“A small army” of police have surrounded the South Trenton home, according to state news website nj.com. Authorities familiar with the situation told nj.com that the man, who has barricaded the house, is suspected of killing his wife and one of their children.Police were called to the home at about 3:30 pm for a “well-being check,” local media report. Once inside the home, police found the partially decomposed body of the man’s wife.The man is then reported to have pulled out a gun, signaling to police that he was taking his children hostage in the situation.Neighbors told local media that the couple, who moved to the block two months ago, has four children. While two or three of the children are thought to be alive in the house, one was reportedly killed.Negotiators from the city and the state are trying to get the man out of his house without a fight, Mercer County First Assistant Prosecutor Angelo Onofri told nj.com.DETAILS TO FOLLOW … Read More
Pentagon preps new anti-satellite weapons program
Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter announced plans to ratchet up US space capabilities in light of the changing realities of the militarization of space.”We have established, really, for the first time, an integrated effort to bring together our space programs, all of them, with those folks who understand best the anti-satellite threat, and also how we can operate, if we have to, without spacecraft,” Carter told the National Press Club on Tuesday, according to Reuters. The initiative seeks to secure US Military and intelligence satellite systems against potential attacks, and to ensure the military can operate without them if necessary. Carter added that the 2014 budget had already accounted for the initiative, as well as “investments in our own capability to deny the use of space against our forces in a conflict.” He did not provide further details on the plan. Satellites are an invaluable lynchpin in US Military operations, providing a vast array of functions such as communications, surveillance, navigation and warnings of potential hostile missile launches. The initiative follows an 83-page Department of Defense report released Monday highlighting China’s efforts to modernize its military. David Helvey, deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia, noted that Beijing is ramping up both its space and cyberspace capabilities, trends which are likely to continue under the country’s new leadership helmed by President Xi Jinping. Helvey said that in 2012, China had conducted 18 space launches and expanded its space-based intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, navigation, meteorological and communication satellite programs.“At the same time, China continues to invest in a multidimensional program to deny others access to and use of space,” the American Forces Press Service quoted him as saying. The report referenced a Chinese military analysis that stressed the value of “destroying or capturing satellite and other sensors” in the event of armed conflict. US concerns over China’s space capabilities have remained high since a 2007 Chinese anti-satellite test, which saw a missile launch destroy a Chinese weather satellite in orbit at more than 537 miles above the Earth. Washington expressed concerns at the time, saying the “testing of such weapons is inconsistent with the spirit of cooperation that both countries aspire to in the civil space area.” China responded by insisting it advocates the peaceful use of space and not its militarization, and that Beijing is opposed to “any form of arms race.” … Read More
Indefinite detentions at Guantanamo must stop – ex-US ambassador to Mexico
Guantanamo, America’s infamous prison camp at the US naval base in Cuba, has been under new media scrutiny since February as the hunger strike within the detention facility has been spreading. While the officials have admitted that one hundred of the 166 detainees have joined the action, their lawyers talk of at least 130 of those being involved. What started as a protest against heavy-handed searches, has grown into an action against indefinite detentions. Over half of detainees have been cleared for release but cannot leave due to various administrative obstacles and fear to die in the prison. The weakened state of the inmates has already led to the authorities force-feeding them through nasal tubes – a practice which was condemned by the UN’s human rights office as a form of torture. The co-chair of the Task Force constitution project, former member of the Congress and ambassador to Mexico, James Jones, sat with RT to discuss the Guantanamo issue. He believes indefinite detentions should be stopped and that in the prison the US acts against own declared principles of justice. James R. Jones Born in 1939, grew up in Muskogee, Oklahoma Received his B.A. degree from the University of Oklahoma in 1961 Graduated with a law degree (LLB) in 1964 Served briefly in the Army Counterintelligence Corps in 1964-1965 Began his practice of law in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1964 Served as the legislative assistant for Congressman Ed Edmondson in 1961-1964 Member of Congress (D-OK) in 1973-1987 Ambassador to Mexico in 1993-1997 Chairman of the World Affairs Councils of America in 2003 Started the Constitution Project’s Guantanamo Task Force in December 2010 RT: President Obama at the very beginning of his presidency signed an executive order to stop torture. But human rights organizations say indefinite detention itself is torture. Is it fair to say that the Obama administration is engaged in torture now?James Jones: I don’t think so. I think he made a lot of good moves when he came in the office. Our conclusion is doing things by executive order can be changed by the next president very easily. And so the kinds of protections, human rights protections that we are talking about should be done by the congress and should be part of the statutory – part of the laws of the United States – not just the executive