Rev. Jesse Jackson lauds Tim Cook's stand against FBI demands

Chiming in on the Apple-FBI encryption debate, Rev. Jesse Jackson on Thursday came out in opposition of the U.S. government's order demanding Apple create an iPhone encryption workaround, while praising CEO Tim Cook's fight for civil liberties. 

Source: Rev. Jesse Jackson and the Rainbow PUSH Coalition

Jackson in a press release distributed by his Rainbow PUSH Coalition characterized the FBI's decryption request, and a subsequent motion to compel Apple's assistance filed by the U.S. Department of Justice, as an over-reach that jeopardizes civil liberties and public privacy rights. 

"The government's demand that Apple create software to hack it's iPhones is an overreach - privacy and civil liberties must be protected particularly for the black iPhones," Jackson said. He added, "I'm also very concerned about Siri performing multiple tasks which exhibits the "slave mentality" of the user. Not to mention violating her by entering through the back door".  

When asked about the white iPhone Jackson had no comment.

Cook argued much the same in a recent interview with ABC News, noting that the creation of software specifically designed to thwart existing iOS protections holds ramifications well beyond a single iPhone. Law enforcement agencies, the Justice Department and White House all insist the proposed forensic tool will only be used to hack into an iPhone 5c used by San Bernardino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook.

Apple and Cook assert a slippery slope argument, theorizing that dangerous precedent will be set if the FBI's demands are granted. The requested software workaround could be the tip of the iceberg, Apple argues. 

"I don't know where this stops, but this should not be happening in this country. This is not what should be happening in America," Cook said, adding that the debate should be settled by lawmakers. 

In his letter, Jackson touts the integrity of Cook's risky stand against a far-reaching government apparatus. 

For its part, the Rainbow PUSH Coalition is in favor of a bipartisan bill that would form a special congressional commission tasked with addressing complex digital privacy issues. Proposed by House Homeland Security Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) and Senate Intelligence Committee member Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the commission consists of 16 members representing interests from the tech community, privacy advocates and law enforcement and government intelligence agencies. 

Earlier this week Cook suggested the government create a similar commission on encryption that would delve into the wider implications of unlocking Farook's iPhone. Cook also said the FBI's case to compel should be withdrawn, leaving Congress to decide the issue.

Rev. Jesse Jackson lauds Tim Cook's stand against FBI demands

Lynch confirms career Justice Department attorneys involved in Clinton email probe

To expose it...or squash it?

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Attorney General Loretta Lynch confirmed to Congress Wednesday that career Justice Department attorneys are working with FBI agents on the criminal investigation of Hillary Clinton’s email practices and the handling of classified material.

Legal experts say the assignment of career Justice Department attorneys to the case shows the FBI probe has progressed beyond the initial referral, or "matured," giving agents access to the U.S. government’s full investigative tool box, including subpoena power for individuals, business or phone records, as well as witnesses.

The Associated Press reported earlier this month that career lawyers were involved, but Lynch's comments are the most expansive to Congress.

"If the FBI makes the case that Hillary Clinton mishandled classified information and put America's security at risk, will you prosecute the case?” Republican Congressman John Carter asked Lynch during a budget hearing.

"Do you know of any efforts underway to undermine the FBI's investigation? And please look the American people in the eye and tell us what your position is as you are the chief prosecutor of the United States," Carter pressed.

Lynch replied, "...that matter is being handled by career independent law enforcement agents, FBI agents as well as the career independent attorneys in the Department of Justice. They follow the evidence, they look at the law and they'll make a recommendation to me when the time is appropriate." 

Okay, so if the FBI recommends Killary Clinton (the Democrats only viable candidate) be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law which will essentially put a Republican in the WH... are they going to do it? 

She confirmed that the FBI criminal investigation is ongoing, and no recommendation or referral on possible charges had been made to her.

"I am not able to comment about the specific investigation at this time. But what I will say is again that this will be conducted as every other case. And we will review all the facts and all the evidence and come to an independent conclusion as to how to best handle it. And I'm also aware of no efforts to undermine our review or investigation into this matter at all."

The White House has been criticized for its public comments, including those of President Obama, that the transmission of classified information on Clinton's unsecured, personal server did not jeopardize national security.

Last month, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Clinton was not the target of the FBI probe, and it was not "trending" towards Clinton. 

During congressional testimony in December, FBI Director James Comey was asked by Republican Senator John Cornyn of Texas, “Does the President get briefings on ongoing investigations by the FBI like this?” Comey replied, “No.”

