2014 Shaping Up to Be The Year of the Bible at the Box Office (+video)

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Odeya-Rush-mary_2774972bStudio executives who have spent the past few years releasing superhero and zombie films have, it seems, had an epiphany. Now their new best friends are evangelical pastors whose endorsements they actively seek, even inviting them on to sets during production. Pastors in turn play clips from films of which they approve to 10,000-strong congregations on 40ft wide movie screens…

Phil Cooke, a film-maker and media consultant to Christian organisations, said Hollywood’s epiphany had financial, not spiritual, origins. “What’s happened is they’ve understood it’s very good business to take Christians seriously, and this is a real serious market,” he said…

For their part, studio executives have taken something of a leap of faith that films in which religious figures save the world will bring big box office receipts [in 2014.]

That faith is based in no small part on the success of The Bible, a television mini-series shown on the History channel earlier this year, which averaged 11.4 million viewers and became America’s most watched cable show of 2013.

“It made the Bible cool to talk about again,” said Mr Cooke. “The separation of church and state in America is so strong that people had become afraid to talk about God, at work or at school. Suddenly, these Bible stories were water cooler conversation again.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Jahi McMath’s Family Celebrates Judge’s Decision to Keep Daughter Alive, Extend Her Life Support

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Photo Credit: Fox News

Photo Credit: Fox News

The family of a 13-year-old California girl declared brain dead rejoiced Monday after a superior court judge extended a deadline to keep the teen on a ventilator as her family attempts to move her to a new facility.

The order, issued by Alameda County Superior Court Judge Evelio Grillo, nullifies a previous ruling that would have enabled doctor’s at Oakland Children’s Hospital to take Jahi McMath off life support at 5 p.m. Pacific Time Monday and requires that she be kept on the ventilator until at least 5 p.m. Pacific Time January 7.

“In essence, the court orders the respondent (Oakland Children’s Hospital) to maintain the ‘status quo,'” Grillo’s order said.

“Who wants to know the date and the time their child would die?” Jahi’s mother, Nailah Winkfield said after the delay was announced. “I don’t care what anyone has to say about what I’m doing. … I have to do what is right for me and for Jahi.”

Jahi’s uncle, Omari Sealey claimed that Jahi, who was declared brain dead earlier this month following complications from a tonsillectomy at the hospital, is showing signs of movement and that an unnamed pediatrician has visited her and claims she is not dead.

Read more from this story HERE.

Official in Charge of Failed Healthcare.gov Rollout is Retiring

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Photo Credit: REUTERS/Mike Segar

Photo Credit: REUTERS/Mike Segar

The official responsible for overseeing the problem-plagued healthcare.gov website is retiring on Tuesday.

In an email to colleagues, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services chief Marilyn Tavenner said that Michelle Snyder — the chief operating officer and second-highest ranking official at the agency — was retiring “after 41 years of outstanding public service.”

“While we celebrate her distinguished career, we are also sadly saying farewell to a good friend and a key member of the agency’s leadership team,” Tavenner said in the email. “Michelle’s intelligence, experience and formidable work ethic have been indispensable to me and to many of you during her tenure.”

President Obama has been criticized for not firing any of the officials tasked with implementing the online marketplaces, which launched with numerous technical problems.

Administration officials did not attribute Snyder’s exit to the dismal healthcare.gov performance, saying that she had been expected to leave at the end of 2012.

Read more from this story about the failed Healthcare.gov rollout HERE.

State Politicians Cheer as Feds Choose Alaska as Drone Testing Site

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Photo Credit: WND

Photo Credit: WND

By Associated Press. The Federal Aviation Administration announced six states on Monday that will develop test sites for drones, a critical next step for the unmanned aircraft’s march into U.S. skies.

The agency said Alaska, Nevada, New York, North Dakota, Texas and Virginia as states that will host research sites.

Drones have been mainly used by the military, but governments, businesses, farmers and others are making plans to join the market. Many universities are starting or expanding drone programs.

“These test sites will give us valuable information about how best to ensure the safe introduction of this advanced technology into our nation’s skies,” Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said in a statement.

Read more from this story HERE.
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State Political Leaders Welcome Drones to Alaska

By News Editor. The Miami Herald reported yesterday that, “News that Alaska has been chosen as a test site for the integration of drones into U.S. airspace is being welcomed by state political leaders.”

The article goes on to cite Senator Mark Begich and Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell as champions of the program with Begich praising the drone program’s jobs and its “new mission to the University of Alaska system.” The University of Alaska was apparently selected as a test site operator for the Alaska drone program.

High Prices for Getting High Expected as Colorado Opens Legal Pot Shops

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Photo Credit: US News

Photo Credit: US News

On Jan. 1, the first legal recreational marijuana outlets will open in Colorado. And with the rise of the new legal marijuana industry comes the question of what newly legal recreational weed should cost.

As it turns out, new users might be best advised to wait a few months before buying their weed. Some experts and store-owners say that getting high in the mile high state will likely be expensive at first, with prices easing off as the supply of weed catches up to the demand from Americans hoping for their first chance to buy recreational marijuana legally.

“I do expect the price to go up at least for the first few months,” says Rachel Gilette, an attorney at Colorado’s chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. “That’s only because the supply is going to be very limited and the demand has just jumped massively.”

Medical marijuana is already legal in Colorado, and many of the new shops will be medical dispensaries that have also obtained retail licenses. In some of those stores, retailers will set aside marijuana for medical patients, separate from that for casual users.

