12 Years Later: Remains of Firefighter Killed in 9/11 Attacks Identified

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Photo Credit: APThe remains of a firefighter killed in the September 11, 2001, terror attacks at the World Trade Center have been identified, the New York City Medical Examiner’s office said Friday.

Lt. Jeffrey P. Walz, 37, was identified after authorities retested remains that were recovered in the months following the attack.

Of the 2,753 people killed in the attack, more than 1,100 people have not had remains identified…

Read more from this story HERE.

Where is the Marine Colonel Who May be Key to Understanding Benghazi?

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Photo Credit: U.S. AFRICA COMMAND/FlickrMarine Corps Col. George Bristol was in a key position in the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) chain of command the night of the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. As such, he’s high on the list of people that some Republican members of Congress want to interview. But they don’t know where he is and the Pentagon isn’t telling.

Pentagon spokesman Major Robert Firman told CBS News that the Department of Defense “cannot compel retired members to testify before Congress.”

“They say he’s retired and they can’t reach out to him,” Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, told CBS News. “That’s hogwash.”

Bristol, a martial arts master, was commander of Joint Special Operations Task Force-Trans Sahara based in Stuttgart, Germany until he retired last March. In an article in Stars and Stripes, Bristol is quoted at his retirement ceremony as telling his troops that “an evil” has descended on Africa, referring to Islamic militant groups. “It is on us to stomp it out.”

Members of Congress in both the House and Senate, including Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., have asked the Pentagon for assistance in locating Bristol so that they can question him about events the night of the terrorist attacks in Benghazi. But those efforts have come up empty.

Read more from this story HERE.

State Department Admits it Lied: Yes, John Kerry Actually was on his Yacht During the Egyptian Coup

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Yes, after vigorously denying reports that Kerry was on his private yacht during the uprising Wednesday, the State Department has issued a somewhat sheepish retraction.

“While he was briefly on his boat on Wednesday, Secretary Kerry worked around the clock all day including participating in the president’s meeting with his national security council,” spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.

The State Department was forced to admit Kerry was on his boat after the following photos were released by the Boston Herald:

Photo Credit: Boston Herald

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Photo Credit: Boston Herald

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Mothers of Both Martin, Zimmerman Testify They Heard Their Own Son Screaming on 911 Tape (+videos)

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Photo Credit: Fox NewsBy Fox News. The mothers of both Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman testified Friday it was their own son’s voice calling for help on a taped 911 call in a dramatic day of testimony that saw the prosecution rest and the defense begin its case in Zimmerman’s murder trial.

After Judge Debra Nelson ruled against a defense motion for acquittal late Friday afternoon, the prosecution announced it was resting and the defense began by calling Zimmerman’s mother, Gladys.

She testified the voice heard screaming for help on the 911 call was her son’s and she knew it was him “because he’s my son.” The recording was made during a fight between Zimmerman and Martin minutes before the neighborhood watch volunteer shot the teen.

Zimmerman’s uncle, Jorge Meza, a deputy with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, then testified that he overheard the 911 screams while watching television and, ” It was Jorge screaming for his life.”

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Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: APME Admits Changing Opinion on Martin’s Death

By MIKE SCHNEIDER and KYLE HIGHTOWER. After the mother and brother testified, the doctor who performed an autopsy on Martin took the witness stand. Associate Medical Examiner Shiping Bao started describing Martin as being in pain and suffering after he was shot, but defense attorneys objected. The judge sustained the objection, and Bao was directed away from that line of questioning.

He later estimated that Martin lived from one to 10 minutes after he was shot, and the bullet went from the front to the back of the teen’s chest, piercing his heart.
“There was no chance he could survive,” Bao said.

Under cross examination, defense attorney Don West questioned why Martin’s hands weren’t covered in order to preserve evidence on his fingers and why it took three hours to remove the body from the scene. West and Bao talked over each other at several points, requiring the judge to tell everyone to speak one at a time.

