New Yorkers Have Mixed Views on New U.S.-Canadian Border Patrol Checkpoints [+video]

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i19checkpointNorth country residents have mixed views — and strong opinions — about the value of traffic checkpoints routinely set up by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents assigned to monitor the American side of the U.S.-Canadian border.

Based on random interviews, several said they believe border checkpoints are necessary to keep illicit drugs, illegal immigrants and other unlawful activities out of the country.

However, many also said they’re concerned that too many law enforcement officials — including border patrol agents — unlawfully stretch their authority by using aggressive tactics when interrogating law-abiding citizens traveling in their own country.

Last week, Jessica A. Cooke, 21, Ogdensburg, was pulled over at a border checkpoint in Waddington by border patrol agents who wanted to search her car’s trunk. During an altercation that followed, Ms. Cooke allegedly was subdued with a stun gun.

The incident, which was captured on a cellphone video taken by Ms. Cooke, has prompted a spirited debate on social media sites.

[Caution: obscene language]

Ms. Cooke, a SUNY Canton criminal justice major who graduated Saturday, claims she was wrongfully assaulted and has threatened to file a lawsuit. (Read more from “North Country Residents Have Mixed Views on U.S. Border Patrol Checkpoints” HERE)

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Former NSA Lawyer: Keeping Bulk Collection Was a Mistake, It was All VP Dick Cheney’s Fault

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AP879019945768-1-e1431713059844-article-display-bThe Bush administration’s decision to keep bulk collection of domestic phone records a secret was a strategic mistake, former NSA Inspector General Joel Brenner told his former colleagues on Friday.

But in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Vice President Dick Cheney’s office was so determined to assert untrammeled executive power that any internal debate about going public or telling Congress was “academic” at the time, said Brenner, who served as the agency’s in-house watchdog from 2002 to 2006.

Brenner published his prepared remarks Friday morning, just before delivering them at the National Security Agency headquarters at an event marking the 40th Anniversary of the Church Committee, the special congressional committee that exposed surveillance abuse and led to the passage of the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

Brenner concluded that the program blatantly violated FISA, and he recalled asking his NSA colleagues why the White House didn’t just go to Congress and get the law changed. But, he noted: “This was actually an academic question, because policy was being driven, and driven hard, by [Cheney legal counsel David] Addington, who detested the FISA statute.”

Brenner said bulk collection was a part of the now “mostly declassified” program called STELLAR WIND, which “was run directly by the Office of the Vice President and put under the direct personal control of the Vice President’s counsel, David Addington.” (Read more from “Former NSA Lawyer: Keeping Bulk Collection Was a Mistake” HERE)

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Russia Says It Can Deploy Nuclear Arms to Crimea

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

Russia’s envoy to the NATO alliance said on Friday that Moscow will bolster military forces in occupied Ukraine, and is not banned from deploying nuclear arms in Crimea.

“Everything that we do in Crimea fully complies with all obligations of the Russian Federation under international treaties. We do not violate anything, there are no prohibitions on us deploying certain weapons systems,” said Alexander Grushko, the envoy, when asked if nuclear arms would be placed in Crimea.

Grushko also declined to say whether nuclear arms currently are deployed inside the Ukrainian territory forcibly annexed by Russia in March 2014. He made the remarks in a video press conference from Moscow with reporters in Brussels, where NATO headquarters is located.

European Command spokesman Capt. Greg Hicks said Grushko’s comments were “rhetoric” and a “diatribe” that would not alter the NATO position on the issue. . .

A State Department official agreed. Additionally, the official said stationing nuclear arms in Crimea would “violate Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in breach of [Russia’s] obligations under the U.N. Charter, and to be inconsistent with Russia’s commitments under the Helsinki Final Act and the Budapest Memorandum.” (Read more from “Russia Says It Can Deploy Nuclear Arms to Crimea” HERE)

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School Bans Teen From Flying American Flag, Community Outrage Ensues [+video]

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Photo Credit: Controversial Times

Photo Credit: Controversial Times

Peyton Robinson, a senior at York Comprehensive High School in South Carolina, was flying an American flag and a POW-MIA flag on the back of his truck – until the school took them off his truck. . .

When he arrived at school on Wednesday, a school administrator told Robinson to take the flags down, saying “someone” had complained about them. He was later pulled out of class and told to meet an administrator in the parking lot, he said, where he found school officials had already removed the bolts that secured the flags, took the flags down, and “laid my flags in the middle of my truck when I wasn’t even there” . . .

