The United States Government can declare Matial Law at anytime with the National Defense Authorization Act or NDAA. Is This Right? NDAA Martial Law American Assassinations Journalism Obama's War Machine ∞ Jeremy Scahill. ALAN CARUBA: AMERICANS AT RISK FROM ANTI-TERRORISM LAW | RUTHFULLY YOURS. Posted By Ruth King on December 13th, 2012 While Americans were going about their lives Wednesday evening, the U.S. House of Representatives voted for the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), said to provide the government with great means to fight terrorism. One of its provisions would permit government law enforcement authorities to detain terror suspects without trial and thus eviscerate the Fourth and Fifth Amendments to the Constitution that protect citizens “against unreasonable searches and seizures” and to ensure that “No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on presentment or indictment of a grand jury…” with some exceptions.
Kenneth Roth of Human Rights Watch said, “By signing this defense spending bill, President Obama will go down in history as the president who enshrined indefinite detention without trial in U.S. law.” National Security Network | Key Issues in the Senate’s National Defense Authorization Act. November 28, 2012 Today, the Senate is considering the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) after many delays. Yet during a time when the future of America’s national defense is being debated the bill includes a number of troubling provisions which warrant greater attention. Chief among the troubling issues are massive funds for maintaining an enormous Cold War-era nuclear stockpile, continued investments in national missile defense which experts say does not work, continuing transfer restrictions on detainees at the Guantanamo prison facility, which obstruct closing that facility, and unreasonable road blocks to a military biofuels program.
In addition, lawmakers have reverted to the habit of using the NDAA for pet projects through amendments. Use of defense spending bill as bucket for pet projects. A $903 million Ground-Based Missile Defense system that doesn’t work. Continuing road blocks to close Guantanamo Prison. What We’re Reading Commentary of the Day. Diabetic teen Tasered after traffic accident (video) How Halo 4 Could Impact the Presidential Election. When Microsoft decided to pick November 6, 2012 as the release date for Halo 4, did they take into account that the date is actually pretty damned important to the future direction of the country for the next four years?
Probably not - in fact the thought probably never crossed their minds - but by choosing that date have they given gamers in the 18 - 34 age group an excuse to be more apathetic about voting than usual? The latest episode of The Escapist's The Big Picture with Movie Bob - to your left - explores the possibilities and makes some interesting points about how huge entertainment releases such as Halo 4 can have unintended consequences on other things going on in the world. Some might argue that young voters will likely skip their civic duties in November anyway and that they are a demographic that most politicians would politely say are "unreliable. " Thanks to Andrew Eisen for pointing this out. NDAA Presentation | P.A.N.D.A. People Against The NDAA. Pocket Guide Advises US Troops to "Avoid Arrogance," "Respect Islam" in Order to Prevent "Green on Blue" Attacks.
US military personnel in Afghanistan have been instructed to "respect Islam, Koran or a mosque" and "Afghan women, elders and children" in order to prevent so-called "green on blue" attacks, where Afghan security forces turn their weapons on the coalition soldiers who have trained them, according to an unclassified Army pocket reference guide obtained by Truthout.
The reference guide, "Inside the Wire Threats - Afghanistan Green on Blue," referred to as a "smartcard," was distributed to US military personnel in early February, right around the time "green on blue" attacks started to increase, along with a detailed companion "handbook" under the same name, which Truthout is seeking from US Army Training and Doctrine Command under a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.
The handbook, which the "smartcard" is based upon, was the subject of a previous FOIA request filed in April by conservative author Bob McCarty. As of last week, 2,000 US troops have been killed in Afghanistan. NDAA on trial: Obama Administration fights ban on indefinite detention of Americans. America’s inevitable dictatorship. Agenda Truth - Chris Hedges: Revolt Is Our Only Option. Details Created on Tuesday, 04 September 2012 12:53 Written by Joe Wolverton II New American Sept 4, 2012 Chris Hedges worries that outright revolt may soon be the only option available to those fighting against the despotism of the Establishment. This sentiment seems consistent with the following statement of Thomas Jefferson in theDeclaration of Independence: But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
Hedges, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, knows something of the abuses and usurpations by those in power. Hedges has sued the Obama administration fearing that as a result of his work in the Middle East, the specter of indefinite detention loomed within the shadows of vagueness cast by the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). A d v e r t i s e m e n t.
