Girl Scouts CEO ‘Misleading and Deceitful,’ Say Angry Moms (+video)

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Photo Credit: YouTubeGirl Scout moms participating in the national Girl Scout cookie boycott released a video Thursday calling Girl Scout CEO Anna Marie Chavez “misleading and deceitful.”

The moms are responding to a YouTube video released by Anna Marie Chavez last week that was intended to quell a growing protest movement coming during the crucial annual cookie-buying season.

In her video, Chavez bluntly states the Girl Scouts stand committed to “serving God.”

The moms’ video claims this assertion is only made “when it is convenient” and points out that duty to God in the Girl Scouts “is optional.”

Chavez claims the Girl Scouts “have not now [nor] ever have had a relationship with Planned Parenthood.”

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Hidden Camera Footage Surfaces of Supreme Court Debate

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Hidden camera footage of what appeared to be Supreme Court proceedings from earlier this week surfaced on Thursday, offering one the of the first public recordings of the High Court’s proceedings.

A video posted on YouTube and recorded by 99 Rise, a group that supports tougher campaign finance laws, shows proceedings leading up to and during a rare protest that took place in the court Wednesday.

Noah Kai Newkirk, a leader of the group, is seen in the video standing up and calling on the court to overturn the 2010 Citizens United ruling that opened the door to corporate political donations and led to the creation of super-PACs.

“I rise on behalf of the vast majority of American people who believe that money is not speech, corporations are not people, and our democracy should not be for sale to the highest bidder,” Newkirk shouts during Wednesday’s oral arguments.

The beginning of the video appears to show the oral arguments from 2013 dealing with an undecided campaign finance case known as McCutcheon vs. Federal Election Commission, which asks whether the cap on the total amount of money a person can donate to candidates and party committees during an election cycle is constitutional.

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Man Wakes Up in Body Bag at Funeral Home

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Photo Credit: wickenden/flickrWorkers at a Mississippi funeral home say they found a man alive and kicking when they opened a body bag.

Holmes County Coroner Dexter Howard calls it a miracle that 78-year-old Walter Williams is alive.

The coroner was called to Williams’ home in Lexington, a community north of Jackson, where family members believed he had died.

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Clinton Files: Advisers Pushed to ‘Humanize’ Hillary, Soften ‘Stern’ Image

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Photo Credit: APEven in the early days of the Clinton White House, consultants and political advisers were scrambling to soften Hillary Clinton’s hard-edged image, looking for ways to “humanize her” for the press and public.

In the latter years, as the media turned, the advice was far more blunt. “Be real,” media consultant Mandy Grunwald told her in a 1999 memo. Grunwald told the first lady the public tends to see her only in “very stern situations,” and warned her not to let the press see her “uncomfortable or testy.”

The advice was contained in roughly 4,000 pages of previously confidential documents from the Clinton administration years, released Friday by the National Archives. The document dump is just the first batch of Clinton papers that will trickle into the public domain in the coming weeks.

The materials will be closely combed by political operatives on both sides of the aisle, as Hillary Clinton weighs a presidential bid in 2016. What the documents reveal about former President Bill Clinton may be less important, politically, than what they reveal about his wife.

The 1999 memo was a particularly frank example of advisers looking to style Clinton for the public. At the time, Grunwald was with the Grunwald Communications firm she founded and was trying to smooth relations between retiring New York Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Clinton — who would later win Moynihan’s seat. The memo referred to an upcoming “Moynihan event.” Grunwald urged Clinton to stay “conversational” and not raise her voice.

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Al-Qaeda Rebels in Syria Tell Christians to Pay Up or Die

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Photo Credit: AFP / Getty ImagesRadical Islamist rebels running the northern Syrian city of Raqqa have made the Christians living in the area an offer they can’t refuse: pay for protection, convert to Islam, or “face the sword.”

In a statement posted to Jihadi websites and signed by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the self-designated emir of the future Islamic caliphate of Raqqa, as well as the founder of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS] rebel brigade, Christians are urged to pay a tax in order to continue living under ISIS’s protection. The terms are simple: twice a year wealthy Christians must pay the equivalent of half an ounce of gold — about $664 by today’s market value. Middle-class Christians have to come up with half that sum, and poor Christians can get away with paying a quarter, or about $166.

