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January 16, 2011

Congressman launching probe into local Muslim radicalization

Rep. Peter King, chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, says more young American Muslims are contemplating terrorism at the prodding of religious leaders in the U.S.

The new chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security is preparing a controversial investigation next month into what he calls a "very real threat" — the radicalization of young Muslims by local religious leaders.

Many officials have praised cooperation from Muslim religious leaders in the United States and blamed the growing number of young American Muslims willing to contemplate terrorism on radicals overseas reaching out through the Internet.

But Rep. Peter T. King (R-N.Y.) said he had heard an increasing number of stories from federal law enforcement officials that U.S. Islamic leaders have not cooperated with police or are fomenting young Muslims.

"There's a systematic effort to radicalize young Muslim men," King said. "It would be irresponsible of me not to have this investigation. If it was coming from some other demographic group, I would say the same thing."

U.S. Islamic leaders said King was unfairly tarring the Muslim community, which they said had helped U.S. law enforcement break up terrorist plots.

Los Angeles Times

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Shooting victim arrested, accused of threat

James Eric Fuller, who was shot in the knee and back in last week's Tucson rampage, allegedly shouts, 'You're dead!' at a 'tea party' activist during a town hall meeting for victims and witnesses.

A man who was wounded in last week's shooting rampage in Tucson was apprehended by authorities Saturday after he allegedly threatened a "tea party" activist at a town hall meeting of victims and eyewitnesses of the attack.

James Eric Fuller, a 63-year-old Democratic activist, was arrested after shouting "You're dead!" at Tucson Tea Party spokesman Trent Humphries, said Pima County Sheriff's Department spokesman Jason Ogan. Fuller was shot in the knee and back Jan. 8 when a gunman opened fire, killing six and injuring 13, including Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

Fuller, a disabled veteran and former campaign volunteer for Giffords, was charged with making threats, intimidation and disorderly conduct and was involuntarily committed for a psychiatric evaluation, Ogan said.

In an interview with Democracy Now on Thursday, Fuller linked the shooting to conservative leaders associated with the tea party, including Sarah Palin, Fox News commentator Glenn Beck and Nevada Senate candidate Sharron Angle. "It looks like Palin, Beck, Sharron Angle and the rest got their first target," Fuller said.

Los Angeles Times

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Black man's burden

African American men are still often judged by the color of their skin rather than the content of their character.

At some point, most African American men experience a painful social initiation. My son Ryan was 13 when his came. At the time, we were living in Oakland. I worked across the bay in downtown San Francisco, and Ryan was planning to take BART into the city to meet me for lunch. It was only his third or fourth time riding the subway alone, and even though he was practically 6 feet, he was known to get distracted, and I was a worrywart.

"Don't talk to strangers; don't miss the Montgomery Street stop; clue in to your surroundings. Move away from strange-acting folks."

Without missing a beat, he quietly said, "Mom, relax. I think some people think I'm one of the strange-acting folks. Other mothers are probably warning their kids to stay away from people like me."

My heart practically stopped. "Why do you say that?"

"Oh, I just noticed the last couple of times I was on BART, I could feel I was making several white women nervous when I sat near them."

Los Angeles Times

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Broken-down-door policing

A Kentucky marijuana arrest presents a troubling threat to Americans' right to privacy.

A police officer smells what he thinks is marijuana and knocks loudly on an apartment door, shouting "This is the police!" When he hears noises that may or may not be the destruction of evidence, he breaks down the door, finds drugs and arrests the occupant — all without a search warrant. That occurred in Kentucky in 2005, and last week the Supreme Court was asked to overturn a lower court and rule that it was constitutional. It should decline the invitation.

The legal issue in the case is technical, but the implications for personal privacy are not small. If the court rules for the state, it will approve a significant new loophole in the requirement that police obtain a warrant before searching a home.

The narrow question before the court is whether — or when — police may take advantage of "exigent circumstances" that they create themselves. Exigent circumstances are conditions — imminent danger, the possibility that a suspect will escape or concern about the immediate destruction of evidence — that allow police to conduct a search without a warrant.

In this case, lawyers for Hollis King argued that although there may have been exigent circumstances, the police created those circumstances — the noise suggesting the destruction of evidence — by shouting and knocking violently on King's door, giving the impression that they were about to enter.

Los Angeles Times

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Guns and the Border

In December, the Obama administration signaled a welcome new resolve to block the torrent of illegal guns moving into Mexico and the hands of the drug cartels.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives announced it was seeking emergency authority to require 8,000 gun dealers near the border to report multiple purchases by any individual of high-firepower semiautomatic rifles that use a detachable magazine.

The bureau asked the Office of Management and Budget, which must sign off on the plan, to do so by Jan. 5. That date has come and gone without a decision.

The death toll in Mexico's drug wars is staggering — more than 30,000 people killed as of last year. The role of American-purchased guns in that carnage is also undeniable. In the past four years, more than 60,000 guns connected to crimes in Mexico have been tracked back to American gun dealers. About three-quarters of those weapons originated from gun shops in Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and California, the four states covered by the A.T.F. plan.

Administration officials insist that approval will be coming soon, and we hope that is the case. But the delay is worrying. (Before the A.T.F. spoke up, the idea had languished at the Justice Department for months.)

New York Times

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Arrest made in case of slain N.J. police officer

Jahmell W. Crockam is accused of shooting Lakewood Patrolman Christopher Matlosz Friday afternoon after the officer drove up to him and began to question him.

He was arrested without incident in Camden on Sunday morning, according to a law enforcement official with knowledge of the case who was not authorized to speak publicly.

The suspect had already been returned to Lakewood, where he was being held Sunday morning. He is expected to be brought before a judge on Tuesday. A judge has already set bail for him at $5 million, with no opportunity to post 10% of that amount in cash to gain his release.

USA Today

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Young AZ victim's dad: Boston girl received organs

BOSTON -- The father of the youngest victim of the Arizona massacre says some of her organs have been donated to a young girl in the Boston area.

John Green tells The Boston Globe in Sunday's edition that he received a phone call about the transplant, but says he doesn't know any other details about the donation.

He says the call "really lifted" his spirit and says he and his wife are proud parents once again of their daughter, "who has done another amazing thing."

Nine-year-old Christina Taylor Green was born Sept. 11, 2001.

CHRON.com

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Cleric: Muslims have role in relationship building

DETROIT (AP) — The cleric who became the public face of efforts to build an Islamic center near ground zero in New York is urging Muslims to play a role in shaping relationships with America.

Feisal Abdul Rauf began a national speaking tour Saturday in Detroit that he says is aimed at inspiring "interfaith understanding." The Detroit area is home to the largest Muslim population in North America.

The imam told about 400 people attending a diversity forum that backlash against Islam that arose from the mosque plan was "triggered by a mix of race, religion and politics in America." He says Muslims must help "depoliticize our faith."

The nonprofit behind the mosque plan announced Friday that Rauf's role would be reduced because it needs someone available locally to build a congregation.

Associated Press

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January 15, 2011

School releases YouTube post from Loughner

Jared Lee Loughner, now accused in the shootings of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and 18 others, walked through campus last fall rambling about his 'genocide school.' The video led Pima Community College to suspend him.

(Video on site)

Rambling and agitated, Tucson shooting suspect Jared Lee Loughner strode through Pima Community College, camera in hand — alternately laughing and voicing anger at his "genocide school," which he called "one of the biggest scams in America" in a video released by college officials late Friday.

The nearly four-minute video, which was posted on YouTube on Sept. 23 and later removed, appeared to show Loughner on campus at night, moving briskly through buildings and a series of open courtyards.

"All right, so here's what we're doing. We're examining the torture of students," Loughner said as he began his narration of the video. He broke off when he appeared to recognize a man leaving a nearby building. "How's it going?" Loughner shouted. "Thanks for the B – I'm pissed off."

Breathing heavily and laughing softly as he walked up a dark set of stairs, Loughner said: "I lost my freedom of speech to that guy and … this is what happens. And I'm in a terrible place. This is the school that I go to. This is my genocide school, where I'm going to be homeless because of this school. I haven't forgot the teacher that gave me the B for freedom of speech."

The video, which prompted Loughner's suspension last fall, offered a window into the suspected gunman's frustrations and his anxiety about his future, three and half months before he was accused of opening fire outside a Safeway grocery store, killing six people and wounding 13, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.).

Los Angeles Times

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Second disabled woman is identified in abuse video

Authorities said they have located a second victim shown on a gruesome video showing disabled women being sexually abused by men.

Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department officials said Friday that they served search warrants at three residences as part of the ongoing investigation.

Ernie Lloyd, 37, of Los Angeles was arrested Saturday after he turned himself in to Los Angeles police in Hollywood in connection with the assault of an unidentified 25-year-old woman shown in the video.

The video, given to sheriff's deputies by an anonymous source, shows men having sex with women, many of whom appear to be disabled, with some in wheelchairs and wearing diapers.

But prosecutors said the tapes alone are not sufficient evidence, telling Sheriff's Department detectives that they need to provide more facts about the women's medical histories, level of disabilities and other information.

Los Angeles Times

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Al Qaeda's tentacles

President Obama has placed considerable pressure on Osama bin Laden and his gang with drone strikes in Pakistan, but the group is remarkably adaptive, agile and resilient.

Al Qaeda has just released the latest in its series of how-to guides for jihadists in the West who want to murder without the bother of flying to Pakistan to be trained. This time, the offering is an English-language manual explaining in detail how to build a bomb, and it demonstrates how nimbly Al Qaeda has adapted to become the world's first truly global terrorist organization, able to recruit and train fanatics on the Internet as well as on the ground.