The community has rallied around Robinson and his flags and staged a demonstation. As many as 70 cars full of students and adults arrived at the school with people waving flags along the street. . .

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Under overwhelming public outcry, the school gave in. An announcement on the school district says:

Due to the outstanding display of patriotism through peaceful demonstration, it is apparent to us that many are not happy about this policy. School officials have reviewed the standing policy regarding flags and have decided that an exception will be made for the American flag, as long as the size of the flag(s) does not create a driving hazard.

(Read more from “School Bans Teen From Flying American Flag and Quickly Regrets It” HERE)

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Clintons Have Made More Than $25 Million for Speaking Since Jan. 2014

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2014-06-11t155415z1813105711gm1ea6b1uc101rtrmadp3usa-politics-clintonHillary Rodham Clinton and former president Bill Clinton earned in excess of $25 million for delivering 104 speeches since the beginning of 2014, a huge infusion to their net worth as she was readying for a presidential bid.

The Clintons revealed their recent income as paid speakers and other aspects of their personal finances in disclosure forms filed with the Federal Election Commission on Friday.

Hillary Clinton also earned more than $5 million in royalties for her book, “Hard Choices,” which was released in June.

One of her Republican rivals for the presidency, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, also filed his financial information Friday, revealing a far more modest portfolio. It showed that last year he cashed out his retirement accounts, which were worth between $60,000 and $195,000; a campaign spokesman declined to comment on why. Rubio and his wife hold at least $450,000 in home mortgage debt.

Clinton has tripped politically in addressing her personal wealth, drawing criticism last year for indicating she and her husband were “dead broke” when his term as president concluded in 2001. Though saddled with debt because of legal fees arising from various White House scandals, Bill Clinton’s memoirs and frenetic speaking schedule quickly lifted the couple into the ranks of the uber-wealthy. (Read more from “Clintons Have Made More Than $25 Million for Speaking Since Jan. 2014” HERE)

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Rick Perry to Announce Presidential Run Next Month

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rickperry_5Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry has chosen Dallas to officially declare his second run for the Republican presidential nomination on June 4.

For months, Perry has said that he would announce his decision in May or June. But his constant travel to the early contest states of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida has left little doubt of his intentions . . .

Unlike four years ago, when he rushed into the contest after seeing he could raise quick money and was leading in polls, Perry enters this contest as an underdog.

He is polling in single digits, but again unlike his last run, he has spent more than a year in preparation. He has consulted weekly with conservative experts on foreign relations and economic policy. He has assembled advisers and campaign teams in the early states and has even taken tutoring in public speaking . . .

In the 2016 contest, he will begin from behind, not only trying to push his message through the similar-sounding policies advanced by a large pack of candidates, but he also must erase memories of his previous debate flops and campaign stumbles. (Read more from “Rick Perry to Announce Presidential Run Next Month” HERE)

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Students Caught Screening Fifty Shades of Grey During Class

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Fifty-Gray-posterPortions of “Fifty Shades of Grey,” a controversial movie depicting graphic acts of sexual violence, was screened in a West Virginia classroom this week.

The filmography request was made by a group of Hampshire County students who asked their teacher, who was ignorant of the film’s content, if they could watch it as a reward for good work.

“Fortunately, an assistant principal walked by and saw what they were doing,” said school principal Jeff Woofter. “They got there 10 minutes after it started and shut it down” . . .

Citing school policy, Woofter went on to say he couldn’t discuss whether or not disciplinary action would be taken against the teacher or students. He declined to give any more information.

The movie, which earned nearly $600 million in worldwide ticket sales, is based on a book of the same title. The first in a trilogy of what originally started out as erotic fan fiction, the book catalogs the exploits of plain-Jane Anastasia Steele, a recent college graduate, and the devilishly good-looking Christian Grey, a young business magnate. (Read more from “Students Caught Screening Fifty Shades of Grey During Class” HERE)

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Feds to Use Social Media to Combat Complaints About Michelle Obama Lunches

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Photo Credit: Twitter

Photo Credit: Twitter

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is pushing back against a campaign criticizing First Lady Michelle Obama’s school lunch rules by showing one picture of a somewhat appetizing child’s lunch.

“They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and in the digital age we have ample opportunity to document and broadcast every moment, meeting and meal,” wrote Deborah Kane, the national director of the USDA Farm to School Program, in a blog post Thursday.

