Rand Paul on Mitt Romney’s 2016 Run: ‘It’s Time for Some Fresh Blood’ (+video)

Photo Credit: Getty Images Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney doesn’t have the support of Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul as he explores a presidential bid.

In an exclusive interview with The Daily Signal today, Paul dismissed Romney’s possible third run and said that Romney had previously failed to “attract a big enough constituency to win.”

“I think he’s had his chance,” Paul said, “and I think it’s time for some fresh blood.”

Romney won the Republican presidential nomination in 2012 but lost to President Barack Obama in the general election. (Read more on what Rand Paul says about the 2016 run HERE)

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Obama Hopes ‘Climate of Fear’ Will Boost Cyber Security Push

President Obama is banking that a spate of high-profile hacks at major American companies will help his new cybersecurity standards succeed where others failed.

The president called Monday for separate bills that would require companies to notify customers within 30 days if their personal information had been compromised and prohibit the selling of student data to third parties for non-education purposes.

But for Obama to leverage the panic over data breaches at Sony Pictures Entertainment, Target and Home Depot, he’ll have to navigate between governmental and business bureaucracies and find a solution amenable to both sides.

As the president laid out his recommendations, the extent of the cyber problem was made even clearer, when hackers tied to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria took over the U.S. Central Command Twitter feed.

The broader challenge for the White House now is determining how to address concerns among private companies about the extent of information they would have to turn over to the federal government in warding off cyber attacks. And government agencies already under fire for cyber snooping would also have to consent to sharing a greater level of data with private businesses, a development that makes some in the intelligence community uneasy. (Read more about Obama’s cyber security push HERE)

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Boy Gets 3D Printed ‘Storm Trooper’ Prosthetic Arm (+video)

By Alex Heigl. Liam Porter is 7 years old. He lives in Augusta, Georgia, and recently, he got a new arm.

Born without part of his left arm, Porter had a traditional prosthetic when he was younger, but his mom Ryan told the The Augusta Chronicle that it was cumbersome for a growing boy.

“It didn’t really move,” she said. “So to a little kid, it was nothing but dead weight. He did a lot without it.”

His new arm, though, is an improvement in every way.

Not only is it lighter and easier to move, it’s also aesthetically modeled after the armor worn by the Imperial Stormtroopers in Star Wars. (Read more about the boy who received the 3D printed prosthetic arm HERE)

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Russian Battle Robots Near Testing for Military Use

By The Moscow Times. Machine-gun wielding battle robots are going to be tested in Russia’s Astrakhan region for use by the country’s Strategic Missile Forces, the Interfax news agency reported Friday.

Major Dmitry Andreyev, a representative for the Defense Ministry’s Strategic Missile Forces, was cited as saying that preparation for the testing is currently in its final stage.

The trials will be focused on “exploring mobile and stationary robotic systems, including those that are responsible for the formulation of remote-controlled means of stealth technology and signaling,” Andreyev said. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Pro-Russia Separatists Destroy Airport, Massacre 12 in Bus Attack in Ukraine

Pro-Russian separatists unleashed a series of bomb attacks Tuesday in eastern Ukraine, leveling a key airport in Donetsk, killing 12 in an attack on a passenger bus and almost certainly dooming a short-lived cease-fire, according to reports.

A senior State Department official confirmed to Fox News that the separatists destroyed the government-held airport in eastern Ukraine Tuesday afternoon.

The facility has been “flattened” and the air control tower was “decimated,” the official said. “They are now fighting over rubble.”

Maria Ivanovna, a local retiree, told The Associated Press she has become desensitized to the blasts and drew an arc with her arm to show how shells fly over her home toward the airport.

“We will survive the same way we did after World War II. Ration cards for bread; 11 ounces for children; 800 grams for factory workers and 1,200 grams for miners,” she said. (Read more from the story “Pro-Russia Separatists Destroy Airport” HERE)

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While Overall Jobless Numbers Remain at Record Highs, U.S. Job Openings Near 5 Million

Photo Credit: Washington Examiner By Joseph Lawler. There were just under 5 million job postings advertised in November, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday.

The job openings number beat Wall Street’s expectations, as businesses continued to add positions at a fast pace toward the end of 2014.

Hiring was flat in the month, while job separations were down, according to the BLS’ Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey.

The data on job openings and hiring released by the Labor Department on Tuesday lags the more widely-followed jobs report by a month. Officials at the Federal Reserve and investors still watch the report closely, however, because it contains more detailed information about the state of labor markets in the U.S. relating to the pace of labor market churn.

