A 35-year prison term at 17: Palestinian children and Israeli justice

Each year, some 700 Palestinian children are tried in Israeli military courts that boast a 99.7 percent conviction rate, according to rights groups (AFP)

 

 

RAMALLAH, Occupied West Bank - It has been almost three years since Omar Rimawi was arrested for stabbing and killing an Israeli settler in an occupied West Bank supermarket. He was 14 years old.

 

 

The teenager has been behind bars ever since. His family anxiously wait for the final decision on their son’s sentence, which is expected to be announced by an Israeli military judge on 14 January.

“It has been an agonising three years,” Omar’s father, 51-year-old Sameer Rimawi, told Middle East Eye. “Every time the court convenes we think this will be the day, but it still hasn’t come.”

 

 

“When he entered prison he was just a small child, now he is 17, almost 18 years old,” his father said.

In the three years that Omar has been in prison, Israel’s military courts have ignored pressure from family and lawyers and refused to hand down a sentence to the boy from the West Bank village of Beituniya, in the central occupied West Bank. 

When he entered prison he was just a small child, now he is 17, almost 18 years old

- Sameer Rimawi on his son's case

The Rimawi family is convinced that the court has been delaying Omar’s sentence for one simple reason: as he grows older, the court can justify handing him a longer prison sentence, a tactic which human rights advocates say is common practice for the Israeli justice system.

 

 

“Every year that passes by, the risk of a higher sentence grows,” Sameer Rimawi said of his son’s case.

 

 

The family had held out hope that Omar would be shown some leniency given his age, but those hopes were shattered last month when Omar’s friend Ayham Sabbah was sentenced to 35 years in prison.

 

 

Ayham, who is also now 17, was with Omar the day of the stabbing, and the two are accused of carrying out the attack together.

 

 

“Ayham isn’t even 18 yet and they sentenced him to 35 years in prison,” Rimawi said, adding that the Israeli prosecution was seeking a life sentence and 5m shekel ($1.34m) fine for Omar.

“We pray to God that Omar will not suffer the same fate, but we know Israel does not care about the rights of children.”

Bassem Sabbah holds photos of his son Ayham (MEE/ Akram al-Waara)

In the modest living room of his three-bedroom apartment in Beituniya, Bassem Sabbah sits calmly with his legs crossed and his hands clenched together.

When asked about his son Ayham, the Palestinian teacher stiffens, and his hands begin to fidget.

On 17 December, he received the worst news of his life: Ayham, who is the eldest of his two teenage sons, had been sentenced to 35 years in prison and ordered to pay a fine of 1.25m shekels ($330,000).

“We were shocked,” Bassem told MEE. “Ayham was just a child when he was arrested - and he still is, he’s not even a legal adult.” 

 

 

The family of the victim, 21-year old Israeli soldier Tuvia Yanai Weissman, who was off-duty at the time, said they were disappointed the Palestinian teenager had not been handed a life sentence. Another man was wounded in the attack. 

Two boys in Israel

Ayham and Omar were arrested on 18 February 2016 by Israeli forces at the Rami Levy supermarket in the Shaar Binyamin industrial complex.

 

 

At the time of their arrest, the two were shot and severely wounded by passersby. Ayham's family claims that he was medically neglected after his arrest and that his rights as a child were violated repeatedly.

 

 

“He was interrogated while in critical condition at the hospital, without the presence of myself, his mother, or even his lawyer,” Bassem said, adding that Ayham was coerced into signing documents in Hebrew, a language he did not understand.

 

 

Since then, the teenager has been held in Israel’s Ofer prison for the killing of Weissman. Ayham has appeared more than 30 times in Israeli military court.

 

 

“The court had more than 30 chances to sentence him, but they just kept stalling, saying they were waiting on new evidence, or for the witnesses to come in and testify against Ayham,” Bassem said.

But, Bassem said, the new evidence and witness testimony never came.

 

 

“Typically, a family of the accused would not want incriminating evidence to be admitted in court,” Bassem said. “But we begged the judge to admit the security footage from the day of the attack into court.”

 

 

“We actually wanted the court to bring the evidence so they could finish this case, and sentence Ayham sooner than later,” he said.

The boys were arrested at the Rami Levi supermarket in the occupied West Bank's Shaar Binyamin Industrial Zone (Reuters)

The family believed that despite the prosecution's efforts to seek a life sentence, the judge would offer leniency given that Ayham was a child, and had not even hit puberty at the time of the attack.

“Under international and human rights law, there are certain considerations that should be made when imprisoning and sentencing a child,” his father said. “But the Israeli court made no such considerations.”

Ayham was just a child, he did not understand what he was doing. But the court did not care

- Bassem Sabbah

“Thirty-five years is not just a high sentence, it is outrageous,” Bassem continued. “Ayham was just a child, he did not understand what he was doing."

 

 

When asked why Ayham, described by his parents as a studious and fun-loving boy, would commit such an act, Bassem gestured to the window outside.

 

 

“Look around at the occupation," he said. "Why would a child leave his books and his football to go stab someone? Because of what the Israelis have done on our land, and how they have attacked and arrested and killed us for years under the occupation, day after day. 

 

 

“That is what makes Palestinian children think: what future will I have under this occupation? And it makes them go commit an attack.”

In the eyes of the court

Every year, some 700 Palestinians under the age of 18 from the West Bank are prosecuted through Israeli military courts, which boast a conviction rate of 99.7 percent, according to rights groups Addameer and Defense for Children International - Palestine (DCIP).

 

 

Israeli military law allows for children from the occupied West Bank and Gaza as young as 12 years old to be sentenced to prison time.

 

 

Up until a few years ago, Israeli policy officially allowed Palestinian children age 16 and older to be tried and sentenced by Israeli military courts as adults.

 

 

Despite a military order in 2011 that raised the age of legal adulthood for Palestinians in the military court system from 16 to 18, analysts say the practice of trying children aged 16 and up as adults has remained largely intact.

