White Terrorist Sikh Temple shooter not on drugs

thonline

A white supremacist with a history of alcohol problems was drug-free when he walked into a Sikh temple in suburban Milwaukee this summer and fatally shot six people before killing himself, according to a toxicology report released Wednesday.

There were small amounts of alcohol in Wade Michael Page's heart, but because there was none in his bloodstream the alcohol might have been produced after Page's body tissues began breaking down, a Milwaukee County pathologist said.

"It is impossible to tell if the ethyl alcohol level is due to alcohol ingestion or a product of decomposition," Agnieszka Rogalska said in an email.

Page's sister had told investigators that in the year preceding the rampage, her brother developed a bloated appearance that made her wonder if he'd been drinking recently. She also said Page seemed to grow more intense over the past year, as if he had lost his wit and sense of humor, according to an investigative report.

Page, 40, opened fire Aug. 5 before a service was to start at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in suburban Milwaukee. He killed six people and wounded four others before he was shot in the abdomen during a firefight with police. He died after he shot himself in the head.

The Milwaukee County medical examiner's office, which released the investigative report, officially ruled his death a suicide.

Page's sister told authorities her brother didn't use drugs but had a history of alcohol problems. He was cited several times over the years for his drunken behavior, and was convicted in Colorado of drunken driving in 1999 and in Texas in 2004 for drunkenly kicking holes in an

El Paso bar's walls.

Page had several tattoos associated with the white supremacy movement, including the number 14 on his left shoulder and the number 88 on his right one, according to an Aug. 6 autopsy report that had been kept under seal until the FBI completed its investigation Tuesday. In white-supremacist circles, "14" represents the 14 words in a popular skinhead mantra. The number "8'' points to "H'' as the eighth letter of the alphabet, and 88 is a reference to, "Heil Hitler."

He also had tattoos of skulls and crossbones on one forearm, flames on his lower leg, the word "Suffer" across his shoulders and "Pride" on his upper chest. He also had four letters that abbreviate a profane anti-social statement tattooed on the knuckles of his left hand.

The FBI issued a four-page statement Tuesday saying the agency had concluded its investigation into the rampage and found no evidence to suggest Page had any help or was carrying out any directive from any white-supremacist group. Investigators also found nothing to suggest the attack was part of any ongoing threat to the Sikh community.

The statement did not mention any motive, and the bureau didn't release any supporting or supplemental documents. The FBI has said previously Page's motive might never be known.

Welcome to America's 10 Worst Immigration Detention Centers (Map)

MotherJones

Rotten food, limited access to sunlight, and even arbitrary solitary confinement: For undocumented immigrants in US Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, detention could mean all that and more.

According to the Detention Watch Network, a national coalition pushing for changes in immigration detention, ICE holds more than 400,000 immigrants in 33,400 jail beds across the United States. On Thursday, DWN released a report highlighting what it calls the nation's 10 worst immigration detention centers and calling for their immediate closure. Among the abuses at these jails and prisons—most run by county prison systems, but some by private firms like Corrections Corporation of America—the report claims: 

At all ten of the facilities, people reported waiting weeks or months for medical care; inadequate, and in some cases a total absence, of any outdoor recreation time or access to sunlight or fresh air; minimal and inedible food; the use of solitary confinement as punishment; and the extreme remoteness of many of the facilities from any urban area which makes access to legal services nearly impossible.

This shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone who has seen Frontline's excellent "Lost in Detention," which focused on the fallout from Obama's deportation-heavy first term. Still, the 2009 death of 39-year-old Roberto Medina Martínez at Georgia's Stewart Detention Center—one of the facilities called out by DWN—is a graphic reminder of what can happen when more and more immigrants are rounded up for deportation and sent to overwhelmed and inadequate facilities, where they're often treated like prisoners even though they're not serving criminal sentences. (Rather, they're undergoing administrative immigration proceedings that usually result in deportation.)

Immigration reform may be a post-election topic du jour—with everyone from President Obama to Florida Sen. Marco Rubio pledging to push legislation posthaste—but hardly anyone is talking about fixing our broken detention system. As Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) said in a Thursday press call, "Taxpayers shouldn't be asked to continue to support this waste of money and resources."

