Underground Stories 062414

Meriam Ibrahim Re-Arrested in Sudan Just Day After Being Freed

A mother who was freed from death row for refusing to renounce Christianity has been re-arrested just one day later while trying to leave Sudan, her lawyer told NBC News on Tuesday. Meriam Ibrahim, 27, was "very happy" after an appeals court on Monday overturned a death sentence imposed because she married a Christian man and allegedly turned her back on Islam. But lawyer Elshareef Ali Mohammed said a group of 50 security force personnel arrested her and family members during an angry confrontation at Khartoum's airport on Tuesday.

Mohammed, who said he was at the airport with Ibrahim, said no reason was given for her re-arrest. Britain's Foreign Office said it had received confirmation that Sudan's National Intelligence and Security Service had detained Ibrahim and her husband Daniel Wani, an American citizen who told the Guardian following his wife's release that he hoped they could start a new life in the U.S. The couple were with their two children at the time of their detention, including the baby Ibrahim gave birth to while she was on death row in a women's prison. When contacted by NBC News, a State Department spokeswoman said Ibrahim was "safe," but declined to say where due to security reasons.

Press Briefing Room Revolts Against Jay Carney’s Replacement in Testy Exchange Over Ducking Questions

New White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest – on his first official day on the job – got into a testy exchange with a reporter, telling one of them, “You don’t have to get all exercised about this.”

Earlier in the briefing, Earnest took a question from Jon-Christopher Bua, of  Huffington Post UK, about whether President Barack Obama had spoken to European leaders, in a question that dealt with Iraq.
In what was the last formal question of the briefing, Bloomberg reporter Roger Runningen asked about a call that morning between Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
When veteran journalist Bill Plante commented that Earnest’s response offered a “buried nugget of news,” Earnest shot back that “it took Roger’s nose for news to ask.”
After the final question, Alexis Simendinger, a Real Clear Politics reporter, said “That’s not true,” noting he was asked earlier about conversations with world leaders.
Earnest said, “Alexis, you don’t have to get all exercised about this.”
Another reporter mentioned, “It’s a reasonable question.”
Simendinger responded, “We asked you a question, you should answer the question.”
Earnest said, “I did.”
“No you didn’t,” Simendinger responded. “You said, you had no calls to read out.”
“I was asked if the president had conversations with world leaders about the situation in Iraq,” Earnest said.
The reporter responded, “Oh, so we should go around the map every day?”
Earnest dismissed it saying, “OK. Thanks everybody.”
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Shots Currently Being Fired from Mexico At Texas Law Enforcement

According to sources, there are shots being fired at the Mexico-Texas border on the Mexican side; the shots are intended to be a nuisance to the Texas law enforcement. See below according to Breitbart:

MCALLEN, Texas—A trusted law enforcement source is reporting that shots are currently being fired on the Mexican side of the U.S. border. The shots are intended to harass the increased presence of Texas law enforcement personnel.
Source: “Shots fired south of Rincon Village from Mexico. Unknown if smugglers are f***ing with the game wardens or what the deal is.” Minutes later, more information became available.
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UPDATE: Source indicates federal Fish and Wildlife agents are among the law enforcement the shooter(s) are intending to harass. Source indicates this marks the second occurrence in the area in two weeks.

ISIS Just Attacked Iran

On June 19, militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria attacked Iranian border guards near Iran’s border city of Qasre Shirin, according to Iranian social media.

A photograph showed the bodies of at least two Iranian officers apparently killed in the skirmish. Iran’s state-controlled media didn’t initially report the clash at Qasre Shirin, as Tehran routinely censors violent border incidents.

But Iranian officials took an unusual step and eventually talked about this particular incident. The first official to react was Fath Allah Hosseini, Qasre Shirin’s representative in the Iranian parliament. Hosseini insisted that residents were not afraid of ISIS, which has captured much of northwestern Iraq in recent weeks.

Then on June 21, Brig. Gen. Ahmad Reza Pourdastan—the Iranian army’s senior ground force commander—confirmed to the state-run YJC news agency that the incident took place. But Pourdastan said that the attackers were from the Kurdish militant group Party for Free Life of Kurdistan, also known by its Kurdish acronym PEJAK.

But this an odd claim given the intensity of the attack and the location.

Senate report reveals a culture of crime, cover-up, and coercion within the VA

A new U.S. Senate report released Tuesday morning by U.S. Senator and doctor Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-OK), revealed that besides long-waiting lists for veterans to see their doctors and the deaths that occurred at VA hospitals, a culture of crime, cover-ups, and coercion also occurred within the VA with inept congressional and agency oversight that allowed rampant misconduct to grow unchecked.

The report was released by Coburn titled, “Friendly Fire: Death, Delay, and Dismay at the VA” and was based on a year-long investigation of VA hospitals around the nation that chronicled the inappropriate conduct and incompetence within the VA that led to well-documented deaths and delays.
Although VA hospital and other medical center problems were evident over the years, the deaths of numerous veterans at the Phoenix VA hospital finally exposed that the Veterans Administration medical centers problems were much deeper than first thought.
“This reports shows the problems at the VA are worse than anyone imagined. The scope of the VA’s incompetence and Congress’ indifferent oversight is breathtaking and disturbing,” said Coburn. “This investigation found the problems at the VA are far deeper than just scheduling. Over the past decade, more than 1,000 veterans may have died as a result of the VA’s misconduct and the VA has paid out nearly $1 billion to veterans and their families for its medical malpractice.” 
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JOHN KERRY: ‘I’m Working Hard to Have Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Ambassadors’

Out of all the foreign affair issues this nation is facing, what is important to John Kerry is making sure that we have more lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender ambassadors. Check it out from The Weekly Standard:

During his speech, Kerry said that, if confirmed, Ted Osius (nominated by President Obama for the post in Vietnam) would be the sixth openly gay U.S. ambassador currently in service:
So I am very proud of the progress that we are now making even in appointing LGBT ambassadors. I worked with the committee here at the State Department – with the D Committee, and I worked with the White House. And as a result, Ted Osius, sitting here, whom I’ve known a long time, and his family I know, will be the first openly LGBT officer nominated to serve as an ambassador in Asia. And on confirmation, he’s going to join five openly gay ambassadors who are now serving their country. I’m working hard to ensure that by the end of my tenure, we will have lesbian, bisexual, and transgender ambassadors in our ranks as well.

