TRUMP WANTS TO HELP SAVE NORTH KOREAN CITIZENS FROM KIM'S BRUTAL REGIME.
WILL CONGRESS STEP UP AND HELP NORTH KOREA'S SUFFERING PEOPLE??
Sources: The Guardian
***** Donald Trump declares ‘patience is over’ with North Korea
President Donald Trump declared that the US had run out of patience with North Korea over its nuclear drive as he welcomed South Korea’s new leader Moon Jae-In to talks at the White House.
While Moon has been arguing for greater engagement with Pyongyang as the best way to put the brakes on its nuclear and ballistic missile programs, Trump made clear that he was in no mood to pursue diplomacy with a regime he accused of having no respect for human life.
And while Moon announced that Trump had accepted an offer to visit Seoul later this year, the leaders failed to map out any kind of joint strategy on how best to deal with the threat posed by the North Korean leadership.
“Together, we are facing the threat of the reckless and brutal regime in North Korea. The nuclear and ballistic missile programs of that regime require a determined response,” said Trump.
“The North Korean dictatorship has no regard for the safety and security of its people, for its neighbors and has no respect for human life.”
The Trump administration has been growing increasingly exasperated with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un’s regime which has staged a barrage of missile tests in recent months.
There was also deep anger in the United States after Otto Warmbier, an American student who was detained in North Korea on a tourist trip around 18 months ago, was returned home in a coma earlier this month. He died several days later.
Trump had been pinning his hopes on China – North Korea’s main diplomatic ally – to bring pressure to bear on Pyongyang but declared their efforts had failed.
“The era of strategic patience with the North Korean regime has failed, many years it has failed. Frankly, that patience is over,” Trump said at a press briefing in the Rose Garden.
And while he avoided criticising his guest’s approach, Trump made clear he was in no mood to enter dialogue with North Korea but rather saw sanctions as the best way to proceed.
“The United States calls on other regional powers and all responsible nations to join us in implementing sanctions and demanding that the North Korean regime choose a better path and do it quickly and a different future for its long suffering people,” he said.
Washington, South Korea’s security guarantor, has more than 28,000 troops in the country to defend it from its communist neighbor, which has been intensifying missile tests – including five since Moon’s inauguration.
Moon said there was no dispute between his government and Trump over the nature of the threat posed by North Korea.
“The gravest challenge confronting our two nations is the nuclear and missile threat posed by North Korea,” he said. “President Trump and I decided to place a top priority on addressing this issue, and coordinate closely on relevant policies.
“To this end, we will employ both sanctions and dialogue in a phased and comprehensive approach... to seek a fundamental resolution of the North Korean nuclear problem.”
Moon has used his first foreign trip to lobby the Trump administration and congressional leaders to back his policy of engagement with the North.
Before his arrival, Moon argued that Seoul and Washington must offer concessions to Pyongyang if it complies with demands for a nuclear freeze – as a gateway to dialogue, and to eventual dismantlement of its nuclear program.
But the Trump administration’s hardening stance was illustrated on Thursday when it placed sanctions on a Chinese bank linked to North Korea – drawing an angry response from Beijing.
The two leaders also spoke about bilateral trade, with Trump saying the current $17 billion dollar trade deficit with Seoul was unacceptable, highlighting the number of Korean-made cars on American roads.
“I’m encouraged by President Moon’s assurances that he will work to create a level playing field so that American workers and businesses and especially automakers can have a fair shake at dealing with South Korea,” he said.
OTTO WARMBIER - MOST LIKELY MURDERED BY N. KOREAN GOV'T:
BUT WHY WAS HE OVER THERE ANYWAY?
N. KOREA CLAIMS OTTO WAS SPYING.
WILL THERE BE US RETALIATION?
Sources: Fox News, Youtube
**** Otto Warmbier dead: Trump condemns 'brutal' North Korea regime
President Trump slammed North Korea's "brutal regime" Monday after the death of college student Otto Warmbier, who was released by the communist nation in a coma last week.
"Lot of bad things happened," Trump said during a White House meeting with technology CEOs, “but at least we got him home to be with his parents."
"It's a brutal regime," Trump went on, "and we'll be able to handle it."
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the United States held North Korea accountable for Warmbier's "unjust imprisonment" and demanded that the country release three other Americans it is holding prisoner for alleged crimes against the state. The U.S. government has previously accused North Korea of using such detainees as political pawns.
Warmbier was held by North Korea for more than 17 months before he was medically evacuated June 13. He died Monday at University of Cincinnati Medical Center, near where he grew up in suburban Wyoming.
Warmbier’s family said in a statement that "the awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans" meant that "no other outcome was possible beyond the sad one we experienced today."
In a written statement, Trump said that "Otto's fate deepens my Administration's determination to prevent such tragedies from befalling innocent people at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency."
