Authorities report rise in threats against members of Congress

By GottaLaff

The Cleaver "spitting incident"

Disturbing, to say the least:

Federal law enforcement and Congressional authorities are reporting a large increase in threats against lawmakers, a law enforcement official tells CNN. The officials said the spike in threats began around the debate over health care reform.

Since October, 50 threats against members of Congress have been reported to the FBI, said the official, who spoke only on the condition of anonymity. In the previous year, less than 20 were reported to federal law enforcement authorities. When threats are received by lawmakers, the U.S. Capitol Police and in some cases, the FBI, investigate.

Members of the House and Senate reported nearly three times as many threats in the first three months of this year, compared to the last three months of 2009, Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Terrance Gainer told The Washington Post.

When you have someone like Barbie McCrossHairs inciting a frenzied crowd, using rifle sites on maps, bellowing buzz words like "reload", this is bound to happen.

When you have Tea Tantrumers packing heat, flailing about with hostile, hate-filled signage, and shouting slurs/spitting on Congress members, this is bound to happen.

When you have an entire network, ClusterFox, filled with hate-spewing hosts who preach lies, hostility, and encourage violence, this is bound to happen.

Here's an idea: The GOP should get in front of the cameras every single day in a sincere attempt to talk these loons down, demand that they cease and desist, demand that they halt the threats and terrorism, and then :: gasp!:: set an example by you know, doing.

Then maybe... maybe... we might see a glimmer of safe.

VIDEO: Hate Obama? There's a sign for that. Plus, death threats for Congress members.

By GottaLaff



Rather than do several posts on the level of hate in this country these days, one will be enough. A veritable combo plate of vile spew and threatening words.

Have yourself a heaping pot of hostility stew (click on image to enlarge):

An anonymous conservative group has set up a website where, for $2,500 to $3,500, Obama haters can grab a billboard adorned with a cartoon image of Obama’s face and a vitriolic message.

How nice of them to share their "personal" feelings.

So far, the nameless head of the group says their Web site has received more than 1,800 hits and that contributions that go toward paying for the billboards.

Add a dash of death threats to the hostility stew:

U.S. Rep. John Dingell (D-Dearborn) says in the aftermath of passing health care reform, he and members of his staff have been getting death threats so serious, he has contacted the FBI.

“They’ve been very nasty," the 83-year-old congressman tells The Monroe Evening News.

Not sure I've ever heard of a death threat that isn't nasty. Hence, stir carefully.

And now, add an extra splash of extremist nutcase letters:

Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter is among state leaders across the country receiving threatening letters from an extremist group. [...]

As of Wednesday, more than 30 governors had received letters saying if they don't leave office within three days they will be removed, according to an internal intelligence note by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security.

Threats beget more threats. Threats beget violence. Violence begets more violence:

The FBI is warning police across the country that an anti-government group's call to remove governors from office could provoke violence by others.

Allowing to simmer for several days, weeks, or months calls for a warning: Do not bring to a boil.

That could end in a disaster.

VIDEO: FBI raids counties tied to Michigan militia group

By GottaLaff

Remember that Department of Homeland Security report that warned us about extremists?

So do I:

The violent right, however, is a particularly difficult problem for law enforcement. Since the early 1990s, the movement's theorists have promulgated the concept of the "unorganized resistance" conducted by "lone wolves." It's a tactic meant to prevent believers from joining organizations that undercover law enforcement agents might infiltrate. Adherents are urged to keep to themselves, to use the Internet to inform themselves and to avoid rallies where they might be photographed. They're also urged to act on their own.

At the same time, American extremists have the benefit of our lax gun laws. In most countries, would-be terrorists need to join groups in order to secure arms. Here, they can buy them by the carload at a nearby gun store. The NRA is the lone wolves' best friend.

All my previous posts on the report can be found here.

With that in mind, check out the not-Muslim, not-foreigners who are being raided:

The FBI conducted raids Saturday night in Washtenaw County and Lenawee County in an investigation involving members of Hutaree, a Christian-oriented militia group based in Lenawee County, AnnArbor.com has learned.

Other areas have been raided, too, but it is not clear if they are related. The Department of Homeland Security and the Joint Terrorism Task Force are all involved in the raids, and several arrests have been made.



Not a very comforting report, is it?

