In “Despicable and Appalling” Move, Obama Rejects Measure to Free Imprisoned Pastor Saeed Abedini from Iranian Prison

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Photo Credit: Gospel Herald

Photo Credit: Gospel Herald

In a disturbing turn of events, the White House has warned that it will veto a proposed amendment that would demand release of Pastor Saeed Abedini and three other American citizens held prisoners in Iran before any final nuclear deal agreement is reached.

The American Center for Law and Justice called the Obama administration’s admittance “despicable” and “appalling.”

“That is simply unbelievable. Refusing to discuss the Americans being held hostage by Iran at the bargaining table and rejecting any congressional attempt to make any deal with Iran contingent on the release of the Americans is unacceptable. It’s quite frankly appalling,” the law group wrote in an update on Thursday.

“This is despicable. This is outrageous. And it is an insult to the captive Americans and their families,” it added.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest made the announcement on Wednesday after an ABC News reporter asked about the Corker Bill and amendments being debated by the U.S. Senate that would require Iran to release the captured U.S. citizens before any sanctions are lifted. (Read more from “Imprisoned Pastor Saeed Abedini Abandoned by President Obama” HERE)

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Mike Huckabee Warns U.S. Supreme Court ‘Cannot Overrule God’ on Same-Sex Marriage

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Photo Credit: Gospel Herald

Photo Credit: Gospel Herald

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has weighed in on the Supreme Court’s arguments related to whether or not states can ban same-sex marriages. He made his comments in front of a crowd of Hispanic evangelicals . . .

According to Ashley Killough of CNN, Huckabee made his speech at the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, or NHCLC. He has argued that “our country’s in trouble because we lost our landmarks of faith.”

“I respect the courts, but the Supreme Court is only that — the supreme of the courts. It is not the Supreme Being. It cannot overrule God,” Huckabee said. “When it comes to prayer, when it comes to life, and when it comes to the sanctity of marriage, the court cannot change what God has created.”

Killough reported that Huckabee could announce his run on Tuesday for the 2016 presidency in Hope, Ark. He previously won the Iowa caucuses during his presidential run in 2008 thanks to support from Christian conservatives.

“Somebody’s got to be willing to take on the institutions that challenge and threaten our ability to believe as we believe, because when religious liberty is lost, all liberty is lost,” Huckabee said. (Read more from “Mike Huckabee Warns U.S. Supreme Court ‘Cannot Overrule God’ on Same-Sex Marriage” HERE)

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Celebrations Begin in Baltimore as Some React to Officers’ Charges [+video]

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celebrationsBy CBS Baltimore. Cheers erupted as City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby announced that charges were being filed against the six officers involved in the apprehension, arrest and death of Freddie Gray. That feeling of elation reverberated through the streets of Baltimore, and especially the Penn-North neighborhood that was the scene of Monday’s riots, as residents applauded the decision to indict.

The scene of Pennsylvania and North avenues was much different than it was Monday, with crowds gathering in joy as opposed to disgust. There was jubilation at almost all four corners of the street, and at times some of the celebrants have taken over the eastbound roads of North Avenue.

People could be seen giving each other high-fives and hugging, while others simply lined the sidewalks to take in the chorus of car horns that blared repeatedly.

One Baltimore resident named Joe was overcome with his elation as he told WJZ’s Mike Schuh why he came to the intersection at North and Pennsylvania Avenue to celebrate.

“The city is phenomenal right now. Right now, it’s like Baltimore, thank you for listening, thank you for everyone constantly protesting for the betterment of the good. Everyone that’s being negative needs to stop being negative, it’s so simple as smiling at a baby, to let go of the nonsense,” he said. “It’s awesome, it’s super great.” (Read more from “Celebrations Begin in Baltimore as Some React to Officers’ Charges” HERE)

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Sharpton Calls for the DOJ to ‘Take Over Policing’

By Ian Hanchett. Rev. Al Sharpton called for the Justice Department to “take over policing in this country” and stated “we’re going to have to fight states’ rights” in comments recorded by the Baltimore Sun on Thursday.

(Read more from this story HERE)

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Teacher Forced to Resign After Calling Obama a Baby Killer

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Photo Credit: Life News

Photo Credit: Life News

In Georgia, veteran middle school teacher Nancy Perry has been forced to resign after telling her students that President Barack Obama is a baby killer. The schools superintendent, Chuck Ledbetter, said Perry will retire at the end of the school year.

He said, “On behalf of the School District, we want to apologize to the student and to his parents. It is not the place of teachers to attempt to persuade students about religious or political beliefs.’

