Call Your Congressman Today! GOP Leaders Giving Obama Unconstitutional Authority to By-Pass Congress in Approving Treaties

Photo Credit: Twitter

Photo Credit: Twitter

Today the Republican leadership will encourage the House and Senate to vote to pass the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) Initiative; the bill is known as “Trade Promotion Authority” or TPA – no one has even seen thousands of pages of Obama’s Secret Trade Bill – now the Republican leadership is saying “we will have to pass it to see what is in it”. The Republican leaders are planning to give Obama “Carte Blanche” to enter into “Fast-Track Trade Treaties” in “total secrecy” eventually with future countries such as Cuba, Iran, China, Russia, etc., because Obama will be able to add other countries to this agreement, which is UNCONSTITUTIONAL; it “short circuits the legislative process” which requires a two thirds majority vote of the US Senate to approve Treaties. Republican leaders are planning to give Obama unprecedented power to curtail Congressional checks and balances on Treaties, even while they have been watching him for over six years, violate Federal Immigration Laws, the US Constitution, and Freedom of Religion for members of the US Armed Forces.

The TPA Bill has many damaging provisions, among them, it will (1) allow millions of foreign workers to be given visas to enter the US at a time when 104 million Americans are unemployed, (2) open the way to import dangerous foods products that will negatively affect the health of unsuspecting Americans, (3) ship millions of American jobs overseas, (4) “force the US” to abide by UN and EPA business destructive unproven climate change regulations, (5) “force the US” to abide by the UN’s Small Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) which was voted down by the US Senate and violates the 2nd Amendment’s provision that allows American citizens to purchase and sell their small arms, and (6) it will force the US Congress to abide by every UN Treaty, undermining the sovereignty of the United States.

The TPA initially embraces 12 nations including the US, Peru, Chile, Mexico, Canada, Japan, Vietnam, Australia, Brunei, Malaysia, New Zealand, and Singapore; however there is a provision in the agreement that allows Obama to add other countries in the future, like Cuba, China, Iran, Russia, Venezuela, Libya, Syria, etc. The TPA is a secret Obama Law, like the secret Obamacare Law, that will allow the free flow of Mexican, South American, and Asian workers to enter the US (not only will the southern border remain wide open, but the US will no longer have any borders “at all”, or any barriers to entry), the millions of new entering foreign workers will willingly work for exceptionally lower wages under substandard conditions. Details in thousands of unread pages of this law have not been read or worked out, yet the Republican leadership is giving Obama “Fast-Track” authority to make any and all decisions in all and every treaty with the initial 12 countries and as many additional countries Obama decides on in the future, without Senate ratification (all future trade treaties will no longer be subject to the Constitutional requirement of a two-thirds majority of the US Senate for ratification). Republican leaders are enhancing Obama’s control of foreign policy, while making the Congress irrelevant.

In order to deal with the millions of Americans who will be losing their jobs because of the TPA Bill, under the radar, the Republican leadership of the House and Senate is crafting a bill to go along with TPA, known as the Trade Adjustment Assistance Bill to be passed on the same day the TPA Bill is passed – it should more appropriately be entitled the “Put all American Workers on Welfare Bill Because of the TPA Bill”. That new Trade Adjustment Assistance Bill – being promoted by the Republican leadership in Congress – specifically targets workers and farmers because many of them will lose their jobs once Obama authorizes secret “Trade Treaties” with foreign countries and devastates the labor movement in the United States.

Once Obama uses his “Fast-Track” authority to agree with UN Regulations, Congress would not be able to modify or amend those TPP provisions entered into solely by Obama himself – without Congressional involvement at all – and Obama’s individual decision would have the force of the “law of the land” under the US Constitution. This proposed “living agreement” by Republican leaders in Congress will seriously undercut the re-employment of 104 million unemployed Americans, because as a “living agreement”, it would leave the southern border of the US to be even more porous than it is today. It will also allow Obama to change immigration policy “at will” without Congressional approval. Obviously, those proposed provisions of the TPA are absolutely UNCONSTITUTIONAL. Republican leaders are approving the massive immigration of millions of illegal aliens from Mexico and from 12 other countries.

