BIDDEFORD, Maine (AP) ? A rare 148-year-old baseball card discovered at a rural Maine yard sale has been auctioned for $92,000.
Saco River Auction Co. in Biddeford held an auction Wednesday night that included a card depicting the Brooklyn Atlantics amateur baseball club.
Troy Thibodeau, manager and auctioneer at Saco River Auction, said the card drew plenty of interest. Bidding started at $10,000 and quickly rose to the final $92,000, which included an 18-percent premium.
The name of the buyer, who was at the auction house, was not released.
The card isn't the same as a modern-day baseball card, which became common in the 1880s. Rather, it's an original photograph from 1865 mounted on a card, showing nine players and a manager.
The Library of Congress said last month it was aware of only two copies of the photo. The other is in the institution's collection.
In its book "Baseball Americana," the Library of Congress calls the item the first dated baseball card, handed out to supporters and opposing teams in a gesture of bravado from the brash Brooklynites, who were dominant and won their league championships in 1861, 1864 and 1865.
A Maine man who doesn't want to be publicly identified found the card inside an old photo album he bought while antique picking in the small town of Baileyville on the Canadian border. The man bought the photo album, old Coca-Cola bottles and a couple of oak chairs together in a single purchase for less than $100, Thibodeau said.
It was impossible to predict what kind of price the card would fetch because of its rarity, he said, but he guessed before the auction that the winning bid would fall somewhere between $50,000 and $500,000. The priciest baseball card ever is a 1909 Honus Wagner card, which sold for $2.8 million in 2007.
"We're happy with it and the consigner is happy with it," Thibodeau said.
Tom Bartsch, editor of Sports Collectors Digest, said $92,000 is a good price for a pre-war card without a Hall of Famer's picture.
"There are very few artifacts around from the 1860s," he said. "Baseball was near its infancy in that time."
Chris Ivy, director of sports auctions for Heritage Auctions, said there's also only a small pool of buyers for such an esoteric item.
Both said the story of the card's discovery remarkable is a reminder to collectors of all kinds that a rare find can easily be missed among otherwise unremarkable items.
"It's what keeps those treasure hunters out there going," Ivy said.
Happiness increases with age, across generationsPublic release date: 6-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Anna Mikulak amikulak@psychologicalscience.org 202-293-9300 Association for Psychological Science
Study shows that happines increases with age, but your overall level of well-being depends on when you were born
Psychological well-being has been linked to many important life outcomes, including career success, relationship satisfaction, and even health. But it's not clear how feelings of well-being change as we age, as different studies have provided evidence for various trends over time.
A new report published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, reveals that self-reported feelings of well-being tend to increase with age, but that a person's overall level of well-being depends on when he or she was born.
Psychological scientist Angelina R. Sutin of Florida State University College of Medicine conducted the study while at the National Institute on Aging (NIA) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), where she remains a guest researcher. She and colleagues at NIA predicted that people in the same "birth cohort" born around the same time may have had unique experiences that shape the way they evaluate happiness and optimism. They hypothesized that the level of well-being a person reports would, therefore, vary according to his or her birth year.
Using two large-scale longitudinal studies, NIH's Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA) and the CDC's National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), Sutin and colleagues looked at data from several thousand people over 30 years, including over 10,000 reports on well-being, health, and other factors.
When the researchers analyzed the data across the whole pool of participants, older adults had lower levels of well-being than younger and middle-aged adults.
But when Sutin and her colleagues analyzed the same data while taking birth cohort into account, a different trend appeared: Life satisfaction increased over the participants' lifetimes. This trend remained even after factors like health, medication, sex, ethnicity, and education were taken into account.
So what explains the different results?
While life satisfaction increased with age for each cohort, older birth cohorts especially people born between 1885 and 1925 started off with lower levels of well-being in comparison to people born more recently. Looking at life satisfaction across all of the participants, regardless of when they were born, obscures the fact that each cohort actually shows the same underlying trend.
Sutin and colleagues point out that the level of well-being of cohorts born in the early part of the 20th century, particularly those who lived through the Great Depression, was substantially lower than the level of well-being of cohorts who grew up during more prosperous times. The greater well-being of more recent cohorts could be the result of economic prosperity, increased educational opportunities, and the expansion of social and public programs over the latter half of the 20th century.
