Justice Department Won’t Sue States Over Pro-Pot Laws

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

The Justice Department on Thursday said it won’t stop Colorado and Washington from implementing laws legalizing marijuana for recreational use, paving the way for states nationwide to enact pro-pot measures.

The move was part of a sweeping national policy statement issued by the agency that outlines its top priorities for marijuana enforcement. Those priorities include preventing the distribution of marijuana to minors, preventing sales revenue from going to criminal enterprises, gangs and cartels, and preventing the diversion of marijuana outside of states where it is legal under state law.

But as long as states maintain strict rules regarding distribution of the drug, the Justice Department suggested it won’t challenge state laws that allow for small-scale personal marijuana use.

“Outside of those enforcement priorities, the federal government has traditionally relied on states and local law enforcement agencies to address marijuana activity through enforcement of their own laws,” said a Justice Department memo to U.S. attorneys in all 50 states.

“The department’s guidance [to states] rests on its expectation that states and local governments that have enacted laws authorizing marijuana-related conduct will implement strong and effective regulatory and enforcement systems that will address the threat those state laws cld pose to public safety.”

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Video: Police Not Interested in Brutal Beating on Tape

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POLICE_CAR5373A couple’s early-morning walk in the world famous French Quarter of New Orleans turned into a nightmare when they were beaten savagely by three black attackers in a horrifying scene that was caught on camera.

Then it got worse: The responding police officer decided it wasn’t worth filing a report.

According to the local CBS affiliate, the three perpetrators surrounded, verbally abused and then attacked the two victims as they walked through the French Quarter around 6 a.m. on Saturday.

The woman was punched in the mouth, while the man was tackled and had his face stomped as he lay helpless on the ground. The male victim suffered a concussion and a severely broken jaw that required surgery.

The video, despite breaks, caught most of the action leading up to the violence. It shows the two victims, both white, crossing the street as they are stalked by three young, African-American males who then surround and strike them.

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Iowa Gubernatorial Candidates, Democrats Pray to ‘the Lord’ for More Abortion Access (+video)

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Photo Credit: YouTube

Photo Credit: YouTube

Newly released video footage shows Democrat gubernatorial candidates Tyler Olson and Jack Hatch joining abortion activists in an extended prayer in thanksgiving for abortionists, asking for increased abortion access, and decrying the fact that women have been “made afraid of their own power by their paternalistic religion.”

The five-minute prayer begins, “We give thanks, O Lord, for the doctors, both current and future, who provide quality abortion care, and pray that they may be kept safe.”

“We pray for the 45 million American women who have had safe, legal abortions. May they stand tall and refuse shame,” the prayer continues. “We pray for elected officials, that they may always support a woman’s right to make her own medical decisions.”

The prayer was led by abortion activist Midge Slater, according to the Iowa Republican. It was part of a rally by abortion activists ahead of a hearing on proposed rules banning the practice of having abortionists in a remote location dispense abortion drugs to women via webcam.

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Snowden Impersonated NSA Officials, Sources Say

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Photo Credit: AFP-Getty Images

Photo Credit: AFP-Getty Images

Edward Snowden accessed some secret national security documents by assuming the electronic identities of top NSA officials, said intelligence sources.

“Every day, they are learning how brilliant [Snowden] was,” said a former U.S. official with knowledge of the case. “This is why you don’t hire brilliant people for jobs like this. You hire smart people. Brilliant people get you in trouble.”

Snowden was a Honolulu-based employee of Booz Allen Hamilton, an NSA contractor. His job gave him system administrator privileges on the NSA’s intranet, NSAnet. He reportedly used his privileges to download 20,000 documents.

The NSA still doesn’t know exactly what Snowden took. But its forensic investigation has included trying to figure out which higher level officials Snowden impersonated online to access the most sensitive documents.

The NSA has as many as 40,000 employees. According to one intelligence official, the NSA is restricting its research to a much smaller group of individuals with access to sensitive documents. Investigators are looking for discrepancies between the real world actions of an NSA employee and the online activities linked to that person’s computer user profile. For example, if an employee was on vacation while the on-line version of the employee was downloading a classified document, it might indicate that someone assumed the employee’s identity.

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Syria Conflict and the Oil Market: Best and Worst Case Scenarios (+video)

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Photo Credit: US Navy

Photo Credit: US Navy

Western military strikes on Syria present a complex set of possible outcomes, and all of them make problems for energy markets to one degree or another. But some scenarios are worse than others.

Despite an abundance of oil supplies—and the fact that Syria is a minor oil producer, at best—the global market for crude has been dominated for a week by worries about the Middle Eastern country. U.S. oil hit a two-year high above $112 on Wednesday, after closing below $104 on Aug. 21, the day that the Syrian military is believed to have used chemical weapons against rebels fighting the regime of President Bashar Assad. Hundreds of civilians died in the attacks.

Since then the United States has intensified its naval presence in the region, and increasingly hostile rhetoric has spilled from allied capitals, including Washington, London, Paris and Ankara, Turkey. Given Syria’s geographical location and the multitude of countries and non-national actors with interests in Syria’s brutal 2½-year-old civil war, market watchers and others are asking themselves, where is this conflict headed?