order. Yes, it’s much better than it was. We still have some concerns about policy on the drones, for example, but the kinds of abuses that we found over the years since 9/11 do not seem to be practiced these days.RT: What about indefinite detentions?JJ: That’s the one our Task Force was unanimous. We do not believe that if fits into the laws and ethics and the values of America to have indefinite detention and to not allow a court of law and the adjudication of charges against a person to go through orderly passes. More than half of those detainees at Guantanamo currently have already been cleared by the US government. That means all the intelligence, the military, the law enforcement, and all the agencies involved have said there is no reason to hold these people. And they are still being indefinitely detained at Guantanamo. We feel very strongly, that they are to be released and that should be done immediately. We are calling the president to tell his secretary of defense to issue that order to release them.RT: Defense lawyers argue that even with the transfer restrictions in place the law even now allows for the administration to use wavers to release some of these men and yet those wavers are not being used. Why?JJ: Probably politics comes into that. Everything that the loyal opposition wants to criticize the administration for being soft on terrorism and things like that, so, I think all those things go into the decision, I don’t know personally…RT: What about being soft on the rule of law?JJ: No, I agree with that. That’s our position that we should meticulously follow the rule of law, that’s what we preach all over the world, we preach our values, and we actually prosecuted similar cases against other countries, which have not followed what we say we are to do. We are not following and practicing what we are preaching. And I think that should be stopped. What I am saying is – this is a highly political thing. And the only reason I can figure out why the administration is not releasing those, for which they have no case whatsoever, is politics.RT: Politics in what sense? Can you explain it?JJ: Sometimes politics doesn’t make any sense. It’s the fear, that if you release some of these prisoners that have been accused of being terrorists in the past, and they do something else, or you find them going into terrorist organizations, you’ll pay a heavy political price for that. I think it has to be the only reason why they are not released.RT: So, many of these men have fallen victim not just to their wrongful capture, but now to US politician assumptions of what they may or may not do. Do you think the US is acting on fears and assumptions rather than what’s lawful or not?JJ: I don’t want to comment on what I believe the administration is recently doing, for what reason. But what we are trying to do in our task force, is to find those things we could either via interviews or public information ascertain is accurate. And what we found and what we concluded is that indefinite detention for these people – more than for half of those at Guantanamo should not continue.RT: Do you think it’s a form of torture – indefinite detention itself?JJ: I don’t know if there is a legal definition of that, but I think it’s been expressed by many ethicists, that to have indefinite detention with no prospects for being released is a form of torture and does lead to things like hunger strikes and things like that.RT: Currently to defense lawyers it seems like a dead end. What will change the status quo in your opinion?JJ: I think there are a couple of things. Number one – there are still legal processes that they can go through, and I think some of the legal defenses are being prepared at present time. The other – is just politics itself. The appeal to the better instincts of the United States, the appeal to our sense of values, to our sense of ethics.RT: Who has to appeal?JJ: I think you have to develop constituency for this. One of the reasons we put out this report and have disseminated it quite widely is for those organizations or people or leaders or politicians or public officials, who believe as we do, that we have a value system that has to be appalled, that they will get active in this and they will start creating a sense of “we have to do what’s right”. And that leads to political decisions that are going the right direction. Up until this point it’s been sort of covered up. We haven’t talked about it. All we talked about is the terrorism itself. Those, who’ve been detained, we assume – and this is again against our principles and against our legal history. We are presuming that they are guilty of something, even though we can’t prove it. And that’s just the absurd of what our rule of law says, that you are presumed innocent until proven guilty.RT: This hunger strike do you think it will make a difference? JJ: It might. I obviously wished they didn’t have a hunger strike. It’s not only bad and has permanent damage to those who are participating in it. It damages the United States around the world and our reputation, but I don’t know if it’s going to make a difference or not.RT: What if someone dies there?JJ: I think it’s terrible, particularly for someone who has been pre-cleared by all of our government agencies and should have been released. I think that’s terrible black eye for the United States. The Constitution Project is a non-profit think tank in the US that builds bipartisan consensus on significant constitutional and legal questions. The Constitution Project’s work is divided between two programs: the Rule of Law Program and the Criminal Justice Program. Each program houses bipartisan committees focused on specific constitutional issues. The Constitution Project has a Guantanamo Task Force committee that was started at the end of 2010. James R. Jones is one of its eleven co-chairs. The Task Force project examines the federal government’s policies and actions related to the capture, detention and prosecution of suspected terrorists