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, who has led the charge for tougher sanctions on North Korea over its nuclear missile program, said "Countless innocent men and women have died at the hand of the North Korean criminals, but the singular case of Otto Warmbier touches the American heart like no other.
"While Otto Warmbier's memory will always be a blessing to his loved ones," Haley added, "it will also serve as an indelible reminder to us of the barbaric nature of the North Korean dictatorship."
Warmbier had traveled to North Korea as part of a tour group when he was detained at Pyongyang's airport in January 2016. The company that organized the trip, Young Pioneer Tours, announced after Warmbier's death that it would no longer organize tours of North Korea for U.S. citizens.
"The assessment of risk for Americans visiting North Korea has become too high," said the company, which has also offered tours to Iran, Iraq and former Soviet republicans and boasted of booking "budget tours to destinations your mother would rather you stayed away from."
The State Department warns against travel to North Korea, but does not explicitly forbid it. While nearly all Americans who have been there have left without incident, visitors can be suddenly seized and face lengthy incarceration for what might seem like minor infractions.
On Capitol Hill, Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., the chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee, called for the U.S. to ban all tourist travel to North Korea.
"Travel propaganda lures far too many people to North Korea," Royce said. "This is a regime that regularly kidnaps foreign citizens and keeps 120,000 North Koreans in barbaric gulags."
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said Warmbier was "murdered by the [North Korean dictator] Kim Jong-un[sic] regime."
"In the final year of his life, he lived the nightmare in which the North Korean people have been trapped for 70 years: forced labor, mass starvation, systematic cruelty, torture, and murder," McCain said, later adding, "The United States of America cannot and should not tolerate the murder of its citizens by hostile powers."
Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, said North Korea should be "universally condemned for its abhorrent behavior.” He added that Warmbier’s family "had to endure more than any family should have to bear."
Ohio’s other senator, Democrat Sherrod Brown, said the country's "despicable actions ... must be condemned."
“Our hearts are broken for Otto’s family and everyone who knew and loved him,” Brown added.
The state's governor, John Kasich, described Warmbier as "a young man of exceptional spirit."
"This horrendous situation further underscores the evil, oppressive nature of the North Korean regime that has such disregard for human life," Kasich says.
DEMOCRATS WANT TO TAKE BLACK VOTES WITHOUT HELPING BLACK VOTERS:
MALCOLM X LABELED BLACK VOTERS WHO BLINDLY SUPPORT DEMOCRATS "CHUMPS".
WHERE ARE THE JOBS FOR BLACK MEN??
BLACK voters are tired of being forced to support the national DEMOCRAT party without receiving anything Constructive in return for our Ballots.
And we don't mean Food Stamps or Welfare!
However it appears that instead of listening to BLACK voters, Key Party leaders want to Force BLACK voters into supporting DEMOCRATS via Strong arm Political tactics, or they want to Steal BLACK votes.
Shortly before he was Assassinated, Malcolm X labeled BLACK voters who blindly support DEMOCRATS as "CHUMPS".
When blacks gave 80 percent of their vote to the Democratic Party in 1964, black activist Malcolm X called them "political chumps."
White voters, X said, "are so evenly divided that every time they vote, the race is so close they have to go back and count the votes all over again. Which means that any bloc, any minority that has a bloc that sticks together is in a strategic position. Either way you go, that's who gets it."
Yet Democrats, said Malcolm X, failed to deliver on a promised and much anticipated new civil rights bill, knowing the party could still count on their blind support in the next election.
You put them first," said Malcolm X, "and they put you last. 'Cause you're a chump.
A political chump! ... Any time you throw your weight behind a political party that controls two-thirds of the government, and that party can't keep the promise that it made to you during election time, and you are dumb enough to walk around continuing to identify yourself with that party -- you're not only a chump but you're a traitor to your race."
What would Malcolm X say about today's 95 percent black vote?
Did the Democratic Party keep its promises to promote family stability, push education and encourage job creation?
The black community, over the last 50 years, has suffered an unparalleled breakdown in family unity. Even during slavery when marriage was illegal, a black child was more likely than today to be raised under a roof with his or her biological mother and father.
According to census data, from 1890 to 1940, said economist Walter Williams, a black child was slightly more likely to grow up with married parents than a white child. What happened?
When President Lyndon Johnson launched the War on Poverty in 1965, 24 percent of black babies were born to unmarried mothers.
Today that number is 72 percent.
Then-presidential candidate Barack Obama said in 2008: "Children who grow up without a father are five times more likely to live in poverty and commit crime; nine times more likely to drop out of schools and 20 times more likely to end up in prison.
They are more likely to have behavioral problems, or run away from home, or become teenage parents themselves."
Not only has family breakdown coincided with increased government spending, but the money has not done much to reduce the rate of poverty. From 1965 until now, the government has spent $15-20 trillion to fight poverty. In 1949, the poverty rate stood at 34 percent.
