Television news reports are casting new light on the violence that flourished in New Orleans in the anarchic days after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
The reports -- broadcast Thursday by WTAE TV in Pittsburgh [1] and WDSU in New Orleans [2] -- focus on two unsolved crimes: the near-fatal shooting of Donnell Herrington, who was allegedly attacked by a group of white vigilantes in the Algiers Point
America is at a turning point. How we will come to terms with the government abuses unleashed in the aftermath of 9/11 is a historic test of our highest principles. Are we a nation of laws? Will we stand by our commitment to the rule of law over the tyranny of state-sanctioned brutality?
Maryland's particularly powerful congressional delegation in Washington can be pivotal as the nation chooses how to proceed. And, of course, members of Congress will more likely rise to the occasion if they hear from the public they represent.
Scott Roeder, the anti-abortion zealot
charged with killing Dr. George Tiller, has been busy. He called the
Associated Press from the Sedgwick County Jail in Kansas, saying, "I
know there are many other similar events planned around the country as
long as abortion remains legal." Charged with first-degree murder and
aggravated assault, he is expected to be arraigned July 28. AP recently
reported that Roeder has been proclaiming from his jail cell that the
killing of abortion providers is justified. According to the report,
the Rev.
Spencer Ackerman yesterday attended a Senate hearing at which the DOD's General Counsel, Jeh Johnson, testified. As
Ackerman highlighted, Johnson actually said that even for those detainees to whom the Obama administration deigns to give a real trial in a real court, the President has the power
to continue to imprison them indefinitely even if they are acquitted at their trial. About this assertion of "presidential post-acquittal detention power" -- a
Editor’s Note: Prior to giving a series of talks in Texas later this
week, the author offered the following op-ed to the Dallas Morning
News and the Fort-Worth Star-Telegram. Both newspapers in George W.
Bush’s home state turned it down.
Seldom does a crime scene have so clear a smoking gun. A two-page
presidential memorandum of Feb. 7, 2002, leaves no room for
uncertainty regarding the “decider” on torture. His broad-stroke
signature made torture official policy.
SAN FRANCISCO - KBR Inc (KBR.N) said a U.S. appeals court ruling would help protect the company from civil lawsuits stemming from its work done under U.S. military logistics contracts.
The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last Tuesday that KBR could not be found negligent in the case of a U.S. Army sergeant severely brain-damaged when a KBR fuel tanker he was escorting in a military convoy crashed in Iraq in 2004.
Former Guantánamo detainee Binyam Mohamed has launched an urgent legal attempt to prevent the US courts from destroying crucial evidence that he says proves he was abused while being held at the detention camp, the Guardian has learned. The evidence is said to consist of a photograph of Mohamed, a British resident, taken after he was severely beaten by guards at the US navy base in Cuba.
The image, now held by the Pentagon, had been put on his cell door, he says.
Create jobs. End the recession. Save the environment. What else can
transforming our fossil fuel economy to a clean energy economy do? How
about create unprecedented employment opportunities for women? Readers
of Linda Hirshman’s recent New York Times editorial may think
this is a dubious claim. She sparked a debate over the gender bias in
Obama’s stimulus plan by asking, “Where are the new jobs for women?”
She makes a good point. Transitioning to a clean-energy economy has the
makings of a decent jobs program.
In late May, I went to Georgia, where I met with Troy Anthony Davis on
Death Row. He has been there for eighteen years, and I wanted to speak with
him. I came away convinced that he represents the most compelling case
of innocence in decades.
My name is Ezra Nawi. I am a Jewish citizen of Israel.