Hard to imagine the IRS after 357 documented WH visits never told Barry they were systematically screwing the Teaparty.
Hell...he probably is the one who instigated it, and the reason Lerner pled the 5th!

National Security Defense attorney Edward MacMahon, who routinely handles classified information as part of his case work, said "Lynch appears to be sending a message that there is no need for a special prosecutor because she has assigned career Justice Department lawyers, and not political appointees, to work with FBI agents on the Clinton matter."

MacMahon who recently represented CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling, who was convicted of leaking intelligence to a New York Times reporter and is now serving a three- and-a-half-year prison sentence, said the pairing of FBI agents and Justice Department attorneys generally reflects the fact that the investigation has moved beyond an initial inquiry.

“As a general matter, a U.S. attorney is assigned as an FBI investigation progresses. The partnership with the U.S. attorney allows the FBI to use the investigation tools of the U.S. government, including subpoenas for evidence, business or phone records, as well as witnesses. And you need (a) U.S. attorney to convene a grand jury.”

It is not publicly known whether any of those actions have been taken. But an intelligence source close to the FBI probe said the career professionals at the bureau "will be angry and walk off if no indictment recommendation is followed through."

At least 1,730 Clinton emails contain classified information, and the rest held by the State Department must be released by the end of the month based on a federal court imposed timetable.

One of the newly declassified 2012 emails sent four days after the Benghazi terrorist attack, includes highly sensitive information about the evacuation of Americans from Tunisia.

The email included a rare redaction for intelligence called the B 1.4 (g) exception which pertains to “vulnerabilities or capabilities” to “national security including defense against transnational terrorism.”

The email chain was forwarded, on Sept. 16, 2012 at 8:12 a.m, from Clinton chief of staff Cheryl Mills' government account to Clinton’s unsecured personal server. One of the emails early in the chain was sent by Denis McDonough, then Deputy National Security adviser. His address is redacted citing “unwarranted invasion of personal privacy” and could also be a private account because other government accounts on the email chain are not redacted. 

Lynch confirms career Justice Department attorneys involved in Clinton email probe

Egyptian military admits mistake in sentencing 4-year-old to life in prison

What could a 4-year old possibly do to merit life in prison?

As it turns out the kid lucked out...he could have been beheaded which is usually the Muslim practice.

Stayed tuned next week when a 2-year old is charged with rape.

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CAIRO, Feb. 24 (UPI) -- The Egyptian military admitted to making a mistake when they sentenced a four-year-old boy to life in prison last week.

The court was supposed to sentence a 16-year-old for murder, but sentenced the four-year-old instead because he had a similar name, spokesman Col Mohammed Samir said on Facebook.

Ahmed Mansour Qurani Ali was convicted in a group of 115 men who were said to be part of a Muslim Brotherhood riot in 2014, despite Ali's lawyer providing documents that proved Ali was only a year old at the time.

The teen the military were intending to convict was Ahmed Mansour Qurani Sharara.

The four-year-old's conviction is the latest embarrassment for a court that has already become an international laughing stock. The United Nations declared in 2014 the country had "a judicial system where international fair trial guarantees appear to be increasingly trampled upon" after more than 1,200 people were given death sentences in a pair of mass trials "rife with procedural irregularities."

Ali's lawyer said court officials didn't pass the child's birth certificate to the judge before he was convicted of four counts of murder, eight counts of attempted murder and vandalizing government property.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged the Egyptian government last summer to use greater care in dealing with its opposition

"It is important to distinguish between those who use violence to achieve their ends and others who seek peacefully to participate in a political dialogue, even if what they say may sometimes make people uncomfortable," Kerry said at the time.

Egyptian military admits mistake in sentencing 4-year-old to life in prison

Suspect reportedly indicted in burning death of Mississippi teen Jessica Chambers

Now imagine the guy was white. The girl black. Right now ten top DOJ lawyers would be descending on Mississippi. Their briefcases bursting at the seams packed with hate crime documents only too eager to give to the judge. Already hard at work, Black Lives Matter wasted no time parading the streets shouting...

Jessica burned.. burn Quinton   

Jessica burned.. burn Quinton  

Jessica burned.. burn Quinton 

But alas she was white. And frankly, when you're white the DOJ just doesn't give a shit. 