According to the researchers, these findings may have important implications for today's younger generations.
"As young adults today enter a stagnant workforce, the challenges of high unemployment may have implications for their well-being that long outlast the period of joblessness. Economic turmoil may impede psychological, as well as financial, growth even decades after times get better."
###
Co-authors on this research include Antonio Terracciano also of Florida State University College of Medicine and a guest researcher at the NIA; Yuri Milaneschi of the National Institute on Aging and VU University Medical Center; and Yang An, Luigi Ferrucci and Alan B. Zonderman of the National Institute on Aging, NIH.
This research was supported in part by the Intramural Research Program of the National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health.
For more information about this study, please contact: Angelina R. Sutin at angelina.sutin@med.fsu.edu.
The APS journal Psychological Science is the highest ranked empirical journal in psychology. For a copy of the article "The Effect of Birth Cohort on Well-Being: The Legacy of Economic Hard Times" and access to other Psychological Science research findings, please contact Anna Mikulak at 202-293-9300 or amikulak@psychologicalscience.org.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Happiness increases with age, across generationsPublic release date: 6-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Anna Mikulak amikulak@psychologicalscience.org 202-293-9300 Association for Psychological Science
Study shows that happines increases with age, but your overall level of well-being depends on when you were born
Psychological well-being has been linked to many important life outcomes, including career success, relationship satisfaction, and even health. But it's not clear how feelings of well-being change as we age, as different studies have provided evidence for various trends over time.
A new report published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, reveals that self-reported feelings of well-being tend to increase with age, but that a person's overall level of well-being depends on when he or she was born.
Psychological scientist Angelina R. Sutin of Florida State University College of Medicine conducted the study while at the National Institute on Aging (NIA) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), where she remains a guest researcher. She and colleagues at NIA predicted that people in the same "birth cohort" born around the same time may have had unique experiences that shape the way they evaluate happiness and optimism. They hypothesized that the level of well-being a person reports would, therefore, vary according to his or her birth year.
Using two large-scale longitudinal studies, NIH's Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA) and the CDC's National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), Sutin and colleagues looked at data from several thousand people over 30 years, including over 10,000 reports on well-being, health, and other factors.
When the researchers analyzed the data across the whole pool of participants, older adults had lower levels of well-being than younger and middle-aged adults.
But when Sutin and her colleagues analyzed the same data while taking birth cohort into account, a different trend appeared: Life satisfaction increased over the participants' lifetimes. This trend remained even after factors like health, medication, sex, ethnicity, and education were taken into account.
So what explains the different results?
While life satisfaction increased with age for each cohort, older birth cohorts especially people born between 1885 and 1925 started off with lower levels of well-being in comparison to people born more recently. Looking at life satisfaction across all of the participants, regardless of when they were born, obscures the fact that each cohort actually shows the same underlying trend.
Sutin and colleagues point out that the level of well-being of cohorts born in the early part of the 20th century, particularly those who lived through the Great Depression, was substantially lower than the level of well-being of cohorts who grew up during more prosperous times. The greater well-being of more recent cohorts could be the result of economic prosperity, increased educational opportunities, and the expansion of social and public programs over the latter half of the 20th century.
According to the researchers, these findings may have important implications for today's younger generations.
"As young adults today enter a stagnant workforce, the challenges of high unemployment may have implications for their well-being that long outlast the period of joblessness. Economic turmoil may impede psychological, as well as financial, growth even decades after times get better."
###
Co-authors on this research include Antonio Terracciano also of Florida State University College of Medicine and a guest researcher at the NIA; Yuri Milaneschi of the National Institute on Aging and VU University Medical Center; and Yang An, Luigi Ferrucci and Alan B. Zonderman of the National Institute on Aging, NIH.
This research was supported in part by the Intramural Research Program of the National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health.
For more information about this study, please contact: Angelina R. Sutin at angelina.sutin@med.fsu.edu.