The Republican leadership will surrender its authority to write Federal Immigration Laws by passing the TPA, thus enabling Obama to use his pen to simply authorize the importation of millions of non-Christian Asian, Japanese, Malaysian, Brunei, Singapore, and eventually Chinese and Iranian workers. According to the Greek Catholic Relief Agency, for over six years, Obama has refused to allow any of the 300,000 Syrian and Assyrian Christian refugees in the Middle East to enter the US, while Canada has been resettling those Syrian and Assyrian Christians. Obama has only been allowing the entry of Muslim refugees through the UN Muslim Refugees Resettlement Program, and has been intentionally excluding Christians. Now the Republican leadership is giving Obama the right to bring in millions of Asian immigrant workers who are also not of the Christian faith.

Obama has been resettling hundreds of thousands of Muslim refugees in 195 cities across the nation without elected state and city officials being provided with specific details on who is being resettled in their cities, and without informing them who is going to pay for the health care, resettlement costs, transportation costs, education of refugee children, welfare costs of refugee families, food stamps, and housing costs for hundreds of thousands Muslims forced into their communities.

Supporters of this aggressive secret Obama initiative include Democratic Progressives in Congress, Democratic Congressman Danny K. Davis (received an award from the Communist Party in 2012), David Cortright (Obama’s close Chicago associate on the Committee for a Sane Nuclear policy (SANE)), Communist Tom Hayden (member of “Progressives for Obama”), Democratic Congressmen in the “Hanoi Lobby” (group aggressively supporting normalization of relations with Cuba), Cora Weiss (a strong supporter of Communism and a member of the Anti-War Movement), Adam Hersh (from the liberal Center for American Progress), the left of center liberal media establishment, and the Democratic Progressive Caucus. Those Leftists, Marxists, Progressives, and Communists have been getting the very aggressive support of the Republican leadership in the House and Senate, who have been working with the Democratic Progressive Caucus in Congress to pass the TPA (the 70 member Caucus includes Socialists, Progressives, Marxists, and Communists members of Congress).

The AFL-CIO Unions are on solid footing in their opposition to this “Fast Track Trade Promotion Authority”. Responsible and clear thinking Democrats in Congress are also against giving Obama “Fast-Track” authority with this labor damaging bill as it will allow millions of new workers to enter the US, will force the Congress to abide by environmental protection standards that will restrict business development and job growth in the US, will allow currency manipulation, and will allow millions of new Mexican Illegal Alien workers to legally enter and work in the United States. The Republican leaders in Congress should use some degree of “Common Sense” and wait for 19 months, before they give the occupant in the Oval Office any trade promotion authority, and only if that trade authority is very limited. Hopefully, the new occupant of the Oval Office, unlike Obama, will be a pro-American president who supports and abides by the provisions of the US Constitution.

Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions has alerted the American people about the dangers of the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) speeding through Congress and the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal that TPA would help push. Senator Sessions said in a “critical alert” from his office, “The president has circumvented Congress on immigration with serial regularity. But the TPA would yield new power to the executive to alter admissions while subtracting Congressional checks against those actions.” Senator Sessions and several outside groups said Obama could change immigration policies between trading partners “at will” without any Congressional oversight. “The plain language of TPA provides avenues for Obama and trading partners to facilitate the expanded movement of foreign workers into the U.S. – including issuing visitor visas that are used as worker visas,” said Senator Sessions. The basis of that charge is a phrase in TPA calling it a “living agreement.” Sessions said that means that they can be changed after Congress approves them, and also that countries can be added in the future, including China. “It leaves it open for a president to change it without Congressional approval,” warned Jessica M. Vaughan, Director of Policy Studies for the Center for Immigration Studies. “Congress should not surrender its authority to write immigration laws to either the executive branch, to trade negotiators, and definitely not to international trade tribunals,” she added.

