Tsarnaev Family Received $100K in Benefits (+video)

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Photo Credit: Reuters The Tsarnaev family, including the suspected terrorists and their parents, benefited from more than $100,000 in taxpayer-funded assistance — a bonanza ranging from cash and food stamps to Section 8 housing from 2002 to 2012, the Herald has learned.

“The breadth of the benefits the family was receiving was stunning,” said a person with knowledge of documents handed over to a legislative committee today.

The state has handed over more than 500 documents to the 11-member House Post Audit and Oversight Committee, which today met for the first time and plans to call in officials from the Department of Transitional Assistance to testify. Read more from this story HERE.

The following video footage reflects that the suspected bombers weren’t exactly living in poverty:

They Say Success has Many Fathers, but Benghazi Libya is the Orphan on the White House Step

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Photo Credit: Irish CentralThis snippet from a CNN feature story after the fall of Libya’s strongman Moammar Gadhafi put the whole gambit in Libya into proper political perspective:

“The fall of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi is a significant foreign policy triumph for U.S. President Barrack Obama.” It further went on to say “Gadhafi’s utter defeat seemingly put new wind in the sails of humanitarian intervention.”

This was to be the “good” foreign policy military intervention for the administration to show us how it’s done.

Hillary Clinton sealed the deal for the removal of Gadahfi when she stated: “left unchecked, Gadahfi will commit unspeakable atrocities.”

National Security Council Senior Director Samantha Power, led the drafting of PSD-10, the Presidential Study Directive on Mass Atrocities, used as the policy justification to topple Gadahfi.

So there was a lot of prestige riding on the decision to remove Gadahfi by the Obama administration and see a triumphant Libya blossom under a new government.

Although Gadahfi was brutal in his attempts to stifle dissension, there were also many reasons to leave the country alone and let it settle its own differences without interfering.

Gadahfi had become an ally in the terror war and was providing valuable intelligence to us …He had even given up his nuclear ambitions to show his sincerity. Under Gadahfis 40 year rule, Libya became one of the most prosperous and peaceful countries in Africa.

But the decision was made to get rid of Gadahfi by the Obama administration. After his regime collapsed, his arsenals were left unguarded and an estimated 20 thousand shoulder launched missiles and countless high powered weapons, were let into the hands of terrorists and extremists. Israel reported these missiles were right on their border.

Military experts say to leave these arsenals unguarded was a grievous error in planning and should have been taken into account by the Obama administration when they moved to help topple Gadahfi.

The looting of the arsenals was downplayed and ominously, so was the emergence of strong militant groups linked to Al Qaeda and Islamic radicals, evidently unforeseen by the Obama administration.

But to give the air of success and normalcy, especially with a presidential election on the horizon, evidently it was felt best to keep a low profile for embassy security in Libya….In spite of repeated requests by the soon to be murdered ambassador Stevens for more force to protect him.

Eight months after the attack on our consulate, many of the key players involved in the decisions on Libya have distanced themselves from the administration. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has retired, so have Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and CIA Director David Petraeus. Senior National Security Advisor, Samantha Power & UN Ambassador Susan Rice, both resigned to “spend more time with their families.” Many of the top military commanders in that region of the world have been replaced.

Eight months after the murder of our ambassador and 3 other Americans, no one has been brought to justice, as President Obama promised.

With the announcement of new Congressional hearings on Benghazi coming at the beginning of May and the promise whistle blowers will be testifying, perhaps we will be seeing someone brought to justice soon.

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Ed Farnan is the conservative columnist at IrishCentral, where he has been writing on the need for energy independence, strong self defense, secure borders, 2nd amendment, smaller government and many other issues. His articles appear in many publications throughout the USA and world. He has been a guest on Fox News and a regular guest on radio stations in the US and Europe.

Discovery News: Six Inch ‘Space Alien’ Remains Turn Out to be Human

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Photo Credit: SIRIUS, YOUTUBE SCREEN CAPTUREA teensy skeleton with a squashed alien-like head may have earthly origins, but the remains, found in the Atacama Desert a decade ago, do make for quite a medical mystery.

Apparently when the mummified specimen was discovered, some had suggested the possibility it was an alien that had somehow landed on Earth, though the researchers involved never suggested this otherworldly origin.

