News Updates from CLG
18 June 2015
http://www.legitgov.org/
All links are here:http://www.legitgov.org/#breaking_news
Previous edition: CIA torture appears to have broken spy agency rule on human experimentation
Breaking: Nine dead in shooting at black church in Charleston, South Carolina - police | 18 June 2015 | Nine people have died in a shooting at a historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina, police said early Thursday morning. "I do believe this was a hate crime," Police Chief Gregory Mullen said. Eight people died on the scene at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church and one person was pronounced dead at a hospital, Mullen said. Emanuel is the oldest AME church in the South and is led by South Carolina State Sen. Clementa Pinckney, a Democrat.
Bomb threat after mass shooting at historic black church in South Carolina: White gunman shoots at least eight before going on the run --One man has been taken into custody, it is unclear whether he is the gunman; police are still searching for the suspect | 17 June 2015 | A bomb threat was called in Wednesday night to the scene of a mass shooting at an historic African-American church in Charleston, South Carolina. Police responded to the shooting around 9pm at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church in the city's downtown and while there is no information about the victims, eight nine people were reportedly shot. Just hours later, as a heavy police presence remained at the area, a bomb threat was called in at the scene, NBC 12 reports. A huge manhunt ensued with officers wearing bullet-proof vests and carrying guns.
Jeb Bush cancels events in Charleston due to church shooting | 18 June 2015 | Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush has canceled campaign events scheduled for Thursday in Charleston, S.C., due to a deadly church shooting there. Aides said after midnight that the former Florida governor would postpone events scheduled for Thursday morning "due to the tragic events unfolding in South Carolina tonight." Bush was scheduled to detail some of his ideas about revamping the U.S. military and American foreign policy during a veterans town hall meeting at the Charleston Maritime Center.
NATO says implementing 'biggest' defence boost since Cold War --Big NATO drill is designed to test NATO's Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF), established in the wake of the alliance's September 2014 summit in Wales | 18 June 2015 | NATO head Jens Stoltenberg said Wednesday the alliance was implementing its biggest defence [sic] reinforcement since the Cold War, as the region grapples with terrorism and an 'increasingly assertive' Russia. He spoke in Zagan in western Poland while attending the first full exercise of NATO's new rapid reaction force, created to deter Russia from any action against nervous east European allies that were once ruled from governed by Moscow. Around 2,100 soldiers from Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland and the United States have been taking part in the NATO exercise since last week.
EU to extend Russia sanctions by six months | 18 June 2015 | EU member states have agreed to extend damaging economic sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine crisis by another six months to the end of January 2016. The agreement by ambassadors from the 28 European Union nations meeting in Brussels will be formalised by foreign ministers from the bloc when they meet next week, officials said on Wednesday. 'EU foreign ministers will finalise the decision in Luxembourg on Monday,' Poland's permanent representative to the EU said on Twitter, while several sources also confirmed the agreement.
Moscow will respond to NATO approaching Russian borders 'accordingly' - Putin | 16 June 2015 | If NATO threatens Russia's territories Moscow will respond to the threat accordingly, said President Vladimir Putin. This comes after he announced Russia's strategic forces will be getting over 40 new intercontinental ballistic missiles in 2015. "If someone threatens our territories, it means that we will have to aim our armed forces accordingly at the territories from where the threat is coming. How else could it be? It is NATO that approaching our borders, it's not like we are moving anywhere," Putin said speaking at a joint media conference with Finland's President Sauli Niinisto in Moscow on Tuesday.
Senate passes torture ban despite Republican opposition | 16 June 2015 | Twenty-one Republican senators rejected a ban on the use of cruel and degrading treatment of prisoners on Tuesday, voting against an ultimately successful measure to permanently prevent a repeat of the CIA's once secret and now widely-discredited torture program. The bipartisan amendment reaffirms President Barack Obama's prohibition of interrogation techniques such as waterboarding and sleep deprivation, which were developed by the CIA under the administration of his predecessor, George W Bush. The measure passed in the Senate, 78-21.
Justices say it's enough to cite terrorism in declining visa applicant | 15 June 2015 | The Supreme Court [5-4 vote] ruled Monday that the federal government does not owe a naturalized citizen a detailed explanation when it refuses to give her foreign husband an immigration visa. A majority of the court [the usual dirt-bags] said it is enough for the government to declare the immigrant has been denied entry because of terrorism concerns and not list specific allegations that the spouse or applicant can then contest. The five most-consistent conservatives said Fauzia Din cannot prevail in her suit, although they disagreed on the reason. The four liberals said Din's fundamental right to marry required the government to give her more of an explanation for why her Afghan husband cannot join her in the United States.
