Drone Wars: Memo Justifying Strikes on Americans to be Revealed

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Photo Credit: REUTERSThe Obama administration has signaled it will publicly reveal a memo explaining its legal justification for using drones to kill American citizens overseas, a U.S. government official confirmed to Fox News Tuesday.

The official said the Justice Department has decided not to appeal a Court of Appeals ruling requiring disclosure of a redacted version of the memo under the Freedom of Information Act.

The decision to release the documents comes as the Senate is to vote Wednesday on advancing President Obama’s nomination of the memo’s author, Harvard professor and former Justice Department official David Barron, to sit on the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., had vowed to fight Barron’s confirmation, and some Democratic senators had called for the memo’s public release before a final vote.

The key Democratic holdout against Barron’s nomination, Sen. Mark Udall D-Colo., announced Tuesday night he will now support Barron because the memo is being released.

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Federal ‘Biosurveillance’ Plan Seeking Direct Access to Americans’ Private Medical Records (+video)

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Photo Credit: CCHFThe federal government is piecing together a sweeping national “biosurveillance” system that will give bureaucrats near real-time access to Americans’ private medical information in the name of national security, according to Twila Brase, a public health nurse and co-founder of the Citizens Council for Health Freedom.

The Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response is currently seeking public comment on a 52-page draft of the proposed “National Health Security Strategy 2015-2018” (NHSS).

The deadline for comment is 5 pm EST on May 21st. (See Draft National Health Security Strategy 2015-2018.pdf)

“Health situational awareness includes biosurveillance and other health and non-health inputs (e.g., lab/diagnostics, health service utilization, active intelligence, and supply chain information), as well as systems and processes for effective communication among responders and critical health resource monitoring and allocation,” the draft states.

But Brase warns that the NHSS proposal would allow the federal government to monitor an individual’s behavior before, during and after any government-defined health “incident” – which could be anything from a local outbreak of the flu to a terrorist anthrax attack.

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Kerry: If We’re Wrong on Climate Change, ‘What’s the Worst That Can Happen?’

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Photo Credit: Cliff / Creative CommonsSecretary of State John Kerry did not shy away from pejorative language when addressing “climate change” in his commencement speech at Boston College on Monday. Kerry referred to those skeptical of the Obama administration’s climate claims as “members of the Flat Earth Society” who are “risking nothing less than the future of the entire planet” by resisting implementation of the administration’s policies. At the very least, Kerry argued, what have we got to lose by taking the steps he and the president are advocating? [emphasis added]:

If we make the necessary efforts to address this challenge – and supposing I’m wrong or scientists are wrong, 97 percent of them all wrong – supposing they are, what’s the worst that can happen? We put millions of people to work transitioning our energy, creating new and renewable and alternative; we make life healthier because we have less particulates in the air and cleaner air and more health; we give ourselves greater security through greater energy independence – that’s the downside. This is not a matter of politics or partisanship; it’s a matter of science and stewardship. And it’s not a matter of capacity; it’s a matter of willpower.

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Miller: VA Scandal Part of ‘Pattern of Deceit’

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Photo credit: APJoe Miller today stated that the VA scandal is just the latest in a pattern of deceit emanating from the Obama Administration, and that U.S. Senator Mark Begich is part of the problem.

Reports recently surfaced revealing that certain Veterans Administration medical facilities around the country have been “gaming” the system to give the appearance that veterans are receiving better and more timely care than they are. Tragically, while VA officials have been propagating this false information, veterans have been denied the critical care they need, which, in several known instances, resulted in the loss of life.

“What we have learned over the last days and weeks about the unfolding scandal at the VA, fits a pattern of deceit that has permeated the Obama Presidency,” said Miller. “As a veteran who has used VA services and as a citizen, I am outraged that once again the actions of this Administration have cost American lives.”

The VA scandal does not reflect well on this President or Senator Begich, who want us to trust the federal government to continue to oversee the healthcare of our entire nation through ObamaCare.

