Watch: In Fiery Speech, Netanyahu Challenges UN on Moral Grounds

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Armed with unfiltered criticism for the United Nations, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered an aggressive speech to the international body’s annual gathering in New York on Thursday, charging its members with hypocrisy in their treatment of Israel and with failure to contain extremism across the wider Middle East.

With defensive rhetoric, he targeted the assembly for passing more resolutions against Israel for its handling of the Palestinians last year than against the government of Syria, which has presided over a war claiming the lives of over 300,000 people. He criticized member states for “encouraging Palestinian rejectionism” instead of direct negotiations between the parties without preconditions, one day after a Palestinian flag was raised at UN headquarters.

And yet the most poignant moment of the speech involved no remarks at all, as Netanyahu, in his seventh UN General Assembly address, asked the body if it had forgotten the lessons of the Holocaust just seventy years since its founding.

He quoted from Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, from its president and its military commanders, all reiterating a familiar pledge: Israel, a state where six million Jews reside, must be annihilated, sooner rather than later.

“Seventy years after the murder of six million Jews, Iran’s rulers promise to destroy my country, murder my people,” Netanyahu said. “And the response from this body— the response from nearly every one of the governments represented here— has been absolutely nothing. Utter silence. Deafening silence.” (Read more from “Watch: In Fiery Speech, Netanyahu Challenges UN on Moral Grounds” HERE)

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You Won’t Believe How Many Syrian Refugees Have Been Approved in the U.S.

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During a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest this afternoon, an Obama administration official made a statement that should concern anyone who is apprehensive about the national security problems presented by the influx of “Syrian refugees.”

Barbara Strack, the chief of the Refugee Affairs Division of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), admitted that a whopping 80% of refugee applications are approved worldwide. But as it relates to the Syrian refugees that have been processed so far in the U.S., that number is a dangerous 90%.

Throughout the hearing Republican members noted that unlike in most other countries we have no access to any database or background check system. “The things you normally check just don’t exist,” observed Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL). None of the administration officials on the panel could answer how Syrian refugees enjoy a higher approval rating than even the already high rate of approval worldwide when they have a nonexistent system to vet them.

As Sessions noted during the hearing, there have been many reports of Iranians pretending to be Syrian refugees in order to be admitted into western countries. Clearly, the alacrity to admit as many refugees from Syria as possible has allowed politics to trump the security of the nation.

On Tuesday, Obama finalized his refugee admission goals for this year in a memo. He plans to increase the refugee cap from 70,000 to 85,000 without the consent of the people through their elected representatives. In addition to the large increase from Syria, Obama has raised the sub cap from Africa to 25,000 and plans to bring in many more Somali refugees.

When asked by Senator Sessions whether refugees become self-sufficient, the administration officials said that 80% become self-sufficient within 18 months. When pressed whether the definition of “self-sufficient” includes those on welfare, the administration officials demurred. In reality, the welfare use on the part of refugees is astronomical, topping 93% among those from the Middle East.

Also, as Senator Sessions noted, we’ve already spent $4.5 billion through our foreign policy program to deal with the refugee situation. It’s not as if we have not been “generous.” What’s more disconcerting is that the increase in refugees will now be funded from USCIS fees paid for by other categories of legal immigrants, essentially forcing vetted immigrants to subsidize the importation of predominantly Sharia adherents to our shores.

Much like with the 1965 immigration bill, the promises of the politicians with regards to the refugee program have been completely divorced from reality. (For more from the author of “You Won’t Believe How Many Syrian Refugees Have Been Approved in the U.S.” please click HERE)

Watch a recent interview with the author below:

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Investigation: Cuban Refugees Abusing, Funneling US Welfare to Cuba

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Many Cuban refugees are abusing the American welfare system, with some even living off the generosity of the U.S. taxpayer in their native Cuba, according to an investigation by the Florida Sun Sentinel.

According to the Sentinel, Cuban refugees to the U.S. have largely been presumed to be fleeing persecution and, like all refugees, have thus been granted immediate access to public assistance. Instead of using those benefits as intended — in order to help them get a foothold in the U.S. — many have using American welfare dollars to finance their lives in Cuba, despite explicit prohibitions on using U.S. welfare abroad, the report finds.

