Liberal Law Professor Turley: Obama Broke the Law (+video)

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Photo Credit: Pete SouzaBy Brendan Bordelon.

George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley said Monday that he doesn’t believe there’s much debate over whether the White House broke the law by releasing five high-ranking Taliban prisoners from Guantanamo Bay without congressional notification — noting that not even the White House is seriously arguing that it is not violating federal law.

Turley spoke with CNN anchor Carol Costello on Monday about the weekend prisoner swap, which saw Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl released from Taliban custody in exchange for five top-ranking Taliban officials held at Gitmo. Republicans in Congress have already accused the White House of ignoring a law requiring a 30-day notification before any prisoners are transferred from the high-security Caribbean prison, and have promised to hold hearings on the issue.

“Did the White House violate federal law?” Costello asked Turley.

“They did,” the professor replied matter-of-factly. “I don’t think that the White House is seriously arguing that they’re not violating federal law. And to make matters worse, this is a long series of violations of federal law that the president’s been accused of. … This is going to add to that pile. I don’t think there’s much debate that they’re in violation of the law.”

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Photo Credit: AP / U.S. Army, FilePentagon Knew Bergdahl’s Whereabouts But Didn’t Risk Rescue for ‘Deserter’

By Guy Taylor / Washington Times.

The Pentagon on several occasions had ground-level intelligence on where ArmySgt. Bowe Bergdahl was being held captive at various times — down to how many gunmen were guarding him — but special operations commanders repeatedly shelved rescue missions because they didn’t want to risk casualties for a man they believed to be a “deserter,” sources familiar with the mission plans said.

Commanders on the ground debated whether to pull the trigger on a rescue several times in recent years, according to one of the sources, a former high-level intelligence official in Afghanistan, who said the conclusion each time was that the prospect of losing highly trained troops was too high a price to pay for rescuing a soldier who walked away from his unit before being captured by the enemy.

A second source told The Washington Times that the rescue operation plans were “high risk” and became even less attractive in recent months when officials in the Pentagon’s Joint Special Operations Command grew convinced that the Taliban and the militant Haqqani network, whose operatives were holding Sgt. Bergdahl, were eager to cut a deal for his release.

“Joint Special Operations Command always had the rescue mission on the table and it was entirely under their ownership, but the big question centered on whether Bergdahl was somebody you risk lives for when you still have time and space to maneuver diplomatically,” said the source, a high-level congressional aide, who, like the former intelligence official, spoke only on the condition of anonymity.

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VIDEO: Terrorists Released From Guantanamo Bay Get a ‘Heroes’ Welcome’ in Qatar

By Soopermexican / IJ Review.

Boy, nothing warms the cockles of your heart like watching grinning, happy terrorists hailed as heroes after being released from Guantanamo Bay by our feckless president…

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Obama’s Master Plan

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Photo Credit: TownHall One might think that when a President is reeling from a scandal (VA) that has all sides of the political spectrum screaming for heads to roll and for criminal charges against government employees, that his Administration would take a break and wait for the air to clear. But no, not when you are a true believer, and that is what Barack Obama has finally shown himself to all to be.

In one very short period, the President has tossed the Israeli government over the side, pushed for radical environmental rules that will by the EPA’s own estimates lower the earth’s temperature a fraction of a degree by the end of this century, gone in front of the graduating class of West Point and told them his goal is to make them superfluous, told the military he is capitulating on a war he himself stated was just and escalated in 2009, and now has released five top terrorists for what clearly is a soldier who deserted.

The mind-numbing series of events happened so quickly that no one really strung them together. It was only after the harsh response to the swap of five top Taliban terrorists for Bowe Bergdahl that people started to get clarity…

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Miss USA Hopeful: I’m the Product Of a Rape

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Photo Credit: Getty Images A stunning Miss USA hopeful revealed Thursday that she was conceived when her mother was attacked and raped at knifepoint when she was 19 years old…

At a very young age, her mother told her: “Something bad happened to me. A very bad man hurt me, but God gave me you,” she said on the “Today” show.

Gatto’s mom kept the pregnancy a secret and intended to give her baby up for adoption.

But Gatto’s great-grandmother encouraged the new mom to keep her bundle of joy. “God doesn’t give you more than you can handle,” her great-grandmother said, according to Gatto’s online bio.

