Trial of New Orleans Police Begins in the 2005 Killings of Unarmed Civilians
(New York Times) NEW ORLEANS — On the sunny morning of Sept 4, 2005, five days after Hurricane Katrina, a team of police officers rushed to Danziger Bridge in the eastern part of this city in response to a report of shots fired.
Minutes later, two civilians lay dead on the bridge and four others were severely wounded, all from police bullets.
On Monday, nearly six years later, federal prosecutors and defense lawyers stood in federal court here and gave fundamentally different accounts of what happened that day.
By late afternoon, opening arguments had concluded in the trial of five current and former members of the New Orleans Police Department who are charged with firing on two groups of unarmed civilians, killing James Brissette, 17, and Ronald Madison, 40. The defendants also are charged with concocting an extensive cover-up that started immediately after the shootings and ran for years.
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Welcome to the Overnight News Digest
The OND is published each night around midnight, Eastern Time.
The originator of OND was Magnifico.
Current Contributors are ScottyUrb, Bentliberal, wader, Oke, rfall, JML9999 and NeonVincent who also serves as chief cat herder.
Stories and Headlines
- Obama DREAMs On
The DREAM Act is dead in Congress, but the White House is quietly moving to limit deportations of certain undocumented immigrants.
Mother Jones - Has President Barack Obama found a way to enact the principles of the DREAM Act—the bill that would prevent the deportation of young undocumented immigrants who are students or military veterans—without passing the measure itself? Unable to move this legislation through the Republican-controlled Congress, the Obama administration has used its executive authority to shape immigration policy in line with the DREAM Act. This month, in a little-noticed move, Obama's immigration chief advised Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials to use discretion when considering whether to deport certain undocumented immigrants who are particularly vulnerable or have strong community ties to the country. That is, go easy on the sort of undocumented immigrants that the DREAM Act could benefit, among others.
Since taking office, Obama has prioritized the deportation of undocumented immigrants who have committed serious crimes and threaten public safety. Now his administration has moved to ensure that federal immigration agents and attorneys are following such guidelines in the field—while empowering them to take their focus off certain undocumented immigrants who meet a host of criteria. In a June 17 memo to ICE employees, the agency’s director, John Morton, outlined 19 factors that could warrant the use of "prosecutorial discretion" and prevent certain immigrants from being deported, on a case-by-case basis.
Also See: mcjoan (aka Joan McCarter for you newbies ;-) ).
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- Trial of New Orleans Police Begins in the 2005 Killings of Unarmed Civilians
(New York Times) NEW ORLEANS — On the sunny morning of Sept 4, 2005, five days after Hurricane Katrina, a team of police officers rushed to Danziger Bridge in the eastern part of this city in response to a report of shots fired.
Minutes later, two civilians lay dead on the bridge and four others were severely wounded, all from police bullets.
On Monday, nearly six years later, federal prosecutors and defense lawyers stood in federal court here and gave fundamentally different accounts of what happened that day.
By late afternoon, opening arguments had concluded in the trial of five current and former members of the New Orleans Police Department who are charged with firing on two groups of unarmed civilians, killing James Brissette, 17, and Ronald Madison, 40. The defendants also are charged with concocting an extensive cover-up that started immediately after the shootings and ran for years.
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- Perdue vetoes abortion waiting period bill
Bev Perdue
Official Photo - www.governor.state.nc.us
(WRAL) RALEIGH, N.C — Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue on Monday vetoed Republican-penned legislation that would place medical and time hurdles in front of women considering abortions.
House Bill 854 would prohibit an abortion unless a woman is provided with state-specified information about the physician at least 24 hours in advance.
Women also would get information about the likely stage of development of the fetus, the medical risks of having an abortion and giving birth, and the availability of abortion alternatives. The woman would have to speak with a physician or nurse in person or by telephone to receive the information.
"This bill is a dangerous intrusion into the confidential relationship that exists between women and their doctors. The bill contains provisions that are the most extreme in the nation in terms of interfering with that relationship," Perdue said in a statement.
