Free Republic

We didn't have to wait long to see what's coming. Defense attorney's are gearing up for fresh battles, and prosecutors assume they are going ahead with military commissions as planned. Without clear due process and legal guidance, it's as if the process were a severed earthworm, with both halves crawling off in opposite directions. Tho it was made abundantly clear the concurring justices viewed the Military Commissions Act as un Constitutional, the opinion does not address the fate of the CSRTs/military commissions that were created with Detainees Treatment Act. Are they necessary anymore? Are they legal proceedings in the court's...

Jihadism in the 21st century has plans for all types of situations, including Mujahada (Jihadi activity) in a courtroom when needed. This is now what the world will witness during the trials of the al Qaeda detainees in Guantanamo, Cuba. Both the inmates on the inside and the Jihadi-mates on the outside were waiting for this moment to strike, politically and psychologically, using the media as their weapon. To the well-trained and -indoctrinated five standing trial, the objective is not to gain as many rights and freedoms as possible under current U.S. and international law; rather it is to resume...

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba -- Defendants at Guantanamo Bay are turning their backs on U.S. war crimes trials, creating complications in the long-stalled effort to prosecute suspected terrorists. Three alleged al-Qaida operatives have now chosen to boycott their upcoming trials and more are expected to do the same as the military attempts to prosecute dozens of Guantanamo prisoners at this isolated, high-security U.S. base overlooking the Caribbean. Two men, a Saudi and a Yemeni, at pretrial hearings this week denounced the tribunals as a sham and said they would not cooperate with their defense or appear for future hearings....

In 2005, federal authorities concluded that a Monsanto consultant had visited the home of an Indonesian official and, with the approval of a senior company executive, handed over an envelope stuffed with hundred-dollar bills. The money was meant as a bribe to win looser environmental regulations for Monsanto’s cotton crops, according to a court document. Monsanto was also caught concealing the bribe with fake invoices. A few years earlier, in the age of Enron, these kinds of charges would probably have resulted in a criminal indictment. Instead, Monsanto was allowed to pay $1 million and avoid criminal prosecution by entering...

A shadow legal body was set up by the Defense Department to manipulate the prosecutions of U.S. Marines accused of massacring Iraqi civilians in Haditha in 2005. That’s the bombshell disclosure from the Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm that is representing one of the accused Marines, Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani. And it could prove to be the most damning piece of evidence showing the political motivations behind the ongoing prosecutions of the Haditha Marines. “The hysteria and media firestorm over Abu Ghraib and the Pat Tillman investigations led to fear of a similar media reaction...

Subject: Devotional "Genuine Faith" Date: Feb 19, 2008 9:53 AM 1 Peter 1:7 "So that the genuineness of your faith, which is much more precious than gold which perishes though it is tested by fire - nevertheless might be found unto praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ." The Psalmist tells us that the Word is "more to be desired than gold, even much fine gold" and that "he loves the commandments above gold, above fine gold." It is common knowledge that gold is tested by fire in order to bring about the genuine evidence of...

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration has instructed U.S. diplomats abroad to defend its decision to seek the death penalty for six Guantanamo Bay detainees accused in the Sept. 11 terror attacks by recalling the executions of Nazi war criminals after World War II. A four-page cable sent to U.S. embassies and obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press says that execution as punishment for extreme violations of the laws of war is internationally accepted and points to the 1945-46 International Military Tribunals as an example. Twelve of Adolf Hitler's senior aides were sentenced to death at the trials in Nuremberg, Germany,...

"And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28 We shall consider, first—WHAT things work for good to the godly; and here we shall show that both the best things and the worst things work for their good. Do not mistake me, I do not say that of their own nature, the worst things are good, for they are a fruit of the curse. But though they are naturally evil—yet the wise overruling hand of God disposing and sanctifying them—they are morally...

So my downstairs neighbor is a rather elderly black woman originally from New Orleans. She apparently believes that when calling long distance she needs to go out on her balcony and shout. In the rare conversations that we have had in passing, I can tell that she is a fervent believer. And yet, whenever she talks on the phone about her life (nephew arrested again for selling crack, husband jailed on yet another DUI) she always ends her anecdotes with "I know the good Lord is just testing me, and that with faith I can get through it". While I...

A Brief History of the Salem Witch TrialsOne town's strange journey from paranoia to pardon By Jess Blumberg Smithsonian.com, October 24, 2007 The Salem witch trials occurred in colonial Massachusetts between 1692 and 1693. More than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft—the Devil's magic—and 20 were executed. Eventually, the colony admitted the trials were a mistake and compensated the families of those convicted. Since then, the story of the trials has become synonymous with paranoia and injustice, and it continues to beguile the popular imagination more than 300 years later. Salem Struggling Several centuries ago, many practicing Christians, and...