With jurors out of the courtroom, Bao acknowledge he had changed his opinion in recent weeks on two matters related to the teen’s death — how long Martin was alive after being shot and the effect of marijuana detected in Martin’s body at the time of his death. Read more from this story HERE.

Sam Adams Beer Commercial Deletes God From Declaration of Independence

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Photo Credit: ep_jhuIn Samuel Adams’ July 4 commercial, a bartender asks, “Why name a beer after Samuel Adams?”

He adds, “Because Samuel Adams signed the Declaration of Independence. He believed there was a better way to live.”

Then the man recites the Declaration of Independence – but he omits “endowed by their Creator” from the segment.

“All men are created equal,” he states. “They are endowed with certain unalienable rights: Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

He finishes the beer spot with, “Smooth, flavorful. We bow to no kings. Samuel Adams Boston Lager, declare your independence.”

Read more from this story HERE.

New, Creepier “Hail Satan” Video from Pro-Abortion Hecklers at Texas Rotunda

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Photo Credit: YouTube As seen in a video posted earlier this week, the pro-abortion heckling at the Texas state capitol has grown much worse since the second special session was called by Governor Perry.

One of the harassing tactics opponents to the session used was a chant of “Hail Satan,” apparently designed to interrupt and discourage pro-lifers. Even though this chanting was heard all day, the earlier video suggested that pro-lifers had only managed to get one recording of it.

Turns out, another, clearer recording of the sick Satan chants has been found.

In this new video, the pro-abortion “Hail Satan” chanting is very obvious and ominous. It is especially pronounced at about 5:15 of the recording:

Christian Preachers Brutally Beaten at Gay Pride Festival (+video)

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Photo Credit: YouTubeTwo street preachers were brutally beaten — punched and kicked — by a crowd at a gay pride festival in Seattle and the entire melee was captured on video.

The preachers were holding signs reading “Repent or Else” and “Jesus Saves From Sin.” The video shows a group of people initially screaming and threatening the men during Pridefest at the Seattle Space Needle.

Television station KOMO reported that some of the attackers belonged to a group called NOH8.

A group of women tried to steal their signs but were unsuccessful. The video then shows a group of men grabbing onto one of the preacher’s signs and dragging him to the ground. At some point he was punched in the back of the head a number of times while others can be seen kicking the man.

Another preacher was sucker punched in the back of the head.

Read more from this story HERE.

Islamic Fundamentalists Open Fire on Anti-Morsi Demonstrators, Killing at Least 12 in Alexandria (+video)

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Photo Credit: Spencer Platt/Getty ImagesClashes between Egyptian troops, Morsi supporters turn deadly as thousands protest

By Fox News. Clashes between supporters and opponents of ousted president Mohammed Morsi reportedly have left 30 people dead across Egypt in a day that saw tens of thousands take to the streets to rally on both sides.

Emergency services official Amr Salama said 12 people died in the Mediterranean coastal city of Alexandria when hundreds of Islamists descended on a rally by opponents of Morsi, opening fire with guns.

The state news agency MENA confirmed 12 dead in the city, bringing the nationwide toll to 30, AP reported.

In another development, an Interior Ministry spokesman said the deputy head of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood, Khairat el-Shater, considered the most powerful man in the organization, has been arrested.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Obama Call for Muslim Brotherhood Role Overtaken in Egypt

By Nicole Gaouette & John Walcott. The Obama administration’s call for an “inclusive” political process in Egypt with a role for the Muslim Brotherhood has been overshadowed by deadly clashes between security forces and supporters of the Islamist group.

Violent protests yesterday in Cairo and elsewhere over the military’s ouster of President Mohamed Mursi raised doubts about prospects for an eventual accommodation that would allow the Brotherhood that supports him to compete in new elections.

While President Barack Obama’s administration has stopped short of condemning the July 3 military takeover, it has called on Egyptian leaders to pursue “a transparent political process that is inclusive of all parties and groups,” including “avoiding any arbitrary arrests of Mursi and his supporters,” Bernadette Meehan, a spokeswoman for the National Security Council, said July 4 in a statement.