Almost 10 years after the most devastating attack on the American homeland by a foreign power since the British army burned Washington in 1814, Al Qaeda remains alive and deadly. President Obama has placed considerable pressure on Osama bin Laden and his gang with drone strikes in Pakistan, but the group is remarkably adaptive, agile and resilient.

Al Qaeda today has four faces. The first is familiar: the core group that includes Bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman Zawahiri. From its base in the badlands along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, this nucleus still provides strategic direction to both the group itself and to the worldwide jihadist community. The largest manhunt in human history, which has included a punishing drone offensive, has damaged Al Qaeda's core, but it has by no means destroyed it.

The second face of Al Qaeda is the syndicate of terror networks aligned (either openly or covertly) with the group in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Pakistani Taliban, responsible for the failed Times Square car bomb attack last May, is openly allied with Bin Laden. Lashkar-e-Taiba, which orchestrated the Mumbai attack two years ago, is more clandestinely allied with Al Qaeda, but the two organizations are known to have plotted together on a failed 2009 attack in Denmark. That same plot resurfaced this winter when the Danes arrested four well-armed terrorists aiming to attack a newspaper office on New Year's Day because it had published cartoons mocking the prophet Muhammad.

Los Angeles Times

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From Bloody Scene to E.R., Life-Saving Choices in Tucson

TUCSON — The moment Tony Compagno stepped off his fire engine, frantic people spattered with blood began running up to direct him to gunshot victims.

Among the wounded was Representative Gabrielle Giffords, who had been shot in the head. Mr. Compagno was one of the first paramedics to reach the scene of the shooting rampage at a shopping center in Tucson last Saturday.

“Lots of people were laying on the ground,” said Mr. Compagno, from Fire Station 30 the in Northwest Fire/Rescue District of Tucson.

“The congresswoman, I could tell that she was still alive. People were giving a little girl CPR. My mind went away. I started counting, and then I thought, ‘What am I counting, injured or dead?' ”

There were 19 victims. Mr. Compagno's job was triage: to assess the severity of injuries and label victims so that ambulance crews would know whom to tend to first.

New York Times

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Homeland Security Cancels ‘Virtual Fence' After $1 Billion Is Spent

The Department of Homeland Security on Friday canceled a project to build a technology-based “virtual fence” across the Southwest border, saying that the effort — on which $1 billion has already been spent — was ineffective and too costly.

Janet Napolitano, the homeland security secretary, said she had decided to end the five-year-old project, known as SBI-Net, because it “does not meet current standards for viability and cost effectiveness.” In a statement, Ms. Napolitano said border agents would instead use less expensive technology that is already part of their surveillance equipment, tailoring it to the specific terrain where they will be scouting for illegal border crossers and drug traffickers.

Ms. Napolitano's decision brought a long-expected close to a project carried out by the Boeing Corporation under a contract first signed in 2005 under President George W. Bush, which had been plagued by delays and cost overruns. Originally estimated to cost more than $7 billion to cover the 2,000-mile length of the border, it was the subject of more than a dozen scathing reports by the Government Accountability Office.

In a pilot program in Arizona, it cost about $1 billion to build the system across 53 miles of the state's border. Officials said the new approach, using mobile surveillance systems and unmanned drones already in the Border Patrol's arsenal, would cost less than $750 million to cover the remaining 323 miles of Arizona's border.

New York Times

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Helpless in the Face of Madness

The second semester French class began a little after 9 on the morning of April 16, 2007. The weather that day was unusually cold for April. A light snow was falling.

One of the students, Colin Goddard, now 25, recalled what happened that morning in a new documentary film, “Living for 32.”

“We started hearing loud banging noises outside of our classroom,” he said. “The teacher went to the door to look into the hallway to see what was going on. ... As soon as she opened it, she shut it back again and said, ‘Everyone get underneath your desk and somebody call 911.' I pulled out my phone and dialed 911, and I said, ‘We're in Norris Hall. There's a shooting going on.' And as soon as I basically got that out, we saw bullets coming through the door.”

Norris Hall is one of the main academic buildings on the campus of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, known as Virginia Tech. The gunman was a crazed student named Seung-Hui Cho, who was armed with a pair of semiautomatic pistols. It was not the first class he had visited that day.

New York Times

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EDITORIAL

Prison Suicides

The New York State prison system has greatly improved mental health services since 2007 when it settled a lawsuit that had accused it of mistreating mentally ill inmates. A troubling increase in prison suicides suggests that all of the problems have not been solved.

State records show that there were 20 suicides in 2010, double the number in 2009 and the highest since 1978, the first year for which records were released. The figures inched higher in the 1980s, then even higher in the '90s. The decade that just ended was the worst on record, with more than 125 inmates taking their own lives.

The increase is both troubling and puzzling, especially since the prison population has declined by 20 percent in the last 10 years. In addition, the Department of Corrections has improved conditions for the mentally ill, creating new therapeutic programs and retraining staff. It has also placed fewer severely disturbed inmates in solitary confinement where they were at a much greater risk of taking their own lives. Most important, entering inmates are screened by mental health professionals.

Advocates for the mentally ill say that suicide prevention programs are being poorly implemented. Others have even suggested that prison officials in some locations may be encouraging staff members to misdiagnose the most severely disturbed people since they would be entitled to intensive — and costly — therapy. The fact that some who had committed suicide were not even listed on the mental health caseload as needing close attention is certainly worrying.

The rising suicide rate must be investigated and remedies quickly found. A prison sentence for a mentally ill person should not be a sentence to death.

New York Times

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MLK Day: What Are You Doing for Others?

This Monday, Americans across the nation will honor Dr. King and mark the 25th anniversary of the holiday that bears his name.  Sixteen years ago, Congress passed legislation transforming the King holiday into a national day of service.  We've seen it grow from a handful of local events to well over 13,000 projects taking place this year in all 50 states.

In Philadelphia, more than 70,000 volunteers will come together to beautify schools, refurbish computers, and serve meals to the homeless.  In Los Angeles, more than 1,000 community and corporate volunteers will revitalize the campus of an elementary school and AmeriCorps members will help to transform a hangar at the Compton airport into a multi-person service center to help those in need.  

In Atlanta, Dr. King's hometown, the King Center and Hands On Atlanta are leading an effort to feed 10,000 hungry Georgians.  Projects like these are planned across the country.  They are a way to honor Dr. King's legacy and keep his dream of “the beloved community” alive.  

Undergirding everything he did and everything for which he stood was Dr. King's belief that as a nation, we are more united and at our best when we serve others.  To show how Dr. King's legacy of service continues to inspire us today, we have produced a new video that features service leaders and civil rights luminaries including Congressman John Lewis, Rev. Dr. Joseph Lowery, and Ruby Bridges.  This inspiring video shows us that Dr. King's legacy of service endures today and that all of us have a role to play in making America stronger.

The White House

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January 14, 2011

Amid drug violence, Acapulco watches tourism recede

Although officials insist tourism remains robust in Acapulco, merchants say months of carnage have scared away visitors. The rising death toll has prompted many Mexicans to skip the resort.

The black-and-white photos still hang in the faded Hotel Los Flamingos. Over there is the muscled star of "Tarzan," Johnny Weissmuller, who owned the hotel for a time during Acapulco's heyday. There's Maureen O'Sullivan. Tyrone Power. Errol Flynn. Fred MacMurray.

They all came, mixed booze in a coconut — called it a Coco Loco.

When mortals gazed at Acapulco, they saw romance itself smiling back. So they came too. As did a fortress of high-rise hotels that packed the beach and diminished the very thing everyone was chasing.

Now, just as it hopes to regain some of its cachet, Acapulco is confronting more than the weight of history. The famed resort city has been the scene of vicious fighting among rival drug gangs that has killed more than 650 people in four years, the fifth-highest count for any Mexican city, according to government figures. The toll includes 30 men slain last weekend in and around the city. Fifteen of them were decapitated.

Most of the killing takes place outside the main tourist zone — a winding stretch of hotels, discotheques, taco shops and convenience stores so densely packed it is sometimes impossible to see the bay that attracted them all.

Los Angeles Times

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Al Qaeda's tentacles

President Obama has placed considerable pressure on Osama bin Laden and his gang with drone strikes in Pakistan, but the group is remarkably adaptive, agile and resilient.

Al Qaeda has just released the latest in its series of how-to guides for jihadists in the West who want to murder without the bother of flying to Pakistan to be trained. This time, the offering is an English-language manual explaining in detail how to build a bomb, and it demonstrates how nimbly Al Qaeda has adapted to become the world's first truly global terrorist organization, able to recruit and train fanatics on the Internet as well as on the ground.

Almost 10 years after the most devastating attack on the American homeland by a foreign power since the British army burned Washington in 1814, Al Qaeda remains alive and deadly. President Obama has placed considerable pressure on Osama bin Laden and his gang with drone strikes in Pakistan, but the group is remarkably adaptive, agile and resilient.

Al Qaeda today has four faces. The first is familiar: the core group that includes Bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman Zawahiri. From its base in the badlands along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, this nucleus still provides strategic direction to both the group itself and to the worldwide jihadist community. The largest manhunt in human history, which has included a punishing drone offensive, has damaged Al Qaeda's core, but it has by no means destroyed it.

The second face of Al Qaeda is the syndicate of terror networks aligned (either openly or covertly) with the group in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Pakistani Taliban, responsible for the failed Times Square car bomb attack last May, is openly allied with Bin Laden. Lashkar-e-Taiba, which orchestrated the Mumbai attack two years ago, is more clandestinely allied with Al Qaeda, but the two organizations are known to have plotted together on a failed 2009 attack in Denmark. That same plot resurfaced this winter when the Danes arrested four well-armed terrorists aiming to attack a newspaper office on New Year's Day because it had published cartoons mocking the prophet Muhammad.

