Here’s the Percentage of American’s Who See Widespread Government Corruption

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0zifjw-y10syaq-7q8ff7wThree in four Americans (75%) last year perceived corruption as widespread in the country’s government. This figure is up from two in three in 2007 (67%) and 2009 (66%) . . .

These figures are higher than some might expect, and while the lack of improvement is somewhat disconcerting, the positive takeaway is that Americans still feel fairly free to criticize their government. This is not the case in some parts of the world. Questions about corruption are so sensitive in some countries that even if Gallup is allowed to ask them, the results may reflect residents’ reluctance to disparage their government. This is particularly true in countries where media freedom is restricted.

This is why it is most appropriate to look at perceptions of corruption through such lenses as the Freedom House’s Press Freedom rankings. Ratings vary among countries with a “free press,” including the U.S., and range from a high of 90% in Lithuania to a low of 14% in Sweden. The U.S. does not make the top 10 list, but notably, it is not far from it.

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(Read more from “Here’s the Percentage of American’s Who See Widespread Government Corruption” HERE)

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The Obama Admin Knows a Big Secret About Iran and It’s Refusing to Tell Congress

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John KerryThe Obama administration is declining to inform Congress about the number of American citizens and troops killed by Iran and its terror proxies, according to a document provided to Congress and obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

The administration was repeatedly asked by Congress to release figures describing how many Americans and Israelis have been killed by Iran’s military and terror activities since the country’s 1979 revolution.

In a series of on-the-record responses obtained exclusively by the Free Beacon, and provided in written form to Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.), Kerry sidestepped the questions on all of the three separate occasions he was asked to provide the figures.

The questions come as the United States prepares to unfreeze more than $100 billion in Iranian assets under the terms of the recently inked nuclear deal. Experts fear the Islamic Republic will funnel the cash windfall into its rogue terror operations and proxy groups.

Lawmakers and experts also have expressed concern about portions of the deal that will lift international sanctions on the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), as well as Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s financial empire. (Read more from “The Obama Admin Knows a Big Secret About Iran and It’s Refusing to Tell Congress” HERE)

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House Votes to Freeze Federal Funding for Planned Parenthood

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2015-08-18-niles-fThe House on Friday voted along party lines to freeze federal funding for Planned Parenthood after weeks of escalating tension surrounding its use of fetal tissue.

In a 241-187 vote, nearly all Republicans and two Democrats approved legislation that would block Planned Parenthood’s federal funding for one year, giving time for Congress to fully investigate claims of wrongdoing by the provider.

Lawmakers also passed a bill tightening restrictions on abortion doctors who violate infant protections in a 248-177 vote . . .

“Millions of Americans rely on Planned Parenthood for birth control, lifesaving cancer screenings, and other critical preventive care, and nothing that politicians in Congress did today will change the fact that our doors remain open to everyone, in every part of this country, who needs high-quality, compassionate reproductive health care,” said Eric Ferrero, the action fund’s vice president of communications.

The House vote represents the first time that congressional Republicans have approved legislation to defund Planned Parenthood in the wake of this summer’s undercover video controversy. The vote is largely symbolic, as Democrats are expected to block the bill in the Senate. (Read more from “House Votes to Freeze Federal Funding for Planned Parenthood” HERE)

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U.S. Gives Yemeni (Al Qaeda Hotbed) Nationals “Temporary” Amnesty

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us-department-of-homeland-security-officeJust when it seemed like President Obama’s immigration policies couldn’t possibly get worse, the administration is offering “temporary” amnesty to nationals of an Islamic Middle Eastern country well known as an Al Qaeda breeding ground.

You can’t make this stuff up! The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is offering Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to illegal aliens from Yemen, headquarters of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). In its latest Country Reports on Terrorism, the State Department reveals that AQAP militants carried out hundreds of attacks including suicide bombers, vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices (VBIEDs), ambushes, kidnappings and targeted assassinations. The media has also documented this for years with one in-depth report confirming that “Yemen has emerged as the breeding grounds for some of the most high-profile plans to attack the U.S. homeland.”

