Man slain in Ariz. robbery linked to Miss. officer’s death

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PHOENIX — A bank robbery suspect who was shot and killed by a Phoenix police detective Saturday is the same man who killed a Mississippi police officer during a bank robbery Dec. 23, hours after attempting to rob a bank in Atlanta, the FBI said Sunday.
 
His criminal past includes an arrest in 2010 for making online threats against the president, Secret Service spokesman Max Millien told the Associated Press.
 
According to a story in The Oklahoman newspaper at the time, Mario Garnett – then a-38-year-old resident of Oklahoma City — pleaded guilty to the felony. He was ordered to get mental health treatment upon his release and also was barred from owning firearms.
 
Daniel McMullen, special agent in charge of the FBI's office in Jackson, Miss., said phone records indicated the suspect had been in Atlanta and Tupelo, Miss., when those robberies took place.
 
McMullen also cited numerous similarities in the crimes, including the clothing worn by the suspect, statements made during the robberies and the "overall modus operandi" of the robberies.
 
"While we are thankful that this dangerous individual is no longer a threat to the public, our thoughts and prayers remain with those officers and their families in Tupelo," said Ricky Maxwell, acting special agent in charge of the FBI's Atlanta field office.
 
The crime spree Garnett, 40, is suspected of committing began the morning of Dec. 23 in Atlanta, where police said he attempted to rob a bank, failed, and instead robbed a customer at an ATM outside the building.
 
It continued on the afternoon of Dec. 23, when he robbed a BancorpSouth in Tupelo and ambushed two Tupelo officers, killing one and wounding another, to make his getaway, authorities said.
 
It ended Saturday morning in Phoenix outside the Compass Bank near 34th Avenue and Thomas Road, when a police detective fatally shot Garnett as Garnett was firing at a Phoenix police officer, police said. No officers or bystanders were injured, police said.
 
Officer James Holmes said the masked suspect had pointed a weapon at the bank manager and ordered him to open the teller drawers while demanding everyone else get on the ground. A witness waiting in line at a drive-through fast-food restaurant across the street called police at 10 a.m. and said he spotted a masked man going into the bank, police said.
 
"At some point, he (the robber) actually had the manger and one of the tellers open the vault," Holmes said.
 
The robber left with an undisclosed amount of money.
 
A Phoenix police officer responding to the call saw the suspect leaving the bank with a bag and a gun and ordered the man to stop, Holmes said. "The suspect … threw the bag into his car, he raised his weapon and he began firing at the officer," Holmes said.
 
The detective, in an unmarked vehicle, was in the area for an unrelated investigation when he also responded to the 911 call. The detective saw the officer retreating under fire, so he shot the suspect in the upper body, Holmes said.
 
The suspect was pronounced dead at the scene. Holmes called the detective a hero and said he acted in textbook fashion.
 
"We had an officer that was obviously in distress, trying to get to cover as this suspect is shooting at him," he said.
 
"The detective did what he should have done. He responded, and because he responded, we have two officers that were involved in this ordeal and they're both alive."
 
Holmes said police have no other suspects. He said four people were in the bank, including a bystander, a 37-year-old manager, and two tellers, ages 25 and 26. No one was injured.
 
Agent McMullen said the suspect started his spree last Monday in Atlanta when he tried to rob a Bank of America branch at gunpoint. Unsuccessful, he then held up a man using the bank's ATM in the vestibule and fled in a gray sedan with an undisclosed amount of money, McMullen said.
 
Six hours later, the same person entered a BancorpSouth branch in Tupelo, Miss., through an employees-only entrance, McMullen said. Wearing a face mask and brandishing a handgun, he ordered tellers to open their drawers before filling sacks with an undisclosed amount of cash.
 
He then left the bank through the same door and fled in a late-model gray Chrysler 200 sedan.
 
Police Sgt. Gale Stauffer, 38, and his partner, officer Joseph Maher, 27, responded to the bank-generated alarms and pursued a white Chevrolet Tahoe believed to have been used in the heist, McMullen said. While the officers confronted that vehicle's driver on a downtown street, the bank robber ambushed and shot them, McMullen said.
 
Stauffer died; Maher was injured.
 
The suspect fled, prompting a nationwide manhunt and a reward for his identification and capture that grew to more than $200,000. News of the man's death brought comfort to the city of Tupelo and to Stauffer's widow.
 
"Thank you to all the agencies that worked tirelessly to get this job done," Beth Stauffer said at the press conference. "You'll forever be in our prayers. You've made it possible for us to move forward toward finding peace for the long road ahead. Gale would be so proud."
 
Said Tupelo Mayor Jason Shelton: "We can truly begin the healing process."