Los Angeles Times

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A Clamor for Gun Limits, but Few Expect Real Changes

TUCSON — The National Rifle Association has gone uncommonly dark since the weekend shootings here. A posting on its Web site expresses sympathies for the victims of the violence, and N.R.A. officials said they would have nothing to say until the funerals and memorial services were over.

In Washington, bills were being drafted to step up background checks, create no-gun zones around members of Congress and ban the big-volume magazines that allowed the Tucson gunman to shoot so many bullets so fast. Gun control advocates say they believe the shock of the attack has altered the political atmosphere, in no small part because one of the victims is a member of Congress.

“I really do believe that this time it could be different,” said Paul Helmke, executive director of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

Yet gun rights advocates and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle said Thursday that there was little chance the attack would produce significant new legislation or a change in a national culture that has long been accepting of guns. If anything, they said, lawmakers are less receptive than ever to new gun restrictions.

New York Times

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Broad Racial Disparities Seen in Americans' Ills

White people in the United States die of drug overdoses more often than other ethnic groups. Black people are hit proportionately harder by AIDS, strokes and heart disease. And American Indians are more likely to die in car crashes.

To shed more light on the ills of America's poor — and occasionally its rich — the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday released its first report detailing racial disparities in a broad array of health problems.

While some are well known, others have had little attention; there were also a few surprises.

The agency did not delve into why suffering is so disproportionate, other than to note the obvious: that the poor, the uninsured and the less educated tend to live shorter, sicker lives. (Some illnesses were also broken down by income level, region, age or sex, but the main focus was on racial differences.)

“Some of the figures, like the suicide rate for young American Indians, are just heartbreaking,” said Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, the C.D.C. director, who ordered the report compiled.

New York Times

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15-Year Sentence for Conspirator in Airport Plot

A Guyanese man who admitted that he had taken part in a plot to detonate fuel tanks at Kennedy International Airport was sentenced Thursday to 15 years in prison.

“You are a dangerous person,” Judge Dora L. Irizarry of Federal District Court in Brooklyn said as she handed down the maximum penalty to the man, Abdel Nur, 60. Mr. Nur pleaded guilty last year to a single count of providing material support for terrorism.

Mr. Nur, who has said his real name is Compton Eversley, was one of four men accused of plotting to blow up the tanks in what federal authorities said was a plan to cause a chain reaction along a pipeline that would damage vast areas of New York City.

Crucial evidence came from a convicted drug dealer and paid informer who contributed financial and logistical support to the plotters and secretly recorded their conversations.

Two of the conspirators, Russell M. Defreitas, a Guyanese immigrant and former cargo handler at the airport, and Abdul Kadir, a former member of the Guyanese Parliament, were convicted in August of conspiring to commit acts of terrorism.

New York Times

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Sympathizers line Shannon Road, ready to block hate group

'Angels,' bikers help protect girl's funeral

Mourners at the funeral of Christina-Taylor Green were greeted by more than a thousand sympathizers who lined North Shannon Road for a quarter-mile south of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church.

Many wore white, and many had responded to an Internet call to counter the possible appearance of an out-of-state hate group.

They arrived on nearly 200 motorcycles, on foot and on shuttle buses from area parking lots, some prompted into action by the anticipated presence of a group from Kansas that protests funerals of veterans and gay people. The group ended up not showing.

Arizona Daily Star

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An Open Letter to Parents Following the Tragedy in Tucson

Dear parents,

Like so many Americans all across the country, Barack and I were shocked and heartbroken by the horrific act of violence committed in Arizona this past weekend.  Yesterday, we had the chance to attend a memorial service and meet with some of the families of those who lost their lives, and both of us were deeply moved by their strength and resilience in the face of such unspeakable tragedy.

As parents, an event like this hits home especially hard.  It makes our hearts ache for those who lost loved ones.  It makes us want to hug our own families a little tighter.  And it makes us think about what an event like this says about the world we live in – and the world in which our children will grow up.

In the days and weeks ahead, as we struggle with these issues ourselves, many of us will find that our children are struggling with them as well.  The questions my daughters have asked are the same ones that many of your children will have – and they don't lend themselves to easy answers.  But they will provide an opportunity for us as parents to teach some valuable lessons – about the character of our country, about the values we hold dear, and about finding hope at a time when it seems far away.

The White House

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California man pleads guilty to attempting to export military items to Iran

WILMINGTON, Del. - Marc Knapp, 35, of Simi Valley, Calif., pleaded guilty today to engaging in a seven-month course of criminal conduct involving illegal exports to Hungary and attempted exports to the Islamic Republic of Iran and Russia. This guilty plea resulted from an investigation conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

The announcement was made by Charles M. Oberly, III, U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware; John P. Kelleghan, special agent in charge of ICE HSI in Philadelphia; and Edward T. Bradley, special agent in charge, Defense Criminal Investigative Service, Northeast Field Office.

"HSI will continue to pursue those who are willing to put America's national security at risk" said Special Agent in Charge Kelleghan. "The export of technology to Iran is controlled so that it cannot be used to harm America or its allies. Enforcing export laws are one of HSI's top priorities and we will continue to work with our partners to ensure that those who send prohibited items to Iran are brought to justice."

ICE

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ICE Homeland Security Investigations agents seize 15 AK 47s

HIDALGO, Texas - Special agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) assigned to the Rio Grande Valley Border Enforcement Security Task Force (BEST) on Tuesday seized 15 AK 47 assault type rifles that were discovered hidden inside a pickup truck.

Federal agents received a call from Hidalgo Police Department after officers conducted a traffic stop on the city's east side on highway 281. During the officer's routine inspection of the vehicle, they identified suspicious activity. ICE HSI agents arrived at the scene of the traffic stop and took the vehicle to the Hidalgo Port of Entry where U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers conducted an intensive examination of the vehicle. It was during the examination that officers discovered the rifles hidden inside the fuel tank of the pickup truck.

"Weapons trafficking fuels violence by criminal organizations and threatens the security of communities along our borders and throughout the country," said Jerry Robinette, special agent in charge of ICE HSI in San Antonio. "This case is an example of the important work we do in conjunction with our law enforcement partners."

On Wednesday afternoon, the driver and the passenger, Antonio Ibarra, 41, and Edwardo Ibarra, 37, respectively, were arrested on state charges for firearms smuggling.

ICE HSI special agents routinely work closely with our law enforcement partners to share our expertise in import and export enforcement to keep our citizens safe and secure.

ICE

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Officials announce the distribution of more than $2.3 million to state and local law enforcement in New York

ALBANY, N.Y. — Officials today announced the distribution to state and local law enforcement agencies of over $2.3 million forfeited by IFCO Systems North America. The money is the result of a settlement of IFCO's corporate criminal liability for conduct associated with the hiring and employment of illegal alien workers at its pallet plants prior to April 19, 2006. The forfeiture resulted from an extensive investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney for the District of New York Richard S. Hartunian and Special Agent in Charge of ICE HSI in Buffalo, Lev J. Kubiak.

At a ceremony today in Albany, $2,207,520 was presented to the New York State Police, $61,320 was presented to the Albany County District Attorney and $61,320 was presented to the Guilderland Police Department.

"As demonstrated by today's return of $2.3 million, state and local support of federal investigations is essential to the HSI mission," said Special Agent in Charge Kubiak. "Asset forfeiture has proven to be an invaluable tool in combating criminal activity that threatens the safety and security of all New Yorkers. HSI will use all of its unique investigative resources to disrupt and dismantle criminal organizations that are only motivated by greed as in this case. Those employers who knowingly hire and profit from hiring illegal labor are on notice that ICE considers their business records as important as their tax records."

ICE

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Air Force sergeant sentenced to 72 months in prison for receipt of child pornography

WILMINGTON, Del. - Jamie Hall, 37, a tech sergeant stationed at Dover Air Force Base, was sentenced today to 72 months in prison for receipt of child pornography, in violation of federal law. Hall also was sentenced to 5 years of supervised release, which will commence following his prison term. He also will be required to register as a sex offender in any jurisdiction in which he lives, works or attends school. This prison sentence resulted from an investigation conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

"The defendant was bartering images of children being sexually abused with like-minded criminals on the Internet," said John P. Kelleghan, special agent in charge of ICE HSI in Philadelphia. "People who trade these images are victimizing these children each time they share a photo or video and creating demand for more images of children being abused. Homeland Security Investigations is committed to breaking that vicious cycle, protecting children, and bringing those who abuse children to justice."

According to statements made at today's hearing and documents filed in court, Hall came to the attention of ICE HSI and the Delaware State Police in February 2010, after he engaged in online conversations with a New Hampshire detective who was posing as an 18-year-old male interested in trading child pornography.

Hall sent numerous images of child pornography to the undercover agent and posted additional images to a publicly available website. In online chats with the undercover agent, Hall also expressed interest in identifying a young teenage boy with whom he could engage in a sexual relationship.

ICE

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Secure Communities leads to removal of more than 460 convicted criminal aliens from Sacramento County in first year

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Since its activation in Sacramento County a year ago, the biometric information-sharing capability deployed as part of the Secure Communities initiative has resulted in the identification and removal of more than 460 convicted criminal aliens from the United States who were encountered by local law enforcement in Sacramento County.

The information-sharing capability, a key component of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) comprehensive strategy to enhance efforts to identify and remove convicted criminal aliens from the country, uses biometric identification to alert ICE when potentially removable aliens are arrested by local law enforcement.