Click on our map below to learn more about each of DWN's worst offenders: [HERE] 

Thanks for the Memories, Rep. Allen West

MotherJones

Predictably, the last person to realize that Rep. Allen West's political career is over—for now, anyway—seems to be Allen West himself. 

The Florida congressman famous for instructing a Muslim Republican to quit trying to "blow sunshine up my butt," asking his supporters to "grab your muskets," and suggesting that the Bureau of Labor statistics had fabricated the October jobs report, trailed Democratic challenger Patrick Murphy by 2,500 votes when the dust settled on November 7. For two weeks, though, West challenged the results, refusing to concede while charging that there had been "a willful attempt to steal the election" by St. Lucie County elections supervisor Gertrude Walker.

West's request for a full recount in St. Lucie County was officially rejected by a judge, and because his margin of defeat exceeded 0.5 percent, he had no grounds to demand a recount under Florida law. But the county went along with one anyway, and over the course of two days, double-checked their math, after which point West found himself trailing by an additional 274 votes. Womp womp. Despite conservative howls of voter fraud and West's pledge to fight on, it's almost impossible to imagine a scenario in which Murphy isn't seated come January.

Here are some of the highlights from West's one term in Congress:

• The time he alleged that "78 or 81" members of the House Progressive Caucus—as well as former President Woodrow Wilson—were secretly members of the Communist Party.
• "It ain't happenin', that dog don't hunt, take your pro-Hamas butt and get the hell out of my country!"
• His aforementioned request to the South Florida director of the Council on America-Islamic Relations not to "blow sunshine up my butt and tell me it's warm and fuzzy."
• The suggestion that Planned Parenthood and Code Pink had "neutered" the once-proud American male.
• His insinuation that the country's first Muslim congressman represents "the antithesis of the principles upon which this country was established."
• His lamentation, in the wake of a critical Broward-Palm Beach New Times blog post, that "next time I will put on a tie-dyed shirt and jeans, dance around singing anti-war, anti-American songs, and burn a flag."
• His first choice for chief of staff.
• The time he asked Democratic leaders to flee the country: "You can take it to Europe, you can take it to the bottom of the sea, you can take it the North Pole, but get the hell out of the United States of America."

The good news for West is that 2,500 votes is not an especially large margin in a presidential election year in which Democrats dominated the ground game in the Sunshine State. So maybe he'll be back in two years to take back the seat.

Well, that or he'll land a cushy job at Fox News.

A Map of Destruction: How Europeans Stole Native Land

Alternet

For millions in the U.S., Thanksgiving is a stark reminder of what has been lost. Click on this map , created by Lousiana State professor Sam B. Hillard, to see the rapid loss of land by the Native Americans--starting from when Columbus "discovered" the America and ending in 1895, when native people retained only 2.3 percent of their original land. 

White Jacksonville Police officer quits after saying he wanted to Assassinate Obama -

MyFox.com

A Jacksonville police officer has quit after admitting he told colleagues that he would volunteer to assassinate President Barack Obama.

Sam Koivisto told the Florida Times-Union (http://bit.ly/10zfc6q ) on Wednesday that his comments had been blown out of proportion and that he'd planned to retire in five months anyway.

The 57-year-old retired earlier this month while facing an internal investigation into his comments to other officers after the election. He told them that if an order came to kill Obama, he "wouldn't mind being the guy."

When questioned by the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office integrity unit, he said he also didn't care if a nuclear explosion killed everyone in the Northeastern U.S because they supported Obama. He told the investigators his comments were hyperbole and not actual threats.

Text of Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement

Antiwar

CAIRO: Israel and Hamas agreed Wednesday to an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire accord to end a week of violence in and around the Gaza Strip following days of marathon talks.

Here is the text of the ceasefire agreement which is set to take effect at 1900 GMT:

"Israel shall stop all hostilities in the Gaza Strip land sea and air, including incursions and targeting of individuals.

"All Palestinian factions shall stop all hostilities from the Gaza Strip against Israel, including rocket attacks and all attacks along the border.