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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El Salvador begins evacuations near volcano

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SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — Authorities in El Salvador evacuated an area around the Chaparrastique volcano after the peak shot a cloud of gas and ash about 3 miles into the air on Sunday.
 
Civil Defense Director Jorge Melendez said a yellow alert had been issued and investigators had been sent to the area to look for signs of fresh lava, but that none has been detected so far.
 
"We have implemented emergency measures to evacuate villages located within 3 kilometers of the volcano," Melendez said. Shelters have been set up for the evacuees, but Melendez said some inhabitants had been loath to leave their homes. "One has to leave for one's own safety," he said.
 
Assistant Health Minister Eduardo Espinoza said two people had been treated at hospitals for respiratory problems apparently linked to the eruption, "but we do not have any serious cases to report."
 
"We are providing assistance to people evacuating, and we are asking them to protect themselves against the gases, which can affect the respiratory tract," Espinoza said. He also urged inhabitants near the volcano to avoid drinking from local water sources.
 
The 7,025-foot volcano is located about 90 miles east of San Salvador, the capital. Its last significant eruption was in 1976.
 
San Miguel is one of the country's largest cities and is located 30 miles from the volcano.

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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Suspected drunk driver kills man lying in bed

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MISSION VIEJO, Calif. (AP) — Authorities say a man arrested after a fatal car crash into the front of a Southern California home was convicted in 2010 of driving under the influence.
 
Orange County Sheriff's Lt. Jeff Hallock says authorities were called shortly after 3 a.m. Sunday after a suspected drunk driver drove a car into the front bedroom of a house in Mission Viejo.
 
Hallock says a man lying in bed was killed in the crash. He was not immediately identified.
 
Hallock says 27-year-old Kourosh Keshmiri has been arrested for investigation of driving under the influence.
 
It wasn't immediately clear how fast the car was going downhill when it jumped the curb and landed inside the house.
 
A message was left for Keshmiri's attorney wasn't immediately returned.
 

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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Power back in Michigan, Maine; more snow set for Maine

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Read Time:3 Minute, 45 Second
Just as power had been restored to most of the nearly 800,000 customers who lost it in the ice storm days before Christmas in Michigan and Maine, Maine was bracing for another snowstorm.
 
It could bring additional snow-related power outages Sunday night and Monday to parts of New England. "That is a concern," said AccuWeather senior meteorologist Alex Sosnowski. "We are expecting 6 to 12 inches of snow across parts of Maine and New Hampshire, Sunday night into Monday morning. It looks like at least part of the snow is going to be packed and clinging, not super dry and powdery like they often see. There is a risk of the added weight causing more tree limbs and power lines to come down."
 
Sosnowski said that system will also bring snow to portions of New Brunswick, Canada. "There's also going to be some wind," he said. "It's not going to be a powerful Nor'easter, but it will strengthen as it moves up the coast Sunday night. It could add stress to weakened trees and power lines."
 
Across Maine, about 2,660 customers were without power Sunday afternoon, down from about 127,000 at the peak of the ice storm that hit parts of northern New England.
 
Susan Faloon, spokeswoman for Bangor Hydro Electric, said the utility is "gearing up" for another storm.
 
"What we're doing, in addition to continuing with restorations, is we've brought in more out of state crews who were working with Central Maine Power, and we've brought crews down from New Brunswick. In addition, we're not releasing any of our existing crews. There is so much damage, even if we were able to get everybody back on by the end of today, which is unlikely, there's so much damage that we're certain to see new outages," she said. "I don't think we'll see the number of outages we saw earlier this week, but it's hard to say. We need to be prepared for the worst."
 
About 1,800 Bangor Hydro Electric customers were still without power Sunday afternoon, down from a peak of about 40,000. Central Maine Power said it had about 860 customers without power Sunday afternoon, down from 87,000.
 
In Michigan, power had been restored to all but about 4,000 customers of the 666,000 who lost it when an ice storm hit the state more than a week ago. Michigan authorities blamed at least five deaths on the storm, three killed in crashes and two killed by carbon monoxide fumes from emergency generators.
 
About 3,300 Lansing Board of Water & Light customers were still without power Sunday, down from 40,000. Some of those customers held a rally Saturday outside Glencairn Elementary School in East Lansing to protest delays in restoring power.
 
About 600 DTE Energy customers were without power Sunday, down from 210,000, a spokeswoman said. CMS Energy said that "essentially all" of its 416,000 affected customers were back online.
 
Sosnowski says residents of Michigan and most of the upper Midwest to the Northern Plains can expect "bitterly cold air" Sunday night into Monday.
 