Of the 461 convicted criminal aliens removed from Sacramento County in the last year, 192 are considered Level 1 offenders, which includes those convicted of serious or violent crimes, such as murder, sexual assault and robbery. Another 126 are Level 2 offenders, which includes individuals with convictions for offenses such as arson, burglary and property crimes. As part of the Secure Communities strategy, ICE is prioritizing its enforcement efforts to ensure that individuals who pose the greatest threat to public safety are removed first.

Regardless of the offenses for which individuals are initially booked, the Secure Communities screening may reveal more serious criminal histories. For example, the fingerprint check of a man who used an alias following his arrest in September by Sacramento police for carrying an open container of alcohol in public, revealed he had multiple prior convictions for drug trafficking as well as a conviction for assault with a firearm and had been previously deported. ICE presented the individual, Jorge Vega-Reyes, to the U.S. Attorney's Office for prosecution for felony re-entry after deportation. Vega was convicted in November and is currently serving a 27-month prison sentence, following which he will be deported to Mexico.

ICE

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FBI en Español Dedicated to Those Who Speak Spanish

Aquí se ofrece información básica sobre cómo contactar al FBI y sobre el tipo de delitos que investiga. También se pueden leer artículos sobre cómo protegerse contra el fraude, qué hacer ante un delito y cómo mantenerse seguro.

Here you will find basic information about how to contact the FBI and about the types of crimes it investigates. You can also read articles on how to protect yourself against fraud, how to cope with crime, and how to stay safe.

FBI

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January 13, 2011

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Obama urges Americans to debate 'in a way that heals'

The president, speaking to thousands at a Tucson memorial for Saturday's shooting victims, says our arguments should be 'worthy of those we have lost.'

President Obama, facing the challenge of consoling Arizona and uniting the nation, urged Americans on Wednesday not to point fingers of blame but to "expand our moral imaginations" and to "sharpen our instincts for empathy."

Speaking at a memorial for victims of the Tucson shooting rampage that left six people dead and 13 wounded, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), the president said the gunman's motives were shrouded in mystery.

"The truth is that none of us can know exactly what triggered this vicious attack. None of us can know with any certainty what might have stopped these shots from being fired, or what thoughts lurked in the inner recesses of a violent man's mind," Obama told a boisterous overflow crowd at the service, held at the University of Arizona's McKale Memorial Center.

"Yes, we have to examine all the facts behind this tragedy. We cannot and will not be passive in the face of such violence.... But what we can't do is use this tragedy as one more occasion to turn on each other."

Los Angeles Times

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Gabrielle Giffords' condition continues to improve, doctor says

Giffords opened her eyes after he visited her, President Obama says. She is making 'spontaneous movements' such as feeling her wounds and adjusting her hospital gown, says Dr. Peter Rhee of University Medical Center.

President Obama said that Rep. Gabrielle Giffords opened her eyes Wednesday shortly after he visited her, news that drew resounding cheers from the thousands who gathered to hear Obama speak at a memorial service for the Tucson shooting victims.

"Gabby opened her eyes, so I can tell you, she knows we're here, and she knows we love her," Obama told the crowd at the University of Arizona.

The development was more good news on a day when Giffords continued to show signs of recovery with "spontaneous movements" such as feeling her wounds and adjusting her hospital gown, Dr. Peter Rhee, chief of the trauma division at University Medical Center in Tucson, said earlier in the day.

"She's getting better every day, and she's making more and more spontaneous movements," he said. "She was able to actually even feel her wounds herself. She can fix her gown. She's making very specific kinds of movements, so we're very happy at this point."

Los Angeles Times

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Tampering with citizenship

Efforts to deny citizenship to children born in the U.S. to illegal immigrants fly in the face of the 14th Amendment and a century of legal precedent.

Legislators from five states have unveiled model legislation with complicated provisions but a simple and pernicious premise: that children born in this country aren't citizens if their parents are illegal immigrants.

That assertion, however, is no match for more than 100 years of Supreme Court precedent holding that anyone born in the United States is an American citizen. If the states enact laws disregarding that principle, the court should resoundingly reaffirm its interpretation of the 14th Amendment.

The amendment, ratified after the Civil War, says: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside."

The natural reading of that language is that it covers any person born in the United States, who by definition is subject to American law. But the legislators opposed to so-called birthright citizenship offer a different interpretation of "subject to the jurisdiction thereof." They argue that a child is not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States unless he or she has "at least one parent who owes no allegiance to any foreign sovereignty, or [is] a child without citizenship or nationality in any foreign country."

Los Angeles Times

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Police Stopped Loughner's Car on Day of Shooting

TUCSON — Jared L. Loughner had repeated contact with law enforcement officers over the years, and hours before Saturday's shootings was pulled over by a police officer for running a red light as he frenetically prepared to kill a congresswoman, the authorities said Wednesday.

Investigators are “100 percent” certain that Mr. Loughner did not have an accomplice, and while they continue to investigate his “online associations” they see no obvious connection between Mr. Loughner and political extremists, said Richard Kastigar, who oversees investigations at the Pima County Sheriff's Department. Six people were killed and 14 wounded in the shootings.

Instead, local and federal law enforcement officials are focusing now on filling in gaps in the timeline on the day of the shooting and gathering evidence to counter an expected insanity defense, investigators said.

Judge Larry Alan Burns of Federal District Court in San Diego was named on Wednesday to preside over Mr. Loughner's trial. Judge Burns was appointed to the federal bench in 2003 by President George W. Bush, and is best known for presiding over the trial of Representative Randy Cunningham of California, who pleaded guilty in 2005 to taking $2.4 million in bribes from military contractors.

New York Times

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‘Creepy,' ‘Very Hostile': A College Recorded Its Fears

TUCSON — Officials at Pima Community College, where Jared L. Loughner was a student, believed that he might be mentally ill or under the influence of drugs after a series of bizarre classroom disruptions in which he unnerved instructors and fellow students, including one occasion when he insisted that the number 6 was actually the number 18, according to internal reports from the college.

In 51 pages of confidential police documents released by the college on Wednesday, various instructors, students and others described Mr. Loughner as “creepy,” “very hostile,” “suspicious” and someone who had a “dark personality.”

He sang to himself in the library. He spoke out of turn. And in an act the college finally decided merited his suspension, he made a bizarre posting on YouTube linking the college to genocide and the torture of students.

“This is my genocide school,” the narrator on the video said, describing the college as “one of the biggest scams in America.” “We are examining the torture of students,” the narrator said.

New York Times

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Increase in Arizona Handgun Checks

The F.B.I. said on Wednesday that federal background checks on people in Arizona seeking to buy handguns had increased sharply since Saturday's shooting rampage in Tucson that left six people dead and Representative Gabrielle Giffords fighting for her life.

There were 263 background checks in the state on Monday, the first weekday after the shootings, compared with 164 on a corresponding Monday last year.

But the Federal Bureau of Investigation said the number of background checks initiated did not necessarily reflect gun sales because some people are disqualified, change their minds or do not buy a firearm for some other reason.

The shooting also appears to have led people in Arizona to stock up on high-capacity magazines — that hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition, gun store owners said.

Greg Wolff, who owns two Glockmeister gun shops, in Phoenix and in Mesa, said Wednesday that while firearms sales had increased this week, the spike in handgun magazine sales had been particularly dramatic.

New York Times

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Reporter on Quest to Close 1964 Civil Rights Case

ATLANTA — Stanley Nelson writes for a small weekly newspaper in the Louisiana delta. For the past four years, he has been obsessed with one story: who threw gasoline into a rural shoe repair and dry goods shop in 1964 and started a fire that killed Frank Morris?

No one disputes that the death of Mr. Morris, a well-liked businessman who served both black and white customers, was connected to the Ku Klux Klan. The case is on a list of unsolved civil rights murders the F.B.I. released in February 2007, the day Mr. Nelson first heard of the story.

But for a lengthy article that appeared Wednesday in The Concordia Sentinel, Mr. Nelson, 55, put together what he believes is a key piece of the puzzle. He names the last living person he says was there that night.

In the article, both a son and a former brother-in-law of Arthur Leonard Spencer, 71, a truck driver from rural Rayville, La., say Mr. Spencer admitted to being involved in the fire. Mr. Spencer's ex-wife, Mr. Nelson reported, said she had heard the same story from another man who was also there.

Mr. Spencer, by his own account, was a member of the Ku Klux Klan. But in interviews with Mr. Nelson, he denied knowing or having been one of two men suspected of burning the shop in Ferriday, La., near the Mississippi border, the hometown of the famous cousins Mickey Gilley, Jerry Lee Lewis and the Rev. Jimmy Lee Swaggart.

New York Times

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Justices Look Again at How Police May Search Homes

WASHINGTON — More than 60 years ago, the Supreme Court ruled that the police were not entitled to enter a residence without a warrant merely because they smelled burning opium.

On Wednesday, at the argument of a case about what the police were entitled to do on smelling marijuana outside a Kentucky apartment, two justices voiced concerns that the court may be poised to eviscerate the older ruling.

“Aren't we just simply saying they can just walk in whenever they smell marijuana, whenever they think there's drugs on the other side?” Justice Sonia Sotomayor said, considering what a decision against the defendant would signal to the police. “Why do we even bother giving them a warrant?”

The old ruling, Johnson v. United States in 1948, involved the search of a hotel room in Seattle. The smell of drugs could provide probable cause for a warrant, Justice Robert H. Jackson wrote for the majority, but it did not entitle the police to enter without one.

“No suspect was fleeing or likely to take flight,” Justice Jackson wrote. “The search was of permanent premises, not of a movable vehicle. No evidence or contraband was threatened with removal or destruction.”

New York Times

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OPINION

Why Not Regulate Guns as Seriously as Toys?

Jared Loughner was considered too mentally unstable to attend community college. He was rejected by the Army. Yet buy a Glock handgun and a 33-round magazine? No problem.

