Survey: Obama, U.S. image falls, but still better than Bush
June 15th, 20120 CHINA TOP ECONOMIC POWER, POLL RESPONDENTS SAY WASHINGTON — While confidence in Barack Obama overseas has declined — in some countries, quite sharply — since his 2008 election, the U.S. president and the U.S. in general still receive higher approval ratings among publics abroad compared to 2008, George W. Bush's last...
Federal judge bans Obama from indefinitely detaining Americans
June 8th, 20120 NEW YORK — A U.S. Federal judge has clarified a decision made last month confirming that the White House cannot use the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to indefinitely detain American citizens. Judge Katherine B. Forrest has answered a request made by President Barack Obama last month to more carefully explain a May 16...List of words released that the government monitors on social media sites
After a failed FOIA request and a lawsuit, the Department of Homeland Security finally released a list of words that it uses to monitor online media and social networking sites. Some words are understandably listed, and include Al Qaeda, assassination and attack, but others are more simple such as agriculture, San Diego and smart....Arizona State University students divest from Israel
TEMPE, AZ - The student body Arizona State University has become the latest Western institution to back divestment from companies involved with the Israeli army. Arizona State University's student union unanimously passed a bill demanding the university divest from and blacklist companies that continue to provide the Israeli army with...U.S. hawks push for arming Syrian rebels
Clinton defuses military intervention talk on Syria U.S. Senator John McCain (L) speaks as Senator Joseph Lieberman (R) looks on during a press conferences at a hotel in Kuala Lumpur on May 31, 2012. U.S. hawkish senators John McCain and Joe Lieberman said Thursday it was time to arm Syria's rebels in the wake of last week's Houla...
Minority Report: White births no longer majority in the U.S.
May 26th, 20120 For the first time in U.S. history, racial and ethnic minorities outnumber its white majority – white births make up fewer than half the children born in the country, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The new 2011 Census, which was made public on Thursday, reveals non-Hispanic whites accounted for 49.6 percent of all births in the...Veterans symbolically discard service medals at anti-NATO rally
CHICAGO — Nearly 50 U.S. military veterans at an anti-NATO rally in Chicago threw their service medals into the street on Sunday, an action they said symbolized their rejection of the U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Some of the veterans, many wearing military uniform shirts over black anti-war t-shirts, choked back tears...
Levin: Chinese companies flooding U.S. military with counterfeit parts
May 25th, 20120 WASHINGTON – A report released this week outlined more than 1,800 cases of suspected counterfeits coming into the U.S. Defense Department supply system, U.S. Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) noted this week. The investigation was conducted by the Senate Armed Services Committee, of which Levin is the chairman. The counterfeits included...
NDAA: Indefinite detention stopped? Not so fast
May 25th, 20120 A U.S. judge ruled on Wednesday of last week that the indefinite military detention of American citizens, as allowed in the National Defense Authorization Act that President Barack Obama signed on December 31, 2011, is unconstitutional.For now, American citizens will be excluded from the NDAA’s nasty laws that allow the government to...Ethnic minority youth lead new wave of student activism
TUCSON (IPS) — In December 1985, The New York Times reported on what was believed to be the first anti-apartheid conference of U.S. high schools discussing divestment from corporations operating in South Africa.Sixteen independent schools met at St. James Episcopal Church in Manhattan to discuss the divestment question, which was...Arab American sergeant among those honored by Obama
President Barack Obama greets recipients of the National Association of Police Organizations' top cops awards on Saturday during a ceremony in the White House Rose Garden. Detroit officers in the crowd: Sgt. Michael Ingels, to the left of Obama; Sgt. Marcellus A. Ball, in sunglasses; Sgt. Ray Toufic Saati, at far right. PHOTO: MANUEL...
U.S. military school taught soldiers to wage a “total war” against Islam
May 11th, 20120 When the Defense Department wasn’t blowing billions on failed machinery and weapons of war, the Pentagon was paying a U.S. Army lieutenant colonel to indoctrinate servicemen with the notion that the entire religion of Islam should be eradicated worldwide. Army Lt. Col. Matthew A. Dooley no longer lectures members of the Armed Forces...
