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Associate Attorney General Thomas J. Perrelli, the No. 3 official in the Obama Justice Department, was consulted and ultimately approved a decision in May to reverse course and drop a civil complaint accusing three members of the New Black Panther Party of intimidating voters in Philadelphia during November's election, according to interviews. The department's career lawyers in the Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division who pursued the complaint for five months had recommended that Justice seek sanctions against the party and three of its members after the government had already won a default judgment in federal court against the...

Fla. school likely named for Mourning over Reno By MATT SEDENSKY Associated Press Writer Advertisement Buy AP Photo Reprints Your Questions Answered Ask AP: Following Sotomayor, movie closed captions MIAMI (AP) -- Former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno appears to have lost in an unlikely matchup with former NBA star Alonzo Mourning. A committee charged with deciding what to call a new high school in North Miami was considering naming it after one of the two, and last week chose the athlete and his wife.

MIAMI - Miami-Dade officials have decided to name a new high school after former NBA star Alonzo Mourning. The Miami-Dade School Board voted today to name the new North Miami school after Mourning, rather than former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno.

U.S. Attorney General-designate Eric Holder was prepared to be bombarded during his Senate confirmation hearings Thursday with a host of questions about a variety of topics, including his role as acting attorney general during a special investigation into the 1993 Branch Davidian debacle. While he fielded questions about waterboarding terrorist suspects and the 2001 pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich, Senate Judiciary Committee members didn’t get around to asking about the Branch Davidian investigation. Former Attorney General Janet Reno recused herself from a special investigation that was conducted by former U.S. Sen. John Danforth into how the fire started in...

In the summer of 1984, 10th-grader Irwin Nanofsky and a friend were driving down the Apalachee Parkway on the way home from baseball practice when they were pulled over by a police officer for a minor traffic infraction. After Nanofsky produced his driver’s license the police officer asked permission to search the vehicle. In less than two minutes, the officer found a homemade pipe underneath the passenger’s seat of the Ford Aerostar belonging to the teenage driver’s parents. The minivan was seized, and the two youths were taken into custody on suspicion of drug possession. Illegal possession of drug paraphernalia...

Earlier this year, Eric Holder--along with Janet Reno and several other former officials from the Clinton Department of Justice--co-signed an amicus brief in District of Columbia v. Heller. The brief was filed in support of DC's ban on all handguns, and ban on the use of any firearm for self-defense in the home. The brief argued that the Second Amendment is a "collective" right, not an individual one, and asserted that belief in the collective right had been the consistent policy of the U.S. Department of Justice since the FDR administration. A brief filed by some other former DOJ officials...

...More specifically, they protested some of Obama's top advisors: Gregory Craig...and Erich Holder...Both of these gentlemen had key roles in “legally” perfuming the shanghaiing of Elian Gonzalez. At the time, Craig served as lawyer for Elain's father, (i.e Fidel Castro), and Holder served as Deputy Attorney General under Janet Reno... FReep this Digg!!!

.O. Woman Gets New Gun To Replace One Taken During Katrina By The confiscated gun has yet to be returned, says Cong. Steve Scalise and the Gun Owners of America Wednesday, October 22, 2008 A New Orleans woman whose gun was confiscated by law enforcement officers in the days after Katrina, and who was injured during the incident at her home, got a brand new 38-caliber revolver Wednesday, courtesy of the Gun Owners of America. 61-year-old Patricia Konie says getting a new gun is a great idea because now she's more afraid of police than she was before. Konie says...

HAVANA (CBS4) ― Eight years after a headline making international custody fight which ended with his return to his father in Cuba, Elian Gonzalez has joined Cuba's Young Communist Union. In an article in Cuba's communist youth newspaper, Juventud Rebelde, the 14-year old Gonzalez said he would never let ex-President Fidel Castro and his brother Raul Castro down. He joined more than 18-thousand others who joined the group on Saturday. In 2000, Gonzalez' mother was killed when a boat carrying them to the U.S. capsized in the Florida Straits. Elian, who was 6 years old at the time..........."