Once again, we are reminded of the 1990s, Waco, and Tim McVeigh. The climate is unsettling, and the language used by Tea Baggers, Republicans, and even our own Congress members is not helping. Nor are the attacks, both physical and verbal.

We need to hang on to reason and conversation. A lot of citizens are feeling very threatened, whether it's their fear of becoming a white minority, or genuine concerns about financial burdens, taxes, health care, the list goes on.

Whatever the issues are, violence is not the answer. The media and our government officials need to step forward and take the lead in strong denunciation of the irrational actions and words that have become all too prevalent of late.

FBI broke law for years in phone record searches

By GottaLaff

Under whose watch again?

The FBI illegally collected more than 2,000 U.S. telephone call records between 2002 and 2006 by invoking terrorism emergencies that did not exist or simply persuading phone companies to provide records, according to internal bureau memos and interviews. FBI officials issued approvals after the fact to justify their actions.

E-mails obtained by The Washington Post detail how counterterrorism officials inside FBI headquarters did not follow their own procedures that were put in place to protect civil liberties. The stream of urgent requests for phone records also overwhelmed the FBI communications analysis unit with work that ultimately was not connected to imminent threats.

A Justice Department inspector general's report due out this month is expected to conclude that the FBI frequently violated the law with its emergency requests, bureau officials confirmed.

There's a whole lot more here.

The GOP is afraid of Dawn Johnsen. I bet she'd be all over this.

The real reason for their vehement opposition is that Johnsen is committed to overturning the Bush administration’s policies on torture and warrantless surveillance that would clip the wings of the imperial presidency.

As for today's DoJ, the ones who made it in:

A Justice Department inspector general's report due out this month is expected to conclude that the FBI frequently violated the law with its emergency requests, bureau officials confirmed.

I'm all a-flutter.

PhotOh! Osama bin Laden: Metrosexual

By GottaLaff

Thug mug:

Will the real Osama bin Laden please stand up:

The FBI and the State Department, which administers the international rewards program called Rewards for Justice, said the enhanced photos were created by forensic artists at the FBI's crime laboratory in Quantico, Virginia.

It's the fashion risk all the terrorists are taking these days. It's so... him.

Dep't. of Justice Press Release: U.S. Charges Suspect in Attempted Terrorist Attack on Plane

By GottaLaff

Here is theDoJ press release in its entirety, courtesy of the FBI:

A 23-year-old Nigerian man was charged in a federal criminal complaint today with attempting to destroy a Northwest Airlines aircraft on its final approach to Detroit Metropolitan Airport on Christmas Day and with placing a destructive device on the aircraft.

According to an affidavit filed in support of the criminal complaint, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, a Nigerian national, boarded Northwest Flight 253 in Amsterdam, Netherlands on December 24, 2009 and had a device attached to his body. As the flight was approaching Detroit Metropolitan Airport, Abdulmutallab set off the device, which resulted in a fire and what appears to have been an explosion. Abdulmutallab was then subdued and restrained by the passengers and flight crew. The airplane landed shortly thereafter, and he was taken into custody by Customs and Border Patrol officers.

A preliminary FBI analysis found that the device contained PETN, also known as pentaerythritol, a high explosive. Further analysis is ongoing. In addition, FBI agents recovered what appear to be the remnants of the syringe from the vicinity of Abdulmutallab’s seat, believed to have been part of the device.

“This alleged attack on a U.S. airplane on Christmas Day shows that we must remain vigilant in the fight against terrorism at all times,” Attorney General Eric Holder said. “Had this alleged plot to destroy an airplane been successful, scores of innocent people would have been killed or injured. We will continue to investigate this matter vigorously, and we will use all measures available to our government to ensure that anyone responsible for this attempted attack is brought to justice

Abdulmutallab required medical treatment and was transported to the University of Michigan Medical Center after the plane landed. He will make his initial court appearance later today.

Interviews of all of the passengers and crew of Flight 253 revealed that prior to the incident, Abdulmutallab went to the bathroom for approximately 20 minutes, according to the affidavit. Upon returning to his seat, Abdulmutallab stated that his stomach was upset, and he pulled a blanket over himself. Passengers then heard popping noises similar to firecrackers, smelled an odor, and some observed Abdulmutallab’s pants leg and the wall of the airplane on fire. Passengers and crew then subdued Abdulmutallab and used blankets and fire extinguishers to put out the flames. Passengers reported that Abdulmutallab was calm and lucid throughout. One flight attendant asked him what he had had in his pocket, and he replied “explosive device.”

