Supreme Court hears case Wednesday on Navy sonar, whales

Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2008
Court hears case Wednesday on Navy sonar, whales
By MARK SHERMAN Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court is weighing whether presidential power in wartime can override environmental concerns in a case that pits the Navy's submarine-hunting training against protection for whales.

Why do I get the feeling that the whales are going to lose this one?

Maybe because they're up against the US Navy and if the Navy loses, then the oil companies will feel like they are threatened?

Blackwater opens San Diego training center

Blackwater supporter attempting to intimidate protesters in San Diego last year. He looks like an old school fat ass chief. The kind of brainwashed meathead that I love to hate. Stubborn, stupid, and vicious. Probably divorced, or with a third world mail-order bride who meekly does his bidding without questioning and has never been encouraged to become independent of his stupid fat ass. Wonder if he knew about a contract that had already been signed ?


Blackwater opens San Diego training center
By ALLISON HOFFMAN Associated Press Writer
SAN DIEGO (AP) - A new counterterrorism training facility operated by military security contractor Blackwater Worldwide echoed with the grunts of Navy sailors, a day after a federal judge ordered the city to let classes begin.

The 24 trainees batted and punched each other Thursday as they learned basic strike tactics in a corner of the 61,000-square-foot converted warehouse in an industrial area near the U.S.-Mexico border.

For the next three weeks, they'll practice shooting inside a 25-yard indoor firing range and learn to wear sidearms safely while wriggling through ship hatches and up narrow ladders installed in white metal cargo containers stacked along one wall of the building to simulate a ship. Trainers from Blackwater will quiz them on distinguishing small boats carrying cargo from those carrying bombs.

The company sued last month because city officials refused to issue final occupancy documents without a vote by the planning commission, after building inspectors had already signed off on the necessary permits. Blackwater said it faced a Navy contract deadline and accused the city of caving to political pressure.



The company has been targeted by anti-war activists and Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., who opposed its proposed training camp for law enforcement in a remote mountain community east of San Diego. That project was dropped after firing ranges failed to satisfy noise restrictions, but Filner and others have raised concerns that Blackwater is simply seeking a foothold near the border that could serve as a base for providing private migrant or drug interdiction services to federal agencies.

Blackwater insists the warehouse was built to provide the Navy's "ship reaction force basic" training course as part of a $400 million contract. The program is part of an initiative to train sailors in counterterrorist defense tactics after the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in a Yemeni port.

"This facility supports our oldest customer," said company Vice President Brian Bonfiglio, referring to the military.

Blackwater trains sailors from East Coast bases at its headquarters in Moyock, N.C., where it offers an advanced course using model ships floating in a private lake. It developed the California warehouse to offer the introductory program to sailors from San Diego, Guam, Japan and other Pacific bases.

Bonfiglio acknowledged that Blackwater would gladly host other agencies, including the Border Patrol or Coast Guard, at the warehouse, located in an unmarked building within sight of the border fence and the Tijuana airport control tower beyond.

"If we had a bunch of Border Patrol vehicles parked outside, they'd accuse us of trying to take over the border," he said, only half-joking. "But I'd open up our doors to any law enforcement that needed training, if I could do it."

The company has been expanding its domestic law enforcement training business, opening an 80-acre police training center in Mount Carroll, Ill., in 2007 to complement its 7,000-acre complex in North Carolina.

At the same time, Blackwater, the largest private security firm in Iraq, has come under increased scrutiny for its work abroad. Its guards are under investigation by a federal grand jury in Washington for their involvement in the shooting deaths of 17 Iraqi civilians. The company is also under investigation for possible weapons smuggling, allegations Blackwater denies.

Weapons smuggling? Like, you know, taking over Khashoggi's trade?

Democratic activist Raymond Lutz said those inquiries can't be ignored when it comes to Blackwater's domestic operations.

"To put training in the hands of private profiteers means that you're giving up your ability to oversee what they're doing and when you give it up you lose control," Lutz said. "Why doesn't the Navy train its own people?"

