Thursday, August 28, 2014


News Clips For The Day


Official: Russian forces back rebels with tanks in eastern Ukraine
By Victoria Butenko, Laura Smith-Spark and Diana Magnay, CNN
updated 6:44 AM EDT, Thu August 28, 2014

Kiev, Ukraine (CNN) -- Pro-Moscow rebel forces in eastern Ukraine, backed by Russian tanks and armored personnel carriers, battled government forces on two fronts Thursday, a Ukrainian military official said.

The fighting was taking place southeast of Donetsk, and along the nation's southern coast in the town of Novoazovsk, about 12 miles (20 km) from the Russian border, according to Mykhailo Lysenko, the deputy commander of the Ukrainian Donbas battalion.

"This is a full-scale invasion," Lysenko said, referring to the fighting in the south.

In a Cabinet meeting Thursday, Ukraine's Prime Minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, called for an immediate U.N. Security Council meeting.

"Russia has very much increased its military presence in Ukraine," he said.

The latest flareup comes despite a meeting between Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Russia's Vladimir Putin in Minsk on Tuesday at which some progress appeared to have been made toward finding a diplomatic solution to the crisis.

U.S. ambassador: Russia is directly involved

U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt also said Thursday that Russian soldiers were directly involved in the fighting, alongside the pro-Russia rebels.

"Russian supplied tanks, armored vehicles, artillery and multiple rocket launchers have been insufficient to defeat Ukraine's armed forces, so now an increasing number of Russian troops are intervening directly in the fighting on Ukrainian territory," he said on Twitter.

"Russia has also sent its newest air defense systems including the SA-22 into eastern Ukraine and is now directly involved in the fighting."

Moscow denies supporting and arming the pro-Russia rebels. It has also repeatedly denied allegations by Kiev that it has sent troops over the border.

However, the Prime Minister of the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic, Alexander Zakharchenko, acknowledged Thursday that there are current Russian servicemen fighting in the rebels' ranks in eastern Ukraine.

In his statement, televised on state-run Russia 24, Zakharchenko said the rebels have never concealed that many Russians are fighting with them. He said up until now there were 3,000 to 4,000 volunteers, some of whom are retired Russian servicemen.

Zakharchenko went on to reveal that the Russian servicemen currently fighting in their ranks are active, "as they came to us to struggle for our freedom instead of their vacations."

Ukraine PM: Putin has started a war

Yatsenyuk suggested tougher measures may be needed to curb Russia's support for the rebels.

"Unfortunately, the sanctions were unhelpful as to deescalating the situation in Ukraine," he said, referring to the economic sanctions already imposed by the United States and European Union against Russian individuals and companies.

Yatsenyuk suggested one way to halt "Russian aggression" could be to freeze all assets and ban all Russian bank transactions until Russia "pulls out all its military, equipment and agents" from Ukraine.

"Vladimir Putin has purposely started a war in Europe. It is impossible to hide from the fact," he said.

In a foreign policy address in Paris, French President Francois Hollande said that if there's evidence that Russian soldiers are on Ukrainian soil "it would be intolerable and unacceptable."

NATO officials are due to give a briefing Thursday on the situation in Ukraine.

'Russian-directed counteroffensive'

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki on Wednesday highlighted the latest reports of heavy fighting around Novoazovsk and Donetsk airport, as well as of "additional columns of Russian tanks, multiple rocket launchers and armored vehicles" heading for communities in southeastern Ukraine.

"These incursions indict a Russian-directed counteroffensive is likely underway in Donetsk and Luhansk," she said. "Clearly that is of deep concern to us."

She accused Moscow of not acting in a transparent manner when it came to the Russian people, as well as Ukraine and the rest of the world.

"We're also concerned by the Russian government's unwillingness to tell the truth even as its soldiers are found 30 miles inside Ukraine," she said.

"Russia is sending its young men into Ukraine but are not telling them where they're going or telling their parents what they're doing."

On Wednesday, Ukraine's National Defense and Security Council told reporters that Russian forces were directing massive artillery fire over the border at Novoazovsk. Russian forces and pro-Russia rebels have seized villages around the town, the NSDC said.

The NDSC also claimed that members of a Russian tactical battalion were present in the village of Pobeda, in Ukraine's Luhansk region.

"If these troops got lost and accidentally found themselves in Ukraine as well, they should go back East," the update said.

On Tuesday, Ukraine's Security Service said it had detained 10 Russian soldiers in Ukraine.