It’s extremely important for the Israeli state that these courts maintain at least a facade of international legitimacy

- Dawoud Yousef, human rights analyst

“There are sentencing guidelines that limit the court’s ability to sentence a child to a long prison term if they’re under 15,” Dawoud Yousef, a human rights analyst based in the West Bank told MEE.

“So what the courts tend to do is wait until you’re 16 so they can sentence you as an adult,” he continued. “In theory, kids under the age of 18 shouldn’t be getting these 35-year sentences, but there are no regulations or requirements that prevent the courts from doing so.”

 

 

According to Yousef, the reason Israeli military courts delay the sentencing of Palestinian children is twofold.

 

 

“Not only are the military courts seeking the maximum sentences for Palestinians across the board, but it’s also a matter of their image in front of the international community,” Yousef said.

Rights groups have long accused Israel’s military courts of functioning as “kangaroo courts” that, instead of acting as a system of justice and accountability, are used as a tool of domination and an extension of Israeli sovereignty into the occupied Palestinian territory.

 

 

“It’s extremely important for the Israeli state that these courts maintain at least a facade of international legitimacy,” Yousef continued.

 

 

“So in many cases that means waiting until these young children get older, and also appear physically older, which helps the courts justify giving them a longer sentence.”

Sharp objects

Just two weeks before Ayham Sabbah was sentenced, Israel released Palestinian prisoners, Shadi Farrah and Ahmad al-Zaatari, both 15 years old, after three years in prison.

 

 

The two boys, who hold Jerusalem ID cards, were arrested in 2015 when they were 12 years old on charges of attempted murder, making them the youngest Palestinian prisoners at the time.

Israeli forces claimed that the boys were in possession of sharp objects and were planning to carry out an attack in the area at the time of their arrest.

 

 

Despite their vehement denial that the boys were planning any sort of attack, the Farrah and Zaatari families accepted a plea deal in November 2016 that saw the boys sentenced to three years, including time served, in an Israeli juvenile detention center.

 

 

“We were pressured into accepting the plea deal, even though the boys did nothing wrong,” Shadi’s mother, Fariha Farrah, told MEE.

 

 

“The prosecution threatened us, saying that if we did not accept the deal, they would keep postponing Shadi’s sentencing until after his 14th birthday, in which case he would receive an even longer term,” the 40-year-old woman said.

Shadi Farrah and his mother Fariha in their home in Kafr Aqab (MEE/Akram al-Waara)

Unlike Palestinian children from the West Bank, Palestinian minors with East Jerusalem residency or Israeli citizenship are tried in Israeli criminal courts, not military courts.

Under Israeli common law, minors under 14 can only be sentenced to time in a juvenile facility. Once they pass the age of 14, they can serve time in a security detention centre alongside adult Palestinian prisoners.

 

 

In what Israel terms “security” cases - usually referring to cases where Palestinians are accused of attacking Israelis - convicted Palestinian children from Jerusalem do not receive reduced sentences. For any conviction on a charge that carries a maximum sentence exceeding six months, children 14 and older receive sentences equal to those of adults.

 

 

“The prosecution did not provide any witnesses who could testify against Shadi, but the court kept delaying and delaying his sentencing without any reason,” Farrah continued. “We were in a race against time to make sure Shadi was sentenced before his 14th birthday.”

We were in a race against time to make sure Shadi was sentenced before his 14th birthday

- Fariha Farrah, mother of a recently imprisoned Palestinian teenager

“We saw what happened with Ahmed Manasra, how they kept delaying his sentencing, which scared us into accepting the deal,” she said.

 

 

A few months before Shadi’s sentencing in November 2016, an Israeli court sentenced 14-year-old Ahmad Manasra to 12 years in prison for attempted murder.

 

 

Manasra, whose trial made headlines, was just 13 years old when he and his cousin stabbed and critically wounded two Israelis near an Israeli settlement in occupied East Jerusalem.

Israel was widely criticised for delaying Manasra’s sentencing until after his 14th birthday, at which time he was old enough under Israeli law to be given a longer prison sentence.

That same year, Israeli courts sentenced several other Palestinian minors from Jerusalem to lengthy prison sentences for attempted murder after they were allegedly involved in stabbing attacks between 2015 and 2016.

Double standards

The Rimawi, Sabbah, and Farrah families each expressed one common grievance: if the roles were reversed, this would not be happening.

 

 

“We know that racism is one of the deciding factors in these situations,” Bassem Sabbah told MEE.

“If an Israeli settler child killed a Palestinian, do you think they would suffer the same fate as my son? Absolutely not,” he said.

 

 

“Israelis who attack Palestinians or kill them are prosecuted, if at all, in civilian courts,” Sameer Rimawi said. “But if a Palestinian child throws a stone, they are put on trial in a military court. What kind of justice system is this?”

 

 

Sabbah and the other parents highlighted the cases of Israeli minors, and adults, who murdered Palestinians or attacked Palestinians and got off with much less time than their children, or even no time at all.

We know that racism is one of the deciding factors in these situations

- Bassem Sabbah

“Look at the guys who kidnapped and burned Mohammed Abu Khdeir alive in 2014,” Sabbah said, pointing to the fact that one of the convicted Israeli teenagers was serving a 21-year-sentence compared to Ayham Sabbah’s 35 years.

 

 

“Look at Elor Azaria,” Fariha Farrah said, “he was caught on video executing Abd al-Fattah al-Sharif, and he spent eight months in jail.”

 

 

Farrah added that during her son Shadi’s trial, the family’s Israeli lawyer was also representing an Israeli settler minor who had attacked an Israeli soldier.

Ahmed Manasra, pictured here in 2016, received a 12-year sentence when he was 14 years old for attempted murder (AFP)

“The Israeli boy she was representing was released and given a small fine, and he attacked one of their soldiers,” she said. “My son was 12 years old and imprisoned for three years for allegedly ‘planning’ an attack, and he didn’t even lay a hand on anyone.”

