not mentioned, had recently visited her. She did not give the date of this visit. She stated that Krchmarek and Arnold spoke to an assembly of students at Bethany College, and that after the meeting, they were invited to a cocktail party, where Socialism was discussed until the small hours of the morning. She said that there was no show of contempt or any hard feelings, only friendliness[.] She stated Krchmarek and Arnold are to return Sunday, December 8, 1963, at 6:30 P.M., and desire to discuss matters dealing with the coal unions.

On December 2, 1963, another source, who has furnished reliable information in the past, advised that on November 15, 1963, Arnold Johnson and Anthony Krchmarek had stopped in Steubenville, Ohio, that day, and spoke at Bethany College in West Virginia. Source states that Anthony Krchmarek, at a recent meeting, had spoken of Arnold Johnson procuring speakers for college engagements.

The same source stated that on November 18, 1963, Arnold Johnson and Anthony Krchmarek again visited Steubenville, Ohio, to arrange for a meeting "down the river" on December 8, 1963, and to postpone a meeting scheduled for Steubenville on November 22, 1963, to December 13, 1963. After making these arrangements, they returned to Cleveland, Ohio.

On December 12, 1963, the first source and a third source, who has furnished reliable information in the past, advised that at 6:30 P.M., on December 8, 1963, a Communist [document ends]


Document3

DATE: 29 NOVEMBER 1963

FILE: P-8593

SovEmbActivities


RYBAT GPFLOOR LCIMPROVE

NO NIGHT ACTION


1. As HQS AWARE, STATION's DOUBLE AGENTS HAVE NOT HAD MEETINGS WITH SOVS SINCE ASSASSINATION. THIS PRINCIPALLY DUE FACT THAT PRIOR 22 NOV THE SOVS SCHEDULED FUTURE SESSIONS FOR PERIOD BEGINNING CIRCA 1 DEC; ALSO DUE FACTOR THAT ONE AGENT (LIJENNET-1) OUT OF TOUCH WITH SOV C/O AND THAT ANOTHER AGENT (LINILE-1) OUT OF COUNTRY.

2. LIJENNET-1 WILL HAVE MEETING SOV ON EVE [designated meeting times] LITEASE-1 HAS MEET [designated meeting times] LISTEED 2 ABOUT [designated meeting times]. WILL HAVE LINILE-1 MEET SOV EARLY [designated meeting times]. HAVE SEPARATELY ADVISED HQS RE STATION'S PROPOSAL RE LINEB-1 MEETING WITH SOV.

3. REQUEST INSRUCTIONS ON WHAT TACTIC OR ELICITATION EFFORT IF ANY THAT DOUBLES SHOULD MAKE.

4. ALSO REQUEST SIMILAR INSTRUCTIONS RE STATION'S SOV ACCESS AGENTS LICRAVE-1 AND LICUFF-1. [document ends]


Document 4

4 Dec 63 1000

Routine


For [omitted]


In conversation with me, MCCLOY, a member of the presidential commission stated that he has serious doubts of the credibility of the investigation to date. He does not eliminate the possibility that the attempt on KENNEDY was made by two persons. However, in view of JOHNSON's order that the commission investigate also the circumstances of OSWALD's slaying, some of the commission's operations and its report could come after RUBY's trial and perhaps even after the verdict and appeals. In the meantime the trial was postponed until 3 January [sic], and the FBI released to the press information that their investigation confirms OSWALD's guilt, and that he had no accomplices.


Document 5

Possible Actions to Provoke, Harrass [sic], of Disrupt Cuba


1. Operation SMASHER:

a. Objective: The objective is to disrupt/disable military and commercial communications facilities in Cuba.

b. Concept: This to be accomplished by the clandestine introduction of a "special" vacuum tube into selected communications equipment. The tube, which is available, is virtually undetectable inasmuch as its effectiveness is due to the insertion of a chemical compound in the base of the tube. The chemical, when heated becomes a conductor, when cooled a non-conductor.

2. Operation FREE RIDE:

a. Objective: The objective is to create unrest and dissension among the Cuban people.

b. Concept: This to be accomplished by airdropping valid Pan American or KLM one-way airline tickets good for passage to Mexico City, Caracas, etc. (none to the U.S.). Tickets could be intermixed with other leaflets planned to be dropped. The number of tickets dropped could be increased. The validity of the tickets would have to be restricted to a time period.

3. Operation TURN ABOUT:

a. Objective: The objective is to create indications to Fidel Castro that his value to the revolutionary cause has diminished to the point where plans are being made for his "removal".

b. Concept: This to be accomplished by the use of intelligence means the crecendo [sic] increasing until it culminates in Castro's discovery of the mechanism or hardware.

4. Operation DEFECTOR:

a. Objective: To induce elements or individuals of the Cuban military to defect with equipment.

b. Concept: This activity when properly planned and implemented has the effect of decreasing military capability. In a totalitarian system the immediate reaction is increased security accompanied by decreased activity. It also creates havoc in security and intelligence agencies. Could be accomplished by intelligence means and promise of rewards.

5. Operation BREAK-UP:

a. Objective: To clandestinely introduce corrosive materials to cause aircraft, vehicle or boat accidents.

b. Concept: This activity, if possible should be aimed primarily toward the Soviet-provided aircraft. If properly accomplished it would degrade confidence in the equipment, increase supply and maintenance problems and seriously affect combat capability.

6. Operation COVER-UP:

a. Objective: The objective is to convince the Communist government of Cuba that Naval Forces ostensibly assigned to the MERCURY project is merely a cover.

b. Concept: It should not be revealed as to what the cover is--this should be left to conjecture. This could tie in with Operation DIRTY TRICK.

7. Operation DIRTY TRICK:

a. Objective: The objective is to provide irrevocable proof that, should the MERCURY manned orbit flight fail, the fault lies with the Communists et al Cuba.

b. Concept: This to be accomplished by manufacturing various pieces of evidence which would prove electronic interference on the part of the Cubans.