The APS journal Psychological Science is the highest ranked empirical journal in psychology. For a copy of the article "The Effect of Birth Cohort on Well-Being: The Legacy of Economic Hard Times" and access to other Psychological Science research findings, please contact Anna Mikulak at 202-293-9300 or amikulak@psychologicalscience.org.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
The way in which companies and their users interact with the web has changed enormously in the last few years. Companies are now relying more and more on web-based applications to run their businesses, such as Salesforce, Google Apps and Microsoft Office 365.
There has been a monumental shift towards mobile devices (smartphones and tablets) and a growing trend of people working remotely and on the move. These changes bring with them new challenges for IT administrators to maintain effective web security without compromising on productivity and flexibility.
VPNs have become commonplace, with companies across the UK and around the world using them to allow their branch offices and remote workers to securely connect to corporate systems. For many they are seen as an essential element of the security of their network ? ensuring that remote end points, such as laptops or remote computers, use a secure ?tunnel? (or, as the name says, a Virtual Private Network) to connect to the main corporate systems.
This allows remote workers ? either on the road, or working from home ? access to their head office desktop systems, often just as effectively as if they were physically sat in front of their office computer. It also allows easy sharing of data between small branch offices and their headquarters without needing expensive point to point connections.
But there is a hidden price to pay for this flexibility if your chosen web security service relies on proxying. Many companies use their VPNs to connect their remote or roaming users back to their corporate web proxy to provide the same level of filtering as they would have in the office.
This means that whenever any of those remote machines wants to access the web, the request goes over the VPN and via the proxy to ensure it is filtered. In practice, this means that every single web page request is sent from the remote machine, via the VPN to the corporate proxy, then to the internet, and then the page is sent back along the same route.
This extra and unnecessary traffic is consuming more and more bandwidth at head office which could be used for more useful services, such as file transfers, VoIP or video conference. Also, compared to users just going online directly, this traffic incurs packet latency ? with very small amounts of time added on to the time it takes a web page to load every time the worker goes online.
This can lead to frustration and a drop in productivity as users shy away from using web based applications whilst on the move. For most companies, however, the data delays involved and extra bandwidth costs are accepted as a side effect of maintaining web security on the end points.
But there are other hidden ? and not-so-hidden ? issues that come from extending the web proxy service to remote users. The almost-doubling of the data carried across the VPN as all web traffic flows to the central proxy and then back out again. From the company perspective, at peak times ? when internet capacity is at a premium ? the additional traffic may mean it effects higher priority services such as VoIP or video conferencing which in turn can impact productivity.
The problem is manifested even further for those remote users on a 3G cellular connection, the extra overhead of the encryption/decryption of the VPN means web access can be hopelessly slow and incur a real cost in terms of data charges, especially if they are travelling internationally. With the launch of capped 4g contracts, the cost can only increase.
Proxying is a powerful solution that allows IT administrators to carefully control what happens to web based traffic ? allowing or disallowing different sites for example, or restricting times of day that these sites can be accessed. Unfortunately, as can be seen from the above limitations, there are a number of disadvantages that come with this approach when applied to the modern Internet and how people are engaging with it.
Proxying has been around for many years and it is at the core of almost every web security product available today. The web proxy, a middle man for handling web requests, has been a work horse for years and provided a straight forward solution in a local area network environment. But now that networks are being extended via the Internet, across many different locations, connection types and devices, it is clear that a proxy isn?t a scalable or flexible enough solution anymore.
As we have discussed, the use of web proxying increases the transaction load and traffic on the VPN ? as well as impacting the experience for the remote user. In order to solve this problem, businesses have looked towards cloud based web security solutions. Whilst these services alleviate the bandwidth and processing issues from the company, they don?t entirely solve the problem of productivity and latency.
Cloud-based proxies mask the real identity of the user as they browse the web ? the IP address given when they connect. The IP address is used extensively by modern web sites such as Google and online banking to check the location from where the user is browsing. If using a cloud based proxy, the user will always be identified as the proxy server IP address. This causes problems with location aware web sites, for example you will be redirected to the Google search page that is geographically closest to the proxy server, not the real person.
