Salon.com > Natasha Lennard http://www.salon.com Fri, 24 May 2013 10:45:00 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Ahead of Obama’s speech, U.S. acknowledges four American drone killings http://www.salon.com/2013/05/23/ahead_of_obamas_speech_u_s_acknowledges_four_american_drone_killings/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/23/ahead_of_obamas_speech_u_s_acknowledges_four_american_drone_killings/#comments Thu, 23 May 2013 14:26:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13306696 On Thursday, President Obama will give the first major speech on counterterrorism of his second term. The New York Times reported that the speech will mark the opening of "a new phase" of counterterror efforts with greater restrictions applied to the use of lethal drone strikes. There's reason for skepticism.

On Wednesday afternoon, in a letter to Congress, Attorney General Eric Holder for the first time formally acknowledged that U.S. drones had killed four U.S. citizens -- including Anwar al-Awlaki and his 16-year-old son. Bearing out long-held concerns in the human rights community over the description of these strikes as "targeted" killings, only one of these U.S. citizens (al-Awlaki senior) was on the government's kill list.

The New York Times' typically administration-friendly report suggests that Obama's speech will hail the dawn of a new age of high precision, unproblematic drone strikes. The language used in Holder's letter, however, alongside recent disturbing comments from top Pentagon officials, give us reason to doubt that the boundless, limitless War on Terror is coming to any sort of clean end.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/23/ahead_of_obamas_speech_u_s_acknowledges_four_american_drone_killings/feed/ 21 House supporters of KXL received $56m from fossil fuel industry http://www.salon.com/2013/05/23/house_supporters_of_kxl_received_56m_from_fossil_fuel_industry/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/23/house_supporters_of_kxl_received_56m_from_fossil_fuel_industry/#comments Thu, 23 May 2013 12:17:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13306683 On Wednesday the house voted 241-175 to pass a bill that declares a presidential permit is not needed to approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline extension currently under consideration. The Northern Route Approval Act is unlikely to garner enough votes in the Senate to overcome a presidential veto, so the decision on the pipeline -- which would carry crude oil from Alberta’s tar sands to the Gulf Coast -- will likely remain in the president's hands.

Meanwhile, environmental groups have decried Wednesday's House vote as further evidence that Congress has been bought by Big Oil. Oil Change International calculated that supporters of the bill had taken a combined $56 million from the fossil fuel industry, and that individual representatives in support of the bill had on average received six times from oil industry interests than pipeline opponents. Oil Change International highlighted the following findings:

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/23/house_supporters_of_kxl_received_56m_from_fossil_fuel_industry/feed/ 9 Before FBI shooting man implicated self, Tsarnaev in triple murder http://www.salon.com/2013/05/23/before_fbi_shooting_man_implicated_self_tsarnaev_in_triple_murder/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/23/before_fbi_shooting_man_implicated_self_tsarnaev_in_triple_murder/#comments Thu, 23 May 2013 11:47:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13306664 Question marks hang over the shooting by an FBI agent in Orlando Wednesday of a young Chechen man with connections to the late Boston bombing suspect, Tamerlan Tsarnaev. According to CBS, during questioning on Tuesday night Ibragim Todashev implicated himself and the elder Tsarnaev brother -- his friend through mixed martial arts -- in a 2011 triple murder. Meanwhile, friends of Todashev are demanding answers about his death, as early reports that the Chechen immigrant had a knife with which he threatened an agent have come under scrutiny.

CBS reported:

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/23/before_fbi_shooting_man_implicated_self_tsarnaev_in_triple_murder/feed/ 17 Experts: Fox News spying scandal a game-changer http://www.salon.com/2013/05/22/experts_fox_news_spying_scandal_a_game_changer/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/22/experts_fox_news_spying_scandal_a_game_changer/#comments Wed, 22 May 2013 16:15:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13305444 Addressing reporters Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said, "If you are asking me whether the president believes that journalists should be prosecuted for doing their jobs, the answer is no.” The comment came in light of revelations that in 2010 an FBI agent had described Fox News correspondent James Rosen as a possible “co-conspirator” in a crime for the journalistic act of obtaining leaked information from a State Department source.