By 1965, it was cut in half, to 17 percent -- all before the so-called War on Poverty. But after the war began in 1965, poverty began to flat line.
It appears that the generous welfare system allowed women to, in essence, marry the government -- and it allowed men to abandon their financial and moral responsibility, while surrendering the dignity that comes from being a good provider.
About the importance of education, Malcolm X once said, "My alma mater was books, a good library. ... I could spend the rest of my life reading, just satisfying my curiosity." What would he say about the Democratic opposition to school vouchers -- where the money would follow the student rather than the other way around?
Urban schools, where students are disproportionately black and brown, are simply not producing children who can read, write and compute at grade level.
The dropout rate can approach 50 percent in some urban districts. Nationwide, 10 percent of parents send their kids to private school. But in cities like Philadelphia and Chicago, 40 percent or more of teachers send their own kids to private schools.
Democrats don't do blacks any favor by supporting "race-based preferences" in admissions to colleges and universities. Turns out, the more a school lowers standards to achieve "diversity," the greater the chance the "diverse" student drops out.
More than that, Democrats have convinced blacks that but for race-based preferences, black growth would suffer. Nonsense. Respected researchers Stephan and Abigail Thernstrom wrote:
"The growth of the black middle class long predates the adoption of race-conscious social policies. In some ways, indeed, the black middle class was expanding more rapidly before 1970 than after."
Finally, as to the economy, then-chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., admitted: "With 14 percent (black) unemployment, if we had a white president we'd be marching around the White House. ...The President knows we are going to act in deference to him in a way we wouldn't to someone white."
Democratic policies have contributed to family breakdown, maintained underperforming urban schools -- with no opt out for parents -- and have promoted tax-spend-and-regulate economic policies that have resulted in a level of unemployment described as "unconscionable" by Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus.
So would Malcolm X call today's black voter a political "chump" -- or a political "traitor"?
LGBT'S MOVEMENT BLACK HATEFUL FEMINISTS: (CHARLOTTE)
NOT ALL BLACK FEMINISTS USE HATE & RETALIATION TO ADVANCE THEIR AGENDA.
What purpose do BLACK Women serve in the FEMINIST Movement?
How EFFECTIVE is the role of BLACK FEMINISTS if they are spreading HATE?
How EFFECTIVE can BLACK FEMINISTS be as LEADERS if they are using their Authority and Power to inflict RETALIATION upon people who disagree with their agenda?
I call myself a Black Feminist and hold that label dearly, but the naming happened after the fact. I was a black feminist from the moment, as a child, I recognized the domestic violence was gendered and somehow seen as acceptable because of this.
When neighbours called the police to our back-to-back terrace in what is now the red light district of Bradford, I would feel anger that my mother's fear of the police and what they stood for took precedence over her own safety.
As a Nigerian immigrant whose abuser had full control of her documentation and the processes through which she had managed to remain in the country, my mother believed that speaking truthfully to the police was not a choice she could make.
As I grew, my childish anger gave way to a recognition that my mother was a Black woman caught in her own particular understanding of what it meant during the 80s and 90s to be Black and a woman in Britain: a place where over half the population agreed that we lived in a racist society; a place where immigration was (and continues to be) seen as a damaging factor in British life; a place so hostile to her presence that a walk home from work resulted in racist abuse so regular that it wasn't worth mentioning.
Through the work of feminists looking at race, class, disability, sexuality and nationality, I came to understand my mother as a person who was, as we all are, constructed by social and cultural forces beyond her control.
What a relief it was to discover that in "feminism" you could find a place that collated all the experiences of women like my mother – women who were, and continue to be, routinely ignored by the dominant feminist movement.
Within the media, and indeed the movement, there has been much celebration of our feminist resurgence. Yet our success is being marred by infighting. White, middle-class and young women are often seen as the ones spearheading this new wave of activity.
Their high-profile campaigns – to have women on banknotes, challenge online misogyny and banish Page 3, for example – though necessary and praiseworthy, do not reflect the most pressing needs of the majority of women, black and minority-ethnic women included. The problem is not that these campaigns exist, but that they are given a focus and attention that overshadows other work feminists are engaged with.
Organisations such as Women Asylum Seekers Together, which has groups in London, Liverpool, Leeds, Cardiff and Manchester, are not only meeting to support and empower themselves through their shared experience.
They are also working on challenging gender discrimination within the UK immigration system – a system that can still ask whether a rape victim had adequately resisted her rapist, or whether a trafficked woman had enjoyed her work as a prostitute.
Women from countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo – which the UN calls "the rape capital of the world" – are met by a culture of disbelief that sees them as asylum claimants to be interrogated and caught out rather than as vulnerable and in need of support. This is a feminist issue, too, but the movement is largely silent on the plight of such women.
