Obama Ignores Law, Waives Ban on Aiding Regimes that Use Child Soldiers

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

President Obama determined that it is once again in the national interest of the United States to waive a provision of a law against aiding regimes that use child soldiers to provide non-lethal assistance and peace-keeping support to several African countries.

By law, the president has to notify Congress that he is waiving the Child Soldiers Prevention Act of 2008 within 45 days of making the decision. Obama’s press team published the presidential determination on Monday afternoon, with Congress on the eve of a government shutdown.

The Child Soldiers Prevention Act waiver applies fully to Chad, South Sudan and Yemen. Congo and Somalia received partial waivers.

Obama first waived the provision in 2010. Samantha Power, then the National Security Council senior director for multilateral affairs and human rights, promised “at the time that the waivers would not become a recurring event,” as The Cable recalled.

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FHA Gets $1.7 Billion Bailout, No Congressional Approval Required

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

For the first time in its 79-year history, the Federal Housing Agency (FHA) announced on Friday the need for a $1.7 billion bailout from the Treasury to cover losses on its reverse home mortgage programs.

FHA Commissioner Carole Galante said in a letter to Congress that the FHA will withdraw the money from the Treasury by Monday when the fiscal year ends. Galante does not need congressional approval to tap the funds.

“In the next few months, we expect updated data and economic forecasts to reflect what we already know to be true–the health of the fund has improved significantly,” wrote Galante.

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US Leaker Edward Snowden Among 3 Finalists for EU’s Top Human Rights Prize

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Photo Credit: Reuters

Photo Credit: Reuters

U.S. intelligence leaker Edward Snowden is among three finalists for the European Union’s top human rights prize.

European lawmakers on Monday narrowed down the list of nominees for the prestigious 50,000 euro ($65,000) award to Snowden, Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai, and imprisoned dissidents from Belarus.

The pro-environment Greens’ caucus said Snowden, who leaked a trove of documents on U.S. surveillance agencies’ programs, deserves to win because he “risked his freedom to protect us.”

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Critics Dispute Global Warming Assertions Made by IPCC

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

Critics of a new United Nations report on global warming say their skepticism is based on discrepancies between the UN’s climate models and actual, observable conditions.

The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will release its full report on Monday. It expresses 95% certainty that human activity is primarily responsibly for an observed rise in global temperatures over the past century. Environmentalists have said that even mild criticism of such reports on global warming as science “denial.”

Skeptics have already pointed to what they say are flaws in the report’s methodology and resulting problems with its findings.

Past discrepancies between the IPCC’s models and either subsequent environmental conditions or contradictory scientific work at the time demonstrate why those models should not be taken at face value, the critics say.

The IPCC predicted in 1995 that global sea levels would rise by up to 55 centimeters by 2100 “for the range of emissions scenarios.”

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Controversial Homeland Security Adviser Defends Use of Muslim Brotherhood-Associated Icon on his Twitter

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An adviser to the Department of Homeland Security — who was recently promoted — is defending his use of the controversial “R4BIA” four-finger salute symbol associated with the Muslim Brotherhood as decor on his Twitter profile, a choice that elicited criticism on Sunday on the social media site and from one Israeli blog.

Mohamed Elibiary, one of 28 members of the Homeland Security Advisory Council, insists the symbol is “bigger than” the Muslim Brotherhood and that to him it means “Freedom4All.” In his Twitter profile, Elibiary describes himself as not only associated with Homeland Security but also as a “proud American” who “hearts” Egypt.

Screenshot: Twitter

Screenshot: Twitter

The yellow symbol gained notoriety after Egyptian security forces raided two Muslim Brotherhood sit-ins in August, killing hundreds. The larger Cairo sit-in supporting ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi took place at Rabaa al-Adawiya Square. Rabaa in Arabic means fourth, hence four fingers and the number “4” planted between the English letters representing the symbol brandished as a tribute to those killed.

One website reportedly set up by Turkish Muslim activists describes the essence of the R4BIA icon as symbolizing more than the Muslim Brotherhood. It’s described as a “symbol of freedom” but also promotes the “return of Muslims to world stage.” It supports “justice for everyone against rotten Western values,” “a pure martyrdom,” “unification of Islamic World,” “the end of capitalists,” and “the end of Zionists.”

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Nadine Schweigert, North Dakota Woman, ‘Marries Herself,’ Opens Up About Self-Marriage (+video)

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Photo Credit: Anderson Cooper

Photo Credit: Anderson Cooper

A 36-year-old North Dakota woman who married herself in a commitment ceremony last March has now spoken about her self-marriage choice in an interview with Anderson Cooper.

