US, Russian Aircraft Came Within 10 Feet Over Black Sea

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By Barbara Starr. A Russian fighter jet, flying at high speed, came within 10 feet of a U.S. Air Force reconnaissance aircraft in international airspace over the Black Sea late last month, several U.S. officials told CNN Thursday.

The Russian jet flew alongside the U.S. plane at the same altitude, broke off, and then shadowed the plane before leaving the area in the May 30 incident, the officials said. The U.S. aircraft took no evasive measures, and no other details were immediately available. Military officials could not say whether a diplomatic protest had been filed.

The close call comes weeks after another incident between the U.S. and Russia over the skies of Europe, when a U.S. RC-135U flying a routine route in international airspace was intercepted by a Russian SU-27 Flanker in what authorities called an “unsafe and unprofessional manner.” (Read more from “US, Russian Aircraft Came Within 10 Feet Over Black Sea” HERE)

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Putin, Once Critical of Stalin, Now Embraces Soviet Dictator’s Tactics

By Carol J. Williams. Only six years ago, President Vladimir Putin visited the Polish port of Gdansk, birthplace of the Solidarity movement that threw off Soviet domination, and reassured his Eastern European neighbors that Russia had only friendly intentions.

Putin spoke harshly that day of the notorious World War II-era pact that former Soviet leader Josef Stalin had signed with Adolf Hitler — an agreement that cleared the way for the Nazi occupation of Poland and Soviet domination of the Baltics — calling it a “collusion to solve one’s problems at others’ expense.”

But Putin’s view of history appears to have undergone a startling transformation. Last month, the Russian leader praised the 1939 nonaggression accord with Hitler as a clever maneuver that forestalled war with Germany. Stalin’s 29-year reign, generally seen by Russians in recent years as a dark and bloody chapter in the nation’s history, has lately been applauded by Putin and his supporters as the foundation on which the great Soviet superpower was built.

Across a resurgent Russia, Stalin lives again, at least in the minds and hearts of Russian nationalists who see Putin as heir to the former dictator’s model of iron-fisted rule. Recent tributes celebrate Stalin’s military command acumen and geopolitical prowess. His ruthless repression of enemies, real and imagined, has been brushed aside by today’s Kremlin leader as the cost to be paid for defeating the Nazis.

As Putin has sought to recover territory lost in the 1991 Soviet breakup, his Stalinesque claim to a right to a “sphere of influence” has allowed him to legitimize the seizure of Crimea from Ukraine and declare an obligation to defend Russians and Russian speakers beyond his nation’s borders. (Read more from this story HERE)

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DHS Secretly Videotaping Citizens to Do This

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Traveling through the T. F. Green Airport of Providence, Rhode Island?

If so, the Department of Homeland Security may be collecting video of you as part of a project to sniff out behavioral indicators of “malicious intent” . . .

On Tuesday, the DHS quietly released online a “privacy impact assessment” that provides the legal justification for an ongoing experiment it is calling “Data Collection for the Centralized Hostile Intent Project.”

The 14-page document, reviewed in full by WND, reveals the DHS’ Science and Technology Directorate will conduct an exercise at the Providence airport at an undisclosed date.

The DHS is planning to collect video images at designated areas throughout the airport, including at TSA security checkpoints, ticket counters, baggage claim and the airport entrance. No audio will be recorded at any time, states the document. (Read more from “DHS Secretly Videotaping Citizens to Do This” HERE)

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Viral Video: Every American Should Hear This Black Mom’s Take on Texas Pool Party

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A black Texas mother took to Facebook with a video message after a heated discussion with co-workers about the events in McKinney, Texas, and her message has taken off on social media.

Kisa Jackson spent a lunch break this week blasting the race-baiters and agitators who say the McKinney police officer acted inappropriately when he drew his gun on a group of teenagers. Blaming parents for not teaching their kids to respect authority, she also blasted the teens who tangled with the cops . . .

Jackson also blasted the parents of the kids who disobeyed the officers’ orders, saying cops don’t always have enough information to judge who is a threat.

“When the police arrive on a scene, you should stay there and you wait for instructions… because the cops don’t always know what’s going on,” she said. “It’s about again the parents, and teaching our children to respect authority figures, whether it’s an officer. Whether it’s a teacher. Whether it’s just a parent walking down the street.”

Jackson’s refreshingly honest assessment of the pool party in McKinney caught fire on social media, with most users celebrating her bold message.