Bonfiglio said his five trainers offer students a depth of counterterrorism experience the Navy couldn't match without pulling its own experts from other duties.

"What we do overseas needs to be separated from what we do in the United States," he said. "Here we put all of our effort into developing training facilities that are unmatched."

The pride of the facility is the mock warship area, where shipping containers are outfitted with red lights to simulate an onboard emergency and speakers blare clanking background noise during exercises.

On Thursday, workers were reinforcing a maze of wooden walls appended to the cargo containers at the request of city inspectors, who are still reviewing Blackwater's application to use the simulated ship area under an amusement-park ride permit, Bonfiglio said.

City lawyers said the company misled inspectors by applying for permits piecemeal and under the names of affiliated companies instead of making a single application to open a training center with firearms. District Court Judge Marilyn Huff ruled Wednesday that the company did not need to seek special approval because the area is already zoned for vocational school use.

The city has not said whether it will appeal.
2008-06-06 09:00:13 GMT


What won't be on TV in San Diego tonight.

US navy barred from using sonar

From correspondents in Los Angeles
August 07, 2007 09:32am
THE US navy was today barred from using an ear-splitting sonar in upcoming wargames off the California coast alleged to be harmful to whales and other marine life.


alleged to be harmful to whales and other marine life. ?

Alleged?

Arrrrrgggggghhhh!


Good job, Captains of Industry.

Mmmm,m pr'haps I shouldn't be so hasty to blame Navy sonar for the demise of the whales, it could be a number of Navy pollutants, or it might be sound bombing . You know, for oil exploration.

Alrighty then.

Bush Exempts Navy From Environmental Law

(click on pic for C&L "Die, Whales Die!!!" post.)
Bush Exempts Navy From Environmental Law
PAULINE JELINEK | January 16, 2008 01:50 PM EST | AP

WASHINGTON — President Bush exempted the Navy from an environmental law so it can continue using sonar in its anti-submarine warfare training off the California coast _ a practice critics say is harmful to whales and other marine mammals.

How many times have I posted on this?

How many more days do we have to deal with this asshole? I knew he would get his way in less than six months, and the spoiled rotten fucktard piece of shit did.

Yes, I did just call the president of the US a FUCKTARD PIECE OF SHIT. We will have to deal with the world-wide devastation of this administration, stemming from the absolute fanatical worship at the altar of the "free market," for the rest of our lives, our kids lives, and if the planet can still sustain lives, our great great grand children's lives.

You don't get the connection between allowing the military to train and the "free market" neocon fucktards?

Cubby Holes.

You think the federal dollars are heading to San Diego study the health of the ocean?

Or to the military-industrial-congressional-complex?

Which WILL protect the profits of the privatization warriors.

Fuckers are making money on both sides of the "war on terra."

Upper management seems to think that they are playing with toy soldiers.

Not human beings.

Justices asked to hear Navy sonar, whales case

Bush administration asks Supreme Court to review ruling that limits use

Reed Saxon / AP

A gray whale dives off the Southern California coast near the Palos Verdes Peninsula on Jan. 16.

Evolution of the whale ear

MARINE MAMMAL AUDITORY SYSTEMS:
A SUMMARY OF AUDIOMETRIC AND ANATOMICAL DATA AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR UNDERWATER ACOUSTIC IMPACTS


Bush administration appeals Navy sonar case to Supreme Court
Joshua Pantesco at 8:50 AM ET
Tuesday, April 01, 2008

The Justice Department petition argues that the decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco jeopardizes the Navy's ability to train sailors and Marines for service in wartime.

Something tells me that the Sooopreme court justices won't be using teh Google search terms that they need to. It'll be all Homeland Security All The Time.

I've heard from more than one sailor that one of the few joys when you're stuck out at sea for what seems like forever is watching the dolphins.

War and recruiting standards?

I was reading this from Nick Turse's book last night:

The report from the Criminal Investigation Command, or CID, tracks an increase from 23 reported gang incidents in fiscal 2005 to 60 in fiscal 2006, saying in part the new servicewide definition of gangs added more cases to the total.

