Armed George Zimmerman Pulled Over in Texas for Speeding (+video)

/7 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: APGeorge Zimmerman Stopped for Speeding, Has Gun

By Seni Tienabeso, Matt Gutman and Aaron Katersky. Police in Texas have pulled over George Zimmerman for speeding and then the man acquitted in one of America’s most controversial trials in years alerted the officer that he had a gun in his glove compartment.

Zimmerman, who was acquitted by a Florida jury two weeks ago for the death of Trayvon Martin, was stopped at 12:47 p.m. on Sunday on Highway 80 by a Forney, Texas.

In dash cam video obtained by ABC News the officer can be heard asking the former neighborhood watch captain, “Where you headed?”

Zimmerman responded, “Nowhere in particular,” and then asks the officer if he noticed the name of the driver’s license.

The officer responded “What a coincidence,” and later is heard telling Zimmerman that he can shut the glove compartment that was holding the firearm.

Read more from this story HERE.

______________________________________________________________

Zimmerman Legal Team “Baffled” Traffic Stop is National News

By Mark Sappenfield. A spokesman for Zimmerman’s legal team says he’s baffled that a traffic stop would become national news.

“Baffled” might be a bit of overstatement.

It was national news when Zimmerman stopped to help a family in Florida get out of their SUV after it flipped onto its side on an exit ramp on July 17. The family even planned to hold a news conference to thank Zimmerman before backing out.

“They can’t even say that George did something good for them because people out there believe he’s so toxic even though he’s been acquitted,” said Mark O’Mara, Zimmerman’s attorney, according to the Orlando Sentinel. Read more from this story HERE.

Report: Lewinsky-Clinton Sex Tape Surfaces in Possible Blow to Hillary’s Presidential Aspirations

/22 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: WNDWhile the sexting of former congressman and current candidate for new York mayor Anthony Weiner is still making national headlines, a blast-from-the-past sex tape involving Monica Lewinsky and former President Bill Clinton has just reportedly surfaced.

An audio tape obtained by the National Enquirer purports to reveal the former White House intern planning a secret sexual meeting with the president and proclaiming to her paramour she’s “too cute and adorable” to be ignored.

The recording, made in November 1997 at the height of the pair’s sexual affair, is three minutes, 47 seconds long, and is addressed to “handsome.”

At one point, Lewinsky is heard trying to seduce Clinton, saying: “I could take my clothes off and start … well … I know you wouldn’t enjoy that? I hope to see you later and I hope you will follow my script and do what I want.”

Monica’s voice is the only one heard on the tape, which was thought to have been destroyed years ago, though a duplicate was secretly made and has now surfaced, according to the Enquirer.

Read more from this story HERE.

New Book Reveals Hollywood’s Chilling, Extensive Collaboration with Hitler and the Nazis

/4 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: The Hollywood ReporterThe 1930s are celebrated as one of Hollywood’s golden ages, but in an exclusive excerpt from his controversial new book, The Collaboration: Hollywood’s Pact with Hitler (Harvard University Press, on sale Sept. 9), Harvard post-doctoral fellow Ben Urwand uncovers a darker side to Hollywood’s past.

Drawing on a wealth of archival documents in the U.S. and Germany, he reveals the shocking extent to which Hollywood cooperated and collaborated with the Nazis during the decade leading up to World War II to protect its business.

Indeed, “collaboration” (and its German translation, Zusammenarbeit) is a word that appears regularly in the correspondence between studio officials and the Nazis. Although the word is fraught with meaning to modern ears, its everyday use at the time underscored the eagerness of both sides to smooth away their differences to preserve commerce.

The Nazis threatened to exclude American movies — more than 250 played in Germany after Hitler took power in 1933 — unless the studios cooperated. Before World War I, the German market had been the world’s second largest, and even though it had shrunk during the Great Depression, the studios believed it would bounce back and worried that if they left, they would never be able to return.

Beginning with wholesale changes made to Universal’s 1930 release All Quiet on the Western Front, Hollywood regularly ran scripts and finished movies by German officials for approval. When they objected to scenes or dialogue they thought made Germany look bad, criticized the Nazis or dwelled on the mistreatment of Jews, the studios would accommodate them — and make cuts in the American versions as well as those shown elsewhere in the world.