The Republican Leadership of the House and Senate are planning to give Obama free rein with “Fast Track Trade Promotion Authority”, with full the knowledge of Obama’s very dangerous anti-American track record, and his pro-Marxist/Communist initiatives. Even the most casual observer of Obama’s dangerous foreign policy initiatives can’t help but understand that, in the past six plus years, Obama foreign policy decisions have consistently favored the enemies of the Republic like Radical Islamic Terrorists in Libya, Communist China, Communist North Vietnam, Radical Islamic Terrorists in Iran, Radical Islamic Terrorists in the Muslim Brotherhood, Chavez’s Socialist Venezuela, Castro’s Communist Cuba, and Putin’s anti-American Russia – they have all collectively and repeatedly expressed their intent to destroy the Republic as it was created by the Founding Fathers.

A newly elected pro-American Patriotic US President would judiciously apply trade promotion authority negotiations by entering into separate Trade Treaties with 12 Asian and South American countries, while abiding by the provision of the US Constitution that requires a two thirds majority vote of the US Senate to approve each treaty. The American people need to rise up and oppose Obama’s secret TPA Bill by calling their Senate representatives at (202) 224-3121 and by sending FaxGrams to their Senate and Congressional representatives telling them to reject Obama’s “Fast-Track” authority which will permit Obama to enter into and force the Congress to abide by all UN Treaties, and will also permit Obama to enter into future secret treaties with countries such as Cuba, China, Iran, Russia, Venezuela, Iraq, Syria, etc. This most recent initiative by Republican leadership in the House and Senate, follows their inept funding of Obamacare, illegal Immigration, and Obama’s wide open southern border policy through September 2015. This most recent action of the GOP leadership is approaching insanity, akin to allowing the fox into the chicken coop.

(The author of “GOP Leaders Giving Obama Unconstitutional Authority” was interviewed previously on The Joe Miller Show)

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Watch: Famous American Muslim Claims Pam Geller Is ‘Worse Than ISIS’ During Interview

Photo Credit: Twitter

Photo Credit: Twitter

This weekend, video from a news program out of Michigan surfaced featuring a prominent Muslim American businessman and publisher making outrageous claims about Pamela Geller, her “Draw Muhammad” event in Texas, and ISIS. Watch the clip first. You won’t believe your ears. Then, when you read up on the context … you won’t believe your eyes.

Did you catch that? Plain as day, that man just said:

“She is a hatemonger. She is drawing incitement and violence.” … “Let me talk a little bit about ISIS. ISIS is a hate group exactly like Pamela Geller. She is drawing killers, she makes killers, she is inviting killers to come in.” … “She is worse than ISIS. She is worse than ISIS.”

Worse. Than. ISIS. Unbelievable. Although he did get one thing right. He said “she is drawing killers.” That’s true. They were definitely drawing that.

Now, this guy isn’t some lone-wolf extremist. That was Osama Siblani, publisher of “Arab American News,” the largest and most widely circulated Arab American publication in the United States. He’s been editing/publishing the publication out of Dearborn Michigan since 1984. Dearborn boasts the highest concentration of Arab Muslims in the United States… and Osama Siblani is the editor of arguably their most emblematic publication in the country.

My show is based out of Detroit/Ann Arbor, and I’m quite familiar with Dearborn. One of my favorite restaurants ever was caught funneling money to Hezbollah. We were literally discussing it and laughing about it on the air this week. “Yep, those terrorists sure make good food though,” is an exact quote. This is par for the course for Dearborn, and everyone in eastern Michigan knows it.

Allow me to re-iterate: This man, is not a lone-wolf, he has acted as a widely accepted ambassador for Arab-American Muslims since 1984. He not only blamed Pamela Gellar for the terror attempt in Garland, but he flat-out said that she, as an American exercising her free speech… was worse than ISIS. Worse than ISIS.

