Family of Murdered Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry Files $25M Lawsuit Against ATF over Fast & Furious

The family of murdered border patrol agent Brian Terry has filed a $25 million wrongful death law suit against the federal government and ATF. The law suit claims that the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives knowingly sold guns to Mexican drug cartels under the Fast and Furious program, guns that were responsible for the death of Brian Terry.

The family of murdered Border Patrol agent Brian Terry has filed a $25 million wrongful death claim against the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives claiming Terry was killed with AK-47s that were knowingly sold under the Fast and Furious gunrunning probe to a straw purchaser for drug cartels.

In a 65-page complaint, served on the government on Wednesday, attorneys for the family claim ATF “wrongdoing” in Operation Fast and Furious.

“ATF’s failures were not only negligent but in violation of ATF’s own policies and procedures,” the complaint claims.

Brian Terry’s family has also filed a claim against the Lone Wolf Trading Company seeking unspecified damages for negligence.

The claim says Lone Wolf knowingly sold “hundreds of weapons” to various straw purchasers and in turn realized “hundreds of thousands of dollars in profits from these sales.”

The claim alleges that “but for defendants’ negligent and illegal sales … Brian Terry would not have been murdered in the Arizona desert on Dec. 14, 2010.”

Attorney General and the feds claim that Fast & Furious gun running program in which an actual AK-47 sold to Mexican drug cartels that was responsible for the murder of the border patrol agent had no causal affect in the death of Brian Terry. Really? Can you say pathetic government cover up? Some one needs to take the fall … Eric Holder.

Video Hat Tip: The Gateway Pundit

UPDATE I: AG Eric Holder set to take the Hot Seat again at Fast & Furious hearing. Will Holder be found in contempt of Congress? This story is starting to spiral out of control for the AG and Obama. As stated at Jammie Wearing Fool, one has to wonder how this scandal will continue to go on smack dab in the middle of Barack Obama’s reelection campaign.

On Tuesday, the committee’s chairman, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., threatened to hold Holder in contempt of Congress, claiming that the Justice Department has been withholding documents related to the congressional inquiry into Fast and Furious.

“If the department continues to obstruct the congressional inquiry by not providing documents and information, this committee will have no alternative but to move forward with proceedings to hold you in contempt of Congress,” Issa wrote to Holder.

FEDS Close Down File-Sharing Site Megaupload … FBI & DOJ Arrest 7 Charged with Copyright Infringement and Conspiracy … So Who Needs SOPA and PIPA?

In what is being deemed the largest criminal copyright case, the US Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have shut down and seized the Web site Megaupload.  They have charged seven people  for running an international enterprise based on Internet piracy. Four individuals, including the site’s founder, Kim Dotcom have been arrested in New Zealand, three others remain at large. They have been charged with five counts of copyright infringement and conspiracy. Megaupload Ltd. isbased in Hong Kong, and its collection of websites generated more than $175 million in criminal proceeds and caused more than half a billion dollars in harm to copyright owners.

In what the federal authorities on Thursday called one of the largest criminal copyright cases ever brought, the Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation seized the Web site Megaupload and charged seven people connected with it with running an international enterprise based on Internet piracy.

Coming just a day after civil protests in the United States over proposed antipiracy bills, the arrests were greeted almost immediately with digital Molotov cocktails. The hacker collective that calls itself Anonymous attacked the Web sites of the Justice Department and several major entertainment companies and trade groups in retaliation for Mega-upload’s seizure. The Justice Department’s site and several others remained inaccessible for much of Thursday afternoon.

Megaupload, one of the most popular so-called locker services on the Internet, allowed users to anonymously transfer large files like movies and music. Media companies have long accused it of abetting copyright infringement on a vast scale. In a grand jury indictment, Megaupload is accused of causing $500 million in damages to copyright owners and of making $175 million through selling ads and premium subscriptions.

The indictment can be read HERE.

Just curious, if the Feds could take down an uber web site like Megaupload, what do they need SOPA and PIPA for? So what is the need for SOPA and PIPA. Let me rephrase the question to the US Congress, what is the real reason for SOPA and PIPA?As stated at Gizmodo, it would appear that you did fine with the laws that are presently in place.

