Illegals to Pay Only $83 a Year to Stay in U.S. Under Senate Plan

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photo credit: corazon girl

The U.S. Senate Gang of Eight unveiled its immigration reform legislation, promising stronger border security, much-need reforms for visas and legal immigration practices and a path to citizenship – but Iowa Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, told WND the only thing guaranteed in this bill is a reward for those who came here illegally.

“The big comprehensive amnesty plan is a disaster and a big mistake,” King said. “What are we trying to fix here, and why? We have an executive branch problem, not a legislative branch problem. The president of the United States has refused to enforce immigration law with which he disagrees. So he’s seeking to write his own by executive edict.”

King said Obama’s approach to border enforcement has been infuriating, but the likelihood of Republicans getting behind this legislation leaves him baffled.

“Now I’m hearing Republicans say, ‘Well, if we’re ever going to have enforcement of the border, we have to make this agreement with the president and the Democrats or we’re never going to have border security,’” he said. “When I read this bill, I wonder: What’s the point in having border security if you’re going to legalize anybody that can come into America that is here and send an invitation to those that have been deported to apply to come back in?”

The congressman is also not impressed by the severe penalties the Gang of Eight is promising to impose on those willing to go through the legalization process.

Read more from this story HERE.

Report: Federal Stimulus Used to Lobby for Higher Taxes

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At least seven U.S. communities that received stimulus money as part of a $373 million government program to educate Americans about obesity and tobacco use potentially violated federal law by using the funds to lobby for higher taxes and new local laws, according to a report by the nonpartisan group Cause of Action.

The findings are part of a 19-month investigation by the nonprofit group on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s “Communities Putting Prevention to Work Program.”

Beyond potentially breaking federal law, the communities also appear to have violated CDC guidelines, according to the 36-page report titled “How the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s … Grant Program Became a Front for Lobbying, Government Propaganda and Cronyism.”

Congressional hearings in 2011 and follow-up letters to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius addressed a potential violation in a South Carolina community.

However, the April 16 report found seven other potential violations and states the CDC’s one recorded violation “was worse than disclosed.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Feds Halt Business to Clear Path for Rodents (+video)

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A lawsuit has been launched by the Pacific Legal Foundation on behalf of property owners in Cedar City, Utah, whose private land effectively is being confiscated by the federal government for the use of a species of rodent that has been determined to have “no commercial value.”

The action by the PLF, which has taken on federal government environmental regulations in several high-profile cases in recent months, is on behalf of members of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Property Owners – or residents of the Cedar City area.

It names as defendants the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Director Daniel M. Ashe, Regional Director Noreen Walsh and others.

The case focuses on the mandated protections for the Utah prairie dog, a type of ground squirrel, or rodent, established by the federal government for owners of private property in the Utah region.

A new rule that was imposed just last fall demands that property owners are not allowed to “harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect” the animals – including when they are blocking construction, development or the protection of private property.

Read more from this story HERE.

Playing Politics: Secret Emails Reveal Cato, Norquist, Rubio Using Boston Terror Attacks to Push Immigration Reform

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Secret emails obtained exclusively by Breitbart News show the libertarian Cato Institute, Americans for Tax Reform, and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) are colluding on immigration reform messaging in the wake of the Boston Marathon terror attack in order to push the “Gang of Eight” bill that was released this past week.

On Friday afternoon, political consultant Peggy Ellis of Ellis & Company, who is supporting the Gang of Eight immigration efforts, emailed “Talkers from Rubio” to the group of organizations supporting their efforts such as Cato and ATR.

The email was headlined: “Rubio talking points re: Boston terrorists vis a vis immigration reform.” The message contained three talking points from Sen. Rubio, the first of which argued that the immigration bill would prevent people like the Boston Marathon terrorists from getting into or staying in the country.

“These terrorists came here under the existing system, the one opponents of reform want to leave in place,” Sen. Rubio wrote in his first talking point.

Read more from this story HERE.

Former FBI Agent Predicts More Attacks in Muslim Jihad

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The Boston Marathon bombings are a continuation of a Muslim jihad against the United States dating back before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, says a former FBI agent dedicated to warning America about the Islamist threat.

John Guandolo, a former counterterrorism agent, posted a Web report over the weekend pointing out that the Boston Marathon attack is not an aberration but one in a string of foiled and executed assaults on American soil by self-described jihadists.

More attacks are to be expected, he said, even as the mainstream media and President Obama say they are having trouble explaining why two Muslim brothers carried out the twin bombings that killed three and injured more than 170.

“It is truly astounding to watch newscasters continue to ask the question ‘WHY?’” wrote Mr. Guandolo, who runs the website Understanding the Threat to America.

“Why did they do this? What will it take for the U.S. media and American leadership to face the reality of the imposing danger breathing down our necks the global Islamic Movement,” Mr. Guandolo wrote. “These men did this because they are commanded to. The global jihad is on.”

Read more from this story HERE.

N. Korea Denies Any Tie to Boston Bombing

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North Korea has denied a WND report that it had any links to the Boston Marathon bombing which killed three people and wounded some 180 people on April 15, the day of North Korea’s commemoration of the 101st anniversary of the country’s founder, Kim Il Sung.

The North Korean news agency, KCNA, or Korean Central News Agency, dismissed the report, saying it was an attempt by “hostile forces” to damage the country’s reputation and raise “false propaganda which does not deserve even a passing note,” even though KCNA devoted an entire commentary to it.