These prosecutions are being handled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan, with assistance from the Counterterrorism Section of the Justice Department’s National Security Division.

The investigation is being conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and the Joint Terrorism Task Force. The public is reminded that criminal complaints contain mere allegations, and a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Now back to the Tee Vee Machine news dee jays' endless 24/7 speculation already in progress.

UPDATE: On CNN just now, they said something about someone giving this guy the device, and explaining how to use it, and off he went.

H/t: Jason Leopold

Sheriff Arpaio Watch: Activist's Letter of Disgust to Eric Holder's DOJ Investigators

By GottaLaff

Additional footage from KPHO's fine job on this is available: http://www.kpho.com/news/21470567/det...

If you are a victim of Sheriff Arpaio's harassment or abuse or any of his deputies call the FBI at 602 279-5511.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona has been bringing prosecutions against political enemies, and now a judge. Why? Because he didn't like the way he ruled. No, I'm not kidding.

Sheriff Joe is bananas. And dangerous.

And now one activist is wondering why our own Justice Department has been so negligent:

Like a lot of anti-Arpaio activists in town, videographer Dennis Gilman has been helping the U.S. Department of Justice gather evidence of abuse of power and racial profiling by the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office. [...] But like many who've been patiently waiting for the feds to act, he's fed up with their dithering.

And so he wrote a letter. Here it is, in part. Please go read the whole thing, because I left out a lot:

Dear Department of Justice,

I cannot express how disappointed people I speak with are and how disillusioned I have become.

What once was hope that human rights would be a concern in this County has turned into a forgotten memory. [...]

How many more broken arms, women torn from their children, deaths in Arpaio's Jails will it take? Should we care? They are just poor people. They have no money or power. Many are used to the abuse. They will never cost you your careers. [...]

Former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias states there is more than enough evidence. But what could he possibly know? [Laffy Note: See video]

What is it really going to take? How many more Judges need to be harassed? How many will dare question the Almighty Sheriff or any actions of his deputies for fear they will not be allowed to conduct normal court business? (Look it up. If you think I'm exaggerating I'll prove you wrong in a heartbeat). [...]

How many politicians do you think will speak up against the abuse when to do so surely means they will be investigated, indicted, harassed and have their lives turned into a living hell and their careers ruined at a minimum? How many more of us have to wind up in jail while you desert us here?

Who is in charge? The FBI, DOJ, Obama or Arpaio? [...]

I can tell you in no uncertain terms that many activists are abandoning any hope of conventional justice and turning to the Anarchist movement in alarming numbers in this area.I can no longer try to convince them they should work with you or the FBI.[...]

Arpaio's faithful followers have become more violent toward Day Laborers and those that speak out against Arpaio at the protests and on the streets. It's only a matter of time before blood will start spilling. [...]

Dennis Gilman

Truly unbelievable.

David Iglesias: "I can't believe this is happening in the United States."

H/t: Tiggrr1

Cheney Failed to Answer 72 FBI Questions

"Failed"? What a worthless p.o.s. More at the link.

(AP) Federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald famously declared in the Valerie Plame affair that "there is a cloud over the vice president." Last week's release of an FBI interview summary of Dick Cheney's answers in the criminal investigation underscores why Fitzgerald felt that way.

On 72 occasions, according to the 28-page FBI summary, Cheney equivocated to the FBI during his lengthy May 2004 interview, saying he could not be certain in his answers to questions about matters large and small in the Plame controversy.

(snip)

Among the most basic questions for Cheney in the Plame probe: How did Libby find out that the wife of Bush administration war critic Joseph Wilson worked at the CIA?

Libby's own handwritten notes suggest Libby found out from Cheney. When Libby discovered Cheney's reference to Plame and the CIA in his notes - notes that Libby knew he would soon have to turn over to the FBI - the chief of staff went to the vice president, probably in late September or early October 2003.

Sharing the information with Cheney was in itself an unusual step at the outset of a criminal investigation in which potential White House witnesses were being ordered by their superiors not to talk to each other about the Plame matter.

"It turns out that I have a note that I had heard about" Plame's CIA identity "from you," Libby says he told the vice president.