This can cause language issues if the proxy server is hosted in a different country altogether. Web sites also detect multiple requests from IP addresses and can shut down access if they see a huge number of attempts from the one IP. This has happened with Google Apps because of course it is seeing the IP address of the proxy rather than the IP address of each individual user. All of this can hinder productivity and cause frustration.
Cloud proxies also do not solve the latency issue completely. There is still a delay when you click a link on a web page, as the page is requested by the cloud proxy, scanned and then forwarded back to the device. On bandwidth sensitive connections such as 3G this can make using day-to-day web applications a real slog.
Proxying is also not a consideration when mobile apps are developed. App developers are from a different generation that generally do not design or test their apps with proxy servers in mind. This can lead to users not being able to use specific mobile apps at all, thus having a negative effect on the efficiency the app would otherwise have provided.
Removing the need for proxying, however, also reduces the effects of most ? if not all ? of the problems identified above. As well as reducing the bandwidth requirements, the user experience for all those involved can be greatly improved ? pages load more quickly and web traffic flows more efficiently.
The solution to these remote transmission problems lies in the use of a technology called the Internet Content Adaptation Protocol (ICAP). When applied to a cloud environment in a client/server architecture with compatible end-point software, it provides a super fast way of controlling web access based on URL reputation. It is a unique spin on a long established protocol that traditionally was developed to offload processing from proxy servers.
Rather than sending each web page and all its content to a centralised web proxy, either directly or over a VPN, the ICAP client generates a small packet of data containing a snapshot of the web request, and the ICAP server responds with a ?yes? or ?no? depending on the time of day and the filtering policy that is assigned to the user.
As well as straight forward URL reputation filtering, the ICAP protocol can be used to implement virus scanning and content scanning to extend the security services available. This all takes place in the cloud therefore eliminating the bandwidth costs and hardware requirements at the customer premises.
Another key advantage to using an ICAP-based solution for remote branches and users is that location-based services simply work. This is thanks to the fact that the web browser is identified with its `real? IP address, rather than a proxied one that may be assigned to another country entirely.
For example, if a company is headquartered in Paris, and the employees based in the UK visit the internet via the head office, they are likely to get very frustrated if they keep getting the French Google home page, or aren?t able to access local web sites (such as BBC iPlayer) because the system believes they are outside of the UK.
A good ICAP security platform can do a lot more than save time, money and bandwidth on data transmissions however, and offers organisations a much higher degree of control over what their staff get up to on the web from remote branch offices and whilst on the road in company time.
A recent report by the BBC estimated that social networking sites could be costing employers up to ?130 million per day in lost man-hours. An ICAP-based business internet filtering solution can also empower the company and employer ? to decide when it is acceptable to access these web sites, for example only at lunch time, after hours or not at all.
But that, as they say, is a story for another day?
The best of BCWPLUS EXCLUSIVE CONTENT
Tim Lloyd
Tim Lloyd is the MD of CensorNet. Tim has over 15 years of experience in the IT sector, with a particular focus on Internet related technologies and IP based networks. In 1998 Tim co-founded Planet Edge, a specialist Internet solution provider where he led a team of developers working on innovative Internet related systems up until the point where it was acquired by NASDAQ listed Internet investment firm CI4NET.COM. In 2000, Tim moved to Sydney after being appointed as a director for GlobalFreeway - Australia's first National free Internet Service Provider. At the end of 2001, Tim returned to the UK and founded a company focussing on Linux consultancy and bespoke development, which is where the idea of CensorNet was first conceived.
Tim Lloyd is the MD of CensorNet. Tim has over 15 years of experience in the IT sector, with a particular focus on Internet related technologies and IP based networks. In 1998 Tim co-founded Planet Edge, a specialist Internet solution provider where he led a team of developers working on innovative Internet related systems up until the point where it was acquired by NASDAQ listed Internet investment firm CI4NET.COM. In 2000, Tim moved to Sydney after being appointed as a director for GlobalFreeway - Australia's first National free Internet Service Provider. At the end of 2001, Tim returned to the UK and founded a company focussing on Linux consultancy and bespoke development, which is where the idea of CensorNet was first conceived. ...less info
TIP! Add a ceiling fan to your home. Ceiling fans are terrific home improvement projects that are simple to install and fairly inexpensive! A ceiling fan is also greatly beneficial to your wallet, as turning it on can circulate cooler air and allow you to leave the air conditioner off for a little longer.