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- ICC arrest warrant for Muammar Gaddafi
ICC Press Release - Today, 27 June 2011, Pre-Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued three warrants of arrest respectively for Muammar Mohammed Abu Minyar Gaddafi, Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi and Abdullah Al-Senussi for crimes against humanity (murder and persecution) allegedly committed across Libya from 15 February 2011 until at least 28 February 2011, through the State apparatus and Security Forces.
BBC: Libya rejects ICC arrest warrant for Muammar Gaddafi
Libya has rejected a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for the arrest of Col Muammar Gaddafi, saying the tribunal has no authority.
The ICC earlier accused the Libyan leader of crimes against humanity.
The court had grounds to believe he had ordered attacks on civilians during Libya's four-month uprising, it said.
The Hague-based court also issued warrants for two of Col Gaddafi's top aides - his son Saif al-Islam and intelligence chief Abdullah al-Sanussi.
Thousands of people are believed to have been killed in the conflict.
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- Philip Morris battles Australia on cigarette packaging
BBC - Tobacco giant Philip Morris has threatened to sue the Australian government over its plan to introduce plain, brandless packing for cigarettes.
Australia's government has proposed to ban logos and branding on tobacco packaging.
...
The company said that the amount of potential compensation would be decided by a panel operating under the United Nations International Trade rules.
"We estimate it may be in the billions (of dollars) but ultimately it will be up to this panel to decide," said Ms Edwards.
... Australia's Prime Minister Julia Gillard said that she would push ahead with the new packaging laws.
"We're not going to be intimidated by big tobacco's tactics, whether they're political tactics, whether they're public affairs kind of tactics out in the community or whether they're legal tactics," said Ms Gillard.
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- Google chairman warns of censorship after Arab Spring
BBC - The use of the web by Arab democracy movements could lead to some states cracking down harder on internet freedoms, Google's chairman says.
Speaking at a conference in Ireland, Eric Schmidt said some governments wanted to regulate the internet the way they regulated television.
He also said he feared his colleagues faced a mounting risk of occasional arrest and torture in such countries.
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- Supreme Court declares violent video games are protected speech
In a 7-2 decision announced today, the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional a California law which sought to ban the sale or rental of violent video games to children.
California’s law defined a violent video game as one which depicts "killing, maiming, dismembering, or sexually assaulting an image of a human being"
Adam B
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- California Nears Deal on a Budget
LOS ANGELES — Gov. Jerry Brown of California and the Democratic-controlled Legislature have reached a tentative deal on the state budget, relying on more optimistic revenue predictions to add $4 billion to next year’s budget. The plan, which the Legislature is expected to begin approving on Tuesday, would also trigger deeper cuts in education and social services if those revenues did not materialize.
For months, Mr. Brown, a Democrat, has been cajoling Republicans to support a plan that would ask for voter approval on extending taxes that are scheduled to expire at the end of the month. But he has been unable to secure the four Republican votes he needed for his original plan, which he said would address the long-term deficit the state faces.
The governor said that after months of negotiating with Republicans, “there is an almost religious reluctance to deal with the state budget in a way that requires increased revenue.” NYT
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- Wildfire reaches Los Alamos nuclear facility
A raging forest fire threatened the Los Alamos nuclear laboratory in New Mexico on Monday and led to the evacuation of thousands of nearby residents.
The fire started in Sante Fe national forest on Sunday and has so far burnt 50,000 acres, or 78 square miles. The Las Conchas blaze started a one acre "spot fire" on the sprawling property where scientists worked on the first atomic bomb 50 years ago. So far several thousand people have evacuated the town of Los Alamos, which has a population of about 12,000.
According to local authorities firefighters were able to douse the the fire at the nuclear facility.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/...
Also a local news report from KOBTV4:
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- Near-Earth asteroid passes over Atlantic Ocean
Reuters - An asteroid with an estimated girth as large as a garbage truck soared within 7,500 miles of the Earth on Monday as it passed harmlessly over the Atlantic Ocean, according to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
The space rock, measuring 5 to 20 meters in diameter, followed the same near-Earth path that scientists had earlier predicted, looping around the planet in a boomerang-shaped trajectory, JPL spokesman D.C. Agle said.
Its nearest approach to Earth, about 7,500 miles, was 30 times farther away than the International Space Station
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