"Opening the crossings and facilitating the movement of people and transfer of goods and refraining from restricting residents' free movements and targeting residents in border areas. Procedures of implementation shall be dealt with after 24 hours from the start of the ceasefire.

"Other matters as may be requested shall be addressed."

"Implementation mechanism.

"Setting up the zero hour understanding to enter into effect.

"Egypt shall receive assurances from each party that the party commits to what was agreed upon.

"Each party shall commit itself not to perform any acts that would breach this understanding. In case of any observations, Egypt as a sponsor of this understanding, shall be informed to follow up."

The Central Park Five

AvClub

Ken Burns’ documentary The Central Park Five departs from his usual style, perhaps because it’s a collaboration with his daughter Sarah (who previously wrote a book about the subject of this film) and her husband David McMahon; or perhaps because it’s not a look back at America’s distantly painful past, but rather about a fresher wound. The movie begins with a montage of New York in the 1980s, establishing the context of a city dealing with the early days of the AIDS epidemic, the rise of crack cocaine, a decade of fiscal crises, and—above all—escalating racial tension, exacerbated by gang violence, police brutality, and vigilantism. Then, in 1989, a white, female investment banker was raped and beaten in Central Park, on a night when there were reports of mobs of black youths rampaging through the park. The police rounded up a group of Harlem teenagers, and after grueling interrogations, got confessions out of five of them. Almost as soon as they’d been charged, the teens withdrew their confessions, saying they’d been coerced; but with enraged citizens demanding justice, “The Central Park Five” were tried a little over a year after the crime and quickly imprisoned. They served out their terms, after which the emergence of a new suspect led New York to exonerate them, belatedly.

The Central Park Five tells this story largely via interviews with the Five themselves, supplemented with archival news footage and atmospheric shots of the locations where these events took place. Missing from the film—because they declined to participate—are the rape victim, her actual attacker, or anyone from the police or the prosecution. And though there’s explanatory on-screen text throughout, the movie has no narrator. So unlike the comprehensive, authoritative voice of most of Burns’ documentaries, The Central Park Five is more subjective, bordering on claustrophobic as it walks viewers step by step through how five kids became the most reviled people in New York City, even though the contradictions in their statements and the lack of DNA evidence should’ve provoked more skepticism. 

That closed-off quality costs The Central Park Five some drama. This is a movie about a rush to judgment in a city on edge, and it never expands its scope or meaning over the course of its two-hour running time. But the specifics make the story powerful regardless. The accused explain what being interrogated was like, and how they eventually agreed to the police’s theory of the case because they were exhausted and because each one individually was told he’d get off easy if he just admitted he was there. Similarly, the one juror who was a holdout during the first trial says that he finally voted guilty because he was tired of the other jurors yelling at him. Meanwhile, the police and prosecution followed protocol, and the press and public took what the authorities said at face value, because the facts of the case mattered less than what it represented: a city fighting back against the thugs, whether they were guilty of anything or not.

Why Is Arizona Still Counting Votes? (White Supremacy)

Propublica

It’s been two weeks since Election Day, but it’s not all over in Arizona. Thousands of early and provisional ballots remain uncounted. These votes aren’t actually expected to impact any more races – just one state legislative race is too close to call – but the prolonged vote count has drawn national attention.

So what’s the reason for the delay, who have been the most vocal critics and why did so many ballots take so long to be counted? We take a closer look:

Exactly how many provisional and early ballots were there in Arizona this year?

Out of an estimated 2.3 million votes cast, more than half consisted of early ballots. More than 400,000 of these weren’t actually turned in close to or on Election Day, catching county elections officials off guard. Arizona voters cast roughly 171,000 provisional ballots this year.

How many votes were left uncounted following Election Day?

About 602,334 votes in all, which includes those early and provisional ballots. The vast majority of these ballots came out of Maricopa County, Arizona’s largest county and voting district. There, nearly 440,000 early ballots were still uncounted the day after Election Day. And at least 115,000 provisional ballots were issued in polling locations across the county.

As of Tuesday morning, Maricopa County was still counting roughly 34,450 of ballots. The state has until Dec. 3 to certify final election results.

Were there more provisional ballots in Arizona than past years?