(Read more from “Viral Video: Every American Should Hear This Black Mom’s Take on Texas Pool Party” HERE)

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College Professors Instructed to Tell Students: ‘America Is Not the Land of Opportunity’

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By Josh Hedtke. “America is the land of opportunity,” “There is only one race, the human race” and “I believe the most qualified person should get the job” are among a long list of alleged microaggressions faculty leaders of the University of California system have been instructed not to say.

These so-called microaggressions – considered examples of subconscious racism – were presented at faculty leader training sessions held throughout the 2014-15 school year at nine of the 10 UC campuses. The sessions, an initiative of UC President Janet Napolitano, aim to teach how to avoid offending students and peers, as well as how to hire a more diverse faculty.

At the gatherings, deans and department chairs across the UC system have been instructed to be careful using (read: instructed not to use) phrases such as “America is the land of opportunity” or even use forms that provide only “male” and “female” check boxes, among a long litany of supposed microaggressions listed in a document underlying the “Faculty Leadership Seminars.”

The document has drawn little scrutiny until now, when a professor in the UC system pointed it out to The College Fix. The professor chose not to attend the seminars, but myriad materials on the UC Office of the President (UCOP) website give indication as to what sort of lessons were taught there . . .

In another handout, “Tool for Identifying Implicit Bias,” faculty are advised when dealing with a student or researcher that they are particularly impressed with not to express approval with compliments like “It’s clear he’s a rockstar.” The handout also describes “raising the bar” as “elitist.” (Read more from “College Professors Instructed to Tell Students: ‘America Is Not the Land of Opportunity'” HERE)

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Michelle Obama’s Speeches to Grads Major in Racial Resentment, Identity Politics

By Nicole Haas. Michelle Obama just can’t stop widening the wedge between a divided America, and has found a captive audience for the mission.

The first lady continues to treat 2015 graduates to commencement speeches featuring racial resentment and identity politics, this time depressing young grads near her home in Chicago’s South Side.

“Wherever you go next, wherever you go, you all encounter people who doubt your very existence—folks who believe that hardworking families with strong values don’t exist on the South Side of Chicago, or in Detroit, or in El Paso, or in Indian Country, or in Appalachia,” she told the crowd at King College Prep High School on Tuesday.

“They don’t believe you are real,” she added to drive the point home.

It’s hardly the kind of inspiration one would think to blow under the wings of fledglings getting ready to fly the coop. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Hack the Vote: Cyber Experts Say Ballot Machines Remain Easy Targets

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The recent cyber theft of millions of personnel records from the federal government was sophisticated and potentially crippling, but hackers with just rudimentary skills could easily do even more damage by targeting voting machines, according to security experts.

Voter fraud is nearly as old as elections themselves, and different states and precincts use different voting systems and machines. But in many cases, even the electronic ballots could be manipulated remotely, according to a new report by the Commonwealth Security and Risk Management for the Virginia Information Technologies Agency. That report found that the AVS WINVote machines Virginia has used since 2002 have such flimsy security that an amateur hacker could change votes from outside a polling location.

“This means anyone could have broken into the machines from the parking lot,” said Cris Thomas, a strategist with the Columbia, Md.-based Tenable Network Security, one of the nation’s leading cyber and enterprise security firms. “Our entire democracy depends on systems with minimal, easily bypassed security.”

The report was commissioned after one precinct in Virginia reported “unusual activity with some of the devices used to capture votes,” during last November’s statewide elections.

“Security deficiencies were identified in multiple areas, including physical controls, network access, operating system controls, data protection, and the voting tally process,” the report found. “The combination of critical vulnerabilities in these areas, along with the ability to remotely modify votes discretely, is considered to present a significant risk. This heightened level of risk has led VITA security staff to conclude that malicious third party could be able to alter votes on these devices. These machines should not remain in service.” (Read more from “Hack the Vote: Cyber Experts Say Ballot Machines Easy Targets” HERE)

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American Teenager Pleads Guilty to Helping ISIS

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A 17-year-old from Virginia pleaded guilty in court on Thursday to charges of conspiring to help Islamic State militants, the first time the United States has prosecuted a minor as an adult in such a case.

Ali Amin, of Manassas, Virginia, used Twitter and his blog to provide instructions on how to use the virtual currency Bitcoin to send funds to the militants, according to court documents.

Prosecutors said Amin also helped another Virginia resident, Reza Niknejad, to travel to Syria to join the group that has taken control of areas of Iraq and Syria over the past year in a campaign marked by mass killings and beheadings.

The SITE monitoring service, which follows social media postings by Jihadist militants, said Amin had some 4,000 Twitter followers and was in communication with well-known Islamic State fighters and recruiters.

