U.S. Government Reveals Breadth of Requests for Internet Records

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The Federal Bureau of Investigation has used a secretive authority to compel Internet and telecommunications firms to hand over customer data including an individual’s complete web browsing history and records of all online purchases, a court filing released Monday shows.

The documents are believed to be the first time the government has provided details of its so-called national security letters, which are used by the FBI to conduct electronic surveillance without the need for court approval.

The filing made public Monday was the result of an 11-year-old legal battle waged by Nicholas Merrill, founder of Calyx Internet Access, a hosted service provider, who refused to comply with a national security letter (NSL) he received in 2004.

Merrill told Reuters the release was significant “because the public deserves to know how the government is gathering information without warrants on Americans who are not even suspected of a crime.”

National security letters have been available as a law enforcement tool since the 1970s, but their frequency and breadth expanded dramatically under the USA Patriot Act, which was passed shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. They are almost always accompanied by an open-ended gag order barring companies from disclosing the contents of the demand for customer data. (Read more from “U.S. Government Reveals Breadth of Requests for Internet Records” HERE)

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Islam USA: Inside America’s Only Muslim-Majority City, Where the Call to Prayer Echoes in the Streets

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By Ben Ashford. The rest of America may be agonizing over the security implications of taking in those fleeing the twin horrors of Bashar al-Assad and ISIS.

But Syrian refugees are being welcomed with open arms in Hamtramck, Michigan – America’s first and only majority Muslim city.

Once 90 percent Polish Catholic, the blue-collar enclave just outside Detroit has been transformed by successive waves of immigrants from Bangladesh, Yemen and Bosnia.

Muslims now outnumber non-Muslims, the council has a Muslim majority and the call to prayer echoes through the streets five times a day . . .

Residents, particularly senior citizens, have complained bitterly about being woken up each day by the 6am call to prayer. (Read more from “Islam USA: Inside America’s Only Muslim-Majority City, Where the Call to Prayer Echoes in the Streets” HERE)

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Cuellar: Syrians Already Entering the U.S., Plan Needed Now

By WOAI. Border Congressman Henry Cuellar (D-Laredo) says as the U.S. debates the fate of Syrian refugees, the refugees are coming and will continue to arrive on our southern border, and rather than debate, the country needs to start deciding how to handle the coming flood of desperate people from the Middle East, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.

“They are going to try to short circuit that wait of 18 to 24 months,” Cuellar told News Radio 1200 WOAI in an exclusive interview. “They will come in here, make their claim, and if there is nothing to hold them, they will be released.”

Two groups of Syrians, mainly families, have already done that, arriving in the U.S. in the Laredo area and then immediately presenting themselves to Border Patrol officers, surrendering, and asking for political asylum.

The standard operating procedure right now is to place them into the family detention centers in Dilley or Karnes City, but many are released on bonds or on ankle monitors after a few months in the facilities. And Cuellar points out that once they are released, the demands of governor like Gov. Abbott that they not be housed in Texas are meaningless. They have the right to settle whenever in the U.S. they want, as long as they present themselves for immigration hearings, which could be set for several years in the future.

Cuellar says that has the effect of scrapping all of the talk of a lengthy wait and ‘vetting period’ for people seeking refugee status. (Read more from “Cuellar: Syrians Already Entering the U.S., Plan Needed Now” HERE)

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Judge Just Made HUGE Decision in Case Against ‘Muslim-Free Zone’ Gun Shop Owner

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A U.S. district court has thrown out a lawsuit against a Florida gun store owner, Andy Hallinan, owner of Florida Gun Supply. The Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, brought the lawsuit against Hallinan for establishing a “Muslim-free Zone” at his gun store . . .

CAIR sued Hallinan alleging religious discrimination, claiming that Muslims were not allowed to purchase guns at Florida Gun Supply. The case was brought about when Hallinan used Youtube as a medium to announce that he would not arm terrorists who were intent on harming Americans. The YouTube video, where Hallinan makes his case, can be seen by clicking here . . .