Or organisations such as Manchester's Lesbian Immigration Support Group, which offers practical help to members with asylum applications based on sexuality. Or the London-based black feminist organisation Imkaan, which is working in partnership with Women's Aid to support and maintain specialist services dealing with violence against women for black and refugee women. In these times of austerity, the ability to save refuges from closure is no small feat and should be celebrated.
Yet such groups do not make the headlines or gain enough support despite the profound change in lives that they enable.
The majority of women both in the UK and across the globe do not live lives that are negatively impacted by sexism alone. Because of this reality, the black feminist concept of intersectionality, the idea that oppressions criss-cross and compound each other, has been seismic.
Through it black feminists have been able to point out the failures of the wider feminist movement – which lie in its continual failure to capture and reflect the extreme differences in how women live their lives. That we sometimes point this out with a lack of patience has garnered more column inches than the critiques we are making.
This is saddening but predictable. It is a type of quibbling that enables procrastination in the matter of the difficult work of turning feminism into feminisms – something more representative of our wonderful variety.
It is ironic that even some within the feminist movement, when engaging with criticism from black feminist quarters, use the stereotype of the angry and humourless black woman. At the black feminist meetings I attend we are angry with a lot of things, because – shock horror – we live in a world where racism, sexism and economic inequality abound.
Our meetings are, however, also filled with laughter and a deep love for having a space in which much that is said is empathised with, not minimised, questioned and treated defensively.
I call myself a black feminist because I am unwilling to be silent and complicit.
The Black feminist academic Sara Ahmed puts it well when she writes that "sometimes you can only stand up by standing firm. Sometimes you can only hold on by becoming stubborn".
Emotionally, Black feminism reminds black women that the racism and sexism they experience on a daily basis are not a figment of their individual imaginations but are real and structural.
Critically, black feminism is championing a more nuanced understanding of how oppression and privilege operate.
We, all of us, must understand that at the level of the individual, we can at differing points occupy positions of privilege. I am a black woman from a working-class background. I also have qualifications from elite universities that mean I am able to access a career, friendships and a lifestyle my 18-year-old self would never have imagined. When and where I experience privilege or oppression changes from day to day, hour to hour.
Though women who live in the "real world" – ie outside academia – may not bandy the word intersectionality, it nevertheless speaks to our lives within it. This is not to deny that power can be invested in language and that for some the term is perhaps alienating. It would be great if we had a word already in existence that conveys the complex and complicated nature of oppression.
We do not.
The language that we currently use serves to compartmentalise inequalities. It won't do. I am less interested in whether feminists choose to use the word or replace it with (no less academic) phrases such as multiple oppressions. What is of greater concern is how we work to empower women whose lives are impacted by a number of inequalities.
Despite prevailing misconceptions, intersectionality is not merely concerned with the academic; it is and always has been about tangible positive change for those who so easily slip through the gaps of popular thinking and attention.
Organisations such as Southall Black Sisters, which are committed to meeting the needs of black and minority-ethnic women, did not exist in my hometown. My mother remained locked in an abusive relationship, living in shame and fear, isolated and helpless. I cannot dare to imagine what difference such a group might have made to her as a young black woman. It is too painful to think of what could have been.
For the feminist movement, it is also best to not repeat the mistakes of the past. It would demonstrate an inexcusable carelessness for the lives of women like my mother who are too often silenced and unheard.
• This article was amended for legal reasons on 9 December
The Justice Department announced Friday it will recognize - for federal purposes - same-sex marriages performed for a short period in Utah.
The state on Wednesday said it would not recognize the approximately 1,000 marriages or marriage licenses issued for gay and lesbian couples, at least until the issue is fully resolved in the courts.
"These families should not be asked to endure uncertainty regarding their status as the litigation unfolds," Attorney General Eric Holder said in a videotaped message.
"In the days ahead, we will continue to coordinate across the federal government to ensure the timely provision of every federal benefit to which Utah couples and couples throughout the country are entitled – regardless of whether they in same-sex or opposite-sex marriages," he added.
The federal government's decision will likely create more legal chaos over the constitutionality of same-sex marriage that is playing out in Utah, and several other states.
The Supreme Court last year said gay and lesbian couples legally married in their states were entitled to the same federal benefits enjoyed by opposite-sex partners.
The office of Utah Gov. Gary Herbert had sent a letter to Cabinet officials Wednesday saying that, based on advice from the state's attorney general, "state recognition of same-sex marital status is on hold until further notice.
"Please understand this position is not intended to comment on the legal status of those same-sex marriages - that is for the courts to decide," the governor's chief of staff, Derek Miller, wrote. "The intent of this communication is to direct state agency compliance with current laws that prohibit the state from recognizing same-sex marriages."
