CLG: Obama to nominate former Procter & Gamble CEO Bob McDonald as veterans secretary

News Updates from CLG
30 Jun 2014

http://www.legitgov.org/
All links are here:http://www.legitgov.org/#breaking_news

Previous edition: Fisa court grants extension of licence for bulk collection of US phone records - Part 2, which Google relegated to the spam bin, of course. Google subscribers: Google Filter Instructions for CLG Newsletter.)

Before Nisour Square Massacre, an Inquiry Into Blackwater Was Dropped After Firm's Top Manager Issued Threat 29 Jun 2014 Just weeks before Blackwater guards fatally shot 17 civilians at Baghdad's Nisour Square in 2007, the State Department began investigating the security contractor's operations in Iraq. But the inquiry was abandoned after Blackwater's top manager there issued a threat: "that he could kill" the government's chief investigator and "no one could or would do anything about it as we were in Iraq," according to department reports. American Embassy officials in Baghdad sided with Blackwater rather than the State Department investigators as a dispute over the probe escalated in August 2007, the previously undisclosed documents show. The officials told the investigators that they had disrupted the embassy's relationship with the security contractor mercenaries and ordered them to leave the country, according to the reports.

U.S. Flying Armed Drones Over Iraq --Predators armed with Hellfire missiles being used for 'mission' over Baghdad 27 Jun 2014 The U.S. has started flying armed drones over Baghdad to protect U.S. civilians and military forces in the Iraqi capital, a Pentagon official said Friday. A handful of Predators armed with Hellfire missiles are being used for the mission, the senior defense official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the new flights on the record. They are to bolster reconnaissance flights by manned and unmanned aircraft that have been making a few dozen outings daily over violence-wracked Iraq in recent weeks, the official said.

'Provocation': Moscow slams Ukraine's shelling of Russian border checkpoint 28 Jun 2014 Mortar shells from Ukraine have again hit Russian territory, damaging a building at a border checkpoint and creating holes in the ground in two villages. The Russian Foreign Ministry has protested the "provocation," demanding that Kiev investigate it. At least three shells were launched over the Russian-Ukrainian border into Russia on Saturday, with one blasting a border-crossing checkpoint in the Rostov Region.

New Leaders Tapped for ISAF, SOCOM and NORAD 24 Jun 2014 The Pentagon on Tuesday announced a major change at the top of its training, counterterrorism and homeland security efforts, naming new heads US Special Operations and Northern Command, along with a new leader of the NATO force in Afghanistan...Army Lt. Gen. Joseph Votel has been nominated to receive a fourth star and to take over US Special Operations Command. He is the head of Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC).

Chinese Navy near Hawaii: First time participation in US-led RIMPAC drills 27 Jun 2014 For the first time ever Chinese warships are taking part in the world's largest naval drills: the Rim of the Pacific Exercise (RIMPAC), biannual US-led training of Asia-Pacific regional navies traditionally conducted off the Hawaiian Islands since 1971. RIMPAC will last for over a month, from June 26 to August 1. The ongoing drill involves 47 surface ships, six submarines, over 200 aircraft, and 25,000 troops from 22 countries.

Obama sends CIA to UK to probe terrorist 'breeding ground' --President in pointed snub to MI5 over 'lone wolf' mission to interrogate British security experts 28 Jun 2014 President Obama has sent a special unit of CIA officers to the UK to investigate British Muslim extremists amid growing fears in Washington that we are becoming a 'breeding ground' for terrorism. In a pointed snub to MI5, the agents arrived on a 'lone wolf' mission to interrogate senior security experts about the radicalisation of UK Muslims. The mission has been revealed as our security services have been forced to admit they are struggling to keep track of the estimated 500 Britons who have travelled to the Middle East to fight alongside the Islamic Isis forces in Syria and Iraq.

UW-Madison pandemic flu viruses 'could escape from lab,' biosafety panelist says 29 Jun 2014 UW-Madison scientist Yoshihiro Kawaoka says he's creating potentially deadly flu viruses to help prevent a pandemic, but a campus biosafety panel member says the research could cause more harm than good because the viruses could escape from the lab. "You're increasing the probability of having a pandemic rather than decreasing the probability," said Tom Jeffries, a member of the university's Institutional Biosafety Committee, which reviews sensitive research...After Kawaoka reported this month that he used genes from several bird flu viruses to construct a virus similar to the 1918 pandemic flu virus that killed up to 50 million people worldwide, British and French scientists called the research "absolutely crazy" and "madness, folly."

Ebola outbreak 'most deadly ever' in West Africa 28 Jun 2014 West Africa's first-ever Ebola outbreak in humans is now the most deadly and geographically widespread outbreak on record, and is threatening to spread, health officials say. According to the latest figures from the World Health Organization (WHO), there have been more than 635 cases of Ebola across three countries in the region since the outbreak was first declared in southeastern Guinea in March... At least 399 people have died.

Vaccine researcher charged with felony crimes for research fraud --May spend 20 years in prison over faked AIDS vaccine 25 Jun 2014 Scientific fraud is so common in the vaccine industry, it's practically the default business model. The truth is that most vaccines don't work, so in order to make them appear to work, researchers routinely spike blood samples of vaccinated test subjects with antibodies, making it appear the vaccine caused the body to produce those antibodies. This is exactly what Merck does with MMR vaccines, according to the company's own former virologists who filed a False Claims Act with the federal government. It's also why up to 97% of children who contract measles or mumps were already vaccinated against measles and mumps.