Now, DNA and other tests suggest the individual was a human and was 6 to 8 years of age when he or she died. Even so, the remains were just 6 inches (15 centimeters) long.

While the jury is out regarding the mutations that cause the deformity, and there is a real discrepancy in how we account for the apparent age of the bones … every nucleotide I’ve been able to look at is human,” researcher Garry Nolan, professor of microbiology and immunology at Stanford School of Medicine, told LiveScience. “I’ve only scratched the surface in the analysis. But there is nothing that jumps out so far as to scream ‘nonhuman.'”

Read more from this story HERE.

Arizona Lawmakers Pass Bill Making Silver, Gold Legal Tender

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Photo Credit: Reuters The Arizona Senate on Tuesday approved a measure to make gold and silver legal currency in the state, in a response to what backers said was a lack of confidence in the international monetary system.

The legislation cleared the Republican-controlled Senate by an 18-10 vote after being approved by the state House earlier this month. It now goes to Republican Governor Jan Brewer, who has not indicated if she will sign it into law or veto it.

The bill calls for Arizona to make gold and silver coins and bullion legal tender beginning in mid-2014, joining existing U.S. currency issued by the federal government.

If signed into law, Arizona would become the second state in the nation to establish these precious metals as legal tender. Utah approved such legislation in 2011.

More than a dozen states have considered similar legislation in recent years, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Read more from this story HERE.

Obama: ‘I Don’t Want These Individuals to Die,’ Seeks Closure of Guantanamo

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Photo Credit: IndyDina with Mr. WonderfulPresident Barack Obama on Tuesday renewed his pledge to close the prison for terrorist suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, but the impediments that have thwarted him thus far remain.

At a White House news conference, Obama said he would try to persuade Congress to end restrictions that have prevented him from closing the facility. The president’s comments followed the arrival Monday of medical reinforcements at the U.S. naval prison to help deal with a hunger strike by about 100 of the 166 detainees there. The forced feeding of detainees has refocused human rights concerns on the issue.

“I don’t want these individuals to die,” Obama told reporters.

He added that the situation was “not sustainable” and that he had asked advisers to review it. He also said he would press the issue with lawmakers.

“I’m going to re-engage with Congress to try to make the case that this is not something that’s in the best interest of the American people,” he said.

Read more from this story HERE.

Obama Claims Ignorance of Admin. Pressure on Benghazi Survivors Not to Testify (+video)

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During the President’s press conference today, a Fox News reporter directly ask Obama about his knowledge of the administration’s ongoing efforts to block the testimony of Benghazi’s survivors:

“… there are people in your own State Department saying they have been blocked from coming forward, that they survived the terror attack and they want to tell their story. Will you help them come forward and say it once and for all?”

Obama responded that, although he was “not familiar with this notion that anybody has been blocked from testifying,” he would “find out what exactly you’re referring to.”

The President continued, “What I’ve been very clear about from the start is that our job, with respect to Benghazi has been to find out exactly what happened, to make sure that U.S. embassies, not just in the Middle East but around the world, are safe and secure, and to bring those who carried it out to justice. But I’ll find out, what exactly you’re referring to.”

The Fox News reporter then pointed out that the Benghazi whistle-blowers “hired an attorney because they say they’ve been blocked from coming forward.”

Obama insisted that he was “not familiar with it.”

First Brown Bear Attack of the Season

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Photo Credit: __Wichid__A brown bear attacked a well-known area biologist and birder while he was watching birds at the Kasilof River beach on Sunday afternoon with his family.

Alaska State Troopers said the bear first attacked a vehicle and a telephone pole before attacking Toby Burke, 48, a biological technician at the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge.

Burke did not do anything to provoke the bear and suffered bruising on his arm from the brief attack, said Megan Peters, Alaska State Troopers spokesperson. Emergency medical services examined Burke’s arm and said he was fine. Burke declined further medical attention, Peters said.

“The man was very lucky,” Peters said. “… He was able to walk away and go home.”

Multiple residents called troopers about the oddly behaving bear on the beach. One trooper and two Alaska Wildlife Troopers responded. Troopers shot and killed the bear after it charged them from beyond the tree line where they were patrolling and where the bear had last been seen.