"Phantoms of Lost Liberty" Still Haunting Post-9/11 America. "He who is not with me is against me; he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad. " Jesus "Either you are with us or you are with the terrorists. " George W. Bush In announcing the global war on terrorism in his speech to a joint session of Congress on September 20, 2001, President George W. Bush put the world on notice: "Every nation in every region now has a decision to make: Either you are with us or you are with the terrorists. " America's role as the Superstate with the mission of making the world safe from terrorism would change our domestic politics as well. On September 30, 2001, Attorney General John Ashcroft announced: "We've arrested and detained almost 500 people since the September 11 terrorist attacks.... "Our efforts have been carefully crafted to avoid infringing on constitutional rights while saving American lives," the attorney general said just a moment before expressing concern for the privacy of the detainees.
The message was clear enough. Political Dissent: A part of 'democracy' on display in Charlotte. By Ashahed M. Muhammad -Asst. Editor- | Last updated: Sep 13, 2012 - 3:43:32 PM What's your opinion on this article? Printer Friendly Page CHARLOTTE, N.C. (FinalCall.com) - The largest city in the state nicknamed the “Queen City,” became the center of America’s political universe as the Democratic National Convention was held here Sept. 4-6. As was to be expected, an overwhelming number of those traveling to the city for the DNC were vocal and enthusiastic supporters of Barack Obama’s presidency, however, many came to express anti-war, anti-capitalist, and pro-environment sentiments they believe are being ignored by both parties. Inside the Time Warner Arena Sept. 5, Rep.
Outside, CODEPINK continued their activism. CODEPINK co-director Medea Benjamin, who also traveled to Tampa, Florida to protest the Republican National Convention, told The Final Call several things motivated her and members of the organization to come to Charlotte to voice their dissent. Ms. Ms. “I like him. Obama issues executive order that would allow confiscation of private property and virtually unlimited control of resources and the means of production. March 18, 2012 Within the last three months the Federal government has moved to allow the confiscation of virtually all private property in the United States, the nationalization of entire industries and the indefinite detention of American citizens. All it would take for such martial law to be imposed is for the determination to be made/claimed that the national security requires it.
At the March 15, 2012 Beaufort Patriot TEA Party meeting, National Director of the Patriot's Coalition, Jeff Lewis, explained the intricacies of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Several section of that act provide for "indefinite detention" and the application of the Laws of War, as opposed to the state and national constitutions to enemy combatants. As Mr. Section 1031 of the NDAA defines who can be detained by the military without benefit of a trail or other rights guaranteed by the Constitution.
There is wording in the NDAA that seems to suggest that these provisions do not apply to U. Terrifying Peace: Living Within a Permanent War Economy. (Image: Jared Rodriguez / Truthout)The opening years of the 21st century have been characterized by new levels of security and safety fears that have plunged the world into a post-millennium state of in-security. These insecurities have been heightened by the deliberate breakdown of old and familiar dualities, such as friend vs. foe, so that the "enemy" has now been shifted from someplace outside of society to dwell as the potential enemy within society. What this means is that all civilians can effectively be categorized as "potential terrorists. " Over recent years, the US government especially has been using "function-creep" to bring into law policies which ever increasingly encroach upon the basic freedoms of civilians.