And what did Cheney say in response? Fitzgerald asked Libby in front of a federal grand jury six months later.

"He didn't say much," Libby replied. "You know, he said something about 'From me?' something like that, and tilted his head, something he does commonly, and that was that."

Cheney's version of the conversation, as related in the FBI interview summary?

Cheney "cannot recall Scooter Libby telling him how he first heard of Valerie Wilson. It is possible Libby may have learned about Valerie Wilson's employment from the vice president ... but the vice president has no specific recollection of such a conversation."

On another basic point, Cheney simply refused to answer.

Atty.: Oklahoma City Bomb Tapes Appear Edited

This is strange. Wonder how long before the Oklahomers start up?

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Long-secret security tapes showing the chaos immediately after the 1995 bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building are blank in the minutes before the blast and appear to have been edited, an attorney who obtained the recordings said Sunday.

"The real story is what's missing," said Jesse Trentadue, a Salt Lake City attorney who obtained the recordings through the federal Freedom of Information Act as part of an unofficial inquiry he is conducting into the April 19, 1995, bombing that killed 168 people and injured hundreds more.

(snip)

The tapes turned over by the FBI came from security cameras various companies had mounted outside office buildings near the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. They are blank at points before 9:02 a.m., when a truck bomb carrying a 4,000 pound fertilizer-and-fuel-oil bomb detonated in front of the building, Trentadue said.

"Four cameras in four different locations going blank at basically the same time on the morning of April 19, 1995. There ain't no such thing as a coincidence," Trentadue said.

He said government officials claim the security cameras did not record the minutes before the bombing because "they had run out of tape" or "the tape was being replaced."

"The interesting thing is they spring back on after 9:02," he said. "The absence of footage from these crucial time intervals is evidence that there is something there that the FBI doesn't want anybody to see."

A spokesman for the FBI in Oklahoma City, Gary Johnson, declined to comment and referred inquiries about the tapes to FBI officials in Washington, who were not immediately available for comment Sunday.

Added- Here's some of the tape from the AP.

Privacy Watch: Declassified Files Detail Massive FBI Data-Mining Project

By GottaLaff

While I was data-mining the Internets, I came across this:

A fast-growing FBI data-mining system billed as a tool for hunting terrorists is being used in hacker and domestic criminal investigations, and now contains tens of thousands of records from private corporate databases, including car-rental companies, large hotel chains and at least one national department store, declassified documents obtained by Wired.com show.

Headquartered in Crystal City, Virginia, just outside Washington, the FBI’s National Security Branch Analysis Center (NSAC) maintains a hodgepodge of data sets packed with more than 1.5 billion government and private-sector records about citizens and foreigners, the documents show, bringing the government closer than ever to implementing the “Total Information Awareness” system first dreamed up by the Pentagon in the days following the Sept. 11 attacks.

Such a system, if successful, would correlate data from scores of different sources to automatically identify terrorists and other threats before they could strike. The FBI is seeking to quadruple the known staff of the program.

But the proposal has long been criticized by privacy groups as ineffective and invasive. Critics say the new documents show that the government is proceeding with the plan in private, and without sufficient oversight.

Much, much more here.

H/t: Gr8RDH, mparent77772

Ex-FBI Agent: Still No Evidence That Cheney’s Torture Methods Work

By GottaLaff

Spencer Ackerman's piece includes a lot more information than I'm posting here, but the bolded red segment stood out to me:

If it’s first-hand accounts you want, then, here’s Mike Rolince. Rolince is a 31-year FBI veteran who retired from the bureau’s Washington, D.C., field office, where he worked on counterterrorism, in 2005. Both from experience in interrogations and from viewing the IG report, Rolince can’t believe that so-called “enhanced interrogation” techniques like waterboarding still have their defenders. “I’m just not a fan of them, and never have been a fan of them,” he told me. “I’ve never believed that it works, I don’t believe its been documented that it works, and I don’t believe we as a country should stoop to that, I don’t think we ought to be doing it. I just don’t think we need to do the untested, untrained and unreliable.”

Well, what then is tested, trained and reliable? “So many of these people are so uninformed when it comes to the capabilities of law enforcement and intelligence gathering,” he said, referring to torture advocates, some of whom — like Cheney — denigrate law enforcement approaches to counterterrorism. “What is it they think police officers and state troopers and [FBI] agents do successfully every day of the week? And have done for a hundred years? Investigations, interviews and interrogations.” The FBI’s track record of “confessions obtained [and] convictions obtained,” he said, speaks for itself.