Earlier this summer, Israel’s High Court released an Israeli settler who was involved in the 2015 firebombing of a Palestinian home, which killed a Palestinian baby and his parents from the Dawabsheh family.

 

 

The court released the settler after he spent two years in prison under the pretext that he was a minor at the time of the high-profile attack. He was ordered to house arrest.

“They burned a baby alive, and got off scot-free,” Farrah said.

 

 

“What they do for Israeli children, they should do for Palestinian children,” Sabbah continued.

“All over the world, children are not judged as adults, even if they make a mistake,” he said.

“There is something called childhood - and that should be respected. But under occupation, our kids are spending their childhoods in prison.”

 

SOURCE

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/35-year-prison-term-17-how-israel-handing-adult-sentences-palestinian-children-1109317535

 

 

Judicial Watch Score Huge Win! 1.5 Million Ineligible Register Voters To Be Removed

Los Angeles County has more voter registrations on its voter rolls than it has citizens who are old enough to register.


This is a huge victory for Judicial Watch and justice.
 　

Judicial Watch (JW), a watchdog group, claims it reached a settlement agreement with California and Los Angeles County to begin removing 1.5 million inactive registered names from voter rolls.

JW filed a lawsuit that claimed Los Angeles County had 1.5 million-plus ineligible registered voters. This would make the county the largest collection of inactive registrations in the entire country. Most of these inactive names could be due to relocation or death.

Either way, this is huge news.
Judicial Watch announced today that it signed a settlement agreement with the State of California and County of Los Angeles under which they will begin the process of removing from their voter registration rolls as many as 1.5 million inactive registered names that may be invalid. These removals are required by the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA).
The NVRA is a federal law requiring the removal of inactive registrations from the voter rolls after two general federal elections (encompassing from 2 to 4 years). Inactive voter registrations belong, for the most part, to voters who have moved to another county or state or have passed away.


RELATED: Judicial Watch To Investigate California Ballot Harvesting!
Judicial Watch filed a 2017 federal lawsuit to force the cleanup of voter rolls (Judicial Watch, Inc., et al. v. Dean C. Logan, et al. (No. 2:17-cv-08948)). Judicial Watch sued on its own behalf and on behalf of Wolfgang Kupka, Rhue Guyant, Jerry Griffin, and Delores M. Mars, who are lawfully registered voters in Los Angeles County. Judicial Watch was also joined by Election Integrity Project California, Inc., a public interest group that has long been involved in monitoring California’s voter rolls.


In its lawsuit, Judicial Watch alleged:


Los Angeles County has more voter registrations on its voter rolls than it has citizens who are old enough to register. Specifically, according to data provided to and published by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, Los Angeles County has a registration rate of 112 percent of its adult citizen population.


The entire State of California has a registration rate of about 101 percent of its age-eligible citizenry.


Eleven of California’s 58 counties have registration rates exceeding 100 percent of the age-eligible citizenry.

  Source: https://www.waynedupree.com/judicial-watch-scores-huge-win/
　
　

The NSA to Release a Free Software Reverse Engineering Toolkit

NSA to publicly release reverse engineering / malware analysis tool #GHIDRA in March 2019 after release by WikiLeaks in 2017 via CIA #Vault7

            

Features run on Windows, Mac OS and LINUX…

 

The US’s National Security Agency (NSA) is releasing a software reverse engineering tool for free public use in March, in an unusual step – although the tool had already been leaked by Wikileaks as part of its Vault 7 batch of CIA leaks.


Dubbed GHIDRA and understood to have been in use internally at the NSA for over a decade, it will be publicly demonstrated – and made freely available – for the first time on March 5 at the RSAC 2019 conference by senior NSA advisor Robert Joyce.

NSA GHIDRA Release

GHIDRA, like commercially available reverse engineering tool IDA Pro and its open source alternative FRIDA, allows developers and researchers to “hook” into black box proprietary software.
Such tools can be used for code analysis, debugging, neutralising of malware, or simply adding functionalities to proprietary software.
IDA Pro author Ilfak Guilfanov told Computer Business Review: “The more tools to analyse binary files, the better. We spent decades to improve our tools and I’m curious to see what GHIDRA will bring to the public.”

See also: Landmark GCHQ Publication Reveals Vulnerability Disclosure Process

The release will happen in a session at the conference in San Francisco titled “Come Get Your Free NSA Reverse Engineering Tool!”
The session note says the tool provides “an interactive GUI capability [that] enables reverse engineers to leverage an integrated set of features that run on a variety of platforms including Windows, Mac OS and LINUX and supports a variety of processor instruction sets.”
It adds: “The GHIDRA platform includes all the features expected in high-end commercial tools, with new and expanded functionality NSA uniquely developed.”

Security researcher Charlie Miller, a former NSA staffer, described the tool on Twitter as having been in use at the NSA 13 years ago.

Computer Business Review has contacted the NSA for further comment on the reasoning behind the release of the tool, which appears to be tasked for quick analysis.
One security researcher, Markus Vervier, described the release to us as a marketing exercise: “I doubt it’s backdoored; it looks like a marketing exercise. They’re just trying to get something good out of a bad thing that happened to them…”

Read this: Introducing Frida: Because Hooking Into Proprietary Software Has its Uses…

Announcement of the release comes as ex-NSA contractor Harold T. Martin III, accused of taking thousands of top secret documents home over two decades, decided to plead guilty later this month to a single charge that could carry a ten-year sentence.

SOURCE
https://www.cbronline.com/news/nsa-ghidra

 

Another Jon Entine? Climate change “expert” arrested for brutally beating, choking fiance and dragging her by hair across apartment

(Natural News) A leading climate change apologist and tenured professor at the University of Minnesota was recently taken into police custody after he was basically caught in the act of beating, choking, and dragging his fiance across the room by her hair during a violent outburst.

