FBI Probe Of Defense Tech Allegedly Leaked From NASA Stonewalled, Sources Say

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Photo Credit: NASAA four-year FBI investigation into the transfer of classified weapons technology to China and other countries from NASA’s Ames Research Center is being stonewalled by government officials, sources tell FoxNews.com.

Documents obtained by FoxNews.com, which summarize these and other allegations and were given to congressional sources last week by a whistle-blower, described how a “secret grand jury” was to be convened in February 2011 to hear testimony from informants in the case, including a senior NASA engineer. But federal prosecutor Gary Fry was removed from the case, which was then transferred from one office in the Northern District of California to another where, according to the documents, “this case now appears to be stalled.”

“The information is staggering,” the whistle-blower told FoxNews.com. A Justice Department spokesman on Thursday told FoxNews.com it “does not comment on grand jury proceedings,” as a matter of longstanding policy. Fry, reached for comment late Thursday, also would not confirm or deny the claim.

The claims originate with several past and current NASA employees concerned with the systemic leak of highly sensitive information relating to missile defense systems, as well as what they call a troubled investigation into the leak.

The documents claim the FBI has been working with other agencies since 2009 on an investigation into foreign nationals working at Ames. This follows allegations by two Republican lawmakers earlier this month that the U.S. attorney’s office in the Northern California district was ultimately denied by the Justice Department when it tried to proceed with indictments.

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Cut Commitments, Not Muscle

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Photo Credit: Senior Airman Julianne In that year of happy memory, 1972, George McGovern, the Democratic nominee, declared he would chop defense by fully one-third. A friendly congressman was persuaded to ask Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird to expatiate on what this might mean.

The Pentagon replied the Sixth Fleet might have to be pulled out of the Med, leaving Israel without U.S. protection against the fleet of Adm. Sergei Gorshkov, and provided the congressman a list of U.S. bases that would have to be shut down.

Radio ads were run in the towns closest to the bases on the Pentagon list, declaring they would be closed and all jobs terminated, should McGovern win.

Something akin to this is going on with the impending sequester. A cut of 7 percent, $46 billion, in Pentagon spending, says Army chief Ray Odierno, will mean a “hollowing” out of his force.

The Navy? The carrier Harry Truman will not be sailing to the Persian Gulf. The Abraham Lincoln will not be overhauled in Newport News. Thousands of jobs will be lost. Reporter Rowan Scarborough writes that the Air Force has produced “a map of the U.S. that shows state-by-state the millions of dollars lost to local economies,” should the guillotine fall.

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Kerry To Push For Relations With This U.S. FOE?

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Photo Credit: WNDWill John Kerry use his position as secretary of state to push for dialogue with Hamas?

As a senator, Kerry has a questionable history when it comes to the Islamic terrorist group in power in the Gaza Strip. In 2009, Kerry became the most senior U.S. politician to visit the Hamas-controlled Gaza, although at the time he did not meet with Hamas leaders, instead using his time in the coastal territory to tour United Nations camps there.

During his trip, there were reports that Kerry accepted a letter for President Obama from Hamas leaders. U.N. relief agency chief Karen Abu Zayd told the BBC the letter had been received by his agency and passed on to an unnamed American official.

Fox News confirmed with U.N. representatives in Gaza that the Hamas letter was passed to Kerry. During a tour of Israel the same week, Kerry announced his trip to Gaza did not signal any change in U.S. policy toward Hamas.

Hamas’ official charter calls for the murder of Jews and the destruction of Israel. The Islamist group is responsible for scores of suicide bombings, shootings and rocket attacks aimed at Jewish civilians.

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Poll: Most Only Want Foreign Aid Cuts

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Photo Credit: APOf 19 options for cutting government spending, only one — reducing foreign aid — was supported by more than 40 percent of Americans, according to a poll released Friday.

The widespread rejection of most ideas to slash spending in the poll from the Pew Research Center shows the difficulty of translating a popular GOP message — the federal budget needs to be shrunk down to size — into political reality. Even on foreign aid, only 48 percent want to cut, compared with 49 percent who want to increase funding or keep it at the same level.

It also displays the difficulty of replacing the $1.2 trillion in spending cuts scheduled to hit March 1. While both Republicans and Democrats say they want to avoid the across-the-board slashes in defense and domestic spending, negotiations are at a standstill and an agreement on replacement cuts could be elusive.

Decreasing funding for the State Department and cutting unemployment aid are both supported by around one-third of Americans. Cuts to the Defense Department and to aid for the needy in the U.S. are backed by about a quarter of Americans. Cuts in all other areas suggested by Pew, including energy, health care, entitlement programs, infrastructure, scientific research and combating crime, receive even less support.

For most categories, a plurality of Americans want to keep spending at the same level.
Even among Republicans, there’s majority support for only two cuts: foreign aid and unemployment assistance.

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Video: Mt. Aetna Erupts in Spectacular Fashion

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Mount Etna erupted in Italy and sent gas and lava shooting into the air. The eruption was the first of 2013 for the volcano. The colorful and powerful display has gone viral on YouTube.

The volcano is located in Sicily. Mount Etna is regarded as one of the most active volcanoes in the world, Science World Report notes. The volcano in Italy has been spewing lava for [a long time]. The first known Mount Etna eruption was in 1500 BC. Periods of dormancy for the volcano in Sicily are extremely rare.