“We stress again that we have no links to al-Qaida and by signing on to international anti-terrorism agreements, continue to maintain a stance against any form of terrorism,” KCNA said in a commentary.

The KCNA commentary added it will not hide behind terrorism if it ever feels the need to strike the U.S.

“When (North Korea) feels necessary to strike the U.S., it would not resort to such heinous terrorism in hiding,” KCNA said.

Read more from this story HERE.

Civil Society, Not Big Brother, Is the American Way

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“I do think we need more cameras,” Republican Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., said the day after the Boston Marathon bombing. “We have to stay ahead of the terrorists.”

“We Need More Cameras, and We Need Them Now,” blared the headline at Slate magazine.

As with every terrorist attack and high-profile killing, the Boston bombing has prompted calls for Americans to give up civil liberties for the sake of security. Rather than gun control or airport pat-downs, this time the call is for a Big Brother-like network of police cameras allowing authorities to more closely monitor people who move about the streets.

But the story of the Boston bombers — the details of their crime and their capture — makes the opposite argument. We don’t need more government surveillance. We need to maintain robust civil society and public spiritedness.

Read more from this story HERE.

Saudi Students in U.S. Up More Than 500% Since Sept. 11, 2001

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(CNSNews.com) – The number of Saudi Arabian students in the United States has increased by more than 500 percent since Sept. 11, 2001–when Hani Hanjour, a Saudi national who came here on a student visa flew American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon, killing 189 people.

According to the Institute of International Education–whose numbers on foreign students in the United States are used in official reports published by the U.S. Department of Education–there were 5,579 Saudi nationals enrolled in U.S. institutions of higher education in the 2001-2002 school year. The Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks took place near the beginning of that school year.

In the 2011-2012 school year, the most recent year for which data are available, there were 34,139 Saudi nationals enrolled in institutions of higher education in the United States.

The 34,139 Saudi Arabian students in the United States for the 2011-2012 school year was more than the total of 30,256 undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in the University of Connecticut this school year.

From the 2001-2002 school year to the 2011-2012 school year, the number of Saudi nationals enrolled in U.S. institutions of higher education increased by 28,560.

Read more from this story HERE.

GOP Senators Say Constitution Doesn't Apply to Bombing Suspect

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Photo Credit: Vjeran Pavic

By Jeremy Herb and Mike Lillis. Two powerful GOP senators are calling on the Obama administration to treat the captured suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings as an “enemy combatant” and deny him counsel even though he is reportedly an American citizen.

Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, captured Friday night outside Boston after a tense daylong manhunt, should be questioned for intelligence purposes and not read his Miranda rights.

“It is clear the events we have seen over the past few days in Boston were an attempt to kill American citizens and terrorize a major American city,” McCain and Graham said late Friday in a joint statement. “The accused perpetrators of these acts were not common criminals attempting to profit from a criminal enterprise, but terrorist trying to injure, maim, and kill innocent Americans.”

With Tsarnaev in custody, the lawmakers said, “the last thing we should want is for him to remain silent.”

“We need to know about any possible future attacks which could take additional American lives,” they said. “The least of our worries is a criminal trial which will likely be held years from now.” Read more from this story HERE.

ACLU calls for Miranda rights for Boston bombing suspect

By Mike Lillis. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is calling for the Obama administration to read the suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings his legal rights.

The Department of Justice indicated Friday that the administration would not read 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev his Miranda rights, citing a public safety exception.

But Anthony Romero, the ACLU’s executive director, said Saturday that the immediate threat is over and that Tsarnaev, an ethnic Chechen who became a naturalized U.S. citizen last year, should now be treated like any other suspected criminal.

“Every criminal defendant is entitled to be read Miranda rights,” Romero said in a statement. “The public safety exception should be read narrowly. It applies only when there is a continued threat to public safety and is not an open-ended exception to the Miranda rule.”

Tsarnaev was captured Friday night in the Boston suburb of Watertown after leading law enforcers on a tense, day-long manhunt that captured the attention of the nation and locked down much of Greater Boston. Read more from this story HERE.

Obama Doubles Aid to Muslim Brotherhood-Dominated Rebels in Syria

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The United States said Sunday that it will double its non-lethal assistance to Syria’s opposition as the rebels’ top supporters vowed to enhance and expand their backing of the two-year battle to oust President Bashar Assad’s regime.

Yet the pledge fell far short of what the opposition had made clear it wanted: weapons and direct military intervention to stop the violence that has killed more than 70,000 people. The Syrian National Coalition had sought drone strikes on sites from which the regime has fired missiles, the imposition of no-fly zones and protected humanitarian corridors to ensure the safety of civilians.

Instead, the Obama administration’s pledged to provide an additional $123 million in aid, which may include for the first time armored vehicles, body armor, night vision goggles and other defensive military supplies. It was the only tangible, public offer of new international support as the foreign ministers of the 11 main countries supporting the opposition met in a marathon session in Istanbul.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced the new package of assistance in a written statement at the conclusion of the conference that began Saturday afternoon and stretched into early Sunday.

The additional aid, which brings total non-lethal U.S. assistance to the opposition to $250 million since the fighting began, “underscores the United States’ firm support for a political solution to the crisis in Syria and for the opposition’s advancement of an inclusive, tolerant vision for a post-Assad Syria,” he said.

Read more from this story HERE.