Read more from this story HERE.

Coming Out Courage? NBA Star Who Admitted He Was Homosexual Lied to Girlfriend, Put Her at Risk For AIDS

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By Debbie Schlussel. What’s more “courageous”–telling the world you are gay when your NBA career is dying and you need some buzz to revive it and get picked up by a new team? Or telling your girlfriend that you are gay before you have sex with her, put her at risk for AIDS, and then ask her to marry you?

Well, Jason Collins–whom the media and the unelected conventional wisdom purveyors of the world have declared “courageous!” for telling us he has sex with men–chose not to do the latter. He repeatedly lied to, had sex with, and then asked his girlfriend, Carolyn Moos, to marry him, and she accepted. They were together for EIGHT years. EIGHT. And this fraud never once told her he’s gay.

It ain’t like we’re in the age of “The Brady Bunch,” and Robert Reed has to pretend he’s hetero, get married, and father a daughter to keep his starring role as Mike Brady. No, we’re in an age in America–and have been for at least a decade or two–in which Jason Collins could have done the right thing and not led a woman on, possibly exposing her to AIDS–because he probably went on the “down-low” and also had sex with men while he was with her. (“The down-low” is the slang term in the Black community for men who are secretly gay and have gay sex but date or marry women.)

Eight years of deception. Eight years of lying to this chick. And this is “courage”? Hilarious. Read more from this story HERE.

Football preparing the ground for first gay players

By Simon Evans. They’re big, they’re tough, and, presumably, some of them are gay, but so far not a single active NFL player has come out and said so. After NBA player Jason Collins broke that barrier this week, the National Football League is making sure it will be ready for any coming out party.

Earlier this year, at least three college football players said they had been asked about their sexual orientation during NFL recruitment interviews, sparking calls for the NFL to do more to fight discrimination.

Just hours before Collins’ coming out statement was published by Sports Illustrated on Tuesday, the NFL – America’s most popular sport, with $9 billion a year in revenue – released a ‘workplace conduct statement’ regarding sexual orientation.

“The NFL has a long history of valuing diversity and inclusion. Discrimination and harassment based on sexual orientation is not consistent with our values and is unacceptable in the National Football League,” league commissioner Roger Goodell says in the document.

League spokesman Greg Aiello told Reuters that the timing of the release was purely coincidental and that the document had been worked on for several weeks with no advance notice given to the NFL about Collins’s impending statement. Read more from this story HERE.

FDA Lowers Age for Buyers of Plan B Pill to 15

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Photo Credit: APIn a surprise twist to the decade-plus effort to ease access to morning-after pills, the government is lowering the age limit to 15 for one brand – Plan B One-Step – and will let it be sold over the counter.

Today, Plan B and its generic competition are sold behind pharmacy counters, and people must prove they’re 17 or older to buy the emergency contraception without a prescription. A federal judge had ordered an end to those sales restrictions by next Monday.

But Tuesday, the Food and Drug Administration approved a different approach: Plan B could sit on drugstore shelves next to condoms, spermicides or other women’s health products – but to make the purchase, buyers must prove they’re 15 or older at the cash register.

Manufacturer Teva Women’s Health, which had applied for the compromise path, said it planned to make the switch in a few months.

The question is whether Tuesday’s action settles the larger court fight. Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Edward Korman of New York blasted the Obama administration for imposing the age-17 limit, saying it had let election-year politics trump science and were making it hard for women of any age to obtain emergency contraception in time for it to work.

Read more from this story HERE.

Legal Group Launches Domestic Drone Information Center

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Photo Credit: APOn Tuesday, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) announced the launch of its Domestic Drone Information Center to act as a hub for its effort to aggregate public data on unmanned aircraft systems.

The impending deadline of the Federal Aviation Administration’s integration of domestic unmanned aircraft systems — more popularly known as drones — into U.S. national airspace continues to hold the public imagination and raise questions about the technology’s privacy implications.

“Domestic drones have many potential positive applications – e.g., traffic mapping, monitoring agriculture, weather forecasting — but it is vital that their use be regulated,” reads the statement from NACDL.

Read more from this story HERE.