Even though Mount Etna is so active, approximately a quarter of the population in Sicily live nearby. Airports were not closed when signs that an eruption were imminent, the Daily Mail reports. Folks living on the on the island city of Catania were not alerted about Mount Etna either.

See news footage:

More video of Mt. Aetna:

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Video: Ann Coulter to Libertarians – ‘This Is Why People Think You Are ‘Pu**ies’

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Photo Credit: The BlazeConservative talker Ann Coulter appeared Thursday on Fox Business Network’s “Stossel” to do battle with the show’s Libertarian host — and his 1,400+ Libertarian guests.

Their biggest point of contention? Social Conservatism versus the Libertarian “Individuals Should Be Left Alone” approach.

The evening began pleasantly enough, the two discussing whether the U.S. should’ve invaded Iraq following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Coulter believes military action was justified because Saddam Hussein was “definitely looking for uranium from Niger.”

But then things became a little more heated when Stossel decided to shift gears and brought up legalizing drugs.

“Libertarians and pot,” Coulter laughed. “This is why people think libertarians are pu**ies.”

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Video: John Brennan, Alleged Obama Blackmailer, Gaining Dictatorial Power?

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Photo Credit: roberthuffstutterFor anyone who has done even a cursory study of Barack Obama’s life, they know that his radical Marxist views are not a recent phenomenon. They probably go back to his Occidental days, most definitely to the New York years, where he attended at least two (and probably three) of the annual Socialist Scholars Conferences held in Manhattan.

This leftist bent continued with his association in the 1990s with the Marxist New Party; socialist-funding groups like the Woods Fund (where Obama, with Bill Ayers at the helm, doled out money to groups like ACORN); and his later connection to the anti-Iraq War movement, anti-torture movement, anti-drone movement, etc.

So when Obama ascended to power, none of us who had been doing even basic research on Obama were surprised when he surrounded himself with a gaggle of leftist ideologues. But like those picture games kids play where the question is asked “What doesn’t belong?”, it was extremely odd when Obama in 2008 put John Brennan at the top of the list to head the CIA.

For years, as part of the CIA, Brennan was knee-deep in Bush’s use of waterboarding and psychotropic drugs to gain information. He was a proponent of the Iraq War, a proponent of drones to carry out assassinations, and a Republican—all things Obama and his leftist base have fought against for years.

And Obama’s leftist base was livid and demanded that Brennan’s name be withdrawn from consideration for CIA head.

Watch video:

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13,753 Gov’t Requests for Google E-Mail Data in 2012, Most Without a Warrant

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Photo Credit: APAmerican government agencies – state, local, and federal — made a record 13,753 requests to read emails or gather other information sent through Google’s Gmail and other services in 2012, more than half without warrants, according to statistics released by Google.

The total number of users about whom government agencies wanted information also set a record at 31,072, up from 23,300 in 2011, the first year Google began reporting the data. The discrepancy comes because government agencies request information on multiple users or accounts at the same time.

Most of these 13,753 requests, 6,542 of 8,438 in the latter half of 2012 alone, were done without a search warrant, Google data show. Google did not make available any detailed data prior to June 2012, nor did it make available which requests came from the federal government and which came from state or local law enforcement agencies, when asked by CNSNews.com.

Google spokesman Chris Gaither said the company only started tracking which type of legal authority – subpoena, court order, or search warrant – was used in the latter half of 2012. Google issues biannual reports on the requests for user data it receives from government agencies from around the world, including ones in the U.S.

Google announced in June 2012 that it had 425 million active Gmail subscribers, making it the largest e-mail provider in the world. It also provides users the ability to store documents via its Google Drive service, phone service via Google Voice, YouTube, personal blogs via Blogger, as well as email hosting services for corporate clients through Gmail.

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Obama Skirting Congress In Globalist Plan?

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Photo Credit: WNDThe Obama administration appears determined to ram through Congress a key part of a grandiose trade plan that transcends the vision for a “North American Union,” encompassing both Europe and Pacific Rim nations.

As WND reported, President Obama declared in his State of the Union address his intent to complete negotiations for a Trans-Pacific Partnership and announced the launch of talks “on a comprehensive Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership with the European Union.”

It was the first time a decision by the U.S. Trade Representative within the White House to expand negotiations to create a free trade zone with Pacific Rim countries was made public, along with a similar initiative with EU countries.

To implement the newly contemplated Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade agreement, or FTA, the administration apparently plans to restrict congressional prerogatives to an up-or-down vote.

The issue centers on “fast-track authority,” a provision under the Trade Promotion Authority that requires Congress to review an FTA under limited debate, in an accelerated time frame subject to a yes-or-no vote.

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Bob Goodlatte: No Need For Citizenship Path

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Photo Credit: APThe chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, who will be deeply involved with House efforts on an immigration bill, said this week that he opposes a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants currently in the United States.

When asked on an NPR program this week whether he supported an eventual path to citizenship for that group of people — numbering about 11 million — Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) responded, “I do not.”

Goodlatte will play a central role in shaping a House version of immigration legislation because of his committee position. A bipartisan group of senators and President Barack Obama have already outlined their visions of how to reform the country’s immigration system, and both proposals include pathways to citizenship.

“People have a pathway to citizenship right now: It’s to abide by the immigration laws, and if they have a family relationship, if they have a job skill that allows them to do that, they can obtain citizenship,” Goodlatte said, according to an NPR story and audio clip posted Thursday. “But simply someone who broke the law, came here, [to] say, ‘I’ll give you citizenship now,’ that I don’t think is going to happen.”

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