Let’s also think about the timing of this bust. It’s a pretty spectacular coincidence that the Department of Justice Task Force on Intellectual Property was able to destroy a copyright villain without any help from SOPA or PIPA the day after the internet’s giant SOPA protest. Do you hear that, lawmakers? The law, as it stands right now was able to kill Megaupload.com, no draconian censorship powers required. The power you have now—with due process—is achieving the things you say you want to do

UPDATE I: REVENGE OF ANONYMOUS  … Anonymous Goes on Megaupload Revenge Spree: DoJ, RIAA, MPAA, and Universal Music All Offline. Yikes, knocked off line it the websites of the FBI, U.S. Department of Justice.

WOW, talk about carnage and laying waste to everything in Anonymous’ path. Statement from Anonymous.

1. The following sites were taken down in response to the FBI shutting down megaupload.com
2. TANGO DOWN
5. justice.gov
6. universalmusic.com
7. riaa.org
8. mpaa.org
9. copyright.gov
10. hadopi.fr
11. wmg.com
12. usdoj.gov
13. bmi.com
14. fbi.gov

UPDATE II: What a terrifying precedent …

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, which defends free speech and digital rights online, said in a statement that, “This kind of application of international criminal procedures to Internet policy issues sets a terrifying precedent. If the United States can seize a Dutch citizen in New Zealand over a copyright claim, what is next?”

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Says US Behind his Cancer … Well Alrighty Then

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has come up with a new conspiracy, the US is behind his bout with cancer and those around who have allied themselves with the South American dictator. Well alrighty then, just when Chavez was beginning to say some things that made sense, along comes this whopper.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez hinted that the U.S. may be behind a “very strange” bout of cancer affecting several leaders aligned with him in South America.

Chavez, speaking a day after Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner was diagnosed with thyroid cancer, said the Central Intelligence Agency was behind chemical experiments in Guatemala in the 1940s and that it’s possible that in years to come a plot will be uncovered that shows the U.S. spread cancer as a political weapon against its critics.

So Chavez blames the US for cancer. Maybe these folks might want to blame socialized medicine and the lack thereof of proper medical care. I would tend to agree with the American Thinker, when it comes to trying to inject an individual with cancer cells and the probability of that person actually contracting cancer. If you can get that closed to a crazed dictator, you would most likley inject them with air and create an embolism or some other toxic serum rather than taking the chance of  them contract cancer.

Chavez, who was diagnosed with an undisclosed form of cancer in June and had a baseball-sized tumor removed in Cuba, has called for a regional summit of leaders who have battled cancer including Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, her predecessor Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva and Paraguay’s Fernando Lugo.

“I’m just sharing my thoughts, but it’s very, very, very strange,” Chavez said. “Evo take care of yourself, Correa, be careful, we just don’t know,” he said, referring to Evo Morales and Rafael Correa, the leaders of Bolivia and Ecuador.

Police Reopen the Investigation into the 1981 “Accidental Drowning” Death of Natalie Wood … Robert Wagner not a Suspect?

Back to the 80′s … The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office has announced that they are going to reopen the investigation into the death of Hollywood movie actress Natalie Wood.

She died in 1981 of what was called at the time, an accidental drowning while boating off Catalina Island near the California coast.  It was announced at a news conference Friday that new information is substantial enough to take another look at the case, although police are saying that Robert Wagner is not a suspect in the death of Natalie Woods.However, according to Dennis Davern, the man who captained the couple’s yacht when Wood drown, stated that that Wagner was responsible for the actress’ death. Although he has not given and specifics or details. Hmm.

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This morning on TODAY, the former captain of the boat from which Wood drowned alleged that Wagner was responsible for the actress’ death. Dennis Davern, who captained the couple’s yacht, Splendour, said he was urging homicide investigators to look into the case.

“I made some terrible decisions and mistakes,” Davern told NBC News’ David Gregory. “I did lie on a report several years ago.”

At the news conference, Corina was repeatedly asked if Davern could face charges for lying to police, but refused to talk about any possible arrests or even confirm if Davern had been questioned.

So what is the compelling evidence that police now have that has prompted the reopening of this case so many years later?  The information behind the compelling evidence is as much of a mystery as the death of Natalie Wood back in 1981.

More from CNN and accounts of Natalie Wood’s autopsy and comments from Natalie’s sister, Lana Wood.

According to police reports, Wood was found wearing a long nightgown, socks, and a down jacket.