Russian state media cited a source in the Russian Defense Ministry as saying the soldiers had been patrolling the border and "most likely crossed by accident" at an unmarked point.



http://www.businessinsider.com/canada-nato-russia-ukraine-putin-2014-8

Canada's NATO Delegation Just Epically Trolled Russia With This Map Of Ukraine
BRETT LOGIURATO
AUG. 27, 2014, 12:31 PM

Canada's delegation to NATO on Wednesday posted a helpful guide for Russian soldiers who have crossed the Ukrainian border "by accident."

On Twitter, the delegation posted a simple map of "Russia" and "Not Russia."

"Geography can be tough. Here’s a guide for Russian soldiers who keep getting lost & ‘accidentally’ entering," the delegation wrote along with the map.

Twice in the past three days, Ukraine has accused Russian soldiers of crossing the border and fighting alongside pro-Russian rebels in southeastern Ukraine. Ukraine's state security service said Monday it detained 10 Russian paratroopers who crossed into Ukrainian territory. But a Russian defense ministry source said the soldiers crossed "most likely by accident," according to Reuters.

And on Wednesday, Ukraine's military accused more Russian soldiers of crossing the border, saying a group of Russian paratroopers entered through the small town of Amvrosiyivka in five armored infantry carriers and a truck.

Geoffrey Pyatt, the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, wrote on Twitter Tuesday that Russia's recent moves in Ukraine "may indicate that a Russian counteroffensive is underway" in southeastern Ukraine, where fighting between the Ukrainian army and pro-Russian separatists has raged for months. Ukraine and Western officials on Wednesday warned that Russia was opening up another, major front in the war, according to The New York Times. 

The officials told The Times that Russia has provided support for separatists in the region of Luhansk, where government forces have had recent success in routing pro-Russian rebels. And they are also aiding a separatist push in the south toward the town of Mariupol, a major port on the Azov Sea.

According to the report, Western officials believe the Russian military has fired artillery from within Ukraine. They said it has already been fired to shell Ukrainian forces in Luhansk.

"We judge that self-propelled artillery is operated by Russians rather than separatists since no separatist training on this artillery has occurred to date," an administration official told The Times.

A group of Russian servicemen, who are detained by Ukrainian authorities, attend a news conference in Kiev, Aug. 27, 2014.

Ukraine released video of the soldiers it detained on Monday. It is considered the strongest evidence to back claims by Ukraine, NATO, and the West that Moscow is intervening directly in southeast Ukraine. 

And according to a translation from Interpreter Magazine, the soldiers did know where they were going.

"I guessed," the soldier said, "but I realized it when they began to bomb us."

"Ah-ha. How did you end up on Ukrainian territory?"

"We went in convoys. Not on the roads but through the fields. I didn't even see when we crossed the border."

"But did you know you were going to Ukraine?"

"We knew," the Russian paratrooper confirmed.

The Canadian delegation's map also notably still includes the region of Crimea — which was formally annexed by Russia in March — as part of Ukraine. The West has refused to recognize and has condemned Russia's annexation of Crimea, and the U.S. and E.U. have imposed sanctions, but there's not much more they can or want to practically do about it.

About a month after Russia annexed Crimea, Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged he had sent in Russian forces to support local defense teams in the region while fighting raged. He said the troops were deployed to protect Russian-speaking citizens in Crimea. 

"Of course we had our servicemen behind the self-defense units of Crimea," Putin said during an annual televised call-in with the nation in April. "We had to make sure what is happening now in eastern Ukraine didn't happen there." 

Ultimately, Western officials fear that the new Russian offensive could be part of an overall plan to "carve out a land link" between Russia and Crimea.



http://www.businessinsider.com/dozens-of-men-in-green-with-russian-accents-have-showed-up-in-east-ukraine-2014-8#ixzz3BbunPffR

Dozens Of 'Men In Green' With Russian Accents Have Showed Up In East Ukraine
MARIA TSVETKOVA, REUTERS
AUG. 26, 2014

File photo: Armed men, believed to be Russian servicemen, stand guard outside an Ukrainian military base in the village of Perevalnoye near the Crimean city of Simferopol March 9, 2014.

Unidentified, heavily-armed strangers with Russian accents have appeared in an eastern Ukrainian village, arousing residents' suspicions despite Moscow's denials that its troops have deliberately infiltrated the frontier.

Two witnesses told Reuters on Tuesday that the dozens of men, who arrived at the weekend and set up a road block, were not local and had military ration packs marked with Russian writing.




