Israel extends the arrest of a mentally disabled Palestinian

Israel extends the arrest of a disabled Palestinian

August 31, 2013 by occupiedpalestine 0 Comments

[ PIC 31/08/2013 - 02:54 PM ]


OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)– The Israeli Magistrate’s Court has extended the arrest of a disabled Palestinian for 15 additional days despite his difficult health status.
Ahmed Dawoud Obaid’s arrest was extended for 15 days although his father has provided the court with medical reports proving his mental disability.
The Israeli prosecutor presented an indictment against Obaid accusing him of throwing stones at Israeli cars.
Obaid was arrested after being beaten severely by Israeli forces despite being dumb and mentally ill.
Meanwhile, Ahrar center for prisoners’ studies said that eight Palestinian prisoners from Gaza Strip are still detained in Israeli jails before Oslo accords.
The human rights center stated that the eight prisoners, sentenced to life terms, are waiting to be included among the second phase of prisoners to be released as an Israeli goodwill gesture to resume talks.
As part of the deal to resume these talks, Israel agreed to release 104 long-term Palestinian prisoners, in four phases, as a so-called “confidence-building” measure and to encourage progress of the talks. Most of the prisoners have nearly completed their sentences.

Obama Wants Military Strike Against Syria, But Will Seek Congressional Approval

Obama Wants Military Strike Against Syria, But Will Seek Congressional Approval

President Obama said Saturday that he had decided that the United States should take military action against Syria in response to a deadly chemical weapons attack, but that he would seek Congressional authorization for the use of force.

Mr. Obama said the Congressional leadership planned to hold a debate and a vote as soon as both houses come back in September.

He said he had the authority to act on his own, but believed it is important for the country to have a debate.

READ MORE » http://www.nytimes.com?emc=edit_na_20130831

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg To Perform Same-Sex Wedding Ceremony

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg To Perform Same-Sex Wedding Ceremony

by Will Kohler

In a move that will (hopefully) give Antonin Scalia a stoke.  Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will tomorrow officiate at a same-sex wedding in Washington DC, becoming the first member of the Court to do so.

The gala wedding of Kennedy Center President Michael M. Kaiser and economist John Roberts at the performing arts center brings together the nation’s highest court and the capital’s high society and will mark a new milepost in recognition of same-sex unions. Ginsburg seemed excited during a recent interview about being the first member of the court to conduct such a ceremony and said it was only a logical next step. “I think it will be one more statement that people who love each other and want to live together should be able to enjoy the blessings and the strife in the marriage relationship,” Ginsburg said. She added: “It won’t be long before there will be another” performed by a justice. Indeed, she has another planned for September. Ginsburg and Kaiser are close friends. She is perhaps the Supreme Court’s most ardent supporter of the fine arts, especially opera. Kaiser has been at the helm of the Kennedy Center since 2001 and is an internationally recognized expert in arts management and one of Washington’s most influential civic leaders.

Bravo Madam Justice Bader Ginsburg! This is just icing on the proverbial wedding cake.

Will Kohler

Florida to exhume bodies buried at former boys school

By Rich Phillips, CNN

August 31, 2013 -- Updated 1230 GMT (2030 HKT)

In 2012, forensic scientists sifted through 100-year-old paperwork to determine who is buried in this makeshift cemetery on the grounds of a former Florida reform school for boys.

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STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Forensic researchers will begin exhumations this weekend
• They believe a total of 49 children were buried at the reform school
• In 2009, Florida investigators said 31 children were buried there
• The probe found none of the deaths were suspicious

Editor's note: Rich Phillips is a senior producer with CNN who first started reporting on the children buried at Dozier Reform School in 2008.

Marianna, Florida (CNN) -- This weekend, Florida will begin digging into its tragic past as anthropologists start unearthing what they believe are the remains of dozens of children buried on the grounds of a former reform school.

The exhumations at the Dozier School for Boys -- which closed in 2011 -- are the culmination of years of controversy surrounding the reform school and a mythology that has taken on a life of its own.

Rightly or wrongly, the Florida Panhandle town of Marianna -- just west of Tallahassee -- has become synonymous with the school and its dark past.

Some of those who were once sent to Dozier -- now senior citizens -- have come forward with stories of abuse at the school, including alleged beatings, torture, sexual abuse, killings and the disappearance of students, during the 1940s, '50s and '60s.

On the school grounds buried deep in the woods lies a small unkept patch of land with 31 white crosses. Rusting away with time, they mark the final resting place for the unknown students that the state has confirmed were buried there.

Hope exhumations will answer questions

Nearly 100 children died while at the school, according to state and school records, many as a result of a tragic dormitory fire in 1914 and a deadly flu epidemic in 1918.

The poorly-kept state records cannot account for what happened to 22 children who died at the school. And, no one knows who is buried where.

"They were poor kids and a lot of times, people never came to visit them," said Elmore Bryant, a lifelong Marianna resident and head of the NAACP in Jackson County, Florida, which includes Marianna.

"Even when they were dismissed, they got home, their family had moved. So, who was going to pay attention if something happened to them while they was at Dozier?"