The autopsy report shows Wood had two dozen bruises on her body, including a facial abrasion on her left cheek, and bruises on her arms.

“My sister was not a swimmer and did not know how to swim, and she would never go to another boat or to shore dressed in a nightgown and socks,” said Lana Wood.

Although the county coroner’s office ruled that Wood’s death was an accident, others say the case hasn’t made sense.

Success with Honor Needs a Fresh Start … An Open Letter to Penn State University President Rodney Erickson in Wake of Child Sex Scandal

“Success with Honor” needs to be a reality at Penn State with the coaches and administrators, not just a catch phrase for the students to live by.

In the wake of the hideous child sex scandal, Penn State’s “Success with Honor” might be in need of a fresh clean slate. There is going to be a complete image change required at State College in Happy Valley, where the words of integrity, commitment and loyalty have to be reevaluated. Especially that loyalty one, that appears to be at the heart of the issue of the cover up of the alleged child sex crimes of former defensive PSU coach Jerry Sandusky.

It would appear that a new image is required at Penn State, read the following open letter to interim Penn State President Rodney Erickson. First, get a PR firm.

Once retained, have the agency facilitate meetings through their agents with Bill Parcells and Bill Cowher immediately.  Specify no leaks to the press until after they occur and by mutual agreement.   Cowher may be the low hanging fruit on this one,  he is returning to CBS next year.

If neither is interested in a head coach commitment of an 8-1 Big Ten team, follow their recommendations about who to contact next and ask them; beg if necessary, if they would be willing to consider a consulting gig for the recruitment process.  Urban Myer is a fine coach and leader, but regardless of who PSU ultimately chooses, efforts to rebuild the PSU brand must start with a nationally recognizable face of a trusted and respected winner, like yesterday.

Champions attract champions and without that, it is like asking collegiate coaching candidates to walk into the lion’s den (pun intended) wearing a raw steak necklace.  You will not even get one to tour Lasche, trust me on this.

This strategy would likely also include a public facing spokesperson effort, and worth every penny if that is all you can get a commitment for from either coach.

Pay them to sit in the lobby.  Pay them to ride the elevator a few times, but get them on grounds.  Pay them to have a motivational meeting with the team.

Read the rest HERE.

Sad Day in Happy Valley: Penn State Board of Trustees … Joe Paterno Out Immediately as Head Coach … PSU President Graham Spanier Also Out

JOE PA OUT!!! … SAD DAY IN HAPPY VALLEY.

ITS OFFICIAL … JOE PATERNO OUT EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY AS PENN STATE HEAD COACH …

The Penn State Board of Trustees have spoken, the Joe Paterno coaching era ends in disgrace. Earlier in the day Paterno said that he would retire at the end of the years amidst the child sex scandal. Paterno was in tears and his football team in disbelief, the end of an era was over.  He stated that “at this moment the Board of Trustees should not spend a single minute discussing my status.” However, that was not the case. The Board decided to terminate Paterno effective immediately. However, it was only inevitable, the domino’s were beginning to fall. 61 years on the sidelines and  46 years as head coach of the Nittany Lions all over because of a lapse in judgment and not doing the right thing when it came to a child predator.

Fade to black … Joe is Out

Penn State football coach Joe Paterno was fired late Wednesday night as the result of a growing child-sex scandal that has engulfed the program. The move is effective immediately meaning he will never coach for the school again.

The board of trustees also fired Penn State president Graham Spanier amid the growing questionable behavior and cover up of the child sex scandal at the hands of one time PSU defensive coordinator and assistant coach Jerry Sandusky. Spanier has been president of the school since 1995. You knew Spanier was toast when he threw his full support behind the two PSU officials that were arrested, rather that showing outrage of the incident.

“My son is extremely distraught, and now to see how we were betrayed, words cannot tell you. To see that Graham Spanier is putting his unconditional support behind Curley and Shultz when he should be putting his support behind the victims, it just makes them victims all over again.”