Muslim Americans, we await your grand protest, and your demanding of his immediate resignation.

… Any minute now. (See “Famous American Muslim Claims Pam Geller Is ‘Worse Than ISIS’ on Air”, originally posted HERE)

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Obama’s Quiet Nuclear Deal With China Raises Proliferation Concerns

download (15)It seemed like a typical day for President Obama. He taped a TV interview on trade, hosted the champion NASCAR team on the South Lawn and met with the defense secretary in the Oval Office.

Not so typical was something that didn’t appear that day on the president’s public schedule: notification to Congress that he intends to renew a nuclear cooperation agreement with China. The deal would allow Beijing to buy more U.S.-designed reactors and pursue a facility or the technology to reprocess plutonium from spent fuel. China would also be able to buy reactor coolant technology that experts say could be adapted to make its submarines quieter and harder to detect.

The formal notice initially didn’t draw any headlines. Its unheralded release on April 21 reflected the administration’s anxiety that it might alarm members of Congress and nonproliferation experts who fear China’s growing naval power — and the possibility of nuclear technology falling into the hands of third parties with nefarious intentions.

Now, however, Congress is turning its attention to the agreement. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is set to hear from five Obama officials in a closed-door meeting Monday to weigh the commercial, political and security implications of extending the accord. The private session will permit discussion of a classified addendum from the director of national intelligence analyzing China’s nuclear export control system and what Obama’s notification called its “interactions with other countries of proliferation concern.”

The White House’s willingness to push ahead with the nuclear accord with Beijing illustrates the evolving relationship between the world’s two largest powers, which, while eyeing each other with mutual suspicion and competitiveness, also view each other as vital economic and strategic global partners. The Nuclear Energy Institute, an industry trade group, argues that the new agreement will clear the way for U.S. companies to sell dozens of nuclear reactors to China, the biggest nuclear power market in the world. (Read more from “Obama’s Quiet Nuclear Deal With China Raises Proliferation Concerns” HERE)

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“A Growing Threat”: You’ll be Amazed at the Number of Immigrants Who Have Come to America From Muslim Countries Since 9/11

911with american flagHow many people in this country are aware of the fact that immigration from Islamic countries has doubled since 9/11? According to data Conservative Review collated from the DHS Yearbook of Immigration Statistics, the U.S. has issued 1,628,854 green cards to immigrants from predominantly Muslim countries from 2001-2013. Here is the breakdown by country:

muslim greencards

According to the data, a large portion of this new wave of immigration comes from volatile countries such as Iraq, Iran, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. And don’t forget about Somalia, the source of much of our recent troubles with homegrown terror, particularly in the Minneapolis area.

However, on the other hand, it is quite likely that Muslims have emigrated from non-predominantly Muslim countries in Europe and Canada or other countries not listed in our data table. Muslims from other countries have most certainly been issued green cards, such as those who come from Chechnya in Russia (Boston bombers) and India. Over 866,000 green cards have been issued to Indian nationals over the same period of time. This is obviously conjecture, but if it’s assumed that 13.4% of immigrants from India are Muslim – commensurate to their share of India’s native population – that would add another 116,000 Muslim immigrants to the overall tally.

The overall numbers track closely with Pew’s estimates of 100,000 new Muslim immigrants per year, almost twice the level of the previous decade. It is also 10% of our annual immigrant population. At that rate, the Muslim population in the U.S. is expected to double by 2030 and triple by 2050.

A Growing Threat

There’s no doubt that some Muslims come here to seek better economic opportunity, just like any other group that has immigrated in recent years. But, if even 10% of these immigrants have radical Jihadist tendencies, that is 160,000 new ticking time bombs – all brought here after 9/11. And, as I’ve noted before, while there will always be only a small percentage of even the most radical community actually engaging in terror activity, there are likely hundreds of thousands more who share the ideals of Sharia law and share the very sympathies that help cultivate a climate of homegrown terror. A 2007 Pew survey found that 26% of young Muslims in America support suicide bombing in pursuit of Jihad (see p. 60). This is a very ominous statistic given the increased share of young Muslims and the growth of cyber-jihad since 2007.

