News Briefs

Package to U.S. homeland security chief ignites
By Jeremy Pelofsky WASHINGTON | Fri Jan 7, 2011 7:11pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A package addressed to U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano ignited on Friday at a postal facility in Washington, D.C. but was quickly extinguished and no one was injured, authorities said. A postal worker was tossing mail into a bin when the package was discovered "popping, smoking and with a brief flash of fire," Cathy Lanier, chief of the Washington Metropolitan Police Department, said during a n...

FBI: Fiery package in D.C. similar to Md. parcels
WASHINGTON (AP) — A package ignited at a Washington postal facility Friday, a day after fiery packages sent to Maryland's Governor and transportation secretary burned the fingers of workers who opened them. FBI Spokeswoman Lindsay Godwin said initial information indicated the parcel that ignited in northeast Washington about 2:45 p.m. was similar to the two packages opened in Maryland on Thursday. The Washington postal facility was evacuated and no injuries were reported. THURSDAY: Note in ...

Obama Surrenders on Gitmo, 9/11 Trials
The president's signing statement on the ban on Defense Department funds for trials of Guantanamo Bay Detainees suggests he won't be taking the route offered by the ACLU and defying the ban by using funds from other agencies to facilitate federal criminal trials. Despite my strong objection to these provisions, which my Administration has consistently opposed, I have signed this Act because of the importance of authorizing appropriations for, among other things, our Military activities in 2011....

Obama Issues Signing Statement Panning Gitmo Transfer Ban
Source: TPM After signing the Defense Authorization Act this afternoon, President Obama issued a signing statement calling provisions banning the transfer of Guantanamo Bay Detainees "a dangerous and unprecedented challenge to critical Executive Branch authority." The provisions ban the use of Defense Department funds to transfer Gitmo Detainees to certain other countries or to the United States, including for trial. "The prosecution of Terrorists in Federal Court is a powerful tool in our effor...

Bomb Sent To Janet Napolitano Blows Up Early At Post Office
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A package addressed to U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano exploded on Friday at a postal facility in Washington, D.C. but was quickly extinguished and no one was injured, authorities said. A postal worker was tossing mail into a bin when the package was discovered “popping, smoking and with a brief flash of fire,” Cathy Lanier, chief of the Washington Metropolitan Police Department, said during a news conference. The package was addressed to ...

Anti-road sign note with US bombs
Police investigating smoking packages sent to Maryland State Government buildings discovered notes criticising highway signs, police said. Two employees suffered minor injuries to their fingers when they opened parcels that released smoke and odours. The packages contained identical notes complaining about highway signs urging citizens to report Suspicious Activity. "You have created a self fulfilling prophecy," the note read. Police have not identified any suspects. One package was o...

Package ignites at Washington post office
"There was an ignition of some envelope or package," said police spokesman Hugh Carew. "They evacuated the building, and we're investigating at this time." The Federal Bureau of Investigation said it was responding to the incident at a postal facility in the northeast of the capital. CBS affiliate WUSA, citing Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives officials, said a mail sorter was tossing mail into a bin when the package ignited on its own. Officials told WUSA the letter was addre...

Package to U.S. homeland security chief ignites
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A package addressed to U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano ignited on Friday at a postal facility in Washington, D.C. but was quickly extinguished and no one was injured, authorities said. A postal worker was tossing mail into a bin when the package was discovered "popping, smoking and with a brief flash of fire," Cathy Lanier, chief of the Washington Metropolitan Police Department, said during a news conference. The package was addressed to Napolitano and w...

Package to homeland security chief ignites...
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A package addressed to U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano ignited on Friday at a postal facility in Washington, D.C. but was quickly extinguished and no one was injured, authorities said. A postal worker was tossing mail into a bin when the package was discovered "popping, smoking and with a brief flash of fire," Cathy Lanier, chief of the Washington Metropolitan Police Department, said during a news conference. The package was addressed to N...

Package to U.S. homeland security chief ignites
By Jeremy Pelofsky WASHINGTON | Fri Jan 7, 2011 7:11pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A package addressed to U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano ignited on Friday at a postal facility in Washington, D.C. but was quickly extinguished and no one was injured, authorities said. A postal worker was tossing mail into a bin when the package was discovered "popping, smoking and with a brief flash of fire," Cathy Lanier, chief of the Washington Metropolitan Police Department, said during a n...

Obama Opposes Gitmo Provision in Bill
President Barack Obama has signed a defense bill that includes a provision blocking the transfer of Guantanamo Detainees to the United States. But the president says he opposes that part of the larger bill and will work to overturn it. Obama included a special statement when he signed the defense bill. The statement said the provision about suspected Terrorists held at the U.S. Navy Prison in Cuba is a "dangerous and unprecedented" challenge to the authority of the Executive Branch. The presid...

Gitmo detainee cleared of terror suspicions, sent home to face reprisals
Saiid Farhi had contested the move, fearing reprisals in his home country. It said the release came after a comprehensive review of Farhi's case. Farhi had tried in vain to contest his repatriation before the US federal justice system, even turning to the Supreme Court, which declined to examine his case in July. US District Court Judge Gladys Kessler ordered Farhi's release in November 2009, noting he had expressed fear of being charged, sentenced and executed if he returned to Algeria. With Fa...