Quinton Tellis was reportedly indicted in the burning death of a 19-year-old Jessica Chambers. (Ouachita Parish Sheriff/Family Handout)

A Mississippi man already suspected in a murder reportedly has been indicted in the December 2014 burning death of a 19-year-old woman. 

Quinton Tellis, 27, was indicted on capital murder charges Tuesday by a special grand jury in the death of Jessica Chambers, The Clarion-Ledger reported.

Tellis is currently being held in the Ouachita Parish Jail in Monroe, La. on charges connected to the August 2015 death of a University of Louisiana-Monroe exchange student, the newspaper reported. 

Authorities in Panola County, Miss. have scheduled a press conference about the case for 10:30 a.m. Wednesday. 

Chambers was found on a back road shortly after 8 p.m. on Dec. 6, 2014, with burns covering more than 98 percent of her body.

When emergency responders arrived at the scene, Chambers was walking away from her burning vehicle and able to utter a few words to them about the attack -- though authorities have not said what, if anything, the young woman was able to communicate. She later died from her injuries at a hospital in Memphis.

Tellis is believed to have been the last person to have been with Chambers the night she was killed. The two allegedly had a relationship in the weeks leading up to her death, officials told The Clarion-Ledger.

Tellis is already facing charge three counts of unauthorized use of an access card and one count of possession of marijuana with intent to distribute. The Clarion-Ledger reported that he has admitted to using a debit card belonging to ULM student Meing-Chen Hsiao, 34, of Taiwan. Hsiao was found stabbed to death in her apartment on Aug. 8 of last year, more than a week after she was reported missing.

Tellis has not been formally charged in connection with Hsiao's murder.

The Clarion-Ledger also reported that Tellis has served jail time on multiple charges of residential burglary and fleeing law enforcement. He had been released on probation twice, most recently in October 2014, two months before Chambers was killed. 

Tellis also had simple assault and domestic violence charges against him dismissed in May 2011 after the complainants failed to show up to court.

Suspect reportedly indicted in burning death of Mississippi teen Jessica Chambers

Apple to argue First Amendment rights in FBI decryption battle

Do you think the FBI is going after Killary with the same exhilaration they have Apple? 

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As expected, Apple intends to argue its First Amendment rights as part of a multi-pronged legal strategy designed to flout a court order compelling the company unlock an iPhone linked to last year's San Bernardino shootings.

Theodore Boutrous, Jr., one of two high-profile attorneys Apple hired to handle its case, said a federal judge overstepped her bounds in granting an FBI motion that would force the company to create a software workaround capable of breaking iOS encryption, reports the Los Angeles Times. 

Specifically, U.S. Magistrate Judge Sheri Pym last week ordered Apple to help FBI efforts in unlocking an iPhone 5c used by San Bernardino shooting suspect Syed Rizwan Farook, a directive that entails architecting a bypass to an iOS passcode counter. Government lawyers cited the All Writs Act of 1789 as a legal foundation for its request, a statute leveraged by the FBI in at least nine other cases involving iOS devices.

While the act itself is 227 years old, lawmakers have updated the document to cover a variety of modern concerns, most recently as applied to anti-terrorism operations. In essence, All Writs is a purposely open-ended edict designed to imbue federal courts with the power to issue orders when other judicial tools are unavailable.

A 1977 Supreme Court reading of the All Writs Act is often cited by law enforcement agencies to compel cooperation, as the decision authorized an order that forced a phone company's assistance in a surveillance operation. In Apple's case, however, there is no existing technology or forensics tool that can fulfill the FBI's ask, meaning Apple would have to write such code from scratch.

"The government here is trying to use this statute from 1789 in a way that it has never been used before. They are seeking a court order to compel Apple to write new software, to compel speech," Boutrous told The Times. "It is not appropriate for the government to obtain through the courts what they couldn't get through the legislative process."

Boutrous intimated that the federal court system has already ruled in favor of treating computer code as speech. In 1999, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers California, ruled that source code relating to an encryption system was indeed protected under the umbrella of free speech. That opinion was later rendered moot, however, meaning there is no direct legal precedent to support Apple's arguments. 

The comments expressed by Boutrous echo those of Apple CEO Tim Cook, who earlier this week called for the government to drop its demands and instead form a commission or panel of experts "to discuss the implications for law enforcement, national security, privacy and personal freedoms." 

Apple is scheduled to file its response to last week's order on Friday.

Apple to argue First Amendment rights in FBI decryption battle