13,753 Gov’t Requests for Google E-Mail Data in 2012, Most Without a Warrant

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Photo Credit: APAmerican government agencies – state, local, and federal — made a record 13,753 requests to read emails or gather other information sent through Google’s Gmail and other services in 2012, more than half without warrants, according to statistics released by Google.

The total number of users about whom government agencies wanted information also set a record at 31,072, up from 23,300 in 2011, the first year Google began reporting the data. The discrepancy comes because government agencies request information on multiple users or accounts at the same time.

Most of these 13,753 requests, 6,542 of 8,438 in the latter half of 2012 alone, were done without a search warrant, Google data show. Google did not make available any detailed data prior to June 2012, nor did it make available which requests came from the federal government and which came from state or local law enforcement agencies, when asked by CNSNews.com.

Google spokesman Chris Gaither said the company only started tracking which type of legal authority – subpoena, court order, or search warrant – was used in the latter half of 2012. Google issues biannual reports on the requests for user data it receives from government agencies from around the world, including ones in the U.S.

Google announced in June 2012 that it had 425 million active Gmail subscribers, making it the largest e-mail provider in the world. It also provides users the ability to store documents via its Google Drive service, phone service via Google Voice, YouTube, personal blogs via Blogger, as well as email hosting services for corporate clients through Gmail.

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Obama Skirting Congress In Globalist Plan?

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Photo Credit: WNDThe Obama administration appears determined to ram through Congress a key part of a grandiose trade plan that transcends the vision for a “North American Union,” encompassing both Europe and Pacific Rim nations.

As WND reported, President Obama declared in his State of the Union address his intent to complete negotiations for a Trans-Pacific Partnership and announced the launch of talks “on a comprehensive Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership with the European Union.”

It was the first time a decision by the U.S. Trade Representative within the White House to expand negotiations to create a free trade zone with Pacific Rim countries was made public, along with a similar initiative with EU countries.

To implement the newly contemplated Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade agreement, or FTA, the administration apparently plans to restrict congressional prerogatives to an up-or-down vote.

The issue centers on “fast-track authority,” a provision under the Trade Promotion Authority that requires Congress to review an FTA under limited debate, in an accelerated time frame subject to a yes-or-no vote.

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Bob Goodlatte: No Need For Citizenship Path

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Photo Credit: APThe chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, who will be deeply involved with House efforts on an immigration bill, said this week that he opposes a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants currently in the United States.

When asked on an NPR program this week whether he supported an eventual path to citizenship for that group of people — numbering about 11 million — Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) responded, “I do not.”

Goodlatte will play a central role in shaping a House version of immigration legislation because of his committee position. A bipartisan group of senators and President Barack Obama have already outlined their visions of how to reform the country’s immigration system, and both proposals include pathways to citizenship.

“People have a pathway to citizenship right now: It’s to abide by the immigration laws, and if they have a family relationship, if they have a job skill that allows them to do that, they can obtain citizenship,” Goodlatte said, according to an NPR story and audio clip posted Thursday. “But simply someone who broke the law, came here, [to] say, ‘I’ll give you citizenship now,’ that I don’t think is going to happen.”

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O’Reilly Producer Tracks Down Obama’s Illegal Immigrant Uncle- And This Uncomfortable Interview Attempt Ensues (+video)

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Photo Credit: Fox NewsFox News’ Jesse Watters recently tracked down Onyango Obama, President Barack Obama’s illegal immigrant uncle, in Framingham, Mass., where he is currently working at a local liquor store.

What ensued was an on-camera battle of wits, as Watters attempted to get Onyango to speak about his citizenship status. When the Fox News producer walked into the store where Onyango works, the president’s uncle immediately demanded that he leave.

Of course, that didn’t stop the reporter from continuing to push for answers. After Watters was rebuked by Onyango, the producer and interviewer said, ”You don’t have to get angry with me. I just have a quick question.”

Onyango’s response? ”No questions. Thank you.”

But the dialogue didn’t end there. As Watters followed Onyango around the store, he had little luck in convincing him to go on the record to discuss his immigration status. Eventually, the president’s uncle threatened the Fox News employee, telling him that he called the cops and that they would soon be coming to remedy the situation.

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John Cornyn Draws Primary Challenger

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Photo Credit: Daily CallerTexas Sen. John Cornyn, the second-highest Republican member of the Senate, has drawn a 2014 primary challenger.

Erick Wyatt of Rockport, Texas filed papers this week with the Federal Election Commission to run for Senate against Cornyn, the Senate Minority Whip, who is up for re-election in 2014.

