Judge refuses to block Florida voter purge

Almost missed this ruling with Obamacare case coming out today.....

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. –  A judge on Wednesday rejected a request by federal authorities to block Florida's contentious move to remove potentially ineligible voters from its rolls.

The decision could prompt some counties to revive efforts to identify registered voters who are not U.S. citizens. Many counties had suspended the effort after hearing about conflicting legal opinions.

U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle ruled there was nothing in federal voting laws that prevent the state from identifying ineligible voters even if it is close to the upcoming Aug. 14 election.

The U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit earlier this month to halt the purge, saying federal voting laws barred the effort since it was within 90 days of a federal election. U.S. officials also said the list used by Florida had "critical imperfections, which lead to errors that harm and confuse voters."

Hinkle in ruling from the bench said federal laws are designed to block states from removing eligible voters close to an election. He said they are not designed to block voters who should have never been allowed to cast ballots in the first place.

Although he said "questioning someone's citizenship" is not a trivial matter, Hinkle also said that non-citizens should not be allowed to vote.

"People need to know we are running an honest election," said Hinkle, who was appointed by former President Bill Clinton.

A U.S. Department of Justice official said that the department would review the written decision when it was issued and declined to say whether federal authorities planned to appeal the ruling.

Ron Labasky, the legal adviser for the association that represents county election supervisors, sent out a memo late Wednesday telling supervisors if they have "sufficient documentation" that a person is not a U.S. citizen they can now remove them from the voting rolls.

Judge refuses to block Florida voter purge

Tucson DEA Chief | Eric Holder | Gun-Walking | The Daily Caller

Former Tucson Drug Enforcement Administration chief Tony Coulson told The Daily Caller that Attorney General Eric Holder either knew guns were walking during Operation Fast and Furious, or should have known about the deadly practice.

“[Fast and Furious] was driven locally and it was driven from Arizona, from the ground up, I mean it was not much oversight,” Coulson said in a phone interview. “And, I mean, I can only speak to the reporting, but people all the way up to the attorney general knew what was going on.”

Coulson, who ran the DEA’s Tucson office during Fast and Furious’ implementation, told TheDC he learned that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was letting guns walk back in 2009 or 2010. He said he learned this from people who were working in the Phoenix Immigration and Customs Enforcement office. He didn’t know it was called “Fast and Furious,” but said it was widely known guns were walking.

“Nothing that [ATF] was doing was running into what we were doing at DEA from the Tucson level,” Coulson said. “Now, Phoenix was a little bit different. They were, their targets kept running into DEA cases and I think that was reported out of the House letter last week. But in Tucson, we weren’t running into them. How I became aware of it was through Immigration and Customs Enforcement.”

“At the time, [ATF’s] boss here, Bill Newell, was the face and the voice of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms,” Coulson added. “If you go back during this time, he’s the one who’s on every major national news station. He’s talking about weapons in Mexico. You know, he was the voice of ATF. I mean, he was driving ATF’s policy. There was very little oversight at the time from anyone on what was going on. I became aware of it because ICE interceded on more than one occasion to seize weapons at the port of entry that ATF was trying to walk into Mexico.”

Read more: Tucson DEA Chief | Eric Holder | Gun-Walking | The Daily Caller

U.S. Seals Court Records Of Border Patrol’s Murder | Judicial Watch

The Obama Administration has abruptly sealed court records containing alarming details of how Mexican drug smugglers murdered a U.S. Border patrol agent with a gun connected to a failed federal experiment that allowed firearms to be smuggled into Mexico.

This means information will now be kept from the public as well as the media. Could this be a cover-up on the part of the “most transparent” administration in history? After all, the rifle used to kill the federal agent (Brian Terry) last December in Arizona’s Peck Canyon was part of the now infamous Operation Fast and Furious. Conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the disastrous scheme allowed guns to be smuggled into Mexico so they could eventually be traced to drug cartels.

Instead, federal law enforcement officers lost track of more than 1,000 guns which have been used in numerous crimes. In Terry’s case, five illegal immigrants armed with at least two semi-automatic assault rifles were hunting for U.S. Border Patrol agents near a desert watering hole just north of the Arizona-Mexico border when a firefight erupted and Terry got hit.

We know this only because Washington D.C.’s conservative newspaper , the Washington Times, got ahold of the court documents before the government suddenly made them off limits. The now-sealed federal grand jury indictment tells the frightening story of how Terry was gunned down by Mexican drug smugglers patrolling the rugged desert with the intent to “intentionally and forcibly assault” Border Patrol agents.  

You can see why the administration wants to keep this information from the public and the media, considering the smugglers were essentially armed by the U.S. government. Truth is, no one will know the reason for the confiscation of public court records in this case because the judge’s decision to seal it was also sealed, according to the news story. That means the public or media won’t have access to any new or old evidence, filings, rulings or arguments.

