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Hissyspit's JournalEXCLUSIVE: Justice Department Memo Reveals Legal Case for Drone Strikes on Americans
Source: NBC News
EXCLUSIVE: Justice Department Memo Reveals Legal Case for Drone Strikes on Americans
By Michael Isikoff
National Investigative Correspondent, NBC News
A confidential Justice Department memo concludes that the U.S. government can order the killing of American citizens if they are believed to be “senior operational leaders” of al-Qaida or “an associated force” -- even if there is no intelligence indicating they are engaged in an active plot to attack the U.S.
The 16-page memo, a copy of which was obtained by NBC News, provides new details about the legal reasoning behind one of the Obama administration’s most secretive and controversial polices: its dramatically increased use of drone strikes against al-Qaida suspects, including those aimed at American citizens, such as the September 2011 strike in Yemen that killed alleged al-Qaida operatives Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Khan. Both were U.S. citizens who had never been indicted by the U.S. government nor charged with any crimes.
The secrecy surrounding such strikes is fast emerging as a central issue in this week’s hearing of White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan, a key architect of the drone campaign, to be CIA director. Brennan was the first administration official to publicly acknowledge drone strikes in a speech last year, calling them “consistent with the inherent right of self-defense.” In a separate talk at the Northwestern University Law School in March, Attorney General Eric Holder specifically endorsed the constitutionality of targeted killings of Americans, saying they could be justified if government officials determine the target poses “an imminent threat of violent attack.”
But the confidential Justice Department “white paper” introduces a more expansive definition of self-defense or imminent attack than described by Brennan or Holder in their public speeches. It refers, for example, to what it calls a “broader concept of imminence” than actual intelligence about any ongoing plot against the U.S. homeland.
Read more: http://openchannel.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/04/16843014-exclusive-justice-department-memo-reveals-legal-case-for-drone-strikes-on-americans
Strom Thurmond's Mixed-Race Daughter Dies at 87
Source: Associated Press
Strom Thurmond's mixed-race daughter dies at 87
By MEG KINNARD, Associated Press | February 4, 2013 | Updated: February 4, 2013
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Essie Mae Washington-Williams, the mixed-race daughter of one-time segregationist Sen. Strom Thurmond who kept her parentage secret for more than 70 years, has died. She was 87.
Vann Dozier of Leevy's Funeral Home in Columbia said Washington-Williams died Sunday. A cause of death was not given.
Washington-Williams was the daughter of Thurmond and his family's black maid. The identity of her famous father was rumored for decades in political circles and the black community. She later said she kept his secret because, "He trusted me, and I respected him."
Not until after Thurmond's death in 2003 at age 100 did Washington-Williams come forward and say her father was the white man who ran for president on a segregationist platform and served in the U.S. Senate for more than 47 years.
Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/us/article/Strom-Thurmond-s-mixed-race-daughter-dies-at-87-4249966.php
BREAKING: Hostage Situation Ends, 5-year-old Child is Safe, Kidnapper Dead, U.S. Official Says
Source: CBS News
@CBSNews: BREAKING NEWS: A U.S. official says Alabama hostage situation is over: kidnapped child is alive, kidnapper is dead http://t.co/s2drA6vF
Also: @BreakingNews: Reports of explosions near Midland City, Alabama, hostage scene - @abc3340, WJHG-TV
Alabama Standoff Update: Hostage situation ends, 5-year-old child is safe, kidnapper dead, U.S. official says
February 04, 2013
(CBS/AP) MIDLAND CITY, Ala. - A U.S. official tells CBS News that a nearly week-long hostage standoff in which a 5-year-old was being held captive in southeast Alabama has ended in the kidnapper's death. The child is said to be okay.
Authorities said 65-year-old Jimmy Dykes gunned down a school bus driver Tuesday and abducted a 5-year-old boy from the bus before taking him to an underground bunker on his rural property. The driver, 66-year-old Charles Poland Jr., was buried Sunday.
Dykes, a decorated Vietnam-era veteran described as a loner who railed against the government, lived up a dirt road just off the main road north to the state capital of Montgomery, about 80 miles away.
CBS radio affiliate WSB says reporters heard what may have been a concussion grenade before ambulance and fire vehicles went to and from Dykes' property about 4p.m. Eastern Time Monday.
Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/fullstory.rbml
Boy Scout Families Deliver Petition Urging End to Policy Banning Gays
Source: CBS News
Boy Scout families deliver petition urging end to policy banning gays
February 04, 2013
IRVING, Texas Scouts and their families have delivered a petition to the Boy Scouts of America headquarters urging an end to a policy banning gay scouts and leaders from the organization.
