A member of Al Qaeda with ties to Usama Bin Laden died in New York
Friday while awaiting trial to face charges of planning the 1998
bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 224
people.
The Department of Justice confirmed Abu Anas al-Libi's death citing "long-standing medical problems."
Al-Libi, 50, was captured by the U.S. Army's Delta Force in Tripoli,
Libya on Oct 5, 2013 and brought to New York where he was due to stand
trial. He had been wanted for more than a decade and there was a $5
million reward for his arrest.
U.S. forces raided Libya in 2013 and seized al-Libi on the streets of
the capital, Tripoli. He was brought back to America to stand trial in
New York.
His wife, Um Abdullah told the Associated Press he died of complication from liver surgery.
"I accuse the American government of kidnapping, mistreating, and killing an innocent man. He did nothing," Abullah said.
Al-Libi was once on the FBI's most wanted terrorists list for his
alleged involvement in the bombings. He pleaded not guilty to any
involvement.
In December 2013, Bernard Kleinman, an attorney for al-Libi, said his
client was only accused of participating in visual and photographic
surveillance of the U.S. embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, in late 1993 and
researching potential sites for other attacks with members of Al Qaeda
in 1994.
Abdullah told the Associated Press she spoke with her husband Thursday stating that he was in bad condition.
U.S. Senator Tom Coburn released his final oversight report on the
Department of Homeland Security, which has found major problems in the
branch.
The report finds that Homeland Security is not successfully executing any of its five main missions.
“Ten years of oversight of the Department of Homeland Security finds
that the Department still has a lot of work to do to strengthen our
nation’s security,” Coburn explained. “Congress needs to review the
Department’s mission and programs and refocus DHS on national priorities
where DHS has a lead responsibility.”
Homeland Security spent $50 billion over the past 11 years on
counterterrorism programs, but the Department cannot demonstrate if the
nation is more secure as a result.
Coburn also found that 700 miles of the nation’s southern border
remain unsecured. The DHS is not effectively administering or enforcing
the nation’s immigration laws, while only 3 in 100 illegal immigrants
will ever face deportation.
The report also found that the DHS spends more than $700 million
annually to lead the federal government’s efforts on cybersecurity, but
struggles to protect itself, federal and civilian networks from the most
serious cyberattacks.
The Department has spent $170 billion for natural disasters since
2002 because of an increased federal role in which the costs of small
storms are declared “major disasters.”
Even with the grim findings, Coburn expressed optimism about the
Department’s future if Congress acts swiftly to address the problems in
the report.
“I am confident that Secretary Jeh Johnson is leading the Department
in the right direction,” Coburn commented. “One of the biggest
challenges that Sec. Johnson and DHS face is Congress and its
dysfunctional approach to setting priorities for the Department.
Congress needs to work with the Department to refocus its missions on
national priorities and give Secretary Johnson the authority to lead and
fix the Department.”
Coburn served his final day as senator. He thanked his fellow members of the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee.
The Senate Judiciary Committee wants more answers about law
enforcement agencies across the country deploying surveillance
technology, including trick cellphone towers, that gather cellphone
data, according to a letter obtained Thursday by FoxNews.com
The bipartisan letter was sent to the departments of Justice and
Homeland Security, following a recent FBI policy change regarding search
warrants that committee leaders say raises questions about privacy
protections and how the equipment was used.
Among the tools singled out in the letter is a Stingray, a device
that pretends it is a cellphone tower and tricks cellphones into
identifying some of their owners' account information.
In addition, the U.S. Marshal Service is deploying an airborne device
-- called a “DRT box” or “dirtbox” -- from five metropolitan-area
airports across the United States that also “mimic standard cell towers,
forcing affected cell phones to reveal their approximate location and
registration information,” the Dec. 23 letter states.
“It remains unclear how other agencies within the Department of
Justice and Department of Homeland Security make use of cell-site
simulators and what policies are in place to govern their use of that
technology,” states the letter from Vermont Democratic Sen. Patrick
Leahy, the committee chairman, and Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, the top
Republican on the committee, reported first by The Associated Press.