Since 2003 more than 329,000 Cubans, eligible for the entire menu of welfare programs in the U.S., have arrived in Florida. The Sentinel’s report reveals Cubans represent 9 out of 10 foreign-born people receiving refugee services in the Sunshine State.

Florida residents, immigrants and officials had similar stories of rampant welfare abuse among Cuban refugees for the the Sentinel.

Miguel Veloso, a barber living Hialeah, Florida who has been in the U.S. for three years, described how recent Cuban refugees on welfare will spend months at a time in Cuba, returning before their welfare benefits expire. (Read more from “Investigation: Cuban Refugees Abusing, Funneling US Welfare to Cuba” HERE)

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This Is How Often the IRS Improperly Held Information From Taxpayers

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The Internal Revenue Service improperly withheld information requested by taxpayers 12.3 percent of the time, according to a new government audit.

The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TITGA) reviewed the IRS’ compliance with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and discovered that disclosure specialists at the agency failed to properly respond to all requests, actions that the watchdog said may have violated taxpayer rights.

TITGA looked at a statistically valid sample of 65 FOIA requests for their review and found eight cases—or 12.3 percent—in which the IRS improperly withheld requested information. Under the Freedom of Information Act, federal government agencies must make records requested by the public available unless a specific exemption is given while providing an initial response to the request within 20 business days.

The eight instances discovered by the watchdog were found to improperly withhold “information of examination and collection activity and other tax return information that the taxpayer or authorized Power of Attorney should have received.” When this number is projected to the entire population of 2,809 FOIA requests that the agency closed between Oct. 1, 2013, through Sept. 30, 2014, it equates to 346 FOIA requests that may have been erroneously withheld from the requester.

Additionally, the audit found that the agency withheld four (7.3 percent) of the 55 Internal Revenue Code (IRC) information requests that were reviewed. (Read more from “This Is How Often the IRS Improperly Held Information From Taxpayers” HERE)

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Debt Limit Coming a Month Earlier Than Expected

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The Treasury Department said Thursday it would reach the debt limit a bit earlier than was expected by many on Capitol Hill.

Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew told Congress in a new letter that thanks in part to lower-than-expected quarterly tax receipts, the extraordinary measures to forestall breaching the debt limit, combined with the new revenues, will run their course just a week after the resignation of Speaker John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, takes effect . . .

“Based on this new information, we now estimate that Treasury is likely to exhaust its extraordinary measures on or about Thursday, November 5,” Lew wrote in a letter to Boehner.

“At that point, we could be left to fund the government with only the cash we have on hand, which we currently forecast to be below $30 billion. This amount would be far short of net expenditures on certain days, which can be as high as $60 billion.” (Read more from “Debt Limit Coming a Month Earlier Than Expected” HERE)

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Here Are the ‘Official’ Amount of Ways to Get Sick or Die

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There are 70,000 ways to get sick, hurt or mortally injured, and the U.S. is making them official.

On Thursday, U.S. hospitals, doctors and other care providers have to start using internationally developed standards called ICD-10 codes to bill government programs and private insurers in the nation’s $2.9 trillion-a-year health-care system. The codes cover everything from parrot bites to getting sucked into a jet engine.

Doctors have already begun mocking the diagnostic list, picking out the most absurd and arcane, such as Z63.1, “Problems in relationship with in-laws,” or V91.07XA, “Burn due to water skis on fire.” Yet for health-care providers who have payments at stake, the complex change is no joke.

Health insurers and government programs stopped accepting the old set of codes, called ICD-9, in the early morning hours Thursday, completing the switch. In a study released last month, the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, said “little is known” about how much it will cost the health-care system to make the transition. HCA Holdings Inc., the Nashville, Tennessee-based hospital chain, said 2015 costs for the transition to the new codes will be about $30 million.

Insurers began preparing for ICD-10 in 2010 and have been ready since the government first delayed implementation in 2012, said Clare Krusing, a spokeswoman for America’s Health Insurance Plans, a Washington-based industry group. “Every deadline that has come up, we were ready.” (Read more from “Here Are the ‘Official’ Amount of Ways to Get Sick or Die” HERE)

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This Country Says It Must Look After Its Own Before Allowing in Syrian Refugees

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Japan must improve the living standards of its own people before it can consider accepting Syrian refugees, the prime minister, Shinzo Abe said, as he announced $1.6b in new assistance for Syrians and Iraqis caught up in conflicts in the Middle East.