8. Operation FULL-UP:

a. Objective: The objective is to destroy confidence in fuel supplied by the Soviet Bloc by indicating it is contaminated.

B. Concept: This to be accomplished by introducing a known biological agent into jet fuel storage facilities. This agent flourishes in jet fuel and grows until it consumes all the space inside the tank.

9. Operation PHANTOM:

a. Objective: The objective is to convince the Castro Government that clandestine penetration and resupply of agents is being is being regularly conducted.

b. Concept: This to be accomplished by use of BJ, UDT, AND JJ capabilities to create the impression that landings have been made on beaches and air drops have been made in other areas.

10. Operation BINGO:

a. Objective: The objective is to create an incident which has the appearance of an attack on U.S. facilities (GMO) in Cuba, thus providing the excuse for use of U.S. might to overthrow the current government of Cuba.

b. Concept: This to be accomplished by the use of SNAKES outside the confines of the Guantanamo Base. SNAKES simulate an actual fire-fight and upon hearing such a sound it is entirely feasible that the immediate reaction on G'Mo would be that the base is being attacked. This would, with proper preparation, be followed by a counterattack and with adequate planning the base at G'Mo could disgorge military force in sufficient number to sustain itself until other forces, which had been previously alerted, could attack in other areas. It is envisaged that a schedule of operations similar to the following would overwhelm the Cuban military and cause its defeat:

(1) Simulated attack on Guantanamo.

(2) Word flashed to the President.

(3) President orders counterattack to include:

(a) Immediate launch of alerted aircraft whose targets are Cuban airfields.

(b) Immediate launch of counterattack down strategic lines in communication in Cuba.

(c) Fleet force standing by on alert would make way toward pre-selected targets/landing areas.

(d) Immediate embarkation of airborne troops previously alerted to pre-selected targets.

(e) Launch of additional combat aircraft to clear drop areas and further interdict lines of communication.

(f) Ships and aircraft would land/airdrops troops and secure airfields, road/rail terminals, etc.


Document 6

ENCLOSURE B


MEMORANDUM FOR RECORD

Subject: Guidance from the Deputy Secretary of Defense and his Reaction to Original Proposed Policy for CIA Support by the Department of Defense of CaribbeanSurvey [sic] Group (30) January 1962)


Mr. Gilpatric did not like this paper at all. He indica[ted] the paper was too negative and restricted as though a policy towards an enemy like we are dealing with the Germans or Itali[ans,] not a fellow department of our Government. This is a red line operation with the blessing of the President and approved by him as a most important task. This is probably the most important mission we have in the government today. When a request comes in from CIA, you (Craig) will evaluate it and request the Joint Chiefs of Staff for their evaluation and recommendations. The Secretary of Defense will determine, after considering the advice of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, wha[t] the decision will be, not the Joint Chiefs of Staff. This decision is the prerogative of the Secretary of Defense.

We do not want to get involved in a case-by-case basis, do not want individual actions on each case. We do not want masses of individual actions. This is a red line priority problem and must be handled with dispatch and without getting involved in minutia regarding expenses and reimbursement or other details. Department of Defense may have to do it themse[lves] regardless who foots the bill. In some cases, CIA will be required to reimburse if so determined by the Secretary of Defense. This is a matter which must be decided by the Secretary of Defense - not the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The Department of Defense budgets for some CIA support. We have equipment of some types lying around not being used and should not require reimbursement for this type, as a general rule.


Document 7

The Joint Chiefs of Staff

Washington 25, D. C.


OFFICE OF THE SPECIAL ASSISTANT FOR COUNTERINSURGENCY AND SPECIAL ACTIVITIES

SACSA-M 365-63

22 June 1963


MEMORANDUM FOR THE CHAIRMAN, JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF

Subject: Proposed Covert Policy and Integrated Program of Action Toward Cuba


1. At TAB A is a CIA memorandum concerning a program of action against Cuba to include sabotage by hit-and-run raids, which was to be presented to the NSC Standing Group on 14 June. At TAB B is the talking paper prepared to support you in discussing this CIA memorandum at the Standing Group meeting. The meeting, as you will recall, was cancelled [sic].

2. The CIA memorandum was subsequently presented to the Standing Group on 18 June, at which time it was approved. General McKee accompanied Mr. McNamara to the meeting.

3. This could conceivably expand into an operation of substantial size requiring broad, unprogrammed [sic] support from the military. Accordingly, I recommend that at the next meeting of the Standing Group you request that CIA be directed to present to the Department of Defense a summary of CIA requirements for military support of the approved sabotage raid program.


V.H. KRULAK

Major General, USMC

SACSA



MEMORANDUM FOR THE STANDING GROUP OF THE NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL


SUBJECT: Proposed Covert Policy and Integrated Program of Action towards Cuba


I. Introduction

1. Submitted herewith is a covert program for Cuba within CIA's capabilities. Some parts of the program have already been approved and are being implemented. Being closely inter-related, the total cumulative impact of the courses of action set forth in this program is dependent upon the simultaneous coordinated execution of the individual courses of action.

2. This program is based on the assumption that current U.S. policy does not contemplate outright military intervention in Cuba or a provocation which can be used as a pretext for an invasion of Cuba by United States military forces. It is further assumed that U.S. policy calls for the exertion of maximum pressure by all means available to the U.S. Government, short of military intervention, to prevent the pacification of the population and the consolidation of the Castro/Communist regime. The ultimate objective of this policy would be to encourage dissident elements in the military and other power centers of the regime to bring about the eventual liquidation of the Castro/Communist entourage and the elimination of the Soviet presence from Cuba.