The administration has urged the Egyptian military to stop using heavy-handed tactics, according to two U.S. officials who asked not to be identified commenting on private communications. They said the administration is concerned that some in the military may want to provoke the Islamists to violence and provide a rationale for crushing the movement once and for all.

Such a move would fail and probably prompt a shift to al-Qaeda type terrorist tactics by extremists in the Islamist movement in Egypt and elsewhere, the U.S. officials said. Read more from this story HERE.

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Clashes erupt in major pushback by Egypt Islamists

By Lee Keath, Maggie Michael and Sarah El Deeb. Enraged Islamists pushed back against the toppling of President Mohammed Morsi, as tens of thousands of his supporters marched in Cairo on Friday to demand his reinstatement and attacked his opponents. Nighttime clashes raged with stone-throwing, firecrackers and gunfire, and military armored vehicles raced across a Nile River bridge in a counterassault on Morsi’s supporters.

Mayhem nationwide left at least 10 people dead and 210 wounded as Morsi supporters stormed government buildings, vowing to reverse the military’s removal of the country’s first freely elected president. Among the dead were four killed when troops opened fire on a peaceful march by Islamists on the Republican Guard headquarters.

In a dramatic appearance — his first since Morsi’s ouster — the supreme leader of the Muslim Brotherhood defiantly vowed the president would return. “God make Morsi victorious and bring him back to the palace,” Mohammed Badie proclaimed from a stage before a crowd of cheering supporters at a Cairo mosque. “We are his soldiers we defend him with our lives.”

Badie addressed the military, saying it was a matter of honor for it to abide by its pledge of loyalty to the president, in what appeared to be an attempt to pull it away from its leadership that removed Morsi. “Your leader is Morsi … Return to the people of Egypt,” he said. “Your bullets are not to be fired on your sons and your own people.”

After nightfall, moments after Badie’s speech, a large crowed of Islamists surged across 6th October Bridge over the Nile toward Tahrir Square, where a giant crowd of Morsi’s opponents had been massed all day. Battles broke out there at near the neighboring state TV building with gunfire and stone throwing and burning car barricade at an exit ramp. Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: FARSIran Blames Muslim Brotherhood, Morsi for Coup

By FNA. Chairman of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Alaeddin Boroujerdi said that ousted President Mohamed Mursi and Muslim Brotherhood are to be blamed for the current political crisis in Egypt.

“What happened in Egypt was actually a soft coup staged by the Egyptian army, which was unfortunately the result of repeated mistakes by ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi and Muslim Brotherhood …,” Boroujerdi said on Thursday.

The senior Iranian legislator underlined that Mursi’s repeated mistakes, Muslim Brotherhood’s power grab and their lack of attention to other political groups and prominent political figures who had a part in Egypt’s developments resulted in Mursi’s ouster from power. Read more from this story HERE.

Snowden a Whistleblower, but US Leaders, Press Increasingly Call Him a Traitor as Asylum Offers are Made

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Photo Credit: J Scott Applewhite/APEdward Snowden is a whistleblower, not a spy – but do our leaders care?

By Spencer Ackerman. According to US legislators and journalists, the surveillance whistleblower Edward Snowden actively aided America’s enemies. They are just missing one essential element for the meme to take flight: evidence.

An op-ed by Representative Mike Pompeo (Republican, Kansas) proclaiming Snowden, who provided disclosed widespread surveillance on phone records and internet communications by the National Security Agency, “not a whistleblower” is indicative of the emerging narrative. Writing in the Wichita Eagle on 30 June Pompeo, a member of the House intelligence committee, wrote that Snowden “has provided intelligence to America’s adversaries”.

Pompeo correctly notes in his op-ed that “facts are important”. Yet when asked for the evidence justifying the claim that Snowden gave intelligence to American adversaries, his spokesman, JP Freire, cited Snowden’s leak of NSA documents. Those documents, however, were provided to the Guardian and the Washington Post, not al-Qaeda or North Korea.