The current legal and political fight erupted December 20 when U.S. District Judge Robert Shelby concluded Utah's law banning same-sex marriage, approved in 2004, conflicted with the constitutional guarantees of equal protection and due process. That prompted many counties to begin issuing marriage licenses, but the state then appealed to the Supreme Court.
The justices on Monday blocked enforcement of the district court ruling until the constitutional questions are fully resolved. A federal appeals court could hold oral arguments as soon as March. A ruling there could affect all states within the court's jurisdiction: Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah and Wyoming.
But Holder said, "In the meantime, I am confirming today that, for purposes of federal law, these marriages will be recognized as lawful and considered eligible for all relevant federal benefits on the same terms as other same-sex marriages."
Can CHRIS CHRISTIE recover from his GW Bridge Scandal??
Or has his chances for a U.S. Pres bid in 2016 been completely ruined??
Gov CHRISTIE claims he wasn't aware of any wrongdoing regarding this "BRIDGEGATE" situation just as Pres OBAMA claims he wasn't aware of the IRS Targeting Innocent Citizens.
The Fort Lee traffic scandal, once dismissed by the governor as an exaggerated kerfuffle, has captivated the national blogosphere today.
Political pundits warn of two outcomes: First, the hardening of Gov. Chris Christie's reputation as a bully into indelible fact. And second, his presidential prospects in 2016, washed away in mere days.
Much of this depends on how Christie handles the fallout. After ducking the limelight today, he released a statement this evening saying he is "outraged" to learn that he was misled by a member of his staff, and that the culprits will be held responsible.
Is the governor being honest about his ignorance?
The real test will be whether he comes clean with all the evidence, without trying to invoke executive privilege to hide anything from the public.
In the meantime, the revelation that Christie's top officials paralyzed traffic in Fort Lee because its mayor failed to endorse him has breathed new life into what critics have long charged -- that Christie retaliates ruthlessly against those who dare to cross him.
At Slate, John Dickerson wonders, "Will Christie apologize?" Ultimately, that's what will determine the fate of his presidential campaign, he argues.
Ezra Klein at Wonkblog believes "Chris Christie's problem is that he's really, truly a bully" -- and a bully with power is a dangerous combination.
"It's hard to see how Christie recovers from this," says Jamelle Bouie, a columnist at the Daily Beast.
"Nixonian," a headline at Talking Points Memo cries.
Rachel Maddow told the Star-Ledger's Stephen Stirling that state reporters were right to keep the heat on Christie: "The national press owes the New Jersey papers a huge debt of gratitude."
And New York Magazine's Jonathan Chait seems to think it's all over for the golden governor, titling his piece, "Chris Christie 2016: A Bridge to Nowhere."
What do you think? Can Christie bounce back from Bridgegate?
Sources: AP, CBS News, CNN, NJ.com, Rawstory, Youtube
Pres. Obama says the "U.S. is Heartbroken over the Killings of Innocent Afghan Civilains". What about Innocent Soldiers Defending their Country?
War Is Hell!
Attention Everyone!
Please Don't Bash U.S. Military Personnel Currently Serving To Defend Our Country. Those SAME Members of the U.S. Military You are choosing to Blast & Criticize, are the SAME Military Personnel Working Hard each day to Protect You & Defending Your Rights as an American Citizen.
So unless You Have EVER Served in the U.S. Military Or Unless You have members of Your Immediate Family Who served in the U.S. Military, Please Refrain from Criticizing members of the U.S. Military.
Especially U.S. Soldiers who have been Deployed Multiple times.
Have you EVER served in the U.S. Military? Have you EVER completed Basic Training? Have you EVER served in a Combat Zone? Have you EVER been Shot at by Iraq or Afghanistan Citizens? Have you EVER suffered a Brain Injury or PTSD as a result of serving in Iraq or Afghanistan?
If your response is "NO" to those questions, than why are you complaining about the Actions of U.S. Soldiers currently serving in Afghanistan?
I have a Husband who retired from the U.S. Army after 23 Years of Active Duty Service. He served in Vietnam & Saudi.
My husband personally witnessed 2 of his Friends getting their heads Blown Off by the Vietcong. Witnessing such Tragedies Still affects him years later because he is a Human Being. And during his time in Vietnam my husband was Injured.
My Father Served in the U.S. Army during War time. My Uncles & Cousins served in the U.S. Army, Air Force, Navy & Marines. Now my Son & his Fiancee’ are also Serving in the U.S. Army.
I am Tired of Arrogant People, Especially Arrogant BLACK Men & Women, who NEVER served One day Defending this Country, Criticizing Members of our Armed Services.
I am also Tired of Politicians from both sides of the Aisle, using Our U.S. Military Personnel as Pawns to win Elections.