Widely recognized as one of the big dogs perpetrating the man-made climate change hoax, 47-year-old Aaron Herbert Doering will likely now go down in history as a raging wife-beater – the same fateful reputation as biotechnology propagandist Jon Entine, by the way, who we previously reported engaged in similar acts of extreme domestic violence against his wife and daughter, causing a restraining order to be filed against him.

In this case, though, Doering so victimized the woman who would have become his wife that she told her legal counsel that she now fears Doering "will kill her if he returns to the apartment," official court documents indicate. Doering is currently in police custody, and he’s reportedly being charged with one felony count of domestic assault by strangulation, according to Minnesota’s StarTribune.com.



Doering’s fiance says this isn’t the first time he physically assaulted her
 So here’s how it all reportedly went down. On the evening of December 26, 2018, police reportedly received a complaint about a domestic assault in progress. After arriving at the apartment shared by Doering and his fiance, located on the 1700 block of Madison Street NE in Minneapolis, officers who were standing outside say they could hear a man and a woman inside the residence arguing.

Sponsored solution from the Health Ranger Store: Lab-verified Nascent Iodine solution is a dietary supplement that provides your body with supplemental iodine to help protect your thyroid during radiation exposure. Nuclear accidents such as Fukushima (or nuclear war) can expose your body to radioactive iodine-131, a dangerous radioisotope. Pre-loading your system with stable iodine occupies the iodine receptor sites on your organs, causing your body to naturally expel radioactive iodine you may have been exposed to through air, food, water or milk products. This defensive strategy is recommended by nearly all health authorities, worldwide, including the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Discover more at this link.

As they entered the apartment, officers say Doering’s fiance had red marks on her forehead, along with bruising "in the shape of fingers" on one side of her neck. Upon being questioned, Doering’s fiance explained that Doering had grabbed her by the hair and dragged her around the apartment in a violent fit of rage. Doering then proceeded to beat and choke his fiance until she was unable to breathe "and felt as if she’d lose consciousness," reports indicate.

Doering’s fiance then admitted to these same officers that Doering had beaten her on many previous occasions, showing them photo evidence of various injuries she suffered in the past after Doering assaulted her – an extensive history of violence, in other words, that’s caused her to now fear for her life.



University of Minnesota still hasn’t fired Doering, says it’s "reviewing the matter"
 When questioned about whether or not Doering is still employed at UoM following these revelations, a spokeswoman at the school indicated that Doering’s employment status has not changed – suggesting that it’s apparently not that big of a deal to the university, which would rather protect the reputation of a prominent climate change mouthpiece than protect the life of an innocent woman.

"We’re aware of the situation, and will be reviewing the matter," said Lacey Nygard, UoM’s assistant director of public relations, in an empty followup statement to the media, further suggesting that UoM isn’t all that concerned that a known woman-beater remains on its payroll.



Doering now being held on $30,000 bail without conditions
 Despite UoM’s seeming lack of concern about the matter, Hennepin County where these crimes took place is, in fact, pursuing justice. According to Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman, Doering is being charged with one count of domestic assault by strangulation, and is currently being held on $30,000 bail without conditions, or $5,000 with conditions.

The latter conditional bail includes requirements that Doering not contact his fiance; not use any alcohol or non-prescribed drug medications; agree to random drug testing; agree to a domestic abuse no contact order; and forfeit his Second Amendment right to possess firearms. A judge has already ordered that Doering relinquish any and all firearms that he currently possesses, news reports indicate.

For more related news, be sure to check out CelebrityReputation.com and Corruption.news.



Why do so many mainstream, play-pretend "do-gooders" turn out to be violent woman-beaters?
 Once again, the similarities between Doering’s crimes and Entine’s crimes are striking – as is the fact that both men were once looked at as authoritative voices on status quo matters like climate change and biotechnology. Both men touted the mainstream narrative in their respective fields, and now both of them have been exposed for being violent aggressors against women.

In the case of Entine, this charlatan was actually fired from his position at ABC News after it was proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that he had manufactured fake evidence against a company in order to destroy it. It remains to be seen whether or not UoM will take similar actions against Doering, especially if he ends up being convicted of his crimes – which is highly likely.

And let’s not forget pop astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, another status quo celebrity pushing phony science who now faces allegations from at least four different women who say he assaulted, date-raped, or otherwise violated them without consent.

Somehow, the mainstream media remains largely silent when establishment hacks like Jon Entine, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and now Aaron Herbert Doering are caught committing egregious crimes against women. But when conservatives like Justice Brett Kavanaugh are merely accused of such crimes, without evidence, the mainstream media automatically convicts them as guilty via the court of public opinion.

The question that remains in light of all this is: Where’s the justice?

For more news that you’re likely not to hear from mainstream outlets, be sure to visit Censored.news.


Sources for this article include:
TheGatewayPundit.com

NaturalNews.com

NaturalNews.com

SOURCE
  https://www.naturalnews.com/2019-01-04-another-jon-entine-climate-change-expert-arrested-for-brutally-beating-choking-fiance.html

Fitton: Judicial Watch Sues for Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Security Detail Costs

Alex Wong/Getty Images

In all the reporting that has been done regarding the Office of the Special Counsel, something notably missing is a full accounting of what the investigation is costing Americans, as well as any evidence of Trump-Russia collusion.

To try to get more information on Mueller’s basic operational budget, Judicial Watch just filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice for records of costs incurred by and logs maintained by the security detail for Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

Judicial Watch filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia after the agency failed to respond adequately to its March 19, 2018, FOIA request for:

• All records reflecting expenses incurred by, and disbursements of funds for, the security detail for Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
• All logs maintained by the security detail assigned to Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

The Special Counsel’s office reportedly has spent over $25 million so far.