What is occurring is a seeping militarization of the social sphere. This socio-militarization now claims a legal right - and "duty" - to arrest and detain any civilian on the pretense of suspicion only. A Permanent War Economy "I don't believe you! ' "Very well, then. Obama & Panetta v The US Constitution. Marti Oakley © Copyright 2012 All Rights Reserved **See Reservations below. Barack Obama, Chief Executive of the corporation operating as “The United States”, has joined forces with Leon Panetta, head of the Department of Defense in attempting to have the May 15th, 2012 ruling of Judge Katherine B Forest overturned. Judge Forest issued a 69 page ruling regarding the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) . This was the legislative attack on several constitutional rights and protections passed by Democrats and Republicans alike in 2011. On December 31, 2011, President Barack Obama signed the 2012 act into law.
The May 15 ruling temporarily blocks the NDAA, and section 1021 in particular. In June the Obama Administration contacted Judge Forest and demanded that she reverse her ruling of May 15. It appears obvious to me that those engaged in hostilities against the US reside inside the District of Criminals. The government attorneys presented no case. The case is Hedges v. Like this: NDAA lawsuit back in court. President Obama courageously signed the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act on New Years' Eve, when most adults in the United States were probably in some state of inebriation. That particular version of the routine military funding bill allows the government to indefinitely detain people accused of being militants in the broadly defined war on terror against al Qaeda and "associated forces.
" The President reportedly signed the bill despite "serious reservations. " Recent executive action suggests that the indefinite detention provision wasn't among those that gave the President pause. Former New York Times war correspondent Chris Hedges is among a number of academics, journalists and activists suing the government, arguing that the indefinite detention provision is unconstitutional because it chills First Amendment expression. He wrote: The law was, after all, not about foreign terrorism. Congress doesn't seem bothered by this troublesome provision. U.S. Army weapon shoots lightning bolts down laser beams. A lightning bolt travels horizontally down a plasma channel from the LIPC before deviating when it gets close to the target which offers a lower-resistance path to the ground (Photo: U.S. Army) Thought that title might get your attention, but shooting lightning bolts down laser beams is just what a device being developed at the Picatinny Arsenal military research facility in New Jersey is designed to do.
Known as a Laser-Induced Plasma Channel, or LIPC, the device would fry targets that conduct electricity better that the air or ground that surrounds them by steering lightning bolts down a plasma pathway created by laser beams. The pathway takes the form of an electrically conductive plasma channel that is formed when a laser beam of enough intensity (a 50 billion watt pulse lasting two-trillionths of a second will do) forms an electro-magnetic field strong enough to ionize the surrounding air to form plasma. Work on the device is continuing. Source: U.S. About the Author. Court ruling revives debate over stun guns. SALT LAKE CITY — The U.S. Supreme Court has decided not to hear a case of excessive force filed by a pregnant Seattle woman after police used a stun gun on her.
A local stun gun trainer agrees with the court's move. Dennis Kennedy with the Counterterrorism Institute of America in Salt Lake City has been stun gunned several times and says it's safer and more nonlethal than even batons or pepper spray. "In most cases, a Taser is going to be a better alternative than slamming suspects to the ground, applying some kind of physical lock or restraint, chokehold, pepper spray or baton," he said. "The damage that would be caused from being struck with (a wooden baton) numerous times, compared against a Taser, the injuries are going to be far less to both the officer and the suspect. " Kennedy says when used correctly, a stun gun will debilitate for only five seconds so police can make an arrest.
Kennedy adds that stun guns can be used excessively, but it's not the device's fault. Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Taser Case. The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear a case involving police use of Tasers. In the case, a lower court ruled that police officers in two separate incidents engaged in unreasonable force when discharging their Tasers. However, because case law was not established at the time of the incidents, the officers were not necessarily aware of this fact. Therefore, they were protected from liability.
In refusing to hear an appeal of the case, the Court allowed the lower court’s decision to stand, allowing various appellate courts to issue conflicting rulings on the issue. The cases in question, Brooks v. In Brooks, two Seattle police officers pulled Malaika Brooks over for speeding as she drove her son to elementary school in 2004. Brooks then told the officers that she was pregnant and needed to use the restroom. Brooks’s gave birth to a healthy girl two months later. Brooks sued the officers for assault and battery and a Fourth Amendment violation of unreasonable force.