Henry Dickens - not guilty Charles Enfinger - not guilty Patrick Garrett - not guilty Raymond Hauck - not guilty Charles Helms Jr. - not guilty Henry McFadden Jr. - not guilty Kristin Schmidt - not guilty Joseph Walsh II - not guilty Before the verdict was read, Judge Michael Overstreet asked the people in the courtroom to refrain from expressing emotion. Regardless, weeping came through the courtroom from family members of the drill instructors.

John Piper pastors Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, whose main campus is about 1 mile from the I35 bridge over the Mississippi River that collapsed August 1. His reflections on that tragedy has been distributed far and wide and helped provide a biblical perspective on such events. Piper also responded forcefully and helpfully to the awful, God-dishonoring, soul-destroying and comfort-robbing words of Rabbi Harold Kushner on that tragedy. Both articles are worth reading and passing along to anyone and everyone who wonders "why bad things happen to good people." They are models in pastoral theology and ministry. Roger Olsen used...

In a 2005 article in the Journal of the American Medical Association, epidemiologist John Ioannidis showed that among the 45 most highly cited clinical research findings of the past 15 years, 99 percent of molecular research had subsequently been refuted. Epidemiology findings had been contradicted in four-fifths of the cases he looked at, and the usually robust outcomes of clinical trials had a refutation rate of one in four. The revelations struck a chord with the scientific community at large: A recent essay by Ioannidis simply entitled "Why most published research findings are false" has been downloaded more than 100,000...

WASHINGTON, April 4, 2007 – The government of Iraq took a step toward national reconciliation April 2 when it opened criminal cases against a Sunni and a Shiite man accused of “crimes against the Iraqi people,” a coalition legal official said. Army Col. Mark Martins, a staff judge advocate for Multinational Force Iraq and legal advisor to Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, MNF-I commander, told online journalists yesterday that the Iraqi government demonstrated its ability to put aside revenge politics by taking definitive action against an alleged Sunni al Qaeda operative and a Shiite national policeman accused of torturing...

A Google News search for terrorist, rules and trials turned up 353 articles on the regulations just established for the trials of terrorists by military tribunals. The leading articles were by the New York Times and the BBC. Interestingly, none of them mentioned Nathan Hale. The articles get in a high dudgeon because terrorists can be tried “based on hearsay,” and might be “executed.” Most importantly, all of these writers and editors act as if this were a brand-new phenomenon. Apparently both history education and books are in short supply in the mainstream media. Let’s review. Nathan Hale was hanged...

I am creating a presentation for our English class. We are currently studying the McCarthy trials and how they relate to the Salem witch trials. Of Course I know that those two events should not be compared, but most of our class does not. Can you please send me information on the McCarthy trials including info proving that he was correct. Thank You!

As the Left continues to push for the legal rights of enemy combatants captured in the War on islamo-fascist terror, we get another glaring example of why military tribunals are necessary. The Judge presiding over the trial of Saddam Hussein said yesterday that he did not believe the deposed leader of Iraq was a dictator. This comes despite a preponderance of evidence of his genocide, corruption at the expense of his people, and overall oppression of the people of Iraq. If this is an indication of the Left's idea of a fair trial, they have succeeded in revealing to the...

<p>Winter, spring, summer or fall, All you've got to do is call. Lord, I'll be there, yes I will. You've got a friend. - James Taylor, 'You've Got a Friend'</p> <p>Was it an interview, or a benefit concert - 'Dem-Aid'? Matt Lauer and Tim Russert got a one-day headstart this morning on the Today show's traditional Friday music-on-the-mall. In the course of their conversation, Matt and Time went karaoke on us, the duo belting out a heartfelt rendition of 'You've Got a Friend' to their buddies in the Democratic party.</p>

by Mark Finkelstein August 4, 2006 - 08:10 With its editorial of this morning, Justice After Guantanamo, the Los Angeles Times has raised the bar when it comes expressing exquisite sensitivity for the rights of accused terrorists. The Times waxed indignant that when in trials for denizens of Gitmo the Bush administration favors - brace yourself - the admission of hearsay evidence. Quick, the smelling salts! Says the Times: "New draft legislation to bring the military commissions established by the administration into compliance with a Supreme Court decision borrows heavily from the Uniform Code of Military Justice. That's the good...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The Senate this week takes the first step in changing US law to allow foreign-born terror suspects to be tried by US military tribunal. Lawmakers are writing new law in response to a Supreme Court ruling last month blocking President George W. Bush's administration from prosecuting dozens of "war on terror" inmates held at the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The status of the foreign detainees -- some of whom have been imprisoned without charge for nearly five years -- rocketed to the top of the agenda for Congress and the White House, after the...