To protect the public, we regulate cars and toys, medicines and mutual funds. So, simply as a public health matter, shouldn't we take steps to reduce the toll from our domestic arms industry?

Look, I'm an Oregon farm boy who was given a .22 rifle for my 12th birthday. I still shoot occasionally when visiting the family farm, and I understand one appeal of guns: they're fun.

It's also true that city slickers sometimes exaggerate the risk of any one gun. The authors of Freakonomics noted that a home with a swimming pool is considerably more dangerous for small children than a home with a gun. They said that 1 child drowns annually for every 11,000 residential pools, but 1 child is shot dead for every 1 million-plus guns.

All that said, guns are far more deadly in America, not least because there are so many of them. There are about 85 guns per 100 people in the United States, and we are particularly awash in handguns.

New York Times

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Man arrested after threats to Rep. Jim McDermott: 'I'll kill his family'

FBI agents arrest a California man who called Rep. Jim McDermott's Seattle office in December and left two threatening messages linked to the Democrat's stand on extending the Bush tax cuts.

A Palm Springs, Calif., man was arrested on Wednesday on a federal charge that he threatened to kill Rep. James McDermott (D) of Washington because of the congressman's stance in last month's debate over whether to extend the Bush tax cuts.

FBI agents arrested Charles Turner Habermann for making two late-night cell phone calls to the congressman's Seattle office Dec. 9. According to an FBI affidavit, Mr. Habermann has a history of contacting elected officials and received a warning from California law enforcement officials in March 2010.

“Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, or George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, if any of them had ever met Jim McDermott, they would all blow his brains out. They'd shoot him in the head,” Mr. Habermann, 32, allegedly said in a recorded voice mail message on Mr. McDermott's office telephone.

Christian Science Monitor

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State lawmaker wants to protect victims from defendants' questions

OLYMPIA — State lawmakers are revisiting legislation that could prevent sex-crime defendants who represent themselves from directly questioning their accusers in court.

The new bill was prompted by a recent incident in which a 21-year-old woman threatened to jump off the King County Courthouse rather than face questioning by the man charged with raping her when she was a child.

The man was acting as his own attorney at the trial.

The bill, introduced by Rep. Roger Goodman, D-Kirkland, will be heard in the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. It requests that the state Supreme Court adopt rules by July that would limit how pro se defendants accused of sex offenses cross-examine their accusers.

The defendant would have several options, including having a court-appointed attorney cross-examine the accuser using the defendant's questions, asking the questions himself while seated a distance away from the victim, or conducting the questioning from another room via video hookup.

Seattle Times

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January 12, 2011

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Suspect's parents express grief and bewilderment

As Tucson prepares for President Obama's arrival, Jared Lee Loughner's parents release their first public statement since the shooting in which their son is charged.

As Tucson scrambled to prepare for President Obama's scheduled appearance at a memorial service for the victims of the weekend's mass shooting, the parents of the alleged gunman, Jared Lee Loughner, offered their first public statement Tuesday, insisting that the attack left them as perplexed as anyone else.

From the home they shared with their son in a working-class neighborhood, Randy and Amy Loughner released a statement calling it "a very difficult time" and speaking of their deep sorrow.

"There are no words that can possibly express how we feel. We wish that there were, so that we could make you feel better," the Loughners said. "We don't understand why this happened. It may not make any difference but we wish that we could change the heinous events of Saturday. We care very deeply about the victims and their families. We are so very sorry for their loss."

The alleged gunman's motives for shooting Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and 18 others remain unclear, though friends said he had grown increasingly paranoid. One told The Times that Loughner was influenced by films alleging that the collection of income tax is illegal and that the terrorist attacks of 2001 were staged by the government.

Los Angeles Times

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Tucson rallies to protect girl's family from protesters

Arizona lawmakers pass an emergency measure to stop Westboro Baptist Church from demonstrating at the funeral of Christina Green, 9. Outraged residents make plans to shield her family.

— Arizona lawmakers moved quickly Tuesday to try to block protesters from the funeral of 9-year-old shooting victim Christina Green, passing an emergency measure prohibiting protests within 300 feet of any funeral services.

In addition to the new law, hundreds of Tucson residents were making contingency plans to try to protect the family of the girl who was slain in Saturday's rampage.

The actions were prompted by the Westboro Baptist Church, a publicity-seeking Kansas congregation known for demonstrating at the funerals of U.S. soldiers, arguing that their deaths are retribution by God for America's acceptance of homosexuality. The church announced it would protest Green's funeral, scheduled for Thursday, because the family is Catholic.

The protest drew instant and unanimous condemnation from Arizonans.

"Protesting or picketing outside the funeral of an innocent victim is despicable," said House Speaker Kirk Adams. "It's time to bring Arizona in line with the many other states that protect the sensitivities of victims against groups that use fear and hate to denigrate the lives of Americans."

Los Angeles Times

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A solemn presidential duty awaits Obama in Tucson

When he speaks at a memorial for the shooting victims in Tucson on Wednesday, President Obama has a chance to promote unity and healing in a mourning nation.

When he addresses a memorial for the Tucson shooting victims, President Obama — like Ronald Reagan after the Challenger explosion, Bill Clinton after the Oklahoma City bombing and George W. Bush after Sept. 11 — will stand before a nation that is taking stock of him in a crisis.

The president must try to comfort the Tucson community and the nation, mourn the dead, call for unity and healing, and yet avoid saying anything Wednesday that would appear to politicize the event or use it to overtly boost his standing.

At its best, a speech such as this should emotionally connect Americans to one another, and to him. At its worst, it could be a lost opportunity to demonstrate the kind of personal leadership Obama's predecessors summoned at moments of national tragedy.

"This is an opportunity for him to more fully express his leadership of the country, hopefully to maybe turn down the heat on the debate and bring the country together," said Douglas B. Sosnik, a Clinton White House political director. "He can say that it's OK for people to disagree, but how they express it is important, because words matter and they have implications. This is a moment for that."

Los Angeles Times

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Gabrielle Giffords breathing on her own, moving both arms

Doctors say Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, targeted in the Arizona shooting rampage, is able to 'generate her own breaths,' and her ability to move her right arm — controlled by the side of her brain penetrated by the bullet — is a very good sign.

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is breathing on her own and moving both arms, both very encouraging signs of recovery, physicians at University Medical Center in Tucson said Tuesday.

In an interview, Dr. Peter Rhee, the chief of trauma at the medical center, said Giffords was moving both arms, although her left arm was more active than her right, and moving her eyes. Previously, doctors had said that she was moving only her left arm, which is controlled by the right hemisphere of her brain — the side that was not penetrated by the bullet.

The fact that she was able to move her right arm, which is controlled by the injured hemisphere, suggested that the damage was not as bad as surgeons had initially feared.

The swelling around her eyes had decreased, and although she hadn't opened them yet, Rhee said he detected "flickering" that indicated she was trying. Most notably, the swelling in her brain had not increased; swelling tends to peak about three days after such an injury.

Los Angeles Times

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Border Patrol agent arrested for harboring twice-deported illegal immigrant -- his father

A U.S. Border Patrol agent was charged Tuesday with harboring his father, a twice-deported illegal immigrant with a criminal record, in his house and then lying about his whereabouts to federal investigators, authorities said.

Marcos Gerardo Manzano Jr., 26, allegedly told his father that authorities were looking for him, and let him live at his residence in a working-class neighborhood of San Ysidro.

His father, Marcos Gerardo Manzano Sr., 46, was convicted of a marijuana offense in October 2006 and deported to Mexico a few months later, according to the criminal complaint filed in San Diego federal court.

Starting in September 2009, Manzano Sr. was seen regularly coming and going from his son's home, according to the complaint. Last month, Manzano Jr. allegedly told an investigator inquiring about his father's whereabouts that he had had no contact with him, although he admitted knowing he was a deported felon.

Los Angeles Times

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L.A. County prosecutors not ready to charge sex assault suspect

L.A. County investigators are told to find more information about the medical histories and level of disabilities of the alleged victims to determine if the acts shown on videotape may have been consensual. One man has been arrested.

Los Angeles County prosecutors said they are not ready to charge one of at least eight men allegedly shown on video sexually assaulting disabled women, saying they need evidence indicating that the acts were not consensual.

Ernie Lloyd, 37, of Los Angeles was arrested Saturday after he turned himself in to Los Angeles police in Hollywood in connection with the assault of an unidentified 25-year-old. The graphic video shows men having sex with women, many of whom appear to be disabled, with some in wheelchairs and wearing diapers.

But prosecutors said the tapes alone are not sufficient evidence, telling L.A. County Sheriff's Department detectives that they need to provide more facts about the women's medical histories, level of disabilities and other information.

"In order to effect a filing, we would either have to prove that the victim did not consent to the sexual acts or she was unable to consent to the sexual acts," the district attorney's office wrote in a memo. "There is insufficient evidence to prove either of these theories beyond a reasonable doubt."

Los Angeles Times

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Sen. Boxer calls for tougher federal gun laws in wake of Arizona shooting

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) on Tuesday called for tougher federal gun laws, including banning large ammunition clips and federal regulations on concealed weapons permits, in the wake of the shooting rampage in Tucson that killed six and left Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) gravely wounded.

Boxer, appearing at a press conference in Riverside, said the Federal Bureau of Investigation also should keep track of seriously mentally ill people with a history of violence to ensure they cannot secure gun permits. The accused Arizona gunman, Jared Lee Loughner, had a history of odd mental behavior and was prone to incoherent rants, authorities and acquaintances said.

"I believe we should look at sensible gun laws again. The kind of gun laws we have here in California that give people their gun ownership rights while also preventing the sale of guns to criminals, to people with serious mental illness and people who may abuse a spouse or partner,'' said Boxer, who traveled to Riverside from her home in Rancho Mirage.