Improving your home is the way to make your house your dream home. It?s important, though, to know what needs to be done, so you can do it correctly the first time. You can also maximize your money?s value in the project. This article will help you begin to do just that.
TIP! Straight bristles makes for easier sweeping. You can damage the broom by standing it upright.
It is vital that you always change the air filters. Doing so keeps the air in your home cleaner and helps your heating and cooling systems run more efficiently. A lot of repairmen are called to homes to clean out buildup found in machines from dirty filters.
TIP! Any plumbing and wiring issues should be addressed first when doing any home improvement projects. These projects often require you to work with wires or pipes inside your walls; finish these repairs before you tackle any other jobs.
Many people hire a home design specialist before beginning any home improvement projects. They are experts at squeezing the best designs out of every penny, and will create amazing looks for your home. You don?t have to undertake every project on your own.
TIP! Putting new caulking around your windows can help you save money on utility bills, as well as protect your home from water damage. Doing so prevents moisture and leaks which avoids any kind of mold growth.
When you intend to undertake a landscaping project that transform your outdoor space in a big way, make sure that your plans complement the general look of your home. Styles that don?t belong together can clash with your home and make it unattractive whereas, a well put together patio and garden can bring the look together.
TIP! As you tackle home improvements, be mindful to observe your surroundings, making sure to do just those projects that are sensible. Doing something strange like an uninsulated sun room at a high northern latitude might make potential homeowners scratch their heads and hesitate to make you an offer.
Consider using radiant heat tiles if you?re revamping your flooring. Not only do they look great, but they are the best for giving off heat. Luckily, they are also easy to install yourself if you can follow the directions. If you don?t have the time to commit to the project, you can also hire someone to install the tiles for you. You?ll be grateful you did the first winter morning that you walk into your bathroom.
TIP! A great method of transforming a room in a hurry is to add wall paneling. It?s fast, cheap, and easy to accomplish, and if you don?t like it, you can just take them down and repaint.
Unless you know what you?re doing, you?re unprepared. There are no two ways around it. And it?s when you?re unprepared that things start to go terribly wrong. Now that you?ve read this advice, you will, hopefully, be successful at completing your home improvement project.
Though not every fight at UFC 156 lived up to its hype, the ones that delivered really came through. Former Strikeforce fighters went 4-0 and really stood out among the crowd.
No. 1 star ? Antonio Silva: Heading into the fight with Alistair Overeem, "Big Foot" was 2-2. While he beat up on Travis Browne and MMA legend Fedor Emelianenko, he also lost big to Daniel Cormier and Cain Velasquez. He definitely didn't have the same invincible aura as Overeem, but that didn't matter once they were in the cage. Silva's heavy hands and Overeem's gameplan meant Silva was the one who earned the big knockout, and the Knockout of the Night bonus.
No. 2 star ? Tyron Woodley: With a strong wrestling background honed at the University of Missouri, Woodley is quite skilled at grinding out opponents for decision wins. He hasn't had a stoppage win since 2010, but that changed quickly on Saturday night. Woodley's overhand right took out Jay Hieron in just 36 seconds. Even UFC president Dana White admitted Woodley had the Knockout of the Night bonus until Silva's KO of Overeem.
No. star ? Bobby Green: His third-round ground and pound led to a rear naked choke of Jacob Volkmann. Green was able to control a Division I All-American wrestler, which is not an easy task. With Saturday's win, he is on a five-fight win streak and showed he is ready for the UFC.
Who were your three stars? Speak up in the comments, on Facebook or on Twitter.
Tribesmen this week examine the rubble of a building in southeastern Yemen where American teenager Abdulrahmen al-Awlaki and six suspected al-Qaida militants were killed in a U.S. drone strike on Oct. 14, 2011. Al-Awlaki, 16, was the son of Anwar al-Awlaki, who died in a similar strike two weeks earlier.