Some believe the bodies are African-Americans, disposed of by the Ku Klux Klan. This gravesite is in what was traditionally known as the "black side" of the reform school -- a reference to the era of segregation.

Many believe another cemetery exists on the sprawling, wooded, 1,400-acre property, but it has not been found.

Last year, a research team from the University of South Florida, on a humanitarian mission to help identify these bodies for surviving families, used ground-penetrating radar, and found that there are as many 19 more bodies buried in the surrounding area -- completely unmarked.

After clearing the area, the team determined that a total of 49 graves exist.

"These are children who came here and died, for one reason or another, and have just been lost in the woods," said Erin Kimmerle, a forensic anthropologist leading the USF team who once worked on an international forensics team that amassed evidence used in Yugoslavian war crimes trials.

She has lobbied for an exhumation of the remains because, as she put it, "When there's no knowledge and no information, then people will speculate and rumors will persist or questions remain."

'White House Boys'

Robert Staley spent about 10 months at the Dozier School for Boys between 1963 and 1964 for allegedly stealing a car.

Unmarked graves at school to be exhumed

School's unmarked graves to be dug out

Boys' graves might hold answers

School graves could hide 'evil' past

He says he was taken to the "White House" on his very first day.

"I came out of their in shock, and when they hit you, you went down a foot into the bed, and so hard, I couldn't believe," said Straley. "I didn't know what they were hitting you with."

Years ago, Staley and several others who spent time at Dozier came forward with allegations that they were beaten with long leather slaps inside a small white concrete building, they forever call "the White House."

The men became known as the "White House Boys."

One former administrator, Troy Tidwell -- a one-armed man accused of abuse by several former students -- admitted that "spankings" took place, but denied that anyone was ever beaten or murdered.

Florida first started looking into the allegations in 2008, after some of the White House Boys -- who had met on the Internet and shared similar stories -- called on then-Gov. Charlie Crist to investigate.

At Crist's request, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement launched an investigation and its final report in 2009 accounted for 31 boys buried in the cemetery.

The investigation failed to clear up the mystery over what happened to the dozens of other students who died at the school whose bodies have never been accounted for.

FDLE closed the case due to lack of evidence that anyone had died as a result of criminal conduct. The Florida Department of Juvenile Justice closed the school in 2011, 111 years after it first opened.

Then last year, forensic anthropologists from USF used their ground-penetrating radar to find what appeared to be 19 more remains than previously thought to have been buried on the school grounds.

That discovery along with pressure from the NAACP and high level officials, including Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Florida, led to action by the state. Earlier this month, Florida Gov. Rick Scott and his Cabinet voted to allow the USF forensics team to exhume the bodies, against the objections of Jackson County commissioners.

"There were children that disappeared that really were not accounted for, so I think that a new day has come here," said Wansley Walters, secretary of the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice.

"What we have now is an opportunity to really get down to the truth and also try to bring some healing to the victims and the families."

Owen's story

State records say one boy buried here is 14-year-old Owen Smith.

Ovell Smith Krell says her brother Owen died under mysterious circumstances at the reform school.

"He had no ambition to do anything but play music," said his sister Ovell Smith Krell, 84.

She says her older brother ran away from home in 1940 at age 14 to become a musician in Nashville, but never made it. Owen Smith was arrested in a stolen car, and sent to the reform school in Marianna.

He ran away from the school, but got caught, he wrote in a letter to 12-year-old Ovell a short time afterward.

A few months later, his family received a letter from the school, notifying them that Owen had run away for a second time.

"So far, we have been unable to get any information concerning his whereabouts," wrote Millard Davidson, the school's superintendent at the time. "We will appreciate your notifying us immediately if you receive any word from or concerning him."

Owen's family decided to travel to Marianna to find out what was going on, but just before leaving, there was a call from the school with word that Owen had been found dead.

"They think he crawled under a house to try and get warm and that he got pneumonia and died," said Krell.

She said her mother asked that Owen's body be taken to a funeral home. The family had to borrow a car for the trip and when they arrived in Marianna two days later, school officials allegedly told them that their son was already buried.

"They said that the body was so decomposed, you wouldn't be able to identify him ... they took him straight out to the school and buried him," she said.

Owen's classmate told the family a different story.

According to Krell, the boy said as he and Owen tried to escape, "my brother was running out across a field, an open field, and there was three men shooting at him, with rifles."

"I believe to this day, that they shot my brother that night, and I think they probably killed him and brought him back to the school and buried him," she said.

Closure, but criminal charges unlikely

Ovell Smith Krell, like other relatives of those believed to be buried at the school, is hoping the exhumations result in a sense of closure for her family.

Any remains that are exhumed will be taken to the University of South Florida in Tampa to be examined in an effort to reunite these lost boys with their families -- if possible.

Earlier this summer, DNA swabs were taken from a handful of surviving family members that have been found. If DNA can be matched to the bodies exhumed, these families want them to be buried properly in family plots.

"I would take him and put him down with my mom and dad in their cemetery," Krell said. "I hope I get that chance."

Whatever may be found in the exhumations of these long forgotten children, it's highly unlikely that anyone could ever be charged with any crimes.

"You have to have witnesses," said Glenn Hess, the state attorney of Jackson County, Florida. "Nobody can place a name with a homicide victim and a perpetrator."

