Accused Fort Hood Shooter Releases Statement Saying US at War With Islam

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Acting as his own attorney, accused Fort Hood shooter Major Nidal Hasan has released a statement to Fox News claiming that the U.S. military is at war with his religion.

However, he does not directly address the shooting at the Texas Army Base in November 2009 that killed 13 and injured more than 30 others.

“My complicity was on behalf of a government that openly acknowledges that it would hate for the law of Almighty Allah to be the supreme law of the land,” the 42-year-old Army psychiatrist said. Hasan then apparently asked if this was a war on Islam. “You bet it is,” he said. “I participated in it.”

The statement, which begins “In the name of Almighty Allah, the most gracious and the most merciful, my name is Nidal Hasan, Major Nidal Hasan, and I would like to convey a message to the world,” runs more than six pages.

Hasan also says he regrets his years in the Army, claiming that his service was inconsistent with his religious beliefs. “I would like to begin by repenting to Almighty Allah and apologize to the (Mujahideen), the believers, and the innocent. I ask for their forgiveness and their prayers. I ask for their forgiveness for participating in the illegal and immoral aggression against Muslims, their religion and their lands,” he said.

Read more from this story HERE.

IRS Workers Want Out of Obamacare (+video)

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photo credit: fibonacci blueBy Todd Beamon. The federal employees who will be responsible for administering Obamacare for the American people don’t want it for themselves.

The National Treasury Employees Union, which represents workers at the Internal Revenue Service, is asking its members to write letters to Capitol Hill saying they are “very concerned” about legislative efforts requiring IRS and Treasury employees to enroll in the Obamacare exchanges.

“I am a federal employee and one of your constituents,” one letter begins, Forbes blogger Avik Roy reported on Friday. “I am very concerned about legislation that has been introduced by Congressman Dave Camp to push federal employees out of the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) and into the insurance exchanges established under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).”

Camp, the Michigan Republican referred to in the letter, is chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, whose members oversee tax legislation in the House of Representatives. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that Obamacare’s insurance subsidies are technically tax credits, falling under the authority of the IRS.

Camp introduced legislation in April to put all federal employees on the healthcare exchanges in response to news reports that members of Congress and their staffs were seeking to be exempt from the Obamacare requirement that they enroll in the exchanges. Read more from this story HERE.

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Krauthammer: Effort to defund Obamacare ‘really dumb’

By Jeff Poor. On Friday’s “Special Report,” Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer went against the conventional wisdom of some in the conservative movement by arguing efforts to defund President Barack Obama’s 2010 health care legislation at the expense of shutting down the federal government was “really dumb.”

“Never issue a threat you’re not prepared to in the end honor and deliver on,” Krauthammer said. “And if the Republicans imagine they’re going to either stop the funding of the government or refuse the raising of the debt ceiling, they’re out of their minds. It would be a catastrophe in the end. All the president has to do is wait and they’re going to cave. This happened on January 1 of this year. It happened with the debt ceiling. We know the end game. Why would you threaten something and demand in return something you know the president will never do? It’s his signature legislation. It would be repudiation of his entire first term. The only alternative is to go over a cliff. It is really dumb.” Read more from this story HERE.

DOJ Ripped for Making Transgender Use of Opposite-Sex Restrooms the New Civil Rights Priority

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Photo Credit: Fox NewsThe U.S. Department of Justice’s latest cause – fighting for a transgendered California ninth-grader’s right to use the boy’s room at school – has conservative groups wondering just how far Washington will go in the name of civil rights.

The student was born a girl but “has identified as a boy from a young age,” according to the Department of Justice, which reached a settlement with the public school district in Arcadia, an affluent LA suburb. Under the deal, the district must not only change the student’s restroom privileges and make similar accommodations on overnight trips. It also must institute a host of measures to ensure transgender students are treated as whatever gender they consider themselves to be.

Randy Thomasson, president of SaveCalifornia.com, said Attorney General Eric Holder is off-base in pushing the case as a matter of civil rights.

“Eric Holder needs to reread the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and find out that civil rights are based on an unchangeable, immutable characteristic,” Thomasson said. “You cannot change your genes or your gender. You have chromosomes and they are either XX or XY. This is a girl who has been environmentally warped to believe she is a boy, and, instead of coddling this confused child, her parents should have gotten her into counseling with an expert on gender confusion.”

According to a DOJ report, the student began her gender transition from female to male during fifth grade after being teased and socially ostracized at school and on a school camping trip. After spring vacation, she adopted a male name and began wearing masculine clothing and teachers and classmates were told to use masculine pronouns in reference to her. She also used a gender-neutral bathroom for the remainder of the school year, according to the report.

Read more from this story HERE.

Half of Americans Supposedly Approve of NSA Surveillance Program

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Photo Credit: APBy James Arkin. Most Americans are suspicious they aren’t being told the full truth about the National Security Agency’s surveillance program, but half still approve of the program overall, according to a new poll released Friday.