Even if we are to take Carney at his word, his remark comes as little assurance. The president may believe that journalists should never be prosecuted for doing their job. What's at stake, then, is what this administration considers the job of a journalist. In the context of the ongoing war on leaks and an administration invested in the tight control of information, the presidential view on protected journalistic activity seems a far cry from a robust Fourth Estate.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/22/experts_fox_news_spying_scandal_a_game_changer/feed/ 89 9-year-old slams Rahm over Chicago schools http://www.salon.com/2013/05/22/9_year_old_slams_rahm_over_chicago_schools/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/22/9_year_old_slams_rahm_over_chicago_schools/#comments Wed, 22 May 2013 15:27:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13305610 Earlier this week, thousands of students and parents and supporters rallied in Chicago to protest plans to shutter 53 public schools, disproportionately affecting black, low-income families . Nine-year-old Asean Johnson, his school facing closure, had a few fierce words for Mayor Rahm Emanuel. A must watch:

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/22/9_year_old_slams_rahm_over_chicago_schools/feed/ 61 Florida man with connection to Tsarnaev killed by FBI http://www.salon.com/2013/05/22/florida_man_with_connection_to_tsarnaev_killed_by_fbi/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/22/florida_man_with_connection_to_tsarnaev_killed_by_fbi/#comments Wed, 22 May 2013 11:44:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13305386 According to NBC's local affiliate in Orlando Wednesday, a 27-year-old man shot dead in Florida by an FBI agent had connections to the Boston bombing suspects. Ibragim Todashev was reportedly being interviewed about his links to the elder Tsarnaev brother, Tamerlan, when he attacked the agent and was shot.

NBC reported:

A friend of the suspect, Khusn Taramiv, said his friend, 27-year-old Ibragim Todashev, was being investigated as part of the Boston bombings and knew Tsarnaev because both were MMA fighters.

Taramiv claims he and Todashev were interviewed by the FBI for nearly three hours on Tuesday.

"(The FBI) took me and my friend, the suspect that got killed. They were talking to us, both of us, right? And they said they need him for a little more, for a couple more hours, and I left, and they told me they’re going to bring him back. They never brought him back," Taramiv said.

"He felt inside he was going to get shot," Taramiv said about Todashev. "I told him, 'Everything is going to be fine, don't worry about it.' He said, 'I have a really bad feeling.'"

Taramiv said he left the interview and when he came back to the apartments he found that there had been a shooting.

"I was completely shocked. I still can’t believe it, you know what I mean?" he said.

Investigations into the Boston Marathon bombing, and particularly Tamerlan Tsarnaev's possible terror links around the world, are ongoing. Next week Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., will lead a bipartisan delegation to Russia to seek answers about why warnings about Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev failed to capture the attention of U.S. authorities.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/22/florida_man_with_connection_to_tsarnaev_killed_by_fbi/feed/ 24 Moore officials: Funds for “safe rooms” were held up by red tape http://www.salon.com/2013/05/21/moore_official_funds_for_safe_rooms_were_held_up_by_red_tape/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/21/moore_official_funds_for_safe_rooms_were_held_up_by_red_tape/#comments Tue, 21 May 2013 19:30:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13304781 Officials in Moore, the Oklahoma City suburb devastated by a tornado Monday, complained earlier this year that federal grant funds that were intended to build "safe rooms" in the tornado-struck region were delayed.  Plaza Towers and Briarwood elementary schools, both leveled by the twister, were both without safe rooms, despite their precarious location. As a result, seven children (of nine total) were found dead in school buildings.

NBC's Investigative Editor Mark Schone reported:

Officials in the Oklahoma City suburb ravaged by deadly tornadoes Monday complained in February that $2 million in federal grants to pay for “safe rooms” in 800 homes had been delayed by a shortage of funding and FEMA requirements that were a “constantly moving target.”

“Our countywide Hazard Mitigation Plan still has not been approved by the State and FEMA,” said a statement  on the City of Moore’s website. It said that changes to federal requirements occurred while the city’s contractor was preparing the plan, adding, “We’ve found that the FEMA requirements …  seem to be a constantly moving target.”