In a related lawsuit filed in October 2017, the Justice Department had refused to release the proposed budget of Robert Mueller’s Special Counsel Office, but later was forced to release details from the heavily redacted August 2 memorandum in which Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein granted broad authority to Special Counsel Robert Mueller, three months after Mueller’s appointment. The initial appointment memo, controversially, was written in May 2017.

The Justice Department, the FBI and Special Counsel Mueller’s continue to operate as if they are above the law. The American people have a right to know how much taxpayer money is being thrown at Mueller’s massive investigation. Judicial Watch has never before seen this level of secrecy surrounding the operation of a special or independent counsel.


Judicial Watch is pursuing numerous additional FOIA lawsuits related to the surveillance, unmasking, and illegal leaking targeting President Trump and his associates during the FBI’s investigation of potential Russian involvement in the 2016 presidential election.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/01/02/fitton-judicial-watch-sues-for-special-counsel-robert-muellers-security-detail-costs/


 

California and Los Angeles County to Remove 1.5 Million Inactive Voters from Voter Rolls – Settle Judicial Watch Federal Lawsuit

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that it signed a settlement agreement with the State of California and County of Los Angeles under which they will begin the process of removing from their voter registration rolls as many as 1.5 million inactive registered names that may be invalid. These removals are required by the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA).


The NVRA is a federal law requiring the removal of inactive registrations from the voter rolls after two general federal elections (encompassing from 2 to 4 years). Inactive voter registrations belong, for the most part, to voters who have moved to another county or state or have passed away.
Los Angeles County has over 10 million residents, more than the populations of 41 of the 50 United States. California is America’s largest state, with almost 40 million residents.


Judicial Watch filed a 2017 federal lawsuit to force the cleanup of voter rolls (Judicial Watch, Inc., et al. v. Dean C. Logan, et al. (No. 2:17-cv-08948)). Judicial Watch sued on its own behalf and on behalf of Wolfgang Kupka, Rhue Guyant, Jerry Griffin, and Delores M. Mars, who are lawfully registered voters in Los Angeles County. Judicial Watch was also joined by Election Integrity Project California, Inc., a public interest group that has long been involved in monitoring California’s voter rolls.


In its lawsuit, Judicial Watch alleged:

• Los Angeles County has more voter registrations on its voter rolls than it has citizens who are old enough to register.  Specifically, according to data provided to and published by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, Los Angeles County has a registration rate of 112 percent of its adult citizen population.

• The entire State of California has a registration rate of about 101 percent of its age-eligible citizenry.

• Eleven of California’s 58 counties have registration rates exceeding 100 percent of the age-eligible citizenry.

The lawsuit confirmed that Los Angeles County has on its rolls more than 1.5 million potentially ineligible voters. This means that more than one out of every five LA County registrations likely belongs to a voter who has moved or is deceased. Judicial Watch notes that “Los Angeles County has the highest number of inactive registrations of any single county in the country.”


The Judicial Watch lawsuit also uncovered that neither the State of California nor Los Angeles County had been removing inactive voters from the voter registration rolls for the past 20 years. The Supreme Court affirmed last year in Husted v. A. Philip Randolph Inst., 138 S. Ct. 1833 (2018) that the NVRA “makes this removal mandatory.”


The new settlement agreement, filed today with U.S. District Court Judge Manuel L. Real, requires all of the 1.5 million potentially ineligible registrants to be notified and asked to respond. If there is no response, those names are to be removed as required by the NVRA. California Secretary of State Padilla also agrees to update the State’s online NVRA manual to make clear that ineligible names must be removed and to notify each California county that they are obligated to do this. This should lead to cleaner voter rolls statewide.


Prior to this settlement agreement, Judicial Watch estimated that based on comparisons of national census data to voter-roll information, there were 3.5 million more names on various county voter rolls than there were citizens of voting age. This settlement could cut this number in half.


This is only the third statewide settlement achieved by private plaintiffs under the NVRA – and Judicial Watch was the plaintiff in each of those cases. The other statewide settlements are with Ohio (in 2014) and with Kentucky (2018), which agreed to a court-ordered consent decree.


“This settlement vindicates Judicial Watch’s groundbreaking lawsuits to clean up state voter rolls to help ensure cleaner elections,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “Judicial Watch and its clients are thrilled with this historic settlement that will clean up election rolls in Los Angeles County and California – and set a nationwide precedent to ensure that states take reasonable steps to ensure that dead and other ineligible voters are removed from the rolls.”


Judicial Watch Attorney Robert Popper is the director of the organization’s Election Integrity Project and led the Judicial Watch legal team in this litigation.


Judicial Watch is the national leader in enforcing the list maintenance provisions of the NVRA.  In addition to its settlement agreements with Ohio and win in Kentucky, Judicial Watch filed a successful NVRA lawsuit against Indiana, causing it to voluntarily clean up its voting rolls, and has an ongoing lawsuit with the State of Maryland.


Judicial Watch helped the State of Ohio to successfully defend their settlement agreement before the Supreme Court. In North Carolina, Judicial Watch supported implementation of the state’s election integrity reform laws, filing amicus briefs in the Supreme Court in March 2017.  And, in April 2018, Judicial Watch filed an amicus brief in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in support of Alabama’s voter ID law. In Georgia, Judicial Watch filed an amicus brief in support of Secretary Brian Kemp’s list maintenance process against a lawsuit by left-wing groups. Judicial Watch and Georgia won when the Supreme Court ruled in Ohio’s favor.


Judicial Watch was assisted in this case by Charles H. Bell Jr., of Bell, McAndrews & Hiltachk, LLP; and H. Christopher Coates of Law Office of H. Christopher Coates.

https://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/press-releases/california-and-los-angeles-county-to-remove-1-5-million-inactive-voters-from-voter-rolls-settle-judicial-watch-federal-lawsuit/

TAKE HILLARY CLINTON BACK TO COURT

Hillary Clinton is not above the law. The American people deserve answers on why she set up her own private email server to send classified info and why she ignored the State Dept’s warning that it was unsecure.