3. While the effect of a program of maximum pressure is unpredictable, it is suggested that a sustained intensive effort undertaken now to prevent the consolidation of the Castro/Communist regime may in the future present the United States with opportunities and options not now foreseeable. The consequences of a policy of allowing Castro to "stew in his own juice," however, are foreseeable. According to current estimates, barring Castro's death or a decisive change in the U.S. posture or Soviet policy toward Cuba, the Castro regime is likely to be more firmly established a year hence, despite possible economic setbacks. The mere passage of time tends to favor Castro as the population and elite groups in Cuba become accustomed to the idea that he is here to stay and as his regime gains in administrative experience and the security organs become more efficient. Over the long run, the existence of an organized party apparatus as well as a stable governmental machinery could reduce the indispensability of Castro's personal leadership. Thus, if left to chance, the U.S. must be prepared to accept for the indefinite future a Communist regime in Cuba closely tied to and a significant component of the Soviet world power structure.

4. Within the context of the policy assumptions and estimate of the situation in Cuba outlined above, CIA submits a program consisting of the following interdependent courses of action:

A. Covert collection of intelligence, both for U.S. strategic requirements as well as for operational requirements.

B. Propaganda actions to stimulate low-risk simple sabotage and other forms of active and passive resistance.

C. Exploitation and stimulation of disaffection in the Cuban military and other power centers.

D. Economic denial actions on an increased basis.

E. General sabotage and harassment.

F. Support of autonomous anti-Castro Cuban groups to supplement and assist in the execution of the above courses of action.

5. A vital feature of the foregoing program to exert maximum pressure on the Castro/Communist regime is the dependence of the impact of each course of action on the simultaneous and effective execution of the other courses of action.

[msfreeh]

see link for full story

Christopher Vambo acknowledges that the brutal 1992 murders of 5 American Nuns might have happened under his command
December 31, 2014 •

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Christopher Vambo acknowledged that men under his command may have participated in the attack that claimed the lives of five American nuns but he vigorously denied that he had killed anyone.
Is This Man Responsible for the Murders of 5 American Nuns?

Christopher Vambo acknowledged that men under his command may have participated in the attack that claimed the lives of five American nuns but he vigorously denied that he had killed anyone.





GARDNERSVILLE, Liberia — More than 20 years ago, a terrible crime bloodied this suburb of cinderblock homes, dirt-floor stores and lush green bush grass.

Five American nuns were killed when a vicious battle swept through the town during Liberia’s civil war. The killers left their bodies burned and broken, rotting in the sun.

The deaths were numerically insignificant in a conflict that by its end in 2003 had left hundreds of thousands of Liberians dead. But the killings crystallized the horror of Liberia’s long war for Westerners.

The Catholic Church, the U.S. Embassy and Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission all investigated. All came to a similar conclusion: The killers were soldiers in the army of Charles Taylor, the Liberian warlord convicted by an international court for crimes against humanity.

No killers, however, have ever been brought to justice. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation eventually launched an investigation. But long delays by the agency and a steadfast reluctance by the Liberian government to prosecute those blamed for atrocities has meant that none of the suspects has ever faced trial, according to an examination by ProPublica and Frontline.

One of those implicated by reports on the killings is Christopher Vambo, a former Taylor commander who used the nom-de-guerre General Mosquito. He is not hard to find. He lives on a rutted street across from a local cemetery in an older part of Monrovia, the country’s capital. He works as a security guard for one of the country’s largest communications firms.

One hot, rainy day earlier this year, Vambo agreed to an interview~ his first with American media outlets since being implicated in the sisters’ deaths.

He wanted to speak. But he feared the consequences.

“Christopher Vambo wasn’t the one that executed the Catholic nuns, but the Catholic nuns were executed under his command,” he said, referring to himself in the third person. “If there is charges for that, there’s a penalty for that.”

The Sisters

Faith in God and the fury of war defined the lives of the five sisters.

Sisters Barbara Ann Muttra, Shirley Kolmer, Kathleen McGuire, Agnes Mueller and Mary Joel Kolmer
Sisters Barbara Ann Muttra, Shirley Kolmer, Kathleen McGuire, Agnes Mueller and Mary Joel Kolmer were murdered by soldiers during Liberia’s civil war in 1992.
They were members of the Adorers of the Blood of Christ convent based in tiny Ruma, Ill. Most had spent years on mission in Liberia: instructing children, healing the sick, teaching their faith.

Sisters Barbara Ann Muttra, Shirley Kolmer, Kathleen McGuire, Agnes Mueller and Mary Joel Kolmer (a cousin to Shirley) lived, worked and prayed together at a small convent of cinder blocks painted white. It lay just off the main road that runs through Gardnersville, one of Monrovia’s outer suburbs.

Muttra, 69, was the best known. A nurse, she had spent 21 years working in Liberia. Her passion was working with mothers and children. She was a bulldog. She faced down soldiers and tendered care at remote clinics.

Shirley Kolmer, 61, was the leader of the group. She was well known among Monrovia’s upper middle class. Grinning and gap-toothed, the math teacher served as the first female principal of St. Patrick’s High School, an elite all-boy’s school in a tony neighborhood of Monrovia. McGuire, 54, the newest arrival, taught there, too. She also supervised a local Catholic grammar school.

Mueller, 62, taught local women to read and worked at a nearby health clinic. Joel Kolmer, 58, taught at the grammar school and mentored young Liberians interested in entering the order.

“These kinds of people must be celebrated,” said Kofi Woods, a Liberian human rights leader who knew the sisters.

This account of the lives and deaths of the nuns draws on reports by the Catholic diocese, the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and the St. Louis Post Dispatch; a book written shortly after the killings by Sister M. Clare Boehmer called Echoes in our Hearts; confidential transcripts of eyewitness testimony; and interviews with current members of the Adorers of the Blood of Christ, Liberians who knew the sisters, U.S. State Department officials, former Taylor fighters and Vambo.