And that's nearly impossible considering the amount of time that has passed.

"There are these general stories about the beatings and all that went on, but that's not unusual for reformatories in the '30s and '40s," he told CNN.

But this doesn't matter to Elmore Bryant, the NAACP leader. He's lived here all his life. He thinks the truth behind the mystery of Marianna will finally be found.

"I don't think the bones will lie. The bones will tell the truth," he said. "I'd want the truth to be known how I died."

Putin: US should present Syria evidence to Security Council

Putin: US should present Syria evidence to Security Council

by aletho

RT | August 31, 2013

Russian President Vladimir Putin has declared ‘utter nonsense’ the idea that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons on its own people and called on the US to present its supposed evidence to the UN Security Council.

Putin has further called the Western tactic a ‘provocation.’

Washington has been basing its proposed strategy of an attack on Syria on the premise that President Bashar Assad’s government forces have used chemical agents, while Russia finds the accusations unacceptable and the idea of performing a military strike on the country even more so. Especially as it would constitute a violation of international law, if carried out without the approval of the UN Security Council.

Further to this, Putin told Obama that he should consider what the potential fallout from a military strike would be and to take into consideration the suffering of innocent civilians.

The Russian president has expressed certainty that the strategy for a military intervention in Syria is a contingency measure from outside and a direct response to the Syrian government’s recent combat successes, coupled with the rebels’ retreat from long-held positions.

“Syrian government forces are advancing, while the so-called rebels are in a tight situation, as they are not nearly as equipped as the government,” Putin told ITAR-TASS. He then laid it out in plain language:

“What those who sponsor the so-called rebels need to achieve is simple – they need to help them in their fight… and if this happens, it would be a tragic development,” Putin said.

Russia believes that any attack would, firstly, increase the already existing tensions in the country, and derail any effort at ending the war.

"Any unilateral use of force without the authorisation of the U.N. Security Council, no matter how 'limited' it is, will be a clear violation of international law, will undermine prospects for a political and diplomatic resolution of the conflict in Syria and will lead to a new round of confrontation and new casualties," said the Russian Foreign Ministry’s spokesman, Aleksandr Lukashevich, adding that the threats [have been] issued by Washington “in the absence of any proof” of chemical weapons use.

On Friday, Washington said a plan for a limited military response was in the works to punish Assad for a “brutal and flagrant” chemical attack that allegedly killed more than 1,400 people in the capital Damascus 10 days ago.

The Syrian government has been denying all allegations, calling the accusation preposterous and pointing its own accusations against rebel forces, especially Al-Qaeda-linked extremists who have wreaked havoc on the country in the two years since the start of the civil war.

aletho

Court says VA can’t deny benefits to same-sex veteran, spouse

By Ben Kamisar | McClatchy Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — An Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran and her female spouse will be eligible for spousal benefits after a California federal judge ruled that the Department of Veterans Affairs could not bar same-sex couples from receiving them.
The decision allows Tracey Cooper-Harris, a former Army sergeant, to apply to receive the same benefits as a heterosexual married soldier. Tracey and Maggie Cooper-Harris were legally married in California in 2008, two years before Tracey was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, later determined to be related to her military service.
However, because the VA treated her as a single veteran, she received $124 less in disability benefits per month than she would if her marriage was recognized. Without recognition of their marriage, Maggie Cooper-Harris would not receive any survivor’s benefits if her spouse died.
The couple’s previous application to have their marriage recognized by the VA was denied in 2011 because Tracey Cooper-Harris was not married to a man.
“The court finds that the exclusion of spouses in same-sex marriages from veterans’ benefits is not rationally related to the goal of gender equality,” U.S. District Judge Consuelo B. Marshall wrote in the opinion. She added that denying benefits to same-sex couples was not related to any “military purposes” or “the military’s commitment to caring for and providing for veteran families.”
After the U.S. Supreme Court’s July ruling striking down the Defense of Marriage Act’s federal definition of marriage as between a man and a woman, many federal agencies declared that same-sex spouses would receive the same benefits as heterosexual couples.
The VA remained mum on the issue. Title 38, the statute that governs the VA, still defined a spouse as “a person of the opposite sex who is a wife or husband,” so the agency was unaffected by the ruling until this week’s decision.
“It’s definitely a move in the right direction for our veterans because Title 38 was basically like a mini-DOMA and prevented the VA from recognizing same-sex spouses,” said Stephen Peters, the president of the American Military Partner Association, a group that supports lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender service members.
However, while the couple will be able to apply for benefits, the VA has not explained how the decision fits into its national policy on benefits for same-sex couples. Peters said that he believed the decision would mean that legally married veterans under the court’s jurisdiction – much of the Los Angeles area – should be eligible for benefits, but he admitted that the lack of clarity was “frustrating.”
“I really just don’t know how this is going to play out and I think we are really going to have to wait to see how the Department of Justice and the VA interprets the decision,” he said.
VA spokesman Randy Noller declined to specifically comment on the case, only reaffirming in an email the VA’s commitment to “providing veterans and their families the care and benefits they have earned and deserve.” The Department of Justice did not return a request for comment as to how it views the ruling.