A spokesperson for the Federal Emergency Management Agency told NBC News the agency is “looking into” the city’s claim about delays.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/21/moore_official_funds_for_safe_rooms_were_held_up_by_red_tape/feed/ 14 Hundreds of low-wage federally contracted workers strike in D.C. http://www.salon.com/2013/05/21/hundreds_of_low_wage_federally_contracted_workers_strike_in_d_c/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/21/hundreds_of_low_wage_federally_contracted_workers_strike_in_d_c/#comments Tue, 21 May 2013 17:38:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13304685 On Tuesday, hundreds of low-wage workers, employed under federal contract, went on strike in federally owned buildings in D.C. to ask for better wages and working conditions. As Josh Eidelson reported for the Nation in advance of the strike:

Organizers expect the one-day walkout to include workers employed at Smithsonian museums, the Old Post Office and Ronald Reagan buildings and Union Station, where tourists, lobbyists and members of Congress arrive by Amtrak train to Washington, DC. The strikers are part of a recently unveiled organization, Good Jobs Nation, backed by labor and community groups.

A press release from Good Jobs Nation commented on the day's action:

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/21/hundreds_of_low_wage_federally_contracted_workers_strike_in_d_c/feed/ 5 Oklahoma death count confirmed at 24, 9 children http://www.salon.com/2013/05/21/oklahoma_tornado_kills_at_least_91/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/21/oklahoma_tornado_kills_at_least_91/#comments Tue, 21 May 2013 12:10:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13304309  

Updated 11:22 a.m. EST: Amy Elliott, chief administrative officer of the Oklahoma medical examiner's office confirmed the death count as 24, including nine children.

"Our office had reported 51 fatalities, some of those were reported possibly in error or doubled," said Elliott. She told a news conference that of the nine children found dead, seven were at a devastated primary school.

Updated 10:25 a.m. EST: Officials have announced that 24 bodies, and not the previously reported figure of 51, were recovered. The New York Times had reported early Tuesday that at least 91 had been killed.

As rescue efforts continue, these figures are likely to change again.

Updated 10:15 a.m. EST: Addressing the nation, President Obama reiterated that the devastated areas of Oklahoma would have "all the resources they need at their disposal. "Our prayers are with Oklahoma," he said, praising the bravery of first responders and specifically honoring the teachers who attempted to defend children in two Moore primary schools leveled by the twister -- "young children trying to take shelter in the safest place they knew, their school."

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/21/oklahoma_tornado_kills_at_least_91/feed/ 1 Entire Midwest on tornado warning http://www.salon.com/2013/05/20/entire_midwest_put_on_tornado_warning/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/20/entire_midwest_put_on_tornado_warning/#comments Mon, 20 May 2013 20:50:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13303804 According to warnings from the National Weather Service, the entire Midwest -- Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas and Texas -- can expect tornadoes on Monday afternoon. Following a tornado that killed two men in Oklahoma on Sunday, the entire Midwest is again on alert.

As USA Today reported Monday:

The weather service said it was tracking "a large and extremely dangerous tornado'' just west of Moore, Okla., which is south of Oklahoma City. The storm was moving to the northeast, and forecasters said they expected "large, destructive hail up to tennis ball size.''

... The five-state area is in the heart of a storm system hovering over the Plains and Midwest all the way to Minnesota ... More than 60 million Americans are at risk of severe storms Monday.

ABC News shows storm chasers spotting tornadoes forming in Oklahoma:

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/20/entire_midwest_put_on_tornado_warning/feed/ 7 Oregon senator proposes appeal to Monsanto Protection Act http://www.salon.com/2013/05/20/oregon_senator_proposes_appeal_to_monsanto_protection_act/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/20/oregon_senator_proposes_appeal_to_monsanto_protection_act/#comments Mon, 20 May 2013 20:26:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13303765 The so-called "Monsanto Protection Act" -- a bill that protects genetically modified seed manufacturers from litigation in the face of health risks -- sneaked into law with the passing of spending bill HR 933. Food safety and activist groups, including Food Democracy Now and the Center for Food Safety, were swift to condemn the biotech rider and the underhanded way it was anonymously slipped into the larger spending bill without appropriate review by the agricultural or judiciary committees.

On Monday, Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., announced he would put forward an amendment to the Senate farm bill that would repeal the controversial provision.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/20/oregon_senator_proposes_appeal_to_monsanto_protection_act/feed/ 11 Gitmo hunger striker launches Twitter campaign http://www.salon.com/2013/05/20/gitmo_hunger_striker_launches_twitter_campaign/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/20/gitmo_hunger_striker_launches_twitter_campaign/#comments Mon, 20 May 2013 19:43:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13303706 It is a tragic state of affairs when more than 100 men starve themselves, some close to death, in protest of human rights abrogations -- and Twitter is needed to gain them attention. But here we are, more than 100 days into the Guantanamo Bay hunger strike, and one starving detainee is turning -- through his attorneys -- to social media.