Charles Taylor’s invasion of Liberia in December 1989 razed the sisters’ world. His ill-trained militia and child soldiers slaughtered thousands of Krahn and Mandingo tribal members to settle old grievances.

By July 1990, Taylor’s forces were battling Liberian soldiers in Gardnersville. The suburb sat just across from Monrovia, separated from the capital by mangrove swamps and a river. Bullets rained on the convent roof. Artillery crackled.

In August 1990, the sisters decided to flee back to the United States. They would not stay away long, beginning their return in March 1991.

By then, Liberia had settled into an uneasy ceasefire between Taylor’s forces and West African peacekeepers. Taylor controlled much of the country. The peacekeepers protected a caretaker government in the capital.

The ceasefire allowed the sisters to return and rebuild their mission. They scrounged new furniture. They organized residents into Bible groups. They collected Christmas gifts for families receiving treatment at a nearby clinic. More than 30 children had died there since the war’s start, victims of severe malnutrition.

Taylor kept busy, too. As detailed in a ProPublica and Frontline investigation, he built up his army in part with the resources of one of America’s most iconic businesses: Firestone. The tire giant operated the largest rubber plantation in the world in Liberia. To do business, Firestone agreed to pay taxes to Taylor’s rebel army. In exchange, Taylor provided the company protection.

By October 1992, Taylor was ready to launch a massive new assault on Monrovia dubbed Operation Octopus. Using the Firestone plantation as his headquarters, he sent thousands of men streaming toward the capital in the pre-dawn hours of Oct. 15, 1992.

Once again, the rebels struck Gardnersville. They set up mortars and cannons. They fired over the convent into the distant, huddling city.

The West African peacekeeping forces were taken by surprise. They mustered several days before counterattacking. The troops hacked toward Gardnersville, battling through gun-wielding children and rebel strong points.

By mid-October, the sisters were once again on the frontlines of the war.

The Killings

On Oct. 20, heavy combat surrounded the convent.

At about 4 p.m., the convent’s security guard grew worried about the violence in Barnersville, a neighboring suburb where his family lived. Muttra and Joel Kolmer agreed to drive him home.

Once the car reached the main road, witnesses saw two West African peacekeepers flag down the car. They got into the vehicle with the sisters. The car headed east on the main road, known today as Somalia Drive. It moved from peacekeeper-held territory toward a checkpoint manned by soldiers from Taylor’s army, known as the National Patriotic Front of Liberia, or NPFL.

That’s the last time witnesses reported seeing the two nuns, the security guard and the soldiers alive.

When Muttra and Kolmer did not return by nightfall, the remaining three sisters began to worry. By Oct. 23, they had heard nothing. The ineluctable conclusion: Muttra and Kolmer were dead.

By then, the fighting had grown much fiercer. Gunfire rattled constantly. Rocket propelled grenades streaked through the air. Two Lebanese families who lived nearby sought shelter inside the convent.

Surrounded and frightened, sisters Kathleen McGuire, Shirley Kolmer and Agnes Mueller made desperate pleas for help. Informed of their plight, the U.S. embassy asked for assistance from the West African peacekeeping force, known by the acronym ECOMOG.

On the morning of Oct. 23, peacekeepers battled to the convent, but decided evacuation was too risky. The soldiers told the sisters to sit tight. Rescue forces would extract them the following day.

It never happened. That evening, a small squad of Taylor’s soldiers approached the convent. They were led by Vambo, according to a church report of the incident based on 10 eyewitness statements. Also present was a young soldier, called C.O. Devil, or Black Devil.

The fighters began shooting AK47s in the air, drawing the sisters outside the convent. Vambo confronted McGuire as she unlocked the gate, shooting her in the arm. She fell to the ground. Vambo executed her by firing into her neck, the report said.

Next, Vambo turned his weapon on one of the Lebanese men, the report said. One shot, and he was dead.

Vambo turned on the remaining sisters and those who had sought shelter. He screamed that he was going to kill all the “white people” in the convent, the report said. He demanded money and keys to the sisters’ car.

The two remaining sisters, Shirley Kolmer and Agnes Mueller, lined up against the outside wall of the convent. As they pleaded for their lives, the man named Devil executed the women. Their bodies slumped onto the dirt, leaving trails of blood on the whitewashed wall.

The squad fled with their loot — a car and a pittance of Liberian money.

Taylor’s men spared several young Liberian girls, aspirants who were considering joining the convent. They were taken to Taylor territory. They managed to escape and tell their stories to the church and the U.S. embassy. Afterward, several aspirants immigrated to the United States to begin new lives. The order has continued to keep their identities secret.

The aspirants’ accounts varied. Some said that Devil had done all the killing. Others blamed both Vambo and Devil.

Their accounts converged on this: Taylor’s men had turned the convent into a killing ground.

Mosquito’s Attack

In the interview with ProPublica and Frontline, Vambo acknowledged that men under his command may have participated in the attack. But he vigorously denied that he had killed anyone.

Vambo is a small, thin man with a nervous stutter and darting eyes. He wore a cap embossed with the words “Jesus is my Boss.”

He sat on the second floor of a shabby restaurant on Monrovia’s main boulevard as he told his story, a version of events riddled with inconsistencies.

“I have not talked to lot of people for this,” said Vambo, who for years remained a fighter and security advisor for Taylor.

When the 1992 assault on Monrovia launched, Vambo was one of Taylor’s most senior field commanders. His mission was to travel from the western side of the Firestone plantation to attack Monrovia’s northern suburbs, including Gardnersville and Barnersville. Television footage from the time shows him strolling along Somali Drive, very close to the convent, wearing camouflage, a red beret with a star and aviator glasses. When he speaks, he stutters — then, as now. He shows off the skeletonized remains of West African peacekeepers his men have killed.

Vambo said he was battling for control of the area on Oct. 20 when he got a radio call. Some Caucasians had been killed while approaching a rebel checkpoint in Barnersville. He needed to check it out.