And heard about this this morning:

Navy cites smoking as likely cause of carrier fire
By CHELSEA J. CARTER – 13 hours ago

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Smoking appears to have sparked a fire that caused $70 million in damage to the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington, Naval officials said Wednesday

US Navy calls MySpace kids an "Alien Life Force"
Posted by Xeni Jardin, September 28, 2007 10:00 AM permalink

You know, I read a lot of depressing shit, and I grew up in San Diego, so a lot of what's in this book comes as no surprise to me, but I gotta say the most depressing part of this book is the connection (that if you're ME, anyway, you could find) between the Defense Department's astronomical need for oil (fuel) and this fucked up war in Iraq. That and some recruiting has been privatized also, and not just for mercenaries.

Moving on, I read the newz today Oh boy...

When the newz steals, they steal BIG.

Gah, hollyweird

I'm watching The King . I found myself irritated with some of the details. I'm trying to figure out why the filmmakers chose to focus on the rifle. Dude got out of the Navy. I've been here in this Navy town all my life and never met anybody who developed such an important relationship with his rifle and got out and kept his rifle. Especially if they got a dishonorable discharge, which is a given for this particular character. I'm irritated with the way Gael pronounced Chula Vista. I lived there, my kid was born there, & I've lived around squids my whole life. Even Hispanic squids pronounce it 'Chew-lah 'Vih-stah, not the Spanish pronunciation 'Shoe-lah 'Vees-tah. I've also never seen anybody tattoo their ship on themselves. "Tribal" silliness, gang signs, girl's names, all kinds of crap, but a ship? Puhleeeeeeeeeze! Captive on a fucking tin can for 6 and sometimes up to 9 months and they're going to put a picture of their cage on their body forever? What nonsense. To listen to the commentary is difficult enough for me because I find it annoying when the writers congratulate themselves on how fucking brilliant ("genius") they are. Their obvious disdain for ordinary people gets on my last nerve.

If the point of this movie is to horrify, disgust and paint a picture of a truly reprehensible character then the movie is a success. Gael García Bernal can play some really creepy parts, and William Hurt can do anything you put in front of him, but come on, this would have the movie walked out on, or the DVD pulled out of the player in a LOT of homes. If not for the actors' and actresses' performances this piece of shit wouldn't be worth a fiddler's fart. I just hope that I don't ever come face to face that whoever wrote this sick piece of crap.

Shit, I missed Chuck watching this thing? Oy. Chuck is way over the top, but it doesn't take itself seriously.

ps, I wonder how many residents of that cutthroat, hamburger grinder-like county of LA are aware of how close to death they are on a weekly basis? I know I'm aware of it now, but it's not something my stupid parents chose to inform me of.

The Navy needs PR help

The Navy hopes to award the contract in September.

Oh OH OH, My hand's up, Pick me. Pick Me . Piiiiiiiicccckkk Meeeeeeeeeee.
BWWAAAA HAA Ha ha ha ha, just kidding.

Local newz

Notice the wording of these headlines.

Marine wife accused of poisoning husband
Woman charged with first-degree murder for financial gain
Thurs., Dec. 15, 2005

Authorities: Wife Killed Marine Spouse For Breast Enhancements
Sommer Resists Extradition
POSTED: 9:03 am PST January 4, 2006
UPDATED: 7:05 am PST January 5, 2006

Well, can you imagine my surprise when this woman was released from prison yesterday?

Test clears woman of poisoning husband
Published: April 18, 2008 at 2:12 PM
SAN DIEGO, April 18 (UPI) -- Prosecutors in San Diego have dropped charges against a 34-year-old woman convicted in January of killing her U.S. Marine husband.

Cynthia Sommer was freed from the Los Colinas jail after spending two years and four months behind bars on charges of fatally poisoning Sgt. Todd Sommer with arsenic, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported Friday.

In freeing Sommer, prosecutors said the conclusions of a new group of toxicology experts has cast doubt on poisoning as a cause of Sgt. Sommer's death.