So what are we gonna do about it? Not much, I'm sure. Putin tells more lies than any other politician I've ever seen, and that's saying some. According to the CNN article, “'This is a full-scale invasion,' Lysenko said, referring to the fighting in the south. In a Cabinet meeting Thursday, Ukraine's Prime Minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, called for an immediate U.N. Security Council meeting. 'Russia has very much increased its military presence in Ukraine,' he said. The latest flareup comes despite a meeting between Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Russia's Vladimir Putin in Minsk on Tuesday at which some progress appeared to have been made toward finding a diplomatic solution to the crisis.” U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki on Wednesday spoke of 'additional columns of Russian tanks, multiple rocket launchers and armored vehicles' heading for communities in southeastern Ukraine. Go to the website of Business Insider to see the humorous map that the Canadian delegation to NATO published to help the Russians prevent their soldier from straying into Ukraine. It was clearly labeled – Russia and “Not Russia.” Meanwhile Ukraine has the Russian soldiers it detained on a news conference. They sit stone-faced in front of the camera.

“And according to a translation from Interpreter Magazine, the soldiers did know where they were going. 'I guessed' the soldier said, 'but I realized it when they began to bomb us.' 'Ah-ha. How did you end up on Ukrainian territory?' 'We went in convoys. Not on the roads but through the fields. I didn't even see when we crossed the border.' 'But did you know you were going to Ukraine?' 'We knew,' the Russian paratrooper confirmed.”

So much for Putin's denials of an invasion, as he sits in peace talks with the Ukrainians. I have seen no confirmation of how many Russian troops entered Ukraine, but the Ukrainians claimed they saw “'additional columns of Russian tanks, multiple rocket launchers and armored vehicles.'" It's a sneaky war, but it's a war.





Deadly Uzi accident raises questions about kids using guns
CBS NEWS August 28, 2014, 6:55 AM

An Arizona sheriff's department says its investigation is over, but the debate is only growing after a 9-year-old learning to fire an Uzi accidentally killed her instructor, Charles Vacca. Parents of the girl captured their daughter on video losing control while firing the submachine gun Monday.

The tragedy ignited a discussion about whether children should be allowed to fire powerful automatic weapons, CBS News' John Blackstone reports.

Bullets and Burgers, the popular shooting range where the accident occurred, allows children as young as 8 years old to fire guns, including powerful automatic weapons, as long as a parent or instructor is present.

Children in most states are legally allowed to fire any type of gun while supervised, but the question is should they be?

Dan Gross from the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence said no.

"I think most sane people would net out that it does not make sense to have a 9-year-old having access like that to a machine gun," Gross said.

Accidents have happened before. In 2008, an 8-year-old accidentally killed himself while firing an Uzi during a gun show in Massachusetts.

Experts say these types of tragedies can be averted.

"We can prevent kids from having unsafe access to guns," Gross said. "We can step up as parents and concerned citizens and actually take responsibility into our own hands."

Dan Roberts, an avid gun enthusiast for 30 years, shares his love of shooting with his 9-year-old daughter, Shyanne. He says accidental deaths like these are simply that – accidents.

"It's a tragedy. It really is," Roberts said. "But it's not in any way in my opinion an indictment on firearms in general, on children with firearms."

A competitive shooter, Shyanne has been firing guns under the careful eye of her father for years. She said following the four rules of safety is everything.

"Always know your target and beyond," she said. "Always shoot a gun like it's loaded. Always keep your finger off the trigger. And never point it at anyone."




Children in most states are legally allowed to fire any type of gun while supervised, but the question is should they be? ….Dan Gross from the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence said no. 'I think most sane people would net out that it does not make sense to have a 9-year-old having access like that to a machine gun,' Gross said. Accidents have happened before. In 2008, an 8-year-old accidentally killed himself while firing an Uzi during a gun show in Massachusetts. … Dan Roberts, an avid gun enthusiast for 30 years, shares his love of shooting with his 9-year-old daughter, Shyanne. He says accidental deaths like these are simply that – accidents.”

So, how do these accidents happen? Each case is undoubtedly different, but the relative strength of a 9 year old girl should have been taken into consideration before she was allowed to shoot a gun with a powerful recoil. My father taught me to shoot a 22 rifle, but not his shotgun for that reason. People across the South do grow up with guns, and in the country kids of 8 or 9 are out hunting with their fathers. I killed a squirrel, which I regretted instantly, and while I have shot guns since then just for target practice, I have never since killed an animal. If I ever need to in order to provide food I will, but not otherwise. Of course, we did eat the squirrel and several others we got that day. To me now, they are too cute to kill, but they are tasty with mashed potatoes and gravy. They have a pork-like taste.

