Al-Qaeda blamed for Europe-wide forest fires

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Al-Qaeda has been blamed for a recent series of forest fires across Europe, as the head of Russia’s Federal Security Service claimed they were set by arsonists as part of the group’s low-cost attack strategy.

Deadly fires have swept through forest land in EU countries such as Portugal and Spain.

“One should note that setting fires to forests in the countries of the European Union is a new tendency in al-Qaeda’s strategy of a ‘thousand cuts’,” Alexander Bortnikov said, according to state news agency RIA Novosti, at a meeting of heads of security agencies.

“This method allows (al-Qaeda) to inflict significant economic and moral damage without serious preliminary preparations, technical equipment or significant expenses.”

In linking al-Qaeda to the deadly wildfires, Mr Bortnikov pointed to calls to launch a “forest jihad” by various extremist websites which he said also publish detailed instructions about how and where to best carry out arson.

Read more from this story HERE.

Obama Admin. Arguing It’s Legal To Track Citizens’ Every Movement Without A Warrant

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The Obama administration told federal judges in New Orleans yesterday that warrantless tracking of the location of Americans’ mobile devices is perfectly legal.

Federal prosecutors are planning to argue that they should be able to obtain stored records revealing the minute-by-minute movements of mobile users over a 60-day period — in this case, T-Mobile and MetroPCS customers — without having to ask a judge to approve a warrant first.

The case highlights how valuable location data is for police, especially when it’s tied to devices that millions of people carry with them almost all the time. Records kept by wireless carriers can hint at or reveal medical treatments, political associations, religious convictions, and even whether someone is cheating on his or her spouse.

“It’s at a point now where the public awareness about this specific issue is growing,” says Hanni Fakhoury, a staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation who will be arguing the pro-privacy side before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals this morning.

Today’s oral arguments are remarkably timely: on Sunday, California Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat, vetoed (PDF) a bill that would have required law enforcement to obtain location warrants. And last week, Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a Democrat representing Silicon Valley, introduced pro-warrant federal legislation.

Read more from this story HERE.

Videos: Obama’s 2007 Speech Praising Jeremiah Wright, “Fundamentally Dishonest, Racist”

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The following videos of Obama’s 2007 Hampton University Speech are marked by “fundamental dishonesty” and “appeals to race,” according to Newt Gingrich, whose interview with Fox News appears below.

The videos also reflect Obama using not just words he later denies, but also a style of speech that differs from what he uses now.

But first, here’s a shortened clip of Obama’s warm praise for Jeremiah Wright. It begins about 45 seconds into the video, where Obama gives a “special shout-out to my pastor”:

Here’s a longer clip of the same speech:

Finally, listen to Newt Gingrich break it all down:

Video: Jon Stewart Skewers Obama Over His Response to Benghazi

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Jon Stewart pretty much tells it like it is in this video hammering Obama’s response to the Benghazi attacks.

He goes through the sequence of contradictory statements from the administration and concludes with Obama still refusing to admit the attacks were terrorism, not reactions to a two-bit pornographer’s video, the Innocence of Muslims.

Stewart finishes the collage with this assessment: “Two things apparently have become clear. The attack on our embassy was planned and coordinated. The response to it, ahhh, not so much.”

Whistleblowers: Benghazi Consulate Was Attacked 13 Times Before 9/11, Repeatedly Asked for More Security

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Two House Republicans say they have been informed by whistleblowers that the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi was attacked and threatened 13 times before the incident last month that killed four Americans.

Reps. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) sent Secretary of State Hillary Clinton a letter on Tuesday that detailed the whistleblowers’ allegations.

“Based on information provided to the Committee by individuals with direct knowledge of events in Libya, the attack that claimed the ambassador’s life was the latest in a long line of attacks on Western diplomats and officials in Libya in the months leading up to September 11, 2012,” Issa and Chaffetz wrote. “It was clearly never, as Administration officials once insisted, the result of a popular protest.”

The congressmen said the consulate asked for more security to deal with the growing threat but was turned down by the administration.

