Mark Steyn: We’re at a Point Where “Respectable Society Decays into Something Darker and Far More Sinister and Unattractive”

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In a wide-ranging interview with Hugh Hewitt this week, Mark Steyn weighed in on everything from Holder and the IRS scandal to the disclosure of the federal government’s extensive surveillance of the American public:

Hugh Hewitt: Mark, I’d like to begin with a simple request. Please don’t call me at home, because if anybody’s being snooped, I’m sure you are.

Mark Steyn: Yeah, in the days before all this stuff broke, I had, I suddenly became terribly paranoid. I started thinking I heard clicks on the line. And my assistant sent me an email which mysteriously took 13 hours to arrive, and I though oh, yes, that’s gone via Eric Holder. And I think it actually makes sense for the default position to be that you just assume that somewhere, somehow, this is being recorded by some government operative somewhere or other.

…

Hugh Hewitt: You know, I was on Sean Hannity’s television show on Monday night with Joe Trippi, and not even Joe, there are no Democrats who will deny that Eric Holder misled Congress. Nobody believes he was telling the truth, Mark Steyn, and yet he’s still the attorney general.

Mark Steyn: Well, yeah, and this is the chief law officer of the United States. And he’s just gone on national television and said he was obligated to lie to the judge. I had to sign some rinky-dink, little affidavit for something or another the other day, and you know, you have to get it notarized and all the rest of it, and you’re not allowed, when the citizen has to file relatively routine bits of information, you’re not allowed to lie. In fact, the point of the law, you’re not allowed to lie to Eric Holder’s minions. You’re not allowed to lie to a federal agent. Martha Stewart went to jail for lying to an employee of the attorney general of the United States. Yet the Attorney General himself is allowed to lie to a judge. This isn’t small stuff, you know. It’s the point at which a respectable society decays into something darker and far more sinister and unattractive.

Huge Leftist Donor Turns on Obama Due to Administration’s Unlawful Surveillance

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Photo Credit: Evan Vucci

A wireless provider with ties to the secret dark money group the Democracy Alliance is pushing back against the Obama administration’s surveillance of customers. CREDO Mobile cofounder Michael Kieschnick said on Thursday he was “deeply disturbed” by the administration’s invasion of individual’s civil liberties.

“As the CEO of a mobile phone company, I’m deeply disturbed by the Obama administration’s growing record of executive power grabs at the expense of constitutionally guaranteed civil liberties,” Kieschnick said in a statement to CNN Money.

Kieschnick is a member of the invite-only progressive Democracy Alliance. The exclusive group since 2005 has funneled more than $500 million into liberal organizations such as the pro-Obama Super PAC Priorities USA Action and the Center for American Progress, the influential liberal think tank.

Kieschnick has contributed millions to pro-Obama special interest groups through CREDO Mobile’s liberal activism network, CREDO Action, including the League of Conservation Voters and Planned Parenthood.

Read more from this story HERE.

Independents Blame White House for IRS Scandal

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By Neil Munro. A clear majority of independents, and even a plurality of Democrats, believe high-ranking IRS officials were aware of the agency’s harassment of conservatives’ political organizing, according to a new Gallup poll.

The poll’s results are risky for Obama, whose political approval rate has remained relatively high, despite the lousy economy, because of his relatively high personal ratings.

Sixty-two percent of adults disapprove of his handling of the IRS scandal, said the Gallup poll. Only 32 percent of adults approve of his reaction to the scandal.

If his approval ratings falls, he’ll have even more difficulty accomplishing his top political goals. Those goals include passage of an immigration bill and winning a Democratic majority in the House. Read more from this story HERE.

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Gallup: Majority of Americans Believe Obama has Mishandled IRS Scandal

By Lydia Saad. Nearly six in 10 Americans believe that high-ranking IRS officials in Washington were aware the IRS had a practice of targeting conservative political groups for greater scrutiny in recent years. One-quarter think knowledge of this was mainly limited to the agency’s office in Cincinnati where the mishandled applications for tax-exempt status were processed.

These findings are from a June 1-4 Gallup poll of 1,529 national adults. Gallup asked half of the respondents if they think IRS officials were aware of the partisan targeting, and separately asked the other half of respondents about whether high-ranking Obama administration officials were aware of the practice.

