Massive Explosions Rock Propane Plant; Watch Raw Video Here

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Photo Credit: YouTubePropane explosions at the Blue Rhino LP gas plant rocked the Tavares area on Monday night, injuring eight people.

A massive emergency response was called to the plant, which is located at the 300 block of County Road 448, after multiple injuries were reported.

All employees on staff at the time of the explosion were accounted for by 2 a.m., Lake County spokesman John Herrell said.

“Plant management is comfortable saying they are accounted for,” Herrell said.

Eight people were hurt — some of them critically injured, according to Tavares Fire Chief Richard Keith.

Read more from this story HERE.

Another Shocking Revelation of NSA Snooping: Powerful Tool Exists to Give Low-Level Analysts Immediate Access to all Your Email, Phone Calls (+video)

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Photo Credit: ABCToday on “This Week,” Glenn Greenwald – the reporter who broke the story about the National Security Agency’s surveillance programs – claimed that those NSA programs allowed even low-level analysts to search the private emails and phone calls of Americans.

“The NSA has trillions of telephone calls and emails in their databases that they’ve collected over the last several years,” Greenwald told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos. “And what these programs are, are very simple screens, like the ones that supermarket clerks or shipping and receiving clerks use, where all an analyst has to do is enter an email address or an IP address, and it does two things. It searches that database and lets them listen to the calls or read the emails of everything that the NSA has stored, or look at the browsing histories or Google search terms that you’ve entered, and it also alerts them to any further activity that people connected to that email address or that IP address do in the future.”

Greenwald explained that while there are “legal constraints” on surveillance that require approval by the FISA court, these programs still allow analysts to search through data with little court approval or supervision.

“There are legal constraints for how you can spy on Americans,” Greenwald said. “You can’t target them without going to the FISA court. But these systems allow analysts to listen to whatever emails they want, whatever telephone calls, browsing histories, Microsoft Word documents.”

“And it’s all done with no need to go to a court, with no need to even get supervisor approval on the part of the analyst,” he added.

Read more from this story HERE.

Iconic Ground Zero Photo was Nearly Excluded from Museum for Being Too ‘Rah-Rah’ American

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Photo Credit: NY PostThis iconic picture of firefighters raising the stars and stripes in the rubble of Ground Zero was nearly excluded from the 9/11 Memorial Museum — because it was “rah-rah” American, a new book says.

Michael Shulan, the museum’s creative director, was among staffers who considered the Tom Franklin photograph too kitschy and “rah-rah America,” according to “Battle for Ground Zero” (St. Martin’s Press) by Elizabeth Greenspan, out next month.

“I really believe that the way America will look best, the way we can really do best, is to not be Americans so vigilantly and so vehemently,” Shulan said.

Shulan had worked on a popular post-9/11 photography exhibit called “Here is New York” in Soho when he was hired by Alice Greenwald, director of the museum, for his “unique approach.”

Eventually, chief curator Jan Ramirez proposed a compromise, Greenspan writes. The Franklin shot was minimized in favor of three different photos via three different angles of the flag-raising scene.

Read more from this story HERE.

Senators, Representatives Moving Closer to Reigning in Unconstitutional NSA

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Photo Credit: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPAUdall: NSA close to unconstitutional

By Hadas Gold. Sen. Mark Udall said on Sunday the NSA program that monitors Americans’ phone calls is close to being “unconstitutional.”

“I would argue that it comes close to being unconstitutional, and there’s a better way to do this,” Colorado Democrat said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

Udall said a new bill he recently introduced with Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) protects not just Americans, but the “biggest, baddest weapon we have,” the Bill of Rights.

“My bill, which I want to push as hard as I possibly can, would limit the ways in which the intelligence community accesses average Americans’, innocent Americans’, phone records. That’s the way to go forward,” Udall said. “That’s the way in which to protect not just our people but the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights is the biggest, baddest weapon we have.” Read more from this story HERE.

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Opponents of NSA surveillance emboldened by close House vote

By Brendan Sasso and Jennifer Martinez. A close vote in the House on National Security Agency surveillance has given privacy advocates new momentum in their quest to curtail the agency’s power.

Critics of the agency are reviewing their options and plotting their next move in an attempt to build on their surprisingly strong showing.

“The House took a shot across NSA’s bow, and the NSA noticed,” said Gregory Nojeim, a senior counsel for the Center for Democracy and Technology.

It’s a heady time for privacy advocates, who for years have been on the defensive against claims that tougher privacy standards would endanger national security and help terrorists.