The letter also states: "The Judiciary Committee needs a broader
understanding of the full range of law enforcement agencies that use
this technology, the policies in place to protect the privacy interests
of those whose information might be collected using these devices, and
the legal process that DOJ and DHS entities seek prior to using them."
A Justice Department spokeswoman told the wire service that agency officials are reviewing the letter.
Law enforcement authorities have said the technology, which allows
police to obtain cellphone information without having to ask for help
from service providers, is useful for catching criminals, though civil
liberties advocates have raised privacy concerns.
The senators’ letter says that FBI officials in recent months have
told committee staffers that the agency recently changed its policy so
that it now generally seeks a search warrant before using the cell-site
technology but with certain broad exceptions -- such as cases that
involve a fugitive, pose an imminent public safety danger or in which
the technology is used in a public place where no expectation of privacy
would exist.
The senators demanded answers about how the FBI and other law
enforcement agencies protect the privacy of people whose cellphone
information is collected, even when they're not targeted or suspected of
any wrongdoing. The letter had a list of questions, including ones
about how often the technology has been used and about how often law
enforcement has requested a search warrant.
The FBI confirmed that officials had met with committee staff members
and said it would respond to oversight questions but otherwise referred
questions about the letter to the Justice Department.
Soon, more Americans will be able to legally light a joint. Workers
across the country will see a higher minimum wage. And states will crack
down on everything from pet tattoos to cramped hen cages to selfies
with tigers.
The new year will usher in thousands of new laws, covering these areas and much, much more.
Grabbing the headlines lately have been the marijuana legalization
measures approved on Election Day in Oregon, Alaska and the District of
Columbia.
Though marijuana is still considered illegal by the federal
government, the two states and D.C. follow Colorado and Washington state
in allowing it locally.
But residents there should stick to champagne to celebrate New Year's
-- the Alaska measure isn't expected to take effect until February, and
the Oregon measure doesn't green-light possession until July 2015. And
the Washington, D.C., measure already is getting caught in the
congressional grinder, as lawmakers try and block implementation.
On another front, a number of cities and roughly 20 states are raising their minimum wage next year.
The highest is in Oakland, Calif., which raised its citywide wage to
$12.25 beginning in March, setting an increase every January based on
cost-of-living adjustments. Similarly, San Francisco passed its own
incremental hike, starting with a raise to $11.05 on Jan. 1.
Others expecting a wage increase in 2015 include workers in: Alaska
($8.75); Arkansas ($7.50); Nebraska ($8); and South Dakota ($8).
States are tackling issues that go well beyond marijuana and the minimum wage. They include:
Animal tattoos. In New York, a law signed Dec. 15 by Gov. Andrew Cuomo will make it a crime to pierce or tattoo animals.
The only exception will be for markings done under a veterinarian's
supervision for a medical reason or identification. But anyone thinking
of getting Fido a "ma" tattoo ... should think again. Penalties for
violations range up to 15 days in jail and up to a $250 fine.
The law reportedly gained traction after the case of a woman trying
to sell "gothic kittens" with piercings, as well as a New Yorker who
tattooed his pit bull. The law takes effect in about four months.
Hen cages. In California, a 2008 ballot initiative going into
effect on Jan. 1 will restrict the confinement of egg-laying hens,
breeding sows and veal calves. The new law will require that they have
enough space to move around, and not be kept in cramped cages.
It could be costly for farmers, but animal rights groups are hailing
the changes. The Humane Society of the United States says the law goes
further than any in the country when coupled with a law signed by former
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger that extends the space requirements for
egg-laying hens to out-of-state suppliers.
Driver's licenses for illegal immigrants. Starting Thursday,
California illegal immigrants will be able to apply for a state drivers'
license under a 2013 law. Hundreds of thousands of applicants are
expected.
Bag ban. Starting in July of 2015, the first part of a controversial plastic bag ban is set to go into effect in California.
In September, Gov. Jerry Brown signed SB270. It would pull plastic
bags out of checkout counters at large grocery stores and supermarkets
such as Wal-Mart and Target in the summer of next year, and convenience
stores and pharmacies in 2016. The law does not apply to bags used for
fruits, vegetables or meats, or to shopping bags used at other
retailers.