When Vambo arrived, he saw a “military car” burning. Outside lay the bodies of the two sisters, the security guard and the two soldiers. Vambo said he received a full report from the fighters at the checkpoint.

His men told him the killings had been an accident. A vehicle coming from enemy territory approached the roadblock manned by several rebel fighters. One wielded a rocket propelled grenade launcher. When the rebels ordered the pickup to halt, gunfire erupted from the vehicle, Vambo said he was told.

“There’s a motto that we got: fire; reply fire,” Vambo said. “Our RPG went straight in that pickup, bap!”

Vambo said his men made a mistake: “We were not completely right,” he said.

A few days later, on Oct. 23, Vambo said he got another call over the radio. His men told him they had stumbled upon a massacre: three Caucasian women and a Lebanese man, all dead at the nuns’ convent.

A unit commander Vambo called Town Devil hailed him on the radio. When Vambo arrived, he saw the bodies lying on the ground. Vambo said he sharply questioned the fighters.

“You people have killed international people and we are not supposed to kill international people,” Vambo shouted.

“No, chief, we came here and met the people dead already,” Vambo said one man told him.

Approaching West African soldiers frightened the men away. Vambo made a report on the incident to Taylor. The warlord questioned him. Was it possible that his men had committed the massacre? Vambo said he had no proof, one way or the other.

Taylor had Town Devil executed, Vambo said. The other two rebel fighters at the convent were sent to the front lines. Both died in later fighting.

For his part, Vambo heatedly denied having seen the sisters alive. During the interview, he leapt up, gesticulating furiously. He had not killed any of the nuns.

“That’s a lie, that’s a lie, that’s a lie,” he shouted. “I never met the Catholic nuns face to face.”

“If I did it, God, I will bear the pain for it,” he said.

Like many Liberians blamed for atrocities during the war, Vambo exemplifies unfulfilled justice. His accusers have never presented their evidence to a court. Nor has he ever had the chance to clear his name.

“The worst thing I still worrying on is this same Catholic nuns,” he said with an anxious look on his face.

“It wasn’t I the one that executed the Catholic nuns,” he said. “I will continue to say and I will say it over and over.”

Taylor assigned John T. Richardson, one of his top advisors, to investigate the incident. Richardson came away uncertain. Taylor’s army was such a fluid, ragtag affair that obtaining reliable testimony or reconstructing disputed events was near impossible.

“The way the NPFL fighters move in waves, the wave that’s here today isn’t there tomorrow. And nobody will even tell you they remember who was there tomorrow or yesterday,” Richardson said. “And so it would have been very difficult to go back in … and find out what happened on the ground.”

The bottom line on whether Taylor fighters killed the nuns? “Could it have happened? Yes,” Richardson said.

Outcry

The fate of the women remained a mystery for more than a week, but when the massacre was confirmed, it became an instant symbol of the savagery of Liberia’s war.

World leaders decried the nuns’ deaths. The U.S. demanded an immediate cease fire. The State Department issued a sternly worded, formal demand, emphasizing that the U.S. would hold Taylor responsible for any crimes committed in his area of control.

Taylor issued cautious denials of responsibility. He said that Senegalese peacekeepers controlled the area at the time the sisters were slaughtered. “It is really no man’s land, so it is anybody’s guess what has happened to those nuns,” Taylor said, according to local news accounts from the time.

Nearly a month after the killings, the fighting calmed enough to allow collection of the sisters’ bodies.

At the convent, McGuire’s desiccated body was found mostly intact outside the compound. Inside, Mueller and Shirley Kolmer appeared to have been shot, then hacked to pieces with machetes. Their bones were scattered across the compound. With Taylor fighters moving in, West African soldiers collected the two sister’s skulls, then scrambled to gather the rest of the bones into a bag for later identification.

At the site of the RPG attack, West African soldiers, Catholic clergy and embassy officials found the incinerated skeletons of Muttra and Joel Kolmer by a burned van. Muttra slumped out of the car, as if she had died inside and fallen out after her door was opened. Kolmer was found partially under the vehicle, as though she had been knocked back by fire.

The nuns’ remains were placed into aluminum caskets and loaded into C-130s on the tarmac of Monrovia’s municipal airport. They were transported on separate flights back to Illinois, where they were buried in side-by-side graves at the Ruma convent.

Today, a striking, 15-foot high bronze memorial commemorates the sisters’ sacrifice. It features the five of them in a circle, hands together, held up to the sky.

A Responsibility Unfulfilled

Gerald Rose was the deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Monrovia when the American nuns were killed. He questioned eyewitnesses and stood on the tarmac as the sisters’ bodies were loaded into planes home.

After his retirement from the foreign service, he spent years keeping the sisters’ case alive. An Army veteran, he was not about to let America forget that five of its own had been brutally slaughtered. He hectored his congressional representatives. He pleaded with the State Department and the FBI to bring the killers to justice.

Rose’s campaign appeared to have an effect. In 2002, nearly a decade after the killings, the FBI opened a formal investigation. Rose was questioned regarding his knowledge of the killings.

At some time in the mid-2000s, Vambo said he was twice interviewed by what he called “CIA investigative reporters.” The chief interlocutor in one interview, he said, was named Christopher ~ the same first name as Christopher Locke, the FBI’s lead investigator.

In April 2010, according to a Time magazine account, Locke presented a case to the U.S. Attorney’s office in Washington for prosecution. He did not name the suspects. But he told the magazine, “we put together what I personally thought was a prosecutable case.”

In 2012, the U.S. Attorney’s office decided not to file charges. Prosecutors determined that the statute of limitation had expired on any potential charges against the suspects, a spokesman told ProPublica and Frontline. The agency declined further comment.

The reasons for the decades of delay in investigating the killings are unclear.

Both the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s office declined repeated requests for interviews. The FBI did not respond to a Freedom of Information Act request filed eight months ago seeking records in the closed case of the nuns’ deaths. Locke, who has since left the agency, also declined to answer questions.

