Senator Sessions Unswayed by Pope Francis on Immigration, Ect.

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Pope Francis in WashingtonSen. Jeff Sessions won’t boycott the pope’s address to Congress Thursday, but the Alabama Republican doesn’t expect to be swayed by what he says on immigration, climate change or the economy.

“He’s said things close to open borders, which I think is wrong, and his opinion is no more persuasive to me than the Wall Street Journal’s. I don’t agree with either one,” Sessions told CQ Roll Call in a hallway interview Tuesday.

“It’s always dangerous for church leaders to start opining on complex matters of which they haven’t had a chance to learn over the years. I mean, we’ve been wrestling with immigration for 30 years. That’s a lot of knowledge. So the pope is not invested in that,” Sessions said.

He continued, “It’s all right for him to call on us to establish an immigration law that serves the national interest and assists people, but how that’s done, I think he probably is not sufficiently informed, and I would say that despite some of the biblical things, Nehemiah went back to Jerusalem and the Lord commanded him to build a wall.

“So, [there are] many references in the Old Testament about the legitimacy of nations or countries or tribal areas, deciding who goes in and through and who does not. So that’s part of it.” (Read more from “Senator Sessions Unswayed by Pope Francis on Immigration Ect.” HERE)

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Lawmaker Demands Audit of U.S. Refugee Costs

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Uganda 1A freshman Republican lawmaker is proposing that the United States put a hold on taking new refugees from around the world until the government better understands how cities and local communities are absorbing the costs and security risks of the nearly 500,000 refugees taken in under President Obama.

Rep. Brian Babin, R-Texas, said in an interview with the Washington Examiner that state and local governments have no say over whether to take the refugees, or how many, and don’t get any compensation when they do. Fears about the local impact of taking in refugees from Syria and other troublespots are ratcheting up after Secretary of State John Kerry announced that the U.S. would accept 85,000 refugees next year, and 100,000 by 2017.

Babin said it’s virtually impossible for lawmakers to obtain information on the refugee program, which is why his bill would call on the Government Accountability Office to “do an appraisal on just how much this is costing the American taxpayer.”

“We know that these refugees, over 90 percent of them, are on federal welfare programs,” said Babin. “A law like this that’s been around for so long and so few people know about, it almost seems like the government’s [been] trying to keep us in the dark all these years.”

Refugees are eligible for seven years of Supplemental Security Income, seven years of Medicaid coverage, five years of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, and food stamps, according to the Congressional Research Service. With the United States debt approaching $19 trillion, around $25,000 per household, and millions of Americans dropping out of the labor force, taxpayers can ill afford the costs of the refugee program, Babin said. (Read more from “Lawmaker Demands Audit of U.S. Refugee Costs” HERE)

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OPM Says 5.6 Million Fingerprints Stolen in Cyberattack, Five Times as Many as Previously Thought

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images (75)One of the scariest parts of the massive cybersecurity breaches at the Office of Personnel Management just got worse: The agency now says 5.6 million people’s fingerprints were stolen as part of the hacks.

That’s more than five times the 1.1 million government officials estimated when the cyberattacks were initially disclosed over the summer. The total number of those believed to be caught up in the breaches, which included the theft of the Social Security numbers and addresses of more than 21 million former and current government employees, remains the same.

OPM and the Department of Defense were reviewing the theft of background investigation records when they identified additional fingerprint data that had been exposed, OPM said in a statement.

Breaches involving biometric data like fingerprints are particularly concerning to privacy experts because of their permanence: Unlike passwords and even Social Security numbers, fingerprints cannot be changed. So those affected by this breach may find themselves grappling with the fallout for years.

“The fact that the number [of fingerprints breached] just increased by a factor of five is pretty mind-boggling,” said Joseph Lorenzo Hall, the chief technologist at the Center for Democracy & Technology. “I’m surprised they didn’t have structures in place to determine the number of fingerprints compromised earlier during the investigation.” (Read more from “OPM Says 5.6 Million Fingerprints Stolen in Cyberattack, Five Times as Many as Previously Thought” HERE)

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Obama Admin Had Tapes Proving Bergdahl Deserted and Joined Taliban but Ignored Them [+video]

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bowe-bergdahl-talibanRetired Colonel David Hunt broke the news tonight on The O’Reilly Factor that the the Obama administration had proof that Bowe Bergdahl deserted to the Taliban.

