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US General Killed in Afghan Insider Attack

Originally published on August 8, 2014, at NationofChange.org

During a routine inspection at the Marshal Fahim National Defense University in Kabul, a lone gunman killed an American two-star general and wounded at least 15 other coalition troops. Hiding in the bathroom with his NATO-issued assault rifle, Mohammad Rafiqullah waited until the delegation came into sight before indiscriminately firing through a window.

Deputy commanding general of the Combined Security Transition Command—Afghanistan (CSTC-A), Maj. Gen. Harold Greene was responsible for advising and training the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF). While routinely visiting the Afghanistan National Military Academy, Greene had been shot three times in the back and one to the back of the head. A German one-star general named Brig. Gen. Michael Bartscher and Gen. Ghulam Sakhi, the Afghan officer running the university, were among the wounded in the attack.

Assigned to the military police, 27-year-old Mohammad Rafiqullah had joined the academy over two years ago. After returning from a patrol on Tuesday, Rafiqullah went to the bathroom instead of returning his NATO-issued assault rifle. With no known motivation, Rafiqullah hid inside the bathroom until the coalition forces came into view. He emptied two clips into the delegation before International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) troops returned fire, shooting him twice in the face.

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LinkedIn Pays Nearly $6 Million in Labor Violations and Damages

Originally published on August 6, 2014, at NationofChange.org

In violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act, LinkedIn Corp. has paid $3,346,195 in back wages and $2,509,646 in damages to 359 former and current employees. An investigation led by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division exposed LinkedIn’s failure to record, account, and pay all hours worked including overtime wages. LinkedIn agreed to pay the back wages and liquidated damages in order to prevent repeat violations.

“Off-the-clock hours are all too common for the American worker. This practice harms workers, denies them the wages they have rightfully earned, and takes away time with families,” said Susana Blanco, district director for the Wage and Hour Division in San Francisco. “The department is committed to protecting the rights of workers and leveling the playing field for all law-abiding employers.”

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Six Cops Arrested for Corruption in Philadelphia

Originally published on August 2, 2014, at NationofChange.org

The FBI arrested 6 Philadelphia narcotics officers on charges of extortion, racketeering, kidnapping, conspiracy, robbery, and drug dealing. The indictment includes over 20 separate incidents in which the narcotics unit broke the law. Abusing their authority, these police officers allegedly beat suspects, falsified reports, and stole over $500,000 worth of cash, drugs, and merchandise.

The 6 accused officers, Thomas Liciardello, Perry Betts, Michael Spicer, Brian Reynolds, John Speiser, and Linwood Norman, came under investigation after the FBI arrested Philadelphia narcotics officer Jeffrey Walker in May 2013. Officer Walker asked a confidential informant to help him rip off a drug dealer. Instead, the informant tipped off the FBI and participated in the sting against Walker.

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Liberia Closes Borders as 3rd American is Infected with Ebola

Originally published on July 31, 2014, at NationofChange.org

In a desperate attempt to reduce the spread of Ebola, Liberia has closed its borders, declared public gatherings illegal, and placed entire communities under quarantine. While the death toll escalates across West Africa, an increasing number of medical workers have also contracted the highly contagious virus including 2 Americans. A third American died of the disease in Nigeria last week.

Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has closed all but 3 of her country’s borders to halt the outbreak from spreading to other countries. Border crossings into Guinea and Sierra Leone remain open. The first reports of the West Africa Ebola outbreak appeared in Guinea back in February before spreading to Liberia and Sierra Leone. Guinea’s neighbor, Senegal immediately closed its land border to protect its people from the contagion.

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NSA Colluding with Abusive Saudi Arabian Secret Police

Originally published on July 27, 2014, at NationofChange.org

While the U.S. State Department denounces human rights abuse in Saudi Arabia, the NSA is secretly helping the oppressive state police to capture and torture political activists. A 2013 NSA memo exposed by whistleblower Edward Snowden reveals the NSA has been providing surveillance assistance to the Saudi Ministry of Interior (MOI) in exchange for signals intelligence on terrorists and “Maritime Force targets of mutual interest.”

According to the NSA memo, relations between the US and Saudi intelligence communities had become strained after the first Gulf War in 1991. The NSA experienced years of stagnation while attempting to work with the Saudi Ministry of Defense, Radio Reconnaissance Department. But in December 2012, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper authorized sharing SIGINT with MOI’s Technical Affairs Directorate.