Daddy gave me a string of rules about how to hold the gun while walking, about checking before carrying it to see if it was loaded, about how to use the sight to focus accurately, and about making sure no person or domesticated animal is anywhere near the target when shooting. He said that the bullet from a 22 rifle will travel about a mile before hitting the ground if nothing stops it, so shooting “into the distance” is dangerous, as a farmer could be out in his field within that mile and be shot. Also, bullets which are shot into the air will still have enough force to be dangerous when they come down to the ground, as they inevitably will.




Liberals look to Koch brothers for this year's "47 percent" moment
By STEPHANIE CONDON CBS NEWS August 28, 2014, 6:00 AM

Activists hold a protest near the Manhattan apartment of billionaire and Republican financier David Koch on June 5, 2014 in New York City. The demonstrators were protesting against the campaign contributions by the billionaire Koch brothers who are owners of Koch Industries Inc.

During the 2012 election, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's infamous "47 percent" remarks gave Romney's liberal opponents a way to easily characterize the candidate as elitist and out of touch.

This year, as Democrats put forward a midterm campaign pitch focused on pocketbook issues, they don't have a single figure like Romney to hold up as a symbol of the GOP's supposed shortcomings. Instead, they've zeroed in on a pair of rich conservatives: the billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch.

Democrats and their allies have spent a better part of the year hammering Koch-affiliated organizations for injecting vast sums of money into conservative political campaigns. They've also made a concerted effort to tie Republican candidates to the brothers, who lead the energy and manufacturing conglomerate Koch Industries. This week, liberals say they found this year's "47 percent moment."

As first reported by The Nation magazine and theHuffington Post, a handful of Republicans recently attended a conference hosted by the Koch brothers, where they hailed their deep-pocketed supporters for propelling their political careers.

In remarks that were secretly recorded, Iowa Republican Senate candidate Joni Ernst can be heard saying that she started out as "a little-known state senator from a very rural part of Iowa... But the exposure to this group and to this network and the opportunity to meet so many of you, that really started my trajectory."

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, meanwhile, said it was "the worst day on my political life" when the McCain-Feingold Act passed in 2002, reining in political spending.

Liberal grassroots groups like MoveOn.org and Democracy for America called it the "47 percent moment" they've been waiting for.

"This is a golden opportunity to make sure the American public understands just how extreme and out-of-touch the leadership of the Republican Party is--and how beholden to these right-wing billionaires they've become," MoveOn said in an email sent to its supporters Wednesday. The group is seeking donations to help fund ads using those recordings in Kentucky, Iowa and Colorado.

Clearly, the Koch brothers, who have stayed out of the spotlight while backing groups like Americans for Prosperity, do not have the name recognition of Mitt Romney.

A Wall Street Journal/NBC poll conducted in April, around the time Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, charged that Senate Republicans "are addicted to Koch," found that about half the nation didn't know who the Koch brothers were. Twenty percent of Americans said they had neutral feelings about the Koch brothers, while 21 percent had negative feelings and 10 percent had positive feelings.

MoveOn Campaign Director Vicki Kaplan told CBS News that their anti-Koch ads are "about more than just the Koch brothers.

"Part of what these tapes reveal is the kind of policy agenda that candidates who are following the lead of the Koch brothers are pushing," she said, such as opposition to minimum wage increases or supporting cuts to entitlement programs.

"Those are all things that huge numbers of voters support," Kaplan continued. "Revealing that agenda and knowing that out-of-state oil billionaires are supporting that push makes voters even more skeptical" of the GOP agenda.

Brad Woodhouse, president of American Bridge 21st Century, a Democratic opposition research super PAC, said that if voters aren't aware of who the Koch brothers are, groups like his have a "fiduciary responsibility" to inform them.

"Whether [anti-Koch ads] are effective or not, these people will spend more money trying to elect Republicans than the Republican party will spend," he said.

During the 2012 campaign, according to one analysis, a network of 17 Koch-backed entities raised at least $407 million, outpacing other independent groups on the right and at least matching labor union coalitions on the left.

There's evidence that groups opposed to the Koch brothers are having an impact with their campaigns. It's unclear, however, whether their influence comes from linking GOP candidates to the Koch brothers or simply from spending large sums of money.

In Michigan, where the open Senate race to replace retiring Democratic Sen. Carl Levin is considered a toss-up, a Democratic super PAC has invested a considerable sum to tie Republican candidate Terri Lynn Land to the Koch brothers. The group, called the Senate Majority PAC, has spent more than $3 million in the Michigan Senate race, far outpacing any other outside group that's invested in the race so far. It has run ads charging that Land is "helping the powerful at our expense."

