CIA Head: Al-Qaeda Has ‘Perverse and Very Corrupt Interpretation of Qur’an’ (+video)

/2 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: CNSNews.com/Penny StarrAl-Qaeda’s ideology, built on “a perverse and very corrupt interpretation of the Qur’an,” resonates in many parts of the world, and is often fed by political repression, economic disenfranchisement and “lack of education and ignorance,” CIA Director John Brennan said on Tuesday.

During an event at the Council on Foreign Relations, Brennan was asked about the “war of ideas” surrounding Islam, which the questioner said many Americans tend to equate with violence.

In the course of his response Brennan said al-Qaeda has “a perverse and very corrupt interpretation of the Qur’an. One of the things that I’m struck with when I travel throughout the Middle East and I meet with leaders, military and civilian – these are individuals who are Qur’anic scholars themselves and they are the ones who are most annoyed at how al-Qaeda has hijacked their religion and how they have really distorted the teachings of Mohammed, you know, for violent purposes.”

“Now, quite unfortunately, though, that ideology, that agenda of al-Qaeda has gained resonance and following in many parts of the world,” he continued. “It’s fed a lot of times by, you know, political repression, by economic, you know, disenfranchisement, by, you know, lack of education and ignorance, so there – there are a number of phenomena right now that I think are fueling the fires of, you know, this ideology.”

Assertions of a link between Islamist terrorism and poverty or lack of education have been called into question by some research.

Read more from this story HERE.

Wayne Allyn Root: Why Barack Obama’s Approval Rating Approaches Zero

/6 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: TownHall Have you seen Obama’s poll numbers? They are among the lowest in history. As of last week, Obama’s approval rating is at 38%. That’s just barely above Richard Nixon. But that’s not the big story here.

Keep in mind that Obama has the support of about 35% to 40% of the population that will NEVER abandon him, no matter what he does, no matter how bad the jobs numbers look, no matter how low the economy goes, no matter how much scandal and corruption is exposed, no matter how strong the facts are against him. Nothing will ever change their minds. These are the “low information voters” of the Democratic Party.

In many cases they love Obama because of the color of his skin- and nothing else. They will never abandon a black President.

Even though black unemployment is at record levels. Even though black youth unemployment is at record levels. Even though black poverty is at record levels.

Even though Obama’s exact policies have been in place for over 50 years in Detroit, a majority black city run by black Democrat politicians…and the black population has been devastated, destroyed, and discarded. Left for dead in an abandoned, bankrupt city with very few street lights operating and the police leaving residents in many areas to fend for themselves.

Read more from this story HERE.

Republican Beats Out Dem in Florida Special Election

/6 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Fox News Republican David Jolly narrowly defeated Democrat Alex Sink on Tuesday in a Tampa-area House race largely seen as a critical test for ObamaCare.

With nearly 100 percent of the vote counted, Jolly had 48.5 percent of the vote to Sink’s 46.7 percent. Libertarian Lucas Overby had 4.8 percent.

The race to replace the late Rep. Bill Young was considered a tossup, and was cast as a political bellwether, and a testing ground for each party’s messaging strategy — which revolves in part around the Affordable Care Act.

Jolly’s election night headquarters in Clearwater Beach erupted into loud cheers as it became clear he was the winner. In his victory speech, Jolly simultaneously struck a conciliatory tone and expressed gratitude for his mentor, Young, and Young’s family. Jolly was introduced by former “Price is Right” game show host Bob Barker, via video. Young’s two adult sons were also onstage with Jolly, and he embraced them at the end of his speech.

Jolly didn’t mention the issue that dominated much of the campaign — the president’s health care package — and instead said that Pinellas County must work together.

Read more this story HERE.

Head of Senate Intelligence Accuses CIA of Spying on the Committee, Violating Constitution

/4 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: AFPA behind-the-scenes battle between the CIA and Congress erupted in public Tuesday as the head of the Senate Intelligence Committee accused the agency of breaking laws and breaching constitutional principles in an alleged effort to undermine the panel’s multi-year investigation of a controversial interrogation program.

Chairman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) accused the CIA of ­secretly removing documents, searching computers used by the committee and attempting to intimidate congressional investigators by requesting an FBI inquiry of their conduct — charges that CIA Director John Brennan disputed within hours of her appearance on the Senate floor.

Feinstein described the escalating conflict as a “defining moment” for Congress’s role in overseeing the nation’s intelligence agencies and cited “grave concerns” that the CIA had “violated the separation-of-powers principles embodied in the United States Constitution.”

Brennan fired back during a previously scheduled speech in Washington, saying that “when the facts come out on this, I think a lot of people who are claiming that there has been this tremendous sort of spying and monitoring and hacking will be proved wrong.”

The dueling claims exposed bitterness and distrust that have soared to new levels as the committee nears completion of a 6,000-page report that is expected to serve as a scathing historical record of the agency’s use of waterboarding and other brutal interrogation methods on terrorism suspects held at secret CIA prisons overseas after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Read more this story HERE.

Sowell: The Left Versus Minorities

/2 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Matthew Kenwrick / Creative CommonsIf anyone wanted to pick a time and place where the political left’s avowed concern for minorities was definitively exposed as a fraud, it would be now — and the place would be New York City, where far left Mayor Bill de Blasio has launched an attack on charter schools, cutting their funding, among other things.