Defense Bill Stops All Club Gitmo Transfers To The US For Civilian Trials
Obviously, this has gotten Barack Obama all riled upPresident Barack Obama forcefully declared his support Friday for U.S. civilian trials of Guantanamo Detainees, pledging to overturn language in a sweeping defense bill that would effectively block such trials anytime soon. "The prosecution of Terrorists in federal court is a powerful tool in our efforts to protect the nation and must be among the options available to us," the president said. "Any attempt to deprive the Executive Branch of that...

Take This Law And Shove It
President Obama issues signing statement calling new law banning the transfer of Gitmo Detainees "a dangerous and unprecedented challenge to critical Executive Branch authority." ...

Sadr Backs Maliki Govt, Slams US Occupation in Speech
The first Speech of the increasingly powerful anti-US cleric Moqtada al-Sadr since his return to Iraq came today in Najaf, and he offered qualified support for the Maliki government, saying he would continue to support them so long as they were working to make the situation in Iraq better. But when it came to the US occupation, the position was less conciliatory, as Sadr urged Maliki to follow through on his promise to get the US Troops out and insisted that Iraqis should stop fighting amongst...

Obama Issues Signing Statement on GITMO
Huffington Post reports: President Obama on Friday afternoon signed a major Military Spending bill, even as he bitterly objected to provisions within it intended to limit his ability to close the U.S. Prison at Guantanamo Bay. In a signing statement, Obama said Congress’s ban on bringing Guantanamo Detainees to the mainland in order to face domestic trials “represents a dangerous and unprecedented challenge to critical Executive Branch authority to determine when and where to prose...

Defense Bill Stops All Club Gitmo Transfers To The US For Civilian Trials
President Barack Obama forcefully declared his support Friday for U.S. civilian trials of Guantanamo Detainees, pledging to overturn language in a sweeping defense bill that would effectively block such trials anytime soon. “The prosecution of Terrorists in Federal Court is a powerful tool in our efforts to protect the nation and must be among the options available to us,” the president said. “Any attempt to deprive the Executive Branch of that tool undermines our nation’...

Obama Objects To Gitmo Limits, But Doesn't Claim Right To Defy Them
President Obama on Friday afternoon signed a major Military Spending bill, even as he bitterly objected to provisions within it intended to limit his ability to close the U.S. Prison at Guantanamo Bay. In a signing statement, Obama said Congress's ban on bringing Guantanamo Detainees to the mainland in order to face domestic trials "represents a dangerous and unprecedented challenge to critical Executive Branch authority to determine when and where to prosecute Guantanamo detainees, based on t...

Obama Issues Signing Statement Panning Gitmo Transfer Ban
After signing the Defense Authorization Act this afternoon, President Obama issued a signing statement calling provisions banning the transfer of Guantanamo Bay Detainees "a dangerous and unprecedented challenge to critical Executive Branch authority." The provisions ban the use of Defense Department funds to transfer Gitmo Detainees to certain other countries or to the United States, including for trial. "The prosecution of Terrorists in Federal Court is a powerful tool in our efforts to pr...

Obama Opposes Gitmo Provision in Defense Bill
President Obama forcefully declared his support Friday for U.S. civilian trials of Guantanamo Detainees and pledged to overturn language in a sweeping defense bill that would effectively block such trials from happening soon....

Package For Napolitano Ignites
This package was sent to the office of Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley. A similar parcel was sent to Napolitano. A package addressed to Department of Homeland Security head Janet Napolitano ignited in a Washington, DC Post Office Friday, without injuring anyone. The package began popping and flashing before shooting out “a brief flash of fire,” D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier told The Associated Press. The parcel then extinguished itself without hurting any postal employees. Inv...

Third Incendiary Package at DC Postal Facility
There was a third “igniting package” at a Washington DC postal facility today… The Maryland packages contained a note railing against highway signs urging motorists to report Suspicious Activity, investigators revealed. The message read: “Report suspicious activity! Total Bull——! You have created a self fulfilling prophecy.” Richard J. Wolf, a spokesman for the FBI in Baltimore, confirmed the D.C. parcel was similiar to the Maryland packages, but he did...

Package addressed to head of Homeland Security ignites at D.C. postal facility
WASHINGTON — A package addressed to the Homeland Security secretary ignited yesterday at a postal facility in the nation’s capital, and authorities said it was similar to parcels sent to Maryland officials a day earlier by someone complaining about the state’s Terrorism tip line. The Suspicious Package was discovered by an employee at the D.C. facility when it began popping and smoking and emitted “a brief flash of fire’’ before extinguishing itself, Washingt...

D.C. parcel that ignited sent to homeland security chief
WASHINGTON (AP) — A package addressed to the U.S. Homeland Security secretary ignited Friday at a postal facility, and authorities said it was similar to fiery parcels sent to Maryland officials a day earlier by someone complaining about the state's Terrorism tip line. The Suspicious Package was discovered by an employee at the D.C. facility when it began popping and smoking, and it emitted "a brief flash of fire" before extinguishing itself, D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier said. The detai...

Let's Read the Constitution Day! - verse 3
In this verse, we come to the first "didacted" section of the Constitution; that is, the first part that was superceded by a subsequent amendment... ~ Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all othe...