New Book Claims Hillary Has a Bad Heart, Blood Clots, Fainting

There have been rumblings for years that Hillary Clinton’s health isn’t as rosy as she would like us all to believe. And a new book is giving details about what they claim is to blame for all of the rumors, claiming that Hillary has a bad heart and blood clots, as well as a fainting disorder and problems with her thyroid.
A new provocative work by bestselling author Ed Klein claims Hillary Clinton’s health problems are much more severe than she has publicly revealed!
… To begin with, Hillary fainted while she was working in her seventh-floor office at the State Department, not at home, as Reines told the media. She was treated at the State Department’s infirmary and then, at her own insistence, taken to Whitehaven to recover. However, as soon as Bill appeared on the scene and was able to assess Hillary’s condition for himself, he ordered that she be immediately flown to New York–Presbyterian Hospital in the Fort Washington section of Manhattan. When Reines subsequently released a statement confirming that Hillary was being treated at the hospital over the New Year’s holiday, it naturally intensified speculation about the seriousness of her medical condition.
While she was at the hospital, doctors diagnosed Hillary with several problems.

Unknown planes bomb ISIS positions in N. Iraq, Pentagon denies it’s US

Unidentified bombers have reportedly launched an air strike on ISIS positions in the northern Iraqi city of al-Qaim. Iraqi television has claimed they are US planes, but the Pentagon has denied responsibility.
US planes were identified by Iraqi television, but the Saudi Al-Arabiya network claims that the raid was carried out by Syria, citing local tribal chiefs.
The Turkish Anadolu Agency has claimed that 20 people have died, and 25 more were injured in the raid, which allegedly targeted the local market.
The radical Sunni Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) has taken large parts of the north of the country from the Shia government, pushing Prime Minister Nouri Maliki to request support from the United States and neighboring Shia states.
Syria’s President Bashar Assad is an Alawite, following a branch of Shia teachings.
Despite Maliki’s plea for air strikes last week, the White House has made no commitment beyond saying that they are “an option.” It has, however, dispatched 300 'military advisors' to help the government.
Iraq’s own air force has been carrying out attacks from on insurgent strongholds over the past week.
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Obama’s Child Border Scheme – Media Blackout?

 

President Obama’s border scheme to allow illegal immigrants from Central America into the U.S. by the tens of thousands has a new twist:
Media outlets have been prohibited from reporting news coverage of the crisis.
A remote section of the Texas-Mexico border near the Anzalduas International Bridge is one location of mass crossings by minors coming from Central America where the U.S. Border Patrol is now restricting journalists’ access, citing safety concerns.
But even the Border Patrol agents aren’t convinced that is the reason. Why? Because the order most likely came from Washington.
The latest from Breitbart Texas

Border Patrol management is restricting information leaking to the public by threatening possible criminal charges against agents who spoke to media.

[The NBPC Local 3307 union representative,] Albert Spratte told Breitbart Texas that the Border Patrol agents are being placed under immense pressure in the crisis and that they have to follow their orders from above. He said, “A supervisor in the Border Patrol can’t just put out a policy, it has to come from above them in the chain, maybe even as high up as Washington.”

“I think the folks in Washington are embarrassed that we have so little control over what is crossing into our nation right now and they don’t want the American public to have pictures or video of this failure, and this ultimately hurts the public and limits the knowledge they have. The public has a right to know what is really going on here,” said Spratte.

Another Border Patrol agent working in the area spoke with Breitbart Texas on the condition of anonymity. The agent said the public information officers are the only ones allowed to speak with media. “They get their talking points from Washington, D.C., from high level political appointees, and they have to strictly adhere to what they are told to say. This is why it is vital that journalists have access to these areas without the oversight of the federal government,” said the agent.

Breitbart Texas spoke on the matter with the NBPC Local 3307 vice president, Chris Cabrera. He said, “It seems the service at the station or sector level is trying to hide something. Management is sending out emails to agents and intimidating them and trying to restrict the information journalists can obtain. This is a testament to how unsecured the border actually is.”

“Leadership in Washington has consistently told the public that the border is secure or secured enough. This crisis exposes the lack of the truth in those statements and journalists have played a vital role in informing the public,” Cabrera continued. “Had those photos not been leaked and published, we’d still be at square one and there would be no attention down here. Journalists being prohibited from accessing areas to take photos and video of the river border is detrimental. This leaves the public to make decisions based solely upon the official line from Washington.” He added, “Not only do Americans as a whole deserve better, but Border Patrol agents themselves are dependent upon the public understanding what they are dealing with.”

Shawn Moran, the NBPC vice president from the national office, spoke to Breitbart Texas on the matter as well. He largely agreed with Cabrera and said, “The more that CBP [Customs and Border Protection] tries to restrict the media and public attention from this issue, the more it appears they have something to hide.”

When the Vice President of the National Border Patrol Union cries foul, you can bet fouls are running amok. His agency is losing credibility with the American public, and restricting media coverage isn’t helping.
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