Yes, but it’ll be roughly the same proportion. In 2008, voters cast 151,799 provisional ballots – or about 5 percent of the total vote. That’s about the same percentage the state will see this year, according to the Arizona secretary of state’s office.

What is notable is the concentration of the overall bump in provisional ballots. They’ve largely originated out of Maricopa County, where in 2008, voters cast 99,826 provisional ballots (compared with 115,000 this year) and neighboring Pima County, where in 2008, voters cast 17,912 provisional ballots (compared with 26,194 such ballots this year.)

Is that why it’s taking so long to count these votes?

That’s one reason. Before they can be tabulated, provisional ballots have to be checked to confirm a voter’s eligibility and that they were cast in the correct precinct. For early ballots, the signature on the envelope must be independently verified. Arizona has also seen a decreased number of polling locations this year as the result of redistricting. The delay is not new to this election. “The media seems to believe that things are taking longer than four years ago, but they aren’t,” Arizona secretary of state spokesman Matthew Roberts told ProPublica. “Our counties completed their work in 15 or so days last time, and that’s what we are expecting this year.”

How many state races are still pending?

As of Tuesday, the local media reported that just one state House seat remained too close to call as the result of Maricopa County’s untabulated votes. But that’s hardly been the only – or most significant – delay. It took nearly a week for the state’s 9^th U.S. congressional district to see a winner. And it took until just this past weekend for a victor to be declared in the seat once held by Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Democrat Ron Barber edged out his opponent, Republican Martha McSally, by just 1,402 votes.

Despite the fact that the most crucial races are settled, the vote count continues for other reasons. “We wouldn’t want to disenfranchise Arizona’s voters that cast a ballot,” Roberts said. “We don’t necessarily have any value on who’s winning or who’s losing – we just want to make sure they’re accurate.”

So why have some Arizona groups been vocal in protesting the delays?

Because they contend that provisional ballots were issued to a disproportionate number of minority Hispanic voters – many of whom are first-time voters. Petra Falcon, president of the voter advocacy group Promise Arizona, told ProPublica her organization helped register 34,000 new Latino voters this year in Maricopa County alone.

However, Falcon said some of those registered reported never receiving a free voter registration card or a requested early ballot in the mail. Others showed up at their polling location only to be told they were not on the voter registration list and that they’d have to cast a provisional ballot instead. (Falcon said she didn’t have exact figures on the number of complaints.)

A national voter rights hotline illustrates the kinds of problems voters encountered this year. One person called to report that a polling location in South Phoenix was “running out of provisional ballots because they are providing so many.”

Another caller in Maricopa County reported that many voters “were denied provisional ballots even when provisional ballots were requested. Ran out of provisional ballots and people were turned away.”

The outcry in the election aftermath led Pima County to assure voters that “provisional voting is designed as a ‘fail-safe’ method to allow voters to participate in an election even if problems occur.”

What else led to these snafus?

According to Matt Roberts, the secretary of state’s spokesman, voter error can’t be ruled out. “It’s possible they didn’t receive an early ballot, or far more likely they lost or misplaced it,” he said. As far as the missing names on voter registration lists, he said: “It’s hard to say why that would occur. Would I tell you the system is 100 percent every time? Of course not, there’s not a system that’s going to function perfectly every time. That’s why we have provisional ballots.”

Yet Falcon says the day before the election, at least 6,800 voters signed up by Promise Arizona were not appearing in the state’s official voter database. “How do we know that all of our voter registrations were accounted for on their end with so many new ones coming in?” she said. “These are the questions we’re asking because there’s obviously something broken in that part of the system.”

What’s the objection to provisional ballots? Aren’t they guaranteed to count?

No. There could be any number of reasons for them to be rejected, but Arizona has a few extra. In 2008, about 29,531 of provisional ballots in Maricopa County were rejected because voters cast ballots in the wrong precinct – the leading reason why such ballots were invalidated. That’s why some voter advocates are concerned by the especially high number of provisional ballots this year in Maricopa County, whose elected sheriff, Joe Arpaio, is a controversial figure. He was a vocal proponent of the controversial state law that authorizes police to question one’s immigration status when a “reasonable suspicion” of illegal status exists.