Read more from this story HERE.

Prentice Hall Textbook Engaged in “Stealth Jihad,” Extensively Covers Koran, Ignores Bible

/4 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Fox NewsSchool officials in Florida are defending a textbook that declares Muhammad as the “Messenger of God” after critics accused an Islamic education group of launching a stealth jihad in American public school classrooms.

The Prentice World History textbook being used in Brevard Public Schools includes a 36-page chapter on Islam but no chapters on Christianity or Judaism.

According to a copy obtained by Fox News, The ninth grade textbook declares that Muhammad is the “Messenger of God” and instructs students that jihad is a duty that Muslims must follow.

“Jihad may be interpreted as a holy war to defend Islam and the Muslim community, much like the Crusades to defend Christianity,” the book states.

The textbook published large passages from the Koran, but failed to include any Scripture from the Bible. And while the book makes declarations about Muhammad being God’s messenger, it does not make declarations about Jesus being God’s son.

Read more from this story HERE.

Cruz ‘Perplexed’ by GOP Attacks on Him, Won’t Back Down in ‘Defund Obamacare’ Fight

/13 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Daily Caller Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is “perplexed” by GOP attacks on his effort to defund Obamacare and has no intention of backing down, despite complaints from other Senate Republicans that his crusade is not realistic and could potentially damage the party’s chances in the 2014 midterm elections.

“There may be people who lob attacks at him, but he’s not going to return those attacks,” Cruz spokeswoman Catherine Frazier told The Daily Caller, taking a firm stand in a battle that could determine the GOP’s strategic playbook heading into the 2014 midterms.

Cruz and fellow junior Republican senators Mike Lee and Marco Rubio are involved in a “coordinated effort,” according to Frazier, to urge Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to block all continuing-resolution budget bills until Obamacare is defunded, either through budgetary means or by passing the Defund Obamacare Act, which has already failed three times in Congress.

Republican Sens. Bob Corker of Tennessee and Richard Burr of North Carolina strongly criticized the effort of Cruz and his two fellow junior senators, while Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn suggested that the plan’s political backlash could jeopardize Republican efforts to hold a majority in the House of Representatives next year.

Read more from this story HERE.

Hagel: Budget Cuts Could Force Navy to Sideline 3 Aircraft Carriers

/6 Comments/in , /by

By Associated Press. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel warned Wednesday that the Pentagon may have to mothball up to three Navy aircraft carriers and order additional sharp reductions in the size of the Army and Marine Corps if Congress doesn’t act to avoid massive budget cuts beginning in 2014.

Speaking to Pentagon reporters, and indirectly to Congress, Hagel said that the full result of the sweeping budget cuts over the next 10 years could leave the nation with an ill-prepared, under-equipped military doomed to face more technologically advanced enemies.

In his starkest terms to date, Hagel laid out a worst-case scenario for the U.S. military if the Pentagon is forced to slash more than $50 billion from the 2014 budget and $500 billion over the next 10 years as a result of Congressionally-mandated automatic spending cuts.

The Pentagon has been ratcheting up a persistent drumbeat about the dire effects of the budget cuts on national defense, and as Congress continues to wrangle over spending bills on Capitol Hill. Read more from this story HERE.

_________________________________________________________

Photo Credit: APHagel: Smaller budget means smaller military

By Kristina Wong. A smaller Army and Marine Corps, consolidated combatant commands and a “decade-long modernization holiday” will befall the U.S. military if defense cuts known as sequestration remain in place, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Wednesday.

Mr. Hagel unveiled Wednesday the results of a department-wide fiscal review that identified budget items that would be cut to accommodate $500 billion in reduced defense spending over the next decade.

If Congress does not reverse the cuts, the Army could shrink to 380,000 troops from its target strength of 490,000. Similarly, the Army Reserves, which has been mostly saved from sequestration, would face reductions.

In addition, the Navy’s aircraft carriers could be reduced from 11 to eight or nine, the Corps could field as low as 150,000 Marines instead of 182,000, and combatant commands — headquarters dedicated to a region or specific function — could be merged.

“This strategic choice would result in a force that would be technologically dominant but would be much smaller and able to go fewer places and do fewer things, especially if crisis occurred at the same time in different regions of the world,” Mr. Hagel said. Read more from this story HERE.