After entering the House of Representatives in 1995, Georgia Republican Bob Barr acquired a reputation as one of the most conservative members of Congress. It was Barr who in 1996 wrote the Defense of Marriage Act, which said states didn't have to recognize gay marriages performed in other states; it was Barr who protested when he learned the military allowed soldiers to practice Wicca. A former federal prosecutor, a firm social conservative, and a strong supporter of the War on Drugs, Barr doesn't fit most people's image of a civil libertarian. But in his eight years in Congress (he failed...

ACLU wants to help defend alleged Sept. 11 mastermind By Carol Rosenberg McClatchy Newspapers The American Civil Liberties Union, which for years has scorned Pentagon military commissions as "kangaroo courts," announced Friday it will try to provide top civilian defense attorneys for alleged terrorists facing trial at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba -- with special emphasis on Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Former Attorney General Janet Reno is among top lawyers who have endorsed the $8.5 million effort, which will help coordinate and defray the attorneys' expenses. ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero said a...

The Government has raised the number of detainees at Gitmo that they will be seeking the death penalty for to the enormous and shocking number of seven. The ACLU are quick and ready to defend these warriors! Backed by a slate of prominent legal figures, including former Attorney General Janet Reno and former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director William Webster, the ACLU has assembled a team of top civilian attorneys to supplement the military defense counsel assigned to represent Guantanamo’s “high-value detainees.” … The effort significantly adds to the legal forces that over the past seven years have challenged the...

Obama and the Bombmaker's Church By Jeffrey Lord Published 3/18/2008 12:08:35 AM There's more. Let's move on from the tale of Senator Barack Obama's pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, to another tale of Obama's United Church of Christ -- a denomination that he and I share. Does the name Fuerzas Armadas de Liberacion Nacional -- Armed Forces of National Liberation -- ring a bell? You may remember this charming group by its initials, FALN. A so-called revolutionary group determined to bring about Puerto Rican independence through violence....

"Waco Siege, a fifty-one-day siege by federal agents of the Branch Davidian religious group's commune headquarters outside Waco, Texas, in early 1993. The siege, which began after a botched and bloody attempt on 28 February 1993 to arrest the group's leader, David Koresh, on a weapons charge, ended in the deaths of four federal agents and seventy-eight Branch Davidians. The stalemate ended when U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno ordered the use of force on April 19. Soon after federal agents moved, fire engulfed the compound, killing seventy-two, provoking controversy over the use of force in dealing with dissident sects....

Former Attorney General Janet Reno said the U.S. government must be careful to avoid selectively using facts when prosecuting suspected terrorists. Reno, who served as attorney general under President Bill Clinton, said prosecutors often allow prejudices to skew their use of facts. "But what I've discovered (from being a prosecutor and attorney general) is that we get tunnel vision," Reno said. "We want the facts to be something and we wish them into being." Reno made her comments while speaking to an audience of mostly students and professors at the S.J. Quinney College of Law on Tuesday. Her speech focused...

Hillary Clinton's campaign, anticipating probable defeat here in New Hampshire on January 8, is gearing up for an extended trench-warfare battle against Barack Obama. The former First Lady is planning to fight Obama in South Carolina on January 26, and in the gargantuan nationwide primary on Tuesday, February 5 -- with contests in 19 states, including New York, California, New Jersey, Georgia, Minnesota, Massachusetts, and Colorado. If she remains competitive, Clinton's plan is to continue to compete in Louisiana on February 9, in Virginia and Maryland on February 12, in Wisconsin on February 19, in Ohio on March 4 --...

NASHUA, New Hampshire (Reuters) - New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, reeling from defeat in Iowa at the hands of Barack Obama, urged Democratic voters on Friday not to build up "false hopes" by choosing an inexperienced presidential candidate. In Iowa, which kicked off the process of choosing the next U.S. president with its caucuses on Thursday, the former first lady finished a disappointing third, nine percentage points behind Obama and narrowly behind former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards............" ........."We can't have false hopes. We've got to have a person who can walk into that Oval office on day one and...