“In addition, multiple U.S. federal government officials have confirmed to the Committee that, prior to the September 11 attack, the U.S. mission in Libya made repeated requests for increased security in Benghazi. The mission in Libya, however, was denied these resources by officials in Washington.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Videos: Two Hilarious Political Comedies Featuring Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, others

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After justifiably getting beat up by many of our loyal subscribers over posting the Paul Ryan “lip reading video,” we’ve taken it down.

The video that was originally posted featured a “video-shopped” Paul Ryan saying a number of sometimes humorous things. As one subscriber noted, however, it also included some profane stuff that we had not caught originally, so we took it down.

What we found interesting (and disturbing) was how it was exceptionally difficult for the average viewer to see that Ryan was not actually saying what the video creators had dubbed in. In other words, seeing isn’t necessarily believing.

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We’ve left the next video up but, if you are overly sensitive about your candidate, please don’t watch it.

It’s a recent production that matches up the GOP primary candidates in a “Mortal Kombat” type mock up:

Biden Gaffe: Says Middle-class “Buried” Last Four Years (+video)

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by Patricia Zengerle. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden told a campaign rally on Tuesday that the middle class has been buried for the past four years, just longer than President Barack Obama’s time in the White House.

Republicans immediately seized on what they termed a “stunning admission” by Biden as evidence that Obama’s policies have been bad for the economy, the day before Obama and his Republican challenger Mitt Romney meet in their first presidential debate.

Discussing what the Obama campaign contends are Romney’s plans to raise taxes on most Americans to fund tax cuts for the wealthy, Biden made his comment in an emotional speech to a crowd in Charlotte, North Carolina.

“This is deadly earnest. How they can justify … raising taxes on the middle class that has been buried the last four years? How in the Lord’s name can they justify raising their taxes and these tax cuts?” he asked.

“We’ve seen this movie before – massive tax cuts for the wealthy, eliminating restrictions on Wall Street, let the banks write their own rules. We know where it ends. It ends in the catastrophe of the middle class and the Great Recession of 2008. Folks, we cannot go back to that. The president and I have a different way forward,” Biden said. Read more from this story HERE.

Watch video of Biden sternly lecturing his audience:

Lowering Debate Expectations: “I’ve Barely Prepared for This Debate. Gonna Wing It!” – Mitt Romney

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“While Mitt Romney has done 20 debates in the last year, [Obama] has not done one in four years, so there’s a challenge in that regard.”—Obama campaign spokesperson Jen Psaki, Sept. 17

“President Obama is the most gifted speaker in modern political history, so it is hard to imagine anyone outscoring him in debate points.”—Romney campaign spokesperson Andrea Saul, Sept. 20

“Mitt Romney I think has an advantage, because he’s been through 20 of these debates in the primaries over the last year. He even bragged that he was declared the winner in 16 of those debates.”—Obama campaign adviser Robert Gibbs, Sept. 23

“The president is obviously a very eloquent, gifted speaker—he’ll do just fine. I’ve, you know, I’ve never been in a presidential debate like this and it will be a new experience.”—Mitt Romney, Sept. 25

“Mitt Romney, in his experience in business, is extremely well-prepared for the process of fielding ideas on the fly and, you know, responding to them off the cuff. Whereas the President has, for the last four years, he’s been—you know, sometimes the only voice in the room, and I don’t know that he’s faced an adversary as strong as Romney during daily briefings.”—Obama campaign spokesperson Jen Psaki, Oct. 1, 6:45 p.m.

Read more from this story HERE.

Obama’s Cruel War on Energy and the Poor, Will be Exposed in a Public Debate on Election Eve

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Beneath the campaign rhetoric emanating from the Obama White house is a stark policy reality that is harming America.

When President Obama began his term as President, the average price for a gallon of gasoline was about $1.80, today it is $4.20. Many folks don’t remember this and the Obama administration wants you to forget it.

Caged in a government report that said consumer spending was up, administration officials would want you to think it is a sign of an improving economy. But the details reveal the real reason: People are spending more on expensive gasoline.