U.S. Seals Court Records Of Border Patrol’s Murder | Judicial Watch

No Apology: Holder Says ‘Not Fair’ to Assume Fast and Furious ‘Directly’ Led to Border Agent’s Death | CNSnews.com

(CNSNews.com) – Attorney General Eric Holder declined the chance to apologize to the family of slain Border Patrol agent Brian Terry, who was killed in December 2010 and where, at the crime scene, at least two of the firearms recovered were traced to the Justice Department’s botched gunwalking program, Operation Fast and Furious.

“I certainly regret what happened to agent Brian Terry. I can only imagine the pain that his family has had to deal with. I’m the father of three children myself,” Holder told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday. “It pains me whenever there is the death of a law enforcement official, especially under the circumstances that this occurred. It is not fair, however, to assume that the mistakes that happened in Fast and Furious directly led to the death of agent Terry.”

Holder took numerous questions about Fast and Furious during his testimony. He explained that he was inaccurate when he said on May 3 that he had known about the program, at that time, only for a few weeks. He also testified that he had never received memos that were addressed to him between July and November of last year regarding Fast and Furious and had first learned about the matter early this year.

 
No Apology: Holder Says ‘Not Fair’ to Assume Fast and Furious ‘Directly’ Led to Border Agent’s Death | CNSnews.com

Holder Can’t Name a Single Person Who’s Been Held Accountable for Fast and Furious | CNSnews.com

(CNSNews.com) – Attorney General Eric Holder, in testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday, could not identify a single Justice Department official who was held accountable for the botched gun-walking program known as Operation Fast and Furious.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) asked Holder, “Can you name me one person who’s been held accountable for this Fast and Furious Operation? Just one in the Department of Justice?”

“Well we have made a number of changes with regard to personnel both in the Phoenix U.S. Attorney’s Office, also at the ATF headquarters here,” Holder said. “I will certainly await the report that comes out of the Inspector General. And I will assure you and the American people that people will be held accountable for any mistakes that were made in connection with Fast and Furious.”

Two people connected to Fast and Furious resigned in August -- U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke and former Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Active Director Kenneth Melson.

Holder did not mention the three ATF supervisors who were closely involved in the operation – William McMahon, William Newell and David Voth – all of whom were either promoted or moved to new management positions at the agency's headquarters in Washington after whistleblowers complained to Congress.

Holder Can’t Name a Single Person Who’s Been Held Accountable for Fast and Furious | CNSnews.com

ATF Gunwalker: Did Eric Holder Lie to Congress?

Subpoenas are coming in probe of Dept. of Justice gun-tracking program - TheHill.com

The chairman of the House Oversight Committee will use the power of the subpoena to learn if a federal gun-tracking program contributed to the killing of a Border Patrol agent.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) is planning to issue a number of subpoenas to federal officials with ties to the controversial program, which was run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).

The move by Issa, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, comes on the tail end of a series of interviews with government officials and witnesses that the panel’s investigators conducted last month. Sources said the interviews produced a plethora of new evidence and information regarding who gave the ultimate go-ahead for ATF’s “Fast and Furious” operation. 

“Fast and Furious” was part of the five-year-old Gunrunner program. It authorized local U.S. gun stores to sell thousands of semiautomatic rifles to suspected and known straw-purchasers for Mexican drug cartels. 

By allowing people to illegally purchase large quantities of the weapons from gun dealers, officials hoped to trace the firearms to the upper ranks of the drug cartels and prosecute them. But ATF whistleblowers allege that officials lost track of the guns.

Two of the guns from the operation were found at the scene of an Arizona gun battle in December between U.S. law enforcement and members of a drug gang. The firefight killed Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, but officials have not revealed whether the bullet that struck him came from the guns the ATF was supposed to be tracking.

In addition, guns from the Fast and Furious operation might have been used in an attack on a Mexican government helicopter that was grounded after being fired upon by suspected members of a drug cartel two weeks ago, according to a Monday news report by CBS.

The subpoenas, which Issa said will be issued to key Washington-based government officials with ties to the operation, are slated to serve as a launching pad for a new series of hearings on the matter.

 
Read more here: Subpoenas are coming in probe of Dept. of Justice gun-tracking program - TheHill.com

The Obama Administration Protected Black Panther Who Advocates Killing White Babies

U.S. panel chides Holder in Panther probe

U.S. panel chides Holder in Panther probe

RAW DATA: Panetta Letter to CIA Staff on Release of Interrogation Report - Political News - FOXNews.com

I hope Panetta stands up to the witch hunt at the White House, excuse me the Justice Department. Eric Holder is a putz and nothing more than a puppet for the DNC and Obama. The CIA officers that developed intelligence from Islamic terrorists deserve our thanks not a referral to a grand jury. People lets not forget that the CIA was acting in our best interests under the law as it was interpreted by the DOJ with the knowledge of both Democrats and Republicans in Congress. While I would never agree that these techniques should be used on an American citizen for violation of our criminal code, as we are all protected by the Constitution, these terrorists do not nor should they be granted civilized rules when they act like animals.

RAW DATA: Panetta Letter to CIA Staff on Release of Interrogation Report - Political News - FOXNews.com