Man allegedly helped plan Texas cartoon contest shooting, wanted to attack Super Bowl | 17 June 2015 | Authorities said Tuesday that a Phoenix man who helped orchestrate a shootout at last month's "Draw Muhammad" event in Texas also had aspirations to join ISIS [I-CIA-SIS] and attack the Super Bowl. Abdul Malik Abdul Kareem, 43, was arrested last week on charges related to the May 3 attack in Garland, Texas that led to the deaths of two roommates from Phoenix. An indictment filed in federal court in Phoenix says Kareem hosted the gunmen in his home beginning in January and provided the guns they used when they attacked security guards outside the event.
After-School Supervisor Fired for Explaining Sandy Hook Shooting to Kids During Lockdown Drill | 15 June 2015 | A beloved supervisor of a Long Island after-school program is out of a job after explaining the Sandy Hook school shooting to children during a lockdown drill. Kearns, a former NYPD officer, ran an after-school program for SCOPE Education Services of Suffolk County, CBS2 reported. A new lockdown safety drill was ordered by SCOPE. Kearns, a supervisor for them for 15 years at Dickinson Elementary in East Northport, was asked to run it for 30 children grades 2 to 5. "In the midst of the drill, some of the kids starting laughing.And then one of the children shouted out, 'We are doing this drill because of Sandy Hook'," Kearns told McLogan. [Yes, Sandy Hook was the *original* drill - to give rise to all the others.]
South Korea reports 20th MERS death | 17 June 2015 | South Korea Wednesday announced its 20th death from the MERS virus as criticism grew of efforts to contain the outbreak, with alarming reports of new cases slipping through a quarantine that already affects thousands. The health ministry also reported eight new patients including four who had been infected at Samsung Medical Centre in Seoul, considered the epicentre of the outbreak. This took the total number of infections including those who have died to 162, the largest outbreak outside Saudi Arabia.
Rep. Darrell Issa Escorted Out of Congressional Panel on Benghazi | 16 June 2015 |Outspoken Republican Congressman Darrell Issa tried to crash a deposition Tuesday on Benghazi, but was promptly escorted out from the closed-door panel on Capitol Hill. Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., the chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, had no qualms about personally kicking out Issa, the former House Oversight Committee chairman. "I'm a prosecutor, we always follow the rules," Gowdy later told NBC News. [To follow news updates on Darrell Issa, etc., follow CLG spin-off account, DarrellIssaSociopath @DIssaSociopath on Twitter. CLG's Twitter account is CLG News @legitgov.]
Early-state polls hint at Bernie Sanders surge | 15 June 2015 | In a trio of new polls in early primary states, Hillary Clinton leads Democratic rivals in Iowa, South Carolina and New Hampshire. It's in the Granite State, however, that the former secretary of state's standing is the least rock-solid, according to new polls conducted by Morning Consult. Among Democratic voters who say they will participate in the state's primary next year, 44 percent back Clinton. Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, the self-described democratic socialist from neighboring Vermont, grabs 32 percent.
Donald Trump is running for president in 2016 | 16 June 2015 | Billionaire businessman and reality television star Donald Trump officially announced his 2016 presidential candidacy on Tuesday with a promise to do for America what he's always done for himself: nurture the brand. Trump suggested the country is in deep trouble, and that politicians in both parties simply aren't equipped to come to the rescue..."I hear my fellow Republicans, they're wonderful people," he said. "I hear their speeches. And they don't talk jobs. They don't talk China."
Donald Trump Campaign Offered Actors $50 to Cheer for Him at Presidential Announcement | 17 June 2015 | Donald Trump's big presidential announcement Tuesday was made a little bigger with help from paid actors -- at 50 a pop. New York-based Extra Mile Casting sent an email last Friday to its client list of background actors, seeking extras to beef up attendance at Trump's event. "We are looking to cast people for the event to wear t-shirts and carry signs and help cheer him in support of his announcement," reads the June 12 email, obtained by The Hollywood Reporter.
New $10 bill will feature a woman, Treasury Department announces | 17 June 2015 | Last year in a Kansas City speech, President Obama said he received a letter from a young girl asking why there were no women on American currency...Now, the Obama administration is following through on that idea. The Treasury Department has announced that it's redesigning the 10 bill to feature a woman. "Our democracy is a work in progress. We've always been committed to a more perfect union," Treasury Secretary Jack Lew told reporters Wednesday. "This decision to put a woman on the 10 reflects our aspirations for the future, as much as it is a reflection of the past."
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