Why doesn't Cheney support our law enforcement professionals?

Seriously, you know how I feel about this whole torture thing. I've written and written and written about it, and will continue to do that. This was a slightly different take, one I haven't read that often, if at all, and I had to share.

Meanwhile....

****************

All my previous posts on this subject matter can be found here; That link includes one specific to only Fayiz al-Kandari's story here. Here are audio and video interviews with Lt. Col. Wingard, one by David Shuster, one by Ana Marie Cox, and more. My guest commentary at BuzzFlash is here.

If you are inclined to help rectify these injustices: Twitterers, use the hashtag #FreeFayiz. We have organized a team to get these stories out. If you are interested in helping Fayiz out, e-mail me at The Political Carnival, address in sidebar to the right; or tweet me at @GottaLaff.

If you'd like to see other ways you can take action, go here and scroll down to the end of the article.

Then read Jane Mayer's book The Dark Side. You'll have a much greater understanding of why I post endlessly about this, and why I'm all over the CIA deception issues, too.

More of Fayiz's story here, at Answers.com.

Knock knock! Who's there? Secret Service. Joke over.

By GottaLaff

Watch what you say and what you write. This Live Journal entry is from 2004. The author had written a jokey prayer that read, "God, please take W?".

Knock knock:

A couple of weeks ago, following the last presidential debate, I said some rather inflammatory things about George W. Bush in a public post in my LJ, done in a satirical style. We laughed, we ranted, we all said some things. I thought it was a fairly harmless (and rather obvious) attempt at humor in the face of annoyance, and while a couple of people were offended, as is typical behavior from me, I saw something shiny and forgot about it, thinking that the whole thing was over and done and nothing else would come of what I said.

I was wrong.

At 9:45 last night, the Secret Service showed up on my mother's front door to talk to me about what I said about the President, as what I said could apparently be misconstrued as a threat to his life. After about ten minutes of talking to me and my family, they quickly came to the conclusion that I was not a threat to national security (mostly because we are the least threatening people in the entire world) and told me that they would not recommend that any further action be taken with my case. However, I do now have a file with the FBI that includes my photograph, my e-mail address, and the location of my LJ. This will follow me around for the rest of my life, regardless of the fact that the Secret Service knows that I am not a threat.

Now go read her advice.

Allow me a stream-of-consciousness reaction...

I'm not big on the Secret Service telling me what to say, but it goes without saying why they have to take these things so seriously.

Personally, I've always drawn the line at wishing death or harm on others. I've held to those standards whether it was during my Comedy Store/Improv days, teaching comedy to the kiddies. my private life, or during my angriest moments here at TPC...not because I might get snagged by the Secret Service, but because I've always found that kind of humor distasteful.

Yes, they're just words, but words count. That's how we communicate. Without them, we couldn't talk or write. They mean something, especially when uttered publicly.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not invalidating anyone's emotions, considering I have a few strong ones of my own that I have to keep in check from time to time.

But, speaking for myself, when it comes to wishing pain, suffering, or death on others, my little quips come to a screeching halt. Again, that's just me. I'm sure I've slipped from time to time, and I regret that, but as a rule, I steer clear of death humor.

I feel for the author of the Live Journal, she was throwing out a mild, casual joke, and she got a very rude awakening. I believe that was overkill on the part of the SS (no pun).

And just like her, I will continue to write what I feel, I will continue to voice my opinions and snark like a maniac... but I will be now be even more aware of how I express myself.

However, I have to admit, I'm glad Boy Georgie's not in office any more, or I'd have a much tougher time self-monitoring.

H/t: txvoodoo in response to this post.

Obama okays team to interrogate terrorists

By GottaLaff

Thank you, President Obama:

President Barack Obama has approved the establishment of a special unit of terrorist interrogators based out of the FBI, U.S. officials said Monday, confirming a report in the Washington Post.

The interagency High Value Detainee Interrogation Group will be overseen by the National Security Council and “draw on interrogators from defense, intelligence, and law enforcement,” a senior administration official said.