Further west, from the Northern Rockies to parts of the Midwest, a series of weak storms sometimes called Alberta Clippers will bring a swath of light snow from the Dakotas to lower Michigan, northern Ohio and northwest Pennsylvania just in time for New Year's Eve Tuesday into New Year's Day. "It will stick to roads and make for slippery travel," Sosnowski said. "There could be de-icing delays at airports within the swath."
 
By Thursday, another weak Alberta Clipper is expected to merge with a weak storm from the Gulf of Mexico. Depending on when those two systems come together, they could produce either a fairly insignificant snowfall or a major snowstorm reaching from the Interstate 95 area of the Mid-Atlantic region up through New England, covering New York City, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., Sosnowski said.
 
Contributing: Associated Press, Lindsay VanHulle and John Bacon
 
Outages Sunday:
 
Michigan: 4,000 Maine: 2,660
 
Outages at peak:
 
Michigan: 666,000 Maine: 127,000

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Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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Suspect in Colorado triple slaying arrested in Oklahoma

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DENVER (AP) — A man suspected of killing three people and setting fire to a home in southern Colorado has been captured in Oklahoma after a nationwide manhunt, authorities said Sunday.
 
Harry Carl Mapps, 59, was captured at a motel in Roland, Okla., Saturday night, said Kirk Taylor, sheriff of Pueblo County, Colo. No details of his arrest were released.
 
Taylor said Mapps was found using information developed by the U.S. Marshals Service in Colorado, Oklahoma and Texas. Mapps had lived in Oklahoma.
 
The Marshals Service issued a fugitive warrant for Mapps and said authorities were searching for him nationwide.
 
Mapps is wanted on charges of fatally shooting Kim Tuttle, 55; her husband, Reggie Tuttle, 51; and their daughter, Dawn Roderick, 33. Their bodies were found in the Tuttles' home in Rye after the house burned on Nov. 27.
 
The fire was ruled arson.
 
Three days after the fire, deputies said Mapps was their primary suspect. Authorities said Mapps had been living with the Tuttles and was working for Reggie Tuttle's trucking company.
 
Taylor said money appeared to be the motive for the shootings. Authorities claimed Mapps stole checks made out to one of the victims and cashed them on the day of the fire. He also faces theft, identity theft and forgery charges.
 
Friends called the Tuttles generous and caring people.
 
"Kim and Reggie would help anyone who needed it," said Winnie Owens, a friend and neighbor. "The hearts of everyone in this valley go out to that family."
 
Kim Tuttle worked on the culinary staff at Parkview Medical Center in Pueblo.

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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Suicide bombing in Russia highlights Olympics security

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The deaths of at least 16 people in a suicide bombing in southern Russia on Sunday fit a pattern of recent terror attacks and increased the focus on already-heavy security for the Sochi Olympics in six weeks, U.S. scholars of Russia say.
 
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing in Volgograd, but it came several months after Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov called for attacks against civilian targets in Russia, including the Sochi Games. Umarov, the self-proclaimed emir of a terrorist group that calls itself the Caucasus Emirate, has called on Muslims to prevent the Olympics from occurring.
 
"An open question is how much authority he really has over these different groups," said Jeffrey Mankoff, deputy director and fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies' Russia and Eurasia Program. "A lot of the attacks seem to be inspired by Umarov but may not be directly controlled by him."
 
"If you are a terrorist group in the Caucasus, the Sochi Olympics are going to be a very inviting target," said Steven Pifer, director of the Brookings Institution's Arms Control and Non-Proliferation Initiative. "I think you're going to see at the Sochi Olympics a very heavy security presence."
 
The government has deployed tens of thousands of soldiers, police and other security personnel to protect the Games.
 
Some Muslim terrorists view the Olympics as a provocation, Mankoff said. Sochi, like other cities in the region, was conquered militarily in the middle of the 19th century. "They view it as a provocation on territory they consider stolen from Muslims in the 19th century," he said.
 
"It's a very tense environment," Mankoff said, noting that Muslim insurgency in the region began around 1990 in Chechnya. "Chechnya has been relatively pacified, but the insurgency has spread out to surrounding areas," he said.
 
Suicide bombings have rocked Russia for years, but many have been contained to the North Caucasus, the center of an insurgency seeking an Islamist state in the region. Until recently, Volgograd was not a typical target, but the city formerly known as Stalingrad has been struck twice in two months — suggesting militants may be using the transportation hub as a renewed way of showing their reach outside their restive region.
 
Volgograd, which lies close to volatile Caucasus provinces, is 550 miles south of Moscow and about 400 miles northeast of Sochi, a Black Sea resort flanked by the North Caucasus Mountains.
 