Half of Americans believe top administration officials were in the know, slightly less than the 59% saying this of IRS leadership. However, in both cases relatively few Americans believe knowledge was limited to the branch office in Cincinnati. Read more from this story HERE.

Congress Disputes Obama’s Claim That ‘Every Member’ Was Briefed (+video)

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Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) on Friday disputed a claim President Obama made at a press conference only moments earlier, when the president said that every member of Congress had been briefed on the National Security Agency’s (NSA) domestic phone surveillance program.

Merkley said only select members of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees had been briefed on the program, and that he was only aware of it because he obtained “special permission” to review the pertinent documents after hearing about it second-hand.

Read more from this story HERE.

Ohio Mayoral Hopeful Doles out Free ‘Weed’

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Campaigning for the chance at mayor of Cincinnati, Jim Berns doled out supposed free “marijuana plants” to potential constituents near the University of Cincinnati to receive dozens of people in line hoping to snag some dope.

The catch? He was handing out harmless, but familiar-looking tomato plants.

Berns posits that the legalization of medical marijuana could raise the city’s economy.

He explained his position by attempting to prove how the money can be saved, mainly by not using up police officers’ time. ”The state can make millions, if not billions, of dollars making this into a legal industry, and that we don’t have to have all these police chasing petty criminals around,” he said.

In an effort to rally the crowd, Berns shouted, ”How many people want to grow marijuana on their back porch?”

Read more from this story HERE.

‘Walking Dead,’ ‘Vampires Diaries’ Actress Arrested in Obama-Bloomberg Ricin Case

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By Tony Maglio. Actress Shannon Richardson has been arrested and charged for allegedly sending ricin-tainted letters to President Barack Obama and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a law enforcement official confirmed to TheWrap.

The 36-year-old has appeared in small television roles on “The Vampire Diaries” and “The Walking Dead,” according to her iMDb page.

Richardson is charged with mailing a threatening communication to the President of the United States, the U.S. Attorney’s office said in a statement. According to the arrest affidavit, on May 20, 2013, Richardson is alleged to have actually mailed three letters containing the toxin ricin. The letters were sent to President Barack Obama and Mark Glaze in Washington, D.C., and Mayor Michael Bloomberg in New York City. Richardson was arrested today in Mt. Pleasant, Texas, and appeared before Judge Craven this afternoon in Texarkana, Texas, for an initial appearance. Read more from this story HERE.

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Texas actress first accuses husband, but she’s arrested in ricin case

By Michael Martinez. Susan Candiotti and Carol Cratty. A Texas actress in a troubled marriage was arrested and charged Friday in connection with ricin-tainted letters that were mailed last month to President Barack Obama and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, authorities said.

Shannon Richardson, 35, also known as Shannon Rogers and Shannon Guess, initially told the FBI that her husband, Nathaniel, sent the ricin-laced letters, but a polygraph exam found her to be “deceptive” on the matter, court papers said.

Investigators found that her computer storage devices contained the text of threatening letters sent to the president, but the couple’s computer records show her husband couldn’t have printed them out because he was at work at the time, an FBI arrest affidavit said.

On Thursday, Shannon Richardson told investigators she mailed the ricin-tainted letters, but she claimed that her husband typed the letters and forced her to print and mail them, the affidavit said.

Her husband denied involvement and claimed his wife wanted to end their marriage and leave him, the affidavit said. He told investigators that his wife was “intentionally misleading” them, the court papers said. Read more from this story HERE.

Delaware ‘Meat-Market’ Abortion Facility Back in Business

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By Ben Johnson. Delaware public health officials have allowed a Planned Parenthood facility that two former nurses likened to a “meat-market” to reopen.

State officials allowed the Planned Parenthood office in Wilmington to go back into business after accepting the state chapter’s plan to correct the 14 health and safety violations inspectors found in April…

The state and the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) cited the facility, and state Attorney General Beau Biden called its abortionist, Dr. Timothy Liveright, “a clear and immediate danger to the public”…

Jayne Mitchell-Werbrich, who quit her job as a nurse in the office after 27 days, told Jill Stanek [that the clinic’s abortionist] Liveright would ogle, slap, or play peek-a-boo with his patients.

He would also sing hymns to Jesus while performing abortions, including one with the lyrics: “Jesus, oh Jesus, take the sinners down by the river, Oh Jesus.” Read more from this story HERE.