According to the Daily Mail, a 12-year-old boy brought the complaint against the teacher to his father, Jimmie Scott. Then Scott met with Perry at a parent-teacher conference. He said she showed him some “internet propaganda” and commented, “See, Obama is a baby killer. He aborts babies at nine months old as they’re coming through the birth canal.”‘

Although it could be argued that Perry’s statement was inappropriate considering the setting, her comments about Obama weren’t completely unfounded. From taxpayer funding of abortions in America and around the world, to the stacking of the Supreme Court and federal courts with hardcore abortion advocates, Obama has been a relentless support of abortion-on-demand.

For example, earlier this year, President Obama’s administration issued a veto threat concerning the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which would protect babies after 20-weeks from abortion based on the concept that they can feel pain. (Read more from “Teacher Forced to Resign After Calling Obama a Baby Killer” HERE)

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Oregon House Passes Bill to Charge Teen’s Abortion to Parents’ Insurance Without Them Knowing

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Oregon_state_sealA new pro-abortion bill in Oregon has pro-life advocates up in arms and urging pro-life Oregonians to contact their members of the state legislature. And the state House today approved the measure.

Oregon House Democrats voted to further erode parents’ rights in Oregon by passing House Bill 2758, which would allow an enrollee on a health insurance plan to demand that the explanation of benefits not be sent to the primary holder of the insurance policy. This would allow a 15 year old child to obtain an abortion without her parents’ knowledge even though it is paid for by her parents’ insurance policy.

“Involvement in their child’s life is the most important tool parents have to protect their children from abuse,” said Gayle Atteberry, Executive Director of Oregon Right to Life. “But the abortion giant Planned Parenthood has managed to get every Democrat in the House to help them do secret abortions paid for by unknowing parents, endangering children in Oregon.”

Every Republican member of the State House of Representatives opposed HB 2758, citing some of the unintended consequences of the bill. Representative Cedric Hayden carried a minority report for the Republican Caucus. (Read more from “Oregon House Passes Bill to Charge Teen’s Abortion to Parents’ Insurance Without Them Knowing” HERE)

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Here’s What Obama Says He’s Going to Do When His Presidential Term Is up

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barack-obama-cedar-rapids-iowaOne day when he’s done wrangling with the Iranians and congressional Republicans, President Barack Obama plans to get back to where he once belonged.

The most powerful man in the world wants to return to community organizing after he hands over the keys to the White House in 2017, he told middle-school students at a public library in Washington’s Anacostia neighborhood today.

“I’ll be done being president in a couple of years and I’ll still be a pretty young man,” he said. “And so I’ll go back to doing the kinds of work I was doing before, just trying to find ways to help people.”

Obama, who will be 55 years old when he leaves office in 2017, said his post-presidential agenda includes helping children get educations and better access to the job market, and luring businesses into low-income neighborhoods. Just out of college, he worked on Chicago’s South Side as a community organizer, a career choice that earned him much derision from conservative quarters . . .

The president’s comments came against the backdrop of unrest in Baltimore, where protests and riots have followed the April 19 death of Freddie Gray, 25, who suffered spinal-cord injuries while in policy custody. Earlier this week, Obama said the violence in Baltimore was indicative of a “slow-rolling crisis” in the nation’s inner cities that would require “some soul-searching.” (Read more from “Here’s What Obama Says He’s Going to Do When His Presidential Term Is up” HERE)

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IRS Seizes Rural Convenience Store Owner’s Career Savings in Another Horrible Abuse of Civil Forfeiture [+video]

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Photo Credit: Personal Liberty

Photo Credit: Personal Liberty

Lyndon McLellan, a rural North Carolina convenience store owner, woke up one day to discover the IRS had seized every penny of the $107,000 in his bank account. It was all the money he had put away over the course of 13 years of assiduous, hard work.

“This is all I’ve ever done. I was raised in the store business; I’m here 12-13 hours a day, seven days a week,” he explains. “To make this kind of money selling soft drinks, cigarettes and hot dogs, somebody’s gotta work, okay? It wasn’t just handed to us. It was taken from us – but it wasn’t handed to us.”

McLellan hasn’t been accused of a crime. The IRS just seized his money. And even though the IRS announced it was changing its civil forfeiture policy in October of last year – a result of growing public outcry in opposition to the practice – it didn’t relent in McLellan’s case, which predated the announcement by a few months.

For years, McLellan had been making periodic cash deposits into his account. The federal government requires that bank customers fill out a currency transaction report to document any single deposit in excess of $10,000. But McLellan had been depositing his earnings in increments beneath that threshold – for more than a decade.