"Now I'm not saying that these sensible gun laws would have stopped this killer, but I do know this: It should not be easy for a killer to obtain a weapon that could kill or wound 20 people in just a few heartbeats, and stop those heartbeats,'' Boxer said.

Los Angeles Times

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Police Say They Visited Tucson Suspect's Home Even Before Rampage

TUCSON — The police were sent to the home where Jared L. Loughner lived with his family on more than one occasion before the attack here on Saturday that left a congresswoman fighting for her life and six others dead, the Pima County Sheriff's Department said on Tuesday.

A spokesman, Jason Ogan, said the details of the calls were being reviewed by legal counsel and would be released as soon as the review was complete. He said he did not know what the calls were about — they could possibly have been minor, even trivial matters — or whether they involved Jared Loughner or another member of the household.

A friend of Mr. Loughner's also said in an interview on Tuesday that Mr. Loughner, 22, was skilled with a gun — as early as high school — and had talked about a philosophy of fostering chaos.

The news of police involvement with the Loughners suggests that county sheriff's deputies were at least familiar with the family, even if the reason for their visits was unclear as of Tuesday night.

New York Times

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Legal Strategy Could Hinge on Mental Assessment

The disturbing photograph of Jared L. Loughner that was released after his arrest, as well as the writings and statements attributed to him, seemed to point to a man with a mental disorder.

Even if that is found to be true, the lawyers for Mr. Loughner, the 22-year-old college dropout who has been charged in the Tucson shootings, may find it difficult to mount a successful insanity defense.

The rules regarding such a legal strategy were tightened over the years in the wake of the verdict for John W. Hinckley Jr., who was found not guilty by reason of insanity in the 1981 assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan. The insanity argument is now seldom successful, legal experts said.

What is more likely, they say, is that Mr. Loughner's lawyers will use any mental health problems they find to stave off the death penalty, if he should go to trial and be convicted.

His lawyer, Judy Clarke, is likely to begin a far-ranging investigation of his life and family history, going back several generations to learn as much as possible about his origins, the environment in which he grew up and how he has functioned in society, said David I. Bruck, who worked with Ms. Clarke in the defense of Susan Smith, the South Carolina woman who drowned her two young sons in 1994 and who received a life sentence.

New York Times

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Bit by Bit, a Mexican Police Force Is Eradicated

GUADALUPE DISTRITO BRAVOS, Mexico — Her uncle, the mayor who gave her the job nobody else wanted, warned her to keep a low profile, to not make too much of being the last remaining police officer in a town where the rest of the force had quit or been killed.

But in pictures for local newspapers, Érika Gándara, 28, seemed to relish the role, posing with a semiautomatic rifle and talking openly about the importance of her new job.

“I am the only police in this town, the authority,” she told reporters.

Then, two days before Christmas, a group of armed men took her from her home, residents say, and she has not been seen since.

It was an ominous punctuation mark on the wave of terror that has turned this cotton farming town near Texas into a frightened outpost of the drug war. Nearly half of its 9,000 residents have fled, local officials say, leaving block after block of scorched homes and businesses and, now, not one regular police officer.

New York Times

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Keeping Kids Safe Online

FBI Program Offered in Schools

Recent studies show that one in seven youngsters has experienced unwanted sexual solicitations online. One in three has been exposed to unwanted sexual material online. One in 11 has been harassed or bullied online.

And as we all know, these are only some of the dangers that our kids face while surfing the Internet. How can we simultaneously protect them from these threats and enable them to take advantage of the positive things the web has to offer?

In addition to investigating online crimes targeting children, the FBI works to educate kids and their parents about the Internet, sometimes sending cyber agents to visit schools as well as posting useful resources on our public website. We also offer our Safe Online Surfing program to schools to help students understand how to recognize, report, and avoid online dangers.

How it all started . The Safe Online Surfing (SOS) program began in our Miami office six years ago, when Special Agent Jim Lewis from one of our cyber squads—who saw first-hand how easily kids could be victimized online—approached a co-worker, Community Outreach Specialist Jeff Green, about his desire to share information about Internet safety with school students.

FBI

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FBI Releases Bank Crime Statistics for Third Quarter of 2010

During the third quarter of 2010, there were 1,325 reported violations of the Federal Bank Robbery and Incidental Crimes Statue, an increase from the 1,212 reported violations in the same quarter of 2009. 1 According to statistics released today by the FBI, there were 1,310 robberies, 13 burglaries, two larcenies and six extortions of financial institutions 2 reported between July 1, 2010 and Sept. 30, 2010.

Highlights of the report include:

• Loot was taken in 90 percent of the incidents, totaling more than $9.3 million.
• Of the loot taken, 20 percent, or nearly $1.4 million, was recovered and returned to financial institutions.
• Bank crimes most frequently occurred on Friday. Regardless of the day, the time frame when bank crimes occurred most frequently was between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.
• Acts of violence were committed in 4 percent of the incidents, resulting in 21 injuries, four deaths, and nine people being taken hostage. 3
• Demand notes were the most common modus operandi used, closely followed by oral demands. 4
• Most violations occurred in the southern region of the U.S., with 482 reported incidents.

January 11, 2011

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A troubled mind in Tucson

Classmates and teachers knew something was wrong with Jared Lee Loughner, charged in Saturday's fatal shootings. His behavior had grown increasingly bizarre in recent months.

On Saturday morning just after 11, the quiet, working-class Tucson neighborhood suddenly filled with sheriff's patrol cars and FBI agents. They quickly cordoned off the North Soledad Avenue home of Amy and Randy Loughner, who were out shopping.

Moments later, the Loughners, unaware, pulled up with groceries in their old white pickup. They parked across the street from their home.

A neighbor, retired gasoline truck driver Wayne Smith, 70, had seen a TV news report about a shooting at a nearby Safeway store. It said the Loughners' son, Jared, was the suspect.

Smith approached the couple.

"I said, 'Guys, I hate to be the one to tell you, but he shot a bunch of people,' " Smith said late Monday afternoon in front of the Loughners' house. Jared's mother, he said, "just come unglued."

The Los Angeles Times

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Identifying the violent mentally ill is a challenge, experts say

Shooting suspect Jared Lee Loughner showed signs of apparent mental illness, professionals say, but it's not always possible to predict if someone will become violent. And in Arizona, budget cuts have severely taxed mental health services.

In the best of times and most favorable of circumstances, it's tricky business to identify whether a person who is mentally ill might become violent, so that those in his path can be protected from potential harm and he can get the treatment he needs.

But with community mental health services stretched taut by budget cuts and growing need, these are not the best of times, say many experts at the intersection of mental health and public safety. Nor were circumstances ideal to single out Jared Lee Loughner — the suspect in Saturday's Tucson shooting rampage — as a clear-cut case of someone about to become violent.

Loughner's increasingly bizarre and mistrustful pronouncements, combined with his age — 22 — suggest to many mental health professionals a flowering of mental illness marked by delusional thinking. People diagnosed with schizophrenia, for instance, most often begin showing signs of the illness in their late teens or early 20s, when they suffer episodes of hallucinations and become preoccupied with delusions — for instance, of persecution or conspiracy.

Loughner's apparent embrace of notions such as mind control, a new currency and "conscience dreaming" — all mentioned in a YouTube posting he reportedly made — speak to a troubled mind but reveal little actual propensity for violence, said Dr. Mark A. Kalish, a forensic psychiatrist who teaches at UC San Diego.

The Los Angeles Times

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At least three drug groups are fighting for control in Acapulco, Mexico

With a weekend death toll of more than 30 victims, including 15 who were found decapitated, the Mexican resort city of Acapulco is facing its most gruesome levels of drug-related violence since the start of the drug war in 2006. Authorities in Guerrero state, where Acapulco is located, said that in all 31 people died violently in or around the city on Saturday and Sunday (link in Spanish).

Reports said decapitated bodies were found with messages indicating that the killings were ordered by Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, leader of the powerful Sinaloa cartel and Mexico's most-wanted man.

If Sinaloa hit men are indeed active in the Acapulco area, it would suggest a likely escalation in future violence for a city that has seen drug-related killings soar since the death of Arturo Beltrán Leyva, the capo who had controlled the valuable trafficking port.

Beltrán Leyva was killed in an operation led by the Mexican navy in December 2009. Like previous deaths or captures of high-profile drug lords, the sudden absence of a criminal figurehead in the region resulted in a scramble for control among splintering or rival groups. (The same phenomenon, for example, occurred in the Tijuana border area after the deaths or captures of capos in the Arellano Felix cartel.)

The Los Angeles Times

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Anonymous tipster who provided video of attacks on severely disabled women meets with detectives

The anonymous tipster who unleashed an investigation into the sexual abuse of at least 10 severely disabled women by handing over more than 100 hours of video of the attacks met with Los Angeles County sheriff's detectives over the weekend, sheriff's officials said Monday.

The informant, who was not identified by detectives because he feared for his safety, told sheriff's detectives that he was given a desktop computer by a drug addict and "asked to clean the hard drive," sheriff's detectives said in a statement.

The overwhelming amount of news coverage and public outrage encouraged him to step forward. The only thing he has asked is that his identity remain confidential. "We will of course respect his request," said Det. Sgt. Dan Scott of the sheriff's Special Victims Bureau.

The interview came hours after sheriff's officials announced they had arrested one man -- and located a second in state prison -- believed to be part of a group who allegedly filmed and sexually assaulted the severely disabled women.

The Los Angeles Times

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OPINION

Cause and effect and Tucson

As with the recent fish and bird die-offs, humans want a grand, overarching explanation for the shooting rampage.