District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis told a news conference Thursday "as soon as we had the information that pointed to reasonable doubt, we brought this case this afternoon to get the matter dismissed."

Sommer, 23, died in February, 2002 after collapsing at the couple's home at the Miramar Marine Corps Air Station.

At first doctors said he died of natural causes but tests later found high levels of arsenic in his liver and kidneys.

Court documents said a lab in Canada re-tested Sommers' tissue samples this month and found no evidence of arsenic.
© 2008 United Press International. All Rights Reserved.

For more go here

Yeesh, I'm so cynical at this point I wonder if it might have been poisoning that killed him and it was easier for the local authorities and NCIS to grab her instead of dealing with the real problem.

US Military Bases Known To Be Contaminated (ca. 1992) (From: Life in the Times)

The following 59 U.S. military bases were suffering from significant water or soil contamination a year ago, according to the Department of Defense's interpretation of its latest hazardous waste survey. DoD officials say not every base suffering such contamination is on the list, because information was not available for all bases. The list is based on the latest status report for DoD's Installation Restoration Program.

The IRP report contains no explanation of the problems at each base, so we asked each service to provide details. The Army did so. The Navy Chief of Information refused to help us gather the information...

Moffett Field NAS, CA
The major contaminants in the ground water are volatile organic compounds.
Whidbey Island NAS, WA...

Other Navy bases:
China Lake, CA
Indian Head NOS, MD
Jacksonville NAS, FL
Miramar NAS, CA (now MCAS Miramar)
Pabmont River NAS, MD


Toxic Trails: U.S. Military Bases and the Environment
November 29, 2000

Reading now

Books of the Times The C.I.A.’s Missteps, From Past to Present

By MICHAEL BESCHLOSS
Published: July 12, 2007

CIA Statement on “Legacy of Ashes”
August 6, 2007


Legacy of Ashes - the undoing of the CIA
The anatomy of a discredited organization
By George Smith, Dick Destiny → More by this author
Published Wednesday 29th August 2007 07:49 GMT

Book Review At the beginning of the Nineties, this journalist went through the Central Intelligence Agency's hiring process. The process took about a year to complete, its length and rigor attributed to the great importance of its classified mission plus a purported desire to get just the right kind of people - America's best.

In any case, that was the story.

CIA Bans Water-Boarding in Terror Interrogations
September 14, 2007 5:00 PM
By Brian Ross, Richard Esposito & Martha Raddatz

Hmmm, let's see here. How long did it take to figure out that it might not be a good idea to use waterboarding?

This quote is from William Blum's "Killing Hope" (C) 2004 p. 129

At the US Navy's schools in San Diego and Maine during the 1960's and 1970's, the course had a different name. There the students were supposedly learning about methods of "survival, evasion, resistance and escape "which they could use as prisoners of war. There was in the course something of survival in a desert, where students were forced to eat lizards, but the naval officers and cadets were also subjected to beatings, jarring judo flips, "tiger cages" ---hooded and placed in a 16-cubic-foot box for 22 hours with a coffee can for their excrement--and a torture device called the "waterboard": the subject was strapped to an inclined board, head downward, a towel placed over his face, and cold water poured over the towel; he would choke, gag, retch, and gurgle as he experienced the sensation of drowning, just as was done to Vietcong prisoners in Vietnam, along with their tiger cages.
A former student, Navy pilot Lt. Wendell Richard Young, claimed that his back as broken during the course and that students were tortured into spitting, urinating, an defecating on the American flag, masturbating before guards, and, on one occasion, engaging in sex with an instructor. #41

#41 Newsweek 22, March 1976, pp 28, 31.

American Sniper

I read the book .  I saw the movie.   I've read a few articles and reviews online. I didn't really hate the book or the movie. What I hated was the fact that I've lived 45 out of my over 50 years in San Diego and I call bullshit. That's because I know of these guys and they bullshit a lot, and they back each other's bullshit up.  I'm not doubting that Chris Kyle believed in all that jingoistic bullshit and I don't doubt that he killed a shitload of Iraqis.  Or that he loved his wife and kids and Texas and the USA and blhah blah zipityfuckindoodah.  The movie made me want to drink copious amounts of tequila.