Through the day, officials issued conflicting statements on casualties. They said the suspected bomber was a woman, then reversed themselves and said the attacker could have been a man.
 
The Interfax news agency quoted unidentified law enforcement agents as saying footage taken by surveillance cameras indicated the bomber was a man. It reported that a torn male finger ringed by a safety pin removed from a hand grenade was found on the site of the explosion.
 
The bomber detonated explosives in front of a metal detector just beyond the station's main entrance when a police sergeant became suspicious and rushed forward to check ID. The officer was killed by the blast, and several other police were wounded.
 
"When the suicide bomber saw a policeman near a metal detector, she became nervous and set off her explosive device," Vladimir Markin, the spokesman for the nation's top investigative agency, said in a statement earlier in the day. He said the bomb contained about 22 pounds of TNT and was rigged with shrapnel.
 
Markin later told Interfax that the attacker could have been a man but said the investigation was ongoing. He said another hand grenade, which didn't explode, was found on the explosion site.
 
Markin said security controls prevented a far greater number of casualties at the station, which was packed with people as several trains were delayed.
 
Markin said 13 people and the bomber were killed on the spot, and the regional government said two other people later died at a hospital. About 40 were hospitalized, many in grave condition.
 
Earlier in the day, Lifenews.ru, a Russian news portal, posted what it claimed was an image of the severed head of the female attacker. It said the attacker appeared to have been a woman whose two successive rebel husbands had been killed by Russian security forces in the Caucasus.
 
Female suicide bombers, many of whom were widows or sisters of rebels, have mounted numerous attacks in Russia. They have been referred to as "black widows."
 
In October, a female suicide bomber blew herself up on a city bus in Volgograd, killing six people and injuring about 30. That attacker came from the province of Dagestan, which has become the center of the Islamist insurgency that has spread across the region after two separatist wars in Chechnya.
 
As in Sunday's blast, her bomb was rigged with shrapnel that caused severe injuries.
 
Chechnya has become more stable under the grip of its Moscow-backed strongman, who incorporated many of the former rebels into his security force. In Dagestan, the province between Chechnya and the Caspian Sea, Islamic insurgents mount near daily attacks on police and other officials.
 
The Kremlin replaced Dagestan's provincial chief this year, and the new leader abandoned his predecessor's attempts at reconciliation and efforts to persuade some of the rebels to surrender in exchange for amnesty.
 
Security camera images broadcast by Rossiya 24 television showed Sunday's moment of explosion, a bright orange flash inside the station behind the massive main gate followed by plumes of smoke.
 
A witness, Roman Lobachev, told Rossiya television that he was putting his bags on a belt for screening when he heard the sound of an explosion. "I heard a bang and felt as if something hit me on the head," said Lobachev, who survived the attack with minor injuries.
 
The bombing followed an explosion Friday in the city of Pyatigorsk in southern Russia, where a car rigged with explosives blew up on a street, killing three.
 
After Sunday's explosion, the Interior Ministry ordered police to beef up patrols at railway stations and other transport facilities across Russia.
 
In past years, Russia has seen a series of terror attacks on buses, trains and airplanes, some carried out by suicide bombers.
 
Twin bombings on the Moscow subway in March 2010 by female suicide bombers killed 40 people and wounded more than 120. In January 2011, a male suicide bomber struck Moscow's Domodedovo Airport, killing 37 people and injuring more than 180.
 
Umarov, who had claimed responsibility for the bombings in 2010 and 2011, ordered a halt to attacks on civilian targets during the mass street protests against President Vladimir Putin in the winter of 2011-12. He reversed that order in July, urging his men to "do their utmost to derail" the Sochi Olympics, which he described as "satanic dances on the bones of our ancestors."
 
A group calling itself Anonymous Caucasus said in a statement Friday on the Caucasus rebel website kavkazcenter.com that it would launch cyber-attacks to avenge Russia's refusal to acknowledge the 19th-century expulsion of Chirkassians, one of the ethnic groups in the Caucasus.
 
The International Olympics Committee expressed its condolences over the bombing but said it was confident of Russia's security preparation for the games.
 
"At the Olympics, security is the responsibility of the local authorities, and we have no doubt that the Russian authorities will be up to the task," it said in a statement.
 
Russian authorities have introduced some of the most extensive identity checks and sweeping security measures ever seen at an international sports event.
 
Anyone wanting to attend the Games, which open Feb. 7, will have to buy a ticket online from the organizers and obtain a "spectator pass" for access. Doing so will require providing passport details and contacts that will allow the authorities to screen all visitors and check their identities upon arrival.
 