“We have all seen those unappetizing photos of food served at school that quickly go viral,” she said. “A lonesome whole wheat bun atop a sad fish fillet; a mysterious-looking meat mixture served next to an apple. It’s natural to ask, ‘Is this what they serve for lunch!?’”

Photo Credit: Twitter

Photo Credit: Twitter

“No, it’s really not,” Kane said . . .

“Beautiful meals like this are what’s for lunch today and every day in schools across the country,” the caption reads below a picture of a meal of broccoli, corn, some sort of rice, an apple, bun, low-fat chocolate milk, and a fish patty the size of the young child’s head. (Read more from “Feds to Use Social Media to Combat Complaints About Michelle Obama Lunches” HERE)

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Veterans Affairs Improperly Spent $6 Billion Annually, Senior Official Says

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Veterans_Health_Care-0da50

vasignThe Department of Veterans Affairs has been spending at least $6 billion a year in violation of federal contracting rules to pay for medical care and supplies, wasting taxpayer money and putting veterans at risk, according to an internal memo written by the agency’s senior official for procurement.

In a 35-page document addressed to VA Secretary Robert McDonald, the official accuses other agency leaders of “gross mismanagement” and making a “mockery” of federal acquisition laws that require competitive bidding and proper contracts.

Jan R. Frye, deputy assistant secretary for acquisition and logistics, describes a culture of “lawlessness and chaos” at the Veterans Health Administration, the massive health-care system for 8.7 million veterans.

“Doors are swung wide open for fraud, waste and abuse,” he writes in the March memo, which was obtained by The Washington Post. He adds, “I can state without reservation that VA has and continues to waste millions of dollars by paying excessive prices for goods and services due to breaches of Federal laws.”

Frye describes in detail a series of practices that he says run afoul of federal rules, including the widespread use of purchase cards, which are usually meant as a convenience for minor purchases of up to $3,000, to buy billions of dollars worth of medical supplies without contracts. In one example, he says that up to $1.2 billion in prosthetics were bought using purchase cards without contracts during an 18-month period that ended last year. (Read more from “Veterans Affairs Improperly Spent $6 Billion Annually, Senior Official Says” HERE)

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Alaska Medicaid Expansion Would Significantly Increase Taxpayer-Funded Abortions

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baby-cute-pictures-17This morning the Charlotte Lozier Institute (CLI), the education and research arm of the national pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List, published a new paper examining how expansion of the Medicaid program in Alaska will significantly increase the number of abortions in the state. The analysis comes as the Alaska legislature considers a law that would expand Medicaid enrollment.

Alaska is one of 17 states that funds abortion through Medicaid. According to CLI Associate Scholar Michael J. New, Ph.D. who authored the paper, the expansion would increase the state abortion rate in at least four ways. The expansion will:

• Add between 10,000 and 15,000 women of childbearing age onto the program, which already funds a high percentage of abortions in Alaska.

• Result in more Medicaid-eligible women leaving non-abortion-covering insurance plans to enroll in the abortion-covering Medicaid program.

• End the incentive for women to carry their children to term since an expansion would allow for childless low-income women who seek an abortion to remain on Medicaid.

• Increase the amount of taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider whose Alaska affiliates perform a substantial amount of the state’s abortions.

The full text of the new paper may be found here.

“Alaska already has one of the highest rates of publicly funded abortions in the country,” said Chuck Donovan, president of the Charlotte Lozier Institute. “Expanding the Medicaid program will encourage and incentivize abortion for low-income women and further devalue life in the state. Overall, Dr. New’s analysis validates prior concerns from pro-life groups about an increase of taxpayer-funded abortions under Obamacare, particularly when those states expand their Medicaid program under the health care law.”

An initial analysis by CLI from 2013 calculated that overall about 6 million women could potentially gain coverage for abortion under Obamacare, with half of those due to state Medicaid expansion. In 2014, CLI joined with Family Research Council to launch ObamacareAbortion.com, an online resource for the general public to make up for the administration’s lack of transparency on abortion coverage in health insurance plans.

Charlotte Lozier Institute was launched in 2011 as the education and research arm of Susan B. Anthony List. CLI is a hub for research and public policy analysis on some of the most pressing issues facing the United States and nations around the world. The Institute is named for a feminist physician known for her commitment to the sanctity of human life and equal career and educational opportunities for women. (See ” Alaska Medicaid Expansion Would Significantly Increase Taxpayer-Funded Abortions”, originally posted HERE)

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