“I did talk to a retailer yesterday who had just set his price points, and they were about double of what you have been able to get medical on the market for the last year,” says Gilette. “So it is going to be more expensive at least for the foreseeable future.”

Read more about Colorado’s legal pot shops HERE.

Cruz Closes High-Profile Year by Standing Tall; If You’re Trying to Change Washington, the Establishment Will Push Back

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz — on a host of short-lists for top 2013 news makers — on Sunday defended himself and his push to defund ObamaCare despite it resulting in a partial government shutdown.

“If you’re trying to change Washington, that’s the Washington establishment pushing back,” the Tea Party-backed Cruz told ABC’s “This Week.”

In October, after barnstorming the country to garner public support for the defunding effort, Cruz helped convinced Republicans not to fund the federal government unless the deal was tied to big changes for President Obama’s signature health care law.

“You’ve got conservatives that stood strong and said ‘Let’s stop the train wreck that is ObamaCare,’ ” said the first-term senator and potential 2016 presidential candidate.

He also put the blame on Democrats by saying they wouldn’t negotiate.

Read more from this story HERE.

Expert’s Predictions About ObamaCare Coming True; Another Says ‘Utter Chaos’ To Follow

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Photo Credit: Kansas Policy Institute

Photo Credit: Kansas Policy Institute

“HHS maintains they’ll have these [Exchanges] up and running by October 2013. I don’t know anyone who is confident about that and I’m ready to predict that they will not.” — Michael F. Cannon, December 2012

“In my opinion, what’s going to happen is utter chaos.” — Cato Institute senior fellow Jagadeesh Gokhale, February 2013

“With no clarity as to when people should sign up and who they should pay and when, it’s a virtual certainty that many consumers will find themselves uncovered for a period of time through no fault of their own.” — Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT), December 2013

My December 2012 prediction that ObamaCare’s health insurance “exchanges” would not be ready on time proved true by July 2013, when President Obama unilaterally delayed the law’s employer mandate for a year. It proved painfully, obviously true when the Exchanges crashed upon takeoff on October 1, just as ObamaCare was throwing millions out of their current health plans.

My colleague Jagadeesh Gokhale‘s February 2013 prediction of “utter chaos” (audio here, at 48: 25) arguably proved true in October, and is now evident in President Obama’s decision to exempt from the individual mandate those millions whose plans Obama himself cancelled.

Read more from this story HERE.

German Magazine Claims NSA Hacking Unit Uses ‘James Bond-style Spy Gear to Obtain Data

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Photo Credit: Fox News

Photo Credit: Fox News

A German magazine, citing internal documents, claims the NSA’s hacking unit uses James Bond-style spy gear to obtain data, including intercepting computer deliveries and outfitting them with espionage software.

Der Spiegel’s revelations relate to a division of the NSA known as Tailored Access Operations, or TAO, which is painted as an elite team of hackers specializing in stealing data from the toughest of targets.

Citing the internal documents, the magazine said Sunday that TAO’s mission was “Getting the ungettable,” and quoted an unnamed intelligence official as saying that TAO had gathered “some of the most significant intelligence our country has ever seen.”

“During the middle part of the last decade, the special unit succeeded in gaining access to 258 targets in 89 countries — nearly everywhere in the world,” the report said. “In 2010, it conducted 279 operations worldwide.”

Der Spiegel said TAO had a catalog of high-tech gadgets for particularly hard-to-crack cases, including computer monitor cables specially modified to record what is being typed across the screen, USB sticks secretly fitted with radio transmitters to broadcast stolen data over the airwaves, and fake base stations intended to intercept mobile phone signals on the go.

Read more from this story HERE.

‘Completely False’: Sources on Ground in Benghazi Challenge NYT Report

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Photo Credit: Fox News

Photo Credit: Fox News

Fifteen months after the Sept. 11 attack in Benghazi which killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans, the narrative of the attack continues to be shaped, and reshaped, by politicians and the press.

But a New York Times report published over the weekend has angered sources who were on the ground that night. Those sources, who continue to face threats of losing their jobs, sharply challenged the Times’ findings that there was no involvement from Al Qaeda or any other international terror group and that an anti-Islam film played a role in inciting the initial wave of attacks.

“It was a coordinated attack. It is completely false to say anything else. … It is completely a lie,” one witness to the attack told Fox News.

The controversial Times report has stirred a community that normally remains out of sight and wrestles with how to reveal the truth, without revealing classified information.

Fox News has learned that the attack on the consulate started with fighters assembling to conduct an assault.

Read more from this story HERE.

National ID Headed for Your Wallet, Purse

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Photo Credit: WND

Photo Credit: WND

Shades of Big Brother.

Just as you were wrapping your mind around the idea that under Obamacare and the accompanying changes in the health-care system, your medical records will be floating around in some online repository, available to far too many people, you’re being told you’ll soon have a National Identity Card and a Western Hemisphere-compliant travel document whether you want it or not, if you plan to drive in the United States.

The federal government says it soon will be enforcing its demands that state-issued driver’s licenses and ID cards comply with Department of Homeland Security standards.

DHS announced just before Christmas a final schedule for the full enforcement of the REAL ID Act of 2005.

That was set for a phased implementation beginning in January 2014 and full-scale enforcement planned no later than May 2017, at which time the federal government will no longer accept state-issued driver’s licenses and ID cards that do not meet the minimum security standards set by DHS.

For many Americans, the full implementation of the REAL ID act is certain to trigger unfortunate memories of World War II and the modus operandi of fascist, totalitarian states, where travelers and ordinary citizens on the street are stopped by authorities and demanded, “Your papers, please!”

Read more from this story HERE.