As the presidential candidates engage in furious pre-caucus spin, one of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's most prominent Iowa supporters said Wednesday that she's already accomplished what she needs to in Iowa, and can declare success even if she finishes in third place. Asked if the order of finish matters, Former governor Tom Vilsack, D-Iowa, deflected the question. "She absolutely had to be competitive and she's accomplished that," he said. "Obviously everybody's interested in winning, and I think we're going to do well. It's tight. There's no question about that." In May, Vilsack was quoted in the Washington Post, saying, "There's...

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton was praised in the wake of the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto for demonstrating her command of the players and the issues at stake in Pakistan, even as another candidate, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, was criticized for stumbling over details. But in two confident television appearances, on CNN and ABC, Clinton made an elementary error about Pakistani politics: She described President Pervez Musharraf as a "candidate" who would be "on the ballot." In fact, Musharraf was reelected to the presidency in October. The upcoming elections are for parliament, and while Musharraf's party...

The Politico notes that Bill Clinton has fallen back on Bubbalistic campaigning in Iowa. The homespun wisdom of the former Rhodes scholar comes along with his wife's various regional accents, but as Ben Smith notes, usually much farther away from the press: Before he was a silver-haired elder statesman, ex-president, and globe-trotting do-gooder, Bill Clinton was Bubba. And out in rural Western Iowa, Bubba is back. ... While his speech differed little from the one he gives in upscale audiences, his presence there indicates both the potential his wife’s campaign sees in the West and the fact that the former...

<p>Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign has revised its list of Tennessee supporters on its statewide steering committee to remove the names of two convicted felons.</p> <p>The original list of more than 100 committee members had included former state House Majority Leader Tommy Burnett and West Tennessee Democratic Party activist Gladys Crain.</p>

WHAT SHE’S GOT Cash and Bonds: $30.1 million Life Insurance: $140,000 Retirement Funds: $33,000 Alternative Investments: $248,000 Houses: $5.9 million Mortgages: $1.5 million WORTH: $39.9 MILLION 2006 Income: $12.1 million WHERE SHE GOT IT When Bill Clinton first ran for President in 1992, Hillary provided most of the couple’s income working for the Rose law firm in Little Rock; he earned only $35,000 a year as governor of Arkansas. Although she takes in $165,200 a year as a senator, these days Bill is breadwinner-in-chief. His presidential pension is $201,000 a year, and he grabbed a $12 million advance for his...

Janet Reno CD in stores now Published: Sept. 18, 2007 at 8:20 PM KENDALL, Fla., Sept. 18 (UPI) -- A three-CD album of historical songs from former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno debuted Tuesday. "Song of America," a 50-tune "history book'" that Reno helped shepherd, is in stores now, the Miami Herald has reported. Reno is listed as an executive producer on the collection, which starts in 1492 with "Lakota Dream Song" and spans 25 eras of U.S. history, concluding with "Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning," a song about the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. Reno said...

This week, congressional Democrats vowed to investigate Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' firing of himself. Gonzales has said he was not involved in the discussions about his firing and that it was "performance-based," but he couldn't recall the specifics. Right-wingers like me never trusted Gonzales. But watching Hillary Rodham Clinton literally applaud the announcement of Gonzales' resignation on Monday was more than any human being should have to bear. Liberals' hysteria about Gonzales was surpassed only by their hysteria about his predecessor, John Ashcroft. (Also their hysteria about Bush, Rove, Rumsfeld, Cheney, Libby, Rice, Barney and so on. They're very excitable,...

WASHINGTON, (AP) -- A bipartisan group of 39 former prosecutors told Congress on Monday that detainees at Guantanamo Bay should be granted access to U.S. courts. "If the men at Guantanamo are not provided these rights, a cloud will always remain over the validity of their detention," the prosecutors said in a letter to Congress. Only 10 of an estimated 385 men held at the prison in Cuba have been charged with war crimes, and there are plans to charge 14 more transferred there from CIA prisons last year. "That leaves approximately 360 men who may never be brought before...