A recent poll, commissioned by the League of Conservation Voters and the labor union AFSCME, shows the Democrat in the race, Rep. Gary Peters, is leading. It also shows that more than half of Michigan voters have heard of the Koch brothers, while just 33 percent haven't.

The poll, commissioned by left-leaning groups, should be viewed with some skepticism. But in another sign that the anti-Koch campaign may be having some impact there, one Koch-related group has reportedly cancelled $1.1 million in television ads it planned to run in Michigan.

Meanwhile, Alaska's Republican Senate candidate Dan Sullivan has also been the target of anti-Koch ads. The Koch-backed group Americans for Prosperity is running a $1 million ad campaign on his behalf. However, outside spending in Alaska has so far come largely from groups supporting Democratic Sen. Mark Begich.

Sullivan recently released an ad calling on Begich to agree to "stop all the mud-slinging by outsiders."

But even if there is some Koch backlash, it's not completely stopping Republicans from associating themselves with the Kochs.

Several potential 2016 GOP presidential candidates such as Sens. Ted Cruz and Rand Paul, Gov. Rick Perry and Ben Carson will speak at a weekend summit in Dallas beginning Friday organized by Americans for Prosperity.



Fact Check.Org
Mitt Romney's infamous "47 percent" remarks
Dependency and Romney’s 47 Percenters
Posted on September 18, 2012

Mitt Romney was wrong when he said the 47 percent of Americans who pay no federal income taxes are “dependent on the government.” Most of them are working people who simply do not earn very much money.

Romney also assumed that all of those in the 47 percent who pay no federal income tax vote Democratic. But polling data suggest that’s just not true. President Obama is faring better than Romney among the lowest earners — those most likely to be among the 47 percent who pay no federal income tax — but polls show Romney is supported by some 40 percent of those earning the lowest income. In fact, a healthy chunk of the 47 percent are seniors who tend to vote Republican. Romney’s comments, recorded surreptitiously during a Republican fundraiser in May and reported Sept. 17 by Mother Jones, have touched off a firestorm of analysis.




“This week, liberals say they found this year's '47 percent moment.' As first reported by The Nation magazine and theHuffington Post, a handful of Republicans recently attended a conference hosted by the Koch brothers, where they hailed their deep-pocketed supporters for propelling their political careers. In remarks that were secretly recorded, Iowa Republican Senate candidate Joni Ernst can be heard saying that she started out as 'a little-known state senator from a very rural part of Iowa... But the exposure to this group and to this network and the opportunity to meet so many of you, that really started my trajectory.'.... Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, meanwhile, said it was 'the worst day on my political life' when the McCain-Feingold Act passed in 2002, reining in political spending..... MoveOn Campaign Director Vicki Kaplan told CBS News that their anti-Koch ads are "about more than just the Koch brothers. 'Part of what these tapes reveal is the kind of policy agenda that candidates who are following the lead of the Koch brothers are pushing,' she said, such as opposition to minimum wage increases or supporting cuts to entitlement programs. …. 'Those are all things that huge numbers of voters support,' Kaplan continued. 'Revealing that agenda and knowing that out-of-state oil billionaires are supporting that push makes voters even more skeptical' of the GOP agenda..... But even if there is some Koch backlash, it's not completely stopping Republicans from associating themselves with the Kochs.”

A couple of months ago, I stumbled upon the website Daily Kos and signed up to receive emails from them. They keep me up to date daily on what's going on among Democrats, such as what causes are being pursued, often offering a petition to sign. They are linked with ActBlue, so they do ask for money. I have given as much as I probably will, however, including $3.00 a month to the Democratic Party linked to my credit card. I can afford $3.00 a month, and they were glad to get it. If they ask for more money I just delete the email. I have signed petitions for Net Neutrality, stopping the Pentagon's giveaway of army weaponry to local police, and to stop the Koch Brothers and other equally wealthy donors from being able to give unlimited amounts to political candidates. There is a push to elect Democrats to the Senate, particularly, and certain bills that are going forward in Congress. I can see from this article that the Democratic efforts against the Koch brothers are paying off. Many people in the US are squeamish about the mega-rich buying offices, and the development of a virtual oligarchy here in our beloved democracy. Whoever thought democracy up, it's a great idea, and I will actively support it as much as I can.





Sister of alleged Boston Marathon bombers accused of making bomb threat
CBS NEWS August 27, 2014, 8:50 PM

The sister of Boston Marathon bombing suspects Dzkokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev was arrested Wednesday on charges of making a bomb threat, the New York Police Department confirmed.