This explosion of Muslim immigration has also led to the rapid growth of extremist mosques in this country, many of which are funded by terror-supporting countries or organizations. The latest painful example was the discovery of the Phoenix mosque where the two Garland terrorists prayed. This mosque, which is led by an ethnic Palestinian and tied to the Muslim Brotherhood, seems to have engaged in many activities that would terrify ordinary Americans.

This explains why our nation is witnessing the radicalization of so many new Muslim converts, such as Elton Simpson, the first Garland shooter. Simpson was also allegedly in touch with a Jihadist American-Somali immigrant from…you guessed it…Minneapolis.

Moreover, the 1.62 million number doesn’t even include non-immigrant visas. CR pointed out a couple of months ago that student visas from some of these same countries have increased astronomically, with those from Saudi Arabia increasing ten-fold over the past decade. Arabic is the fastest growing language on U.S. college campuses and among the immigrant population in general. It’s no wonder FBI Director James Comey told reporters last week that the terror threats have become needles in haystacks spread throughout every corner of the country. With an endless stream of immigrants from Jihadi parts of the globe, in conjunction with the devastatingly effective and ubiquitous cyber Jihad, our government officials have lost control over our security – their one core mission.

Yet, instead of being more careful with immigration and guarding our front door, Obama’s policy has been to increase refugees from volatile parts of the world that are embroiled in Islamic civil wars. The Magic Valley of Idaho is one of the newest locations chosen for an influx of Syrian refugees. This raises concerns if the State Department and DHS can accurately identify instances of potential jihad. Are the residents of the Magic Valley to believe they were all properly vetted, given the federal government’s shoddy track record in recent years?

Do Americans want to live in a society where we can no longer exercise our First Amendment rights because of fear of homegrown terror? More importantly, do Americans want to live in a country that is constantly under threat of terror from widespread radical jihadists living among us?

With over 150 known American Muslims caught attempting to join ISIS, and especially following the thwarted terror attack in Garland, Texas, the threat of domestic terrorism is rapidly spreading. Jeh Johnson, Secretary of Homeland Security, said on Sunday that he fears a terrorist can “strike at any moment” and that we should expect to see more “lone wolf” scenarios play out. House Homeland Security Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) told Fox News that the “threat environment” is one of the highest he’s ever seen. Military bases in the U.S are now operating on an elevated terror threat level.

The Distraction

While top government officials are finally recognizing the existential threat posed by homegrown terror, most of them fail to identify the core problem. The discussion inevitably leads to a debate over boots on the ground in Syria and Iraq to engage the U.S. military in yet another Sunni-Shiite Islamic civil war, instead of confronting the true problem – open-ended and growing immigration from the Middle East and other areas where Jihad and Sharia law are the guiding influences.

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), an ardent proponent of loose borders, is trying to parlay the concern over homegrown terror into further involvement in endless Islamic civil wars. Ironically, it’s these involvements that have prompted the State Department to take in both Sunni and Shiite refugees who have created the very sort of terror concerns we are now trying to avoid.

Who voted for these policies? When did the American people ever have the opportunity to give input through a transparent process to the radical transformation of America? How many Americans would have supported a decision post-9/11 to roughly double the rate of Islamic immigration?

During any other era, these questions would be eagerly proposed by members of Congress across the political spectrum. These would not be partisan or controversial questions. They would represent common sense concerns about the very survival of our nation both from a security standpoint and from the perspective of a liberal democracy. Sadly, in this era of political correctness that knows no bounds, none of the politicians seem to care. Hopefully, they won’t be made to care through another avoidable terror attack. (See “Here’s the Amount of Immigrants That Have Come to America From Muslim Countries Since 9/11”, originally posted HERE)

[The author of this article was interviewed recently on The Joe Miller Show]

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Charges: Arizona Woman Made up Cancer Story to Qualify for Tax-Funded Abortion

Photo Credit: ABC 15

Photo Credit: ABC 15

A convicted con artist duped the state into paying for her late-term abortion, a procedure which otherwise would not have been funded with public money, according to court records.