From the IRS, to Benghazi, to the NSA, to Fast and Furious, to the AP wiretapping scandals, the President who promised to lead the “most transparent” Administration has instead led one that operates in the shadows.

Where has Begich been during the trail of scandals that have plagued the Obama Presidency? He has carried the water for the most lawless Administration in United States history, voting with the President 97 percent of the time last year. What is Begich’s answer to making the executive branch more accountable to the people? He voted for the “nuclear option” with Harry Reid and the Democrats, taking away a century-and-a-half precedent of the right of the minority to check overweening executive power.

“President Obama and Mark Begich’s five years in office have undermined the Constitution and further eroded the faith and trust of the American people in their government. As Alaska’s next United States senator, I will do whatever it takes to get to the bottom of the VA scandal and support my fellow veterans. It is imperative that the next Congress begins the hard work of restoring the faith and trust of the people in their government,” said Miller.

Joe Miller is a husband, father, combat veteran, and advocate of Constitutional liberty who believes in individual rights, private property, free markets and the sanctity of human life.

Did the President Take a Pay Cut Like He Promised? White House Won’t Say

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Photo Credit: APThe White House is refusing to confirm whether President Barack Obama followed up on his pledge to take a five percent pay cut due to sequestration last year.

Obama promised last April to take a 5 percent pay cut in “solidarity” with federal employees who were furloughed as a result of the automatic budget cuts, known as the sequester. The cut was meant to equate to the level of spending cuts imposed on nondefense federal agencies.

“The president has decided that to share in the sacrifice being made by public servants across the federal government that are affected by the sequester, he will contribute a portion of his salary back to the Treasury,” a White House official said at the time.

According to his tax returns, Obama is still receiving the presidential salary of $400,000 per year. Last year, he earned $394,796 in wages from the Defense Financing and Accounting Service (DFAS-CIVPAY), which handles the salaries for civilian members of the Defense Department.

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Obama Says Americans are Better Off Now than When He Came into Office

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Photo Credit: Irish Government – Pool/Getty ImagesSure, he can say that. After all, isn’t it better to kick back and relax at home rather than have to go to work? Daytime TV can be quite stimulating.

And with wages stagnant over his terms of office, you might ask who needs more money? Not I.

National debt? Who cares? Medicare and Social Security ready to implode? Not my problem.

All in all, helluva job, Barry.

The Hill:

President Obama said Americans were “better off now than when I came into office,” during a fundraiser Monday night outside of Washington.

Obama also slammed congressional Republicans for their focus on the terror attack in Benghazi and the implementation of ObamaCare.

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And Then There Were Nine: Albuquerque VA Accused of Wait List Manipulation, Destroying Evidence

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Photo Credit: WNDObama Briefed on VA Problems as Far Back as 2005

By Aaron Klein.

Documentation and testimony reviewed by WND reveals that as far back as 2005, Barack Obama, as a U.S. senator, was briefed on dangerously long wait times for returning veterans to receive health treatment.

Obama was a member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. On numerous occasions he publicly chastised President George W. Bush about the wait times, treatment shortages and lack of funding to the Veterans Administration’s medical programs.

On June 28, 2005, for example, Obama complained at a hearing on the VA medical care budget that “somehow it seems that we’re willing to trot in front of flags and take photographs with soldiers, but when it comes to the appropriations process, we’re not there.”

Obama said he heard from veterans of a problem with receiving treatment.

“One final question that I’ve got, specific to some of the issues that I’m hearing back in Illinois,” he told the Senate. “I’ve heard some constituents complaining that veterans’ clinics have been reducing hours. Is there any association – if that’s the case, is that one strategy to handle the shortfall? Are we reducing hours as a way of handling the shortfall?”

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Photo Credit: TownHall Number Nine: Albuquerque VA Accused of Wait List Manipulation, Destroying Evidence

By Guy Benson.