in US custody. It also seeks to provide the American people with information about indefinite detentions at Guantanamo of suspects captured by the U.S. government, as well as their past and current treatment there. RT: The New York Times has recently published the plea of a Yemeni national, who’s been imprisoned at Guantanamo without chargers of any kind for more than eleven years. And here’s what he writes: “No one seriously thinks I am a threat, but still I am here. Years ago the military said I was a guard for Osama Bin Laden, but that was nonsense, like something out of American movies I used to watch. They don’t even seem to believe it anymore, but they don’t seem to care how long I sit here either. The only reason I am still here is that President Obama refuses to send any detainees to Yemen. This makes no sense, I am a human being, not a passport. And I deserve to be treated like one.” The New York Times, of course, deserves credit for publishing this letter of despair of this man. But it seems unless it’s on TV, unless it’s part of the national discussion, national conversation, few will actually know and care about that. Why is it not a part of the national conversation?JJ: Nobody is taking it on. That happened in the civil rights legislation. I was in the Johnson Whitehouse and it took many years before we were able to get a constituency says we have done wrong by African-American follow Americans. And we need to change that.RT: But they were here. They were in the face. But those Guantanamo detainees are there and nobody seems to care about them.JJ: I understand that. But you take undocumented immigrants. They were here, but nobody seemed to care about them until just recently – we are going to get an immigration bill. I think this going to be fair to the immigrants, who are here – both legally and illegally.RT: They need to win votes. And those Guantanamo detainees are foreign nationals, who will not deliver political victories or any political scores. Nobody seems to be interested in that.JJ: Well, what I am saying is until you highlight and publicize but spotlight the kinds of treatment they are getting, you are not going to have anything done. That happened in every movement in the US history. There have been injustices, then you first of all have to acknowledge the injustice, you then have to start developing a dialogue of the people of the US, who then demand political action to be taken to correct those injustices. I think that’s what’s going to happen here. But first of all you have to unveil it, you have to show what we have done was wrong.RT: As far as renditions, a number of countries like Canada, apologized, offered compensations to former detainees, faced lawsuits, had to settle for millions of dollars for their secret services involvement in the renditions of those detainees. The UK is the example, why wouldn’t the US do that?JJ: As I understand, we suspended some of the international treaties that President Reagan had actually proposed 25 years ago, the UN convention against torture and inhuman treatment, etc. In those particular legal documents you do have means of redressing the wrongs that were made. If we restore our adherence to those particular laws and treaties, there will be an ability to have injustices redressed.RT: Something that I found very interesting. After all these rendition cases the UK Court of Appeals ruled that the government could not sort state secrets or use state secret evidence in its defense stating that “allegations of wrongdoing had to be heard in public”. But that’s the UK. And I want to ask you about the US. What kind of a message does it send when you pull out the state secrets card to shut down or all torture/abuse related lawsuits, but you sent to jail the person, who blew the whistle on torture?JJ: We addressed that in a report to a certain degree, because, for example, Lithuania and Poland both were initiating investigations as to the black sites that were in those two countries. And whether there was torture and mistreatment of prisoners there, detainees there, and the US has not cooperated with that under the so-called state secrets umbrella. And we’ve suggested that we should cooperate with the countries there. And that’s one of the recommendations in our report.RT: Not to use the state secrets card?JJ: Yes and there are ways to cooperate and to give information harming either personnel under the state secrets doctrine, or our particular treaty relationships with other countries. But we are not cooperating at all, as I understand it. … Read More
High school student faces 20 years in prison for Facebook messages
Authorities have set bond at one million dollars for Cameron B. D’Ambrosio of Methuen, MA following a Thursday afternoon arraignment one day after he was apprehended at his home around 30 miles north of Boston.Police say D’Ambrosio, a senior at Methuen High School Student, authored eye-catching messages this week with his personal social networking account.In a joint statement released by the offices of the superintendent of schools and the Methuen Police Department Wednesday, authorities say an anonymous student alerted the school that afternoon of a Facebook message from D’Ambrosio that contained “disturbing verbiage.” Once the assistant principal was made aware of the issue the school quickly reached out to law enforcement, who in turn apprehended D’Ambrosio at his home at around 1:30 p.m. He was not in class at the time officials were made aware of the alleged threats and, according to Methuen Police Chief Joe Solomon, only around 30 minutes passed between when time the school made contact with law enforcement and when they had the suspect in custody.