However, business groups trying to overturn the law said Monday
they've collected more than enough signatures to put their referendum on
the November 2016 ballot. If the referendum qualifies, the nation's
first statewide ban on single-use plastic bags will be suspended until
voters weigh in, effectively buying plastic bag manufacturers more
time.
Fracking bans. In November, voters in Athens, Ohio; Denton,
Texas; and California's Mendocino and San Benito counties passed
measures banning fracking, a practice in which high-pressure liquid,
typically water, is shot through a drill hole in the earth as a means of
getting at oil or natural gas. An oil company, Citadel Exploration,
which had planned to conduct oil exploration on private lands in San
Benito, has already filed a $1.2 billion claim with the county saying
that is how much the company will lose from the fracking ban.
Data destruction. A Delaware law takes effect Jan. 1 requiring
companies to scrub a host of customer information. It requires all
"commercial entities" to take "all reasonable steps" to destroy
consumers' personal identifying information that is "no longer to be
retained by the commercial entity" by "shredding, erasing, or otherwise
destroying or modifying" it -- "to make it entirely unreadable or
indecipherable through any means."
Laptop rules. In New York, the state later this week will make
it illegal to throw away laptops and other electronics in the regular
trash. Instead, consumers must begin recycling old computers,
televisions and video game consoles.
Tiger selfies. In New York in February, it becomes illegal to
pose for a photo with a lion, tiger or other big cat. The measure, which
specifically prohibits contact between members of the public and big
cats at animal shows, passed after self-portraits with the animals
started becoming more popular online, particularly with some young men
on dating sites.
'Yes means yes.' In California, a "yes means yes" standard for
sex between college students takes effect on Thursday, requiring "an
affirmative, conscious and voluntary agreement to engage in sexual
activity," meaning silence or a lack of resistance can no longer be
deemed consent.
Sweet-beverage tax. In November, voters in Berkeley, Calif.
passed a one-cent tax on certain sugary drinks, including soda and other
beverages such as Snapple and Gatorade. The tax, in effect Jan. 1, will
be paid by distributors, not retailers, but it is unclear how or if the
higher cost will be passed on to consumers.
Pregnancy accommodation. As of Jan. 1, all employers with one
or more workers in Illinois will be violating the civil rights of a
pregnant employee if they do not make reasonable accommodations for that
employee, or force them to take leave or fail to reinstate them to
their position (or an equivalent position) after childbirth.
'Right to try.' A "Right to Try" law was passed by Arizona's
citizens who will now be given access to medications, medical devices
and other treatments that have passed first clinical trials but have not
yet been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Eligible
patients would have to be terminally ill and have exhausted all other
FDA-approved treatments.
Mayor Bill de Blasio delivered another blow to New York's Finest on
Wednesday when he reappointed a Brooklyn judge who freed without bail
two men who threatened cops just days after the Bed-Stuy double police
assassination.
The stunning decision came even as one of the suspects — a gang
member charged with posting police death threats online — skipped a
court date and had a warrant out for his arrest, sources said.
Brooklyn Criminal Court Judge Laura Johnson had faced a midnight
expiration of her term. She was appointed by then-Mayor Mike Bloomberg
in January 2013.
Her one-year, interim reappointment by de Blasio outraged law enforcement officials a day after he met with the heads of five police unions to heal his fractured relationship with cops.
"The mayor's actions of reappointing this judge are completely
hypocritical to his argument that he’s pro-police and counterproductive
to what he claims to be an effort to open dialogue going forward,” said
sergeants union chief Ed Mullins.
"He had the opportunity to demonstrate good will and support for the police, and he once again has demonstrated the opposite."
The head of the state ¬court officers union, Dennis Quirk, called de Blasio’s decision "a disgrace."
Former three-term New York Gov. Mario Cuomo, the liberal son of
Italian immigrants and a gifted orator whose talents brought him
national stature, died Thursday. He was 82.
Cuomo died in New York of a heart condition shortly after his eldest
son, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, was sworn in to a second term, in the
office he once held.