US President George W Bush said that a US Supreme Court ruling on the fate of Guantanamo Bay detainees would not set any suspected terrorists free and that he still hoped to try them in military courts. "We will analyse the decision. To the extent that the Congress is given any latitude to develop a way forward using military tribunals, we will work with them," said Mr Bush. "I want to find a way forward." His remarks came during a joint appearance with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi following a US Supreme Court ruling that Bush overstepped his powers in...

If anyone knows of any links, I'd be mighty grateful.

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (NNS) -- The second Virginia-class submarine, PCU Texas (SSN 775), returned to Newport News after successfully conducting alpha sea trials, May 17. The sea trials were conducted to ensure all systems are functioning properly prior to the commissioning of the boat. The objective is to run all operating systems to the fullest extent of their capabilities. “We operated her through the full range of her maneuvering, diving and speed capabilities," said Capt. John J. Litherland, Texas’ prospective commanding officer. "She performed exactly as she is supposed to – no surprises. That is what we were looking for...

Recently we were treated to the sentencing of Zaccahrias Moussawi to life in prison for crimes connected with the World Trade Center slaughter. A Federal Jury, apparently due to the action of only a few individuals on that panel, was unable to return a death sentence and instead sentenced this creature to life in prison. Based on prior practise, we can be assured he will try every way to appeal his conviction on a legal technicality, creating additional suffering for the family and friends of those individuals so needlessly slaughtered. Furthermore, his presence in an American correctional facility is certain...

Police plea on macabre book find The ledger was bound in human skin, in accordance with practice Police are trying to locate the owner of a 300-year-old ledger, bound in human skin, found in a Leeds road. Written mainly in French, its macabre covering was said to be a regular sight during the French Revolution. In the 18th and 19th Centuries it was common to bind accounts of murder trials in the killer's skin - known as anthropodermic bibliopegy. The book was discovered in The Headrow and may have been discarded after a burglary, detectives said. They said the...

Confronting the defendants at the Guantanamo tribunals with the evidence against them will be like dragging vampires into the sunlight, the chief prosecutor said on Tuesday. The cases of two Guantanamo captives charged with conspiring with Al Qaeda to attack civilians, commit murder and destroy property will begin pre-trial hearings on Wednesday. A scheduled hearing for a third defendant was delayed at the request of his military lawyer, who sought more time to prepare his case. The tribunals are the first held by the United States since World War II and convened in August 2004, over two-and-a-half years after the...

A NATIONAL LAUGHINGSTOCK ONCE MORE by Timothy Rollins, Editor and Publisher January 23, 2006 For many Americans, Milwaukee is best known for Hall-of-Famer Bob Uecker, homosexual pedophile and cannibal-turned-serial-killer Jeffrey Dahmer, and most recently, voter fraud on a larger scale than any other major U.S. city, with the exception of Philadelphia, where in all likelihood, Democrats there are probably still casting Benjamin Franklin's ballot every two years.In a news story that broke nationwide 14 months ago when it happened, five operatives with the Wisconsin Democratic Party were arrested for slashing tires on a fleet of vans rented by the Wisconsin...

12/1/2005 - PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. (AFPN) -- Two 21st Security Forces Squadron teams placed near the top in the tactical obedience and top agency areas at a national competition for working dogs. This is the sixth consecutive year squadron’s military working dogs and their handlers from here competed at the Tucson Area Police K-9 Trials in Tucson, Ariz. “Peterson teams have always done well at the trials. This year was no different,” said Master Sgt. Mark Dedrick, the squadron kennel master. He said Staff Sgt. Jesse Frank and Staff Sgt. Jesse Tames lead the way. After qualifying at...

As the 1993 execution of a San Antonio man comes under new scrutiny, Bexar County's district attorney raised the possibility Wednesday of prosecuting the only eyewitness in the case — the same person who recently came forward to say Texas executed an innocent man. The witness, a Mexican national who was shot nine times on the same night his friend was murdered, told a jury in 1985 that Ruben Cantu was the killer. Since then, he has recanted, telling the Houston Chronicle that detectives pressured him into picking the then-17-year-old Cantu out of a photo lineup and providing the key...

NORFOLK, Va. (NNS) -- USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) successfully completed Sea Trials Oct. 20, marking another milestone in the warship’s long and storied career. Following her four-year, mid-life Refueling Complex Overhaul (RCOH) and four-month Post Shakedown Availability (PSA), Ike is now operational and beginning the journey toward becoming surge ready. “The ship is in much better material condition than it was four months ago,” said Capt. Dan Cloyd, Ike’s commanding officer. “The crew has performed magnificently. To be able to get through RCOH successfully and then to taste the operational side earlier this year and then go back...