These schools have given thousands of low income minority children their only shot at a decent education, which often means their only shot at a decent life. Last year 82 percent of the students at a charter school called Success Academy passed city-wide mathematics exams, compared to 30 percent of the students in the city as a whole.

Why would anybody who has any concern at all about minority young people — or even common decency — want to destroy what progress has already been made?

One big reason, of course, is the teachers’ union, one of Mayor de Blasio’s biggest supporters. But it may be more than that. For many of the true believers on the left, their ideology overrides any concern about the actual fate of flesh-and-blood human beings.

Something similar happened on the west coast last year. The American Indian Model Schools in Oakland have been ranked among the top schools in the nation, based on their students’ test scores. This is, again, a special achievement for minority students who need all the help they can get.

Read more this story HERE.

Hoyer on Keystone: ‘I’m in Favor of Building It’

/3 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: APDemocratic Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said he supports building the Keystone XL Pipeline and that he agrees with the State Department’s report that not building the pipeline would increase greenhouse gas emissions.

At a pen-and-pad briefing at the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, CNSNews.com asked Hoyer, “In the State Department’s report, it said that if the Keystone Pipeline is not built, the method of delivering oil would increase greenhouse gases from 28 to 42 percent, are you in favor of not building ….”

Hoyer said, “If it was not built? Sorry, I don’t understand the question.”

CNSNews.com rephrased the question saying, “The State Department’s report, it said that not building the Keystone pipeline, the method of [delivering the] oil would increase greenhouse gases. Are you in favor of not building the pipeline, even if it means greenhouse gases will increase?”

Hoyer then said, “In favor of not building it? I’m in favor of building it. I said about a year ago, I think in this group, that I was for Keystone.”

Read more this story HERE.

Phantom Phone Calls Haunt Families of Vanished Malaysia Airlines Flight

/4 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Washington Post For three days, relatives awaiting word on the vanished Malaysia Airlines jet have endured a cruel roller coaster of emotions.

First came the shock. Then, with each development that has emerged, they have careened between hope and despair. But by Monday, the predominant emotion was anger.

Gathered at a hotel in northeast Beijing, many still resented Malaysia Airlines for having sent no one to explain anything during the first 15 hours after the plane’s disappearance. They blamed the Chinese government for not even meeting with them until Monday, three days into the crisis.

More than 100 of them signed a petition demanding answers and government assistance. Representatives selected from the families brought their protests to the Malaysian Embassy in Beijing.

And Monday afternoon, when Malaysia Airlines officials returned for yet another briefing with little more to offer, some relatives threw water bottles at them in frustration. The question-and-answer session Monday eventually devolved into crying and shouted demands: “All you have to say is empty talk!”

Read more this story HERE.

Comedian Zach Galifianakis Interviews Obama: “What’s it Like to Be the Last Black President?” (+video)

/1 Comment/in , /by

Photo Credit: darkuncle / Creative CommonsIn a bid to get young people to sign up for health care, President Barack Obama became the first sitting president in U.S. history to appear on “Between Two Ferns,” Funny or Die’s intentionally awkward interview series hosted by comedian Zach Galifianakis.

Seated between two ferns, Obama — identified on screen as “Community Organizer” — fielded interview questions he likely has never faced in the White House briefing room.

“In 2013 you pardoned the turkey,” Galifianakis began. “What do you have planned for 2014?”

“We’ll probably pardon another turkey,” the president replied. “We do that every Thanksgiving.”

The deadpanning continued from there.

)

Read more this story HERE.

Air Force Academy Orders Bible Verse Removed from Cadet’s Whiteboard

/9 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: MRFFThe Air Force Academy removed a Bible verse posted on a cadet’s whiteboard after it determined the posting had offended other cadets, a spokesman for the academy said.

The cadet wrote the passage on the whiteboard posted outside his room. “I have been crucified with Christ therefore I no longer live, but Christ lives in me,” the verse from Galatians read.

Mikey Weinstein, director of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, told me 29 cadets and four faculty and staff members contacted his organization to complain about the Christian passage.

“Had it been in his room – not a problem,” Weinstein told me. “It’s not about the belief. It’s about the time, the place and the manner.”

He said the Bible verse on the cadet’s personal whiteboard created a hostile environment at the academy.

Read more this story HERE.

Dallas Seavey Pushes Through Windstorm to Win Iditarod (+video)

/0 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: AP Photo/The Anchorage Daily News, Bob HallinenNOME — Dallas Seavey came from behind to capture his second Iditarod championship in three years early Tuesday morning, mushing his team of seven dogs through a windstorm that knocked Jeff King out of the race and prompted Aliy Zirkle to hole up in Safety for more than two hours.

Seavey, 26, jogged beside his sled down Nome’s Front Street to help his dogs. At one point, he glanced over his shoulder, thinking his dad, defending champion Mitch Seavey, was gaining on him.

After crossing the finish line in record time at 4:04 a.m., Seavey sat on the back of his sled and leaned his head on his handlebar, exhausted.

“Dallas, did you think you could do this?” an Iditarod Insider videographer asked.

“What exactly did I do?”

“You just won the Iditarod, 2014.”

)

Read more from this story HERE.