What a sad, tragic and pathetic end to a college football coaching icon. Joe Paterno, the winningest coach in Division I NCAA football leaves the game in disgrace following the child sex abuse scandal that has rocked Happy Valley and Penn State.  How could it have come to this? Honestly, as a long time Paterno fan and having known individuals that have attended PSU, I am stunned. How could a hideous pedophile like Jerry Sandusky have brought down such a beloved man like JOE PA? Oh sorry, alleged hideous, pig SOB pedophile Sandusky. If there is any justice, Sandusky will get his in the State Penn that he did to little boys at Penn State.  Also, how could anyone at Penn State, including Paterno, have not done more to protect the children and not covered up this terrible crime? Did they think it would be forever just swept under the rug?

What a sad day and a terrible lapse of judgment on the part of Joe Paterno. Shock and Awe hits Penn State. 409 wins and 24 bowl wins was not enough to save the job of coaching legend Joe Paterno.  PSU college students take to the streets in support of Joe Pa; however, there were some that did not and openly stated that Joe was not the victim.

Statement from Joe Paterno:

“I am disappointed with the Board of Trustees’ decision, but I have to accept it.

A tragedy occurred, and we all have to have patience to let the legal process proceed. I appreciate the outpouring of support but want to emphasize that everyone should remain calm and please respect the university, its property and all that we value. (snip)

Sex Abuse/Assault Scandal & Cover Up Rocks Happy Valley and Former Penn State Defensive Coordinator Jerry Sandusky … Arrested

As Penn St has one of their best seasons in years and Joe Pa became the winningest coach in Division I,  the Penn State Nittney Lions and Happy Vally is rocked by sexual assault allegations. In what has always been considered one of the most squeaky clean programs in NCAA sports … now has the tarnish of a cover up.

Former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, the once considered heir apparent to  Joe Paterno, is the center of an  explosive sex abuse scandal and allegations of a cover up at Penn St. University. PSU athletic director Tim Curley and Gary Schultz were charged Saturday with perjury related to a child sexual abuse investigation of former longtime Penn St  assistant coach Jerry Sandusky. The two were charged with failure to report, a summary offense. The perjury count is punishable by up to seven years in prison and a $15,000 fine.

In a development that strikes very close to Joe Paterno’s storied football program, Pennsylvania State University athletic director Tim Curley and another university official were charged Saturday with perjury related to a child sexual abuse investigation of longtime Nittany Lions assistant coach Jerry Sandusky.

The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office said Curley, 57, and Gary Schultz, 62, Penn State’s senior vice president for finance and business, also were charged with failure to report, a summary offense. The perjury count is a third-degree felony punishable by up to seven years in prison and a $15,000 fine.

Jerry Sandusky was arrested Saturday and released on $100,000 bail after being arraigned on 40 criminal counts. Sandusky has also been barred from the Penn St. campus. The allegations against Sandusky range from sexual advances to touching to oral and anal sex of teen boys and some of  even younger children may have been victimized.

Read more

Fast & Furious High Powered Assault Weapons Found in Mexico Drug Cartel Enforcer’s Home

Drip, Drip, Drip …

The saga continues of the ‘Fast and Furious’ program that Barack Obama’s Attorney General claims he knew nothing about. More High-powered assault weapons purchased as a result if the ATF’s ‘Fast and Furious’ program have found their way into the hands of Mexican drug cartel members. This time Mexican authorities seized 24 AK-47 rifles, two rifles, Barrett 50-caliber antiaircraft machine gun Browning caliber 30 caliber rifle sniper 308 for a 40 mm caliber grenade launcher and three 308 mm caliber guns. Just another case of a Mexican drug cartel hit man hoarding Fast and Furious weapons … so why hasn’t there been a special prosecutor appointed yet to investigate this scandal?

Reporting from Washington— High-powered assault weapons illegally purchased under the ATF’s Fast and Furious program in Phoenix ended up in a home belonging to the purported top Sinaloa cartel enforcer in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, whose organization was terrorizing that city with the worst violence in the Mexican drug wars.

In all, 100 assault weapons acquired under Fast and Furious were transported 350 miles from Phoenix to El Paso, making that West Texas city a central hub for gun traffickers. Forty of the weapons made it across the border and into the arsenal of Jose Antonio Torres Marrufo, a feared cartel leader in Ciudad Juarez, according to federal court records and trace documents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Many have questioned AG Eric Holder on when and how much he knew about the Fast and Furious scandal. Arizona Sheriffs have demanded an investigation and asked for Holder to resign. However, Holder continues to deny knowledge of the Fast and Furious program and stands by his statements, even though emails state something quite to the contrary. President Barack Obama might want to backtrack on his full support of Eric Holder … yet another reason why not to vote for Obama in 2012.