Fifty percent of Americans approve of the NSA program while 44 percent disapprove, according to the poll from the PEW Research Center.

Despite the overall approval, 70 percent of those surveyed said they thought the government uses this data for purposes other than investigating terrorism. Similarly, 63 percent of those surveyed said they believed the government was collecting information about content of communications, not just metadata. Of that group, 27 percent said they thought the government had listened to their calls or read their emails, while 28 percent did not. Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: Michael Reynolds/EPANSA surveillance critics to testify before Congress

By Paul Lewis. Congress will hear testimony from critics of the National Security Agency’s surveillance practices for the first time since the whistleblower Edward Snowden’s explosive leaks were made public.

Democrat congressman Alan Grayson, who is leading a bipartisan group of congressman organising the hearing, told the Guardian it would serve to counter the “constant misleading information” from the intelligence community.

The hearing, which will take place on Wednesday, comes amid evidence of a growing congressional rebellion NSA data collection methods.

On Wednesday, a vote in the House of Representatives that would have tried to curb the NSA’s practice of mass collection of phone records of millions of Americans was narrowly defeated.

However, it exposed broader-than-expected concern among members of Congress over US surveillance tactics. A majority of Democrat members voted in support of the amendment. Read more from this story HERE.

FBI Letter to Rand Paul Reveals Drones Used 10 Times in US (+video)

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Photo Credit: Daily CallerBy Alec Hill. The Federal Bureau of Investigations has used unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones, at least ten times in the United States, a letter from the agency to Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul revealed on Thursday.

“Since late 2006, the FBI has conducted surveillance using UAV’s in eight criminal cases and two nationals security cases,” the letter reads. A footnote at the end of the sentence noted that in three additional cases, drones were authorized, but “not actually used.”

In addition to their public response, the FBI also sent Paul’s office a different, classified version of their letter containing more details.

The FBI sent the letter to Paul’s office after Paul’s insistent and much-publicized stand against drone use on American citizens both at home and abroad, which dates back to a filibuster Paul conducted on March 6. On that date, Paul, assisted by a bipartisan group of senators, protested the Obama administration’s use of drones by holding up John Brennan’s nomination for CIA director for almost 13 hours. Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: APRand Paul maintains hold on FBI nominee

By Burgess Everett. The FBI has used domestic drones for surveillance in eight criminal and two national security cases since 2006, an FBI official wrote in a letter to Sen. Rand Paul, who is maintaining his hold of the nominee to lead the agency.

The letter came in response to a list of questions Paul sent to the director about domestic drone use. Paul had said he would delay the nomination of FBI Director Robert Mueller’s potential successor, James Comey, until he received specifics on the domestic drone program.

Now, Paul says the answers are “insufficient” and he sent a follow-up with additional questions, meaning the hold remains in place. Paul’s been known to get drone answers before, filibustering the nomination of CIA Director John Brennan for 12 hours over the question of whether the government could kill Americans not engaged in combat on U.S. soil.

Stephen Kelly from the FBI’s Office of Congressional Affairs said drones — or unmanned aerial vehicles — have been used in the United States in “very limited circumstances,” such as locating a missing 5-year-old child held in an underground Alabama bunker earlier this year. Kelley also said the FBI does not arm its drones, nor does it have plans to do so, and does not conduct “bulk surveillance.” Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: telegraph.co.ukEU planning to ‘own and operate’ spy drones and an air force

By Bruno Waterfield. The European Union is planning to “own and operate” spy drones, surveillance satellites and aircraft as part of a new intelligence and security agency under the control of Baroness Ashton.

The controversial proposals are a major move towards creating an independent EU military body with its own equipment and operations, and will be strongly opposed by Britain.

Officials told the Daily Telegraph that the European Commission and Lady Ashton’s European External Action Service want to create military command and communication systems to be used by the EU for internal security and defence purposes. Under the proposals, purchasing plans will be drawn up by autumn.

The use of the new spy drones and satellites for “internal and external security policies”, which will include police intelligence, the internet, protection of external borders and maritime surveillance, will raise concerns that the EU is creating its own version of the US National Security Agency.

Senior European officials regard the plan as an urgent response to the recent scandal over American and British communications surveillance by creating EU’s own security and spying agency. Read more from this story HERE.

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Why Do Women Disapprove of Drone Strikes So Much More Than Men Do?

Photo Credit: the atlantic

By Alexis C. Madrigal. Pew’s out with an international poll that shows, across countries and overall levels of support, a striking gender gap exists on support for American drone strikes.

Women were much less likely to approve of “the United States conducting missile strikes from pilotless aircraft called drones to target extremists in countries such as Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia.”

In Japan, for example, support for drone strikes was 30 percentage points lower than their male counterparts. The smallest gaps — in France, South Korea, and Uganda — were 14, 14, and 13 percentage points, respectively. On average, there was a 22-point gap between male and female support for drone strikes, and it didn’t matter if there was considerable overall support for strikes or not.