President Obama’s energy Secretary, Steven Chu, has been quoted, he wants to see US gasoline prices equal to European levels….Interesting coming from a man who does not own a car.

In spite of the administrations crowing about oil production being up, it really is in spite of his policies. Oil companies are exploiting resources found on private and state land. While massive amounts of federal land, loaded with energy resources, are blocked from exploration by the Obama administration.

This administration has blocked efforts to bring oil in from Canada through the Keystone pipeline. As a result China is buying the oil meant to come to our country.

The coal industry, Americas main source of electrical generation, is reeling from attack after attack by this administrations “legislation through regulation.” Due to the EPA, coal operations are laying off workers and declaring bankruptcy, in a time when every domestic job is precious.

President Obama previously vowed he would bankrupt any coal fired power plant that attempted to be built in our country. He also said this would necessarily make our utility rates skyrocket. Yes he said that.

Folks with a lot of money can afford to pay more to fuel up their cars with expensive gas, or pay hundreds of dollars a month to pay their utility bills to heat and light up their homes. But the poor and middle class are already on the edge and every penny increase in the cost of energy to them, might mean a decision as to whether to put food on their table or put gas in their car.

The suffering caused to Americans is barely getting any attention in the main stream media as we approach the November elections. Higher energy costs affect everything we rely on to live: Food, shelter and clothing.

The driving force behind the Obama administrations war on fossil energy, is that the use of it is causing “climate change,” and poisoning the earth….it must be stopped. The environmental industry, which puts mankind’s needs very low on the totem pole of priorities, has the Presidents ear and donates millions of dollars to his re-election effort. So no one expects any changes in the Whitehouse policy if he gets a 2nd term.

But most of the high profile environmentalists and the politicians they support, don’t mind having one way conversations regarding their views and promoting their science in their quest to destroy our fossil fuel industries. But most shy away from a real debate…Have you ever heard Al Gore actually debate a knowledgeable expert and have to defend his “earth has a fever”views? I haven’t. I also haven’t heard any of the other high profile environmentalists defend their positions in a public debate setting, where they actually have to answer tough questions….But that is about to change

In late July, environmentalist icon Bill McKibben–a man who has been instrumental in crippling the coal industry and stopping the Keystone XL pipeline–announced his intention to create a movement to demonize and dismantle the fossil fuel industry. The industry, he declared, is “Public Enemy Number One.”

But Alex Epstein, the founder of Center for Industrial Progress and pioneer of the powerful environmental case for fossil fuels, challenged McKibben to a public debate: “Are fossil fuels a risk to the planet or do fossil fuels improve the planet?”

This debate will be held November 5 at Duke University. It is in a public setting and will have major attention from all corners of the world. A showdown between the environmental industry and the very energy industry it has been trying to destroy. There will be no place to run and no place to hide.

Here is the website that will give you the details and an accompanying video: Debate McKibben vs. Epstein.

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Ed Farnan’s articles are also carried in:

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Pennsylvania Judge Approves New Voter ID Law – but Blocks it From Going Into Effect Until After Election (+video)

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By Angela Couloumbis. Pennsylvania voters who go to the polls without photo identification will be able to vote in next month’s presidential election after all.

They won’t even have to fill out provisional ballots.

So ruled a Commonwealth Court judge Tuesday in the closely-watched legal battle over Pennsylvania’s controversial voter ID law. Judge Robert E. Simpson Jr. upheld the law – but blocked it from taking full effect until after the Nov. 6 election.

In essence, the rules remain as they were during the law’s so-called “soft roll-out” in the April primary: voters will be asked for the photo ID required by the new law, but if they don’t have it, they can still vote.

Whether Simpson’s ruling is the last word was not yet clear. Corbett administration officials said Tuesday through spokesmen that they had not yet decided whether to mount an appeal. Read more from this story HERE.

Here’s a short clip of the Pennsylvania House Republican Leader Mike Turzai saying that the Voter ID law was going to allow Romney to win his state (he was roundly criticized for this comment):