He once declared that he was God, and ordered his Serb artillery to “scorch the brains” of Bosnian Muslims in Sarajevo. General Ratko Mladic kept a goat he called Madeleine Albright, and until a few years ago, openly dined at fancy Belgrade restaurants or watched soccer matches. Now, Serbian authorities say the noose is tightening around the wartime Bosnian Serb army commander, a top UN war crimes fugitive, who’s been eluding capture for nearly a decade on charges he helped mastermind Europe’s worst massacre of civilians since the Second World War. Although Serbian police today denied reports that Mladic’s exact...

When I first heard the “big news” of the unmasking of "Deep Throat," my immediate reaction was: who cares? It isn’t just that the whole Watergate brouhaha happened long before I was even born. It was that the whole brouhaha was child’s play compared to what would go on in the Clinton White House. At best, Watergate was a about a second rate breaking and entering, not committed by or with the knowledge of Richard Nixon; one use of executive privilege to slow down the investigation of the break-in for a couple of weeks; and one lie, which wasn’t even...

DO YOU watch CSI? It is a question heard in an increasing number of jury selection hearings across the US. The hit television series Crime Scene Investigation, in which brilliant forensic scientists solve seemingly baffling cases each week in little more than 40 minutes, is changing the face of American justice as jurors apply the lessons of what they have seen on TV to real-life criminal trials. A decade ago, the kind of physical and forensic evidence used in the OJ Simpson trial baffled many viewers. Today, educated by what they believe they have learned from TV, it is the...

KIGALI, Rwanda (AP) - A nine-judge community court handed down its first conviction Thursday of a Rwandan accused of killings in the 1994 genocide, as authorities set in motion a system of trials designed to speed the task of deciding the guilt or innocence of the 63,000 people accused of taking part in the government-orchestrated slaughter. Genocide survivors have complained about the slow pace of implementing the community court system, known as gacaca trials, and what they say are lenient sentences given to those who confess their role. But Rwandan officials said they turned to the system to speed the...

What Happens to Faith as Life Unfolds? In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.1 Peter 1:6,7 All but the most cynical would agree that the innocent eagerness of young faith is a part of its beauty. This spirit is a part of the childlikeness that Jesus said we must recover if...

More Than Mere Suffering Though you grind a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with crushed grain, Yet his foolishness will not depart from him.Proverbs 27:22 Not all who suffer learn the lessons that suffering can teach. The Proverbs vividly describe the fool who is chastened often by life's painful experiences but who never learns what he's being taught. The wise person pays attention to pain, making the right changes in his life when he sees what the consequences of wrongful behavior are. Yet the fool pays no heed. He blames and he complains, but he doesn't...

Lawyers for Bill Ceverha, accused of failing to report corporate money spent by Texans for a Republican Majority during the 2002 campaign, on Monday distanced their client specifically from the organization's daily activities and generally from U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick. "This case is not about Tom DeLay," said Ceverha's lawyer Terry Scarborough during opening statements. "This case is not about Tom Craddick. Today's trial is (only) about Bill Ceverha." Both sides gave their opening statements this morning, and Ceverha testified for about 20 minutes before the trial recessed for lunch. Five Democrats...

"Guess who came over with his kids," my son said, when he came home from his friend's house -- and by the tone of his voice, I knew something was not right. Call it maternal instinct. My son is 11, and his friend's dad is very wealthy. It's not easy raising sensible children in this town, but that's another story. The guest, the dad's "friend," was Michael Jackson, who'd come over with his children to play. I cannot duplicate my reaction in print. My son happens to be the most adorable, most precious, most delicious 11-year-old boy in the world....

WASHINGTON - Government scientists have collected millions of dollars in royalties for experimental treatments without having to tell patients testing the treatments that the researchers’ had a financial connection, according to documents and interviews. The personal royalties are legal, though the researchers developed the treatments at government expense. But the Health and Human Services........

For some, the diagnosis comes out of the blue. For others, it arrives after a long battle. Either way, the news that death is just a few months away poses a daunting challenge for both doctor and patient. Drugs can ease pain and reduce anxiety, but what about the more profound issues that come with impending death? The wish to resolve lingering conflicts with family members. The longing to know, before it's too late, what it means to love, or what it meant to live. There is no medicine to address such dis-ease. Or is there? This month, in a...