Contact: bkamisar@mcclatchydc.com; Twitter: @bkamisar

Chemical weapons experts weigh in on Syria intelligence report

A citizen journalism image provided by the Media Office Of Douma City, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, a Syrian man mourns over a dead body after an alleged poisonous gas attack fired by regime forces, according to activists, in Douma town, Damascus, Syria | Uncredited/AP

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More on this Story

• Story | With Britain out, U.S. ready to go it alone in Syria
• Story | Washington, London: A study in contrasts over Syria debate
• Story | Scott AFB would have big role in bombing campaign against Syria
• Story | Missing in Syria debate: Weighing the ethics of war
• Story | Typically divided California politicians united in view on Syrian strike
• On the Web | More Middle East coverage from McClatchy

By Lindsay Wise and Anita Kumar | McClatchy Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — International chemical weapons experts generally agree that the evidence presented Friday in an unclassified U.S. report about the alleged use of chemical weapons in Syria seems stronger than the faulty intelligence employed to justify the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
But doubts remain.
“There are lots of things that aren’t spelled out,” said Richard Guthrie, formerly project leader of the Chemical and Biological Warfare Project of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
For example, the report refers to intercepted communications among Syrian regime officials, Guthrie said, but it provides no transcripts.
“That’s the difficulty,” he said. “There’s still this problem of, ‘Trust us, we have more intelligence.’”
The Obama administration released the unclassified intelligence report in an effort to make its case for military intervention in Syria. The report said the government has “high confidence” that the Syrian regime carried out a poison gas attack in the Damascus suburbs on Aug. 21.
“High confidence” is the strongest position the U.S. intelligence community can take short of confirmation.
The four-page document relies on a wide variety of sources, from human intelligence and satellite images to social media and videos. It says satellites detected rocket launches from regime-controlled territory to neighborhoods where the chemical attacks reportedly occurred, and a “Syrian regime element” in the area prepared for the launch by utilizing gas masks.
The report also references intercepted communications involving a senior regime leader “who confirmed that chemical weapons were used by the regime on Aug. 21 and was concerned with the U.N. inspectors obtaining evidence.”
Gregory D. Koblentz, an expert in weapons of mass destruction at the Council on Foreign Relations, said similar declassified documents were released by the United States in 1998 before the bombing of Iraq – an attack by the U.S. and Great Britain over Iraq’s failure to comply with United Nations weapons inspections – and in 2003 prior to the invasion of Iraq.
The intelligence in this situation looks different than 2003 because the U.S. knows that weapons were used and the information is coming from multiple sources, Koblentz said.
“The evidence looks to be pretty ironclad,” he said.
But Koblentz cautioned that it’s difficult to evaluate the strength of the evidence that would determine Assad’s direct responsibility for the attacks.
“Establishing a chain of command; that’s the more difficult thing,” he said.
Greg Thielmann, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Arms Control Association, was a vocal critic of the faulty intelligence used to justify the Iraq war. This time, however, he said he was convinced by the evidence as presented in Friday’s report.
“I’m actually quite impressed at the transparency of the case as it’s laid out,” Thielmann said. “So while one sees a lot of similarities with the Iraq WMD (weapons of mass destruction) fiasco, I feel much differently about the conclusions in this case than I did at the time when I was dissenting (about Iraq).”
“All kinds of warning lights went off before and they’re not going off now,” Thielmann said.
Thielmann said the intercepts of Syrian military commanders’ conversations and information about the timing and location of rocket launches on the day of the attacks were “very damning.”
“The intelligence community has undertaken some important reforms” since 2003, he said. “And the Obama administration is so obviously reluctant to engage militarily in the Middle East that that makes the end assessment much more creditable.”
But another leading chemical weapons expert pointed out that many elements in the report are short on confirmation.
Jean Pascal Zanders, a leading expert on chemical weapons who until recently was a senior research fellow at the European Union’s Institute for Security Studies, said in an email from France that he was surprised by the report’s death toll figure of 1,429, a number much higher than the several hundred estimated by humanitarian organizations, such as Doctors Without Borders.
“Not that it is impossible, but because it coincides with the higher range cited by insurgent sources,” Zanders said.
Zanders said he also was surprised about the revelation that the U.S. had collected intelligence from multiple sources in the three days prior to the attack that showed Syrian weapons personnel were preparing chemical munitions.
“Was this something the U.S. had in real time or did it get it (and) appreciate its significance after the attacks?” he said. “If not, then my question is why the Obama administration did not issue a public warning to deter the attack?”
At least one former chemical weapons inspector who was involved in gathering intelligence in Iraq 10 years ago saw more similarities to 2003 than differences.
The inspector, who requested anonymity to speak freely, said that reading the unclassified U.S. intelligence report on Friday gave him a sense of deja vu. He said the lack of information about a specific chemical agent could indicate that the administration lacks forensic evidence.
“A lot of this seems circumstantial,” he said. “This document is written by the choir for the choir to preach to the choir.”

Email: lwise@mcclatchydc.com, akumar@mcclatchydc.com; Twitter: @lindsaywise, @anitakumar01

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/08/30/200931/chemical-weapons-experts-weigh.html#emlnl=Daily_News_Update#storylink=cpy

"I'm sorry for how the church treated you"

A Christian group shows up to a Chicago Gay Pride parade holding apologetic signs including:

"I'm sorry for how the church treated you".

