Opening remarks by Chairman of NATO Military Committee - NATO Chiefs of Defence Meeting, 21 JAN 2015
Opening remarks by the Chairman of the Military Committee, General Knud Bartels, at the 172nd meeting of the Military Committee in Chiefs of Staff session, 21 January 2015. More from the event:...
By: NATO
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NATO Leaders Discuss Russian Actions Toward Ukraine
2015 - Chairman of the Joint Chiefs GEN Martin Dempsey is closely following reports of Russian activity in Ukraine while meeting with NATO leaders in Brussels.
By: DoD News
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Fighting in eastern Ukraine is fiercer than ever in some locations, NATO's top commander in Europe said Thursday adding that the weapons systems seen now in the region have in the past heralded a fresh incursion by Russian troops.
"Violence has intensified and changed character in Ukraine," U.S. Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove told a news conference at NATO headquarters. He said the fighting has re-escalated to levels seen before the Sept. 5 Minsk cease-fire agreement "and in some cases beyond."
Questioned by reporters, Breedlove, the alliance's chief commander in Europe, said he couldn't confirm Ukrainian authorities' statements that 9,000 Russian troops had entered the country.
"(But) what we do see is that the Russian-backed forces have renewed capability now to bring pressure on the Ukrainian forces, and have in several places moved the line of contact to the west," he added.
What's more, said Breedlove, NATO intelligence has begun to detect "the signatures of air defense systems and electronic warfare systems that have accompanied past Russian troop movements into Ukraine."
He declined to specify which systems, and whether they include the Buk mobile surface-to-air missile battery blamed for shooting down a Malaysian jetliner on July 17, killing all 298 people aboard. But on two prior occasions, Breedlove said, deployment of such weaponry was accompanied by a border crossing by Russian troops.
"We see the same types of equipment, etc. in eastern Ukraine now," he said.
Breedlove spoke after defense chiefs from NATO's 28 nations met to help the alliance meet its wide-ranging agenda for 2015.
Without disclosing many details, Breedlove said a decision was made taken to restore direct contacts between NATO and the chief of the Russian general staff, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, ties that were broken off after Russia's annexation of Crimea last March.
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By JOHN-THOR DAHLBURG Associated Press
BRUSSELS (AP) - Fighting in eastern Ukraine is fiercer than ever in some locations, NATO's top commander in Europe said Thursday - adding that the weapons systems seen now in the region have in the past heralded a fresh incursion by Russian troops.
"Violence has intensified and changed character in Ukraine," U.S. Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove told a news conference at NATO headquarters. He said the fighting has re-escalated to levels seen before the Sept. 5 Minsk cease-fire agreement "and in some cases beyond."
Questioned by reporters, Breedlove, the alliance's chief commander in Europe, said he couldn't confirm Ukrainian authorities' statements that 9,000 Russian troops had entered the country.
"(But) what we do see is that the Russian-backed forces have renewed capability now to bring pressure on the Ukrainian forces, and have in several places moved the line of contact to the west," he added.
What's more, said Breedlove, NATO intelligence has begun to detect "the signatures of air defense systems and electronic warfare systems that have accompanied past Russian troop movements into Ukraine."
He declined to specify which systems, and whether they include the Buk mobile surface-to-air missile battery blamed for shooting down a Malaysian jetliner on July 17, killing all 298 people aboard. But on two prior occasions, Breedlove said, deployment of such weaponry was accompanied by a border crossing by Russian troops.
"We see the same types of equipment, etc. in eastern Ukraine now," he said.
Breedlove spoke after defense chiefs from NATO's 28 nations met to help the alliance meet its wide-ranging agenda for 2015.
Without disclosing many details, Breedlove said a decision was made taken to restore direct contacts between NATO and the chief of the Russian general staff, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, ties that were broken off after Russia's annexation of Crimea last March.
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NATO Summit and 2016 Olympic bid organizer Lori Healey is expected to succeed Jim Reilly as the head of the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, or McPier, which oversees Chicago's massive trade show and convention business, according to a source close to Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
The agency owns the McCormick Place convention center and Navy Pier. If selected, Healey also would oversee construction of a 1,200-room Marriott Marquis and a new 10,000-seat DePaul University basketball arena.