False alert sent to people near Calif. nuclear plant: 'Prepare for action' 28 Jun 2014 People in San Luis Obispo County received a series of unsettling, erroneous emergency alerts Friday as repairs were being made to a nuclear power plant's siren system, including a vague cellphone message that told them to "prepare for action." The chain of mistaken alerts began arousing confusion and fear when a siren that's part of the Diablo Canyon Power Plant's warning system began wailing Friday afternoon for no apparent reason, county emergency services manager Ron Alsop said...To indicate there was no emergency, county officials issued an alert.

Group tests Oregon coast for Fukushima radiation 27 Jun 2014 Concern over possible radiation in the waters off the Oregon coast has spurred one coastal group to start sampling and testing for it. “The predicted modeling shows that we should start to see it [radiation] coming along our coastline at very low levels,” said Lisa Phipps, executive director of the Tillamook Estuaries Partnership. The group this week started taking samples of ocean water at Pacific City to test if it for any level of radiation.

Thousands of fracking wells in Pennsylvania 'may be leaking methane' --Study finds abandoned wells could be bigger climate change contributor than thought, reports Climate Central 20 Jun 2014 A study of abandoned oil and gas wells in Pennsylvania finds that the hundreds of thousands of such wells in the state may be leaking methane, suggesting that abandoned wells across the country could be a bigger source of climate changing global warming greenhouse gases than previously thought. The study by Mary Kang, a Princeton University scientist, looked at 19 wells and found that these oft-forgotten wells are leaking various amounts of methane. There are hundreds of thousands of such oil and gas wells, long abandoned and plugged, in Pennsylvania alone, and countless more in oil and gas fields across the country. These wells go mostly unmonitored, and rarely, if ever, checked for such leaks.

Libyan militia leader pleads not guilty in Benghazi attack 29 Jun 2014 A Libyan militia leader pleaded not guilty in a U.S. federal court on Saturday to a terrorism charge in the 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi. Ahmed Abu Khatallah was transferred to the U.S. District Court in Washington on Saturday morning from a Navy warship where he had been held since his June 15 capture by U.S. special operations forces in Libya. He was charged at an afternoon hearing with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists resulting in death in the attack that killed four Americans in Benghazi.

Austin man pleads guilty to terrorism charges 27 Jun 2014 A man charged with attempting to provide material support to terrorists has pleaded guilty, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Michael Wolfe, 23, faces up to 15 years in federal prison. According to a release from the Department of Justice, Wolfe admitted that from August 2013 to June 2014 he planned to travel to the Middle East to provide his services to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham/Syria, a foreign terrorism organization.

Mega barf alert! Obama to nominate former Procter & Gamble CEO Bob McDonald as veterans secretary 29 Jun 2014 President Barack Obama has chosen former Procter & Gamble Chief Executive Bob McDonald, an Army veteran, as his nominee to be the next secretary of veterans affairs, a senior Obama administration official said on Sunday. Obama's announcement of McDonald, 61, will be made this week, possibly on Monday. If confirmed by the Senate, McDonald would be tasked with repairing privatizing the Veterans Administration after widespread evidence of delays in military veterans getting healthcare at VA facilities.

Protesters Launch 135-Foot Blimp Over NSA's Utah Data Center 27 Jun 2014 Plenty of nightmare surveillance theories surround the million-square-foot NSA facility opened last year in Bluffdale, Utah. Any locals driving by the gargantuan complex Friday morning saw something that may inspire new ones: A massive blimp hovering over the center, with the letters NSA printed on its side. Activist groups, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Greenpeace, launched the 135-foot thermal airship early Friday morning to protest the agency's mass surveillance programs and to announce the launch of Stand Against Spying, a website that rates members of Congress on their support or opposition to NSA reform.

Sandy Hook Panel's Chairman Cites 'Communication Chasm' After Shootings 27 Jun 2014 The father of a child killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings was sharply critical Friday of the town of Newtown's response in the days and months following the tragedy. "There was no central clearinghouse of information for the 40 affected families," David Wheeler told members of the Sandy Hook Advisory Committee Friday morning...Scott Jackson, the chairman of the Sandy Hook commission, said that Wheeler's testimony exposed "a communication chasm."

Neonicotinoid pesticides responsible for bee deaths, scientists say 25 Jun 2014 Scientists say they have conclusive evidence that a group of widely used pesticides are killing bees and other insects, and harming the environment. The international panel of 50 scientists working as the Task Force on Systemic Pesticides says use of the pesticides should be phased out...But environmental groups say the chemicals should be banned now.

Cutting off water to Detroit's poor 'an affront to human rights,' says UN [Corporate troll Obama silent, of course.] 27 Jun 2014 Residents of Detroit, Michigan, who are $150 or two months past-due on their water bills are having their water shut off by the bankrupt city. Now, even the United Nations has stepped in, saying Detroit is in violation of the human right to water...On Wednesday, three UN experts on the human rights to water and sanitation, adequate housing, and extreme poverty and human rights condemned the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department's widespread water disconnections. "Disconnection of water services because of failure to pay due to lack of means constitutes a violation of the human right to water and other international human rights," the experts said in a statement.

Mississippi Tea Party leader accused of Cochran photo conspiracy 'commits suicide' 27 Jun 2014 Mark Mayfield, the Mississippi Tea Party leader accused of conspiring to photograph the ailing wife of Sen. Thad Cochran on Easter Sunday, has [allegedly] committed suicide. Mayfield was found dead from a self- inflicted gunshot wound Friday morning in the garage of his home in a gated community outside Jackson, Miss. A gun was found near his body and a suicide note was found at the scene.

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