Chalice Renee Zeitner made up a story about having cancer in order to qualify for an abortion while on Arizona’s Medicaid insurance, and forged a doctor’s note to support her claim, according to charging documents.

A doctor performed the abortion when Zeitner was 22-weeks pregnant.

Arizona’s Medicaid, known as AHCCCS, will only pay for an abortion in cases of rape or incest or “medical necessity,” which include cases where the pregnancy causes or worsens a serious health risk to the mother.

Zeitner, 29, received “what was thought to be a medically necessary late-term abortion,” court documents state. (Read more from “Charges: Arizona Woman Made up Cancer Story to Qualify for Tax-Funded Abortion” HERE)

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America is a Food Stamp Nation

handout050815The gospel according to Wall Street, the White House and propaganda media is that the U.S. economy is recovering just fine.

Last week, happy-faced talking heads told us that unemployment was down to 5.4 percent — the lowest rate since May 2008 — even while the number of Americans not in the labor force climbed [by one estimate] to a record 93,194,000. The Labor Force Participation Rate (the percent of people 16 years old and older eligible to work) stands at 62.8 percent. Still, government men dutifully claim all is well, that the stock market is bullish. Now the Fed is talking about raising interest rates.

Yet as of January 2015, the number of Americans receiving food stamps, officially known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP, had topped 46 million for 41 straight months, according to data released by the Department of Agriculture (USDA). Every month now for more than three years, going back to September 2011, 14.5 percent of the American population received food stamps.

In the Great Depression, long bread lines of hungry people waiting hours to get a meager bite to eat were visible reminders to everyone of the country’s economic pain. This went on while, thanks to FDR’s Agriculture Adjustment Act; farmers were paid to slaughter livestock, burn crops and leave their land fallow in order to prop up farm prices.

Today’s digital bread lines are invisible and easy to ignore. Food stamps are today’s soup kitchens. Most Americans are totally unaware of their magnitude. But they are real. (Read more from “America Is a Food Stamp Nation” HERE)

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Almost Half of US States Are Officially Broke

download (16)Last month, we documented the case of Louisiana State University, the large, well-known public institution whose 2014 enrollment totaled nearly 31,000 students. LSU, it turns out, is facing funding cuts of as much as 82% which, if realized, would likely force the school into financial exigency, the college equivalent of bankruptcy. The reason for the cuts: the sharp decline in oil prices and fiscal mismanagement have conspired to blow a $1.6 billion hole in the state’s budget.

Bloomberg has more:

With tax revenue from the oil industry falling short of projections, the deficit has swelled to $1.6 billion for the fiscal year that starts July 1. Moody’s Investors Service and Standard & Poor’s say they may lower Louisiana’s credit rating if officials don’t come up with sustainable budget solutions . . .

The real problem however is that large budget shortfalls aren’t confined to Louisiana. In fact, a new study from AP shows that big gaps are becoming more the rule than the exception across the US.

Via AP:

An Associated Press analysis of statehouse finances around the country shows that at least 22 states project shortfalls for the coming fiscal year. The deficits recall recession-era anxiety about plunging tax revenue and deep cuts to education, social services and other government-funded programs.

(Read more from “Almost Half of US States Are Officially Broke” HERE)

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House Will Vote on 20-Week Abortion Ban on Day Kermit Gosnell Convicted of Snipping Babies’ Necks [+video]

gosnell5By Steven Ertelt. LifeNews has confirmed that the House of Representatives this week will indeed vote on the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act — the bill to ban abortions after 20 weeks, on the anniversary of the conviction of Kermit Gosnell. That anniversary and the vote will take place on Wednesday.