Now the pageant contestant uses the traumatic experience to teach others about the reality of sexual violence.

Read more from this story HERE.

Was Michelle Obama Elected President, Too? First Lady Corrects Misstep (+video)

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Photo Credit: AP / Stephan SavoiaFirst lady Michelle Obama got a little carried away with her title Monday, correcting herself after suggesting to supporters that she, too, got elected in 2008.

At a Democratic fundraiser in Boston, Mrs. Obama asked the audience to remember “when we took office.”

Then she said, “Well, when Barack took office and I was there.”

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Ted Cruz: ‘Obama’s Lawlessness’ Responsible for Spike in Illegal Immigration

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Photo Credit: Breitbart By Kristin Tate.

A sharp spike in illegal immigration has caused facilities and resources along the U.S.-Mexico border to become overwhelmed. As a result, U.S. Border Patrol has been releasing thousands of illegal immigrants onto U.S. soil each week. Some released immigrants are even criminals–as Breitbart Texas previously reported, more than 36,000 convicted criminal illegal aliens were released by U.S. authorities in 2013 alone.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz told Breitbart Texas that this “humanitarian crisis” is a “direct consequence” of the Obama Administration’s actions and rhetoric surrounding illegal immigration.

“We need a president who is willing to uphold the law,” Cruz said. “On issue after issue the Obama Administration has openly ignored, defied, and unilaterally tried to change the law. With respect to securing the border, the Obama Administration has handcuffed the courageous men and women who serve in Border Patrol. Morale in ICE is at an all-time low because the political operatives leading this Administration are preventing them from doing their job and upholding the law.”

He continued, “Just a few months before the last election the president illegally and unconstitutionally granted amnesty to some 800,000 people illegally. If the president wants to change federal immigration laws, the Constitution lays out a way to do so–you go and make your case to Congress and you convince Congress to change the laws…unfortunately for President Obama, following the Constitutional structure is apparently too cumbersome. One of the consequences were seeing on the border is a humanitarian crisis that is a direct consequence of Obama’s lawlessness.”

Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: AP / Rex C. CurryTexas will lead fight for freedom, Cruz tells GOP convention

By Kevin Diaz.

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz told an ecstatic crowd at the Texas Republican Convention that their freedom is being threatened by a lawless president who has shown weakness abroad and overstepped his boundaries at home.

The first-term Texas senator, an oft-mentioned potential White House contender, offered up a full-throated indictment of President Obama and the Democrats in Congress, prompting sustained cheers and calls of “Run, Ted!”

“Today liberty is under assault like never before,” Cruz thundered as he paced the large, open stage. “And again today Texans will stand up and lead the fight for freedom.”

The line could serve as a reference to Cruz and fellow Texas native Rand Paul, the Kentucky senator who will follow him on the stage later in the day as a possible rival for conservatives’ affection in the run-up to the battle for the GOP presidential nomination in 2016.

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Six Soldiers Who Served with Bergdahl Come to Chilling Consensus in Riveting Interview

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Megyn Kelly interview with members of Bergdahl’s platoon

By Caroline Schaeffer.

Megyn Kelly hosted 6 members of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl’s platoon to discuss their reactions to the Bergdahl situation, and they were unanimous in their explanations of what they saw: Bergdahl deserted, he sought out the Taliban, and he deserves a court martial.

Read more from this story HERE.
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Photo Credit: GettyFeinstein Says She’s Seen No Evidence that Taliban Would Have Killed Bergdahl

By Jonathan Topaz.

Senate Intelligence Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein said she has not seen any evidence that the Taliban would have killed Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl if details of an agreement had leaked, contrary to what Obama administration officials have said.

When asked whether there was a “credible threat” on Bergdahl’s life if word had gotten out, the California Democrat responded: “No, I don’t think there was a credible threat, but I don’t know. I have no information that there was.”

Feinstein’s comments, part of an interview with Bloomberg Television’s Political Capital with Al Hunt airing Friday evening, put her at odds with White House officials. At a briefing Wednesday, administration officials told lawmakers that they couldn’t give Congress advance notice on the Bergdahl deal because the Taliban vowed to kill him if any details about the prisoner exchange came out.

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Photo Credit: WNDShrink questions sanity of Bergdahl AND Obama

By Drew Zahn.