By Michael IsikoffNational Investigative Correspondent, NBC News
A confidential Justice Department memo concludes that the U.S. government can order the killing of American citizens if they are believed to be ?senior operational leaders??of al-Qaida or ?an associated force? -- even if there is no?intelligence?indicating they?are?engaged in an active plot to attack the U.S.
The 16-page memo, a copy of which was obtained?by NBC News, provides new details?about the legal reasoning behind one of the Obama administration?s most secretive and controversial polices: its dramatically increased use of drone strikes against al-Qaida suspects abroad, including those aimed at American citizens, such as the? September 2011 strike in Yemen that killed alleged al-Qaida operatives Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Khan. Both were U.S. citizens who had never?been indicted by the U.S. government nor charged with any crimes.??
The secrecy surrounding such strikes is fast emerging as a central issue in this week?s hearing of White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan, a key architect of the drone campaign, to be CIA director.??Brennan was the first administration official to publicly acknowledge drone strikes in a speech last year, calling them ?consistent with the inherent right of self-defense.? In a separate talk at the Northwestern University Law School in March, Attorney General Eric Holder?specifically endorsed the constitutionality of?targeted killings of Americans, saying they could be justified if government officials determine the target?poses? ?an imminent threat of violent attack.?
But the confidential?Justice Department ?white paper??introduces a more expansive definition of self-defense or imminent attack than described? by Brennan or Holder in their public speeches.? It refers, for example,?to what it calls a ?broader concept of imminence? than actual intelligence about any ongoing plot against the U.S. homeland. ? ?
Michael Isikoff, national investigative correspondent for NBC News, talks with Rachel Maddow about a newly obtained, confidential Department of Justice white paper that hints at the details of a secret White House memo that explains the legal justifications for targeted drone strikes that kill Americans without trial in the name of national security.
?The condition that an operational? leader present an ?imminent? threat of violent attack against the United States does not require the United States to have clear evidence that a specific attack on U.S. persons and interests will take place in the immediate future,? the memo states.
Read the entire 'white paper' on drone strikes on Americans
Instead, it says,? an ?informed, high-level? official of the U.S. government may determine that the targeted American? has been ?recently? involved in ?activities? posing a threat of a violent attack and ?there is? no evidence suggesting that he has renounced or abandoned such activities.? The memo does not define ?recently? or ?activities.??
As in Holder?s speech, the confidential?memo lays out a three-part test that would make targeted killings of American lawful: ?In addition to the suspect being an imminent threat, capture of the target must be ?infeasible, and the strike must be conducted according to ?law of war principles.? But the memo elaborates on some of these factors in ways that go beyond what the attorney general said publicly. For example, it states that U.S. officials may consider whether an attempted capture of a suspect? would?pose an ?undue risk? to U.S. personnel involved in such an operation. If so, U.S. officials could determine that the capture operation of the targeted American would not be feasible, making it lawful for the U.S. government to order a killing instead, the memo concludes.
The?undated?memo is entitled ?Lawfulness of a Lethal Operation Directed Against a U.S. Citizen who is a Senior Operational Leader of Al Qa?ida or An Associated Force.?? It was provided to members of the Senate Intelligence and Judiciary committees?in June by administration officials on the condition that it be kept confidential and? not discussed publicly.
Although not an official legal memo, the white paper was represented by administration? officials as a policy document that closely?mirrors the arguments of classified memos on targeted killings by the Justice Department?s? Office of Legal Counsel, which provides authoritative legal advice to the president and all executive branch agencies. The administration has refused to turn over to Congress or release those memos publicly -- or even publicly confirm their existence. A source with access to the white paper, which is not classified,?provided a copy to NBC News.?
?This is a chilling document,? said Jameel Jaffer, deputy legal director of the ACLU, which is suing to obtain administration memos about the targeted killing of Americans.? ?Basically, it argues that the government has the right to carry out the extrajudicial killing of an American citizen. ? It recognizes some limits on the authority it sets out, but the limits are elastic and vaguely defined, and it?s easy to see how they could be manipulated.?