The Obama administration did not use the evidence in his trial.

Colonel David Hunt explained it tonight:

Col. David Hunt (retired): June 30, 2009, Bergdahl deserts his post in southeast Afghanistan. July 1st and 2nd, in a standard briefing to a commander of his unit, Fourth Brigade ot the 25th Infantry division, we have tapes of Taliban talking on Bergdahl’s phone saying that Bergdahl wanted to join them. And we have the Taliban on their own phones talking about Bergdahl trying to join them. This information was known July 2nd on and yet we still traded him for five terrorists, had a White House ceremony and now we’ve taken two years since he’s come back to do something which takes 90 days. The government has not yet and it doesn’t sound like it’s going to even use these tapes against Sgt Bergdahl . . .

Col. David Hunt: There are programs, we’ve been doing it since World War II, in which we listen to the enemy, and people who are speaking Pashtun and any language the Taliban in that section are using, were listening because they were told to and they were also listening to Bergdahl’s phone. What they heard was the Taliban on Bergdahl’s phone because he had joined them by then. So it’s a military program.

(Read more from “Obama Admin Had Tapes Proving Bergdahl Deserted and Joined Taliban but Ignored Them at Trial” HERE)

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RINOs in Senate Take Lead to Prevent Government Shutdown

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Congress_Immigration-06023-3555Senate Republicans are taking the lead in a carefully orchestrated plan with Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to avoid a government shutdown next week.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Tuesday filed a motion to advance legislation that would redirect Planned Parenthood funding to community health centers and fund the government until Dec. 11 . . .

Democrats will filibuster the stopgap funding measure because of the Planned Parenthood rider, setting up votes on a so-called “clean” continuing resolution next week.

Sen. John Thune (S.D.), the Senate’s No. 3 Republican, said the House and Senate had been in talks and leaders decided that it was better for the Senate to move forward first, to show that a funding bill cutting off Planned Parenthood would fail.

“It was concluded that giving the Senate ball control by taking the first whack at this and demonstrating what the traffic will bear in terms of where the votes are in the Senate, would give the House an indication of where we are,” Thune said. (Read more from “Senate GOP Takes Lead to Prevent Government Shutdown” HERE)

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This Is the Fastest Growing Immigrant Community in America

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citizenship-Getty-640x480Muslims are the fastest growing bloc of immigrants, according to new census data published by the Center for Immigration Studies.

The report, which analyzes data from American Community Survey (ACS), finds that the foreign-born population in the U.S. hit a new record high 42.4 million in July 2014.

The report details that some of “the sending countries with the largest percentage increases in the number of immigrants living in the United States since 2010 were Saudi Arabia (up 93 percent); Bangladesh (up 37 percent); Iraq (up 36 percent); Egypt (up 25 percent); Pakistan, India, and Ethiopia (all up 24 percent); Nigeria and Ghana (both up 21 percent)” . . .

As Breitbart News has previously documented, every year the United States voluntarily imports more than a quarter of a million– or 280,000– Muslim migrants. This number includes 117,423 migrants who were permanently resettled with Legal Permanent Resident status, as well as an additional 122,921 temporary Muslim workers and foreign students, and 39,932 Muslim refugee and asylees. This means that each year, the U.S. admits a number of Muslim migrants larger in size than the entire population of Des Moines, Iowa.

According to Pew Research, only 11 percent of Muslim Americans identify as Republican or leaning-Republican, making them one of the most reliable Democrat voting blocs in the country. As Politico recently reported, the Obama Administration is working to get green card holders registered to vote. Because refugees and green card holders can freely collect welfare, this magnifies the existing cultural challenges for Republicans in getting non-Western voters to support Western political ideas. (Read more from “This Is the Fastest Growing Immigrant Community in America” HERE)

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Whistleblowers: VA Inspector General a ‘Joke’

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186987The Department of Veterans Affairs continues to retaliate against whistleblowers despite repeated pledges to stop punishing those who speak up, a group of employees said Tuesday. One called the department’s office of inspector general a “joke.”