“If you’re a voter, you at the very least should expect not only that your vote is counted, but that it’s done in a timely manner. Not doing it in a timely manner shakes peoples’ confidence in the process,” said James E. Garcia, spokesman for ACLU of Arizona, which is calling for a deeper investigation into the state’s election delays.

It hasn’t helped that in the run-up to the election, Arizona saw several hiccups. For instance, on Spanish-language election pamphlets, officials in Maricopa County indicated that Election Day was on Nov. 8 (when it was actually Nov. 6).

And aren’t other states are still counting provisional ballots at this point?

Yes. Ohio is still counting provisional ballots– but unlike Arizona, Ohio doesn’t typically begin its provisional vote count until 10 days after the election.

Why is Arizona’s delay potentially significant?

Activists are worried it could be a harbinger of future problems in a state with a shifting demographic. According to the research organization, the Morrison Institute for Public Policy, the number of voting-age Latino citizens in Arizona is expected to increase by 178 percent between 2010 and 2030. The Pew Hispanic Center projects that the number of eligible Hispanic voters nationwide will increase by 40 percent in that same time frame.

Big gains were seen just in the last four years. According to the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, the number of Latinos registered to vote nationwide increased by 40 percent from 410,000 in 2008 to 576,000 in 2012.

National exit polls show that Latinos nationwide favored President Obama by 71 percent to 27 percent for Mitt Romney this election. While the state’s unofficial results show that Arizona voters on a whole voted for Romney over Obama, 54 percent to 44 percent, the state’s Latino population favored Obama with 74 percent over Romney’s 25 percent share.

Some national polls also indicate that Latinos in Arizona generally lean Democrat: A June 2012 poll by Latino Decisions found that 53 percent identify as Democrat, 9 percent as Republican and 27 percent as Independent.

What, if anything, is the federal government proposing to fix these issues?

Concern with long voting wait times this election sparked response from the president himself. Last week, during a symposium at George Washington University Law School, Tom Perez, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s civil rights division, proposed several reforms, including allowing same-day voter registration, making voter registration automatic and reducing the number of provisional ballots. We’ve asked DOJ for more details. They’ve yet to respond.

Illinois Likely To Issue Drivers Licenses To Undocumented Immigrants

ThinkProgress

Several leading Illinois political leaders have proposed legislation allowing undocumented immigrants to get driver’s licenses, which, if passed, would make Illinois the third and largest state to do so. Illinois Governor Pat Quinn (D), Speaker of the House Michael Madigan (D), and Senate President John Cullerton (D) are all supporting the law, making passage likely. The law would likely improve road safety in Illinois by requiring the state’s roughly 250,000 undocumented immigrants to pass state driving tests and by getting them access to auto insurance.

Like WWF but Real: Ravens safety Ed Reed wins appeal of Fake suspension in NFL (Circus Animal Show Business League)

The Grio

Baltimore Ravens safety Ed Reed avoided a one-game suspension for late hits after an appeal. He instead will be fined $50,000.

Reed was suspended for one game without pay on Monday by NFL vice president of football operations Merton Hanks for his third violation in three seasons of the rule prohibiting helmet-to-helmet hits against defenseless players. The third violation occurred in Sunday night’s game at Pittsburgh: Reed’s hit to the head of receiver Emmanuel Sanders.

Reed appealed the ruling in phone session Tuesday morning with NFL hearing officer Ted Cottrell. The NFL Players Association represented Reed, who also participated.

Hours later, Cottrell reduced the penalty.

In a letter to Reed, Cottrell wrote: “I have determined that your actions were egregious and warrant significant discipline. However, I do not believe that your actions were so egregious as to subject you to a one-game suspension without pay. Player safety is the league’s primary concern in the formation of playing rules and all players are expected to adhere to those rules or face disciplinary action. I hope in the future you will focus on ensuring that your play conforms to the rules.”

Reed will be in uniform for Sunday’s game in San Diego.

“The league has an appeal process to review situations like this, and Ed had his opportunity to answer questions about his play,” Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome said in a statement. “I think John (Harbaugh) and his coaches do an excellent job of teaching the right, safe and legal way to play football, and we believe Ed clearly tries to play within the rules on every down.”