“Gender gaps are also often seen in global surveys over the use of military force, with women far less likely than men to say that force is sometimes necessary in the pursuit of justice,” wrote Bruce Stokes, Director of Global Economic Attitudes at the Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project, in introducing the data. “But the gender difference over drone strikes is unusually large.” Read more from this story HERE.

Chris Christie: Rand Paul ‘Dangerous’ (+video)

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New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is ripping libertarians — including Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) — for challenging government surveillance programs and failing to understand the dangers of terrorism.

“This strain of libertarianism that’s going through parties right now and making big headlines I think is a very dangerous thought,” the New Jersey GOP governor said on Thursday at a Republican governors forum in Aspen, Colo. “You can name any number of people and (Paul is) one of them.”

Christie, a potential 2016 candidate who appeared on the panel with Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, said lawmakers who are questioning government surveillance programs should hear from the families affected by the Sept. 11 attacks.

“These esoteric, intellectual debates — I want them to come to New Jersey and sit across from the widows and the orphans and have that conversation. And they won’t, because that’s a much tougher conversation to have,” Christie said.

Read more from this story HERE.

Russia Won’t Extradite Snowden to US

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Photo Credit: ReutersMoscow says security agency FSB is in talks with the FBI over Snowden. But the whistleblower will not be extradited to the US, a Kremlin spokesman said, adding he’s sure the fugitive NSA contractor will stop harming Washington if granted asylum in Russia.

“Russia has never extradited anyone, and will not extradite,” said Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

Russian President is not handling the case of the former CIA employee Edward Snowden, as “Snowden has not made any request that is subject to consideration by the head of the state,” Peskov added.

The issue of Snowden asking for temporary asylum “was not and is not on Putin’s agenda,” Peskov continued, saying that it lies in the sphere of the countries’ security agencies.

Head of the FSB Aleksandr Bortnikov and FBI Chief Robert Muller are engaged in the discussion over Snowden, Putin’s spokesman said Friday.

Read more from this story HERE. Please note that the source story is from RT News. RT News originates from Russia and has alleged connections to the Russian government.

World’s First Fully 3D Printed Rifle Shot for the First Time (+video)

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Less than two months after the debut of the first almost entirely 3D-printed handgun, a Canadian gunsmith has created the first 3D printed rifle.

The gun maker, who goes by the online handle CanadianGunNut, is an active user on DEFCAD, the primary online forum for 3D-printed firearms. He is also known online as “Maker Matthew,” or “Koa Soprano.” Previously, CanadianGunNut successfully printed a ukelele, and he currently appears to run a private message board for printing related musical instruments. Ars’ attempt to contact CanadianGunNut through his YouTube channel was not immediately successful.

In his video, CanadianGunNut—whose actual name is unknown to Ars—noted that the gun fired a single shot, but the barrel split.

Legality questionable

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), the federal law enforcement agency in Canada, seems to suggest that making such a firearm would likely be illegal in Canada, under current law.

Read more from this story HERE.

No Recovery For the Middle Class

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This has been an uneven recovery, with the benefits accumulating to the rich and the corporate sector while regular folks have largely been left behind amid stagnant wages, rising living costs, mediocre job gains and persistent long-term unemployment.

And none of this is new. The recession merely exacerbated trends that started in the late 1970s: lost manufacturing prowess, an important source of good-paying jobs; a shift to generally lower-paid service jobs; freer global trade, which deepens these employment problems; and increased reliance on finance, credit and debt as families try to hold on to the American dream…

While Americans are working harder and are far more productive then they used to be, for a variety of reasons they are not sharing in the prosperity their work creates. This is a reversal of the situation enjoyed from the 1950s through the 1970s, when the middle class prospered amid strong demand for labor, widespread unionization and the ability to demand pay raises.

You can see this in the way median household income has badly lagged behind the per-capita share of economic output, as shown in the graphic above. Both measures are adjusted for inflation. While the available income statistics run only through 2009, it’s doubtful that they’ve improved much since…

One main problem is that since the recession ended, the economy has been creating low-quality, part-time, no-benefit positions…

Read more from this story HERE.

Military Experts Warn US Losing Iraq as Violence Escalates

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Photo Credit: APAs violence and political turmoil tear through a war-wrecked Iraq, military experts are warning Congress that Al Qaeda-affiliated terrorist cells are regrouping and working together not only in Iraq but in the entire region to undo a decade of U.S.-led progress.

“We left (Iraq) on the edge of being stable,” Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer, a former military intelligence officer, told Fox News.

While saying it’s clear the job was “not done,” he warned: “Al Qaeda as an entity is coming back strong within the region and is doing things to destabilize governments, which, at this point in time, are still friendly to us.”

On Thursday, Iraq’s parliament speaker painted a grim picture of a crumbling country that is taking another beating by terrorists.

“The situation is grave,” Osama al-Nujaifi said during a press conference.

Read more from this story HERE.