Sign our petition to support our effort!


And now Judicial Watch has proved that one again – by having a Federal Judge Order that Hillary Clinton must answer more questions under oath!


We are going to Demand that Hillary answer why she would make her own private email server to send classified information.


And why she ignored the State Department’s warning that it was unsecure.


The American People Deserve Answers.


Sign the Petition to Support our efforts to get Hillary Back in Court!

https://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/poll/take-hillary-clinton-back-to-court/?utm_source=t.co&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=petition

BREAKING: Democrats Introduce Bill To Eliminate Electoral College

Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) introduced two bills on Thursday, one to eliminate the electoral college and the other to prohibit presidents from pardoning themselves or their family members.

A press release from Cohen's office stated that the "senior member of the House Judiciary Committee, introduced two Constitutional Amendments today on the opening day of the new Congress. The first would eliminate the Electoral College and provide for the direct election of the President and Vice President of the United States. The second would limit the presidential pardon power by prohibiting presidents from pardoning themselves, members of their families, members of their administrations and their campaign staff."

"In two presidential elections since 2000, including the most recent one in which Hillary Clinton won 2.8 million more votes than her opponent, the winner of the popular vote did not win the election because of the distorting effect of the outdated Electoral College," Cohen said. "Americans expect and deserve the winner of the popular vote to win office. More than a century ago, we amended our Constitution to provide for the direct election of U.S. Senators. It is past time to directly elect our President and Vice President."

"Presidents should not pardon themselves, their families, their administration or campaign staff," Cohen continued. "This constitutional amendment would expressly prohibit this and any future president, from abusing the pardon power."

Cohen wasn't the only Democrat that took action aimed at President Donald Trump on Thursday, as Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) introduced "articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump, filing them as his first order of business in the new, Democrat-controlled House of Representatives."

Democrats have long sought a way around the electoral college, which prevents the U.S. from being controlled by major population centers which are Democrat strongholds.

Legal scholar Tara Ross explained in a PragerU video what the Democrats are trying to do by eliminating the electoral college and implementing a national popular vote and the dangers that their efforts pose to the U.S.

　

Transcript provided via PragerU:
In every presidential election, only one question matters: which candidate will get the 270 votes needed to win the Electoral College?


Our Founders so deeply feared a tyranny of the majority that they rejected the idea of a direct vote for President. That's why they created the Electoral College. For more than two centuries it has encouraged coalition building, given a voice to both big and small states, and discouraged voter fraud.


Unfortunately, there is now a well-financed, below-the-radar effort to do away with the Electoral College. It is called National Popular Vote or NPV, and it wants to do exactly what the Founders rejected: award the job of President to the person who gets the most votes nationally.


Even if you agree with this goal, it's hard to agree with their method. Rather than amend the Constitution, which they have no chance of doing, NPV plans an end run around it.


Here's what NPV does: it asks states to sign a contract to give their presidential electors to the winner of the national popular vote instead of the winner of the state's popular vote.
What does that mean in practice? It means that if NPV had been in place in 2004, for example, when George W. Bush won the national vote, California's electoral votes would have gone to Bush, even though John Kerry won that state by 1.2 million votes!
Can you imagine strongly Democratic California calmly awarding its electors to a Republican?
Another problem with NPV's plan is that it robs states of their sovereignty. A key benefit of the Electoral College system is that it decentralizes control over the election. Currently, a presidential election is really 51 separate elections: one in each state and one in D.C.
These 51 separate processes exist, side-by-side, in harmony. They do not -- and cannot -- interfere with each other.
California's election code applies only to California and determines that state's electors. So a vote cast in Texas can never change the identity of a California elector.


NPV would disrupt this careful balance. It would force all voters into one national election pool. Thus, a vote cast in Texas will always affect the outcome in California. And the existence of a different election code in Texas always has the potential to unfairly affect a voter in California.


Why?


Because state election codes can differ drastically. States have different rules about early voting, registering to vote, and qualifying for the ballot. They have different policies regarding felon voting. They have different triggers for recounts.


Each and every one of these differences is an opportunity for someone, somewhere to file a lawsuit claiming unfair treatment.


Why should a voter in New York get more or less time to early vote than a voter in Florida? Why should a hanging chad count in Florida, but not in Ohio? The list of possible complaints is endless.


And think of the opportunities for voter fraud if NPV is passed! Currently, an attempt to steal a presidential election requires phony ballots to appear or real ballots to disappear in the right state or combination of states, something that is very hard to anticipate. But with NPV, voter fraud anywhere can change the election results -- no need to figure out which states you must swing; just add or subtract the votes you need -- or don't want -- wherever you can most easily get away with it.
And finally, if NPV is adopted, and winning is only about getting the most votes, a candidate might concentrate all of his efforts in the biggest cities, or the biggest states. We could see the end of presidential candidates who care about the needs and concerns of people in smaller states or outside of big cities.


Here's why all of this is of so much concern: NPV is more than halfway to its goal.
NPV's contract will go into effect when states with a combined 270 electoral votes have signed. To date, NPV already has the support of 10 states plus D.C. Together, that's 165 electoral votes, leaving only 105 votes to go.


It is time to stop this attempt to undo the way American presidents are elected, which will in turn undo America. The people behind NPV think they are wiser than every generation of Americans that preceded them.
They aren't.
SOURCE
  https://www.dailywire.com/news/39931/breaking-democrats-introduce-bill-eliminate-ryan-saavedra

Michigan Democrat Rashida Tlaib on Trump: We're going to impeach the mother f*cker.

 

Rep. Rashida Tlaib's call for Donald Trump's impeachment -- which included the use of an expletive -- was met with caution Friday by Democratic leaders who said it was premature to discuss removing Trump from office.

Tlaib was sworn in Thursday as one of Michigan's new Democrats in the House.