Why would the U.S. extend to a humanitarian measure designed to temporarily shield illegal immigrants from deportation during emergencies to citizens of this notorious terrorist hub? A stunned Homeland Security official told Judicial Watch that this creates “obvious dangers” because the U.S. government has a “total inability to screen, ID or verify the records” of Yemeni nationals. Remember that the convicted terrorist who planned to blow up an American passenger jet over Detroit on Christmas in 2009 trained in Yemen and the plot was organized by Al Qaeda leaders in Yemen. Also of interest is the fact that at least a dozen terrorists freed from the U.S. military compound in Guantanamo have joined Al Qaeda in Yemen. Last year a study published by the RAND Corporation concluded that the most significant threat to the United States comes from terrorist groups operating in Yemen, Syria, Afghanistan and Pakistan. (Read more from “U.S. Gives Yemeni (Al Qaeda Hotbed) Nationals “Temporary” Amnesty” HERE)

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Vatican Not Pleased With White House Guest List for Pope’s Visit

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Barack Obama, Pope Francis, Mark MilesHow does this line-up sound? Gay and dissident Catholics, transgender activists and friends, the first openly gay Episcopal bishop, and a nun who widely advocated for Obamacare, despite opposition from the U. S. Bishops. Does that sound like the dream team for Pope Franics’ visit to the White House? It did to the Obama administration.

As the Wall Street Journal reported, the Vatican is not too pleased:

On the eve of Pope Francis’s arrival in the U.S., the Vatican has taken offense at the Obama administration’s decision to invite to the pope’s welcome ceremony transgender activists, the first openly gay Episcopal bishop and an activist nun who leads a group criticized by the Vatican for its silence on abortion and euthanasia.

According to a senior Vatican official, the Holy See worries that any photos of the pope with these guests at the White House welcoming ceremony next Wednesday could be interpreted as an endorsement of their activities.

The tension exemplifies concerns among conservative Catholics, including many bishops, that the White House will use the pope’s visit to play down its differences with church leaders on such contentious issues as same-sex marriage and the contraception mandate in the health care law.

(Read more from “Vatican Not Pleased With White House Guest List for Pope’s Visit” HERE)

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The Pentagon Is Preparing New War Plans for a Baltic Battle Against Russia

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Russian President Dmitry Medvedev (L), PFor the first time since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the U.S. Department of Defense is reviewing and updating its contingency plans for armed conflict with Russia.

The Pentagon generates contingency plans continuously, planning for every possible scenario — anything from armed confrontation with North Korea to zombie attacks. But those plans are also ranked and worked on according to priority and probability. After 1991, military plans to deal with Russian aggression fell off the Pentagon’s radar. They sat on the shelf, gathering dust as Russia became increasingly integrated into the West and came to be seen as a potential partner on a range of issues. Now, according to several current and former officials in the State and Defense departments, the Pentagon is dusting off those plans and re-evaluating them, updating them to reflect a new, post-Crimea-annexation geopolitical reality in which Russia is no longer a potential partner, but a potential threat.

“Given the security environment, given the actions of Russia, it has become apparent that we need to make sure to update the plans that we have in response to any potential aggression against any NATO allies,” says one senior defense official familiar with the updated plans.

“Russia’s invasion of eastern Ukraine made the U.S. dust off its contingency plans,” says Michèle Flournoy, a former undersecretary of defense for policy and co-founder of the Center for a New American Security. “They were pretty out of date” . . .

The new plans, according to the senior defense official, have two tracks. One focuses on what the United States can do as part of NATO if Russia attacks one of NATO’s member states; the other variant considers American action outside the NATO umbrella. Both versions of the updated contingency plans focus on Russian incursions into the Baltics, a scenario seen as the most likely front for new Russian aggression. They are also increasingly focusing not on traditional warfare, but on the hybrid tactics Russia used in Crimea and eastern Ukraine: “little green men,” manufactured protests, and cyberwarfare. “They are trying to figure out in what circumstances [the U.S. Defense Department] would respond to a cyberattack,” says Julie Smith, who until recently served as the vice president’s deputy national security advisor. “There’s a lively debate on that going on right now.” (Read more from “The Pentagon Is Preparing New War Plans for a Baltic Battle Against Russia” HERE)

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Kerry: Assad Has to Go, but Timing Can Be Negotiated

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000_DV2130215-e1442664562452-635x357Syrian President Bashar Assad must leave office although the timing of such a move can be negotiated, US Secretary of State John Kerry said in London on Saturday, following talks with British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond.

Kerry urged Russia and Iran, two key allies, to persuade Assad to negotiate his departure, Reuters said. The top US diplomat also expressed the urgency in finding a political solution to the four-year civil war in Syria, which has left hundreds of thousands dead and millions more displaced.

“We need to get to the negotiation. That is what we’re looking for and we hope Russia and Iran, and any other countries with influence, will help to bring about that, because that’s what is preventing this crisis from ending,” Kerry said. “We’re prepared to negotiate. Is Assad prepared to negotiate, really negotiate? Is Russia prepared to bring him to the table?”