 

This is an amazing photo that captured the moment a gay man hugged a member of a Christian group, that came to Gay Pride to apologize for the way the church has treated homosexuals. It’s nice to see people of faith have common sense enough to know that hate and prejudice is wrong. A step in the right direction towards equality and something everyone should learn from. THIS is the kind of compassion that religion teaches, but far too often doesn’t follow. Well done.

 

This is what humanity should be doing, regardless of differences!

 

 

It is time to get it!

 

It's about love, not judgement!

 

(http://www.practikel.com/2012/01/27/christian-group-shows-up-to-chicago-gay-pride-holding-apologetic-signs/)

Syrian rebels and local residents testify that Saudi intelligence chief, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, supplied chemical weapons to 'al-Qaeda-linked group'

Syrian rebels and local residents testify that Saudi intelligence chief, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, supplied chemical weapons to 'al-Qaeda-linked group'

Dale Gavlak and Yahya Ababneh
MintPress News
2013-08-29 11:59:00

Rebels and local residents in Ghouta accuse Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan of providing chemical weapons to an al-Qaida linked rebel group

Ghouta, Syria - As the machinery for a U.S.-led military intervention in Syria gathers pace following last week's chemical weapons attack, the U.S. and its allies may be targeting the wrong culprit.

Interviews with people in Damascus and Ghouta, a suburb of the Syrian capital, where the humanitarian agency Doctors Without Borders said at least 355 people had died last week from what it believed to be a neurotoxic agent, appear to indicate as much.

The U.S., Britain, and France as well as the Arab League have accused the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for carrying out the chemical weapons attack, which mainly targeted civilians. U.S. warships are stationed in the Mediterranean Sea to launch military strikes against Syria in punishment for carrying out a massive chemical weapons attack. The U.S. and others are not interested in examining any contrary evidence, with U.S Secretary of State John Kerry saying Monday that Assad's guilt was "a judgment ... already clear to the world."

Saudi snake, Prince Bandar, tried first to bribe Russia to drop its support of Syria, then threatened to unleash Chechen terrorists at 2014 Winter Olympics

Saudi snake, Prince Bandar, tried first to bribe Russia to drop its support of Syria, then threatened to unleash Chechen terrorists at 2014 Winter Olympics

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
The Age
2013-08-27 08:12:00

Saudi Arabia has secretly offered Russia a sweeping deal to control the global oil market and safeguard Russia's gas contracts, if the Kremlin backs away from the Assad regime in Syria.

The revelations come amid high tension in the Middle East, with US, British, and French warships poised for missile strikes against Syria, and Iran threatening to retaliate. The strategic jitters pushed Brent crude prices to a five-month high of $US112 a barrel.

''We are only one incident away from a serious oil spike. The market is a lot tighter than people think,'' said Chris Skrebowski, editor of Petroleum Review.

Leaked transcripts of a behind closed doors meeting between Russia's Vladimir Putin and Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan shed an extraordinary light on the hard-nosed Realpolitik of the two sides.

New Jersey court rules texting a driver creates liability

New Jersey court rules texting a driver creates liability
G. Redd at 7:36 AM ET

[JURIST] The New Jersey Superior Court [official website] ruled [opinion, PDF] Tuesday that knowingly sending a text message to someone who is behind the wheel creates liability for any causes of action that result from a potential collision. Previously, liability was only assigned to the driver that was texting. Defendant Shannon Colonna was sued for texting a driver who collided with a motorcyle less than 10 seconds after responding to her message. The trial court dismissed [Bloomberg report] the plaintiff's theory of proximate cause, aiding and abetting illegal activity and joint liability against Colonna in a summary judgment. However, the plaintiffs appealed and the appellate court validated all of the theories of liability against her as trial-worthy arguments. However, the court found that the plaintiffs did not procure enough evidence to indicate that Colonna knew or had special reason to know that the recipient of her message was driving, and thus again dismissed the case for her liability:

[W]e also reject defendant's argument that a sender of text messages never has a duty to avoid texting to a person driving a vehicle. We conclude that a person sending text messages has a duty not to text someone who is driving if the texter knows, or has special reason to know, the recipient will view the text while driving.

In response to this crash and several others, the New Jersey legislature enacted the Kulesh, Kubert, and Bolis Law [press release] to increase penalties [text, PDF] for those drivers who cause injury while texting. Those texting the guilty drivers will be liable for all subsequent causes of action. Texting while driving has been criminalized in varying degrees in 47 states [GHSA summary] since 2007. Likewise, the federal government banned texting [JURIST report] for commercial drivers and federal employees in 2010. The government website Distraction.gov [official website] tracks research and data results related to cell phone use while driving and provides access to state developments in penalties for related occurrences. That site features access to a documentary [Huffington Post report] released this month that reviews the relative dangers caused by distracted driving.