“He posted a threat in the form of rap where he mentioned the White House, the Boston Marathon bombing and said, ‘everybody you will see what I am going to do, kill people,” Methuen Police Chief Joe Solomon told the Valley Patriot on Wednesday. “[H]e did threaten to kill a bunch of people and specifically mentioned the Boston Marathon and the White House. The threat was disturbing enough for us to act and I think our officers did the right thing.” A YouTube account has since surfaced of D’Ambrosio showcasing his amateur rapping.Solomon added that the student “did not make a specific threat against the school or any particular individuals,” but that the content of his posts were alarming enough to warrant a police response.“I’m not in reality, So when u see me (expletive) go insane and make the news, the paper, and the (expletive) federal house of horror known as the white house, Don’t (expletive) cry or be worried because all YOU people (expletive) caused this (expletive),” reads a redacted version of one post presented to Weymouth and made available to the Herald.“(Expletive) a boston bominb wait till u see the (expletive) I do, I’ma be famous rapping, and beat every murder charge that comes across me!” the post continued.Superintendent of Schools Judy Scannell told the local Valley Patriot that the school is grateful that one of the students knew to speak up about the messages. “Once again we have to commend the Methuen High School Student who came forward, we always say, if you see something, say something, and that’s what this student did,” Scannell said. “We also want to commend the school safety officers and the administration for bringing this to our attention immediately. Threats of this kind of violence is unacceptable and will not be tolerated, not in Methuen they won’t.”“Methuen Public Schools as well as the Methuen Police Department has zero tolerance for this behavior. We believe that all students deserve to learn in a welcoming, non-threatening environment free from intimidation and physical threats,” continued the joint statement issued by Scannell and Solomon on Wednesday.Court records and police reports obtained by the Boston Herald show that police seized an Xbox 360 gaming console and computer equipment from D’Ambrosio’s home. The Associated Press reports that “Detectives are also looking deeper at his Facebook page,” and the Valley Patriot called into question other potential items of interest discovered on his account:“He also had a disturbing satanic photo posted as well as a photo of himself on a “Wanted Poster” that reads “Wanted Dead or Alive” [sic] a quick perusal of his Facebook page shows D’Ambrosio’s unusual interest in gangs, violence and a criminal lifestyle,” wrote the paper.D’Ambrosio pleaded not guilty during his Thursday morning arraignment faces up to 20 years if convicted on one count of making a bomb threat. … Read More
Blacks vote more actively than whites for the first time
The rate of minorities who participated in the November election was historic and largely affected the outcome of the vote, according to a new analysis conducted for the Associated Press.Preliminary data shows that African Americans represent 13 percent of all votes cast in 2012, even though they only make up 12 percent of the total population. President Barack Obama was reelected by a margin of 5 million, but would have narrowly lost to Romney without the high turnout of black voters.The overall voter turnout was 58 percent, which is down from the 62 percent that cast their ballots in 2008 and the 60 percent that did so in 2004. And while the overall turnout decreased, black and minority voter turnout rates increased.”The 2012 turnout is a milestone for blacks and a huge potential turning point,” Andra Gillespie, a political science professor at Emory University, told AP. “What it suggests is that there is an ‘Obama effect’ where people were motivated to support Barack Obama. But it also means that black turnout may not always be higher, if future races aren’t as salient.”In the 2012 election, 93 percent of African Americans voted for Obama, in large part because of Romney’s inability to attract minority support. Even though Obama ran for re-election while unemployment remained high and opponents criticized him for his failure to get things done, African Americans demonstrated a strong desire to re-elect the first black president. During the election, 22 percent of black voters waited 30 minutes or more to cast their ballots, compared to just 9 percent of white voters, according to a Hart Research poll.”I got the feeling Mitt Romney couldn’t care less about me and my fellow African Americans,” said 27-year-old Lauren Howie, an administrative assistant at Case Western Reserve University’s medical school.”A white Mormon swimming in money with offshore accounts buying up companies and laying off their employees just doesn’t quite fit my idea of a president,” she said. “Bottom line, Romney was not someone I was willing to trust with my future.”"It remains to be seen how successful Democrats are if you don’t have Barack Obama at the top of the ticket,” he said.The black turnout was high even despite voter ID laws that made it more difficult to prove voting eligibility and primarily affected minorities. In late 2012, courts blocked or delayed the implementation of some of these laws, and African Americans still turned up at the polls in historic numbers.Demographers expect that the minority vote will become increasingly important with every passing election, and that candidates who don’t appeal to African Americans or Hispanics will not be able to make it into the White House. ”The 2008 election was the first year when the minority vote was important to electing a U.S. president. By 2024, their vote will be essential to victory,” William H. Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution, told AP. “Democrats will be looking at a landslide going into 2028 if the new Hispanic voters continue to favor Democrats.”For the first time since the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965, the African American voter turnout was so significant that future elections will largely depend on addressing their concerns. … Read More
Scary new H7N9 bird flu strain leaps from China to Taiwan; human transmission already achieved?