"People love you. And you win," she told a cheering group of supporters Thursday night at an event for the progressive group MoveOn.org. "And when your son looks at you and says, 'Momma, look you won, bullies don’t win.' And I said, 'Baby, they don't,' because we’re gonna go in there and we're gonna impeach the mother****er."
Watch the video here (WARNING: Explicit language)

On CNN, Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-New York, said he did not "really like that kind of language, but more to the point, I disagree with what she said,"

"It is too early to talk about that intelligently. We have to follow the facts," said Nadler, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., at an MSNBC Town Hall event Friday, said Tlaib's comments are "not the position of the Democratic caucus" and reiterated her view that it's premature to discuss impeachment.

She added "I don’t like the language," but she said "I’m not in the censorship business" and defended Tlaib.

"Let me ask you this, if she (Rep. Rashida Tlaib) was a man," would there be such a flap over her words? she asked host Joy Reid. "What she said is less offensive than what President Trump said about John McCain."

Tlaib took the oath of office Thursday in Washington, joining Minnesota’s Ilhan Omar as the first two Muslim women elected to the House. Tlaib wore a traditional Palestinian thobe, or dress, made by her mother, and used a copy of Thomas Jefferson's Koran for her swearing-in.

She co-wrote an opinion piece in the Detroit Free Press, along with John Bonifaz, that also called for impeaching Trump. It published Thursday morning.

"President Donald Trump is a direct and serious threat to our country," the op-ed said. "On an almost daily basis, he attacks our Constitution, our democracy, the rule of law and the people who are in this country. His conduct has created a constitutional crisis that we must confront now."

More: Old Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez dance video goes viral

More: Nancy Pelosi says no to border wall ahead of Trump talks

More: Detroit congresswoman uses Koran for swearing-in ceremony

 

 

 

SOURCE

 

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/01/04/rashida-tlaib-curses-donald-trump-video/2480575002/?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzRss&utm_campaign=usatoday-newstopstories

Pelosi Defends Her Hawaii Vacation During the Shutdown [VIDEO]

Incoming Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.), in an interview that was released on Thursday, defended her vacation to Hawaii over the holidays in midst of a partial government shutdown.


Pelosi spoke with "Today Show" host Savanah Guthrie on Wednesday about taking over the speakership again and having to work with President Donald Trump to resolve the shutdown.
"The president took a swipe, I think, as recently as today, saying that you went on vacation to Hawaii during the shutdown. Now, you had said before the shutdown that he was being quite cavalier and maybe the shutdown will give him more time to golf, but in the end it was you that took a holiday," Guthrie said.


"I observed the Christmas holiday for a few days, and I cut in half the time I would have had," Pelosi responded.


The Washington Free Beacon reported last week that Pelosi vacationed in Hawaii during the government shutdown.

Pelosi, who has put blame squarely on President Donald Trump for the current government shutdown, was spotted Thursday vacationing in Hawaii at the Fairmont Orchid resort, where room accommodations range from $899-a-night for a standard room to $4,899-a-night for the presidential suite.

During a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Trump appeared to chide Pelosi for being in Hawaii while he was in Washington, D.C. waiting to hear from her on how they might work together to end the shutdown.


"Is that a cheap shot?" Guthrie asked.


"It's not important. It's totally unimportant, but the fact is we all stood ready and told our members we'll have 24 hours notice for all of us to be where we need to be," Pelosi said. "And the president may not know this, but Hawaii is part of the United States of America. Maybe he doesn't realize that. I don't know where the president observed the religious holiday of Christmas. Do you?"

SOURCE
https://freebeacon.com/politics/pelosi-defends-her-hawaii-vacation-during-the-shutdown/

 

Wow: RNC Chair Calls Out Her Uncle Mitt for His Anti-Trump Op-ed

Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel was in the awkward position of rebuking her own uncle on Twitter Wednesday after his very pointed criticism of President Trump. Senator-elect Mitt Romney published a Washington Post op-ed Tuesday night explaining how 45's words and actions "have caused dismay around the world."

"The Trump presidency made a deep descent in December," Romney wrote. "The departures of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly, the appointment of senior persons of lesser experience, the abandonment of allies who fight beside us, and the president’s thoughtless claim that America has long been a 'sucker' in world affairs all defined his presidency down."

Romney went on to suggest Trump has failed to appeal to Americans' "better angels." He also pledged to call out the president whenever he posts a tweet that can be interpreted as "racist, divisive, sexist, anti-immigrant, dishonest or destructive."

President Trump and his team accused Romney of lashing out now because he is bitter that his 2012 presidential bid failed where Trump's 2016 campaign succeeded. He urged Romney to be a team player.

Shortly thereafter we got the following message from his niece.

SOURCE

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/cortneyobrien/2019/01/02/wow-rnc-chair-calls-out-her-uncle-mitt-for-his-antitrump-oped-n2538366

"I'm gonna get me a beer": Sen. Elizabeth Warren drank a beer on Instagram Live – and it received mixed reactions.

Elizabeth Warren could face crowded Democratic field in 2020 race
 Elizabeth Warren chose the final day of 2018 to announce her interest in running for president in 2020. She's among the first to enter what's expected to be a crowded race.

A new exploratory committee allows her to start raising money, hire staff and travel to early primary states. It also makes her the first U.S. senator and first woman to take official steps toward a 2020 campaign that could eventually include nearly two dozen contenders. At least seven other senators, current and former mayors, governors, cabinet secretaries and former vice president Joe Biden are considering bids.

The 69-year-old just won her second Senate term in November. She represents Massachusetts, but was born and raised in Oklahoma. Warren taught at law schools in New Jersey, Texas and Pennsylvania before ending up at Harvard University.

With a background in bankruptcy and commercial law, she pushed for the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in response to the 2008 economic collapse. In the Senate, she's been a fierce critic of top corporate executives.