SITE said on his site he displayed a picture of the White House topped with an Islamic State black flag and included a note that the site was “dedicated to raising awareness about the upcoming conquest of the Americas.” (Read more from “American Teenager Pleads Guilty to Helping ISIS” HERE)

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Ben Carson Scoffs at Gay Civil Rights Argument: They Never Had Separate Water Fountains [+video]

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Ben Carson edged back into the fray over gay rights Wednesday night when he used a Fox News interview to criticize liberals trying to put same-sex marriage on the same moral plane as the civil rights movement.

During the interview Fox host Bret Baier asked Carson about comments he made during an earlier interview with CNN’s Chris Cuomo, when he suggested homosexuality is a preference, not a biological trait.

Carson explained that the CNN interview had “irritated” him, because Cuomo continually tried to portray the gay rights movement as analogous with the civil rights struggles of the 1960s.

[Dr. Carson discusses gay civil rights argument and describes his earlier comment suggesting that homosexuals are not born that way, “boneheaded”]

“Quite frankly, I didn’t remember any times when there were signs up that says, you know, ‘everybody else here and gay people have to drink at this fountain,’” Carson told Baier.

Carson speculated that the CNN quote received so much play in the news because the liberal media was eager to get a conservative, black Republican out of the race. (Read more from “Ben Carson Scoffs at Gay Civil Rights Argument: They Never Had Separate Water Fountains” HERE)

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CNN Host Takes Shocking Stand Against Left – Here’s How Liberals Responded

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Don Lemon, the often left-leaning host of CNN Tonight, offered some introspective thoughts about modern liberalism in a recent appearance on Black America Web. He began by offering a short test allowing listeners to determine if they are too politically correct.

“Do you allow room in your space for those who disagree with you?” he asked. “Do you ever call your coworkers or someone you don’t even know, someone you overhear talking, or even the person on the radio, the person on the TV – do you ever call them stupid because you disagree with them or because they don’t hold your same opinion about an issue?”

If the answer to any of those questions is yes, he advised, “then you might be too politically correct for your own good – for society’s good.”

Lemon went on to cite the recent remarks of high-profile comedians – a profession he said is populated by “the most outspoken people on the planet” – regarding the insurmountable level of political correctness on American college campuses.

“Political correctness has become dangerous,” he warned. “We have to stop looking for reasons to be offended. We have to allow people leeway to make mistakes in conversations without calling them racists, bigots, stupid, dumb, sellouts or whatever your word choice may be – on and on” . . .

Social media criticism of his remarks soon followed, fulfilling one Twitter user’s prophesy:

Photo Credit: Twitter

(Read more from “CNN Host Takes Shocking Stand Against Left – Here’s How Liberals Responded” HERE)

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Man Charged With Intentionally Killing Bald Eagles With His Truck in Alaska

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An Oregon man has been charged with intentionally driving his pickup truck into a group of bald eagles feeding on an Alaska roadway, killing two of them, authorities said Thursday.

Dennis C. Thompson, 28, of Union, Oregon, was cited on a count of using a motorized vehicle to harass or molest game, the Division of Alaska State Troopers said. Thompson is scheduled to be arraigned June 30 in Unalaska District Court, the division said.

Unalaska Police Chief Jamie Sunderland told NBC station KTUU the incident happened Sunday night in Dutch Harbor, a community on Unalaska in the Alaska part of the Aleutian Islands.

“Somebody called us and said there was someone who had ran over an eagle,” Sunderland said. “They said there was blood, and it was flopping around, that someone should come put it down.” (Read more from “Man Charged With Intentionally Killing Bald Eagles With His Truck in Alaska” HERE)

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Obama: Trade Bill Will Advance One of My Highest Priorities, Climate Change

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In an interview with American Public Media’s Marketplace, President Obama says fast-tracking the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade bill would help him advance his climate change agenda, which he said is “one of my highest priorities.”

During the interview with host Kai Ryssdal of Marketplace, Obama said, “If we want to solve something like climate change, which is one of my highest priorities, then I’ve got to be able to get into places like Malaysia, and say to them, this is in your interest.”

“What leverage do I have to get them to stop deforestation?” he asked. “Well part of the leverage is, if I’m in a trade relationship with them, that allows me to raise standards, now they have to start thinking about how quick they’re chopping down their forests and what kinds of standards they need to apply to environmental conservation.”

“So, we have to engage, not withdraw,” the president stated.

Obama is in a struggle, however, with fellow Democrats who argue the measure will harm U.S. workers and give the upper hand to big business. During the interview, he specifically pointed to the “mistake” his “progressive friends” are making in not supporting fast-tracking the measure. (Read more from “Obama: Trade Bill Will Advance One of My Highest Priorities, Climate Change” HERE)

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