Kerry on Friday also stressed the urgency with which he views finding a resolution to the conflict, saying ahead of a meeting with the United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed in London that, “this (Syria) crisis has got to be solved.”

American and Russian defense chiefs held their first talks in more than a year on Friday, in a 50-minute conversation that was the first step in direct military talks proposed by Russia about Moscow’s military buildup to support the Syrian government against the Islamic State group. (Read more from “Kerry: Assad Has to Go, but Timing Can Be Negotiated” HERE)

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Top Obama Aide Lumps Christians With LGBT Over ISIS ‘Genocide’

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isis (2)The president’s ambassador to the United Nations, addressing Islamic State genocide, lumped Christians in with gays and other minorities facing a “death sentence” in the Islamic State’s terror campaign.

Samantha Power, answering a question about congressional urgings that the administration speak out against Christian persecution by the Muslim group, also said that while ISIS is “targeting very specific minority groups,” its goal is wiping out any who challenge its world view.

“On the genocide question, when president Obama decided to intervene militarily on behalf of the Yazidis, he himself also invoked the specter of genocide. There’s no question that the Yazidis, and Christians and Shia and LGBT, and if you find yourself of a minority of a certain type in ISIL territory, Americans, that has proven a death sentence for many. If not a death sentence, certainly a displacement sentence,” she said this week in an even hosted by the Christian Science Monitor.

“Having said that, Sunni in ISIL territory are also living under horrific hardship and anybody even suspected of dissenting or in being any way in opposition to ISIL’s rule, you’ve seen whole tribes and whole Sunni families wiped out. So while ISIL is targeting very specific minority groups as such, its monstrous ideology applies well beyond ethnic national religious groups as such to anybody who doesn’t share its worldview,” she added.

It was the latest example of what critics claim is the administration’s reluctance to focus on Christian persecution in the Middle East, and by the Islamic State specifically. (Read more from “Top Obama Aide Lumps Christians With LGBT Over ISIS ‘Genocide'” HERE)

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FEC Chair: Feds Must Help Americans Make ‘Thoughtful’ Contributions

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03FECsub-master675The chairwoman of the federal agency responsible for overseeing the nation’s campaign finance laws has suggested that federal authorities should help Americans to make “thoughtful” political contributions.

The comment came during a Thursday meeting of the Federal Election Commission. The agency was considering whether to issue an advisory decision for an organization called “Democracy Rules” that created a game-like platform for making political contributions.

According to the rules of the platform, participants vote for one of a few issues in a given category, like immigration, that matter the most to them. Democracy Rules then identifies non-profit organizations or candidates likely to support the objectives of the winning side, and individuals pledge cash — as little as a dollar — in order to receive a vote on who should receive the money. In the last round, participants vote on whether to send the pooled funds to the winning organization or candidate.

The FEC’s three Republicans voted to issue an advisory opinion of approval, while the three Democrats voted against granting permission.

“Yes, I believe the American people are intelligent enough to make decisions,” said Democratic FEC chairwoman Ann Ravel. “But many of them also contribute to … sham PACs, over which we have no control. So in some cases, there’s a necessity for protection for some people to ensure that they’re not, that they’re able to make thoughtful, fair decisions.” (Read more from “FEC Chair: Feds Must Help Americans Make ‘Thoughtful’ Contributions” HERE)

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Watch: Free Speech Petitioners Told They’ll Be ‘Locked up’ at College

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h97.1.140_edit_0Several students at the College of DuPage were told to cease or be “locked up” Friday as they attempted to collect signatures for a petition urging the school to improve its free speech policies.

The two students, along with an advisor from Turning Point USA who was helping them organize a chapter at DuPage, were on campus inviting passersby to sign up for the club and/or sign the petition—and were also distributing pocket Constitutions and non-partisan flyers stating the “America is a free speech zone”—when they were approached by campus police.

Joseph Enders, a student at the college, told Campus Reform that he has been attempting to start a TPUSA club for some time, but has had difficulty meeting the school’s requirements for an official student organization. For its part, the College recounts instructing him on the process for starting a new club, but says it has never received the necessary documents from him.

“I’ve had some problems starting the club,” he said. “They told us that we need three members and a full-time faculty advisor, but they wouldn’t let us clipboard.” Enders also claims he has had difficulty finding a willing faculty advisor, primarily due to the need for a full-time advisor, and called the political science department “very liberal.”

Most of Friday’s altercation was caught on video and shared with Campus Reform. The video begins with the conversation already in progress, as the group is questioning the officer about why they are not allowed to do what they are doing. (Read more from “Free Speech Petitioners Told They’ll Be ‘Locked up’ at College” HERE)

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