It’s true that information published in the press can be read by anyone, including people who mean America harm. But to conflate that with actively handing information to foreign adversaries is to foreclose on the crucial distinction between a whistleblower and a spy, and makes journalists the handmaidens of enemies of the state.

Yet powerful legislators are eager to make that conflation about Snowden. Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: APVenezuela, Nicaragua offer Snowden asylum

By Hadas Gold and Nick Gass. Nicaragua and Venezuela on Friday night became the first countries to offer National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden asylum.

“As head of state, the government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela decided to offer humanitarian asylum to the young American Edward Snowden so that he can live (without) … persecution from the empire,” President Nicolas Maduro said, according to the Associated Press.

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega said he’d be willing to extend the same offer to the 29-year-old, but adding he would only do so “if circumstances allowed it.”

“We have the sovereign right to help a person who felt remorse after finding out how the United States was using technology to spy on the whole world, and especially its European allies,” Ortega said.

Wikileaks announced earlier Friday via Twitter that Snowden has applied for asylum in six more countries. Read more from this story HERE.

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Iceland proposal to grant NSA leaker Snowden citizenship appears to go nowhere

By Fox News. Icelandic lawmakers introduced a proposal in Parliament to grant immediate citizenship to National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden — but it looks like it’s going nowhere.

Parliament later voted not to debate the measure before the summer recess, Reuters reported.

With his options narrowing daily, WikiLeaks announced Friday the fugitive NSA leaker had applied for asylum in another six countries, in addition to the 12 where he reportedly already has applied. However, WikiLeaks said it could not reveal the new names due to “attempted U.S. interference.”

Ogmundur Jonasson, whose liberal Left-Green Party is backing the Snowden citizenship proposal along with the Pirate Party and Brighter Future Party, put the issue before the Judicial Affairs Committee Thursday, but it received minimal support.

Snowden is believed to be stuck in a Moscow airport transit area. At one point, he told the Guardian newspaper that he was inclined to seek asylum in a country that shared his values — and that “the nation that most encompasses this is Iceland.” Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: Valda Kalnina/EPANSA leaks: UK blocks crucial espionage talks between US and Europe

By Ian Traynor. Britain has blocked the first crucial talks on intelligence and espionage between European officials and their American counterparts since the NSA surveillance scandal erupted.

The talks, due to begin in Washington on Monday, will now be restricted to issues of data privacy and the NSA’s Prism programme following a tense 24 hours of negotiations in Brussels between national EU ambassadors. Britain, supported only by Sweden, vetoed plans to launch two “working groups” on the espionage debacle with the Americans.

Instead, the talks will consist of one working group focused on the NSA’s Prism programme, which has been capturing and storing vast amounts of internet and mobile phone metadata in Europe. Read more from this story HERE.

Muslim Brotherhood Claims Egypt’s Interim President is a Jew

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Photo Credit: IkhwanOnline.comIkhwanOnline, the official Web site of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, posted an article on Thursday asserting that the country’s new interim president, Adly Mansour, is secretly Jewish. The article, since taken offline, suggested that Mansour was part of an American and Israeli conspiracy to install Mohamed ElBaradei, a former U.N. official and Egyptian opposition figure, as president.

Mansour, the supreme justice of Egypt’s Supreme Constitutional Court, was sworn in as interim president on Thursday after the military announced that President Mohamed Morsi was no longer in charge. Morsi was a close ally of the Muslim Brotherhood, which has held large demonstrations protesting his ouster. That the Muslim Brotherhood would be suspicious of Mansour, and of the military that toppled Morsi to install him, is not surprising…

The article cited as its source the purported Facebook page of an al-Jazeera Arabic broadcaster, although it’s not clear whether the Facebook page is real. The article claims that Mansour is “considered to be a Seventh Day Adventist, which is a Jewish sect” (in fact, Seventh Day Adventism is considered part of Protestant Christianity). It further claims that Mansour tried to convert to Christianity but was rebuffed by the Coptic pope, a major Egyptian religious figure, who supposedly refused to baptize him.

Read more from this story HERE.