Nancy Pelosi: Obama Among the Most ‘Non-Partisan’ Presidents Ever to Serve in White House

/8 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: red alert politicsHouse Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi may have finally fallen completely off her rocker Tuesday as she commended the President and her fellow Democrats in Congress for propelling the Left into a “bipartisan, cooperative alternative” party.

The 73-year-old California Democrat seemed to fan-girl over President Obama during a meeting with USA Today’s editorial board Tuesday, calling him “one of the most practically non-partisans I have seen in the White House.” It seems the Commander-in-Chief has earned this special place in Pelosi’s heart by his apparent willingness to work with Republicans to thwart yet another upcoming fiscal crisis.

In fact, Pelosi, who is the most well-known leader on Capitol Hill according to a Gallup poll from April, believes that the GOP is solely to blame for all the bickering in Washington – something which they’re doing solely for political gain.

Read more from this story HERE.

DHS Loses Track of One Million Foreigners, Puts Amnesty Bill at Risk

/3 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: APThe Homeland Security Department has lost track of more than 1 million people who it knows arrived in the U.S. but who it cannot prove left the country, according to an audit Tuesday that also found the department probably won’t meet its own goals for deploying an entry-exit system.

The findings were revealed as Congress debates an immigration bill, and the Government Accountability Office’s report could throw up another hurdle because lawmakers in the House and Senate have said that any final deal must include a workable system to track entries and exits and cut down on so-called visa overstays.

The government does track arrivals, but is years overdue in setting up a system to track departures — a goal set in a 1996 immigration law and reaffirmed in 2004, but which has eluded Republican and Democratic administrations.

“DHS has not yet fulfilled the 2004 statutory requirement to implement a biometric exit capability, but has planning efforts under way to report to Congress in time for the fiscal year 2016 budget cycle on the costs and benefits of such a capability at airports and seaports,” GAO investigators wrote.

Outside business groups and Republican donors are trying to breathe life into the push for getting an immigration bill through Congress this year.

Read more from this story HERE.

Canada Warns Obama: It’s Trains or the Keystone Pipeline

/3 Comments/in , /by

On 6 July, a Montreal, Maine & Atlantic train carrying 72 tank cars filled with oil exploded after its brakes apparently failed, sending it rolling into the small Quebec town of Lac-Megantic, where it derailed and then exploded. In the conflagration that followed, an estimated 47 people were killed.

Whether Canadians like it or not, the use of such trains has soared in recent years. The Railway Association of Canada reports that as recently as four years ago Canadian railways moved just 500 carloads of crude oil, but that number has now soared to about 140,000 carloads annually.

While currently only about three percent of Canadian crude is currently transported by rail, one industry predicts railway carriage of oil products rising to as high as 25 percent by 2035.

Now, in a breathtaking display of chutzpah, the Canadian ambassador to the U.S. is warning President Obama if he does not approve the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, then he can expect similar oil trains and even trucks to enter the U.S. Ambassador Gary Doer said, “His choice is to have it come down by a pipeline that he approves, or without his approval, it comes down on trains. That’s just the raw common sense of this thing, and we’ve been saying it for two years and we’ve been proven correct. At the end of the day, it’s trains or pipelines.”

Read more from this story HERE.

White House Now Calling Benghazi Phony Scandal

/4 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: APThe White House said bluntly Wednesday that it considers the controversy over the Benghazi attack to be among the so-called “phony scandals” that President Obama has been complaining about in recent speeches — even as new questions were being raised about the lack of progress in the investigation.

Press Secretary Jay Carney was asked at the daily briefing about Obama’s repeated claim — which he asserted most recently during a speech in Tennessee on Tuesday — that Washington is getting distracted by phony scandals. Asked what the president was referring to, Carney listed the scandals over the IRS targeting of conservative groups and over Benghazi.

“What we’ve seen, as time has passed and more facts have become known, whether it’s about the attacks in Benghazi and the talking points or revelations about conduct at the IRS, that attempts to turn this into a scandal have failed,” Carney said.

Carney was specifically referring to claims by GOP lawmakers that the administration misled the public about the nature of the attack, by stressing the connection to an anti-Islam film. The administration denies this. But lawmakers continue to have concerns that extend far beyond the so-called Benghazi talking points.

Read more from this story HERE.