Dude has been proven a liar in court.    I also got the idea that his wife is the kind of Navy wife that turned me off to Navy wives forever.

I am a retired veteran's wife and I was born here in San Diego and have lived here for MOST of my life and was single for a long time.  I know how full of crap many military guys are.  I've seen and heard shit that wives don't see and hear.  I've worked on a base, a couple in fact.  I'm not a veteran and never thought that was a realistic goal for me.  I have asked quite a few young, active military guys  why they joined and very few spout the kind of uber-patriotic nonsense that oozes out of the book or the movie.  Their girlfriend broke their heart or their girlfriend got pregnant or they timed out of foster care or they wanted to go to college on the GI bill or there just weren't any JOBS back home. Or my favorite- they wanted to be in the MPs so they could go be a cop back home when they got out.

Frankly, I'm a much bigger Michael Moore fan than I am a Clint Eastwood fan and Eastwood became just another asshole like Charleton Heston in my mind when we were reminded of the incident where he said he would shoot MM if MM ever came to his door.

And oh by the way, Fried Green Tomatoes is streaming on Netflix right now.

Nice

Navy Orders TB Tests for 6,000 on Aircraft Carrier
Crew members and civilians aboard the Ronald Reagan will be screened after a sailor is diagnosed with the disease.
By Tony Perry, Times Staff WriterJuly 23, 2006
SAN DIEGO — The Navy has decided to conduct tuberculosis tests on all 4,800 crew members and 1,200 civilians who were recently aboard the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan after an initial round of tests showed many crew members tested positive for the disease, officials said Saturday.The first round of tests was ordered after a sailor was diagnosed with active tuberculosis. The ship returned to San Diego on July 6 after a six-month deployment to the Persian Gulf. Officials tested 776 crew members and civilians who were thought to have had contact with the sailor. Positive results showed up in 4.4% of them...


There are 3 million people in this county.

And these guys came back
July 9, 2006
After six months at sea, thousands of San Diego based sailors return home after being aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan. KUSI's Paul Bloom gives an in depth look at the historical homecoming, as well as, the mission out at sea.
Story Created: Jul 12, 2006 at 4:35 PM PST

It's treatable, and not life-threatening in most cases. If that's all they're bringing back from cruises, we're all gonna be A-OK. I just wish they'd test them before they dump them off the boat.

I've been avoiding this

Because I feel angry when I watch the suits blather on about
"We're gonna fix it, blah, blah, blah...
The approval rating for disability benefits for the Army is 4 percent? Hmmm hmmm, makes me wonder why so low? Navy 35%. I can't remember the other percentages for the other services, but it was at least 25% for the other services

What very few papers are reporting on:
Poison DUst tells the story of young soldiers who thought they came home safely from the war, but didn't. Of a veteran's young daughter whose birth defect is strikingly similar to birth defects suffered by many Iraqi children. - Every American who cares about our troops should watch this film. Everyone who cares about the innocent civilians who live in the countries where these weapons are used should watch this film

And I cry when I read about how these guys are treated. It brings back really bad memories. This is not new. Ever seen a cockroach inside a tracheotomy tube? I know someone who has. DoD or VA -- ya think there's a whole lot of difference when a particular building is slated to be closed?

Soldiers Face Neglect, Frustration At Army's Top Medical Facility
By Dana Priest and Anne Hull
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, February 18, 2007; A01

here's an example:

"...Frustration at Every Turn

The frustrations of an outpatient's day begin before dawn. On a dark, rain-soaked morning this winter, Sgt. Archie Benware, 53, hobbled over to his National Guard platoon office at Walter Reed. Benware had done two tours in Iraq. His head had been crushed between two 2,100-pound concrete barriers in Ramadi, and now it was dented like a tin can. His legs were stiff from knee surgery. But here he was, trying to take care of business..."

53?
Two tours in Iraq?
WTF?

update:
more anger from Badtux the Snarky Penguin and Grumpy Old Man

Mixed feelings this AM.

