Source: Terrorists Behind “Most Specific, Credible” Embassy Threat in Years (+video)

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By CBS

The terror threat prompting the U.S. government to close nearly two dozen embassies and consulates Sunday is the most specific, credible threat information in years, CBS News senior correspondent John Miller reports.

Intelligence officers have reporting from a reliable source that a major plot is under way and that the team to carry it out has been selected and is in place, Miller reports.

The threat information has been described as the most specific and credible since the foiled plot to blow up British planes en route to the United States in 2006, Miller reports. The specificity ends there.

What authorities don’t have is the date, the timing or the target of the attack, which is why they have taken such an approach to warning potential targets, Miller reports.

The threat has prompted the U.S. to issue a global travel alert to all Americans for the first time since the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: APPeter King: Plot ‘Most Specific I’ve Seen’

By Breanna Edwards

Chairman of the Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence [RINO] Rep. Peter King confirmed on Friday that “something serious is being planned,” prompting the shutdown of 21 U.S. embassies across the world.

“There’s very little doubt, if any, that something serious is being planned,” the New York Republican told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on a phone call in “The Situation Room.” “I’ve been getting briefed fairly regularly over the last seven or eight years at least and also pretty heavily before then and this is the most specific I’ve seen.”

“It is not just trying to connect the dots. That is very specific information about the fact that there is a plot, that attacks are planned, but again it’s not certain as to where,” he added.

King said that the information had been developing for a while, but remained tight-lipped about any possible sources and other details, mostly reiterating known information.

Read more from this story HERE.

Rand Paul: ‘Old Guard’ Losing Elections

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Photo Credit: APSen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said he agrees with those that say there is pushback from the Republican establishment when the party faces heat from factions such as the libertarian wing.

Newt Gingrich said Thursday that he thinks the establishment is growing “more hysterical” as Paul and fellow Republican Sen. Ted Cruz rise in prominence. Paul said Friday on “The Laura Ingraham Show” that he thinks the establishment needs to welcome new ideas.

“I think there’s some truth to that and I think the other thing about it is that the old guard needs to realize they’re the ones that have been losing the last couple of elections,” Paul said. “If we want to win for presidency we have to compete in the states where we’re not competing. Precisely, up in the northeast and on the west coast where Republicans are basically on life support. We need to reach out with issues that may attract new people to the party.”

One of the most divisive issues in the GOP has been the threat from some, including Paul, Cruz and fellow Sen. Mike Lee, to shut down the government as a means to defund Obamacare. Paul said he does not support shutting down the government, but rather using the continuing resolution as leverage against the president’s signature health care law.

Read more from this story HERE.

Will Senate Dems Use ‘Nuclear Option’ to Confirm Judges?

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A senior Senate Democrat is eyeing the “nuclear option” to eliminate filibusters of nominations — this time for circuit court judges.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick J. Leahy says Democrats should bring back the idea of changing the rules with a simple majority if Republicans block nominees to a federal appeals court.

“I think that the rules change will come back on the table if it’s filibustered because it is one thing if you had somebody who is not qualified. These people are extraordinarily well-qualified,” the Vermont Democrat said of three nominees pending to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in an interview that will air Sunday on C-SPAN’s “Newsmakers.”

Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said last month that his plan to change the Senate’s procedures with a simple majority vote (the “nuclear option”) would have applied only to executive branch nominees, not judges. Reid ultimately struck a deal with Arizona Sen. John McCain and other Republicans to avoid that outcome.

It’s not clear that Reid would have had the votes to push through a simple majority rule for judges, although the No. 3 Senate Democrat, Charles E. Schumer of New York, suggested the possibility of a rules change to fill the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in March.

Read more from this story HERE.

Muslim Brotherhood ‘Taking Anger Out’ on Christians (+video)

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In the wake of the military coup in Egypt earlier this month, media reports frequently recounted the violent clashes between the military and supporters of the ousted Muslim Brotherhood regime of Mohammed Morsi. What is not often reported, however, is the brutal treatment of Coptic Christians, usually at the hands of the Muslim Brotherhood.

“Members of the Muslim Brotherhood have taken their anger out specifically on Christians because many Christians wanted the Muslim Brotherhood and Morsi out of power and were speaking out, including the Coptic pope,” said Jerry Dykstra, spokesman for Open Doors USA, one of the leading organizations reaching out to the persecuted Christian church.

“So in the last three weeks or so, we’ve seen Christians targeted, especially a Coptic priest who was killed in northern Sinai. An Egyptian businessman was killed and beheaded in northern Sinai. Churches were also burned and Christians were driven out of their communities,” Dykstra told WND. “Whenever things get bad, Christians are almost doubly in the spotlight and the crosshairs and we’re seeing this now as things get even worse.”