Construction on both buildings is expected to begin in the second quarter of 2015 with completion in 2017, according to McPier.
Healey also served as chief of staff to former Mayor Richard Daley and currently runs his investment and consulting firm, Tur Partners. She has previous real estate experience with developer John Buck Co.
Twitter @chiconfidential
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NATO Summit, Olympic bid organizer front-runner to head McPier
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg is due to meet with top Bulgarian officials on Thursday in what a spokesperson for the alliance has described as a visit without any specific occasion.
Stoltenberg will hold conversations with Bulgaria's President Rosen Plevneliev and Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, but also with Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov and Defense Minister Nikolay Nenchev.
"This visit is not related to any concrete problem - it is part of the Secretary-General's plan to visit all NATO allies," Carmen Romero, NATO's Deputy Spokesperson, has told the Bulgarian National Radio.
"I would like to stress that Bulgaria is among the first countries to which he is going since he was elected to the office in October of last year," Romero added.
Stoltenberg is expected to discuss key challenges ahead of NATO allies and to express his gratitude to Bulgaria for taking part in all operations of the alliance, she has argued.
But some media reports over the past few days suggest specific issues such as defense spending, which NATO believes should be boosted in each member state to reach 2 percent of GDP by 2020 (compared to the current 1.3 percent in Bulgaria), will be at the core of Stoltenberg's conversations with Bulgarian politicians.
President Plevneliev agreed last year Bulgaria would seek to fulfill this requirement, but PM Borisov denied to increase the military spending this year, saying the government was unable to set aside any additional funding.
Stoltenberg who took over in 2014 from Anders Fogh Rasmussen, is also a former Norwegian Prime Minister.
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Victory Square in Minsk, Belarus's capital [Image: Creative Commons]
Latvia has assumed the functions of the NATO Contact Embassy in Belarus, which it will hold until the end of 2016, the country's Foreign Ministry has informed LETA.By assuming this task, Latvia confirms its desire to facilitate cooperation between NATO and Belarus, as well as to strengthen Latvia-Belarus relations, they said.
During this period, the Embassy of Latvia will inform Belarusian officials and residents about NATO policy, tasks, cooperation opportunities, and will facilitate the establishment of closer bilateral contact. At the same time, the Contact Embassy will inform NATO member states about the most significant events taking place in Belarus, and provide assistance in organising officials' visits.
A formal ceremony will take place soon, in which the Latvian Embassy will take over the functions of the NATO Contact Embassy in Belarus from the Estonian Embassy.
The system of NATO contact embassies was introduced in 1992 in order to support the work of the North Atlantic Partnership Council. This is one of the channels through which the NATO alliance disseminates and receives information from its partner countries. NATO Contact Embassy responsibilities include participation in the organisation of officials' visits and seminars and analysis of partner countries' security and defence policy. At present, there are NATO contact embassies in 35 countries worldwide. Contact Embassy status is granted for a period of two years.
Latvian leaders have stated that development of the Eastern Partnership (which involves creating links with non-EU countries in Eastern Europe and the Southern Caucasus, including Belarus) will be a priority for the country's presidency of the EU Council.
The Lithuanian Embassy in Minsk also announced yesterday that the country planned to open four visa centres in Belarus. Two of the centres, those located in Minsk and Grodno, are already open, and the other two, in Gomel and Brest, will open over the week to come.
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Latvia takes over responsibility for NATO Contact Embassy in Belarus
Activu in the News: NSA Says #39;Traumatic #39; Cyber Attack Coming
Source: http://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2014/12/12/nr-dnt-feyerick-cyber-security.cnn December 12, 2014 - Deborah Feyerick looks at the possibility of a cyber attack affecting critical U.S. infrastru...
By: Activu973
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Activu in the News: NSA Says 'Traumatic' Cyber Attack Coming - Video
NSA infiltrated North Korean hackers?