First the funny stuff. Amita Sharma has a lovely voice with slight inflections that are interesting to try to figure out. This morning on the local NPR station I really don't know where she was emotionally, but I was laughing my ass off:

San Diego Wants Blackwater to Make Training Facility Wheelchair Accessible

I can't stand Bonfiglio, & I love Mike Aguirre AND his brother.

Still plugging along until the isp sends the right driver. Dayang I miss reading y'all, but this thing is just sooooo slow. Oy. Be back soon. Vista is a pain in the ass so far.

Not happy with the Supreme Court this morning either:

Court rejects death penalty for raping children

By MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 58 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court has struck down a Louisiana law that allows the execution of people convicted of a raping a child...

and

The Supreme Court on Wednesday also cut the $2.5 billion punitive damages award in the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster to $500 million.

and watch the Supreme Court be responsible for more dead cetaceans:


Supreme Court to decide Navy sonar appeal
Mon Jun 23, 2008 1:29pm

Seriously. Who does the Supreme Court protect in these cases? It ain't the whales.

Bill would make Coast Guard protect LNG terminals

Right, yes of course, because the Navy hasn't yet been trained by Blackwater.

Desperate Iraqi Refugees Turn to Sex Trade in Syria

New York Times

Published: May 29, 2007
..Inexpensive Iraqi prostitutes have helped to make Syria a popular destination for sex tourists from wealthier countries in the Middle East. In the club’s parking lot, nearly half of the cars had Saudi license plates...

This sentence from an article on the "DC Madam" cracks me up.

The coming days will unveil hundreds of victims who fell into the clutches of Julia's prostitutes. )

Oprah of the Middle East' flees over TV row

Controversial Egyptian presenter holes up in London
Conal Urquhart in Cairo
Sunday March 4, 2007
The Observer

The woman known as the Oprah Winfrey of the Middle East has fled to London in fear for her safety amid a row over allegations that actresses were paid to pretend they were prostitutes on her television show.

Jihadis and whores
By Spengler
Middle East
Nov 21, 2006

Wars are won by destroying the enemy's will to fight. A nation is never really beaten until it sells its women.

Big Names in US prostitution
USA
Sat, 05 May 2007
Women empowered?

"I think I empowered a lot of women. I got a lot of women through graduate school," she told ABC News.

She said the women she employed included a college professor, a medical researcher, a Navy officer, a legal secretary and a suburban realtor, who just wanted to make extra money.


American Military-Base Prostitution
Jennifer Latstetter

Dead whales and oil companies' seismic testing

Mmm, missed this last month.
Whales stranded off Madagascar
BBC News - news.bbc.co.uk
09 Jun 2008

Same old shit, different company.

Whatever.

Missed this one,

and this one

Shit. All of these articles go on and on about algae blooms and chasing fish, and eating sand and blah blah blah. Most of these mass beaching have one of two things in common:

Seismic testing (generally for oil or gas), or Navy Sonar testing in the area recently, both of which are so fucking loud that the bones in ceteceans' ears break.

I'm not a scientist, but I'm not a freaking idiot either. I became a liberal after taking business classes, how's that for defiant?

The militaries which depend upon oil probably don't want me connecting the dots, eh?

Fuck 'em. This planet is so fucked because of human activity.

Blackwater on the border

Virtual fence on Mexican border deemed insufficient
By ARTHUR H. ROTSTEIN
Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, April 23, 2008

So?


Blackwater still needs to feed from the government trough, and what better place than San Diego? Just what we need patrolling the border here, Blackwater.

There's just something about right-wing Christofacist zombies. Relentless fuckers, aren't they?

Duncky will come to their rescue. Lemon Chicken man does his best to secure bucks for all the boondoggles that defense contractors can dream up.

Rep Bob Filner, to his credit, has this to say

I have a question though. Why is Blackwater training sailors here? San Diego is one big huge Navy base.