The IRS had, until its policy change last year, exercised its own discretion in invoking its power of civil asset forfeiture against these smaller depositors. The spirit of the forfeiture law, as it applies to McLellan’s case, assumes that he was sitting on a stack of currency but elected to deposit it in small increments to avoid the government’s reporting requirements. (Read more from “IRS Seizes Rural Convenience Store Owner’s Career Savings in Another Horrible Abuse of Civil Forfeiture” HERE)

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Russia Conducts Nuclear Bomber Flights Near Alaska; Massive Troop Build Up Near Ukraine

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Russian_Bear_H_Aircraft_MOD_45158146By Bill Gertz. Two Russian nuclear-capable bombers intruded into the U.S. air defense zone near Alaska last week in the latest saber rattling by Moscow, defense officials said.

The Tu-95 Bear H bombers flew into the Alaska zone on April 22. But unlike most earlier incursions, no U.S. interceptor jets were dispatched to shadow them, said defense officials familiar with the latest U.S.-Russian aerial encounter.

Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a spokesman for the U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), declined to confirm the incursion. But he said no jets were dispatched last week to intercept intruding aircraft.

The incident was the first Russian bomber incursion of a U.S. or Canadian air defense zone this year. Officials said it likely signals the start of Russia’s long-range aviation spring training cycle. Further aerial incursions are expected.

Last year, U.S. and Canadian jets intercepted Russian bombers on at least six occasions, and intruding Russian long-range aircraft were detected on 10 occasions, Davis said. (Read more from “Russia Conducts Nuclear Bomber Flight Near Alaska” HERE)

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Russians Amassing Forces on Ukraine Border

By FoxNews.com. Russia has recently sent arms and drone aircraft into eastern Ukraine and is massing its troops along the tense border, which raises concern about new escalation in the conflict, the State Department said Wednesday.

Russia has built up its air defense systems to their highest levels since August of last year, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said in a statement. Russia has been supporting separatists battling Ukrainian government forces.

Harf said Russia has now deployed more troops and military material on its border with Ukraine than at any time since the heaviest fighting in October.

“After maintaining a relatively steady presence along the border, Russia is sending additional units there,” Harf said. “These forces will give Russia its largest presence on the border since October 2014.”

Despite Moscow’s denials of any involvement in the escalating tensions, Harf said Russians and separatists are conducting complex training missions that leave “no doubt” that Russian troops are present in that part of the embattled country. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Watch: Michelle Obama Jokes About Running for President

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ap-michelle-obama_20121204095225_640_480-620x465First Lady Michelle Obama joked with David Letterman about running for president.

“I’m retiring in a few weeks,” Letterman said.

“No kidding,” Obama deadpanned.

“And I know that your time at the White House, in a couple of years, same sort of thing,” Letterman continued after sharing a laugh. “You won’t be retiring though. But do you ever glimpse down that far down the road?”

Obama responded, “What, like when I’m going to be running for president or anything?” (Read more from “Michelle Obama Jokes About Running for President” HERE)

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Alabama Just Made a Major Move That Could Terrify Obama and the Rest of the Federal Gov’t

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Photo Credit: Western Journalism

Photo Credit: Western Journalism

The state of Alabama just became the latest state to authorize a convention of the states to propose new amendments under Article V of the Constitution.

The vote, which came after several hours of debate, made the Alabama House the latest state body to vote for an Article V convention.

Under Article V, a convention of the states can be called if two-thirds of the states — in this case 34 — vote to hold one to propose new amendments to the Constitution.

The new amendments would then need to be approved by three-quarters of the states — 38 at the present moment — at which point they would take effect. The benefit of this process is that it bypasses the federal government entirely, leaving the amendments up to the individual states.

The resolution passed by the Alabama state House of Representatives specifically limits the amendments to be proposed in such a convention to three specific categories:

1) imposing fiscal restraints on the federal government through a balanced budget amendment;
2) limiting the power and jurisdiction of the federal government; and
3) implementing term limits on federal elected officials.

(Read more from “Alabama Just Made a Major Move That Could Terrify Obama and the Rest of the Federal Gov’t” HERE)

[Editor’s note: there is significant disagreement among conservatives about whether there is any need to change the Constitution. Those who oppose the Convention of the States and other proposed methods of revising the Constitution say that the Constitution as written is more than adequate to address the largess of government – if only justices would follow their oaths and interpret the Constitution as the drafters intended it. Many also believe the Convention of the States will open the convention to co-option by the elites and then the Constitution will be changed in ways to destroy fundamental rights]

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