If Your Religion disavows War or Military Service, I respect Your Decision NOT to Serve in the U.S. Military. But please don’t use Your Religion as an Excuse to Bash or look down upon our Brave Men & Women who choose to Defend this Country via U.S. Military Service.
I Don’t Condone the type of Violence which took place last weekend when that Army Sergeant Killed 16 Afghan Civilians but who are we to Judge?
Who are we to Judge?
NONE of us except GOD, the U.S. Army & that Army Sergeant knows what really happened or what that Man has experienced during each of his Deployments to Iraq & Afghanistan.
Since he was Suffering from a Brain Injury why was he Still being Allowed to Serve or why was he Still being Deployed to another Dangerous War Zone?
I can bet he was either BLACK or Latino! I could be Wrong but in this instance I don’t think I am.
BLACK & Latino Soldiers are Often Deployed more frequently to Combat Zones than WHITE Soldiers.
For BLACKS & Latinos serving in the U.S. Military, Racial Discrimination is Still a Major Issue!
Now Add Racial Discrimination to the Stress of trying to Stay Alive while serving in a War Zone.
So unless You plan on Immediately Enlisting into the U.S. Military & Defending the United States Of America (Your Current Home), then please take that Anti-Military Sentiment Somewhere else! I didn’t Stutter.
Suspected insurgents fired on an Afghan government delegation on Tuesday investigating the massacre of 16 civilians by a U.S. soldier, officials said, hours after the Taliban threatened to behead American troops to avenge the killings.
Two of President Hamid Karzai's brothers, Shah Wali Karzai and Addul Qayum Karzai, were with senior defense, intelligence and interior ministry officials travelling to the scene of the massacre in Najiban and Alekozai villages, in Kandahar's Panjwai district, when insurgents opened fire.
Karzai's brothers were unharmed in the brief gunbattle during meetings at a village mosque, but a soldier and a civilian were wounded. The area is a Taliban stronghold and a supply route.
"The Islamic Emirate once again warns the American animals that the mujahideen will avenge them, and with the help of Allah will kill and behead your sadistic murderous soldiers," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement, using the term with which the Islamist group describes itself.
As the first protest broke out in Jalalabad city over the weekend shootings, the Taliban said Afghan government demands for an open trial of the U.S. Army staff sergeant being held for the slayings would not blunt civilian hostility towards Western combat troops.
The unnamed U.S. soldier - said to have only recently arrived in the country - is accused of walking off his base in Kandahar province in the middle of the night and gunning down at least 16 villagers, mostly women and children.
A U.S. official said the accused soldier had suffered a traumatic brain injury while on a previous deployment in Iraq.
The shootings, which came just weeks after deadly protests across the country over the inadvertent burning of Korans by U.S. soldiers, triggered a protest by around 2,000 students in the eastern city of Jalalabad.
The demonstrators chanted "Death to America" and demanded Afghan President Hamid Karzai reject plans to sign a strategic pact with Washington that would allow U.S. advisers and possibly special forces to remain in the country beyond the planned withdrawal in 2014.
U.S. President Barack Obama, speaking after a phone call with Karzai - who is said to be furious over the latest deaths - said the shootings had only increased his determination to get American troops out of Afghanistan.
However, Obama cautioned there should not be a "rush to the exits" for U.S. forces who have been fighting in Afghanistan since late 2001 and that the drawdown set for the end of 2014 should be done in a responsible way.
The soldier, from a conventional unit, was based at a joint U.S.-Afghan base used by elite U.S. troops under a so-called village support programme hailed by NATO as a possible model for U.S. involvement in the country after the 2014 drawdown.
Such bases provide support to local Afghan security units and provide a source of security advice and training, as well as anti-insurgent backup and intelligence.
"CAN NO LONGER BE CALLED ROGUE"
A spokesman for Kandahar governor Tooryalai Wisa said that tribal elders in the area of the massacre would urge against protests and work to dampen public anger if the investigation process was transparent.
"They are supporting the government and will accept any conclusion by the investigators. Today we have meetings with people in the area and all will become clear," spokesman Ahmad Jawid Faisal said.
NATO officials said it was too early to tell if the U.S. soldier would be tried in the United States or Afghanistan if investigators were to find enough evidence to charge him, but he would be under U.S. laws and procedures under an agreement between U.S. and Afghan officials.
Typically, once the initial investigation is completed, prosecutors decide if they have enough evidence to file charges and then could move to an Article 32 or court martial hearing.
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on Monday that the death penalty could be sought in the U.S. military justice system against the soldier, but portrayed the shooting as an isolated event that would not alter withdrawal plans.
While Afghan MPs in parliament called for a trial under Afghan law, Karzai's office was understood to accept that a trial in a U.S. court would be acceptable provided the process was transparent and open to media.
Analysts said the incident would complicate U.S. efforts to reach agreement with the Afghan government on a post-2014 security pact before a May summit in the U.S. city of Chicago on the future size and funding of Afghan security forces.