The news media once again scrambled this past week to find the deep underlying causes of shocking events. We saw this impulse in the rush to explain the tragic murder of six people at a shopping center in Tucson. And we saw it in the rush of stories about mass die-offs of birds and fish across the country.

In the case of the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson, attention has turned to the motives of the alleged shooter, 22-year-old Jared Lee Loughner, whose political ramblings about returning to the gold standard and about excessive control by the government have sent the news media searching for answers in the vitriol of right-wing talk radio, the rhetoric of the "tea party" movement, and the bellicose divide between Democrats and Republicans in Congress and elsewhere.

The mass die-offs of fish and birds have spurred a number of deep causal theories, including suggestions that the apocalypse is near and that secret government experiments are to blame.

We live in a causal universe, so all effects do have causes, but before we turn to grand, overarching causal theories such as political rhetoric or government experiments, we must always remember the clustering effect of randomness and how our brains tend to look for and find meaningful patterns even where none exist. Toss a handful of pennies into the air and you will notice that they do not land randomly on the ground. They cluster into apparently non-random patterns in which some are closer and others are farther apart. There is nothing inherently hidden in such a clustering effect — no concealed forces under the ground causes the pennies to fall as they do. It's just chance. But our brains abhor randomness and seek meaning.

The Los Angeles Times

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Shooting Suspect Waives Bail and Is Ruled ‘a Danger’

PHOENIX — Jared L. Loughner, his head shaved bare and his hands and feet in restraints, was led Monday into a federal courtroom, where he agreed not to contest his continued imprisonment but offered no hint of how he would respond to the murder and attempted murder charges linking him to the Tucson shootings that left six dead and 14 injured.

“Yes, I am Jared Lee Loughner,” he told Magistrate Judge Lawrence O. Anderson, staring blankly ahead with his lawyer, Judy Clarke, a veteran public defender, at his side. The defendant, a 22-year-old college dropout, was wide-eyed and had a wound to his right temple. At the defense table, his eyes darted back and forth and his mouth curled up at one point into a quick smile.

Ms. Clarke signaled that she intended to push for the case to be handled by an out-of-state judge, since one of the victims her client is accused of killing was Judge John M. Roll of Federal District Court in Tucson. Already, all the federal judges in Tucson have recused themselves. As some of Judge Roll’s friends and colleagues looked on, Ms. Clarke said she had “great concern” about any Arizona judges or prosecutors handling the case.

Mr. Loughner (pronounced LOF-ner) faces two federal murder charges and three attempted murder charges in an attack that prosecutors described as an attempt to assassinate Representative Gabrielle Giffords, Democrat of Arizona, who was struck in the head by a single bullet but survived.

The New York Times

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A Place on the Sex-Offender Registry for a Crime That May Be Off the Books

William S. MacDonald has been living in a homeless shelter and in his truck in Asheville, N.C. He would rather be with his wife, Carolynn, who has a place nearby, but the couple says he has been hounded from their last several homes because he is a registered sex offender.

It is often hard for sex offenders to find a place to live. But Mr. MacDonald, 54, says his case is particularly galling.

“I was charged with a crime that is not on the books anymore,” he said.

Mr. MacDonald’s crime was having oral sex, which is a violation of a Virginia law forbidding “crimes against nature.” Such statutes, which criminalize oral and anal sex, are also called sodomy laws.

The New York Times

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OPINION

A Flood Tide of Murder

If we want to reverse the flood tide of killing in this country, we’ll have to do a hell of a lot more than bad-mouth a few sorry politicians and lame-brained talking heads. We need to face up to the fact that this is an insanely violent society. The vitriol that has become an integral part of our political rhetoric, most egregiously from the right, is just one of the myriad contributing factors in a society saturated in blood.

According to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, more than a million people have been killed with guns in the United States since 1968, when Robert Kennedy and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. were killed. That figure includes suicides and accidental deaths. But homicides, deliberate killings, are a perennial scourge, and not just with guns.

Excluding the people killed in the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, more than 150,000 Americans have been murdered since the beginning of the 21st century. This endlessly proliferating parade of death, which does not spare women or children, ought to make our knees go weak. But we never even notice most of the killings. Homicide is white noise in this society.

New York Times

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Funeral pickets to be met by 'angels'

"We want to surround them, in a nonviolent way, to say that our community is united," Gilmer said. "We're a peaceful haven.

"You don't mess with Tucson," said Gilmer, 26, who described it as "a little dot of blue in a sea of red."

But political persuasions don't matter, she said. Republicans, Democrats, independents, right, left and center -- they've all offered their support. Forty-two people have signed up on a Facebook page called "Build Angel Wings for the Westboro Funeral Counter-Protest and Meeting," and more than 4,500 have signed up on another page to "Show Support for the Families of the Tucson Shooting Victims."

CNN

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Remarks by President Obama and President Sarkozy of France after Bilateral Meeting in Oval Office

(Video on site)

PRESIDENT OBAMA: We'll, I’m very grateful to have my dear friend, Nicolas Sarkozy, here. And I think Nicolas has agreed that at the top I want to just make a few comments about the situation in Tucson, Arizona.

Obviously all of us are still grieving and in shock from the tragedy that took place. Gabby Giffords and others are still fighting to recover. Families are still absorbing the enormity of their losses. We have a criminal investigation that is ongoing and charges that no doubt will be brought against the perpetrator of this heinous crime.

I think it’s important for us to also focus, though, on the extraordinary courage that was shown during the course of these events: a 20-year-old college student who ran into the line of fire to rescue his boss; a wounded woman who helped secure the ammunition that might have caused even more damage; the citizens who wrestled down the gunman. Part of what I think that speaks to is the best of America, even in the face of such mindless violence.

And so, in the coming days we're going to have a lot of time to reflect. Right now, the main thing we're doing is to offer our thoughts and prayers to those who’ve been impacted, making sure that we're joining together and pulling together as a country. And as President of the United States, but also as a father, obviously I'm spending a lot of time just thinking about the families and reaching out to them.

The White House

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ICE arrest 4 in Phoenix weapons smuggling case

PHOENIX - A Tempe man accused of running a weapons smuggling ring in Arizona was arrested along with three of his co-conspirators Thursday in a joint operation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).

Edward Hossa, 54, is facing federal charges for fraudulently purchasing a variety of firearms from licensed dealers in Glendale, Apache Junction and Mesa, Ariz., from July through November of 2010. Hossa is also charged with illegally attempting to export the weapons to Mexico and with being an unlicensed dealer of firearms.

"Weapons traffickers seek profits built on the bloodshed in Mexico," said Matt Allen, special agent in charge of ICE HSI in Arizona. "ICE is standing firm with our partners from the ATF and the U.S. Attorney's Office to stop the flow of weapons south of the border."

Luis Gabriel Valenzuela, 36, of Phoenix; Jeremy Ray Hossa, 36, of Tempe; and Lynda Marie Yarrow, 26, of Tempe are each facing charges of fraudulently purchasing firearms on Edward Hossa's behalf.

ICE

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"America's Most Wanted" suspect apprehended by ICE at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut

HARTFORD, Conn. - On Friday, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents captured an individual at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Conn., who was recently profiled on "America's Most Wanted."

An Soon Kim, 52, was arrested by ICE HSI special agents based in Hartford. She was arrested at the Mohegan Sun Casino pursuant to an active arrest warrant. Kim is wanted for engaging in a wide-ranging human trafficking ring operating throughout the northeastern United States.

Kim has been charged by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York with crimes including conspiracy to engage in human trafficking, conspiracy to engage in interstate transportation of women for the purpose of prostitution and interstate transportation of women for the purpose of prostitution, conspiracy to transport illegal aliens and transportation of illegal aliens, and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business.

On Friday, ICE HSI special agents received information that Kim was present at the Mohegan Sun Casino. Kim was taken into custody directly from the casino floor and subsequently admitted her identity to the arresting officers. Kim was also in possession of $17,045 at the time of her arrest. Kim's apprehension was the result of a joint investigation conducted by agents and detectives of ICE HSI and the Connecticut State Police Casino Unit.

ICE

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Lead Defendant in Massive Gang Case Sentenced to 30 Years in Prison for Wide-Ranging Drug Trafficking Activities

JAN 06 - LOS ANGELES – The lead defendant in a federal RICO indictment that was brought as part of the nation’s largest-ever gang sweep was sentenced today to 30 years in federal prison for helping coordinate the racketeering activities of the Varrio Hawaiian Gardens street gang and distributing large quantities of narcotics.

George Manuel Flores, also known as Boxer, 43, was sentenced by United States District Judge Dale S. Fischer, who is presiding over the 57-defendant racketeering indictment that was the centerpiece of “Operation Knock Out” in 2009.

Flores was the lead defendant in the RICO indictment, a longtime member of the Hawaiian Gardens gang, and a sometimes “shot-caller” who was able to issue orders to other gang members and collect “taxes” from drug dealers.

Flores pleaded guilty on March 26, 2010 to five counts: racketeering conspiracy; conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute crack cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, and marijuana; two counts of possession with the intent to distribute heroin; and being a felon in possession of ammunition.

DEA

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January 10, 2011

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Crowd members took gunman down

Two men tackled the shooter and a woman took away his ammunition clip before kneeling on him. Authorities also credit a staff member for helping the wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

Patricia Maisch watched a gunman shoot a woman who was using her own body to shield her teenage daughter.

"I thought: 'I'm next. I'm next to her. He's going to shoot me. I'm next,' " she said in an interview Sunday.

But two men tackled the gunman when he stopped to reload, and Maisch, 61, restrained his hand as he reached for an ammunition clip, helping stop the attack in a Tucson shopping center that killed six people and wounded 14, including U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

Maisch did not get a good look at the gunman's face as she struggled with him. "I was too busy in the outcome, that things not go any further," she said.