CNBC asked a group of Middle East, economic and energy experts for their opinions, and came away with possible worst-case and “least bad-case” scenarios.

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Bill Clinton Takes Subtle Jab at Obama: ‘MLK Did Not Live and Die to Hear his Heirs Whine about Political Gridlock.’

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Photo Credit: Daily Caller

Photo Credit: Daily Caller

Former president Bill Clinton told the March on Washington audience Wednesday that Dr. Martin Luther King “did not live and die to hear his heirs whine about political gridlock.”

“Oh, yes, we face terrible political gridlock now. Read a little history; it’s nothing new. Yes, there remain racial inequalities in employment, income, health, wealth, incarceration, and in the victims and perpetrators of violent crime. But we don’t face beatings, lynchings and shootings for our political beliefs anymore,” Clinton said in his commemoration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech on Wednesday.

“And I would respectfully suggest that Martin Luther King did not live and die to hear his heirs whine about political gridlock,” he continued. “It is time to stop complaining and put our shoulders against the stubborn gates holding the American people back.”

President Barack Obama has repeatedly criticized political gridlock in Congress, which he blames on Republican “hyper-partisanship.”

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Huffington Post Contributor Suggests Conservative Dana Loesch Should Be Raped

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Photo Credit: TownHall

Photo Credit: TownHall

Leave it to a progressive male to publicly promote the rape of conservative radio host, activist, wife and mother Dana Loesch.

Late last night, in response to a tweet from Loesch about gun control, Huffington Post contributor Pascal Robert told her she should be raped and described a sick sexual fantasy.

“I know you would look lovely with thigh high stockings and would love to have a brother give to you up the a**. Wouldn’t you?” Robert said…

The Huffington Post has not condemned the attack.

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Obama Embraces the Imperial Presidency

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Photo Credit: National Review

Photo Credit: National Review

British prime minister David Cameron has recalled Parliament from summer vacation for a special session on Thursday, where there will be “a clear government motion and vote on the United Kingdom’s response to chemical weapons attacks,” Cameron promised on Twitter.

President Obama has a different view. The U.S. government’s Voice of America reports: “Pressed about calls for congressional authorization, White House spokesman Jay Carney Tuesday indicated the president believes consulting with congressional leaders is enough.”

Oh my, how liberals have learned to love the imperial presidency they used to so scorn when Richard Nixon or George W. Bush was in office. Last night, I appeared on Lou Dobbs Tonight with Mary Anne Marsh, a Democratic consultant whose clients have included the late Ted Kennedy and John Kerry, our current secretary of state. Armed with the latest Democratic talking points, she dismissed any need for Obama to consult with what she dismissed as “a special Congress.”

Marsh is worth quoting at length:

There is a special Congress that we’re dealing with right now that has the lowest popularity rating in history and Republicans who overwhelmingly would oppose taking any action. The president of the United States cannot be handcuffed by the same Republicans that are holding the rest of the country hostage on every other issue. That is wrong.

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Nidal Hasan Sentenced to Death for Fort Hood Shooting Rampage

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan was sentenced to death Wednesday for killing 13 people and wounding 32 others in a 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Tex., the worst mass murder at a military installation in U.S. history.

Dressed in Army fatigues, Hasan, who turns 43 next month, listened impassively as the death sentence was handed down by a panel of 13 senior military officers in a unanimous decision after less than two hours of deliberations. If even a single panel member had objected, Hasan would instead have been sentenced to life in prison. He also was stripped of pay and other financial benefits, which he continued to receive while in custody.

No active-duty service member has been executed since 1961, and legal experts said it will probably be many years, if ever, before the sentence will be carried out. Hasan will be flown shortly to Fort Leavenworth, Kan., where he will join five other inmates on military death row, officials said.

In military cases, there are several mandatory appeal stages and a military death sentence requires final approval by the president, as commander in chief.

Despite the expected delays, survivors of the shooting welcomed the verdict. According to news reports, Kathy Platoni, an Army reservist, said: “From the bottom of my heart — he doesn’t deserve to live. I don’t know how long it takes for a death sentence to be carried out, but the world will be a better place without him.”

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Video Game Has Players Help Women Find Abortion Clinics to Kill Their Babies

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Photo Credit: Life News

Photo Credit: Life News

If Wendy Davis’ 11-hour filibuster to protect late-term abortion in the Lone Star State wasn’t proof enough of the Texas pro-abortion movement’s desperation, a new video game does the trick.

In “Choice: Texas,” designed by Carly Kocurek and Allyson Whipple and currently in development, players hunt for abortion access in Texas via the “choose-your-own-adventure” technique – and confront obstacles such as geography and healthcare.

Gamers live vicariously through characters such as 35-year-old Latrice who, despite a long-time boyfriend, “has never planned to have children, and between her career and family obligations, she feels she has her hands full enough.” Another, 19-year-old Leah bartends as she “save[s] up money and think[s] about what she would like to do.”

Wow! So it’s of like Frodo bearing the Ring to Mordor to save Middle Earth. But the Ring you want to lob into the lava is a baby, and Middle Earth is your personal convenience. How inspiring.

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