The security zone created around Sochi stretches approximately 60 miles along the Black Sea coast and up to 25 miles inland. Russian forces include special troops to patrol the forested mountains towering over the resort, drones to keep constant watch over Olympic facilities and speedboats to patrol the coast.
 
The security plan includes a ban on cars from outside the zone starting a month before the Games begin until a month after they end.

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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Bloomberg spent $650M on NYC in 12 years

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NEW YORK (AP) — A new report says billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg has spent $650 million of his own fortune on New York City over the course of three terms in office.
 
Sorting through public documents, philanthropy databases and other records the New York Times estimates Sunday that figure is probably low.
 
The newspaper says Bloomberg spent about $62,400 in 12 years for weekly cleanings of two large saltwater fish tanks in City Hall. He also made $23 million in campaign donations and has given a cool $30 million to the Metropolitan Museum of Art since 2002.
 
Bloomberg, who Forbes Magazine estimates is worth $27 billion, famously took a $1 annual salary as mayor.
 
He's spent generously to promote gun control and other issues he's passionate about.
 
He leaves office at midnight Tuesday.
 

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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US Politics:How Vice President killed former Secretary of the Treasury

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Read Time:6 Minute, 2 Second

There are many accounts of this event of July 11, 1804, some 209 years  ago. But some basic facts remain incontrovertible: That Aaron Burr, a sitting American vice president, challenged Alexander Hamilton, a former Secretary of the Treasury, to a gun duel which claimed the life of the latter.

Their animosity towards each other got to a head via a letter written by Hamilton casting aspersions on Burr who had seen the former as a dangerous political enemy.
Were President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria and former President Olusegun Obasanjo to transport themselves to America’s 1804, perhaps, a gun duel would have come in handy to settle their political differences.

Just last Monday, the inventor of AK-47, the assault rifle, Mikhail Kalashnikov, died and was laid to rest.   Taking a cue from how Obasanjo feels strongly on issues, he would have wanted an AK-47 for the duel (but the assault weapon was not invented as at that time).

Jonathan, who hails from the land of militancy, would have wanted something simpler, may be supported by native power (mind you, Obasanjo is no stranger to African magic).
Seriously, this is the story of Burr and Hamilton as captured by Wikipedia:

The duel was the final skirmish of a long conflict between Democratic-Republicans and Federalists. The conflict began in 1791 when Burr captured a United States Senate seat from Philip Schuyler, Hamilton’s father-in-law, who would have supported Federalist policies. (Hamilton was Secretary of the Treasury at the time.) When the Electoral College deadlocked in the election of 1800, Hamilton’s maneuvering in the House of Representatives caused Thomas Jefferson to be named president and Burr vice-president.

In 1800, the Philadelphia Aurora   printed extracts from a pamphlet Hamilton had earlier published, “Letter from Alexander Hamilton, Concerning the Public Conduct and Character of John Adams, Esq. President of the United States,” a document highly critical of Adams which had actually been written by Hamilton but intended only for private circulation. Some have claimed that Burr leaked the document, but there is no clear evidence for this, nor that Hamilton held him responsible.

Hamilton’s animosity toward Burr was severe and well-documented in personal letters to his friend and compatriot James McHenry. The following quotation from one of these letters on January 4, 1801, exemplifies his bitterness: “Nothing has given me so much chagrin as the Intelligence that the Federal party were thinking seriously of supporting Mr. Burr for president. I should consider the execution of the plan as devoting the country and signing their own death warrant.

Mr. Burr will probably make stipulations, but he will laugh in his sleeve while he makes them and will break them the first moment it may serve his purpose.”
In a more extensive letter written shortly afterward, Hamilton details the many charges he has against Burr, calling him a “profligate, a voluptuary in the extreme”, that he corruptly served the views of the Holland Land Company while a member of Legislature, criticized Burr’s military commission and accused him of resigning under false pretenses, and many more serious accusation.

In the early morning hours of July 11, 1804, Burr and Hamilton departed by separate boats from Manhattan and rowed across the Hudson River to a spot known as the Heights of Weehawken in New Jersey a popular dueling ground below the towering cliffs of the Palisades.

Hamilton and Burr agreed to take the duel to Weehawken because although dueling had been prohibited in both states, New York more aggressively prosecuted the crime (the same site was used for 18 known duels between 1700 and 1845).   In an attempt to prevent the participants from being prosecuted, procedures were implemented to give all witnesses plausible deniability.