Terrorism analyst Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi offers a translation of the statement for the Syria Comment blog. ISIS’s so-called “dhimmi pact,” which refers to an ancient piece of legislation that allowed Christians and Jews to live and practice their religion in Islamic kingdoms as long as they paid a tax and submitted to specific rules, lays out what they can expect in return. Their churches will not be attacked, their wealth will not be confiscated, and they will not be physically harmed. They will have the right to practice their religion — as long as they keep their crosses, their Bibles and their churches out of sight. They are not allowed to ring bells, evangelize or pray within earshot of a Muslim, nor are they allowed to sell pork and alcohol to Muslims or bear arms.

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Biden to Democrats: Don’t Apologize in 2014

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Photo Credit: AP/Susan WalshVice President Joe Biden on Thursday told Democrats to stop apologizing for their policies and go on offense as party leaders try to overcome pessimism about prospects for the November election.

At a Democratic National Committee gathering, Biden said he and President Barack Obama have an obligation to raise money and campaign for the party’s candidates. He said he has signed up to participate in more than 120 races and that Obama has given him permission to participate in every campaign where he can be helpful.

“I am so tired about hearing about the demise of the Democratic Party. Give me a break,” Biden said. “My central message to you is look: I think we should not apologize for a single thing.”

In his pep talk to state chairmen, the vice president tried to portray the party as starting on solid ground as campaigning gears up.

“There is no Republican Party,” Biden said, accusing the GOP of masquerading as conservative while actually espousing anti-government views that he said Americans reject.

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Rev. Bill Owens: Administration ‘Is Promoting Murder’ by Promoting Abortion (+video)

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Photo Credit: CNSNews.com/Penny StarrRev. Bill Owens, president of the Coalition of African American Pastors, said Tuesday that the Obama administration’s promotion of abortion “is promoting murder.”

“Something has to be done, and for this man, this administration to promote abortion is promoting murder,” Owens said at the National Press Club on Tuesday when CNSNews.com asked about a report showing that more unborn black babies were aborted than born in New York City.

As CNSNews.com previously reported, in 2012, the number of black babies killed by abortion totaled 31,328, while those born totaled 24,758, according to the New York City Department of Health and Hygiene.

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Giant Crocodile Takes to Surf, Prompting Beach Closure

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Photo Credit: Sharon ScobleIt’s hard to imagine a creature more menacing than a great white shark swimming in the surf, but a giant crocodile comes close.

An estimated 12-foot crocodile was spotted cruising in the swells this past week at Cable Beach in Broome, Western Australia, prompting officials to close the beach to swimmers and surfers for a day.

It’s unclear what lured the reptile into the surf zone, but the unusual sighting generated quite the spectacle.

Sharon Scoble, a Broome local, captured the images that accompany this report after receiving a call from her son, who spotted the croc while driving to the beach.

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Tenn. State University Requires Students to Wear Trackable IDs (+video)

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Beginning Saturday, March 1, students and staff at Tennessee State University will be required to present identification badges at any time that can also track their movements in and out of buildings, according to a local-news report.

After a spate of break-ins and vandalism, officials at the university instituted the new ID requirement as a way to ensure safety on campus, a TSU release said.

Read more this story HERE.

Federal Appeals Court: Schools Can Ban Students from Wearing American Flag T-Shirts in order to prevent violence

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Photo Credit: calaggieHow would wearing an American flag t-shirt possibly incite violence in an American high school? From the opinion:

The court’s ruling: School administrators can force you to remove your American-flag tee if the alternative is a classmate punching you in the face. That’s because, per the Supreme Court, students don’t have the same free speech rights at school that adults do on other public grounds. At school, the name of the game is order and instruction; you’re entitled to free expression to the extent you don’t interfere with those goals, but once you do, the school’s entitled to limit your expression accordingly.

In other words, a bully can get the principal’s office to silence you by promising to beat your ass if they don’t.

Read more this story HERE.