“This was the closest vote I’ve ever seen post-9/11 in regard to reeling in the NSA apparatus,” said Amie Stepanovich, director of the Domestic Surveillance Project at the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC). “The numbers on this vote show there’s incredible interest in reforming these programs. I don’t think it matters that it didn’t pass.” Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: Getty ImagesWyden calls Fisa court ‘anachronistic’ as pressure builds on Senate to act

By Ed Pilkington. Pressure is building within the US Senate for an overhaul of the secret court that is supposed to act as a check on the National Security Agency’s executive power, with one prominent senator describing the judicial panel as “anachronistic” and outdated.

Ron Wyden, a Democratic senator for Oregon, said discussions were under way about how to reform the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance court, the body entrusted with providing oversight on the NSA and its metadata-collecting activities. He told C-Span’s Newsmaker programme on Sunday that the court, which was set up in 1978 under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (Fisa), was ill-equipped to deal with the massive digital dragnet of millions of Americans’ phone records developed by the NSA in recent years.

“In many particulars, the Fisa court is anachronistic – they are using processes that simply don’t fit the times,” Wyden said.

The Oregon senator is at the forefront of a growing chorus of political voices criticising the Fisa court for being biased towards the executive branch to the exclusion of all other positions. “It is the most one-sided legal process in the US, I don’t know of any other legal system or court that doesn’t highlight anything except one point of view – the executive point of view.”

Wyden added: “When that point of view also dominates the thinking of justices, you’ve got a fairly combustible situation on your hands.” Read more from this story HERE.

Rep. King, Gov. Christie Attack Rand Paul’s Opposition to NSA’s Warrantless Surveillance

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Photo Credit: APRep. Peter King on Rand Paul: ‘This is the anti-war, left-wing Democrats of the 1960s’

By Joseph Lawler. New York Rep. Peter King harshly criticized Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and other fellow Republicans Sunday for failing to stand by America’s anti-terrorist policies, saying that he worried they would ultimately destroy the Republican Party.

Appearing on CNN’s State of the Union, King said that his overriding concern is national defense, and that “when you have Rand Paul actually comparing [fugitive leaker Edward] Snowden to Martin Luther King or Henry David Thoreau, this is madness.”

“This is the anti-war, left-wing Democrats of the 1960s that nominated George McGovern and destroyed their party for almost 20 years,” King said. “I don’t want that happening to our party.” Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: APRand Paul hits back at Chris Christie

By Associated Press. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul hit back at New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie in the two Republicans’ ongoing spat over national security.

Christie last week criticized Paul’s opposition to warrantless federal surveillance programs, saying it harmed efforts to prevent terrorism. Paul told reporters after speaking at a fundraiser outside Nashville on Sunday that Christie’s position hurts GOP chances in national elections, and that spending priorities of critics like the governor and Rep. Peter King of New York do more to harm national security.

“They’re precisely the same people who are unwilling to cut the spending, and their `Gimme, gimme, gimme – give me all my Sandy money now.’” Paul said, referring to federal funding after the hurricane last year. “Those are the people who are bankrupting the government and not letting enough money be left over for national defense.”

King in a phone interview late Sunday called Paul’s criticism of Sandy aid “indefensible.”

“This was absolutely life or death money that was essential to New York and New Jersey,” King said. Read more from this story HERE.

As Combat Units are Opened to Women, Military Orders New Unisex Fatigues that will Accommodate Larger Buttocks

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Photo Credit: https://www.army.mil/A new combat uniform with special consideration to the female body is now available at Fort Gordon, almost a month after the Army announced plans to open all units and military jobs to women by 2016.

The March debut of the Combat Uniform-Alternate is the first in a series of moves the Army hopes to make in the next three years to help female soldiers feel like more professional members, officials said.

With narrower shoulders, a slightly tapered waist and a more spacious seat, the unisex clothing line has been in the works since 2009 and is being issued to all installations – except Fort Benning in Columbus, Ga. – for men and women with a smaller or more slender body.

Soldiers will soon be able to order the new uniform at the Fort Gordon Military Clothing store, according to Stefan Marks, the post exchange’s general manager.

Read more from this story HERE.

Dishonesty from Obama Admin. Hits New Highs: Lew Denies IRS Targeted Conservatives

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Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said Sunday the Internal Revenue Service exhibited “equal opportunity bad judgment” in the improper targeting of political groups, and there was no evidence of political pressure.

Just days after President Obama accused Washington of focusing attention on “phony scandals,” Lew said on “Fox News Sunday” mistakes were made in the IRS, but there is no evidence the White House or political officials drove the improper targeting.

“There’s no political official who condoned it or authorized it,” he said, adding that the mistakes that were made were “unacceptable” and “unjustifiable.”

The scandal broke when IRS officials apologized for improperly targeting Tea Party groups applying for tax-exempt status, and has led to Republican accusations the White House used the tax collecting agency to intimidate political opponents.