Saudi Arabia criminalizes domestic violence

Saudi Arabia criminalizes domestic violence
Sung Un Kim at 9:27 AM ET

[JURIST] Saudi Arabia's cabinet on Monday passed a new law that would criminalize different forms of abuse at home and in workplace. Offenders may be imprisoned [Saudi Gazette report] for a term ranging from one month to a year or fines between 5,000 and 50,000 Saudi riyals (USD $1,300 to $13,333). For repeat offenders, penalties may be doubled. The new law also requires third parties knowledgeable about any violations to report to authorities. In addition to criminal sanctions, the law will also provide psychological, social and health care assistance to the victims. Domestic violence has been considered a private matter in Saudi Arabia [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive]. While human rights activists praised the recent move, some are concerned about the issue of enforcement. Women in Saudi Arabia are still subject to male guardians who may be the offenders. Thus, without the reporting of male guardians, women might not be able to benefit from the new law. Moreover, law enforcement and courts have to be trained to implement and enforce the law successfully. Saudi Arabia has been criticized for its human rights record. In July a Saudi Arabia court sentenced [JURIST report] the editor of a liberal website to seven years in prison and 600 lashes after finding him guilty of "founding an Internet forum that violates Islamic values and propagates liberal thought." In June Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] urged [JURIST report] the EU's High Representative and other EU member states' representatives to condemn Saudi Arabia for convicting seven governmental critics of inciting protests through Facebook. Last December HRW pressed [JURIST report] Saudi Arabia to dismiss the criminal case against Raif Badawi. Earlier, in August, several international human rights groups sent a letter [JURIST report] to the Saudi Ministry of Justice seeking to observe the trials of four rights activists who faced charges of defaming the country's reputation, supporting international human rights groups and sparking demonstrations against the government.

Colombia high court rules peace law constitutional

Colombia high court rules peace law constitutional
Lauren Laing at 11:28 AM ET

[JURIST] The Colombian Constitutional Court [official website, in Spanish] ruled [press release, PDF] 7-2 Wednesday that a law providing reduced penalties for rebels who confess crimes related to their membership in illegal armed groups is constitutional. The bill, known as "Justice and Peace," was challenged by rights activists who claimed that by granting judicial pardons to rebels, it is "contrary to the State's duty to investigate and punish crimes, especially main violations of human rights" and that its measures to satisfy victim's rights are inadequate. In its reasoning, the court analyzed the bill's balance between the pursuit of peace and the rights of victims. In a press release, the court said, "Therefore, the State had the authority to provide reasonable transitional instruments, justified and proportionate, even limiting other constitutional guarantees, in order to achieve peace." The decision was announced the same evening that Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos [official profile, in Spanish] announced his government's readiness to begin peace talks with the National Liberation Army (ELN) [BBC backgrounder], the country's second largest left-wing rebel group. In July Santos intervened [press release, in Spanish] in the public hearing of the Constitutional Court to defend the Framework for Peace [JURIST report], a proposed constitutional amendment that brought about peace talks with the FARC [BBC backgrounder] and ELN. The country has been plagued by an internal war with these rebel groups for the past five decades, and the president defended the amendment as the best chance for peace. Rights groups, including the Colombian Commission of Jurists (CCJ) [advocacy website], challenged the amendment because it vests the parliament with the discretion to decide which acts of war are applicable to the justice system.

US transfers Guantanamo detainees to Algeria

US transfers Guantanamo detainees to Algeria
Laura Klein Mullen at 3:36 PM ET

[JURIST] The US Department of Defense (DOD) [official website] on Thursday announced the transfer [press release] of two Guantanamo Bay [JURIST backgrounder] detainees to their home country of Algeria. The two men, Nabil Said Hadjarab and Mutia Sadiq Ahmad Sayyab [Guardian report], are the first to be released from the detention center in over a year and are reported to have been participating in a hunger strike at the prison. The prisoners had been detained since 2001 and 2002, respectively, and had been approved for the release for several years, but their case was delayed because it was a challenge to find a place [WP report] that was willing or able to accept them. It is unclear whether the Algerian government will allow the men to go free or will choose to detain them. The Algerian government has ensured the US that it will not mistreat the prisoners. There are currently 164 detainees at Guantanamo Bay, 37 of whom are participating in a hunger strike. Eighty-six of the detainees have been approved for release, and the Obama administration has expressed a commitment to taking steps towards releasing those prisoners, but fears that transferring them could result in former prisoners becoming more militant, or being subjected to punishment in their home countries. In June a federal judge called on members of Congress and President Barack Obama [official website] to give serious consideration to formulating a different approach [JURIST report] for the handling of Guantanamo detainee cases. Just days prior Obama had appointed [JURIST report] Clifford Sloan to be the new envoy in charge of closing Guantanamo. The appointment followed a speech [JURIST report] Obama made in May that outlined US counterterrorism policy and efforts. In his speech, he detailed the steps needed to get prisoners out of Guantanamo but cautioned that he cannot close the facility on his own. In contrast, the House Armed Services Committee [official website] approved [JURIST report] the 2014 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) [HR 1960, PDF] in early June, which allocates more than 200 million dollars to keep the detention center open.

Misplaced priorities!