The State Department will also play a more prominent role in overseeing renditions of suspected terrorists to other countries for interrogation, the official added. The department will help ensure that suspected terrorists are not abused or tortured.

The decision to place the FBI in charge of the interrogation of suspected terrorists — as opposed to the Central Intelligence Agency — represents a major shift in U.S. national security policy. [...]

“The CIA didn’t want to house this initiative. They’re glad to be out of the long-term detention business,” a U.S. government official said.

More, via NPR:

The administration has also decided that all U.S. interrogators will follow the rules for detainees laid out by the Army Field Manual, according to senior administration officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the decision. That decision aims to end years of fierce debate over how rough U.S. personnel can get with terror suspects in custody.

The new unit does not mean the CIA is now out of the interrogation business, deputy White House press secretary Bill Burton told reporters covering the vacationing Obama at Oak Bluffs, Mass.

Lots of news breaking today. On to the next story....

UPDATE: Listening to Thom Hartmann Show right now, and this touting of the Army Field Manual as the golden standard should still be troubling to us. It would apparently still allow torture and mistreatment, Appendix M specifically, per Marjorie Cohn (MarjorieCohn.com).

Govt-Funded Reporter "Legally" Urged Lynching of Black Congresswoman

By GottaLaff

Hey, as long as you can justify it, threaten away, right? Good grief:

Former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney sent an Email around on Sunday in which she wrote:

"[I]t has just now come to my attention that a 'journalist' who suggested that I be lynched was actually being paid by our own government to say that. Now, when I reported it to the FBI, how in the world was I to know that he was at that time on the FBI's payroll?"

"Hate blogger" Hal Turner's lawyer said last week, and prosecutors agreed, that Turner was "trained by the FBI on how to be deliberately provocative" and "worked for the FBI from 2002 to 2007 as an 'agent provocateur' and was taught by the agency 'what he could say that wouldn't be crossing the line'."

Turner is being charged with making death threats against Connecticut legislators and Illinois judges and is apparently going to claim that his actions were legal because he did the same sort of thing when employed by the FBI:

"Prosecutors have acknowledged that Turner was an informant who spied on radical right-wing organizations, but the defense has said Turner was not working for the FBI when he allegedly made threats against Connecticut legislators and wrote that three federal judges in Illinois deserved to die. 'But if you compare anything that he did say when he was operating, there was no difference. No difference whatsoever,' [his lawyer] said."

[...]

McKinney wrote in her Email: "Interesting that charges stem from his comments against Connecticut lawmakers and Illinois judges, but not from the threat made against me, a sitting Member of Congress at the time!" And, apparently the threat against McKinney was made when Turner admits to having been on the FBI payroll.

John Judge, who worked for McKinney:

"This is the guy who announced a program topic suggesting that Cynthia McKinney be lynched on her way to the polls to vote in 2006 and published her campaign office address on the website. He asked how she would look swinging at the end of a rope and what message it would send to other 'uppity' Blacks. I called NJ Homeland Security and FBI at the time…. The FBI agent I spoke to said 'We know all about Mr. Turner'. Looks like they did."

While Turner's website is down, another website has what it claims was posted on Turner's:

"LYNCHING CONGRESSWOMAN CYNTHIA MCKINNEY: SHOULD IT BE DONE BEFORE HER JULY 18 PRIMARY ELECTION?

Tune-in to 'The Hal Turner Show' this Wednesday evening from 9:00-11:00 PM eastern US time as we talk about this topic!

"Cynthia McKinney is a violent, black, racist, bitch whose official re-election campaign web site calls white people 'crackers'. As such, on this Wednesday evening's show I will ask the question 'Given the prevalence of black crime in America, would it serve the public good to LYNCH Congresswoman McKinney within the next few weeks, while she's on the campaign trail, so as to send an unmistakable message to other blacks: white people are tired of your bullshit, behave or die."

Is it too early to want to go back to sleep? I'm feeling extremely nauseous.

H/t: Gr8RDH

FBI Arrests Far-Right Radio Host Hal Turner

By GottaLaff

Via Oliver Willis, we see how far a wingnut will go to "cling to his guns":

Hal Turner, an intermittent Internet radio talk show host and blogger, was arrested today by FBI agents at his home in North Bergen, N.J., on a federal complaint filed in Chicago alleging that he made Internet postings threatening to assault and murder three federal appeals court judges in Chicago in retaliation for their recent ruling upholding handgun bans in Chicago and a suburb.