Read more from this story HERE.

Law Enforcement Using Firearms Identification Cards to Track Down, Seize Guns from Citizens Whose Rights Have Been Revoked

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An Illinois sheriff’s team is crisscrossing the Chicago suburbs in an effort to seize guns from thousands of people whose right to own a firearm has been revoked, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

According to the paper, more than 3,000 people in Cook County have failed to surrender their revoked Firearm Owners Identification Card, or FOID, which is required to legally buy guns or ammunition.

Sheriff Tom Dart said he thinks many of the 3,000 continue to possess firearms.

The Chicago Police Department regularly conducts missions to recover revoked FOID cards and take guns from the owners, but there wasn’t a big push to do the same thing in the suburbs until now, Dart reportedly told the paper.

Read more from this story HERE.

Anthony Weiner’s Campaign Manager Quits as the “Good Democrat” Faces Calls to Drop Out (+video)

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Photo Credit: ReutersBy Matt Williams. The wheels of Anthony Weiner’s increasingly shaky campaign for the New York mayoralty wobbled further Sunday, as a key aide quit following a week of lurid revelations about the candidate.

The resignation of campaign manager Danny Kedem will come as a further blow to the embattled Democratic politician, who is facing increased calls to pull out of the race for the city’s top job.

It comes amid a near-daily onslaught of negative headlines in New York regarding Weiner’s continued sending of pictures of his penis to women over the internet, even after he was forced to resign from Congress over an earlier such incident.

The impact the latest revelations has had on his chances of replacing Michael Bloomberg as mayor were laid bare in a poll released on Thursday, which showed a 14 percentage-point swing from Weiner to his closest Democratic rival, Christine Quinn.

His favourability rating also plunged from 52% to 30%. Having seemingly shrugged off the initial sex scandal to enter the mayoralty race, many are now wondering if Weiner can ride out the latest focus on his proclivities rather than his policies. Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: SplashAnthony Weiner spent more than $45K on private detectives to investigate his own 2011 lie that his Twitter account had been hacked

By Michael Zennie. Anthony Weiner brazenly spent more than $45,000 from his Congressional campaign funds to hire private detectives to investigate his own lie that his Twitter account was hacked in 2011, it has been revealed.

Weiner paid T&M Protection Services with his campaign donors’ funds and ordered the investigators to track down the ‘hackers’ who ‘broke into his Twitter account’ and sent lewd photos.

Weiner’s story about his account being hacked was, of course, a lie and he knew it at the time. For a week and a half, he maintained that he did not send the suggestive pictures posted to his Twitter account in May 2011.

The New York Daily News reports that Weiner hired the private investigators in an attempt to cover his tracks – spending $43,100 from his campaign warchest on a wild goose chase.

He also paid law firm BakerHostetler to investigate the matter – though the exact amount spent on the bogus hunt. He paid the firm more than $93,000 for legal services between January 2010 and December 2012, but not all of that money went to the sexting investigation. Read more from this story HERE.

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Marion Barry: Weiner a ‘good Democrat’

By Bob Cusack. Former Washington, D.C. Mayor Marion Barry said Anthony Weiner is a “good Democrat” who should be talking more about his accomplishments in Congress.

In an interview Saturday night on Geraldo Rivera’s show on Fox News, Barry said, “One bit of advice to the congressman: I’d stop talking so much about now and start talking about what you did for seven terms while he was in the Congress. He’s a good Democrat.”

A couple weeks ago, Barry said he can “identify” with what Weiner is going through.

Earlier in the interview, Barry and Rivera clashed about the ex-mayor’s past brushes with the law. Read more from this story HERE.

McConnell’s Challenger’s Campaign Picking Up Steam, Gains Key Conservative Group’s Endorsement

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Photo Credit: Gage SkidmoreMatt Bevin, who plans to challenge Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell in the 2014 Kentucky GOP primary, picked up a big endorsement from a national conservative group Sunday evening.

The Madison Project, a conservative fundraising group headed by former Rep. Jim Ryun (R-Kan.), who once held track’s world record in the mile, will give Bevin access to donors from around the country. Ryun’s son, Drew, a former deputy political director at the Republican National Committee, is also involved.

The group praised Bevin’s candidacy in a letter to activists and donors as someone poised to storm “the decaying castle of the GOP establishment for millions of conservatives.”

“As a self-made successful businessman, Matt Bevin understands that the failed leadership in the Republican Party cannot be fixed with the very elements that precipitated its failure,” they wrote.

The letter touts Bevin’s accomplishments in the private sector, such as building two investment companies and being named the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2009. One of those funds, Integrity Asset Management, grew to $1.8 billion in assets.

Read more from this story HERE.