Los Angeles Times

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Jared Loughner charged in Tucson shooting rampage

Authorities say Loughner carefully plotted to attack Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, though a motive remains unclear.

Piece by piece, details of the weekend rampage in Tucson are beginning to emerge: the heartbreaking tales of people slain on a sun-splashed morning, the courage of those who overpowered the gunman, and the state of mind of the suspect himself, a young man who authorities say had plotted for weeks, and perhaps longer, to assassinate a member of Congress.

As the full scope of the tragedy sank in Sunday, it also had rekindled a national conversation, sparked by the outspoken sheriff of Pima County, about the role that an environment of partisan and vitriolic political discourse played — or did not play — in the shootings.

Jared Lee Loughner, 22, was formally charged Sunday with two federal counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of U.S. District Judge John M. Roll and an aide to Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, and three counts of attempted murder, of Giffords and two other aides who were injured.

Law enforcement officials said Loughner appeared to have prepared his attack on Giffords with some care. The Democratic congresswoman had just begun one of her Congress on Your Corner public events outside a grocery store near his home when the shooting began.

Los Angeles Times

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Tucson shootings: Mental illness, not rhetoric, at root of more political assassinations historically

It's tempting in the angry aftermath of deadly moments such as Saturday's shooting of 20 people in Tucson to seize on any convenient, seemingly credible explanation for the inexplicable. How could someone so young take it upon himself to lash out lethally to kill six innocent people and wound 14 others, all presumably unknown to him, on a sunny Saturday by a grocery ironically named Safeway?

At his initial news conference Saturday, Sheriff Clarence Dupnik could not offer much specific information about the incident, including the accused's name or motive.

However, the 74-year-old sheriff was somehow repeatedly certain the incident had something to do with overheated political rhetoric in his state and in America today, where grown-ups in public life call each other liars and hostage-takers. While others employ even more vicious vitriol hiding behind the convenient anonymity of the Internet.

While that theory may gain broad traction, at least in these initial days, a look back at prominent assassinations and attempts in U.S. history finds far different common patterns -- more personal or ....

Los Angeles Times

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Profiles of the Arizona shooting victims

Besides a federal judge, the slain are a congressional staffer, three retirees and a girl born on Sept. 11, 2001.

The bullets did not discriminate. Sprayed from the barrel of a 9mm Glock semiautomatic pistol by a man whose actions may never make sense, they killed six people and wounded 14 more.

Those whose lives ended violently Saturday were participating in a basic democratic exercise. They had come to meet the woman who represents them in Washington, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. A Democrat who had won her third term by a sliver, Giffords was the intended target of the shooter's attack, authorities said.

Among the dead was John Roll, a 63-year-old federal judge known for his calm demeanor and deep knowledge of the law. Three of the slain were retired. One was a young Giffords staffer, a former social worker, who was getting married next year.

The smallest victim was a little brown-eyed girl.

Los Angeles Times

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George Gascon named San Francisco district attorney

San Francisco Police Chief George Gascon confirmed Sunday that he will become the city's district attorney and serve out the remaining term of former D.A. Kamala Harris, California's new attorney general.

"I'm very honored for the opportunity to serve the people of San Francisco in this new role and look forward to continuing to work together with our community and the other partners in the criminal justice system to make San Francisco the safest large city in the U.S.,” Gascon, 56, said in an interview.

Gascon was named San Francisco chief in 2009 by Mayor Gavin Newsom after serving as chief of the Mesa, Ariz. police department. He previously was assistant chief in Los Angeles and was a key adviser to former Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton.

Gascon's appointment was one of the last official acts for Newsom, who is set to be sworn in Monday as the state's lieutenant governor.

Los Angeles Times

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Evidence Points to Methodical Planning

TUCSON — Prosecutors charged Jared L. Loughner, a troubled 22-year-old college dropout, with five federal counts on Sunday, including the attempted assassination of a member of Congress, in connection with a shooting rampage on Saturday morning that left six people dead and 14 wounded.

Evidence seized from Mr. Loughner's home, about five miles from the shooting, indicated that he had planned to kill Representative Gabrielle Giffords, Democrat of Arizona, according to documents filed in Federal District Court in Phoenix.

Special Agent Tony M. Taylor Jr. of the F.B.I. said in an affidavit that an envelope found in a safe in the home bore these handwritten words: “I planned ahead,” “My assassination” and “Giffords.”

Mr. Loughner, who is believed to have acted alone, is in federal custody and is scheduled to make his first court appearance before a magistrate judge in Phoenix on Monday.

New York Times

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Suspect's Odd Behavior Caused Growing Alarm

TUCSON — In a community college classroom here last June, on the first day of the term, the instructor in Jared L. Loughner's basic algebra class, Ben McGahee, posed what he thought was a simple arithmetic question to his students. He was not prepared for the explosive response.

“How can you deny math instead of accepting it?” Mr. Loughner asked, after blurting out a random number, according to Mr. McGahee.

Mr. McGahee, for one, was disturbed enough by the experience to complain to school authorities, who as early as last June were apparently concerned enough themselves to have a campus officer visit the classroom. And what Mr. McGahee described as a pattern of behavior by Mr. Loughner, marked by hysterical laughter, bizarre non sequiturs and aggressive outbursts, only continued.

“I was getting concerned about the safety of the students and the school,” said Mr. McGahee, who took to glancing out of the corner of his eye when he was writing on the board for fear that Mr. Loughner might do something. “I was afraid he was going to pull out a weapon.”

New York Times

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Treating an Injured Brain Is a Long, Uncertain Process

WASHINGTON — The bullet that a gunman fired into Representative Gabrielle Giffords's head on Saturday morning in Arizona went straight through the left side of her brain, entering the back of her skull and exiting the front.

Trauma surgeons spent two hours on Saturday following an often-performed drill developed from extensive experience treating gunshot wounds in foreign wars and violence in American homes and streets. On Saturday, that drill really began outside a supermarket, with paramedics performing triage to determine the seriousness of the wounds in each of the 20 gunshot victims.

Ms. Giffords, 40, was taken to the University Medical Center in Tucson, where, 38 minutes after arrival, she was whisked to an operating room. She did not speak at the hospital.

As part of the two-hour operation, her surgeons said on Sunday, they removed debris from the gunshot, a small amount of dead brain tissue and nearly half of Ms. Giffords's skull to prevent swelling that could transmit increased pressure to cause more extensive and permanent brain damage. The doctors preserved the skull bone for later replanting.

New York Times

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After Shooting, Fresh Look at Protecting Lawmakers

WASHINGTON — Threats and abuse from constituents have always been part of the job when it comes to Congressional life, along with regular encounters with troubled individuals who see their local lawmaker as a convenient outlet for their grievances.

Now, in the aftermath of the Arizona shootings, lawmakers and those responsible for their safety are confronting the issue of how to gauge the risks posed by people they might have shrugged off in the past while maintaining open channels to the public.

“In each district you represent your share of unstable people,” Representative Jack Kingston, Republican of Georgia, said Sunday as he and other House members pulled for the recovery of Representative Gabrielle Giffords and struggled with how to respond to the shootings. “Now you are aware that they do show up at your town hall meetings and maybe they are not all harmless.”

While representatives of the United States Capitol Police and the office of the House sergeant-at-arms told lawmakers that the attack on Ms. Giffords was not part of a wider threat, they are urging them to review their security arrangements, make contact with local law enforcement officials and name a staff member as liaison with law enforcement.

New York Times

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America and Guns, Once More

WASHINGTON — Violence is not endemic to America. Gun violence is.

The tragic killings of a federal judge and a 9-year-old girl and the serious wounding of Representative Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson, Arizona, on Saturday underscored that reality. Gun murders occur in other developed countries, but not with anywhere near the frequency.

There are almost 300 million guns in America, a third of them handguns, and almost 100 million are owned by the public. This is the highest concentration of gun ownership in the world.

Not surprisingly, the United States also has the highest gun homicide rate, almost 3.5 per 100,000, of any industrialized country. European countries and Japan have only a fraction of such firearm homicides.

The young man who is suspected of committing the Tucson shootings apparently used a Glock 19 semiautomatic pistol with a high-capacity magazine that held 30 rounds of ammunition. The gun, which sells for about $500, was purchased at a sporting-goods store. Reportedly, the weapon was purchased by Jared Loughner, who, according to the community college he attended, has a history of mental health issues.

New York Times

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EDITORIAL

Bloodshed and Invective in Arizona

She read the First Amendment on the House floor — including the guarantee of “the right of the people peaceably to assemble” — and then flew home to Arizona to put those words into practice. But when Gabrielle Giffords tried to meet with her constituents in a Tucson parking lot on Saturday, she came face to face with an environment wholly at odds with that constitutional ideal, and she nearly paid for it with her life.

Jared Loughner, the man accused of shooting Ms. Giffords, killing a federal judge and five other people, and wounding 13 others, appears to be mentally ill. His paranoid Internet ravings about government mind control place him well beyond usual ideological categories.

But he is very much a part of a widespread squall of fear, anger and intolerance that has produced violent threats against scores of politicians and infected the political mainstream with violent imagery. With easy and legal access to semiautomatic weapons like the one used in the parking lot, those already teetering on the edge of sanity can turn a threat into a nightmare.

Last spring, Capitol security officials said threats against members of Congress had tripled over the previous year, almost all from opponents of health care reform. An effigy of Representative Frank Kratovil Jr., a Maryland Democrat, was hung from a gallows outside his district office. Ms. Giffords's district office door was smashed after the health vote, possibly by a bullet.

New York Times

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