Dykstra says Coptics had good reason to want the Morsi regime removed from power.

“They were being more marginalized than ever before. Of course, they had no protection from anybody. They were sort of on their own, so there was more violence against Christians. There was more use of the blaspheming laws. There was real concern of the Muslim Brotherhood putting together Sharia law down the road,” said Dykstra, who saw the major dilemmas facing Christians when he was in Egypt last year.

Read more from this story HERE.

House Republicans Feel Summer Recess Heat on Immigration

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Photo Credit: APHouse Republicans are facing heavy pressure from both sides of the immigration debate as they return to their home districts for August recess with no clear indication as to how they’ll vote on the issue.

The decision to pass comprehensive immigration reform has essentially been in the hands of the Republican-controlled House since the Democrat-led Senate passed such a bill in June.

House Republicans were under pressure before they even left their Capitol Hill offices to start the five-week recess, which is traditionally dedicated to face-to-face talks with hometown voters.

The American Federation of Government Employees sent a letter Tuesday to House lawmakers urging them not to work with senators on their “dangerous” bill.

Among the major concerns is that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is not equipped to process the potential onslaught of new applications.

Read more from this story HERE.

Abortionist Curtis Boyd: “Am I Killing? Yes, I Am. I Know That.”

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Photo Credit: LifeNewsAt age 76, Curtis Boyd, infamous late-term abortionist, has performed thousands of abortions on viable babies. Ironically, Boyd was raised in a Christian home in Texas, and later in life became an ordained Baptist minister. Then, with complete disregard to God’s commandments, Boyd left the church and opened up a back alley abortion clinic in Athens, Texas…

He is known for his invention of new second-trimester abortion techniques. In the past, Boyd experimented on his patients trying to develop pain management protocols and discover new ways to reduce the risks of abortion surgeries. Imagine the pain and horror.

Boyd works closely with organizations like “Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice”, an organization composed of so-called Catholic priests and so-called Protestant pastors who meet with abortion-minded women, to give them “counseling” to “bless their decision to abort”.

“Am I killing? Yes, I am. I know that.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Luxury Skin Care in Mike Bloomberg’s Manhattan: Bird Poop Facial

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Photo Credit: Mary AltafferOnly in Mike Bloomberg’s Manhattan. Craving a Big Gulp? Better have a good lawyer. Want to do something special for your face? Treat it to a bird poo poultice at a luxury spa.

At Shizuka New York skin care salon off Fifth Avenue, roughly 100 clients a month are shelling out $180 each for a traditional Japanese facial “using imported Asian nightingale excrement mixed with rice bran,” reports Verna Dobnik for the Associated Press. The treatment is touted as “a way to keep the face soft and smooth using an enzyme in the poop to gently exfoliate the skin.”

While the spa’s eponymous owner Shizuka Bernstein has been offering the Geisha Facial for only five years, the beauty secret is thought to date back to the 1600s, when it was stumbled upon (but how?) by Japanese geishas and actors.

The AP supplied this account of 35-year-old New Yorker Mari Miyoshi’s first fecal facial:

“The treatment begins with steam to open the pores and soften the skin. Cream is applied. And then comes what Bernstein calls ‘the nightingale part.’

Read more from this story HERE.

Kerry: Egypt’s ‘Military Did Not Take Over’ (+video)

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By Jeryl Bier

During his visit to Pakistan on Thursday, Secretary of State John Kerry gave several TV interviews including one to Hamid Mir of Geo TV. Mir’s first question for Kerry concerned Egypt. The Obama administration has resisted referring to the military action in Egypt as a coup, but in this interview, Kerry went even further, asserting that “the military did not take over, to the best of our judgment so – so far,” and that its intervention was at the request of “millions and millions of people” concerned about the increasing chaos in the country [emphasis added]:

QUESTION: Thank you very much for giving us time. My first question is about your commitment with democracy. The U.S. believes in democracy, U.S. is a champion of democracy all over the world. But why U.S. is not taking a clear position on military intervention against the democratically elected government of President Morsy in Egypt?

SECRETARY KERRY: Well, it’s a very appropriate and important question, and I want to answer it very directly. The military was asked to intervene by millions and millions of people, all of whom were afraid of a descendance into chaos, into violence. And the military did not take over, to the best of our judgment so – so far. To run the country, there’s a civilian government. In effect, they were restoring democracy.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: WNDEgypt Hurtling Toward Civil War?

By F. Michael Maloof

As demonstrations increase in intensity in Egypt between the military backers and Muslim Brotherhood supporters, concern mounts that the conflict could lead to major confrontations and civil war, according to a report in Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.

Members of the Muslim Brotherhood have ratcheted up demonstrations demanding the reinstatement of President Mohammad Morsi, who was elected last year but ousted by the military after one year in office.