Internet postings on June 2 and 3 proclaimed ‘outrage’ over the June 2, 2009, handgun decision [...] stating, among other things: ‘Let me be the first to say this plainly: These Judges deserve to be killed.’ The postings included photographs, phone numbers, work address and room numbers of these judges, along with a photo of the building in which they work and a map of its location.

[...] He was charged with threatening to assault and murder three federal judges with intent to retaliate against them for performing official duties in a criminal complaint filed today in U.S. District Court in Chicago. [...]

‘We take threats to federal judges very seriously. Period,’ said Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, who announced the charges with Robert D. Grant, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Right wing extremism doesn't hold a candle to all those wacky left wingy violent episodes, though.

Hmm? What's that? Oh yeah, there aren't a whole lot of scary, evil, threatening lefties making the news the way Turner has, my bad.

Judge to review Cheney interview with FBI

By GottaLaff

Judge, in legalese, to The Dick and the Obama legal team: Go Cheney yourselves:

A federal judge says he wants to look at notes from the FBI's interview with former Vice President Dick Cheney during the investigation into who leaked the identity of a CIA officer.

U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan said he wants to review the documents after Obama administration lawyers said they would continue the Bush administration's fight to keep the interview from becoming public.

The ObamAdministration is saying that future administrations would hesitate before cooperating with investigations, that their foes-- and comedians-- would abuse the info. Yeah, then they'd have to picket Letterman again, and that can be such a pain.

What did the judge have to say about that? Exactly what you might have hoped:

Sullivan the Justice Department must give him more precise reasons for keeping the information confidential.

How ironic: Now the Obama lawyers will have to come up with a Top Ten List of their own.

Wiretap whistleblower: Bush FBI sent 18 armored agents to search my house

By GottaLaff

Typically BushCo bullying, terrifying payback. One might even call it terrorism:

The Bush Administration’s FBI sent 18 agents in body armor to the home of a man who revealed details of the National Security Agency’s warrantless wiretapping program, according to a little-noticed account of the whistleblower published Thursday.

Thomas Tamm, a former Justice Department lawyer in the Office of Intelligence Policy and Review, revealed details of the wiretapping program to the New York Times in 2004. In 2007, FBI agents raided his Potomac, Maryland home.

Tamm wasn’t there. His college-aged son, wife and young daughter were — but their father had never told them of his leak to the Times.

And what did the 18 agents do? Treat the family politely? Nah. Take care to avoid frightening a child out of her wits (are you listening "pro-lifers"?) with guns (that can kill children as well as adults)? Uh-uh. Act in the least bit respectful to their fellow Americans? No way:

“They asked me questions like ‘Are there any secret rooms or compartments in the house’?” Terry Tamm, his son, told Newsweek’s Michael Isikoff last December. “Or did we have a safe? They asked us if any New York Times reporters had been to the house. We had no idea why any of this was happening.”

Abrupt, surprise attack and intimidation are so much more fun. Who needs genteel foreplay? It's more important to scar kids for life and take as long as possible to do that, while brandishing deadly firearms:

“They were all wearing body armor, they were all well armed,” he told the audience, according to Wired. “They asked my kids if we had any secret rooms in the house … or whether I had any weapons. They were in my house for over seven hours.”

“I’m sure before that time my phone was listened to,” Tamm added. My wife “will never feel the same in my house … She really felt that her security had been victimized.”

But the ObamAdministration will come to the rescue... won't they?

After the 2007 raid, Justice Department prosecutors tried to convince Tamm to plead guilty to revealing classified information. He refused. To date, he’s had a criminal indictment hanging over his head — but authorities have yet to charge him with a crime. [...]

Now that President Obama has taken office, however, Tamm seems more likely to elude jail. Prosecutors told the Bush lawyer-cum-whistleblower last year that they’d delay a decision on whether to charge him until this year. It’s unknown whether the Justice Department will continue to pursue a criminal charge.

Dear ObamAdministration: Do the right thing. Love, Laffy

FBI Agent Who Arrested 4 Alleged Synagogue Terrorists Has Questionable Record

By GottaLaff

So will these arrests blow up in our faces now? How many more stories like this do you think will start to leak out?