A prominent psychotherapist and author has publicly questioned the mental stability of both Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl and the U.S. president who traded five terrorists back to the Taliban to secure Bergdahl’s release.

Dr. Gina Loudon is host of “Smart Life with Dr. Gina” on Money Biz Life Network and has appeared on or been cited by the BBC, ABC, CNN, New York Times, Fox News and more. Her columns also appear regularly on WND.

Earlier this week, Loudon told Lou Dobbs on Fox Business Network’s “Lou Dobbs Tonight” that Bergdahl’s anti-American rhetoric doesn’t suggest someone suffering from torture or even “Stockholm Syndrome,” but rather the mind of a man whose thinking had been twisted long before his capture by the Taliban.

She also suggested President Obama may relate to Bergdahl’s “anti-colonialist” rantings, and his recent “erratic” behavior may not be what we “deem sane.”

Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: APIt worked: White House Bowe Bergdahl story took attention off Veterans Affairs scandal, deaths

By Paul Bedard.

It probably didn’t work out exactly as hoped, but the White House’s controversial trade of five hardened Taliban for a U.S. POW diverted the mainstream media’s attention away from the escalating Veterans Affairs Department scandal that threatened President Obama’s reputation with veterans.

According to a new report from the Center for Media Research, the VA story that dominated the news prior to the prisoner swap for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl was reduced to a mere 2 minutes and 16 seconds over all three networks over the last week, said the conservative media watchdog.

Read more from this story HERE.
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Photo Credit: IJ Review Just What We Feared: Freed Taliban Leader Vows To Return To His Reign Of Terror

By Caroline Schaeffer.

One of the five freed Taliban members has vowed to return to Afghanistan so that he can fight Americans, according to a fellow militant and family member. For the next 12 months, Noorullah Noori will be monitored by the Qatari government, but after that time he plans to return to Afghanistan.

NBC News reports a family member has been in touch with the network to share Noori’s threats.

“After arriving in Qatar, Noorullah Noori kept insisting he would go to Afghanistan and fight American forces there,” a Taliban commander told NBC News via telephone from Afghanistan.

Read more from this story HERE.

Judge Orders NSA To Stop Destroying Evidence — For The Third Time

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Photo Credit: REUTERS / Pawel KopczynskiBy Giuseppe Macri.

A federal judge has ordered the government to stop destroying National Security Agency surveillance records that could be used to challenge the legality of its spying programs in court.

U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey White’s ruling came at the request of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which is in the midst of a case challenging NSA’s ability to surveil foreign citizen’s U.S.-based email and social media accounts.

According to the EFF, the signals intelligence agency and the Department of Justice were knowingly destroying key evidence in the case by purposefully misinterpreting earlier preservation orders by multiple courts, multiple times.

In February, the DOJ asked the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to keep metadata beyond the five-year retention limit to address pending lawsuits from organizations like EFF and the American Civil Liberties Union, which alleged NSA illegally surveilled their clients.

According to multiple accounts, the DOJ made a purposefully flawed case for keeping such records, fully expecting FISA Court Judge Reggie Walton to forbid such retention. He did, which allowed the DOJ to tell plaintiffs that the evidence of their surveillance had to be destroyed.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: APCellphone operator reveals scale of gov’t snooping

By Associated Press.

Vodafone, one of the world’s largest cellphone companies, revealed the scope of government snooping into phone networks Friday, saying authorities in some countries are able to directly access an operator’s network without seeking permission.

The company outlined the details in a report that is described as the first of its kind, covering 29 countries — in Europe, Africa and Asia — in which it directly operates. It gives the most comprehensive look to date on how governments monitor the mobile phone communications of their citizens.

The most explosive revelation was that in a small number of countries, authorities require direct access to an operator’s network — bypassing legal niceties like warrants. It did not name the countries.

“In those countries, Vodafone will not receive any form of demand for lawful interception access as the relevant agencies and authorities already have permanent access to customer communications via their own direct link,” the report said.

Read more from this story HERE.

Obama Reminds the Greatest Generation How He’s Changing the Military (+video)

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Photo Credit: AP / Charles DharapakAt a ceremony commemorating some of the bravest Americans of World War II, President Barack Obama reminded the “greatest generation” how the U.S. military has changed under his command, by slipping in references to immigrants and women.

Speaking at Normandy, President Barack Obama singled out three veterans who stormed the beaches under heavy fire.