CNN #39;s Brian Todd looks into a New York Times report that claims the NSA has been spying on North Korean hackers, as far back as 2010.
By: CNN
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Sid Meiers Starships, Elon Musks Internet Satellites, NSA hacks North Korea...4 years ago
Late Netlinked is late... I #39;M ONLY HUMAN GUYS. Firaxis Games announces Sid Meier #39;s Starships, a follow-up to Beyond Earth; Elon Musk gets help from Google with building a global, satellite-drive...
By: NCIXcom
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Sid Meiers Starships, Elon Musks Internet Satellites, NSA hacks North Korea...4 years ago - Video
AC4MP: AA MTY! GDS* vs NSA #2
SHAREfactory https://store.sonyentertainmentnetwork.com/#!/tid=CUSA00572_00.
By: MTY! Jeiisoon12
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NSA: 10 Minute English: TEST (A)
A free supplementary sesson for Upper Intermediate English Language Students of Native Speakers Academy. We hope this will encourage you to not only further your contact with real English but...
By: Graham William Hendrey
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CSIS,CSEC,FBI,CIA,DIA,NSA ARE TRANSITIONING IMPROVING AWAY FROM WASTEFUL CORRUPTED HISTORY
READ ALL VERY IMPORTANT: Not sorry that I am not corrupted enough like you, for you to give me good ratings here Down-raters are often related to government and corporations, and remain ...
By: http://WWW.ITCCS.ORG Prime-Minister Stephen Harper of Canada to be Arrested Jan 15 2015 - Feb
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CSIS,CSEC,FBI,CIA,DIA,NSA ARE TRANSITIONING & IMPROVING AWAY FROM WASTEFUL CORRUPTED HISTORY - Video
The Making Of The Twenty Fourth Amendment Part 8
Think. Create. Inspire. Relax. Become.
By: LPTrax
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The Making Of The Twenty Fourth Amendment Part 9
Think. Create. Inspire. Relax. Become.
By: LPTrax
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The Making Of The Twenty Fourth Amendment Part 3
Think. Create. Inspire. Relax. Become.
By: LPTrax
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License, registration, and dog sniff, please? After a somewhat frustrating argument Wednesday morning, Justice Elena Kagan finally expressed concern about the possibility that the federal governments position in Rodriguez v. United States would lead to . . . 40 minutes of free time for police officers to investigate any crimes that they want. Assistant to the Solicitor General Ginger Anders responded that I dont think thats how we envision things, but she then suggested that only the duration of a routine traffic stop under the circumstances defines the Fourth Amendments reasonable limit. This did not answer the question that Justice Anthony Kennedy asked early on: how do you define the traffic stop? But even if the government loses, the Justices expressed a fair amount of indecision over exactly what the rule should be, and they appeared less than satisfied with the arguments offered by Rodriguezs attorney, Shannon OConnor the First Assistant Federal Public Defender for the District of Nebraska.
The facts, the question, and a few points of clarity
As previewed yesterday, the issue before the Court involves a valid traffic stop for swerving over the highway shoulder line, in which the officer prolonged the stop for seven to eight minutes after he had completed writing a warning, in order to conduct a dog sniff of Rodriguezs car after a back-up officer arrived. The entire traffic stop lasted about thirty minutes, at which point the dog alerted and provided probable cause for further search (which revealed methamphetamine). The Eighth Circuit did not question the lower courts finding that there was no reasonable suspicion for the dog-sniff detention, but it ruled that a de minimis delay to conduct a dog sniff is okay. Since the Courts 2005 ruling in Caballes that a dog sniff conducted simultaneously with a traffic stop did not violate the Fourth Amendment, lower state and federal courts have divided on the appropriate constitutional standards as well as their application when a sniff (or other investigation) extends the time of a stop.