For example, the pistols were transported to the island in a portmanteau, enabling the rowers (who also stood with their backs to the duelists) to say under oath that they had not seen any pistols. Burr, William P. Van Ness, (his second), Matthew L. Davis, and another (often identified as Samuel Swartwout) plus their rowers reached the site first at half past six, whereupon Burr and Van Ness started to clear the underbrush from the dueling ground.

Hamilton, Judge Nathaniel Pendleton, (his second), and Dr. David Hosack arrived a few minutes before seven. Lots were cast for the choice of position and which second should start the duel, both of which were won by Hamilton’s second who chose the upper edge of the ledge (which faced the city) for Hamilton. However, according to historian and author Joseph Ellis, since Hamilton had been challenged, he had choice of both weapon and position. Under this account, it was Hamilton himself who chose the upstream or north side position.

All first-hand accounts of the duel agree that two shots were fired; however, Hamilton and Burr’s seconds disagreed on the intervening time between the shots. It was common for both principals in a duel to fire a shot at the ground to exemplify courage, and then the duel could come to an end. Hamilton apparently fired first, and into the air, though it is not clear whether this was intentional, much less that Burr perceived him to be “throwing away his fire” (as it did not follow the standard protocol).

Burr returned fire and hit Hamilton in the lower abdomen above the right hip. The musket ball ricocheted off. Hamilton’s second or third false rib – fracturing it – and caused considerable damage to his internal organs, particularly his liver and diaphragm before becoming lodged in his first or second lumbar vertebra.   According to Pendleton’s account, Hamilton collapsed immediately, dropping the pistol involuntarily, and Burr moved toward Hamilton in a speechless manner (which Pendleton deemed to be indicative of regret) before being hustled away behind an umbrella by Van Ness because Hosack and the rowers were already approaching.

It is entirely uncertain which principal fired first, as both seconds’  backs were to the duel in accordance with the pre-arranged regulations of the duel (and also so the men could later testify that they “saw no fire”). After much research to determine the actual events of the duel, historian Joseph J. Ellis gives his best guess:
Hamilton did fire his weapon intentionally, and he fired first. But he aimed to miss Burr, sending his ball into the tree above and behind Burr’s location.

In so doing, he did not withhold his shot, but he did waste it, thereby honoring his pre-duel pledge. Meanwhile, Burr, who did not know about the pledge, did know that a projectile from Hamilton’s gun had whizzed past him and crashed into the tree to his rear. According to the principles of the code duello, Burr was perfectly justified in taking deadly aim at Hamilton and firing to kill.

But did he? What is possible, but beyond the reach of the available evidence, is that Burr really missed his target, too, that his own fatal shot, in fact, was accidental.

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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Mrs. Clinton named in criminal charges -Sudden threat endangers Hillary’s 2016 run –

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Read Time:8 Minute, 56 Second

NEW YORK – A threat to Hillary Clinton’s much anticipated 2016 presidential campaign appears to be developing in Egypt where that nation’s government is taking steps to criminalize the Muslim Brotherhood.

Specifically, a new criminal complaint has been filed with Egypt’s attorney general, Hisham Barakat, alleging then-U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton collaborated with Naglaa Mahmoud, the wife of ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, in seeking to incite domestic insurrections to topple Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the Egyptian general who has been commander in chief of the Egyptian armed forces, as well as minister of defense, since Aug. 12, 2012.

Researcher Walid Shoebat, a native Arabic-speaker and a former Palestinian Liberation Organization operative, has reported on his blog that credible news sources in Egypt have reported in Arabic that criminal charges have been brought against Hillary Clinton and Morsi’s wife.

Shoebat translated the following from an Egyptian Mehwar TV channel news video in which television reporter Nasr Qaffas explains on camera details of an interview Turkey’s Anatolia news agency conducted with Naglaa Mahmoud.

The excerpts from the transcript of the Mehwar TV news video include comments by Naglaa Mahmoud implicating Huma Abedin, wife of former Democratic Congressman Anthony Weiner and the former Hillary Clinton chief of staff whom WND has identified as having close ties to the Muslim Brotherhood:

Qaffas: According to Anatolia Press, Mahmoud said, “I have between my fingers, a treasure trove of secrets from the White House and Mrs. Clinton fears my wrath.” She said, “I will not speak about Huma Abedin.” When asked if she had a close relationship with Hillary Clinton, Mahmoud said, “When my husband returns from his kidnapping, the one who led the coup will pay a hefty price.” Of Mrs. Clinton, she said, “We have a long friendship of many years. We lived in the U.S. and my children learned there. This friendship increased further when my husband became the legitimate president of the country.”

Mahmoud went on to say that they were recruited by the Clintons from the U.S. and began their friendship in the 1980s. This appears to be a conspiracy that is being hidden.