Ailiana Tsarnaeva, 24, who lives in North Bergen, New Jersey, was taken into custody, accused of making the threat to 23-year-old woman in Manhattan, police said.

Tsarnaeva was accused of saying: "I know people who can put a bomb on you,"CBS New York reported.

She was taken into an NYPD precinct in Harlem, and charged with aggravated harassment. Tsarnaeva was also given a desk appearance ticket and is due back in court Sept. 30, police said.

The woman she allegedly threatened woman previously had a romantic relationship with Tsarnaeva's boyfriend, The Associated Press said.

Last year Tsarnaeva appeared in a Boston court on accusations of misleading an investigation into the recovery of a counterfeit bill. Prosecutors said she was not accused of passing the bill, but knew members of the group that did and "lied about certain salient facts during the investigation," according to the AP.

A judge agreed to remove a default warrant against her and released Tsarnaeva on $1,500 personal recognizance in that case.

Tsarnaeva is the sister of the two men prosecutors say plotted the Boston Marathon bomb attack on April 15, 2013, which killed three people and seriously injured scores more.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, died in a shootout with police a few days after the bombing. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 21, was captured while hiding in a boat parked in the backyard of a suburban Boston home.

He is now awaiting trial in the case and prosecutors say they will seek the death penalty. He is also charged with killing a Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer and carjacking a motorist.




“Ailiana Tsarnaeva, 24, who lives in North Bergen, New Jersey, was taken into custody, accused of making the threat to 23-year-old woman in Manhattan, police said. Tsarnaeva was accused of saying: "I know people who can put a bomb on you,"CBS New York reported. She was taken into an NYPD precinct in Harlem, and charged with aggravated harassment. Tsarnaeva was also given a desk appearance ticket and is due back in court Sept. 30, police said. The woman she allegedly threatened woman previously had a romantic relationship with Tsarnaeva's boyfriend, The Associated Press said.”

An article last year stated that family ties was often the link between new recruits and terrorist organizations, and this story shows it to be true. Of course, this woman didn't threaten anyone but a romantic rival, but still its not an ordinary threat – “I'll pull your hair out!” – so she has been arrested, and perhaps any other members of that family should be under CIA surveillance as well. It is obvious to me that many Islamic people who come to the US to live may have terrorist ties, but we can't “racially profile” them because they do have civil rights while they are here. If many more ISIS fighters start coming from the US, there may be some legal changes. See the following article from NPR, which states “Essentially, that means anyone who fights in Syria, regardless of the group that takes them in, is considered suspect now. That goes a long way toward explaining why U.S. law enforcement's approach now appears to be to assume the worst, and why the FBI has started arresting people before they leave for Syria. A handful have been arrested so far this year — nearly all of which have some connection to the Islamic State.” I think that given the very aggressive nature of ISIS and some other Islamist groups, this new stance is logical and, if not fair, necessary.




U.S. Officials Try To Gauge Threat From American Fighters In Syria – NPR
by DINA TEMPLE-RASTON
August 27, 2014

The heyday of "war tourism" was probably the 1930s, when a host of intellectuals and artists left the U.S. to bear witness to the Spanish Civil War. Ernest Hemingway wrote about it. George Orwell, just to name another, actually fought in it.

Regular people from all walks of life showed up on those fields of battle as well, in much the same way young men — both Muslim and non-Muslim — are streaming to Syria today. The modern-day result: Instead of newspaper articles and Orwell's book, Homage to Catalonia, there are literally hundreds of Facebook entries that chronicle the fight.

Some, like this one from former Army Pvt. Eric Harroun, seem a bit naïve.

"Bashir al-Assad your days are numbered, you're going down in flames," Harroun posted on his Facebook page last year. "You should just quit now while you can and leave ... you're going to die no matter what ... where ever you go we will find you and kill you."

U.S. intelligence officials tracking American fighters believe that at least 140 of them have gone to fight in Syria and Iraq so far. They say the number of U.S. passport holders now in the fight has more than doubled since the beginning of the year.

The problem is that officials aren't sure which groups the fighters have joined. Fighting for the group known as the Islamic State, which killed American journalist James Foley last week, or al-Qaida's affiliate in Syria, Jabhat al-Nusra, is a violation of U.S. law. Both have been designated terrorist organizations. But because there are literally thousands of groups fighting in Syria now, it is difficult to sort out who is a threat returning from Syria and who isn't.

A Chaotic Situation In Syria

Harroun spent about six weeks fighting with rebel groups in Syria. Initially he was linked to the Free Syrian Army, and over that time he provided a visual atlas of his journey by posting a steady stream of videos on Facebook and YouTube.