A few things seemed clear from Wednesdays argument. First, a dog sniff of a car stopped for a traffic violation is extraneous to the purpose of that is, not an ordinary incident of a traffic violation stop. Justice Samuel Alito questioned this and accurately noted that the Court has previously held that questions which seem unrelated to the mission of the traffic stop have been routinely upheld, starting with the standard opening license and registration, please and extending, as in Rodriguezs case, to questions about where the driver and the passenger were going and why. Thus, he repeatedly asked, why are those questions part of the mission and the dog sniff is not? But Anders wisely conceded that she was not arguing that a dog sniff should be considered an ordinary incident of most traffic stops. Although no one mentioned Indianapolis v. Edmond, the Courts 2000 decision ruling that routine drug checkpoints employing dog sniffs without suspicion violates the Fourth Amendment, the Justices did not seem ready to accept the routine addition of dog sniffs to valid traffic stops.
(Incidentally, repeated points of some humor were moments in which Justices referred to having been stopped themselves by the police. Chief Justice John Roberts began this thread by commenting during OConnors argument(to laughter) that people have told me what happens when youre stopped. Justice Sonia Sotomayor later began Anders argument by saying and Chief, Ive been stopped, to which Anders quickly responded, so have I. The underlying point being that perhaps one of the most shared experiences in our national culture is being stopped by the police while driving. Or as Justice Stephen Breyer put it, our experience on stops comes from, unfortunately, being the stoppee.)
A second point that appears clear from yesterdays argument is that the Court will not use this case to reconsider Caballes and examine whether a dog sniff should count as a Fourth Amendment search. Justice Sotomayor appeared to raise this fundamental question briefly is that really what the Fourth Amendment should permit? but then quickly suggested that the Court should cabin it to Caballess simultaneous with writing the ticket holding. Thus while the Caballes holding appears to be in some tension with the constitutional theory of search that Justice Antonin Scalia, among others, has recently advanced, this case will not be used as an occasion to discuss it in the text of the opinion, although it may surface in footnotes or separate opinions.
The basic question: Is suspicionless detention for a dog sniff allowed?
Various Justices the Chief Justice and Justices Scalia Kagan in particular appeared to keep driving the case to its basic question: may the police continue to detain someone, without at least reasonable suspicion, when the Fourth Amendment justification for the stop (that is, the traffic violation) has ended? Toward the end of the argument, Justice Kagan bluntly stated that if the government is arguing that Caballes gives you extra leeway to detain people . I think thats just not right. Chief Justice Roberts appeared to agree, rhetorically asking a bit earlier (generating laughter) whether [i]ts only a violation of the Fourth Amendment for two minutes, right? And Justice Scalia later interjected, apparently along the same rhetorical line, it can prolong it a little bit.
At one point, Justice Breyer began a question for Anders with the announcement that I have a great idea. Reading this, I initially imagined everyone was groaning but then Justice Breyers idea appeared to catch on with the rest of the Court (perhaps for want of any other more specific guidance). Justice Breyer appeared to suggest that the Court simply stick to what it has said in past cases: that a stop cannot last longer than is necessary to effectuate the purpose of the stop, or that a stop cannot be unnecessarily prolonged. He explained that these were not new ideas what an original idea I had, he noted with irony and that after we cite these two cases , [we] reverse. QED, goodbye. And then, as Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg repeatedly noted, the issue whether there actually may have been reasonable suspicion about narcotics on the facts of this case, a point not addressed by the court of appeals, would be open on remand. Although OConnor urged the Court to decide that question itself for judicial economy, no Justice seemed likely to agree.
One final point, about Terry v. Ohio
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Open Carry - Walk The Line For The Constitution And The Second Amendment
Parody song for Gun Rights https://www.facebook.com/TheJunkYardNews?ref=hl.
By: TheJunkyard News
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Open Carry - Walk The Line For The Constitution And The Second Amendment - Video
#39;The Shooting Gallery #39; - by Ian Reed (E018)
on the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and the #39;right #39; to bear arms.
By: #39;Polemics #39; - by Ian Reed
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Alan Korwin - Washington State Was Tricked! Arizona Next?
At SHOT Show 2015 we had the chance to speak to Alan Korwin, a Second Amendment luminary and prolific author who, in addition to writing 14 books, is also the purveyor of Gunlaws.com and ...
By: GunsAmerica
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Alan Korwin - Washington State Was Tricked! Arizona Next? - Video