In September, Warren revealed a DNA test had found she has Native American ancestors. But the Cherokee Nation tribe denounced her move as "inappropriate and wrong." On Monday, she defended her decision.

"I have put it all out there," she said.

Warren took the test partly in response to attacks by President Trump, who often mocks her.

With 673 days to go until Election Day, other contenders are spending the final hours of 2018 talking it over with their families and interviewing potential staffers. More announcements are expected shortly after the new year.

SOURCE
  https://www.cbsnews.com/news/elizabeth-warren-2020-could-face-crowded-democratic-field-presidential-race/?ftag=CNM-00-10aab7e&linkId=61863041

Mayor gunned down shortly after taking office in Mexico

A Mexican mayor was gunned down shortly after he took office, the governor of Mexico's southern state of Oaxaca said. Gov. Alejandro Murat confirmed the killing of Tlaxiaco Mayor Alejandro Aparicio Santiago via his Twitter account Tuesday.

Murat condemned the slaying and promised a thorough investigation, saying a suspect was already in custody. The state prosecutor's office said in a statement that Aparicio had just been sworn in and was headed to a meeting at city hall when an unknown number of gunmen opened fire at him.

He was taken to a hospital, but died there later. Four other people were wounded in the attack.

Tlaxiaco is the hometown of Yalitza Aparicio, star of the film "Roma." It was not immediately known if she was related to the victim.

In 2017, CBS News correspondent Manuel Bojorquez reported Mexico had become one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists. Reporting on cartel violence and government corruption led to 100 journalist killings in a 25-year span, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

SOURCE
  https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mexico-tlaxiaco-mayor-alejandro-aparicio-santiago-shot-killed-shortly-after-taking-office/




　

Ebola outbreak in Congo surpasses 600 cases amid more violence

(CNN) — The Democratic Republic of Congo has reached a grim new milestone in the Ebola outbreak that began August 1: The total number of probable patients is 608 as of Wednesday, with 368 deaths, the Ministry of Health said. An additional 29 people who doctors suspect may be sick with Ebola are under investigation. The ministry also reported that 207 people have recovered from the life-threatening illness.

On average, Ebola -- which causes fever, severe headache and in some cases hemorrhaging -- kills about half of those infected, but fatality rates in individual outbreaks have varied. The latest outbreak has a case fatality rate of about 60%.

The outbreak is the second-deadliest and second-largest in history, topped only by one in West Africa in 2014, when the disease killed more than 11,000 people, according to the World Health Organization.

Those intimately affected include health care workers, some of whom have traveled to the region from other nations. An American who was providing medical assistance in Congo experienced a possible exposure to the Ebola virus and is being monitored for symptoms in the United States, according to a statement from the Nebraska Medical Center on Saturday. The medical center did not disclose the person's identity due to privacy concerns.

North Kivu province, which includes the cities of Beni, Kalunguta and Mabalako, remains the epicenter of the outbreak, though cases have been reported in neighboring Ituri province, according to the World Health Organization. The two provinces are among the most populous in the nation and border Uganda, Rwanda and South Sudan.

Not only is North Kivu experiencing this deadly Ebola outbreak, but long-term conflict smolders there, with 50 armed groups causing intermittent violence, according to WHO. The UN public health agency estimates that more than a million refugees and internally displaced people are traveling through and out of North Kivu and Ituri, and this movement is a potential risk factor for the spread of Ebola. Another complication: a high number of malaria cases in the region.

A long-delayed presidential election, originally scheduled for 2016, also presented obstacles to health care workers. The vote, which was held Sunday, followed a violent campaign season marked by conflict between militant groups and government forces.

The minister of health celebrated Christmas by visiting the response teams in Beni and Butembo. Two days later, on Thursday, he reported that election protesters vandalized facilities inside the Beni Transit Center compound where suspicious cases await laboratory test results.

"The activities of the response to Beni and Butembo have been severely disrupted following the demonstrations of the population," he said in a statement. "The majority of the teams were unable to deploy in both cities but were able to work remotely with local health workers who maintained minimal field activity." Vaccination activities also were suspended.

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO's director-general, also responded to the "deterioration of the security situation" in a statement Friday.

"We have reached a critical point in the Ebola response. After an intensification of field activities, we were seeing hopeful signs in many areas, including a recent decrease in cases in Beni," Tedros wrote. "These gains could be lost if we suffer a period of prolonged insecurity, resulting in increased transmission. That would be a tragedy for the local population, who have already suffered too much."

In late November, the ministry announced the launch of the first randomized control trial for three Ebola treatment drugs. Additionally, 54,153 people have been vaccinated since early August.

SOURCE
https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/02/health/ebola-600-cases-africa-intl/index.html



　

Parkland school shooting commission issues report, recommends arming Florida teachers

A Florida commission investigating the shooting massacre at a Parkland school has issued an initial report on Wednesday and recommended that teachers who volunteer to undergo firearms training, should be allowed to carry guns.

The 15-member Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission on Wednesday unanimously approved the 446-page report containing that proposal and other recommendations.

Now, it's in the hands of Gov. Rick Scott, Governor-elect Ron DeSantis and the legislature.

　

The legislature would have to approve the proposal to allow teachers to carry guns. It's opposed by the teachers union and the PTA.

The report also said that 30 people were documented to know of the shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz's troubling behavior prior to the rampage that killed 17 people at the school, according to Florida's Fox 13.

The 458-page report also blamed school security failures and law enforcement blunders from assistant principals and Broward County Sheriff’s deputies to social service providers and the FBI -- some of whom were warned that Cruz was a potential security threat but failed to take action, the Miami Herald reported.

The MSD Commission previously said the Broward Sheriff's Office's active shooter policy contributed to the massacre.

The sheriff's office recently changed its policy in the wake of the shooting.

SOURCE
  https://www.foxnews.com/us/commission-investigating-parkland-school-shooting-issues-initial-report-slams-administrators-sheriffs-office