Abe’s consistent refusal to consider allowing even a modest number of refugees to relocate to Japan has prompted criticism of the country’s strict policy on asylum: last year, it received a record 5,000 applications but accepted just 11 people.

Speaking at the UN general assembly in New York, Abe insisted Japan must first tackle crises posed by its falling birth rate and an ageing population, and continue its push to boost the number of women in the labour market.

“It is an issue of demography,” Abe told reporters after his speech to the UN general assembly. “I would say that before accepting immigrants or refugees, we need to have more activities by women, elderly people and we must raise our birth rate. There are many things that we should do before accepting immigrants” . . .

“Japan would like to contribute by changing the conditions that give rise to refugees. The cause of this tragedy is the fear of violence and terrorism, and terror of poverty. The world must cooperate in order for them to find a way to escape poverty.” (Read more from “This Country Says It Must Look After Its Own Before Allowing in Syrian Refugees” HERE)

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Major Hurricane to Impact Over 65 Million From South Carolina to Massachusetts

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Flooding from Hurricane Joaquin will impact areas from South Carolina to Massachusetts even though the hurricane is unlikely to make landfall in the United States.

People should not let their guard down due to a shifting track of the hurricane as the risk to lives and property in this complex situation remains high.

A copious amount of moisture will unload very heavy rainfall along parts of the Atlantic Seaboard and the Appalachians into early next week. Strong winds, coastal flooding and beach erosion will occur and could be very damaging even in the absence of a landfall.

Hurricane Joaquin strengthened rapidly Wednesday into Thursday. Joaquin reached Category 3 status late Wednesday evening and Category 4 status on Thursday afternoon.

The storm will bring pounding surf, dangerous seas, strong winds, drenching squalls and flash flooding to the central Bahamas. Wind gusts could reach between 75 and 120 mph on some of the east-central islands. (Read more from “Major Hurricane to Impact Over 65 Million From South Carolina to Massachusetts” HERE)

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Obama’s New Ozone Standard Has Green Groups Seeing Red

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The Obama administration handed a win to industry groups Thursday on a fiercely debated rule for smog-causing ozone pollution — leaving green groups feeling betrayed once again and threatening legal action.

The new EPA standard is stricter than one the George W. Bush administration had set in 2008, but it’s far laxer than what environmental and public health groups consider necessary to lessen illnesses like childhood asthma.

Thursday’s action came four years after the White House abruptly squelched an earlier EPA attempt to tighten the ozone rule, a move that greens still regard as one of the great betrayals of Obama’s presidency.

David Baron, the managing attorney with Earthjustice, called the standard “weak-kneed” and “a betrayal of the Clean Air Act’s promise of healthy air.” He said it is likely his group and other environmentalists would sue.

“Lowering the smog standard … is a modest step in the right direction, but it doesn’t go far enough to protect the millions of Americans living in communities with dangerously high levels of smog pollution,” said Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune. (Read more from “Obama’s New Ozone Standard Has Green Groups Seeing Red” HERE)

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Woman ‘Shocked’ to See an Image in Ultrasound Picture That Was Completely Unrelated to Her Baby

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A woman from England lamented that fact that her mother died earlier this year before she ever got the chance to tell her she was pregnant. Now, she says something happened that’s giving her comfort and it all surrounds a recent ultrasound.

According to the Liverpool Echo, Rebecca Melia’s mother died in February after a battle with kidney cancer, but she believes she spotted her face in an ultrasound photo of her baby boy.

You can see what Melia thinks is her mother’s face to the left of the baby’s calf:

Before she went for an ultrasound in June, she said she was talking to a photograph of her mother, “saying I wish she was coming with me.”

“This is her 14th grandchild and she has been there for every one,” the 30-year-old mother-to-be told the Echo. (Read more from “Woman ‘Shocked’ to See an Image in Ultrasound Picture That Was Completely Unrelated to Her Baby” HERE)

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