The reason the judge threw out the case was the fact that CAIR had not proved that its organization nor any of its constituents were harmed as a result of the establishment of Hallinan’s “Muslim-free Zone.” According to Fox13 News, Judge Beth Bloom said CAIR, “insufficiently alleged imminent harm,” and that, “There are simply no facts grounding the assertion that Plaintiff (CAIR) and/or one of its constituents will be harmed” . . .

Hallinan said, “I have never denied a Muslim the right to buy guns here because they’ve never tried to buy guns here…We laid out the facts. We laid out the evidence, and the evidence very clearly showed that I did not discriminate.” (Read more from “Judge Just Made HUGE Decision in Case Against ‘Muslim-Free Zone’ Gun Shop Owner” HERE)

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Ted Cruz: Majority of Violent Criminals Are Democrats

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GOP presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz told conservative talk radio host Hugh Hewitt that “the simple and undeniable fact is the overwhelming majority of violent criminals are Democrats” during an interview on Monday.

The Republican presidential candidate was discussing the shooting in Colorado Springs at a Planned Parenthood building where three people were killed.

According to Politico, “The suspect’s reported mention of ‘baby parts’ at the time of the shooting —as well as the location of the shooting — has linked the incident to the nation’s ongoing debate on abortion. It also led some people to blame the incident on the ugly rhetoric surrounding Planned Parenthood.” (Read more from “Ted Cruz: Majority of Violent Criminals Are Democrats” HERE)

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No Christians: All 132 Syrian Refugees Admitted to U.S. Since Paris Attacks Are Sunni Muslims

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Since the Paris terror attacks on November 13, the State Department has admitted 132 Syrian refugees into the United States, and all 132 are Sunni Muslims.

No Christian, Druze, Shi’ite, Alawite, or member of any other religious minority in Syria has been admitted over that period, according to data from the State Department Refugee Processing Center.

The majority of the 132 Syrian refugees permitted to resettle in the U.S. since November 13 (72) are male, the minority female (60). Of the 132 total, 39 (29.5 percent) have been men between the ages of 14 and 50.

Another 53 (40 percent) are children aged under 14, of whom 30 are males and 23 females.

The Paris terror attacks, which killed 130 people and were claimed by Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS/ISIL), brought fresh scrutiny onto the issue of refugees from the Syrian conflict, amid concerns the terrorist group was seeking to infiltrate Western countries through refugee settlement programs. (Read more from “No Christians: All 132 Syrian Refugees Admitted to U.S. Since Paris Attacks Are Sunni Muslims” HERE)

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1st Large-Scale Exercise Set in Military Air Training Area

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Military airplanes are taking to the skies this week for the first large-scale exercise in a training area over the Northern Plains.

The exercise in the 35,000-square-mile Powder River Training Complex is scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday. Bombers, fighter jets and refueling tankers will be practicing maneuvers in the airspace over the Dakotas, Montana and Wyoming.

After years of consideration, the Federal Aviation Administration in March approved quadrupling the training airspace, making it the largest over the continental U.S. Advocates say it will boost military training while reducing costs, but some people in the region worry about disruptions to towns, ranches and civilian flights. (Read more from “1st Large-Scale Exercise Set in Military Air Training Area” HERE)

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Woman Who Was Raised Muslim Just Dropped Truth Bomb About Islam Every Lib Must Read

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By Jack Davis. For a nation whose commander in chief recently compared potential Islamic terrorists masking themselves as Syrian refugees to the Pilgrims, a much-needed lesson in Islam 101 is now in session.

On a Facebook page called Silence is Consent, an unnamed woman who grew up as a Muslim in the Middle East is presenting the facts about Islam because so many people get it wrong. (see the video in full at the end of this article)

“Seeing how people won’t stop being dimwits, I’m going to have to spell this out for you,” she began, reminding viewers of her video, “Islam is not a race, it’s a religion” . . .

“For the person that said ‘saying all Muslims are terrorists is like saying all Italians are in the Mafia,’ you’re a dimwit,” she said . . .

“If you fall for this jihadist self-betterment crap,” she said in anger, “you deserve anything that comes to you.”