"I've been separated from my squad, having been hit by shrapnel," Harroun says, looking into a camera phone as he recorded. "I came into this old building and I don't know if that's my last ... video or not."

He flinches as shots are fired in the background and the building where he is hiding shakes. "We're getting blasted out here, I have one clip, two, three, three full clips left ... my grenade ... so ... Bye."

Andrew Tabler, a Syria expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, followed the Harroun case as it played out on YouTube.

"Eric Harroun's story in Syria is one of an American concerned about the Middle East who enters the very chaotic situation inside of Syria and gets caught up in a game that is beyond his comprehension," says Tabler. "Unfortunately he was caught on the wrong side of it."

Harroun was on the wrong side because when he returned to the U.S., he was arrested on terrorism charges. That's because while he started out with the Free Syrian Army, he later joined an avowedly anti-American Islamist fighting force called the Al-Aqsa Islamic Brigades.

"As a practical matter, it is just a bad idea for U.S. citizens to be fighting," says Neil MacBride, the U.S. attorney in Virginia who led the Harroun prosecution. "There has yet to be a happy ending from a U.S. citizen going abroad and fighting on the ground in Syria. The Harroun case didn't end well."

'No Idea What He Was Getting Into'

Harroun had been in Egypt during the uprising in Cairo's Tahrir Square, and expected to see something similar happen in Syria when Syrians started rising up against the government of Bashar Assad in 2011.

Harroun wanted to be a part of it, so he joined forces with the Free Syrian Army, the group that the Obama administration is now considering supporting with more arms and training.

The problem in Syria is that the fighting is so chaotic, and it is hard to tell one group from another. In Harroun's case it was doubly difficult, because he didn't speak Arabic.

"He had no idea what he was getting into," Tabler says.

That's why Harroun's crime ended up being one of proximity. Harroun told investigators and his Facebook followers that he ended up fighting Assad alongside Jabat al-Nusra, al-Qaida's affiliate in Syria. That's why the original charges against him were terrorism related.

MacBride said Harroun's group, the Al-Aqsa Islamic Brigades, was just as virulent as al-Qaida, but it wasn't on the U.S. list of designated terrorist organizations.

MacBride said Harroun knew he was with an Anti-American group, but Harroun convinced prosecutors that he didn't go to Syria intending to join one.

MacBride says that's an indication of just how confusing the Syrian battlefield has become.

"It is certainly true that some may have noble and even patriotic reasons for going over there," MacBride says. "But on the ground it has proven to be such a complex and challenging situation, where the groups are so overlapping, with shifting allegiances, that as a practical matter it is a threat to national security to have Americans going abroad and putting themselves in that situation."

U.S. Officials Assume The Worst

Essentially, that means anyone who fights in Syria, regardless of the group that takes them in, is considered suspect now. That goes a long way toward explaining why U.S. law enforcement's approach now appears to be to assume the worst, and why the FBI has started arresting people before they leave for Syria. A handful have been arrested so far this year — nearly all of which have some connection to the Islamic State.

Eventually, U.S. officials decided Harroun wasn't such a threat. After six months in solitary confinement in Alexandria, Va., he was released with time served and charged with illegally providing weapons to a foreign fighting force.

But his story ends badly: Harroun died of an overdose of prescription pills this past April. His family said the death was an accident.




FBI investigating reports of attacks on U.S. banks
AP August 27, 2014, 11:25 PM

NEW YORK -- The FBI is investigating a hacking attack on JPMorgan Chase and at least one other bank, according to reports citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter.

These latest cyber attacks happened earlier this month and apparently were aimed at stealing checking and savings account information from a number of major U.S. banks including JP Morgan, CBS News correspondent Bob Orr reports.

Law enforcement sources tell Orr that the FBI and Secret Service now are working to determine the overall scope of the breach, which apparently involved a series coordinated attacks. It's not clear right now how much data may have been taken.

A report on Bloomberg.com said Wednesday that the FBI is investigating an incident in which Russian hackers attacked the U.S financial system earlier this month in possible retaliation against U.S. government-sponsored sanctions aimed at Russia.

The attack, Bloomberg said, led to the loss of sensitive data. Bloomberg cited security experts saying that the attack appeared "far beyond the capability of ordinary criminal hackers."

The New York Times, also citing people familiar with the matter, said JP Morgan and at least four other firms were hit this month by what it described as coordinated attacks that siphoned off huge amounts of data, including checking and savings account information.

While the targeted banks are not confirming these specific attacks, a spokesperson for JP Morgan told CBS News: "Companies of our size unfortunately experience cyberattacks nearly every day. We have multiple layers of defense to counteract any threats and constantly monitor fraud levels."