With 4.97 million job openings advertised on the last day of November, total job openings were up 20 percent year over year. The highest job creation mark on record is 5.27 million, set in 2001. (Read more about “Job Openings Near 5 million” HERE)

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San Bernardino Ranked Worst in Nation for a Job

By Rob Mcmillan. San Bernarndino has been rated the worst place for finding a job in the nation, according to financial website WalletHub.

The website’s list featured 150 different cities ranked from best to worst with San Bernardino listed in the very last spot.

San Bernardino resident Kevin Kenaga said he is a good example of the struggling economy in the city. He has to take a bus to get to his job in Redlands.

“There isn’t very much work here,” he said.

Wallethub looked at the number of job opportunities, starting salary and the rate of job growth for each city ranked. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Richest Indian State Announces Plans to Cure Homosexuals

By Sara Malm. An Indian state minister has announced plans to open treatment centres for the LGBT community to ‘make them normal’, comparing homosexuals to alcoholics.

Ramesh Tawadkar, Goa’s minister for sport and youth, said the government in the popular tourist resort would ‘cure’ homosexuals with ‘training and medicines’.

Tawadkar, a representative of right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party, sparked outrage with the comments, made during a press conference yesterday.

‘We will make them normal. We will have centres for them, like Alcoholics Anonymous centres,’ Tawadkar said, adding that the Goa government would ‘train them and give them medicines too’. (Read more about the facility being created to cure homosexuals HERE)

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Former VP of Christian Reparative Therapy Group Exodus International Admits He is a Homosexual

By Billy Hallowell. Randy Thomas, the former executive vice-president of Exodus International, a now defunct, ex-gay Christian organization, and a self-described former “ex-gay poster boy“ announced in a blog post Monday that he’s gay.

In a piece titled, “A Peaceful Disclosure – I Am Gay,” Thomas wrote that the suicide of a man he once dated before he joined the ex-gay movement more than two decades ago, in part, led him to rethink how he addresses his sexuality.

Thomas also explained how additional circumstances in recent years have led him to question his beliefs and to reevaluate, asking key questions about himself and his journey. This process began to ramp up after organizational turmoil within Exodus began to take root in 2011, he said. (Read more from this story HERE)
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Update: Indian Minister Backtracks on Comments About Homosexuals

Ramesh Tawadkar claimed [today that] he was misquoted even as Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar did some damage control to say homosexuality is not a “disease”.

“I was misunderstood and misquoted. I was not talking about the LGBT (youths) but about drug addicted and sexually abused youths,” Tawadkar told PTI, as local channels in Goa continued to air the footage in which he assured medical treatment to LGBT youths to make them “normal”. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Duopoly in Action: Dems and GOP Agree it’s a Great Time for a Gas Tax Hike

You might have noticed the spectacular collapse of global crude oil prices reflected in the commensurate reduction of your weekly gasoline bill. Gas prices are lower, much lower, than they were just a few months ago. For Washington D.C., that represents an opportunity. Even for congressional Republicans, even a little bit more money in your wallet presents a chance to hike your taxes.

On Wednesday, the new GOP chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works panel, Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), said a hike in the gasoline tax is on the table as a means of paying into the Highway Trust Fund. As President Barack Obama would no doubt note, that fund is of vital importance for keeping the nation’s roads and bridge up to code.

“It’s not a tax,” Inhofe said. “It’s a user fee.”

Outside Beltway, that’s a distinction without a difference.

Inhofe’s embrace of a new, ahem, “user fee” for those who purchase the gasoline was shared by the new Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT). “We’ll have to look at that. I’m looking at everything—every possible way of taking care of the highway bill,” Hatch echoed. (Read more about the gas tax hike HERE)

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Charlie Hebdo Stands Defiant Against Jihadists, Prints MILLIONS of Papers this Week ‘Lampooning Mohammed’

By AFP. This week’s three million copies of Charlie Hebdo, the first post-attack issue of the French satirical weekly, will defiantly feature caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed, its lawyer said Monday.

Attacked satirical French weekly to print a million copies next week Reuters
The special issue, to come out on Wednesday, will also be offered “in 16 languages” for readers around the world, one of its columnists, Patrick Pelloux, said.

Charlie Hebdo’s lawyer, Richard Malka, told French radio the upcoming publication will “obviously” lampoon Mohammed — among other figures — to show staff will “cede nothing” to extremists seeking to silence them.