The woman countered a line of thought used by liberals that violent groups like ISIS are aberrations in Muslim thought and theology. (Read more from “Woman Who Was Raised Muslim Just Dropped Truth Bomb About Islam Every Lib Must Read” HERE)

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Brave Muslim Woman’s VIRAL Video Boldly Reveals Truth; ISIS Are ‘Perfect Muslims’ According to Quran

By Steve Berman. A woman, who grew up as a Muslim in the Middle East, spelled out what jihad is really about in a video that has now gone viral.

The nearly nine-minute video was posted Saturday on a Facebook page called “Silence is Consent,” and, as of Wednesday, has already garnered 360,000 views.

The unnamed woman begins her lesson with “seeing how people won’t stop being dimwits, I’m going to have to spell this out for you.”

“Islam is not a race, it’s a religion,” she continued, adding that it doesn’t mean you’re a racist if you say that Muslims have to follow Muhammad as a role model.

“For the person that said ‘saying all Muslims are terrorists is like saying all Italians are in the Mafia,’ you’re a dimwit,” she said in the video, railing against teaching a “sugar coated” version of Islam in schools, leaving out what Muhammad actually did according to Islamic texts. (Read more from “Brave Muslim Woman’s VIRAL Video Boldly Reveals Truth; ISIS Are ‘Perfect Muslims’ According to Quran” HERE)

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Report: 300,000 Vets Died While Waiting for Health Care at VA

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More than 300,000 American military veterans likely died while waiting for health care — and nearly twice as many are still waiting — according to a new Department of Veterans Affairs inspector general report.

The IG report says “serious” problems with enrollment data are making it impossible to determine exactly how many veterans are actively seeking health care from the VA, and how many were. For example, “data limitations” prevent investigators from determining how many now-deceased veterans applied for health care benefits or when.

But the findings would appear to confirm reports that first surfaced last year that many veterans died while awaiting care, as their applications got stuck in a system that the VA has struggled to overhaul. Some applications, the IG report says, go back nearly two decades . . .

More than half the applications listed as pending as of last year do not have application dates, and investigators “could not reliably determine how many records were associated with actual applications for enrollment” in VA health care, the report said.

The report also says VA workers incorrectly marked thousands of unprocessed health-care applications as completed and may have deleted 10,000 or more electronic “transactions” over the past five years. (Read more from “Report: 300,000 Vets Died While Waiting for Health Care at VA” HERE)

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GOP Donors Wrestle With Possibility of Trump Nomination

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When asked who he would vote for if the presidential race comes down to Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, the former mayor of Los Angeles and a longtime Republican establishment figure, Dick Riordan, says: “I would probably go find a deserted island.”

“I think Hillary is disgusting,” said Riordan, a wealthy investor who has exceeded $500,000 in political donations throughout his career.

“And I think Trump is crazy,” Riordan added in a telephone interview Monday.

Riordan is not alone. In conversations over the past month, GOP establishment donors have confided to The Hill that for the first time in recent memory, they find themselves contemplating not supporting a Republican nominee for president . . .

Seated around the table in the private dining room of the Hotel Bel-Air were several of the West Coast’s most powerful Republican donors, including Ronald Spogli, the venture capitalist and former ambassador to Italy under President George W. Bush; his business partner Bradford Freeman; and Riordan. (Read more from “GOP Donors Wrestle With Possibility of Trump Nomination” HERE)

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NASA-Funded Study: Over 32 Advanced Civilizations Have Collapsed Before Us, and We’re Next in Line

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A recent research paper funded by NASA highlights this premise. According to the authors:

“Collapses of even advanced civilizations have occurred many times in the past five thousand years, and they were frequently followed by centuries of population and cultural decline and economic regression.”

The results of their experiments show that some of the very clear trends which exist today– unsustainable resource consumption, and economic stratification that favors the elite– can very easily result in collapse . . .

But here’s the thing– between massive debts, deficits, money printing, war, resource depletion, etc., our modern society seems riddled with these risks . . .

Empires rise and fall. The global monetary system is always changing. The prevailing social contract is always changing. (Read more from “NASA-Funded Study: Over 32 Advanced Civilizations Have Collapsed Before Us, and We’re Next in Line” HERE)

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