In particular, Jaffer said, the memo ?redefines?the word imminence in a way that deprives the word of its ordinary meaning.???
A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment on the white paper. The spokeswoman, Tracy Schmaler, instead pointed to public speeches by what she called a ?parade? of administration officials, including Brennan, Holder, former State Department Legal Adviser Harold Koh and former Defense Department General Counsel Jeh Johnson that she said outlined the ?legal framework? for such operations.?
Pressure for turning over the Justice Department memos on targeted killings?of Americans appears to be building on Capitol Hill amid?signs that Brennan will be grilled on the subject at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday.?
On Monday, a bipartisan group of 11 senators -- led by Democrat Ron Wyden of Oregon ? wrote? a letter to President Barack Obama asking him to release all Justice Department memos on the subject.?While accepting that ?there will clearly be circumstances in which the president has the authority to use lethal force? against Americans who take up arms against the country, ?it said, ?It is vitally important ... for Congress and the American public to have a full understanding of how? the executive branch interprets the limits and boundaries of this authority.?
Anticipating domestic boom, colleges rev up drone piloting programs
The completeness of the administration?s public accounts of its legal arguments was also sharply criticized last month by U.S. Judge Colleen McMahon in response to a? lawsuit brought by the New York Times and the ACLU seeking access to the Justice Department memos on drone strikes targeting Americans under the Freedom of Information Act.? McMahon, describing herself as being caught in a ?veritable Catch-22,?? said she was unable to order the release of the documents given ?the thicket of laws and precedents that effectively allow the executive branch of our government to proclaim as perfectly lawful certain actions that seem on their face incompatible with our Constitution and laws while keeping the reasons for the conclusion a secret.?
In her ruling, McMahon noted that administration officials ?had engaged in public discussion of the legality of targeted killing, even of citizens.? But, she wrote, they have done so ?in cryptic and imprecise ways, generally without citing ? any statute or court decision that justifies its conclusions.?
In one passage in Holder?s speech at Northwestern in March,? he alluded ? without spelling out?that there might be circumstances where the president might order attacks against American citizens without specific knowledge of when or where an attack against the U.S. might take place.
?The Constitution does not? require the president to delay action until some theoretical end-stage of planning, when the precise time, place and manner of an attack become clear,?? he said.
But his speech did not contain the additional language in the white paper suggesting that?no active intelligence about a specific attack is needed?to justify a targeted strike. Similarly, Holder said in his speech that targeted killings of Americans can be justified? if ?capture is not feasible.? But he did not include language in the white paper saying that an operation might not be feasible ?if it could not be physically effectuated during the relevant window of opportunity or?if the relevant country (where the target is located) were to decline to consent to a capture operation.? The speech also made no reference to the risk that might be posed to U.S. forces seeking to capture a target, as was ?mentioned in the white paper.?
The white paper also includes a more extensive discussion of why targeted strikes against Americans does not violate constitutional protections afforded American citizens as well as?? a U.S. law that criminalizes the killing of U.S. nationals overseas.
It??also discusses why such targeted killings would not be a war crime or violate a U.S. executive order banning?assassinations.
??A lawful killing in self-defense is not an assassination,? the white paper reads. ?In the Department?s view, a lethal operation conducted against a U.S. citizen whose conduct poses an imminent threat of violent attack against the United States would be a legitimate act of national self-defense that would not violate the assassination ban. Similarly,? the use of lethal force, consistent with the laws of war, against an individual who is a legitimate military target would be lawful and would not violate the assassination ban.?
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Public release date: 6-Feb-2013
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Though not every fight at UFC 156 lived up to its hype, the ones that delivered really came through. Former Strikeforce fighters went 4-0 and really stood out among the crowd.
No. 2 star ? Tyron Woodley: With a strong wrestling background honed at the University of Missouri, Woodley is quite skilled at grinding out opponents for decision wins. He hasn't had a stoppage win since 2010, but that changed quickly on Saturday night. Woodley's overhand right took out Jay Hieron in just 36 seconds. Even UFC president Dana White admitted Woodley had the Knockout of the Night bonus until Silva's KO of Overeem.
Another big enterprise deal to report as 