The two gunmen who slaughtered 12 people in their attack on Charlie Hebdo’s offices last Wednesday, including five of its top cartoonists and three other staff members, claimed as they left the scene that they had “avenged the Prophet Mohammed”. (Read more about Hebdo’s Lampooning Mohammed HERE)

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Hundreds of Millions of Muslims Want to Kill You for Defiling Mohammed

By David French. As an Evangelical conservative, I can’t say that a militant, condescending atheist like Bill Maher is my favorite comedian or my favorite pundit, but when a man’s right, he’s right. His statement last week that “Hundreds of millions of them support an attack like this. They applaud an attack like this. What they say is, ‘We don’t approve of violence, but you know what? When you make fun of the Prophet, all bets are off” is supported by real data.

Extrapolating from polling numbers, hundreds of millions of Muslims do, in fact, support the death penalty for blasphemy against Mohammed. Hundreds of millions do support the death sentence for “apostasy” — converting from Islam. It’s even true that in the recent past, hundreds of millions expressed approval for Osama bin Laden.

Regarding blasphemy and apostasy, here’s the Washington Post describing startling findings in a comprehensive Pew Research Center report on Muslim beliefs and attitudes:

In fact, according to the 2013 Pew Research Center report, 88 percent of Muslims in Egypt and 62 percent of Muslims in Pakistan favor the death penalty for people who leave the Muslim religion. This is also the majority view among Muslims in Malaysia, Jordan and the Palestinian territories.

Do the math. From these countries alone, there are more than 200 million Muslims who support capital punishment for basic free speech and freedom of conscience. (Read more from this story HERE)

“We Are Coming”: ISIS Hacks US Central Command, Publishes Residences of High Level Officers

By Fox News. The Twitter account and YouTube page for U.S. Central Command were hacked on Monday and for several minutes carried incendiary messages promoting the Islamic State — including one that said, “AMERICAN SOLDIERS, WE ARE COMING, WATCH YOUR BACK. ISIS.”

The cyber-attack sent U.S. military officials scrambling to respond, and they quickly suspended both accounts.

Officials said they’re still investigating the hack, but claimed it appears no classified information was released.

“We’re still looking into this,” Central Command spokesman Col. Patrick S. Ryder said. “Our initial assessment is that no classified information was posted.”

A statement from Central Command added that their operational military networks “were not compromised” and downplayed the incident as “a case of cybervandalism.” (Read more from “ISIS Hacks Central Command” HERE)

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Senior Officers’ Personal Information, Addresses Published by ‘ISIS’ Group

Photo Credit: Interdependent By Aaron Mesmer. The @CentCom Twitter account’s first hacked tweet came at 12:29 Monday afternoon, after the account’s profile images had been changed to black and white graphics with the phrases “Cyber Caliphate” and “I love you isis.”

“AMERICAN SOLDIERS, WE ARE COMING, WATCH YOUR BACK. ISIS,” warned the first tweet.

That was soon followed by more posts ranging from apparent military scenarios on PowerPoint to listings of officers’ personal information. Another tweet included a photo apparently showing the inside of a military office space.

One tweet featured a spreadsheet titled “Retired Army General Officer Roster” and listed the home addresses, phone numbers and email accounts of generals like Colin Powell, David Petraeus, and Tommy Franks.

“We won’t stop! We know everything about you, your wives and children,” read another tweet. (Read more from this story HERE)

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French Police Chief Commits Suicide After Charlie Hebdo Massacre

By Henry Samuels. A high-ranking judicial police chief in Limoges committed suicide last Wednesday hours after being asked to file a report on the Charlie Hebdo killings, it has emerged.

Helric Fredou, 45, the deputy director of the regional judicial police in Limoges turned his gun on himself last Wednesday night, hours after Cherif and Said Kouachi killed 12 people in an Islamist rampage, including two policemen.

He had been tasked with investigating the family of one of the victims, but died before handing in the report.

He had reportedly interviewed families of Charlie Hebdo victims in the hours after the attack.

It is not known if his decision to commit suicide has any link to the Charlie Hebdo killings. (Read more about the French police chief HERE)

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White House Admits They Should have Sent ‘Higher Profile’ Official to Paris Rally

By Fox News. The White House acknowledged Monday that it erred in not sending a higher-level representative to the massive rally in Paris against Islamic terrorism, after facing bipartisan criticism over the meager U.S. presence at the march — which was attended by more than 40 world leaders.

“We should have sent someone with a higher profile to be there,” Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Monday.

But he also explained that the planning for the rally began on short notice and President Obama’s personal attendance, given the security challenges, would have had a “significant impact” on the march. Earnest said they had only 36 hours to prepare, and suggested the outdoor event with large crowds posed security risks.

Earnest said the U.S. still stands “four-square behind our allies in France.” (Read more from this story HERE)

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