Jennifer Tyrrell was among the dozen people who delivered the petition. Tyrrell says she was forced out as leader of her son's Cub Scout pack because she's gay, and she doesn't want to see any other parents treated in the same way.
She says the policy is "archaic" and needs to change.
The families were waiting for a representative of Boy Scouts of America to come and accept their petition.
Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57567529/boy-scout-families-deliver-petition-urging-end-to-policy-banning-gays
U.S. to Sue Standard & Poor's Over Mortgage Bond Ratings
Source: Reuters
U.S. to sue S&P over mortgage bond ratings
Mon Feb 4, 2013 2:34pm EST
WASHINGTON, Feb 4 (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department plans to sue Standard & Poor's over its ratings in 2007 of some mortgage bond deals, the ratings agency said on Monday.
The unit of McGraw-Hill Cos Inc said the lawsuit "would be entirely without factual or legal merit."
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL1N0B49LR20130204
Milan Court Convicts 3 Americans in CIA Kidnapping
Source: Politico
Milan court convicts 3 Americans in CIA kidnapping
By ASSOCIATED PRESS | 2/2/13 8:28 AM EST
MILAN — A Milan appeals court on Friday vacated acquittals for a former CIA station chief and two other Americans, and instead convicted them in the 2003 abduction of an Egyptian terror suspect from a Milan street as part of the CIA's extraordinary rendition program.
The decision means that all 26 Americans tried in absentia for the abduction now have been found guilty.
The ongoing trials, which have dragged on for years, brought the first convictions anywhere in the world against CIA agents involved in a practice alleged to have led to torture. The case has been the source of diplomatic tensions, although three successive Italian leaders, including the technical government of Premier Mario Monti, have invoked state secrets, which has had the impact of limiting evidence in the successive trials and led to the acquittals of five Italians, including two spy chiefs.
- snip -
None of the Americans have ever been in Italian custody or have ever appeared in court, but they risk arrest if they travel to Europe. Only two have had any contact with their lawyers, both of whom expressly requested their own counsel late in the first trial phase, in the face of U.S. official silence on the case and citing special personal and legal circumstances. A number of the names listed on the official docket are believed to be aliases.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/02/milan-court-convicts-3-americans-in-cia-kidnapping-87090.html
Thirty-One Killed as Militants Attack Pakistan Checkpoint
Source: Reuters
Thirty-one killed as militants attack Pakistan checkpoint
at Feb 2, 2013 1:18am EST
By Saud Mehsud
DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (Reuters) - Militants attacked an isolated army checkpoint in Pakistan's restive northwest on Saturday, with at least 31 people killed in the initial assault, subsequent crossfire and a rocket attack on a house, officials said.
The Pakistan Taliban claimed responsibility, saying the attack was in response to a U.S. drone strike in neighboring North Waziristan last month in which two commanders were killed.
The Pakistani military and pro-government militias have since 2009 regained territory from the Pakistan Taliban, who once controlled land a few hours' drive from the capital of Islamabad.
- snip -
Security sources said at least 12 militants and nine officials and civilians were killed in the clash. Two bodies had suicide bomb belts on them, an official said.
Read more: http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE91103G20130202?irpc=932
Explosion in Front of U.S. Embassy in Ankara (Two Killed)
Source: Reuters
@BreakingNews: Update: Suicide bomber detonates bomb at US Embassy in Turkish capital; 2 killed, police say - @AP
Fri Feb 1, 2013 6:44am EST
ANKARA (Reuters) - An explosion in front of the U.S. embassy in the Turkish capital Ankara on Friday wounded several people, Turkish media reported.
A Reuters witness reported a loud explosion in the area and the Dogan news agency said ambulances and fire engines went the to the site.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE9100I620130201
Former New York Mayor Ed Koch Dead at 88
Source: CBS News
Former New York Mayor Ed Koch dead at 88
February 01, 2013
NEW YORK Former New York Mayor Ed Koch, the combative politician who rescued the city from near-financial ruin during three City Hall terms, has died at age 88.
Spokesman George Arzt says Koch died Friday morning of congestive heart failure.
In City Hall, Koch embodied New York for the rest of the world. He won a national reputation with his feisty style and his trademark question, "How'm I doing?"
During his years as mayor, from 1978 to 1989, his tight fiscal policies pulled the city out of severe financial difficulties. But homelessness and racial tensions soared and critics charged that
Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57567063/former-new-york-mayor-ed-koch-dead-at-88
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