The marriage took place among friends and family who were encouraged to “blow kisses to the world” after she exchanged rings with her “inner groom”, My Fox Phoenix reports.

“I feel very empowered, very happy, very joyous … I want to share that with people, and also the people that were in attendance, it’s a form of accountability,” Nadien Schweigert told Anderson Cooper.

Schweigert said the ceremony was a celebration of how far she’d come since her painful divorce six years ago that led to her two children to decide to live with her ex-husband.

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Airmen say Air Force is Punishing Evangelical Christians

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091229-A-3108M-001Evangelical Christian airmen at Lackland Air Force Base are facing severe threats and retribution for their religious beliefs and some personnel have been ordered to publicly express their position on gay marriage.

“There is an atmosphere of intimidation at Lackland Air Force Base,” said Steve Branson, the pastor of Village Parkway Baptist Church in San Antonio. “Gay commanders and officers are pushing their agenda on the airmen. There is a culture of fear in the military and it’s gone to a new level with the issue of homosexuality.”

Branson tells me at least 80 airmen attended a private meeting at the church where he heard them voice their concerns about religious hostilities at the Air Force base. It was a standing-room only crowd.

“The religious persecution is happening,” the pastor said. “It’s getting bigger every day. Gay and lesbian airmen can talk about their lifestyle, but the rest have to stay completely quiet about what they believe.”

Among those at the church meeting was Senior Master Sgt. Phillip Monk. The 19-year veteran was punished after he refused to tell his lesbian commander his position on gay marriage. I was the first reporter to tell his story.

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U.S. to Teach Mexicans to Game American System

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Photo Credit: WND

Photo Credit: WND

It’s an expenditure of only $100,000 – mere pocket change in the vast labyrinth of federal spending – but the funds are for the creation of a manual to teach people how to get more money from the U.S. government.

And the recipients aren’t even citizens of the United States.

The U.S. Trade & Development Agency, an independent White House agency, is laying the foundation for the government of Mexico to infuse hundreds of billions of dollars into modernizing its roads, bridges and other critical infrastructure.

While it remains to be seen how much direct financial assistance the U.S. will provide, even the looming threat of a government shutdown has failed to curb President Obama’s plan to cut U.S. Treasury checks for the Mexican endeavor.

The industry-crafted report likewise will serve as a corporate-welfare roadmap for U.S. businesses seeking future contracts awarded under the massive project, according to a USTDA planning document that WND located via routine database research.

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Muslim Man Becomes Christian after Recovering From Brain Aneurysm

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

A Syrian-born Alabama man says he was a Muslim when a brain aneurysm left him in a prolonged coma, but when he surprised doctors with his recovery, it started him on a path to Christianity.

Karim Shamsi-Basha was raised in Syria with parents he says were tolerant of all faiths. His family practiced Islam mostly culturally, but Shamsi-Basha says he was “very serious” about his religion as a teenager. “I prayed five times a day. I walked to the mosque before sunrise. I fasted the month of Ramadan,” Shamsi-Basha told the Christian Post.

Weary of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime, Shamsi-Basha immigrated to the U.S. when he was 18, to attend the University of Tennessee. After that, he married, had his first son, and moved to Birmingham, Ala. In 1992, he suffered a brain aneurysm that left him in a coma for almost a month.

When he awoke from the coma, his rare, almost total recovery amazed his neurosurgeon, who told Shamsi-Basha he was extremely fortunate and needed to find out why he survived.

That question started Shamsi-Basha on a 20-year journey that he says led him to Jesus Christ…

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Showdown on Meet the Press and Ted Cruz Doesn’t Back Down (+video)

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Screen shot 2013-09-30 at 12.41.00 AMNBC’s David Gregory repeatedly pressed Republican Texas Senator Ted Cruz Sunday, over his strategy aimed at defunding President Barack Obama’s landmark healthcare law.

The showdown came on Sunday’s “Meet the Press” with Gregory taking issue with Cruz’s characterization that the Democrats in Congress and the president won’t compromise over their stance on Obamacare.

“There are not protests in the streets arguing to do away with this law in the way that you’d like. Again 56% in one poll said let’s uphold the law,” Gregory continued. “I’m focusing on results. Where have you moved anything?”

Cruz responded, noting even unions are asking for exemptions to the law, but that answer did not satisfy Gregory who continued to grill the Texas firebrand.

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