Shaker Aamer, a Saudi citizen and former British resident, has been held without charge in the camp for 11 years. The British government has vowed to pursue his release, but currently, Aamer continues to be incarcerated and is on hunger strike. He has lost a quarter of his body weight. Wired reported Monday that Aamer is "is hoping that Twitter can help him." Via Spencer Ackerman:

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/20/gitmo_hunger_striker_launches_twitter_campaign/feed/ 0 “Hero” cop, honored by Obama, accused of double rape http://www.salon.com/2013/05/20/hero_cop_honored_by_obama_accused_of_double_rape/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/20/hero_cop_honored_by_obama_accused_of_double_rape/#comments Mon, 20 May 2013 19:05:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13303654 Richard DeCoatsworth, a former Philadelphia cop once honored with a seat next to First Lady Michelle Obama during the president's first congressional address, has been accused of drugging and raping two women and assaulting another. DeCoatsworth, currently held on $60 million bail, rose to "hero" status when in 2007 he was shot in the face; the then-rookie cop chased down and tackled his assailant. He was named a 2008 "Top Cop." As local Philadelphia station NBC10 reports, however, the former officer now faces charges for horrendous abuses.

He allegedly forced "two women, both in their 20s, to use drugs and perform oral sex on him at gunpoint," Philadelphia's NBC10 reported:

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/20/hero_cop_honored_by_obama_accused_of_double_rape/feed/ 11 Pentagon adviser pushed Anthrax drug, which his firm produced http://www.salon.com/2013/05/20/pentagon_adviser_pushed_anthrax_drug_which_his_firm_produced/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/20/pentagon_adviser_pushed_anthrax_drug_which_his_firm_produced/#comments Mon, 20 May 2013 18:19:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13303560 A Los Angeles Times investigation published on Sunday revealed how a biowarfare consultant to the Pentagon and DHS urged the government to stockpile a drug that defends against Anthrax -- a drug developed and sold solely by the biotech firm where he served as a director.

Former Navy Secretary Richard J. Danzig reportedly stressed the imminent threat of an Anthrax attack "while serving as a director of a biotech startup that won $334 million in federal contracts to supply" a drug to defend against it. As the Los Angeles Times reported:

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/20/pentagon_adviser_pushed_anthrax_drug_which_his_firm_produced/feed/ 1 Promotion for NYPD cop who cost city $1.5m in settlements http://www.salon.com/2013/05/20/promotion_for_nypd_cop_who_cost_city_1_5m_in_settlements/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/20/promotion_for_nypd_cop_who_cost_city_1_5m_in_settlements/#comments Mon, 20 May 2013 16:54:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13303487 How does an NYPD officer make it to lieutenant? Here's one way, illustrated by Daniel Sbarra, who was promoted in 2011 by Commissioner Ray Kelly: Oversee a unit that, over 15 years, has cost the city $1.5 million in legal settlements, having been repeatedly charged with illegal searches, racial profiling, violence and intimidation.

A recent New York Daily News investigation traced Sbarra and his team's muddied record, noting how his 2011 promotion evidenced -- for police department critics -- "how the NYPD turns a blind eye to the mountains of litigation filed against it every year, and its nonchalant attitude toward police misconduct."
Via NYDN:

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/20/promotion_for_nypd_cop_who_cost_city_1_5m_in_settlements/feed/ 5 The truth in Kanye’s anti-prison rap http://www.salon.com/2013/05/20/the_truth_in_kanyes_anti_prison_rap/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/20/the_truth_in_kanyes_anti_prison_rap/#comments Mon, 20 May 2013 16:10:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13303359 The backdrop to Kanye West's "Saturday Night Live" performance was a lie. Projected behind the rapper, as he let loose with two rage-filled and politically fueled tracks, were the words "Not For Sale."

Yeezy wouldn't have graced the set if he wasn't hawking a soon-to-be released LP. But his incendiary performance was peppered with damning truths: Angry and pointed condemnations of institutional racism and the prison industrial complex, which disproportionately jails young men of color to fill state budget holes and enrich private corporations.