Cory Booker Gives The Most Perfect Response To Questions About His Sexuality

First of all, this is the ridiculousness of this point. The question should not be whether you’re gay or straight, but the question should be, why are you asking the question in the first place?….The point I’m getting the chance to make right now — and I really, really want to drive this home —  is that we need to stop in America talking abut anybody in a public realm, besides what is important: the content of their character, the quality of their ideas, the courage within their hearts to serve others. Here we have an opponent trying to say god awful things, literally saying, I believe a guy should be a guy. Almost like saying you are not a man if you’re gay. That is so extreme. Let’s shine lights on this for a second and understand that my father taught me what manhood is about. And it’s not about whether you play football or enjoyed badminton. Being a man is about love. About kindness to others. About standing up for what’s right, about doing what’s important to do in the unfinished business of America.”

– Cory Booker preaching the gospel truth on All In with Chris Hayes regarding his U.S. Senate opponent Steve Lonegan’s homophobic, boneheaded comments regarding Booker’s sexuality.

Full story here: http://www.queerty.com/cory-booker-addresses-his-sexuality-by-refusing-to-address-his-sexuality-20130830/#ixzz2dUAUUNOC

Gay history month 2013 icons announced

Gay history month 2013 icons announced

by Mike Martinez

Equality Forum announced the 31 Icons for LGBT History Month 2013. The 2013 website is online at http://www.lgbtHistoryMonth.com. “In its 8th year, there are 248 Icons with resources archived on the site, making LGBT History Month the free go-to site for LGBT role models, civil rights history, and our national and international impact,” stated Malcolm Lazin, Executive […]

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Married same-sex couples still ineligible for [US-]veterans benefits

Married same-sex couples still ineligible for veterans benefits
The Department of Veterans Affairs can't extend spousal benefits to former military service members because federal rules that determine veterans' eligibility for benefits define "spouse" as a person of the opposite sex, according to VA Secretary Eric Shinseki. The VA is working with the Department of Justice to determine whether the rules are constitutional in light of the Supreme Court ruling that struck down parts of the Defense of Marriage Act, Shinseki wrote in a letter. Washington Blade (Washington, D.C.)

Kerry Lays Out Evidence of Chemical Attack by Syria

Kerry Lays Out Evidence of Chemical Attack by Syria

Secretary of State John Kerry said on Friday there is “clear” and “compelling” evidence that the government of President Bashar al-Assad used poison gas against its citizens, as the Obama administration released an unclassified intelligence report on the use of chemical weapons in Syria.

“Read for yourselves the evidence from thousands of sources,” Mr. Kerry said. “This is the indiscriminate, inconceivable horror of chemical weapons. This is what Assad did to his own people.”

Mr. Kerry said that more than 1,400 people were killed in the chemical attack, including more than 400 children.

READ MORE » http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/31/world/middleeast/john-kerry-syria.html?emc=edit_na_20130830

CNN Caught Staging News Segments on Syria With Actors

CNN Caught Staging News Segments on Syria With Actors

CONTRIBUTOR: Intellihub. Anderson Cooper and CNN have been caught staging fake news about Syria to justify military intervention. Photo: Wikimedia Commons By JG Vibes Intellihub.comAugust 30, 2013 The primary “witness” that the mainstream media is using as a source in Syria has been caught staging fake news segments.  Recent video evidence proves...

Syrian Rebels Admit Chemical Attack Responsibility To Associated Press Reporter

Syrian Rebels Admit Chemical Attack Responsibility To Associated Press Reporter (Video) (video)

CONTRIBUTOR: Live Free or Die. The lies being told by US government agencies and the mainstream media over in Syria continue to unravel as a Free Syrian Army Rebel has come out and admitted to the Associated Press that the rebels were responsible for the chemical attack in Syria blamed upon Syrian government forces. If...

Why The U.S. Is Building A High-Tech Bubonic Plague Lab In Kazakhstan

Why The U.S. Is Building A High-Tech Bubonic Plague Lab In Kazakhstan

CONTRIBUTOR: Mort Amsel. ...Today, biologists who worked in the former Soviet Union—like those who responded to a case of the plague across the border in Kyrgyzstan this week—are likely to brush Alibek’s fears aside. But they’ll also tell you that the fall of the Soviet Union devastated their profession, leaving some once...

Russia Sends Warships To Syria!! WW3 Looming?

Russia Sends Warships To Syria!! WW3 Looming? (Video)

CONTRIBUTOR: Wake up America. By Susana Duclos Russia is sending an anti-submarine ship and a missile cruiser to the Mediterranean, as the U.S. ratchets up the threats to attack Syria, according to Russian news agency Interfax. Russia's Interfax news agency quoted a source in the armed forces' general staff, saying the warships would arrive...