Can you imagine if a Republican was in office when ‘Fast and Furious’ occurred, the MSM would be billing it as Watergate II.

Return to Camelot: Jackie Onassis Tapes Tell That She Thought Lyndon B. Johnson killed JFK

Assassinations, affairs and conspiracies, Oh My …

Remember the good old days of Camelot and the Kennedy’s? Well the UK Daily Mail has a bombshell of an article from Jackie O tapes that she believed that LBJ was involved in a conspiracy to assassinate JFK. Maybe we can expect another Oliver Stone movie, JFK II, the conspiracy behind the conspiracy.

Jackie Onassis believed that Lyndon B Johnson and a cabal of Texas tycoons were involved in the assassination of her husband John F Kennedy, ‘explosive’ recordings are set to reveal.

The secret tapes will show that the former first lady felt that her husband’s successor was at the heart of the plot to murder him.

She became convinced that the then vice president, along with businessmen in the South, had orchestrated the Dallas shooting, with gunman Lee Harvey Oswald – long claimed to have been a lone assassin – merely part of a much larger conspiracy.

According to accounts, the tapes were recorded in 1963 with leading historian Arthur Schlesinger. Jackie O had asked that the tapes not be released until 50 years after her death. It’s hard to believe its been 17 years since Jackie passed from cancer. There is nothing like a Kennedy conspiracy to capture the news and the attention of so many after so many years.

The tapes were recorded with leading historian Arthur Schlesinger Jnr within months of the assassination on November 22, 1963, and had been sealed in a vault at the Kennedy Library in Boston.

The then Mrs Kennedy, who went on to marry Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis, had ordered that they should not be released until  50 years after her death, with some reports suggesting she feared that her revelations might make her family targets for revenge.

Documents Obtained by Judicial Watch Show White House Attacked & Tried to Exclude FOX News

More from the most transparent and ethical White House in American history.

The Obama White House has been caught in a bold face lie. Despite their repeated denials that Obama’s White House had a war on FOX News and was trying to freeze them out of media access, White House emails obtained by Judicial Watch show that the WH had an anti-Fox News bias agenda.Isn’t it special that we are presented with a Presidential Administration that does not believe in the First Amendment and Freedom of the Press? How small is this White House that would act in such a childish, petty and media agenda driven manner?

Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it has uncovered documents from the Obama Department of Treasury showing that the Obama administration, contrary to its repeated denials, attempted to exclude the Fox News Channel (FNC) from a round of interviews with Treasury’s “Executive Pay Czar” Kenneth Feinberg. The documents, which include email exchanges within the Department of the Treasury and between Treasury and White House staff, also provide colorful evidence of an anti-Fox News bias within the Obama White House.

The documents, obtained last week by Judicial Watch pursuant to an October, 28, 2009, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, concern a series of interviews with Feinberg, who served as the Special Master for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) Executive Compensation, on October 22, 2009, organized by the Treasury Department. According to press reports, the Fox News Channel was specifically excluded from joining the pool of reporters which precipitated a backlash among the networks and a reversal by the Obama Treasury Department.

As the Gateway Pundit points out, documents obtained by Judicial Watch show that an Obama White House staffer threatened to stuff dead fish in the FOX News cubby.

More emails obtained by JW:

However, despite this public position, internal Obama administration emails obtained by Judicial Watch provide evidence that FNC was specifically singled out for exclusion. According to one October 22, 2009, email exchange between Dag Vega, Director of Broadcast Media on the White House staff, to Jenni LeCompte, then-Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs in the Treasury Department, Vega informs LeCompte that “…we’d prefer if you skip Fox please.”

Regarding general anti-FNC bias within the Obama White House in an October 23, 2009, email exchange between Jennifer Psaki, Deputy White House Communications Director and LeCompte, Psaki writes, “I am putting some dead fish in the fox cubby – just cause”. In an email on the night of October 22, 2009, commenting on a report by Fox News Channel anchor Bret Baier noting the exclusion of the network from the pool, Psaki writes to Compte and fellow White House colleagues, “…brett baier just did a stupid piece on it — but he is a lunatic”.

Looks like the Obama White House got caught doing business, the Chicago way.