China will start holding jury trials next year as part of court reforms that also will increase the number of judges, state media reported Monday. The measures were announced by China's highest court after a meeting last week on how to best prepare the courts to handle cases stemming from the country's sweeping economic changes, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Jurors are to be elected to five-year terms and must have at least two years of university education, the Xinhua report and other state media said. Under the current system, judges are the sole arbiters in court cases. Elections...

BAGHDAD, June 30 (Reuters) - Saddam Hussein, who brutalised Iraqis for decades, said good morning and sought to ask some questions when the United States handed him over to Iraqi justice on Wednesday, a witness said. Saddam, who was captured hiding near his hometown of Tikrit in December, looked in good health as he appeared before an Iraqi judge in the first legal step towards a trial for the cruelties he inflicted during his 35 years of power. "Saddam said good morning and asked if he could ask some questions," Salem Chalabi, a lawyer leading the work of a tribunal...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq (news - web sites) will bring top figures of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s ousted regime to court next week for the first time since they appeared before a judge five months ago, and formal indictments could be issued next month. Many have been in custody for more than a year and have not met with lawyers, prompting Saddam's attorneys to cry foul. The regime figures face charges for crimes allegedly committed during the 35-year Baath Party dictatorship, including war crimes, mass killings and the suppression of the 1991 Shiite rebellion. Saddam, who was...

A suicide car bomber killed seven people when he struck a checkpoint at Baghdad's Green Zone early Tuesday, the second attack in two days at the district that houses Iraq's interim government and the U.S. Embassy, officials said. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said the trial of some of Iraq's former Baath Party leaders will begin next week. He didn't say if Saddam Hussein would be among them. Many members of the former regime have been in jail for more than a year, and few have been able to meet with counsel. Saddam's Jordan-based lawyers say they have not seen...

Berlusconi cleared of corruption Mr Berlusconi had maintained his innocence Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been cleared of corruption after a four-year trial. Mr Berlusconi had been accused of bribing judges in the 1980s to favour his business interests. He was acquitted on one count, and on the other judges in Milan ruled that the alleged offence happened too long ago for charges to be pressed. Mr Berlusconi, who was not in court for the verdict, said the decision was "better late than never". He is the first serving Italian prime minister to have been tried a criminal court....

          CONVICTED BY SUSPICION -- WHY SCOTT PETERSON MAY BE INNOCENTby J. Neil Schulman, guest contributor.  [November 30, 2004]  [HollywoodInvestigator.com]  Scott Peterson may or may not have murdered his wife, Laci, and their unborn child.  But the Redwood City, California trial that has just convicted Peterson of murdering Laci with premeditation was a kangaroo court in which none of the elements necessary to achieve a murder conviction were offered, much less proved beyond a reasonable doubt.     The first element that needs to be proved in any murder trial is that a murder has occurred. ...

Democratic vice-presidential candidate Senator John Edwards of North Carolina was taken to task in a Washington Post editorial on January 23rd, 2004, because he would not release a list of his campaign donors. Edwards,who says that he represents “regular people,” claims he has not taken money from lobbyists. However, an April 2003 editorial in the Wall Street Journal calls the Edwards campaign...“a wholly owned financial subsidiary of the national tort bar..” Polls taken in his home state found a majority resenting his White House bid when there is much to be done in North Carolina. Edwards’ notion of supporting regular...

Where Faith Flourishes While one should walk by faith in all of life, they are obvious times when it is activated more than others. Each person has his inner issues and outer issues in life. His inner issues involve such things as doubts, secret sins, feelings of rejection, worry, etc. Whereas, his outer issues tend to be much more visible and definitive, i.e., finances, health, family issues. I have long observed in my experience that the more tangible a circumstance is, the more taxing it is on my faith. It is much easier for me to dismiss the intangible issues...

Folks, If you are in the New York -- Baltimore -- DC part of the country and are able to attend the upcoming trial, United States of America v. Elena Ruth Sassower in Washington DC, please get in touch with the Center For Judicial Accountability, Judge Watch. Many of you know of the Center and its coordinator, Elena Sassower. About one year ago Elena was arrested in DC while protesting a federal judicial nomination. Her trial will likely take place within one month and she is facing a federal misdemeanor charge that could land her in jail for six months....

Year of the trials Get ready for the new reality TV shows of 2004 The new year is sure to produce many big headlines from ongoing terrorist threats to the war in Iraq, not to mention a presidential election. But, more than anything else, 2004 looks like it will be the year of the Courtroom Drama -- and do we have an idea on how to speed up the judicial process! With more than a dozen high-profile criminal proceedings expected in 2004 or early 2005, the new reality television shows won't be about finding a mate or surviving a couple...