Cornyn is seen as vulnerable to a challenge from the right, and has said he’s been expecting and preparing for a primary battle. He was one of just three senators who voted against John Kerry’s confirmation as Secretary of State. He cast the vote with Texas’ junior senator, tea party favorite Ted Cruz, leading the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee to accuse him of being in “Cruz control” in an attempt to gird himself against a primary.

Wyatt describes himself as more conservative than Cornyn, and an “ally” of the tea party. But asked why he’s running, in a phone interview with The Daily Caller, Wyatt’s first answer is that “Not enough is being done for our veterans.” Wyatt served in the Army for 10 years and the Coast Guard for four years. He was injured in Iraq in 2007. In 2012, he received temporary disability retirement.

“I’m a very big constitutional conservative and believe we have our God given rights,” he said.

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Ted Cruz: Obama’s ‘Lasting Legacy’ Will Be Creating Republican Leaders

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Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore President Obama’s “longest lasting legacy” will be helping to create a new group of Republican leaders, says Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas).

Cruz, speaking at the Cuyahoga County GOP Lincoln Day dinner in Ohio on Thursday, made the comments while assessing why Republicans lost the 2012 presidential race. Cruz said Democrats controlled the perception of their party and the Republican Party.

“You want to know what happened last election cycle? We didn’t win the argument for the American people,” Cruz said Thursday night according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
“The Democrats’ story is the Republicans are the party of the rich, the Democrats are the party of everybody else. And if that’s the narrative people believe, we’ll never win another national election.”

But in the end, Obama’s time in office will help create a new set of Republican leaders, Cruz added.

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Super PAC: Progressive/Tea Party Alliance Aiming To Topple Mitch McConnell?

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Photo Credit: APRepublican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is becoming increasingly concerned about his 2014 re-election chances in Kentucky, according to a progressive Super PAC that says it is partnering with unnamed Tea Party groups to paint McConnell as a corrupt insider and knock him out of his longtime Senate seat in a Republican primary.

A recent McConnell campaign fundraising email accused liberals of “attempting to infiltrate conservative” groups in Kentucky. Another McConnell campaign email accused the liberal organization MoveOn.org of supporting a “phony tea party” in an attempt to beat the senior senator. Though MoveOn disputed the McConnell campaign’s charges, the progressive super PAC Progress Kentucky is openly waging the kind of attack that McConnell seems worried about.

“Mitch McConnell has recently contributed through [his wife] Elaine Chao’s family $80,000 to the Kentucky GOP,” Shawn Reilly, executive director of the progressive super PAC Progress Kentucky, told The Daily Caller. “It looks to me like he’s trying to buy the Kentucky Republican Party in order to try to avoid a primary.”

“He also set up his campaign office a year earlier than he ever has, and he placed it in the same office where his 1984 campaign — his first successful Senate race — was housed,” Reilly added. “I hear from people that he’s pretty superstitious.”

Progress Kentucky, which filed as a Kentucky-based super PAC on Dec. 13, says it is making a concerted push to align itself with tea party groups in order to field and support a viable Republican primary challenger for McConnell. Reilly said that his group is already in productive communication with tea party leaders across the state.

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Tom Coburn To White House: With Cuts On Way, Why A 100-City Spending Tour?

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Photo Credit: Medill DCWith sequestration budget cuts set to take effect in less than a week, Republican Sen. Tom Coburn has sent a letter to the White House asking for more information about a new initiative to help cities receive federal grants and other aid. The initiative involves White House and administration officials traveling to 100 cities around the country, helping local governments apply for federal money.

Given the president’s warning about dire effects from the coming cuts, Coburn wrote to Office of Management and Budget Deputy Director Jeffrey Zients, “It is somewhat surprising, therefore, for the White House to be headlining a 100 city government spending tour, transporting representatives from multiple departments and various agencies around the country to promote federal largess. If Washington is truly cutting spending on missions many consider vital, how can we at the same time promise and promote more financial assistance, much less afford this mammoth 100 city cross country tour?”

The White House has not announced the tour. Coburn relied on a news report from the first stop, February 14 in Beaverton, Oregon. “The city will host the feds at a daylong symposium to discuss how government agencies, nonprofits and businesses can help the city,” the Oregonian reported. “The event is the first in a new White House ‘Connecting Your Community’ program, in which national leaders plan to meet with representatives of 100 cities to pair federal programs with local needs.”