These “isolated cases” (Sec. Shinseki) that may or may not be indicative of a larger problem (Jay Carney) certainly are piling up. The latest is out of New Mexico, via The Daily Beast:

Add Albuquerque, New Mexico’s to the growing list of VA hospitals accused of keeping secret waiting lists to hide delays for veterans seeking medical care. And it may already be too late to get to the truth and find out what harm, if any, was done to veterans there—VA officials are already destroying records to cover their tracks, a whistleblower inside the hospital tells The Daily Beast…“The ‘secret wait list’ for patient appointments is being either moved or was destroyed after what happened in Phoenix,” according to a doctor who works at the Albuquerque VA hospital and spoke exclusively with The Daily Beast. “Right now,” the doctor said, “there is an eight-month waiting list for patients to get ultrasounds of their hearts. Some patients have died before they got their studies. It is unknown why they died, some for cardiac reasons, some for other reasons.” There’s no proof yet that veterans died while waiting for treatment, like what allegedly happened in Phoenix. But the doctor says it’s quite possible that some veterans would still be alive if they hadn’t been pushed through a record-keeping trap door that buried their requests for medical care.

Can you imagine how shocked the president must have been when someone forwarded him the link to this story? This quote makes it sound as if the VA’s book-cooking scheme was a relatively open secret:

When another of the doctor’s colleagues, a physician in a managerial position at the Albuquerque VA, saw the initial story about secret wait lists break he heard him say, “I always knew that Phoenix was better than us at playing the numbers game.”

Read more from this story HERE.

CNN President Jeff Zucker: ‘We’re Not Going To Be Shamed’ Into Covering Benghazi

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Photo Credit: Daily Caller CNN President Jeff Zucker declared his network would “not going to be shamed” into covering Benghazi and other stories without “real news value” at an awards dinner Monday.

Capital New York reports that Zucker explained CNN’s post-plane plans during an interview at the Deadline Club’s annual dinner on Monday night.

“I don’t think there’s any question about our commitment to breaking news, as evidenced by all the questions about the plane,” Zucker told The New York Times’ Bill Carter.

“So we’re still there whenever that happens,” he continued, “but we’re going to supplement that with some different kind of storytelling.”

What kind of stories? “Climate change is one of those stories that deserves more attention, that we all talk about,” he explained — though he lamented the fact that “when we do do those stories, there does tend to be a tremendous amount of lack of interest on the audience’s part.”

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Spending on Healthcare.gov to Break $1 Billion Mark

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Photo Credit: APFederal spending on the Obamacare website healthcare.gov, a source of tremendous frustration for the public and embarrassment for the White House, will soon cross the $1 billion mark as the administration continues to fix glitches and make it an IT gem, according to congressional testimony.

Sylvia Mathews Burwell, nominated to replace outgoing Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, said in answers to questions from Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., that spending has already reached $834 million and another $200 million has been budgeted for fiscal 2015.

Asked by Alexander, the top Republican on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, to tally the costs of the Obamacare marketplace website where policies are purchased, Burwell said in written answers…

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Top Obama Aide: ‘Many More Executive Actions to Come’…(+video)

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Photo Credit: Standard CompliantThe White House will be “picking up the pace on executive actions,” as Congress focuses its efforts on the newly formed select committee investigating Benghazi, senior Obama adviser Dan Pfeiffer declared Tuesday.

In an op-ed for The Huffington Post, Pfeiffer argued that congressional Republicans are not interested in engaging on the economy, instead spending time “obsessively trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act” and “ginning up politically motivated investigations.”

“Given this dynamic, President Obama has only one option — use every ounce of his authority to unilaterally improve economic security,” Pfeiffer said.

“Next week, as congressional Republicans spend their energy on yet another partisan investigation, we’ll be picking up the pace on the executive actions to help the economy,” Pfeiffer added.

The White House has dismissed the select committee investigating the terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya, announced earlier this month by Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) as redundant and politically motivated. Republicans have argued that the special panel was necessary after the release of a previously undisclosed email from White House deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes showing involvement in drafting then-U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice’s infamous talking points.

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