“The FBI always continues to diligently work and follow all investigative leads towards the service of justice,” the agency said in a written statement.

Indeed, the agency appears to be building a different case against a former Taylor henchman that may include the killing of the sisters.

In May, the agency arrested Tom Woewiyu, Taylor’s former Defense Minister. Woewiyu, who has long maintained residence in the United States, was charged with lying on an application for citizenship.

Several months later, the order of nuns contacted the FBI to inquire about the case. Jennifer Lohmeier, an FBI agent, told the order that the agency hoped to file broader human rights charges against Woewiyu that would include the murder of the five sisters.

Cheryl Wittenauer, spokeswoman for the order, also known as the ASC, summarized her conversation with Lohmeier in an email soon after the two spoke by phone this August.

“Apparently, Woewiyu did not give the order to kill the ASC sisters, but he is implicated in that the killings were accomplished under his command,” Wittenauer wrote to her supervisors, according to an email obtained by ProPublica and Frontline.

Lohmeier did not return calls for comment. The FBI said they would neither confirm nor deny information regarding Woewiyu’s case since it is an open investigation.

However, the press release announcing Woewiyu’s capture is headlined: “Alleged War Criminal Arrested.” (No known judicial or police authority to date has made such an allegation)

The indictment against him on U.S. immigration violations contains a long history of Woewiyu’s role in Liberia’s history and civil war. It notes that when Woewiyu was Taylor’s minister of defense, Taylor’s forces conducted a campaign “characterized by the torture of perceived adversaries, the execution of civilians, the killing of ECOMOG peacekeepers, the forced sexual slavery and rape of girls and women, the conscription of child soldiers, and the murder of humanitarian aid workers” ~ incongruously strong stuff for an indictment based upon allegations of perjury on Immigration and Naturalization Service Form N-400.


Taylor was elected president in 1997. The peace that followed was temporary, and the country soon plunged back into a civil war. All told, some 200,000 Liberians were believed killed in the 14 years of conflict. Half of the country’s population of 3 million had been displaced.

In the years that followed, Liberia never made peace with its violent past. Charles Taylor was convicted in international court for crimes he committed in neighboring Sierra Leone, not Liberia.

The Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission recommended sanctions for scores of people that committed crimes during the conflict ~ including Vambo. They were never carried out.

The current government has not made punishment a priority. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, a Nobel Peace Prize winner elected in 2005, campaigned on a promise to “forgive, not forget.”

In an interview with ProPublica and Frontline, Sirleaf said that her government stood ready to charge any individual with war crimes ~ though the fact is that today, nobody sits in a Liberian prison for the atrocities wreaked upon Liberia and its people.

Sirleaf said that her government had recognized the sisters for “their bravery.” She said her critics have overemphasized the importance of punishment in the reconciliation of the country.

“If we were to go fishing for everything that happened before this government, all of our time would be spent doing that and not moving the country forward,” Sirleaf said.

For his part, Rose said he has not given up on justice someday, somewhere for the sisters. At 85, walking slowly with a cane, he’s hobbled by time, but enlivened by his cause.

He describes himself as “unfulfilled and angry.”

“I don’t think many American people remember that there were five American citizens killed during the Liberian war. Nor do I think many know that the person who killed three of them was identified and that the FBI made a case and presented the case,” Rose said.

“I think if the American people were aware of that, they too would feel that justice was not done.”

Abel Welwean contributed to this report.

Related coverage: Read more about Liberia’s brutal civil war and the American company that played a role in

[msfreeh]

http://whowhatwhy.com/2015/01/04/triple ... ment-work/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Is There a “Triple Government” at Work?
January 4, 2015 by Bill Blunden


“Double government.” Walter Bagehot coined the term in his 1867 book, The English Constitution. He hypothesized that British government had split into two separate layers. On the outer surface were high-profile “extrinsic” institutions such as the House of Lords, which gave the appearance of being in charge. On the inside were less conspicuous organs of government, such as the House of Commons, that actually ran the show.

Expanding upon Bagehot’s ideas is Michael J. Glennon, a professor of international law at Tufts University. Glennon has written “National Security and Double Government“, a book which argues that a similar double government has emerged in U.S. politics.

Regarding national security, Glennon contends that “judicial review is negligible, congressional oversight dysfunctional, and presidential control nominal.” Instead, he says, the actual decision-making is performed by “several hundred executive officials who manage the military, intelligence, diplomatic, and law enforcement agencies”[ii] that are “slowly tightening centralized power, growing and evolving organically beyond public view.” [iii] (Read WhoWhatWhy’s first take on Glennon here)

But are elected officials such as the President truly hostages to murky, unseen elements within government?

Congressional investigations, leaked classified documents, and statements by former intelligence officers paint a completely different picture. Far from being out of control, the public record indicates that security services are obedient arms of the executive. And, further up the chain of

[msfreeh]

http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/2015/0 ... r-secrecy/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

FBI Has Either Lied to Public About Its Drone Program or Inaccurately Defended Need for Secrecy
By: Kevin Gosztola Tuesday January 6, 2015 4:11 pm

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has been pursuing a lawsuit against the FBI for records on the agency’s drone program. A recent filing in the case suggests the FBI has either lied to the public about the scope of its drone program or it has inaccurately defended the need to keep documents secret.

CREW, an organization that describes itself as being committed to “high-impact legal actions to target government officials who sacrifice common good to special interests,” filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for records after then-FBI Director Robert Mueller revealed the FBI was operating a secret drone program in June 2013.

The request asked for records that would show: “the source or sources of all drones used by the FBI from January 1, 2009, to the present”; the “funding source for all drones used by the FBI from January 1, 2009, to the present”; “who provided the FBI with any training to enable the FBI to use drones”; “policy concerning the FBI’s use of drones for any purpose, including but not limited to the legal justification for such use and any memoranda of understanding between the FBI or [Justice Department] and any other government agency.”