Thomas Ruttig of the Afghanistan Analysts Network said that despite NATO and White House references to the killings as the work of a "rogue" soldier, other similar events had happened before, including a "kill team" apprehended in Kandahar in 2010.
"In the stress of an environment of escalated violence - by both sides, but particularly after Obama's troop surge in early 2009, it looks as if most soldiers simply see Afghanistan as a whole as ‘enemy territory' and every Afghan as a potential terrorist. This can no longer be called ‘rogue'," Ruttig said.
NATO's top commander in Afghanistan, Marine General John Allen, has promised a rapid investigation of the massacre, while security was being reviewed at NATO bases across the country.
Why is North Carolina's First BLACK, Female District Attorney (Tracey Cline) being attacked by the regional Legal System she works for?
Is it due to Tracey Cline's ties to the infamous Duke LaCrosse Case and because she dared to help a troubled, BLACK, Young Woman who in fact may have actually been Sexually Assaulted but did NOT have the Money, nor the Political Connections to Accurately & Properly defend herself Legally?
Possibly.
The Alleged Victim/ Accuser Crystal Mangum is now Imprisoned in North Carolina for LIFE, probably being Drugged daily by State Penal Officials so she won't TALK and... is also probably being Raped by Men (Prison Guards) & Female Inmates.
I was NOT at the location in North Carolina several years ago when & where the Alleged Sexual Assault of Crystal Mangum took place.
The ONLY people who REALLY knows what actually occurred that night are Crystal, her Female Friend, the College Students present & more importantly GOD!
For Everyone else its just Speculation & Heresay.
Its also NO Secret that North Carolina's SBI DNA Lab was later discovered to be Extremely Corrupt due to Witness Tampering by Racist SBI Lab Employees.
So we may NEVER know what REALLY happened!
Just because a North Carolina Court cleared those Duke LaCrosse Players, ONLY God knows what REALLY Happened!
Just because NC Attorney General Roy Cooper cleared those Duke LaCrosse Players, ONLY God knows what REALLY Happened!
Just because those Duke LaCrosse Players won a Civil Lawsuit, ONLY God knows what REALLY Happened!
Those Duke LaCrosse Players were Young, WHITE Guys from Very Wealthy East Coast Families.
They had the MONEY to Clear their names.
The Alleged Victim/ Accuser Crystal Mangum did NOT have such Luxury.
Am I implying NOTHING happened that night of the Alleged Incident/ Crime?
NO!
SOMETHING Did Happen but ONLY God & the people involved will EVER know the REAL Truth!
However what is True is that EVERYONE involved with the Duke LaCrosse Case with the exception of the Players, has been Destroyed or is being Destroyed.
Former NC District Attorney Mike Nifong is ruined for LIFE!
Alleged Victim/ Accuser Crystal Mangum is ruined for LIFE!
Now North Carolina's Extremely Biased Leaders (Including Many Very RACIST Democrats) are attempting to ruin Tracey Cline for LIFE as well!
Tracey Cline is being Retaliated against & Victimized by SCARED BLACK, North Carolina Leaders.
As it relates to Tracey Cline’s situation local BLACK Leaders are secretly complying to the desires & orders of North Carolina’s WHITE, Racist Establishment.
You see if those BLACK Leaders refuse to Comply with NC's WHITE, Racist Establishment, they too will be ruined for LIFE!
This entire situation further proves North Carolina's Institutions (Legal, Education, Finance, Tax Revenue, Medical, etc.,) are still being ruled by the Klu Klux Klan and 21st Century Extreme RACISM!
For Decades North Carolina's Social Workers & Physicians Forced BLACK Women & Girls To Suffer Unnecessary Illegal Sterilization.
As a Resolution to that Heinous practice how do North Carolina's Leaders (including Bev Perdue) plan to Remedy this problem?
By Offering the Survivors a measly $50,000!
$50,000 for Racism, Being Used as Medical Guinea Pigs, Humiliation & Physical HELL!
What A Shame!
Whenever BLACK People in North Carolina attempt to Speak out against that State's Historic, EXTREME Racial Injustice those Outspoken BLACK Citizens lose EVERYTHING Materially, they go Missing, end up DEAD, are thrown in Mental Institutions or they are Sentenced to Prison for LIFE on Trumped up Criminal Charges!
Is This The 21st Century? YES!
Is This North Carolina In The 21st Century? YES!
This is why I am Supporting BARACK OBAMA again this FALL!
God Help Us All!
For We Shall All Reap What We Have Sown!
Please Continue to Pray for Me, Pray for God to Expose the TRUTH about North Carolina’s Institutionalized Racism & for God to remove those Leaders who are practicing or allowing Racism to continue in that state.
A Franklin County Judge decided Friday to suspend Durham County District Attorney Tracey Cline from her duties pending a hearing next month.