Commentary: NYPD Surveillance Revisited
May 10th, 20120 When a senior White House national security official traveled to New York City recently to praise that city's police department, he stoked the embers of a controversy between the Administration and the Arab American and American Muslim communities. The official's words, quoted by the Associated Press (AP), "I have full confidence...Americans renounced their citizenship in record numbers in 2011
In what is being called a disturbing trend, at least 1,788 Americans officially threw away their U.S. citizenship in 2011, exceeding the totals from 2007, 2008 and 2009 combined, according to a recent report by RT. The Internal Revenue Service has been keeping a tally of U.S. citizens driven to renouncing that title since only 1998,...U.S.-Afghan pact won’t end war
WASHINGTON — The optics surrounding the Barack Obama administration's "Enduring Strategic Partnership" agreement with Afghanistan and the Memorandums of Understanding accompanying it emphasize transition to Afghan responsibility and an end to U.S. war. U.S. President Barack Obama puts his arm on Afghan President Hamid Karzai after they......
FBI sting nets five arrests in Ohio bridge bomb plot
May 4th, 20120 CLEVELAND — Federal authorities have arrested and charged five men in a plot to bomb an Ohio bridge, calling them “anarchists” who are angry with the government and corporate America. Top Row (L-R): Wright, Baxtor, Hayne Bottom Row: (L-R): Stafford, Stevens The arrests came Monday night after the were provided with what they...U.S. government building $2 billion facility in Utah to spy on citizens
The United States government is spending at least $2 billion to build a new spying megaplex in a quiet Utah mountain town, giving it the ability to sift through billions of communications between private citizens.Information about the top secret facility in Bluffdale, Utah is scarce according to a recent report from 'Wired' magazine, but...
Supreme Court appears to uphold Arizona immigration law
April 27th, 20120 PHOENIX — How individual states and the nation deal with undocumented immigrants could see a major change in upcoming months. Supreme Court justices, weighing arguments over Arizona's tough immigration law, seemed to find little problem Wednesday with provisions that require police to check the legal status of people they...
Military to review course teaching “U.S. at war with Islam”
April 27th, 20120 WASHINGTON — The United States’ top military officer ordered a review of training material after a course for officers was found to espouse the view that the United States is at war with Islam, the Pentagon said on Wednesday. The review, which was first reported by Wired.com, was prompted by a complaint by a soldier who had recently......
U.S. condemns soldiers’ actions in Afghanistan
Probe ordered into behavior depicted by images showing troops posing with mangled bodies of suspected suicide bombersGraphic photos published in an American newspaper show U.S. soldiers posing with the mangled bodies of suspected Afghan suicide bombers. A soldier from the Army’s 82nd Airborne with a dead insurgent’s hand on his...
The ex-FBI informant with a change of heart: “There is no real hunt. It’s fixed.”
April 6th, 20120 Craig Monteilh says he did not balk when his FBI handlers gave him the OK to have sex with the Muslim women his undercover operation was targeting. Nor, at the time, did he shy away from recording their pillow talk. Craig Monteilh (pictured above) describes how he pretended to be a radical Muslim in order to root out potential threats,......
New CISPA cybersecurity and censorship bill could be even worse than SOPA
April 6th, 20120 An unprecedented wave of condemnation and criticism kept the SOPA and PIPA Internet censorship acts from passing earlier this year, but U.S. lawmakers have authored yet another bill designed to rein in the Web in the name of cybersecurity. Citing cyberattacks as a threat, some legislators have lent their support to a new act that,...Supreme Court ruling allows strip searches even for minor arrests
WASHINGTON — A Supreme Court ruling handed down after a 5-4 decision will allow for even people arrested of minor offenses to be strip searched should law enforcement officials choose to do so.The ruling was in regards to a New Jersey man who was erroneously arrested during a 2005 traffic stop for a fine he had already paid. He claimed......