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Planned Parenthood “House of Horrors” Clinic That Botched Five Abortions Reopens

By Steven Ertelt. A filthy Planned Parenthood abortion clinic that botched five abortions this year alone and was closed by state officials is reopening in Wilmington, Delaware.

As LifeNews has reported, the Delaware Planned Parenthood clinic has experienced five botched abortion emergencies in less than five weeks. Since then, one abortionist and two employees have left Planned Parenthood in Wilmington, Delaware, as a result of the scandal.

The clinic was under the investigation of the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services and the Delaware Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline.

Former Planned Parenthood nurses Jayne Mitchell-Werbrich and Joyce Vasikonis told legslators recently of a “meat-market style of assembly-line abortions where the abortionist refused to wear gloves, surgical instruments were reused without being cleaned, and “bloody drainage” remained on abortion tables between procedures, exposing women to blood-borne diseases.”

“It was just unsafe. I can’t tell you how ridiculously unsafe it was,” said Mitchell-Werbrich. “Planned Parenthood needs to close its doors, it needs to be cleaned up, the staff needs to be trained.” Read more from this story HERE.

Rising Red tide: China Encircles U.S. by Sailing Warships in American Waters, Arming Neighbors

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Photo Credit: Andy Wong

China has been quietly taking steps to encircle the United States by arming western hemisphere states, seeking closer military, economic, and diplomatic ties to U.S. neighbors, and sailing warships into U.S. maritime zones.

The strategy is a Chinese version of what Beijing has charged is a U.S. strategy designed to encircle and “contain” China. It is also directed at countering the Obama administration’s new strategy called the pivot to Asia. The pivot calls for closer economic, diplomatic, and military ties to Asian states that are increasingly concerned about Chinese encroachment throughout that region.

“The Chinese are deftly parrying our ‘Pivot to the Pacific’ with their own elegant countermoves,” said John Tkacik, a former State Department Asia hand.

Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to question President Barack Obama about the U.S. pivot during the summit meeting set to begin Friday afternoon in California. Chinese state-run media have denounced the new U.S. policy as an effort to “contain” China and limit its growing power.

The Chinese strategy is highlighted by Xi’s current visit to Trinidad, Costa Rica, and Mexico where he announced major loans of hundreds of millions of dollars that analysts say is part of buying influence in the hemisphere.

Read more from this story HERE.

Nicaragua Gives China Rights to Build Alternative to Panama Canal; Columbia Accuses Nicaragua of Bribing International Court of Justice

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Photo Credit: Danny Lehman/Corbis

Nicaragua has awarded a Chinese company a 100-year concession to build an alternative to the Panama Canal, in a step that looks set to have profound geopolitical ramifications.

The president of the country’s national assembly, Rene Nuñez, announced the $40 billion project, which will reinforce Beijing’s growing influence on global trade and weaken US dominance over the key shipping route between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans . . .

Two former Colombian officials recently accused China of influencing the international court of justice to secure the territorial waters that Nicaragua needs for the project.

In an op-ed piece for the magazine Semana, Noemí Sanín, a former Colombian foreign secretary, and Miguel Ceballos, a former vice-minister of justice, said a Chinese judge had settled in Nicaragua’s favour on a 13-year-old dispute over 75,000 square kilometres of sea.

They said this took place soon after Nicaraguan officials signed a memorandum of understanding last September with Wang Jing, the chairman of Xinwei Telecom and president of the newly established Hong Kong firm HK Nicaragua Canal Development Investment Company, to build and operate the canal.

Read more from this story HERE.

Francis Gets Personal: ‘I Didn’t Want to be Pope’

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Pope Francis revealed Friday that he never wanted to be pope and that he’s living in the Vatican hotel for his “psychiatric” health.

Francis showed a personal and spontaneous side as he met with thousands of children from Jesuit schools across Italy and Albania. Tossing aside his prepared remarks, Francis surprised the kids by asking them if they’d like to ask him some questions instead.

“Yes!” they shouted to cheers and applause – and the concern of teachers who fretted that no one had prepared anything.

Answering their questions one by one, Francis told them the decision to become a priest had been difficult and that he had suffered “moments of interior darkness” when “you feel dry, without interior joy.”

But he said he went ahead because he loved Christ.

Read more from this story HERE.