These were “the men who were willing to lay down their lives for people they never met,” Obama said. “Wilson and Harry and Rock, they are here today,” the president continued, as he briefly described their service to their country.

“Gentlemen, I want each of you to know that your legacy is in good hands,” he told the three men. “For at a time when it has never been more tempting to pursue narrow self-interest, to slough off common endeavor, this generation of Americans — a new generation…has chosen to do their part as well.”

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Florida Would Ban Abortion Post-Viability, Ohio Moves to Ban Abortion Insurance, and More

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Photo Credit: Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi / LifeSiteNewsAs the Senate voted to confirm Sylvia Mathews Burwell as the new HHS Secretary to oversee the implementation of ObamaCare, states around the country were voting to protect the unborn, fighting for marriage, and wrestling with a wave of transgender “anti-discrimination” proposals that would allow biological men to use women’s restroom and shower facilities.

Florida

The state of Florida is poised to protect children from abortion if they have the capacity to survive outside the womb. H.B. 1047, which would bar abortions after viability, passed the Senate by a party line 24-15 vote. State Sen. Kelli Stargel, R-Lakeland, told the Miami Herald if a woman wishes to abort, she should “make that choice before the baby is able to live on its own outside of the womb.” The bill previously passed the House 70-45 and is now on the desk of Gov. Rick Scott, a pro-life Republican. He is expected to sign the measure, which would penalize abortionists who abort a child after that point unless they certify, in writing, that an abortion is necessary to save the mother’s life or physical health. The move comes as the Florida Planned Parenthood PAC has launched a voter campaign designed, in the words of CEO Lillian Tamayo, to focus on “the wave of anti-women’s health legislation.”

State Attorney General Pam Bondi has asked a federal judge to throw out a lawsuit challenging the state’s constitutional marriage protection amendment, saying redefining marriage would “impose significant public harm” on society. More than 61 percent of Florida voters approved Florida’s Amendment 2 in 2008, with surveys finding the state’s black population among those most likely to approve. The ACLU is suing to overturn the measure, which was intended to protect an ancient institution that fosters child-rearing. “Florida’s marriage laws, she said in her court brief, “have a close, direct, and rational relationship to society’s legitimate interest in increasing the likelihood that children will be born to and raised by the mothers and fathers who produced them in stable and enduring family units.”

Ohio

An Ohio bill would bar all insurance companies statewide from covering abortion except in the case of ectopic or tubal pregnancies. The legislature had the first hearing on H.B. 351, introduced by Cincinnati Rep. John Becker, on Tuesday. It would also prevent taxpayers from subsidizing abortifacient contraception such as the IUD for state employees through their insurance plans. Democratic Rep. John Carney said it is “just a fact” that the IUD is not an abortifacient; however, health agencies and the device’s manufacturer agree the IUD may prevent the implantation of a newly conceived child. The insurance provision follows the lead of neighboring Michigan, which is traditionally more liberal on abortion. The Ohio bill does not allow anyone who receives state funds to purchase the separate “abortion rider.”

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Surge in Kids Illegally Crossing into U.S. Alone Strains Border Patrol

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Photo Credit: AP / Brian SkoloffThe flood of young children pouring across the southwestern border is worse than the administration has previously acknowledged, and efforts to deal with unaccompanied minors are overwhelming the Border Patrol, distracting it from going after smugglers and other illegal immigrants, according to an internal draft memo from the agency.

The four-page memo, authored by Deputy Border Patrol Chief Ronald D. Vitiello and dated May 30, contradicts the administration’s argument that the border is secure enough to begin legalizing current illegal aliens already in the U.S.

Instead, Chief Vitiello paints a picture of a government struggling to cope, leaving the children suffering poor conditions, agents unable to focus on major security threats and little sense that it will get better.

Known within the Homeland Security Department as Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC), their numbers have skyrocketed this year, forcing the department to siphon manpower and money from its other critical border duties.

“The large quantity of DHS interdiction, intelligence, investigation, processing, detention and removal resources currently being dedicated to address UAC is compromising DHS capabilities to address other transborder criminal areas, such as human smuggling and trafficking and illicit drug, weapons, commercial and financial operations,” Chief Vitiello wrote in the memo, which was viewed by The Washington Times.

Read more from this story HERE.