These demonstrations have resulted in increased clashes with the military, raising concerns the confrontations could become more widespread.

Now, the military has added fuel to the fire by accusing Morsi of conspiring with the Palestinian militant group Hamas in killing some 14 guards, while getting help in his 2011 escape from prison.

As WND recently reported, the Brotherhood also has announced the creation of the Egyptian Free Army, a reflection of a similar army created by the opposition in Syria to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. A civil war has been under way there for two years, and some 100,000 people have been killed.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: WNDFeds plan to give Egypt armed-to-the-teeth ships

By Steve Peacock

The U.S. Senate has rejected an effort to crack down on U.S. taxpayer monies being forwarded to the violence-ridden nation of Egypt, and now the Obama administration is preparing to send more heavily armed, missile-equipped naval patrol ships to the interim government there.

For that purpose, Washington is hiring private contractors to make the transoceanic delivery on its behalf.

This shipment of Fast Missile Craft, or FMC, comes at a time when congressional interest in suspending U.S. military aid to Egypt had heated up – to the point there was a Senate proposal to cut it off. That aid, according to federal law, must be suspended in response to military coups.

But the White House refuses to designate the military overthrow of deposed President Mohamed Morsi as a coup, and therefore has expressed no more than a commitment to review U.S.-Egyptian aid.

The U.S. Senate this week shot down, 86-13, Sen. Rand Paul’s proposed amendment to the transportation spending bill that would have redirected “certain foreign assistance to the government of Egypt as a result of the July 3, 2013, military coup d’état.” Read more from this story HERE.

‘Out for Blood’: 1 dead, 11 Injured After Car Plows Through LA Boardwalk ‘With Intent’ (+video)

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Photo Credit: APBy Dave Urbanski. One person is dead, KNBC-TV reports, and 11 others are injured after a driver of a car—reportedly “out for blood”—plowed into people walking along a crowded Venice Beach boardwalk in Los Angeles Saturday.

Detectives have detained a possible suspect and a vehicle of interest, Lt. Andrew Neiman of the Los Angeles Police Department told KNBC.

Witnesses said the car, a dark-colored sedan, had “moved purposefully along the boardwalk,” striking pedestrians, said Brian Humphrey, a spokesman for the fire department, the New York Times reports. KTLA-TV adds Humphrey describing the vehicle traveling as fast as 20 m.p.h. along the boardwalk.

KCAL-TV reports witness saying the driver hit the pedestrians on purpose:

Read more from this story HERE.

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Police: Venice Beach Boardwalk driver ‘bent on doing evil’

By Alan Duke. A man who sped down Venice Beach’s crowded boardwalk Saturday evening looked like he wanted “to create mayhem and massacre a lot of people,” a witness said.

One woman was killed, and a Los Angeles County coroner’s office spokeswoman identified her as Alice Gruppioni, 32, of Italy. Her husband told police they were on their honeymoon, a law enforcement source told CNN.

Nathan Campbell, 38, was charged with murder after he turned himself in to police hours after the incident, Los Angeles Police Department spokeswoman Rosario Herrera said Sunday. Campbell is being held on $1 million bond, she said.

“There no indication that he knew anybody that he hit,” LAPD Cmdr. Andy Smith said. “It looks like this guy wanted to run over a bunch of people. One guy bent on doing evil.”

Of the dozen people injured, one victim was critically hurt and two others suffered serious injuries, officials said. Read more from this story HERE.

Mexican Cartels Hiring US Soldiers as Hit Men

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Photo Credit: Fox NewsMexican cartels are recruiting hit men from the U.S. military, offering big money to highly-trained soldiers to carry out contract killings and potentially share their skills with gangsters south of the border, according to law enforcement experts.

The involvement of three American soldiers in separate incidents, including a 2009 murder that led to last week’s life sentence for a former Army private, underscore a problem the U.S. military has fought hard to address.

“We have seen examples over the past few years where American servicemen are becoming involved in this type of activity,” said Fred Burton, vice president for STRATFOR Global Intelligence. “It is quite worrisome to have individuals with specialized military training and combat experience being associated with the cartels.”

The life sentence handed down in El Paso District court July 25 to an Army private hired by the Juarez Cartel to be the triggerman in a 2009 hit in this border city is the most recent case.

Michael Apodaca, 22, was a private first-class stationed at nearby Fort Bliss Army Base and was attached to the 11th Air Defense Artillery Brigade when he was recruited and paid $5,000 by the Juarez Cartel to shoot and kill Jose Daniel Gonzalez-Galeana, a cartel member who had been outed as an informant for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Apodaca, who was the triggerman in the May 15, 2009, hit, was sentenced in El Paso District Court July 25.

Read more from this story HERE.