Polls suggest that the leading attribute attracting voters to Hillary's presidential candidacy is her "experience," a virtue which contrasts, presumably, with the lack of it in Senator Barack Obama, her chief rival. But a close examination of her record as first lady and as New York Senator suggests that her experience is largely in the avoidance of death by scandal. Were it to be captured in a television series, it would certainly not rise to the level of "Commander In Chief" and probably not even to that of "West Wing." It would find its televised metaphor in the reality series...

BRADENTON, Fla. (AP) -- Former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno encouraged lawyers to become more familiar with forensics to prevent innocent people from going to prison. Reno told members of the Manatee Bar Association on Wednesday that ``there's nothing more horrible (than) being told you're going away for life for a crime you didn't commit. Let's file charges based on solid evidence.'' Reno is on the board of directors for the Innocence Project, a nonprofit organization that has helped exonerate 197 prisoners through DNA testing. The former Miami-Dade County state attorney also discussed concerns for juvenile justice, child welfare and...

Edwards County Deputy Sheriff Gilmer Hernandez was led into a holding room near the Geo Group-managed prison in Del Rio, Texas for our interview Friday afternoon, Mar. 9. He was shackled in red, metal handcuffs and dressed in a bright orange jumpsuit and booties. He is awaiting sentencing from a federal judge scheduled for March 19, 2007 that could send him to a federal penitentiary for ten years.

Congress: Democrats are investigating the firing of U.S. attorneys for "political" reasons. We'd suggest they call Bill and Hillary Clinton and Janet Reno as witnesses.

NEW DELHI, India (AP) -An Indian runner who won a silver medal in the women's 800 meters at the Asian Games failed a gender test and was stripped of the medal. Shanti Sounderajan, 25, took the gender test in Doha, Qatar, after placing second. The Indian Olympic Association said Monday it has been told by the Olympic Council of Asia that the 25-year-old runner was disqualified. "IOA has asked the Athletic Federation of India to return the medal as desired by the Olympic Council of Asia,'' the Indian Olympic group said. The IOA also asked its medical commission to inquire...

A Shocking Story of Gun Confiscation In America The video you will see on this web site is horrifying. The crimes committed against law-abiding gun owners are beyond comprehension. The arrogance of anti-gun politicians and government officials and their hate of freedom will churn your stomach. The law is the law, the Constitution is the Constitution. If ONE local mayor or police chief can decide what the Second Amendment means, it opens the door to tyranny—where ANY mayor or police chief can say what the Second Amendment means. That's why I'm asking you to make a special contribution to help...

Former Attorney General Janet Reno and seven other former Justice Department officials filed court papers Monday arguing that the Bush administration is setting a dangerous precedent by trying a suspected terrorist outside the court system. It was the first time that Reno, attorney general in the Clinton administration, has spoken out against the administration's policies on terrorism detainees, underscoring how contentious the court fight over the nation's new military commissions law has become. Former attorneys general rarely file court papers challenging administration policy. Suspected al-Qaida sleeper agent Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri is the only detainee being held in the United...

FAYETTEVILLE — A Fayetteville militia member was arrested Wednesday by teams of special agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and other federal and state agencies and local police in connection with illegal firearms. Fayetteville police Lt. Mike Reynolds said 14 search warrants were executed Wednesday in Fort Smith and Fayetteville and one of the warrants was for a lieutenant commander of the Militia of Washington County, Hollis “Wayne” Fincher, of 16085 East Black Oak Road. “We assisted ATF and several other agencies in arresting Fincher. I don’t believe he has a criminal history with us. That’s...

Today's Democrats are nothing like Presidents Roosevelt, Truman and Kennedy, who with courage and decisive action kept on top of their jobs and aggressively confronted one national defense crisis after another .........