On this day two years ago, Gosnell was found guilty of killing Baby A, Baby C and Baby D by snipping their necks in brutal abortion-infanticides still legal in the United States. He was also convicted on hundreds of lesser charges ranging from infanticide to running a corrupt organization.

Leading pro-life groups are working hard to generate calls and emails to members of Congress to support the bill.

National Right to Life told LifeNews: “The bill is the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act (H.R. 36), which would extend general protection from abortion to unborn children beginning at 20 weeks fetal age — nationwide. This bill could save the lives of thousands of babies each year. This federal bill was developed from model legislation developed by National Right to Life, which has been enacted so far in 11 states.” (Read more from “House Will Vote on 20-Week Abortion Ban on Day Kermit Gosnell Convicted of Snipping Babies’ Necks” HERE)

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Abortion Doctor Who Did 1,200 Abortions Tells Congress to Ban Them

By Steven Ertelt. This week, the House of Representatives is voting on a bill that would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. The last time the House considered this bill, a former abortion practitioner urged members of Congress to pass it.

Dr. Anthony Levatino is a pro-life physician from New Mexico but, before having a change of heart on the issue of abortion he was an OBGYN who also performed abortions. Levatino did as many as 1,200 abortions — some of them after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Then, after his daughter died in a tragic automobile accident, he re-evaluated his position on abortion and stopped doing abortions.

Dr. Levatino told members of a Congressional committee that they should support the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act and ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.

(Read more from this story HERE)

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Microbiomes Raise Privacy Concerns and Here’s Why

reduced for web C0115044-Faecal_bacteria_SEM-SPLCall it a ‘gut print’. The collective DNA of the microbes that colonize a human body can uniquely identify someone, researchers have found, raising privacy issues.

The finding, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on 11 May, suggests that it might be possible to identify a participant in an anonymous study of the body’s microbial denizens — its microbiome — and to reveal details about that person’s health, diet or ethnicity. A publicly available trove of microbiome DNA maintained by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), meanwhile, already contains potentially identifiable human DNA, according to a study published in Genome Research on 29 April.

The papers do not name individuals on the basis of their microbiomes — and predict that it would be difficult to do so currently — but they do suggest that those conducting microbiome research should take note.

“Right now, it’s a little bit of a Wild West as far as microbiome data management goes,” says Curtis Huttenhower, a computational biologist at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts, who led the latest study1. “As the field develops, we need to make sure there’s a realization that our microbiomes are highly unique.”

Human-genomics researchers have grappled with privacy concerns for years. In 2013, scientists showed that they could name five people who had taken part anonymously in the international 1,000 Genomes project, by cross-referencing their DNA with a genealogy database that also contained ages, locations and surnames. (Read more from “Microbiomes Raise Privacy Concerns and Here’s Why” HERE)

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White House Denies Obama’s Gulf Overtures Are Unraveling

download (14)The White House on Monday raced to dispel the notion that President Barack Obama’s efforts to reassure anxious Persian Gulf nations about his overtures to Iran were unraveling ahead of a rare Camp David summit this week.

Officials insisted there was no weakening in ties between the U.S. and the Gulf, despite the fact that just two other heads of state will join Obama for Thursday’s meetings at the presidential retreat in the Maryland mountains. The rulers of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Oman are skipping the summit and instead sending lower-ranking, yet highly influential representatives.

“We very much feel we have the right group around the table,” said Ben Rhodes, Obama’s deputy national security adviser.

The absence of Saudi Arabia’s newly crowned King Salman in particular has sparked questions about summit’s effectiveness. The Saudis are bitter rivals with Iran and among the most outspoken critics of Obama’s nuclear detente with Tehran.

Adding to the diplomatic intrigue: Saudi Arabia’s announcement Sunday that Salman would not travel to the U.S. came just two days after White House officials said Obama and the king would hold one-on-one talks in Washington ahead of the Camp David meeting. (Read more from “White House Denies Obama’s Gulf Overtures Are Unraveling” HERE)

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