In the final verse of "New Slaves," a track released Friday with the coordinated projection of a video on 66 buildings worldwide, and the second performance in his "SNL" set, West raps:

Meanwhile the DEA
Teamed up with the CCA
They tryn'a lock niggas up
They tryn'a make new slaves
See that's that private owned prison
Get your piece today

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/20/the_truth_in_kanyes_anti_prison_rap/feed/ 26 Chinese hackers resume attacks against U.S. http://www.salon.com/2013/05/20/chinese_hackers_resume_attacks_against_u_s/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/20/chinese_hackers_resume_attacks_against_u_s/#comments Mon, 20 May 2013 13:45:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13303292 It had been three months since regular cyberattacks aimed at gaining information from U.S. companies and government agencies were traced to the Chinese military. Some commentators thought that the naming in the U.S. media of the PLA unit linked to a spate of attacks (including against the AP and the New York Times) had pushed the Chinese hackers into inaction. However, according to the Times Monday, "Unit 61398, whose well-guarded 12-story white headquarters on the edges of Shanghai became the symbol of Chinese cyberpower, is back in business, according to American officials and security companies."

Chinese officials have continuously denied that their military is connected to cyberattacks against the U.S., while the White House has warned China against continued data theft attacks.

Via the Times:

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/20/chinese_hackers_resume_attacks_against_u_s/feed/ 0 DOJ tracked movements, phone records of Fox reporter http://www.salon.com/2013/05/20/doj_tracked_movements_phone_records_of_fox_reporter/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/20/doj_tracked_movements_phone_records_of_fox_reporter/#comments Mon, 20 May 2013 09:55:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13303228 Following last week's revelations that the Justice Department had spied on AP reporters' phone records, a Washington Post report Monday reveals that the government has gone even further to track journalists when investigating information leaks. In the case of Fox News' chief Washington correspondent James Rosen, the DOJ not only tracked his phone records, but obtained a warrant to view his personal emails and even obtained "security badge access records to track the reporter’s comings and goings from the State Department."

Based on information from a court affidavit, WaPo details how the government surveilled Rosen's every interaction with the State Department, suspecting that classified information about North Korea had been leaked to the reporter from State Department adviser Stephen Jin-Woo Kim.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/20/doj_tracked_movements_phone_records_of_fox_reporter/feed/ 8 New Yorker launches tool by Aaron Swartz to protect leaks http://www.salon.com/2013/05/18/new_yorker_launches_tool_by_aaron_swartz_to_protect_leaks/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/18/new_yorker_launches_tool_by_aaron_swartz_to_protect_leaks/#comments Sat, 18 May 2013 13:00:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13301548 This week has been a disquieting one for journalists concerned about protecting their sources. The revelation that the Justice Department had been spying on AP reporters' phone records, although it came as no surprise to those attuned to this government's attitude to First Amendment protections, reinforced the importance of enabling the unsurveilled free-flow of information.

It was the right moment then, for the New Yorker to launch Strongbox, an open-source drop box for leaked documents, co-created by late technologist and open-data activist Aaron Swartz with Wired editor Kevin Poulsen.

"With the risks now so high – not just from the U.S. government but also the Chinese government that is hacking newsrooms in the West – it's crucial that news outlets find a secure route for sources to come to them," said Poulsen on Thursday.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/18/new_yorker_launches_tool_by_aaron_swartz_to_protect_leaks/feed/ 4 Financial Times hacked by Syrian Electronic Army http://www.salon.com/2013/05/17/financial_times_hacked_by_syrian_electronic_army/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/17/financial_times_hacked_by_syrian_electronic_army/#comments Fri, 17 May 2013 19:55:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13301905 The Financial Times was hacked Friday by hackers aligned with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian Electronic Army. The attack follows hacks against the Twitter accounts of other publications, including the BBC, NPR, Reuters and the AP. Both the FT website and Twitter feed were hit. Stories on the FT's site had their headlines replaced to read "Hacked by Syrian Electronic Army," and messages on the FT Twitter feed read, "Do you want to know the reality of the Syrian 'Rebels?'"

The hackers carried out the attack using the popular spearphishing tactic. Via the New York Times:

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