Influenced by the CIA’s successful relationship with the MOI’s General Directorate for Investigations, Mabahith (equivalent to the FBI), Clapper strengthened the NSA’s faltering relations with the Saudi state police. By providing technical assistance and decryption tools to the MOI, Clapper gave the Saudi government the ability to improve their surveillance systems and spyware against political dissidents, bloggers, and human rights activists.

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UK Announces Public Inquiry into Russian Spy’s Poisoning

Originally published on July 25, 2014, at NationofChange.org

Blaming Russia for the deaths of the 298 passengers aboard Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17, including 10 passengers from the UK, the British government has announced a public inquiry into poisoned former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko. Seeking justice for her husband’s murder, Marina Litvinenko has met resistance from the British government until recent actions in the Ukraine and deteriorating diplomatic relations with Russia.

While investigating the assassination of investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya, former FSB agent Litvinenko met with three former KGB officers at the Millennium Hotel in London on November 1, 2006. Forensic evidence has revealed Litvinenko’s teacup had been poisoned with the radioactive isotope, polonium-210. Enduring intense agony, Litvinenko entered a hospital and eventually died of heart failure 22 days later.

Before his death, Litvinenko revealed the names of his killers: Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun, the former KGB officers who had tea with him, and Vladimir Putin, the man who had ordered his execution.

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Boston Bombing Co-conspirator Found Guilty

Originally published on July 24, 2014, at NationofChange.org

On the night of April 18, 2013, Dias Kadyrbayev asked UMass-Darthmouth sophomore Andrew Dwinells to enter the dorm room Dwinells shared with the alleged Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. After Dwinells agreed to let him in, Kadyrbayev searched the room for any incriminating evidence against his friend. He left the dorm room accompanied by Azamat Tazhayakov, Robel Phillipos, and a backpack containing Tsarnaev’s laptop, thumb drive, headphones, fireworks, Vaseline, a bag of marijuana, and an astray.

Earlier that day, photos of the Boston Bombing suspects had been released. While flippantly confronting Tsarnaev about seeing his face on the news, Kadyrbayev received this text from his friend: “Ifyu want yu can go to my room and take what’s there : ) but ight bro Salam aleikum.”

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California’s Dysfunctional Death Penalty System Ruled Unconstitutional

Originally published on July 22, 2014, at NationofChange.org

US District Judge Cormac Carney ruled California’s death penalty unconstitutional in a controversial decision last week. Judge Carney vacated the death sentence of Ernest Dewayne Jones in a desperate attempt to expose and possibly repair California’s dysfunctional death penalty system.

Judge Carney wrote, “In California, the execution of a death sentence is so infrequent, and the delays preceding it so extraordinary, that the death penalty is deprived of any deterrent or retributive effect it might once have had. Such an outcome is antithetical to any civilized notion of just punishment.”

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Russia Denies Reopening Cuban Spy Base as Ukrainian Conflict Escalates

Originally published on July 20, 2014, at NationofChange.org

Responding to recent allegations, Russian President Vladimir Putin publicly denied any intentions to reopen their signals intelligence (SIGINT) post in Cuba. While attending a BRICS summit in Brasilia on Thursday, Putin claimed, “Russia is capable of fulfilling the defense capacity tasks without this component.”

The Soviet-era spy facility in Lourdes, Cuba, began operation in 1967 after the failed Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban missile crisis. Located 155 miles from the US coast, the covert base intercepted classified radio signals from ships, submarines, and American spacecraft. At the height of the Cold War, the Soviet Union required up to 3,000 personnel to staff the building.

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CDC Director Admits to Agency’s Incompetence

Originally published on July 18, 2014, at NationofChange.org

Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, testified on Wednesday to members of Congress regarding the CDC’s recent history of potentially lethal mistakes and irresponsibility. Possibly exposing employees to deadly strains of anthrax and bird flu in separate incidents, the CDC has decided to temporarily cease deliveries of all infectious agents from its highest‐security labs.

“These events revealed totally unacceptable behavior,” Dr. Frieden said. “They should never have happened. I’m upset, I’m angry, I’ve lost sleep over this, and I’m working on it until the issue is resolved.”

In response to the anthrax scare, Rep. Tim Murphy, chair of the Oversight and Investigations subcommittee stated, “Dr. Frieden, this is like saying ‘I didn’t know the gun was loaded, but somebody got shot. But you should always assume it is. For someone to say, ‘Well, I didn’t think the anthrax was live,’ is unacceptable.”

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