Mario Cuomo in November had been hospitalized for a heart condition, shortly after his son won re-election. The New York Post reported that Mario Cuomo joined his son at a victory event, but was rushed to the hospital the next day.
Mario Cuomo, while serving a lengthy term as governor, gained
national attention with a rousing speech at the 1984 Democratic National
Convention criticizing then-President Ronald Reagan. Cuomo went on to
be considered a leading contender for the Democratic presidential
nomination in 1988 and 1992, though he didn’t run.
The New York City native held the highest office in the state for over a
decade, between 1983 and 1994. He was defeated in his bid for a fourth
term by Republican George Pataki. Before that, he was lieutenant
governor of New York from 1979 to 1982.
However, Cuomo never lost sight of his humble beginnings as a son of immigrants. When asked by the New York Times Magazine in 2011 if he was proud that his son Andrew was following in his footsteps, he said he felt lucky.
“I somehow stumbled through and became a governor,” he said. “I’ve told you that story. It was all luck. Luck and nothing else.”
During his tenure, Cuomo was known as a staunch liberal.
In the 1984 convention speech, he criticized Reagan’s economic policies.
He accused Reagan of believing in social Darwinism, and said the
president’s analogy of America as a “city on the hill” was only for some
of its people.
“In fact, Mr. President, this is a nation -- Mr. President you ought to
know that this nation is more a ‘Tale of Two Cities’ than it is just a
‘Shining City on a Hill,’” Cuomo said in the address.
Cuomo was later considered a leading contender for the Democratic
presidential nominations in 1988 and 1992, but chose both times not to
seek the office.
He repeatedly vetoed legislation that would have restored the death
penalty in New York, and he closed down the Shoreham nuclear power plant
on Long Island. He also built 30 new prisons. Under Cuomo, the state
budget grew from $28 billion to $62 billion.
In 1993, he turned down an opportunity to be nominated by Clinton for a
seat on the U.S. Supreme Court, telling the new president in a letter
that "by staying active in our nation's political process, I can
continue to serve as a vigorous supporter of the good work you are doing
for America and the world."
After being defeated for a fourth term, he retired from politics and worked at Manhattan law firm Willkie, Farr & Gallagher.
He was a graduate of St. John’s University and St. John’s University School of Law.
Cuomo is survived by his wife Matilda, and his five children Margaret,
Andrew, Maria, Madeline and Chris. Andrew Cuomo was formerly married to
Kerry Kennedy, daughter of Robert F. Kennedy.
Margaret Cuomo is a well-known radiologist who frequently writes and
blogs about cancer prevention. Maria Cuomo, known as Maria Cuomo Cole,
is married to fashion designer Kenneth Cole. Chris Cuomo is an anchor
for CNN’s “New Day.”
The pace of agencies issuing new rules and regulations has hit a
record high under President Obama, whose administration’s rules have
filled 468,500 pages in the Federal Register.
And, according to the Competitive Enterprise Institute,
the president is poised to unleash another 2,375 new rules on American
businesses without first giving Congress an up or down vote.
CEI’s Clyde Wayne Crews,
vice president for policy, told Secrets Wednesday that of the top six
biggest Federal Register page tallies since 2002, the Obama
administration owns five. This year, he said, the Federal Register ended
up printing 79,066 pages — 78,978 when blank pages are removed.
The Federal Register is a daily publication of federal issues proposed and final administrative regulations of federal agencies.
On most Mondays, we are fed the mildly diverting and largely
irrelevant data about weekend box office grosses. Not this Monday. This
week we are left to ponder the gross excesses of censors — three to be
exact.
First there was the assertion of a scary cyberbullying attack by
North Korea seeking to abort the launch of a comedy about a fictional
attempt to off Pyongyang’s awful leader. While there’s now skepticism about North Korea’s role,
what’s not in dispute is that there is nothing funny about life in
North Korea. Tragically, the long-suffering people there, including
hidden Christians, did not wake up on Dec. 25 to find regime change
gift-wrapped under illegal Christmas trees.