The Oregonian reported that officials from the White House, Environmental Protection Agency, Housing Department, Highway Administration, and other agencies traveled to Oregon for the event. The city of Beaverton has hired a consultant to help it win more federal grants, the paper said, looking for more federal dollars to add to millions in current grants from HUD, the CDC, the EPA, and others. The paper said the remaining 99 cities on the federal spending tour have not been announced.

“If Washington is truly cutting spending on missions many consider vital, how can we at the same time promise and promote more financial assistance, much less afford this mammoth 100 city cross country tour?” wrote Coburn. “While well intentioned, I urge you to cancel the 100 city government spending tour.”

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Obama, The Puppet Master, Weaves his Tales with the Mastery of Technology

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Photo Credit: Pete SouzaPresident Barack Obama is a master at limiting, shaping and manipulating media coverage of himself and his White House.

Not for the reason that conservatives suspect: namely, that a liberal press willingly and eagerly allows itself to get manipulated.

Instead, the mastery mostly flows from a White House that has taken old tricks for shaping coverage (staged leaks, friendly interviews) and put them on steroids using new ones (social media, content creation, precision targeting). And it’s an equal opportunity strategy: Media across the ideological spectrum are left scrambling for access.

The results are transformational. With more technology, and fewer resources at many media companies, the balance of power between the White House and press has tipped unmistakably toward the government. This is an arguably dangerous development, and one that the Obama White House — fluent in digital media and no fan of the mainstream press — has exploited cleverly and ruthlessly. And future presidents from both parties will undoubtedly copy and expand on this approach.

“The balance of power used to be much more in favor of the mainstream press,” said Mike McCurry, who was press secretary to President Bill Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Nowadays, he said, “The White House gets away with stuff I would never have dreamed of doing. When I talk to White House reporters now, they say it’s really tough to do business with people who don’t see the need to be cooperative.”

McCurry and his colleagues in the Clinton White House were hardly above putting their boss in front of gentle questions: Clinton and Vice President Al Gore often preferred the safety of “Larry King Live” to the rhetorical combat of the briefing room. But Obama and his aides have raised it to an art form: The president has shut down interviews with many of the White House reporters who know the most and ask the toughest questions. Instead, he spends way more time talking directly to voters via friendly shows and media personalities. Why bother with The New York Times beat reporter when Obama can go on “The View”?

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Limbaugh: ‘For the First Time in My Life, I Am Ashamed of My Country’ (+video)

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Photo Credit: Rush Limbaugh RUSH: Folks, I’m sorry here. I can’t help but think that we are all being played for a bunch of fools, a bunch of suckers on this sequester business. I don’t know. Are you like me? Do you really think 800,000 people are gonna lose their jobs in the Pentagon because we cut $22 billion? Do you really think air traffic control’s gonna shut down? Do you really think there aren’t gonna be any meat inspectors? Do you really think that all of these horror stories are going to happen? I don’t.

I feel like I’ve been here. This is deja vu all over again. I remember the 1995 budget battle. That involved a legitimate government shut down. That wasn’t just $22 billion we were not gonna spend. We’re still gonna spend $3.5 trillion. We’re just not gonna spend $22 billion, if it happens.

Now, the government shutdown in 1995, yeah, we were gonna starve kids. That was the plan then. I’m just kidding. Snerdley I’m sorry, it’s all ridiculous to me. Every bit of this. I’ve been doing this — you get new perspective. I’m into my 25th year, and I think I mentioned to you last week and maybe the week before, I’ve been doing this long enough now to start seeing the repeat cycles on everything. I don’t care whether it’s the debt limit or the fiscal cliff or continuing resolution or the budget crisis of 2008 or TARP or the auto bailouts, and now the sequester, it’s the same playbook.

It is the same threats. It’s the same danger. It’s the same crisis. It’s identical. There’s nothing about it that changes, over and over. And everybody gets sucked into it. I try to escape, I try to get out of it, I try to leave it aside, I try to move on, but it just sucks me back in, too, until I realize that I have been sucked back in. And then there’s a part of me that says, “Well, wait a minute now.” You got not just Panetta, but now a uniformed military general, General Odierno, saying that he could lose 600,000 uniformed people, and the common sense of this doesn’t add up. Now we’ve got a guy comparing this to the Oklahoma City bombing.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Everything gets repeated. The cycle, the claims, the threats, the crisis, Armageddon, it’s the same. And we’re talking $22 billion. It’s not as though we’re not gonna spend anything. If the sequester happens, the first year is $44 billion. Half of that’s defense. We’re still going to spend $3.5 trillion or $3.3 trillion, even if we don’t spend the $22 billion. Then there’s this guy who draws an analogy to the Oklahoma City bombing.

Watch video here:

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