Sources tell Orr that so far, JP Morgan is not experiencing any unusual fraud activity.
The FBI declined to comment.

The Wall Street Journal also cited unnamed sources in a less detailed report that called the attacks a "significant breach of corporate computer security."
JP Morgan is the largest U.S. bank by assets.




“A report on Bloomberg.com said Wednesday that the FBI is investigating an incident in which Russian hackers attacked the U.S financial system earlier this month in possible retaliation against U.S. government-sponsored sanctions aimed at Russia. The attack, Bloomberg said, led to the loss of sensitive data. Bloomberg cited security experts saying that the attack appeared 'far beyond the capability of ordinary criminal hackers.' … The New York Times, also citing people familiar with the matter, said JP Morgan and at least four other firms were hit this month by what it described as coordinated attacks that siphoned off huge amounts of data, including checking and savings account information.” … J P Morgan has said “'Companies of our size unfortunately experience cyberattacks nearly every day. We have multiple layers of defense to counteract any threats and constantly monitor fraud levels.'"

This doesn't make me feel happy. The article failed to mention the names of the other banks that were attacked – I selfishly hope my bank wasn't among them. One article stated that the Russian hackers were acting in revenge for the American economic sanctions over Ukraine. We should be aware that such events are happening daily apparently, and frequently change passwords. That seems like a lot of trouble, though. I have quite a few passwords on the Internet – I do not, however, bank on line. I don't trust it. I want to see a teller in front of me and exchange pleasantries with her while she works.




Could wearing a camera actually make an officer's life easier?
By BOB ORR CBS NEWS August 27, 2014, 8:30 PM

LAUREL, Maryland - It was 2 a.m. when police in Laurel, Maryland, pulled over a woman driving on the wrong side of the road.

One officer was wearing a small camera attached to his glasses. The camera captured exactly what he saw as the woman restarted her engine, slammed the car into drive and sped away.

As the camera continued to roll, police gave chase. The woman crashed her car and then tried to flee on foot. Pursuing officers hit her with a TASER and arrested her for drunk driving.

There have been growing calls for officers to wear cameras in the wake of the shooting of unarmed teenager Michael Brown by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. Places like Laurel have already equipped their officers with the devices.

Laurel Deputy Police Chief James Brooks told CBS News all of his street officers now wear cameras. To Brooks, it's all about accountability.

In the case of the drunk driving incident, the officer would only have had his account without the camera.

"So now you are going down the road, you see a car maybe weaving back and forth, you can turn your camera on and start to capture that evidence that you may want to present for a DUI case in court," Brooks said.

In Daytona Beach, Florida, police wearing cameras caught a man beating his girlfriend. Faced with clear video evidence, Jeremy Archer pleaded guilty to battery and drug possession.

Police say the recordings have also helped defuse potential confrontations. In the two years cameras have been used in Rialto, California, the use of force by police is down 48 percent and complaints against officers are down 88 percent.

In Laurel, Maryland, where cameras have been on the street for eighteen months, complaints against police have also fallen. Officers like Sean Fabel are required to record every encounter with the public.

"Anytime I make contact with a citizen I turn the camera on. Any sort of traffic stop, I turn the camera on," Fabel said. "If someone walks up to me and asks me for directions, I turn the camera on."

Officers want the public to know they're wearing the camera system, Fabel said. "We want them to know that it is being recorded. Transparency is what we are look for there."
Incidents like the drunk driving chase, Brooks said, prove the approach is working.




“Police say the recordings have also helped defuse potential confrontations. In the two years cameras have been used in Rialto, California, the use of force by police is down 48 percent and complaints against officers are down 88 percent. In Laurel, Maryland, where cameras have been on the street for eighteen months, complaints against police have also fallen. Officers like Sean Fabel are required to record every encounter with the public. 'Anytime I make contact with a citizen I turn the camera on. Any sort of traffic stop, I turn the camera on,' Fabel said. 'If someone walks up to me and asks me for directions, I turn the camera on.' Officers want the public to know they're wearing the camera system, Fabel said. 'We want them to know that it is being recorded. Transparency is what we are look for there.' Incidents like the drunk driving chase, Brooks said, prove the approach is working.”

I think Congress should make a law mandating the use of these cameras in all towns across the country, including very small ones. It's a basic protection for police officers and suspects as well, and it “keeps everybody honest.” Perpetrators are less troublesome and officers know that the camera will prove whether they did or didn't use excessive violence. Cases won't boil down to a matter of whose story sounds the most plausible when they come to court.