Next came the thought police in Casablanca and Cairo, who have rated
the epic remake of the biblical “Exodus” “Z” for Zionist. Apparently,
they are less disturbed that God was relegated to a minor supporting
role in the narrative than they are that muscular “white guys” dominate
the screen and that the movie has the audacity to suggest that Hebrew
slave labor contributed to ancient Egypt’s unique skyline. All this from
two of the most “moderate” Arab societies.
Shouldn’t the Japanese people be trusted to face their past, even their history’s darkest chapters like POW abuse?
But these two incidents, both generated in tightly controlled
societies, pale in comparison to the decision of a leading studio to
stop the release of a true story in a sister democracy.
On Christmas Day, Universal Pictures released Angelina Jolie’s
“Unbroken" — which depicts the remarkable life of Louis Zamperini, an
Olympic runner who became a prisoner of war of the Japanese — all over
the world … except in Japan.
The Los Angeles Times reported that “Unbroken,” with its unflinching
depiction of the brutality of Japanese POW camps during World War II,
would have encountered considerable resistance there.
Already millions of viewers — most of them born long after the Second
World War — have been inspired by Zamperini’s sheer determination to
survive unimaginable brutality at the hands of the Japanese; his
struggle with post-war PTSD; and his finally being able to forgive his
former tormentors. People in the very country where these events took
place are now robbed of the opportunity to learn from their nation's
past.
Why did Universal feel compelled to make this draconian move? Japan
is no North Korea. She is one of the United States’ closest allies, with
almost 70 years of friendship based on shared values of democracy and
human rights. Shouldn’t the Japanese people be trusted to face their
past, even their history’s darkest chapters like POW abuse?
One of us recently attended the signing at the State Department of a
joint agreement between France and the U.S. that calls for France to
provide $60 million in compensation to Holocaust survivors it deported
to Nazi concentration camps. But it was not only about money. Speaking
for France, Patrizianna Sparacino-Thiellay, the ambassador-at-large for
human rights in charge of the Holocaust, declared, “This agreement is a
further contribution to recognizing France’s commitment to face up to
its historic responsibilities.”
The Japanese people deserve this kind of commitment from their
leaders, not the overwhelming denial of history that led to the
“Unbroken” blackout.
It took until 2009, when then Japanese Ambassador Ichiro Fujisaki, on
behalf of his government, apologized to former American POWs at their
last national reunion, for the real reconciliation to finally start.
Because of the ambassador’s commitment to improving U.S.-Japan relations
and his willingness to work closely with Dr. Lester Tenney, a survivor
of the Bataan Death March and of forced labor in a Japanese coal mine, a
POW invitation program to promote reconciliation funded by the Japanese
government started in 2010.
Former POWs in their late 80s and 90s who went to Japan were finally
able to feel peace and a sense of closure as they visited the places
where they had endured hard labor and were warmly welcomed by today’s
Japanese. U.S. Ambassador Caroline Kennedy praised this program. The
positive publicity generated by the surviving ex-POWs’ yearly visit has
been helping younger Japanese to learn about what happened to POWs in
their country — in most cases, for the first time.
One group that must have welcomed the “Unbroken” cancellation was the
very Japanese companies that enslaved American POWs. Of some 12,000
Americans who were sent to Japan after being captured on the
battlefield, 1,115 died while being forced to work for these companies.
Their refusal to honor the request of aging ex-POWs who insist “We
survivors want our honor returned; we want you to apologize” is not
worthy of Asia's leading democracy.
In contrast, France's state-owned railway company, SNCF, whose trains
were used to deport Jews from France to Auschwitz, has expressed regret
for those actions, opened its WWII archives to historians and increased
its financial commitment to Holocaust education in France, Israel and
the U.S.
In 2015, some Japanese companies that used and abused American POWs
will try to sell their high-speed rail technology to the U.S., as will
SNCF. These Japanese companies should emulate their French competitor by
issuing an apology and committing themselves to educate the future
generation on the history of American POWs of the Japanese. Showing
“Unbroken” across Japan can be one way to show such a commitment, as
well as reassuring her neighbors on both sides of the Pacific that the
mindset that led Japan into World War II is a thing of the past, not an
inspiration for the future.
Rabbi Abraham Cooper is associate Dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles. Follow the Simon Wiesenthal Center on Facebook and on Twitter.