Today's Democrats are nothing like Presidents Roosevelt, Truman and Kennedy, who with courage and decisive action kept on top of their jobs and aggressively confronted one national defense crisis after another. Jimmy Carter, elected during the Cold War with the Soviet Union, and (1) believing Americans had an inordinate fear of communism, (2) lifted U.S. citizens' travel bans to Cuba, North Korea, Vietnam and Cambodia and (3) pardoned draft evaders. President Carter (4) also stopped B-1 bomber production, (5) gave away our strategically located Panama Canal and (6) made human rights the central focus of his foreign policy. That led...

The LA County Gun Task Force has served another search warrant on the home of another member of the fifty caliber community. On Monday September 18th, eighteen police cars swarmed the neighborhood where the FCSA member lives and served a search warrant signed by Judge Steven Kleifield of the LA County Superior Court. The officers were at the residence for several hours and confiscated all semi-automatic firearms belonging to the victim. The probable cause for issuing the search warrant was not available in the body of the affidavit so the reason for the search is unknown at this time. It...

With student molestations skyrocketing, lawmakers demand weapon in drug fight WASHINGTON – Even though student molestations seem to be reaching epidemic proportions in schools across America, the House of Representatives has approved a tough new anti-drug and anti-weapon law that would require local districts to develop search policies – including strip searches – with immunity against prosecution for teachers and staff. Schools would have to develop policies for searching students, or face the loss of some federal funding, under the bill – HR 5295, approved by a voice vote Tuesday. It moves to the Senate, which does not have similar...

<p>FORMER PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON ON NOT CAPTURING BIN LADEN: 'At least I tried. That's the difference between me and some, including all the right wingers. They ridicule me for trying. They had eight months to try, they did not try. I tried. So I tried and failed'...</p>

Eighth Circuit Appeals Court ruling says police may seize cash from motorists even in the absence of any evidence that a crime has been committed. A federal appeals court ruled yesterday that if a motorist is carrying large sums of money, it is automatically subject to confiscation. In the case entitled, "United States of America v. $124,700 in U.S. Currency," the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit took that amount of cash away from Emiliano Gomez Gonzolez, a man with a "lack of significant criminal history" neither accused nor convicted of any crime. On May 28, 2003, a...

The city of Cooper City, Fla., has given itself the power to seize residents' personal property in times of emergency. Officials deemed this new law necessary because of what is expected to be a busy hurricane season. But don't worry, they say. The law would never be enforced unless there were no other options – presumably meaning that the city could not persuade private citizens to permit the government to borrow, rent or buy their equipment. Think of it as eminent domain for generators, power tools, trucks and anything else local czars determine they need. Not surprisingly, this plan has...

YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED TO A RECEPTION FOR 7-year Old SAUL ARELLANO Guest speaker: EMMA LOZANO, Chicago Activist Saul Arellano, 7 years of age, is the son of Elvira Arellano, who has courageously defied inhumane immigration laws by resisting deportation and taking sanctuary at the Methodist Church in Chicago. Saul, her son, is a United States citizen, who like 3.2 million other children, faces the forced separation from his mother, an undocumented immigrant. Elvira has taken up the cry of 600,000 other women who are under deportation orders. Emma Lozano, Director of Pueblo Sin Fronteras, is a Chicago community activist...

She's No Rosa Parks by Mychal Massie In recent times and in the Middle Ages, a sanctuary served as asylum, a place of refuge for persons fleeing from violence or from the penalties of law. …Christian churches were given the right of sanctuary by Constantine I. Abuses of sanctuary, tending to encourage crime, led to its curtailment and abolition. Modern penal codes no longer recognize the right to sanctuary. (Columbia University Press – Encyclopedia)What would have happened if Al Capone or Mafia kingpin John Gotti had decided to seek sanctuary in a church? Would your everyday rank and file law...