Safe Harbor May Be Controversial in the European Union, But It Is Still the Law

inShare

August 27, 2013

By Damon Greer
Amid the rancor erupting from the subnational data protection authorities and the German federal data protection authority over Edward Snowden’s revelations about the National Security Agency’s PRISM program and Internet interceptions, Safe Harbor has become a target for retribution. Jan Albrecht, the rapporteur for the EU’s once-and-future data protection regulation that promises to offer prescriptive measures to protect data and perhaps stifle innovation, called for Safe Harbor’s demise following entering into force of the regulation. The Article 29 Working Party opines that Safe Harbor may not provide the degree of protection—and really never did—that was expected when the European Parliament, the European Council and the European Commission (EC) approved the adequacy finding in July 2000. Still, one fact remains salient to the debate over the future or past of Safe Harbor as a legitimate tool for cross-border data transfers to the United States. The framework is legally binding on all member states in the EU and the three EEA countries, Norway, Iceland and Lichtenstein. No individual body may opt out of the agreement.
In the U.S., any organization that certifies compliance to the framework—Safe Harbor privacy principles and FAQs—is legally bound to adhere to its public commitments. Compliance is assured by third-party dispute-resolution bodies that include the European Union’s dispute resolution body—set up by the commission and the Working Party—and the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Transportation’s Office of General Counsel.
Safe Harbor was negotiated to meet the cross-border data-transfer requirements of the EU’s Data Protection Directive, 95/46/EC, and to permit uninterrupted flows of personal data to the U.S. for commercial purposes. Safe Harbor is not perfect. It does not cover all sectors of the U.S. economy. Financial services and telecommunications are noted for their absence from the framework’s scope. In the early years of Safe Harbor’s existence, membership growth was tortuously slow—in 2004, only 440 companies were members—and enforcement was perceived by the commission and the Working Party to be nonexistent. Today, more than 4,000 are members, and 70 new applications are received each month. Acceleration began in 2007 and continues in part because of a heightened awareness of the importance of privacy globally among the business community and the concomitant need that governmental bodies recognize among their citizens to protect what is viewed as a fundamental right by many.
With the advent of the EU-U.S. Free Trade negotiations, it is certain that the draft regulation that updates and replaces the 1995 directive will be critical to the success of the negotiations. Is it a non-tariff trade barrier that singles out U.S. global companies or is it a measure that should be broadly recognized globally as a meaningful tool to protect fundamental rights? I can tell you the U.S. side will view a more prescriptive regulation as a non-tariff trade barrier, which, with tariffs averaging only three percent on goods exported to the U.S., will be more critical to negotiations than in lowering tariffs further.
When I served as director of the EU-U.S. and Swiss Safe Harbor Frameworks, in a meeting with Jacob Kohnstamm in 2010 in Brussels, I had proposed expanding the Safe Harbor principles to include accountability and purpose limitation as a means of making the framework more compatible with the discussions of what to include in the new regulation or directive. I also suggested that we could jointly fund a third-party study to ascertain what level of compliance is actually achieved by those entities that had "self-certified" to the Safe Harbor principles. I would note that no official EC implementation review has been completed or published since the 2004 review was released. In December 2010, we were informed by the secretariat to the Working Party that a draft implementation review had been completed and was awaiting internal approval before it would be shared with us and then released, hopefully in February 2011. It never was approved. In May 2011, the director general for justice met with senior level commerce officials to discuss, inter alia, Safe Harbor. At the meeting, the director general for justice presented an “unofficial” copy of the review’s executive summary, which indicated that the program was functioning well but improvements could be made in several areas including transatlantic communications. At that time, it was expected that the review would be released that autumn. It was not.
On the U.S. side, policy leaders led by the NTIA and White House were opposed to any discussions on modernizing Safe Harbor, and the legal community inferentially welcomed new rules because they would eventually lead to new business—notwithstanding the effectiveness of new data protection regulations in affording enhanced protection to EU citizens or how the new rules would be implemented and enforced.
The NSA’s domestic intelligence surveillance programs are linked irrevocably to the country’s security. Safe Harbor is a framework designed to protect EU citizens’ personal data that is legitimately collected by organizations for processing and use in the United States. Data controllers in Europe that collaborate with Safe Harbor-certified entities have legal obligations to their clients before engaging in any cross border transfer activity. It makes no difference if they use standard contractual clauses, binding corporate rules, Safe Harbor or any of the derogations in Article 26 of the directive, their fiduciary responsibilities are clear, as the Working Party has made abundantly clear over the years.
The distain the EU data protection community has for Safe Harbor today is not so much attributed to concern over citizens’ fundamental rights as it is over the dominance U.S. multinationals have of the high technology sector in Europe and the U.S. Our legal framework is not theirs, they do not understand ours, or choose not to listen when our system is explained and belittle the efforts made by all parties to achieve compromises between the U.S. and the EU.
The EU's practice of awarding adequacy seemingly based only on a national data protection law coupled with an independent data protection enforcement authority does not extend practical protection to other nations' citizens uniformly. The EU model does not work for every nation in the world. I sometimes wonder at the naïveté of the legal community when they view data protection rules in Russia and China as a sign of those countries' efforts to join the global data protection community.
Next year, the EU will hold parliamentary elections. Next June, the mandate to reform the data protection directive will expire if no progress to solving the myriad differences is achieved. It remains to be seen which direction the EU will follow if this scenario plays out.
Damon Greer served as the director of the EU-U.S. and Swiss Safe Harbor Frameworks from July 2006 through September 2011. He negotiated the U.S.-Swiss Safe Harbor Framework, organized and participated in four EU-U.S. Joint Safe Harbor conferences and numerous other events designed to educate audiences about Safe Harbor benefits. He can be reached at dcgreer@verizon.net.