Obama’s Overhaul of Spy Programs So Far Cloaked in More Secrecy

Photo Credit: TISH WELLS — McClatchyPresident Barack Obama has faced withering criticism around the globe for his secret spying programs. How has he responded? With more secrecy.

Obama has been gradually tweaking his vast government surveillance policies. But he is not disclosing those changes to the public. Has he stopped spying on friendly world leaders? He won’t say. Has he stopped eavesdropping on the United Nations, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund? He won’t say.

Even the report by the group Obama created to review and recommend changes to his surveillance programs has been kept secret.

Critics note that this comes after he famously promised the most open administration in history.

“They seem to have reverted to a much more traditional model of secrecy except when it’s politically advantageous,” said Steven Aftergood, who directs the Federation of American Scientists Project on Government Secrecy, and is an expert on – and prominent critic of – government secrecy. “That’s normal but not consistent with their pledge.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Gallup Poll: 69 Percent Of Americans Satisfied With Personal Health Care Plan

A majority of Americans are happy with their current healthcare plan.

A new Gallup poll finds that 69 percent of Americans rate their personal coverage as excellent or good, but only 32 percent say the same about health care coverage in the country.

“Americans’ ratings of their own healthcare coverage have remained remarkably steady over the past decade — and always much higher than their ratings of the nation’s coverage,” the poll states.

Fifty-nine percent of those polled said they are generally satisfied with what they pay for their own health care coverage, while only 24 percent are satisfied with the cost of health insurance more generally across the U.S.

Read more from this story HERE.

House GOP Leader Sets a Record with Third Birth While Serving in Congress

A member of the House Republican leadership has set a new record, giving birth to a third child while serving in Congress.

Aides to Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, who is the communications director for the House Republican Conference, gave birth to Brynn Catherinem, who weighed in at 7 lbs 6 oz., at 6:19 a.m. Sunday.

“McMorris Rodgers is the first to give birth three times while serving in Congress,” an aide said on Monday.

The lawmaker, who represents Washington state’s Fifth Congressional District, is also mom to Cole, born in 2007, and Grace, born in 2010.

“She looks forward to continuing her duties as House Republican Conference Chair and running again for re-election next year,” the aide said.

McMorris Rodgers posted a photo of her and the baby on Instagram.

“Nothing compares to the miracle of bringing a new life into the world,” McMorris Rodgers wrote on the social site. “She’s beautiful and seems to be taking it all in stride. Our hearts are full.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Presidential Nominations are Still No Slam Dunks

Photo Credit: John Shinkle/POLITICOSenate Democrats will return to a new Washington next month — one in which Republicans can’t rely on the filibuster to block President Barack Obama’s nominations.

But don’t expect Obama’s picks to sail smoothly through the chamber.

Democrats must still find a modicum of compromise with the GOP if they want to swiftly approve Obama’s team. That’s because the filibuster remains in place as a delay tactic, requiring the Senate to burn hours of floor time unless the two parties can agree to speed up procedural votes.

It’s an important calculation for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who hopes to push through six key Obama nominations in December. Given the time constraints of a December work period, which will last just a few days, he’s going to need help from the GOP to yield time and allow votes to happen more quickly.

A single Republican can easily reject a deal to quickly process nominations. If GOP senators decide to follow that strategy, several of Obama’s nominees could be in limbo until early next year.

Read more from this story HERE.

Report: No Motive Determined in Newtown Shooting

Photo Credit: Fox News The prosecutor who led the investigation into the Newtown school shooting said it did not determine a motive for the attack that killed 20 children and six women.

State’s Attorney Stephen Sedensky III said there is also no clear indication why he chose Sandy Hook Elementary School as the target for his rampage other than the fact that it was close to his home.

He said the gunman, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, had significant mental health issues that affected his ability to live a normal life and interact with others but did not affect his mental state for the crimes. Lanza was obsessed with the 1999 Columbine High School attack, according to a summary report by Sedensky that was released Monday.

He said police went into the school within minutes of the first shots being fired and that along with the actions of teachers inside saved many children’s lives.

“Why did the shooter murder twenty-seven people, including twenty children?” Unfortunately, that question may never be answered conclusively, despite the collection of extensive background information on the shooter through a multitude of interviews and other sources,” investigators said in a long-awaited report released Monday.

Read more from this story HERE.

Gunman Scare at Yale Believed to Be a Hoax

Photo Credit: stepnoutYale University began the day Monday with a campus lockdown and swarms of law enforcement officials, but ended it with sighs of relief as reports of a gunman appeared to be a hoax.

Around 9:50 a.m. a call lasting a few seconds came into 911 from a pay phone off campus saying matter of factly that the caller’s roommate “was heading toward campus with a gun” to shoot people, said Officer David Hartman, a spokesman for the New Haven police. Half an hour later, the university broadcast an alert via text message, on Twitter and through blue security phones stationed around the campus and inside buildings. One Twitter post around 10:45 a.m. read: “Unconfirmed report of a person on campus w/ a gun. Please stay indoors.” Twenty-one minutes later the report was listed as confirmed.