When asked if they still have friendships with each other, Mahmoud said communications never ceased and that the conversations are all recorded. The wife of Morsi divulged that Mrs. Clinton seeks the assistance – both official and unofficial – of several members of the Muslim Sisterhood organization to help with problems in the Middle East. “We also have routine business dealings with the Clintons.”

Continuing with the excerpts from the transcript of the Mehwar TV news video, Naglaa Mahmoud claimed Hillary Clinton is looking for the support of Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood in her anticipated 2016 run for the U.S. presidency:

Mahmoud further stated that “Hillary depends on us tremendously to help her succeed in the coming presidential elections, just as we helped Barack Obama win twice.” She is quite the looney bin to believe she helped Obama win.

When asked about her relationship with Michelle Obama, Mahmoud said it is very good but it never developed to the point of close friendship, like with Hillary.

On the ability of women to take the lead in the revolution, Mahmoud said that could indeed happen with the Sisterhood. “I have many wives of Brotherhood leaders with me. Many of their husbands were kidnapped and jailed too. I tell them to be patient, for you will have a great reward in the future. I tell them that if their husbands are martyred, we will see to it that they are married off to other men as soon as their menstrual period is over,” she said.

According to Mahmoud, the police will not touch the women, which is why the women are so effective.

Finally, the Mehwar TV news video excerpts suggest Naglaa Mahmoud was aware the current criminal charges her husband and other Muslim Brotherhood leaders face in Egypt could be a liability for Hillary Clinton in her anticipated presidential race:

On her concerns that the Muslim Brotherhood could be identified as a terrorist organization, the wife of the former president said she was not and declared that she and her colleagues are in the process of organizing a “coup against the coup.”

“We are under the condition of war and Jihad,” she said, “and we have a good command of the necessities of war, the ancient and the modern. I will keep the tactics of war secret because in Islam, war is trickery.”

She said her conscience will not be eased until all of the traitors are hanged in the gallows.

“A key revelation in these reports is Mahmoud’s claim that the Clintons befriended her family in the 1980s while living in the U.S. As one of 63 leaders in the Muslim Sisterhood, Mahmoud is a colleague of Saleha Abedin, another one of those 63 leaders,” Shoebat wrote. “Saleha is the mother of Huma Abedin, who is a close adviser to Hillary Clinton and wife of former Democratic Congressman, Anthony Weiner.”

Muslim Brotherhood goes on trial in Egypt

WND first reported in August that criminal charges have been filed against Malik Obama, half-brother to President Barack Obama, for his involvement allegedly managing funds for a terrorist organization based in neighboring Sudan as well as for the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.

A criminal trial against former Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi is scheduled to begin in Egypt in January 2014, with Morsi facing charges that he supported the Muslim Brotherhood in acts of violence directed against the Egyptian people.

President Obama is likely to be a subject in Morsi’s criminal trial given evidence the Obama administration used to U.S. Embassy in Cairo to provide direct financial support to key Muslim Brotherhood political operatives, with the full knowledge and complicity of the Morsi government, as WND first reported in August.

In November, WND reported the Egyptian Air Force Officer currently residing in the U.S. and working as a physician, who has pressed terrorist charges in Egypt against President Obama’s elder brother Malik, has characterized the decision of the Egyptian government to prosecute the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt a conflict that involves “Moderate Muslims vs. the Obama brothers.”

As Jan. 8, 2014, approaches and Egypt prepares for the next appearance in court of former president Mohammed Morsi and the 14 Muslim Brotherhood leaders facing charges of incitement to murder, Sadek Raouf Ebeid believes Barack Obama and his brother Malik Obama in Kenya will be implicated in the criminal proceedings because of the support President Obama and his brother have shown for the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.

Ebeid was the man who filed last August what in Egypt is known as “Complaint No. 1761″ with the office of Egypt’s Attorney General Hisham Barakat, a complaint that accused Malik Obama of managing investment funds for the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.

In a letter addressed to WND, translated and published as a “guest column” on the website of Walid Shoebat, Ebeid stressed that the promptness with which Hisham Barakat responded to the filing of his complaint requesting that Obama’s elder brother, Malik, be placed on the Egyptian terrorist watch list reflected not just the efficiency of Ebeid’s lawyer in Egypt, Dr. Ahmed el-Ganzory, but also demonstrated the degree to which this case “resonated with the feelings of the majority of moderate Muslims in the Arab world.”

On Sept. 5, WND reported that Ebeid’s attorney, Dr. Ahmed Nabil Ganzory, filed Complaint No. 1761, adding that the complaint asked the Egyptian High Court to consider placing Malik on the terrorist watch list both for his involvement managing funds for both the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and for the Islamic Dawa Organization, or IDO, in Sudan.