7 Marines die in training accident

Crash was 1 of deadliest for Marines in years
By JULIE WATSON
The Associated Press

"SAN DIEGO — A collision that killed seven Marines in one of the Marine Corps' deadliest aviation training accidents in years occurred over a sprawling desert range favored by the U.S. military because its craggy mountains and hot, dusty conditions are similar to Afghanistan's harsh environment.;;;"

"...It was the fifth aviation accident since March involving the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing headquartered at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station in San Diego. Throughout the Navy and Marine Corps, there have only been two other aviation training accidents in the past five years involving seven or more deaths, according to the military's Naval Safety Center..."

*sigh*

Major media and scholars side with Taya Kyle against Jesse Ventura

Article by: RANDY FURST ,(Minneapolis?) Star Tribune Updated: March 10, 2015 - 10:00 PM

"Heavy hitters in U.S. media joined prominent First Amendment scholars to file two amicus briefs challenging last summer’s jury verdict that favored former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura in his defamation trial in St. Paul.

The friend-of-the-court media brief, filed with the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, characterizes the $1.3 million jury award to Ventura as unprecedented, with no basis in common law.

The scholars’ filing faults U.S. District Judge Richard Kyle’s instructions to the jury.

The briefs support Taya Kyle, widow of Chris Kyle, author of the bestselling memoir “American Sniper.”

Ventura’s lawyers convinced the jury in a 10-2 decision that he had been defamed by Chris Kyle, who wrote in the book that he punched Ventura and knocked him down in a California bar after Ventura made disparaging remarks about Navy SEALs and the U.S. government.

Ventura denied the incident happened.

He was awarded $1.8 million, including $500,000 for defamation and $1.3 million for Kyle’s unjust enrichment. Taya Kyle, who oversees her husband’s estate, has appealed the decision to the 8th Circuit.

The brief by 30 media organizations, filed Tuesday, is signed by Floyd Abrams, a well-known First Amendment attorney who represented the New York Times in the Pentagon Papers case.

They said they are concerned about the negative impact on media organizations of “unjustified and potentially crippling awards” such as this one.

The other brief, written on behalf of eight scholars and filed Monday, includes Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the School of Law at the University of California Irvine.

Joseph Daly, emeritus professor of law at Hamline University, who has followed the Ventura case, said that the amicus signers are “extremely impressive and without a doubt the Eighth Circuit judges will read these amicus briefs very, very carefully.”

Among the news organizations that signed the media brief are the New York Times, the Washington Post, the American Society of News Editors, National Public Radio, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and the Minnesota Newspaper Association.

In challenging the $1.3 million unjust enrichment award, Abrams contends it is unprecedented in a libel case for jurors to award a portion of the book profits to Ventura.

“An award of profits has nothing to do with the harm suffered by the plaintiff; it is punishment, plain and simple,” he wrote.

The media brief questions the assumptions in the verdict but does not challenge the $500,000 defamation award.

However, the scholars in their amicus brief, written by attorney Leonard Niehoff, urge the 8th Circuit to reverse the entire jury decision, contending that the threshold of defamation is very high and that Judge Kyle gave the jury improper instructions.

Niehoff wrote that to prove defamation, Ventura had to prove that Chris Kyle knew his account was false or had serious doubts about it, but recklessly wrote it anyway.

Niehoff said Judge Kyle did not adequately explain the issue, and when jurors submitted follow-up questions he did not properly answer them.

Court Anderson, one of Ventura’s lawyers, said he had not yet read the amicus briefs. But he added, “We’re confident the jury verdict will be upheld by the 8th Circuit. This case has never been a case of the media publishing an inaccurate statement. Instead this case is about a first-person account from Mr. [Chris] Kyle that the jury found to be a complete fabrication.”

Randy Furst • 612-673-4224

Twitter: @randyfurst"

Hmmm.  So, supposedly there were witnesses in McP's that night. 
  I think Kyle was a liar based on my experience.  I never met him, but I've certainly met the type to spout off  "unfverifiable" stories.  

Frankly, the fact that Chris Kyle's story is wildly popular irritates the fuck out of me.  Foreign Policy Journal lays it out better than I could ever hope to.