Cline's accusations of bias against Durham County Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson put her own performance under scrutiny in recent months and led one defense attorney to push for her ouster.
Defense attorney Kerry Sutton filed an affidavit that alleges Cline has "brought the office of the Durham County District Attorney and the entire Durham County justice system into disrepute."
The filing is the first step required by law to remove Cline from office.
On Friday, Sutton said, “It’s an on-going process, and by the time we get to the end everyone has a chance to make their case.” She and Cline will get that opportunity Feb. 13.
Cline has repeatedly accused Hudson in recent months of bias against her and has asked to have him barred from handling criminal cases in Durham County. Two other Superior Court judges have found Cline's complaints to be groundless.
Hudson, the chief judge in Durham County, handed the complaint over to Superior Court Judge Robert Hobgood, who on Friday suspended Cline with pay.
Marcia Morey, a former assistant district attorney in Durham and current District Court Judge, said “It’s a sad day for Durham. The justice system is supposed to be working for the people of this county."
The clash not only puts Cline on the sidelines, it could cause chaos in her office, according to Irv Joyner, a law professor at North Carolina Central University.
"You have a feud or an attack involving the top two elected officials in our court system here, and that does not look good," Joyner said. "It's not good for our profession nor is it good for Durham County."
Michael B. Nifong, the disbarred district attorney of Durham County, N.C., was served an order at his home yesterday that suspended him from office and was told to turn in his parking pass and office key.
The suspension order, served by the county sheriff, cut short Mr. Nifong’s plans to stay in office four more weeks. On Friday he announced plans to resign, and on Saturday he was disbarred by a state ethics panel. He then told the governor he would resign July 13.
The county’s senior judge, Orlando F. Hudson Jr., said Monday night that those findings allowed him to suspend Mr. Nifong immediately, with pay, for willful misconduct and bringing the office into disrepute.
Beth Brewer, a Durham resident who led a campaign opposing Mr. Nifong in the 2006 election and who had filed a petition for removal with Judge Hudson, said she was “flabbergasted” and “appalled” that Mr. Nifong had showed up for work Monday and tried to delay his departure.
Mr. Nifong declined to comment. His wife, Cy Gurney, said in a telephone interview that Mr. Nifong, 56, would have left earlier if Judge Hudson had talked to him. She said he learned about it from a newspaper and was stunned and further humiliated. She said Mr. Nifong had wanted to stay until July 13 to assure an orderly transition.
“I think it’s the end,” Ms. Gurney said. “He understands that and he wants that.”
Gov. Mike Easley will appoint a successor. Also, the state House of Representatives voted unanimously yesterday to allow the governor to remove a disbarred judge or district attorney from office.
A longtime NC Prosecutor took the oath of Durham County district attorney Monday, becoming the first black woman to hold the post.
Tracey Cline, a sex crimes prosecutor in the 14th Judicial District for more than a decade, won the district attorney position during the May primary with 46 percent of the vote, beating out three other Democratic challengers.
Because no Republican sought the position, she ran uncontested during November's general election.
Cline replaces David Saacks, whom Gov. Mike Easley appointed to the position in September 2007 to serve out the remainder of former Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong's term.
Nifong, who was at Monday's ceremony, resigned two months earlier in July after being disbarred for breaking more than two dozen rules of professional conduct for the way he handled the Duke University lacrosse case.
It centered on three players of the school's highly ranked men's team who were accused of raping an exotic dancer.
North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper later dismissed the case and declared the three men "innocent victims" of a prosecutor's "tragic rush to judgment."
Cline said Monday that she is ready to take on the challenge of overcoming the scandal, which put the Durham District Attorney's Office under public scrutiny.
Durham County, she said, is ready to move forward and as district attorney, she said she can help do that.
"Being a prosecutor is not about power, it's about doing the right thing," Cline said. "You don't have to be popular to be DA. You have to do the right thing, and that's what people are looking for. And I'm going to do that."
During her campaign, Cline said the Duke lacrosse case was one of thousands the district attorney's office handled and that although it did not define the office, it is a part of the city's history.
"I don't think we can separate ourselves from it," she said in an April interview. "I think we can learn from it and move on."
Among her family, friends and colleagues were Superior Court Judge Jim Hardin, who served for 11 years as district attorney before being appointed to a judgeship in 2005.
Hardin said Cline – his first hire as district attorney – is hardworking and that he is very pleased that she will serve in the position.
North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Patricia Timmons-Goodson, who administered the oath of office, said Cline, as a young public defender in Fayetteville, stood out to her when she served as a District Court judge because of her thoroughness and ability to think on her feet.
Meanwhile Monday, Saacks was also presented with an award from the North Carolina Conference of District Attorneys for what director Peg Dorer said was bringing an even keel to the job.
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