A little Cuban boy named Elian, who in 1999 was scooped up by a federal SWAT team in Miami and shipped back to Cuba, is in the news again for the get well card he and his family sent to communist dictator Fidel Castro. The youngster addressed the 79-year-old as my "Dear Grandfather" and wished Castro a happy 80th birthday. For those not familiar with this child's story or for those who've forgotten, Elian Gonzalez was the center of one of the biggest news stories during the Clinton Administration. Not as big as Monica, but close. While escaping the communist...

NEWS RELEASE Second Amendment Foundation 12500 NE Tenth Place  • Bellevue, WA   98005(425) 454-7012  • FAX (425) 451-3959  • www.saf.org SAF FILES COMPLAINT AGAINST NEW ORLEANS POLICE CHIEF’S PLAN TO GRAB GUNS For Immediate Release:   6/5/2006 BELLEVUE, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) is calling upon U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to investigate New Orleans Police Superintendent Warren Riley over his announcement last week that police in his city would once again confiscate privately-owned firearms in the event of another catastrophic storm like Hurricane Katrina. During a live interview with a New Orleans radio station, Riley acknowledged that citizens...

<p>An arsenal of exotic weapons - including a sniper rifle, a spear and a set of 8-inch metal claws - were seized from a 23-year-old Jersey City man after his worried father called cops. When South District cops responded to the Greenville home yesterday morning, they found the sniper rifle - with a powerful scope and a laser sight - as well as three Glock handguns and more than 1,200 rounds of ammunition, reports said. Among the bullets were illegal "hollow-point" rounds, police said. In addition to the spear and metal claws, cops found a number of savage-looking knives, including one that had blades coming out of each end of its carved wooden handle. The owner of the weapons lived with his father, his brother and two younger brothers, police said.</p>

Illegal Immigration Counter Protesters Detained The topic of discussion on the Bryan Suits radio show on 570 KVI earlier this evening was a call by a Seattle area citizen, Eric, who called to say that while thousands of illegal immigrants marched a couple of feet away, 5 United States citizens, he being one of the 5, who should be covered by all of the constitutional amendments, including the 1st and 2nd, were detained by the Seattle Police Department for over 2 hours because... well hard to say really. The reason for Caller Eric's call into the show was, surprise, surprise,...

There’s a new “possible” Bigfoot photograph that has been submitted to Cryptomundo. We are making no claims about it, but thought our readers might be interested in looking at this one. And pondering what it might be. It was taken by a scouting camera on April 30, 2006, in the Mt. Hood National Forest, near The Dalles, Oregon. The camera is a Cuddeback digital scouting camera, which was attached to a tree about three feet off the ground. It has a motion/heat detector. Could it be someone going by in a poncho? I asked the people who placed the camera,...

FEATURE Remember New Orleans Monday, in a small police trailer in downtown New Orleans, police began returning firearms seized in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Weapons, city residents like Frederick Thomas say were taken at the time they were most needed. "You got to imagine you're in a neighborhood with no lights," said Thomas. "It's really dark. We're like the only ones in our block that came back first. What are you going to do pick up a stick and fight somebody with a gun." Fredrick Thomas is one of the lucky ones. He got his gun back. According to...

An Evergreen High School student who posted Internet photos of himself posing with guns was convicted Tuesday on a charge of possession of a handgun by a juvenile. The conviction came despite his parents' testimony that they gave him permission to handle guns in their home without their supervision. Colorado law prohibits possession of a handgun by a juvenile but permits parents to give them permission to possess guns in their homes - even without supervision. "This is a very difficult case," defense attorney Barrett Weisz said in his closing argument. "We have pictures that raise images of the Columbine...

(CBS4) WESTMINSTER, Colo. The immigration debate and recent demonstrations over the issue have led to a change in the dress code for a middle school in Adams County. Students at Shaw Heights Middle School are no longer allowed to wear anything that is patriotic, including camouflage pants, because they have become a political symbol for a version of patriotism, CBS4 reports. "It upsets me that we cannot support our troops -- the military," said Kirsten Golgart, an eighth grader who was told she'd be suspended if she didn't change her clothes. "We can't support our country. If we're American, I...