The H7N9 bird flu strain is on the rise, having already killed 22 people in China while infecting 108. It has now spread outside of China, infecting a Taiwan national who brought the infection back to Taiwan and now rests in critical condition in a Taiwan hospital. … Read More
EPA rebukes State Department’s approval of Keystone XL pipeline
On Monday, EPA Assistant Administrator for Enforcement and Compliance Cynthia Giles wrote the US Department of State to say that that agency’s March 2013 environmental impact report was “insufficient.”If approved, supporters of the project say the creation of a 1,700-mile pipeline stretching from Alberta, Canada to the Gulf of Mexico could create thousands of jobs and help alleviate concerns that America might become too oil-dependent on other nations. Environmentalists, however — and now the EPA — fear that the benefits of the Keystone XL pipeline might not outweigh the potentially catastrophic consequences that come with not just the construction of the project but the constant movement of toxic tar sands under the surface of the earth.Oil giant TransCanada has been asking the White House to sign off on the project since 2008, and the debate has become a topic of contention among the Obama administration. Since the pipeline would cross international borders, the final go-ahead will likely come from the Department of State, which is tasked with deciding if a presidential permit should be issued to TransCanada. This week’s sharply worded critique of that agency’s latest assessment report suggests it won’t be a smooth process, though.The EPA says that the State Department needs to go back and do some more research before it approves the pipeline, arguing over the course of several pages with the draft environmental impact assessment that agency released back in February.When the State Department weighed in earlier this year, it largely found that approving the Keystone project would have little impact on climate change. The EPA says such isn’t the case, though, and insists the State Department do a more thorough analysis of what a major oil spill or other disaster spawned by the $7 billion project could do to the environment.Should the Keystone XL pipeline be approved and an oil spill does occur, the Washington Post reports that upwards of 830,000 barrels of diluted bitumen crude could be jeopardized, and with it any part of the earth it touches.In opposing the State Department’s review, Giles writes on behalf of EPA that the agency has provided “insufficient information,” and should go back and address a number of issues, including an analysis of oil spill risks, alternative pipeline routes and the possible dangers of greenhouse gas emissions associated with the project.The Natural Resources Defense Council is one of the many groups opposed to the project, and celebrated the EPA memo as a momentary victory in their cause to keep the pipeline from being built..“The EPA has got it exactly right — the State Department’s draft environmental review of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline is inadequate,” NRD attorney Anthony Swift tells Washington Times. “The EPA determined that the Keystone XL would have significant negative environmental impacts.”That sentiment was echoed by National Wildlife Federation senior counsel Jim Murphy, who tells the Los Angeles Times that the president “has more than enough information to determine the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline is not in America’s national interest and he should reject it.”"The Environmental Protection Agency’s letter shows that despite multiple tries, the State Department is incapable of doing a proper analysis of the climate, wildlife, clean water, safety and other impacts of this disastrous and unneeded project,” says Murphy.State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell tells the Washington Post that his agency “has always anticipated that in preparing a [final environmental review] it would conduct additional analysis and incorporate public comments received on the” review that was published earlier this year. … Read More