“This is NOT a test,” Yale’s emergency management website said.

The campus, all but empty at the start of Thanksgiving break, was locked down, streets were immobilized, and local business was brought to a halt over the course of the day. Representatives of campus, city and state police departments, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, federal homeland security, Connecticut homeland security, as well as the F.B.I. and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives coordinated their efforts during a search of Yale’s Old Campus, where many freshmen live. Students still on hand watched through their windows as police officers, some in camouflage and helmets, spread out with their weapons.

Several people reported seeing a man with a gun, Officer Hartman said. “There is a fairly well-confirmed report of somebody on campus with a long gun,” he said a couple of hours after the search began. The police also were checking surveillance videos from the area.

Read more from this story HERE.

Price of Chicken Reaches All-Time High in U.S.

Photo Credit: Bureau of Labor Statistics The price for fresh whole chickens hit its all-time high in the United States in October, according to data released last week by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

In January 1980, when BLS started tracking the price of this commodity, fresh whole chickens cost $0.69 per pound. By this October 2003, fresh whole chickens cost $1.54 per pound.

In the last decade alone, the price has gone up 51 percent, from $1.02 in October 2003 to the current price of $1.54 per pound.

One factor contributing to the increasing cost of chicken, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation, is increased regulation of chicken farmers.

In 2003 and 2008, the Environmental Protection Agency used the Clean Water Act to impose new regulations on “Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs),” targeting the manure they produce.

Read more from this story HERE.

State Chemist Will Serve Time For Faking Thousands Of Drug Tests

Photo Credit: Opposing Views Former Massachusetts state chemist Annie Dookhan pleaded guilty Friday to falsifying the results of tens and thousands of drug tests, leading to the false imprisonment — and the unjustified release — of tens of thousands charged with drug-related crimes.

Dookhan initially denied the charges before pleading guilty to 27 charges of obstruction of justice, perjury and tampering with evidence Friday, CS Monitor reported.

Dookhan admitted that she had filed false test results, “dry labbed,” or tested only a few in a batch of samples, and mixed drug samples, as well as lied under oath about her job qualifications.

The story presented to the court Friday was one of an overly ambitious woman and single mother of a disabled child who, despite the mitigating conditions of her sad circumstances, wreaked havoc on the Massachusetts justice system.

Judge Carol S. Ball, who delivered Dookhan’s sentence of three to five years in Suffolk County Superior Court in Boston, said that “the consequences of her behavior, which she ought to have foreseen, have been nothing short of catastrophic.”

Read more from this story HERE.

State Confirms Security Breach To Health Care Exchange Website

Photo Credit: KAREN BLEIER/AFP/GettyOfficials overseeing the Vermont Health Connect website confirmed Friday there was a security breach on the system last month in which one user got improper access to another user’s Social Security number and other data.

A report from state to federal officials overseeing the health insurance exchanges set up under the Affordable Care Act said a consumer reported the incident with the Vermont Health Connect website on Oct. 17.

The consumer, whom officials would not identify, reported that he received in the mail — from an unnamed sender — a copy of his own application for insurance under the state exchange.

“On the back of the envelope was hand-written ‘VERMONT HEALTH CONNECT IS NOT A SECURE WEBSITE!’ This was also (written) on the back of the last page of the printed out application,” said the incident report.

The report was prepared by Greg Needle, privacy administrator with Vermont Health Connect, and filed with the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The Associated Press obtained it after a request under the state public records law to the Department of Vermont Health Access.

Read more from this story HERE.

An Appalling Betrayal of Imprisoned American Pastor Saeed Abedini

Photo Credit: ACLJ.orgOn the night of November 23, 2013, the President of the United States left an American pastor, Saeed Abedini, behind.

The “deal” with Iran announced tonight by President Obama, which allegedly halts “part” of Iran’s nuclear program, allows Iran to enrich uranium and allows it to maintain a nuclear program in exchange for an easing of sanctions and humanitarian relief.

It is outrageous that the Obama Administration commenced these negotiations and concluded them without the release of Pastor Saeed – a U.S. citizen. In fact, the Administration has just confirmed that he was not even part of the negotiations, stating that “The P5+1 talks focused exclusively on nuclear issues.”

The Obama Administration did not volunteer this information; it was revealed only after a specific inquiry from Fox News.

For more than a year, Pastor Saeed has undergone torture at the hands of his Iranian captors, most recently being transferred to one of the most deadly prisons in the world. Yet instead of demanding the release of this innocent U.S. citizen as a precondition to any negotiations with Iran, the Obama Administration is relaxing sanctions and providing humanitarian relief, while getting nothing but more meaningless promises in return.

Read more from this story HERE.