Lawsuit Exposes NYC Church's Two Billion Dollar Assets

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Photo Credit: Michael NagleThere has never been any doubt that Trinity Church is wealthy. But the extent of its wealth has long been a mystery; guessed at by many, known by few.

Now, however, after a lawsuit filed by a disenchanted parishioner, the church has offered an estimate of the value of its assets: more than $2 billion.

The Episcopal parish, known as Trinity Wall Street, traces its holdings to a gift of 215 acres of prime Manhattan farmland donated in 1705 by Queen Anne of England. Since then, the church has parlayed that gift into a rich portfolio of office buildings, stock investments and, soon, mixed-use residential development.

The parish’s good fortune has become an issue in the historic congregation, which has been racked by infighting in recent years over whether the church should be spending more money to help the poor and spread the faith, in New York and around the world. Differences over the parish’s mission and direction last year led nearly half the 22-member vestry — an august collection of corporate executives and philanthropists — to resign or be pushed out, after at least seven of them asked, unsuccessfully, that the rector himself step down.

Over the years, the church has sold or given away much of the original 215 acres from Queen Anne, but it has 14 acres, including 5.5 million square feet of commercial real estate.

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Feds Now Seek Punitive Fines Against Tech Companies Who Won't Eavesdrop on Internet Users

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Photo Credit: Truthout.orgA government task force is preparing legislation that would pressure companies such as Face­book and Google to enable law enforcement officials to intercept online communications as they occur, according to current and former U.S. officials familiar with the effort.

Driven by FBI concerns that it is unable to tap the Internet communications of terrorists and other criminals, the task force’s proposal would penalize companies that failed to heed wiretap orders — court authorizations for the government to intercept suspects’ communications.

Rather than antagonizing companies whose cooperation they need, federal officials typically back off when a company is resistant, industry and former officials said. But law enforcement officials say the cloak drawn on suspects’ online activities — what the FBI calls the “going dark” problem — means that critical evidence can be missed.

“The importance to us is pretty clear,” Andrew Weissmann, the FBI’s general counsel, said last month at an American Bar Association discussion on legal challenges posed by new technologies. “We don’t have the ability to go to court and say, ‘We need a court order to effectuate the intercept.’ Other countries have that. Most people assume that’s what you’re getting when you go to a court.”

There is currently no way to wiretap some of these communications methods easily, and companies effectively have been able to avoid complying with court orders.

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Mormon Church Approves Boy Scout's New Homosexual Policy

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Photo Credit: APBoy Scouts of America leaders recently received a boost for their proposed policy on gays from a powerful stakeholder — the Mormon church.

“We are satisfied that BSA has made a thoughtful, good-faith effort to address issues that, as they have said, remain ‘among the most complex and challenging issues facing the BSA and society today,’ ” the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) said in a statement.

This means the church is satisfied with “both the process and the proposal,” LDS spokesman Eric Hawkins said Friday, referring to the BSA’s proposed policy to permit openly gay youth — but not openly gay adults — to be members.

The Mormon support bolsters the chances that the BSA’s national council will adopt its proposed policy when it meets May 22-24 in Texas, since the LDS Church sponsors some 500,000 youth members and nearly 40,000 packs, troops and crews.

Under current BSA membership standards, the 103-year-old organization does not ask anyone about sexual orientation, but disallows people to be part of Scouting if they are open or avowed homosexuals.

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Israeli Minister: Nuclear Iran is Like 30 Nuclear North Koreas (+video)

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Photo Credit: YouTubeInternational Relations Minister Yuval Steinitz warned on Sunday that Iran having a nuclear weapon would be equal to “thirty nuclear North Koreas”.

“We have the right and the ability to defend ourselves,” he said in a speech at the Jerusalem Post Conference in New York. “The cooperation with the United States is very important but ultimately each country will make its own decisions on maintaining its security,” said Steinitz, stressing that “Israel can deal with any threat.”

80 years ago, said Steinitz, “only one person identified on time and warned the world against the rearmament of Nazi Germany. This was Winston Churchill, but people refused to listen. Some people even mocked him.”

Watch video here:

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South Carolina Woman Accused of Using Ambulance as Taxi – at Least 100 Times

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Photo Credit: extranoiseA South Carolina woman was arrested after authorities discovered she called 911 at least 100 times in the past seven years to get rides into Charleston, the Dorchester County Sheriff’s Office says.

Audrey Ferguson, 51, allegedly faked illnesses and would immediately sign out of area hospitals upon arrival, telling doctors she was fine, WCSC reports.

“She’ll have a vague medical complaint; for instance, abdominal pain,” Dorchester County EMS Director Doug Warren said. “She has medical complaints that are legitimate, and so until she’s been evaluated and determined not to be sick, we have to assume she is.”

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Driver Charged in Killing of Orthodox Jewish Couple Says 'Accidents Happen'

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Photo Credit: APThe hit-and-run ex-con charged with mowing down a young Orthodox Jewish couple in New York last month, killing them and their unborn child, said “accidents happen,” in his first remarks about that death-filled day.

Julio Acevedo, 44, told WABC in a jailhouse interview he was deeply sorry, but insisted he was not speeding down a Brooklyn street, as alleged — and that the cabbie ferrying Nachman Glauber and his pregnant wife Raizy Glauber on March 3 ran a stop sign and thus deserves an equal measure of fault in the tragedy.