The FBI agent with a high-profile role in yesterday's arrests of four men for plotting a terror attack in New York has a pretty interesting -- and controversial -- track record.

Special Agent Robert Fuller, whose name appears at the top of the federal criminal complaint in the case, had a hand in the FBI's failure to nab two of the 9/11 hijackers, had one of his informants set himself on fire in front of the White House, and was involved in misidentifying a Canadian man as a terrorist leading to his secret arrest and torture -- a case that is now the subject of a major lawsuit.

Fuller is listed as the lead agent in the arrests of four men yesterday who officials say were trying to blow up a couple of synagogues and shoot a military jet from the sky. But as in other cases of seemingly inept homegrown terrorists, the four suspects were supplied (inert) weapons from an FBI informant, and in coming weeks we'll learn more about how much that informant goaded the four suspects into carrying out the supposed acts of terrorism. The case is being prosecuted in the Southern District of New York. (James Margolin, an FBI spokesman said the agency declines to comment for this story, because Fuller is a potential witness in an ongoing prosecution.)

Fuller was involved in the earlier Canadian case as the man who interrogated a wounded Afghani teenager named Omar Khadr. (We've written extensively about Khadr's bizarre case here.) Under Fuller's interrogation, Khadr dubiously identified a Canadian citizen named Maher Arar as someone he had seen in Afghanistan. Arar was then shipped to Syria where he was imprisoned and tortured for a year. It's now been proven that Arar could not have been in Afghanistan when Khadr, under intense pressure from Fuller, said he saw him there. [...]

"Fuller very clearly has a questionable track record," Pither says. "Even if his claims about what Khadr said were true, there's no doubt that Khadr would have said anything. He is on the record as having said he would have said anything to get better treatment."

Wait. What? Torture doesn't work? Huh?? Whaaa? ::slaps forehead:: If only we'd known earlier!

Fuller was also on the team that was tasked to track down two of the 9/11 hijackers in August, 2001, prior to the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. [...]

You can read more on the Arar case at: www.maherarar.ca or www.kerrypither.ca

How reassuring to remember how much safer BushCo made us. And how comforting to have guys like Fuller on our team.

ADDED BY PADDY- And the "mastermind" of the plot was stoned.

Dick Durbin to GOP: 'You ought to have a little more respect' for American corrections officers.

Too late Dick, you've let the R's frame the debate and they won-

FBI director concerned about Gitmo releases

WASHINGTON (AP) — FBI Director Robert Mueller says he is concerned that Guantanamo Bay detainees could support terrorism if sent to the United States.

During his appearance Wednesday before the House Judiciary Committee, Mueller was asked what concerns the FBI has about the Obama administration plans to shut the detention facility by January 2010.

The director said he was generally concerned about whether such individuals might provide financial support to terror networks, radicalize others, or even take part in attacks within the United States.

FBI Investigating Norm Coleman In Minnesota

By GottaLaff

Oooo, Toker Norm better watch out. They're after him!

The FBI is investigating allegations that former Senator Norm Coleman had clothing and other items purchased on his behalf by a longtime friend and businessman Nasser Kazeminy, according to a source in Minnesota who was interviewed recently by federal agents. [...]

The FBI has also been conducting interviews in Texas, according to media reports, in regards to different allegations that Kazeminy tried to steer $75,000 to Coleman through his wife's employer. Up to this point, there have not been reports of any FBI work taking place in Coleman's home state.

The Minnesota source said the FBI questioning focused on whether Kazeminy had purchased clothing on Coleman's behalf, reports of which surfaced in October. At the time, Coleman vehemently denied the allegations. "Nobody but me and my wife buy my suits," he said.

1) It's "my wife and I," genius. 2) That accounts for the way you look.

The source, who requested to speak anonymously to discuss the matter more frankly, said that payments made to the company that employed the former senator's wife, Laurie Coleman, were also addressed.

In April, Norm Coleman requested permission from the Federal Election Commission to use his remaining Senate campaign funds to pay legal fees resulting from the lawsuit filed against Kazeminy.

Coleman's receptionist called the matter "old news". Yeah, so is torture, but it's still illegal. Who are these people?

The possibility exists that the sole target of the FBI's work is Kazeminy and not Coleman. [...]

Separately, it has been reported that Kazeminy made purchases on behalf of Coleman himself.

H/t: Cody