On Nov. 11, WND reported that Egyptian lawyers have filed criminal terrorism charges in the International Criminal Court against President Obama, in addition to the criminal terrorism charges previously filed in Egyptian courts against the president’s half-brother Malik.

Specifically, the criminal charges filed in the ICC against President Obama charge Obama coordinated, incited, and assisted the armed elements of the Muslim Brotherhood in the commission of crimes against humanity including the torching, destruction and plundering of some 85 Christian churches, in the period March 7 through Aug. 18 in Egypt.

Attacks in Egypt on Coptic Christians

WND has previously reported on Muslim Brotherhood violence against Coptic Christians in Egypt.

According to a paper published Nov. 12 by Middle Eastern expert Raymond Ibrahim on the website of the Gatestone Institute, titled “What Happened to Christians in the Middle East this August?,” the attacks on Egypt’s Coptic Christians and their Christian churches began with the June 30 Revolution that “saw the ousting of President Morsi and prompted the Muslim Brotherhood to scapegoat and incite violence against the Copts.”

Ibrahim reported the attacks became “even more brutal in mid-August after security forces cleared out Brotherhood ‘sit in’ camps, where people were being tortured, raped, and murdered.”

He noted the attacks were especially devastating in Minya in Upper Egypt where the large Christian community was hit especially hard, with at least 20 attacks on churches, Christian schools and orphanages.

According to Ibrahim, the goal of the radical Islamists in their attack on the Copts in Egypt was “to erase all the traces of a Christian presence,” such that even the orphanages were looted and destroyed.

Earlier, in an article titled “Attacks on Christians Escalate in Egypt, Nigeria” published by the Gatestone Institute on Sept. 19, 2013, Ibrahim wrote:

On July 4th, the day after the Egyptian military liberated its nation from Muslim Brotherhood rule, Christian Copts were immediately scapegoated and targeted. All Islamist leaders – from Brotherhood supreme leader Muhammad Badi, to Egyptian-born al-Qaida leader Ayman Zawahiri, to top Sunni cleric Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi – made a point to single out Egypt’s Copts as especially instrumental in the ousting of former Islamist president Morsi, a claim that ushered in a month of slaughter against the nation’s Christian minority.

Although religious violence by Muslims against Christians remains largely unreported in the mainstream media in the U.S., Ibrahim warned that persecution of Christians in the Islamic world is on the way “to reaching pandemic proportions.”

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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Obama to Congress: Extend unemployment insurance

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With unemployment insurance set to expire on Saturday, the White House is seeking to pressure Congress into extending benefits when it returns next month.
 
While on vacation Friday in Hawaii, President Obama called two senators — Jack Reed, D-R.I., and Dean Heller, R-Nevada — who are sponsoring a bill to extend the jobless benefits.
 
The president promised to push Congress on what he called an "urgent economic priority," said the White House, reports the Associated Press.
 
Meanwhile, Gene Sperling — the director of Obama's National Economic Council — issued a statement saying that "never before have we abruptly cut off emergency unemployment insurance when we faced this level of long-term unemployment and it would be a blow to these families and our economy."
 
Sperling's full statement:
 
"As the President has repeatedly made clear, it defies economic sense, precedent and our values to allow 1.3 million Americans fighting to find jobs to see their unemployment insurance abruptly cut off — especially in the middle of the holiday season.
 
"These are our neighbors, our community members and often fellow parents who depend on this as a temporary lifeline while they are actively looking for new jobs to support their families and make ends meet. Never before have we abruptly cut off emergency unemployment insurance when we faced this level of long-term unemployment and it would be a blow to these families and our economy.
 
"While we remain disappointed that Congress did not heed the President's call to extend emergency unemployment benefits for next year before the holidays, the President as well as the Democratic Congressional leadership have made clear the importance of extending the benefits immediately upon Congress's return.
 
"Senator Jack Reed and Senator Heller have put forward bipartisan legislation to extend emergency unemployment insurance for three months which would prevent these 1.3 million workers and their families from losing benefits while giving more time for consideration of further extension through 2014, and Leader (Harry) Reid will bring it to a vote as soon as they return.
 
"The President strongly encourages both the Democratic and Republican Congressional leadership and their members to support this bipartisan solution and to pass the Reed-Heller bill."

About Post Author

Anthony-Claret Ifeanyi Onwutalobi

Anthony-Claret is a software Engineer, entrepreneur and the founder of Codewit INC. Mr. Claret publishes and manages the content on Codewit Word News website and associated websites. He's a writer, IT Expert, great administrator, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all around digital guy.
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