Janet Nepolitano couldn't be more correct. I applaud those that had to make statements the Right Wing Bush Republicans couldn't make and can't today simply because of their electorate. We love our military, but, they haven't been taken care of. They just haven't been taken care of the way they should.
US Marine arrested at Logan (click title to entry - thank you)
April 19, 2009 05:42 PM
John C. Drake, Globe StaffA
US Marine was arrested today at Logan International Airport after federal airport screeners discovered a gun, bomb-making materials, and ammunition in his checked baggage, State Police and Transportation Security Administration officials said.
Corporal Justin Reed, 22, of Jacksonville, N.C., was booked on US Airways Flight 877 to Charlotte, N.C., said TSA spokeswoman Ann Davis. She said Reed had arrived on a flight from Las Vegas this morning.
TSA screeners in Terminal B called State Police at 7:10 a.m. after a screen discovered the following items in his checked baggage: a locked handgun box containing a semi-automatic handgun, a fully loaded gun magazine, several boxes of 9 mm and 7.62 mm ammunition, three model rocket engines containing an explosive mixture, military pull-type fuses, switches, electronics kit boxes with various components, and a hand grenade fuse assembly with detonator.
Reed was charged with possession of an infernal machine and possession of a concealed weapon in a secure area of an airport. He was booked at the State Police barracks at Logan and held in lieu of $50,000 bail. He will be arraigned at East Boston Municipal Court on Tuesday.
Davis said it is legal to have a firearm in checked baggage but that it must be declared to security officials. The passenger in this case had not declared the weapon, she said. Davis said all checked baggage on domestic flights is required to be screened by TSA on originating flights.
Reed's bags had to be screened again at Logan because baggage handlers inadvertently routed them to baggage claim instead of onto his connecting flight to Charlotte. Typically bags are not rescreened during a layover, she said.
Davis said TSA was "actively investigating" why the gun and explosive materials were not detected during the screening in Las Vegas.
Homeland Security report mentions Poplawski (click here)
By Carl Prine, TRIBUNE-REVIEWSaturday, April 18, 2009
...The report was intended only for law enforcement leaders, but the Tribune-Review was able to obtain a copy. It paints a disturbing picture of the rise of American hate-based groups that reject governmental authority in an era of foreclosures, unemployment and dwindling credit.
The report cites Poplawski, 22, as an example of "white supremacist lone wolves" or "small terrorist cells" inflamed by the possible passage of new restrictions on firearms and the recent election of America's first black president.
The Trib has documented hundreds of angry internet comments made by Poplawski before the shooting about gun control, police surveillance, immigration, Jews and blacks.
Men like Poplawski "pose the most significant domestic terrorist threat because of their low profile and autonomy ... which hampers warning efforts," according to the report....
Homeland Security deputy: "We can't be complacent" (click here)
By TIM TALLEY Associated Press
Published: 4/19/2009 2:30 PM
Last Modified: 4/19/2009 2:39 PM
OKLAHOMA CITY — The deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security said Sunday that the Oklahoma City bombing and the deaths of 168 people in the nation's most deadly domestic terrorist attack is "a reminder to the country that we can't be complacent." "How do we prevent something like this from happening again?" Deputy Secretary Jane Holl Lute said following ceremonies that marked the 14th anniversary of the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building. "We know more than we knew on that April day," Lute said. "There is a need for all of us to be vigilant." Lute said domestic terrorism "certainly remains a threat" and defended a Homeland Security Department intelligence assessment that said returning military veterans who have difficulties assimilating back into their communities could be susceptible to extremist recruiters or might engage in lone acts of violence. Distributed to law enforcement officials two weeks ago, the assessment specifically mentions Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Timothy McVeigh, a decorated U.S. Army veteran who was convicted of parking a truck loaded with 4,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil in front of the nine-story Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building and detonating it. The resulting blast ripped through the building, killing the victims while injuring hundreds more and causing millions of dollars in damage to other structures in parts of downtown Oklahoma City....