According to CREW [PDF], the FBI responded to court orders and processed “6,720 non-duplicative pages of documents, releasing only 1,970—most of which contained extensive redactions—and withholding the rest.” The FBI cited four exemptions to justify keeping most of the records secret.

When Mueller spoke about the FBI’s drone program, he said it was used “in a very, very minimal way and very seldom.” The FBI, he claimed, had “very few” drones. They were apparently used sparingly for missions involving drugs, kidnappings, search and rescue operations and hunts for fugitives. However, the government now asserts that disclosing records on a domestic drone program will “enable hostile entities to assess United States intelligence gathering activities in or about a foreign country.”

The government and CREW are now seeking a decision from the judge on whether the records have been appropriately withheld under FOIA or not.

CREW argues in response to the government, “It is difficult, if not impossible, to understand how the FBI’s domestic drone
program even intersects with foreign intelligence activities, sources, or methods of the United States, much less how information from the program about the source and funding of the drones, training for drone use, and drone policies could cause actual harm to those interests if disclosed.”

The Justice Department maintains [PDF] the FBI must keep the identity of the vendor, which has provided the FBI with drone technology, secret because “simply identifying the FBI’s equipment source or UAV items intended to be procured (or actually purchased) would reveal information regarding the FBI’s surveillance techniques and capabilities.”

Though the FBI argues that the disclosure of certain documents “would provide criminals and terrorists with a virtual ‘playbook’ on how to evade the FBI’s use” of drones, CREW contends that the FBI has not demonstrated that “operational capabilities and equipment specifications” are not already “generally known to the public.” Much information is already in the public domain. In fact, “manufacturers of drones,” such as General Atomics, “provide a large amount of information on their products’ capabilities.” And even the US Air Force has posted to its website details on the “operational capabilities of its drones.”

It is improper for the FBI to suggest that identities of vendors or drone suppliers are at all covered by the FOIA exemption protecting “law enforcement techniques.” Such a suggestion twists the exemption to make it possible for the FBI to keep all its dealing with corporations supplying drone technology secret so as not to face any public scrutiny at all.

Multiple times the FBI makes claims about foreign entities or foreign intelligence agents posing a threat if they obtain any of these records:

…Permitting specific details to be released on the [drone] program’s equipment, operational capabilities, limitations, training, and funding would enable criminals outside the controlled, classified environment to provide foreign entities and operatives with key information that could be used in countermeasure efforts…

… The withheld information is under control of the United States Government, and contains information regarding intelligence activities, sources or methods and/or foreign relations or foreign activities of the United States, all of which are authorized bases for classification [under Executive Order 13526]…

…Due to the delicate nature of international diplomacy, disclosure of this sensitive information could jeopardize the fragile relationships that exist between the United States and certain foreign governments. Moreover, the unauthorized disclosure of information concerning foreign relations or foreign activities of the United States can reasonably be expected to lead to curtailment in the diplomatic or law enforcement sharing of intelligence and/or new investigative equipment advancements…

All of which is intended to amplify fear in the mind of the judge hearing this case.

These statements also raise key questions about the FBI’s drone program and how confined it really is to the domestic United States. For example, how could records on policies or certain technology used to rescue kidnapped Americans in the US impact relationships with foreign countries? Or, how could a program used sparingly be so threatening to US diplomacy if basic details were shared with the public?

What the government refuses to accept is that CREW is only demanding the release of general information. It does not want specific records on specific technical operations. But the Justice Department seems to deliberately misconstrue the nature of CREW’s request for records in order to make the organization seem unreasonable.

CREW states, “The FBI has thrown a blanket of secrecy over a program that is of critical public importance and that raises
fundamental questions about whether the government is abiding by the constitutional rights of its citizens. Yet despite these concerns, drone use domestically has increased exponentially, even though we do not yet have the appropriate controls and safeguards in place.”

The FBI is not the sole agency responsible for allowing this proliferation without regard for civil liberties. US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has a flourishing drone program, which the Office of Inspector General (OIG) recently found [PDF] has achieved none of its “intended results” and has not properly accounted for all the costs of operations. CBP cannot account for whether it is protecting privacy (and the OIG did not bother to scrutinize this aspect of the agency’s program). And that is what makes lawsuits like CREW’s critical.

As CREW concludes, “The FBI’s response of withholding the vast majority of documents is not only unjustified legally and
factually but is ‘anathema’ to the FOIA’s fundamental purpose of providing a vehicle for the public to know what its government is up to.”

A judge ruling in favor o

[msfreeh]

By Craig Whitlock January 6
U.S. drones deployed along the borders are grounded most of the time, cost far more than initially estimated and help to apprehend only a tiny number of people trying to cross illegally, according to a federal audit released Tuesday.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/nat ... story.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/nat ... d-d0b93ff6" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; B-13d5_story.html

[msfreeh]

see link for thousands of pages of evidence witheld


http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/crime/ ... 41188.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Convicted 'eco-terrorist' freed amid claims FBI hid evidence

January 8 2015


The woman, named in court documents and at the trial only as “Anna,” turned out to be an FBI informant and played a critical role in McDavid's arrest, as well as ...

[msfreeh]

Exile at Topaz: Thousands of Japanese-Americans interned in Utah during World War II
Megan van Frank

January 9 2015

http://www.thespectrum.com/story/life/2 ... /21531049/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[msfreeh]

Leaked Palantir Doc Reveals Uses, Specific Functions And Key Clients


http://techcrunch.com/2015/01/11/leaked ... y-clients/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Since its founding in 2004, Palantir has managed to grow into a billion dollar company while being very surreptitious about what it does exactly. Conjecture abounds. The vague facts dredged up by reporters confirm that Palantir has created a data mining system used extensively by law enforcement agencies and security companies to connect the dots between known criminals.
TechCrunch has received a private document from 2013 which reveals the company’s extensive trove of data analysis tools and lists many of its key clients. The document is currently being passed around as an investor prospectu

[msfreeh]

Conference in October on how
FBI agents assassinated President Kennedy

http://oswaldconference.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[msfreeh]

http://www.theledger.com/article/201508 ... /150819739" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;



Police officer accused of molesting 2-year-old faces 11 more charges



Published: Thursday, August 13, 2015 at 11:31 a.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, August 13, 2015 at 11:31 a.m.