“I can’t bring ’em back; it was an accident,” Julio Acevedo reportedly said, “I apologize deeply.”

“I’m made out to be the monster in all this . . . Sure I played a part. I couldn’t stop. Accidents happen. I’m sad. It was a tragedy. Let’s ask the cab driver why did he run the stop sign.”

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Palin Slams the 'DC Assclowns' at the 'Pathetic' White House Correspondents' Dinner

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During the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner, Obama made a number of self-deprecating jokes. He mentioned that he was “not the strapping young Muslim Socialist that [he] used to be,” and suggested that casino magnate Sheldon Adelson could have assured Romney of victory if he had simply offered to buy Obama out of the presidency for “$100 million,” rather than spending money on political ads.

Obama also joked that he was taking his “charm offensive on the road; a Texas barbeque with Ted Cruz, a Kentucky bluegrass concert with Rand Paul, and a book-burning with Michele Bachmann.”

Palin slammed the whole affair, tweeting, “That #WHCD was pathetic. The rest of America is out there working our asses off while these DC assclowns throw themselves a #nerdprom.”


In a Facebook post she said, “Yuk it up media and pols. While America is buried in taxes and a fight for our rights, the permanent political class in DC dresses up and has a prom to make fun of themselves. No need for that, we get the real joke.”

The National Journal’s Ron Fournier observed:

Washington never looks more out of touch than it will this weekend, when movie stars, music moguls, media mavens and their advertisers join President Obama at the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.

Obama: Pass My Budget or Suffer More 'Pain' (+video)

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Photo Credit: YouTubeIn his weekly address, Pres. Obama threatened Americans with more sequester “pain” if they don’t convince Congress to pass his budget.

First, Obama exploited the sequester’s effect on children, the elderly, and airline travelers:

“Because of these reckless cuts, there are parents whose kids just got kicked out of Head Start programs scrambling for a solution. There are seniors who depend on programs like Meals on Wheels to live independently looking for help. There are military communities – families that have already sacrificed enough – coping under new strains. All because of these cuts.”

“This week, the sequester hurt travelers, who were stuck for hours in airports and on planes, and rightly frustrated by it.”

And, there’s more pain on the horizon, Obama warned: “These cuts are scheduled to keep falling across other parts of the government that provide vital services for the American people.”

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Report: Hillary Clinton Lied Twice Under Oath

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Photo Credit: IIP StateA new congressional report indicates former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton may have lied under oath at least twice during her Benghazi testimony. On September 11, 2012 four Americans including U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens were killed in a terrorist attack by militants linked to al-Qaida and Ansar al-Sharia. Militants stormed the U.S. consulate building in Benghazi, Libya with rockets and machine guns; Stevens and four other Americans died.

Stevens became the first U.S. Ambassador since 1988 to die in office. And CIA employees and former Navy SEALs Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty were both killed despite the fact that the U.S. military had almost seven hours to send them back-up assistance.

Hillary Hyperbole #1: She Didn’t See or Approve Cables Requesting Support In Libya

Obama’s White House and Clinton’s State Department knew of the danger to Stevens for months and did nothing about it. On August 16, Stevens sent a cable notifying Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the State Department of an anticipated “coordinated attack” that the consulate would not be able to manage without backup support. Clinton’s State Department did not take proactive measures to respond.

On the day of the attack, reports indicate that the CIA initially denied requests from its own personnel for backup assistance at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi and later at the CIA annex or safe house. When support finally arrived, it was too late.
This January, Clinton testified that: “I have made it very clear that the security cables did not come to my attention…” and “I didn’t see those requests. They didn’t come to me. I didn’t approve them. I didn’t deny them.”

But a new congressional report shows that Clinton did indeed sign an April, 2012 State Department cable acknowledging formal requests for help. So, she DID know of various cables requesting assistance in Libya. Reporter @SharylAtkisson tweeted that while Clinton knew of these requests for aid, she “ordered the withdrawal of elements to proceed as planned.” Worse yet, the report indicates that Obama’s White House and State Department literally changed their talking points in order to cover for Clinton. Specifically: “…. to remove references to likely participation of Islamic extremists in attacks, references to threat of extremists linked to al Qaeda…,” according to the report.

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Robertsons of 'Duck Dynasty' Hit the Road for Faith (+video)

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Photo Credit: The TennesseanIt took only days for famed Florida Gators quarterback Tim Tebow to sell out a Nashville lecture at Lipscomb University in 2010.

“Duck Dynasty’s” Robertson family did the same thing this year. Only they did it three times over.

They’re so popular, Lipscomb has to have one of their appearances for the Don Meyer Evening of Excellence in the afternoon.

Friday night marked at least the third time since December a member of the popular A&E reality-show clan took a Nashville stage to spread hunting tips and their brand of “happy, happy, happy” Christianity, to steal a phrase family patriarch Phil Robertson made popular. He’ll speak again this afternoon and tonight with wife Kay and brother Si.

Their third-season finale Wednesday set an A&E series record with nearly 10 million viewers. More in the Nashville market watched “Duck Dynasty” than any other show that day, said Mark Binda, program and research director for WTVF-Channel 5.

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