BARTOW — A police officer who was arrested in March for allegedly molesting a 2-year-old girl is now facing 11 additional charges for possession of child pornograph

Joshua David Smith, 32, a police officer in Oakland, a small community west of Orlando, was originally arrested after an undercover FBI agent located outside of Florida received a message from him stating, "no limit perv dad here. Looking for someone like minded to talk with. HMU (hit me up) if interested," according to a Polk County Sheriff's Office arrest affidavit.

From there, Smith went on to describe in detail sex acts he performed on the 2-year-old victim.

About eight hours later, PCSO deputies and the FBI arrested Smith at his Lakeland home.

During Smith's online correspondence with the undercover FBI agent, he sent three sexually explicit photos of the girl to prove, according to Sheriff Grady Judd, that he had "access to a live child.” When law enforcement arrived at the house, the girl was found wearing some of the same clothing as in the images, and locations in the house matched those in the photos.

Since his arrest, Smith has been held in the Polk County jail without bail, charged with directing or promoting the sexual performance of a child, possession of a photo depicting a sexual performance of a child and lewd molestation.

[msfreeh]

Couple of stories

Link du jour
Kennedy assassination

http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/jf ... d=18826955" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

1.


FBI agent arrested on suspicion of DUI after Hamilton County crash

http://www.indystar.com/story/news/crim ... /32330135/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
August 6 2015
An FBI agent transports evidence.
An agent from the FBI’s Indianapolis field office was arrested on
suspicion of drunken driving after a crash in Hamilton County.

Robert Middleton, 43, Indianapolis, was arrested early Saturday on
suspicion of operating while intoxicated, a misdemeanor, according to
Lt. Joe Bickel of the Carmel Police Department.
Bickel confirmed that Middleton is an FBI employee. The FBI website
lists Middleton as an assistant special agent in charge for the
Indianapolis field office.
FBI Special Agent in Charge W. Jay Abbott said the agent, who was
driving an FBI vehicle at the time of the crash, was placed on
administrative leave. Additional information about the case is not
being released by the bureau at this time.
Abbott said the incident remains under investigation by the U.S.
Department of Justice, Office of Inspector General.
A news release from the Carmel Police Department says the crash
involving Middleton's 2012 Dodge Charger and a motorcycle was reported
about 12:20 a.m. Saturday in the area of West 96th Street and Hazel
Dell Parkway.
Police said Middleton was traveling west on 96th Street when he
collided with motorcyclist Rick Hubbard, 50, Indianapolis

2.

http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/jf ... d=18826955" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

3.

http://m.sfgate.com/crime/article/Stole ... 462766.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Gun, badge stolen from UC Berkeley police chief’s car at park
Henry K. Lee |
on
August 24, 2015
113
UC Berkeley Police Chief Margo Bennett had her gun, badge, ammunition
and other items stolen during a car burglary at Point Isabel Regional
Shoreline in Richmond. Photo: UC Berkeley
Photo: UC Berkeley
UC Berkeley Police Chief Margo Bennett had her gun, badge, ammunition
and other items stolen during a car burglary at Point Isabel Regional
Shoreline in Richmond.UC Berkeley Police Chief Margo Bennett had her
gun, badge, ammunition and other items stolen during a car burglary at
Point Isabel Regional Shoreline in Richmond.
The loaded gun, badge and ammunition taken from a car at a popular
East Bay shoreline park belonged to the UC Berkeley police chief,
authorities said Monday.

Margo Bennett, head of the campus police force, lost her gun, police
badge, ammunition, department-issued laptop, iPad, cell phone and
diamond ring when her unmarked Ford Escape was broken into while it
was parked near the Mudpuppy’s dog grooming business at Point Isabel
Regional Shoreline in Richmond, officials said.


Bennett had gone for a jog before work Friday morning and returned
about 8:15 a.m. to find her left rear window smashed, according to
university officials and Carolyn Jones, spokeswoman for the East Bay
Regional Park District, which manages the shoreline.

Bennett joined the UC Berkeley Police Department as a captain in 2002
and was named chief two years ago.

Bennett has been a crime victim before. Her then-husband, an FBI agent
whom she had turned in to the agency for trying to defraud it of more
than $17,000, tried to kill her in 1996 — and later kidnapped her
minister and placed explosives around his waist in hopes of framing
her for the crime, officials said. He was convicted of several charges
and sentenced to 23 years in prison.

“I’ve been a victim and know


4.
http://www.valdostadailytimes.com/news/ ... l?mode=jqm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;



FBI agents call for end to KJ case


VALDOSTA - In a letter to the U.S. Attorney General, a group of
current and former FBI agents has called for an end to the
investigation into the death of Kendrick Johnson, saying it “could,
and should, have been completed by now.”



The letter from Ellen Glasser, national president of the Society of
Former Special Agents of the FBI, calls on

[msfreeh]

manipulation, FBI investigates

Woman filed suit against ISP over sexual manipulation, FBI investigates
http://www.kboi2.com/news/local/Woman-f ... l?mobile=y" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Aug 30, 2015


-- A Bingham County woman filed a lawsuit against the Idaho State Police claiming that a trooper coerced her to have sex with him inside an police vehicle and illegally tracked her whereabouts.

The plantiff, Ashlyn Moreno, filed a complaint against Ryan Blackhawk and P