VA whistleblowers from across the country told a Senate committee that the department has failed to hold supervisors accountable more than a year after a scandal that broke over chronic delays for veterans seeking medical care and falsified records covering up the waits.

Shea Wilkes, a mental health social worker at the Shreveport, Louisiana, VA hospital, said agency leaders are “more interested in perpetuating their own careers than caring for our veterans.”

Wilkes, who helped organize a group known as “VA Truth Tellers,” said “years of cronyism and lack of accountability have allowed at least two generations of poor, incompetent leaders to plant themselves within the system,” harming medical treatment for veterans. The informal watchdog group includes more than 40 whistleblowers from VA facilities in a dozen states.

“Until we are able to protect whistleblowers and potential whistleblowers, the true depth of the corruption within the VA will not be known,” Wilkes said, calling the VA’s office of inspector general a “joke.” The office has not had a permanent leader since December 2013. (Read more from “Whistleblowers: VA Inspector General a ‘Joke'” HERE)

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Carson: I Stand by the Comments About Muslim President

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ben_carsonBy Fox News. Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson said Monday that he “absolutely” stood by his comments about not supporting a Muslim president, while also clarifying that he was referring to Muslims who had not rejected Islamic Sharia law.

“We don’t put people at the head of our country whose faith might interfere with them carrying out the duties of the Constitution,” the retired neurosurgeon told Fox News’ Sean Hannity. “If you’re a Christian and you’re running for president and you want to make this [country] into a theocracy, I’m not going to support you. I’m not going to advocate you being the president.”

“Now, if someone has a Muslim background, and they’re willing to reject those tenets and to accept the way of life that we have, and clearly will swear to place our Constitution above their religion, then of course they will be considered infidels and heretics, but at least I would then be quite willing to support them,” Carson added.

Carson came under heavy criticism for his initial remarks, which were broadcast on NBC’s “Meet The Press” Sunday. Carson, a devout Christian, told moderator Chuck Todd a president’s faith should matter to voters if it runs counter to the values and principles of America. In response to a follow-up question about whether he would support a Muslim candidate for president, Carson said, “I would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation,” Carson said. “I absolutely would not agree with that.”

Carson also doubled down on his comments in a statement posted on Facebook late Monday, in which he fired back at his fellow Republican candidates who criticized him. (Read more from “Carson: I Stand by the Comments About Muslim President” HERE)

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Cruz: Carson’s Stance on Muslim Presidents Unconstitutional

By Mark Hensch. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is criticizing GOP rival Ben Carson for saying that a Muslim should not be president of the United States.

At a campaign stop in Des Moines, Iowa, on Sunday evening, Cruz said religious convictions should have no bearing on one’s fitness for the Oval Office.

“You know, the Constitution specifies there shall be no religious test for public office and I am constitutionalist,” he said, according to The Des Moines Register.

“My view, listen. The president’s faith is between him and God,” the 2016 Republican White House hopeful added of President Obama. “What I’m going to focus on is his public policy record.”
Carson sparked controversy by declaring on Sunday that Islam has no place in a potential White House administration.

“I would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation,” he said in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” (Read more from this story HERE)

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This Many People in the U.S. Believe the Government Is an Immediate Threat

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biggest-tech-companies-team-object-government-spyingAlmost half of Americans, 49%, say the federal government poses “an immediate threat to the rights and freedoms of ordinary citizens,” similar to what was found in previous surveys conducted over the last five years. When this question was first asked in 2003, less than a third of Americans held this attitude.

The latest results are from Gallup’s Sept. 9-13 Governance poll. The lower percentage of Americans agreeing in 2003 that the federal government posed an immediate threat likely reflected the more positive attitudes about government evident after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The percentage gradually increased to 44% by 2006, and then reached the 46% to 49% range in four surveys conducted since 2010.

The remarkable finding about these attitudes is how much they reflect apparent antipathy toward the party controlling the White House, rather than being a purely fundamental or fixed philosophical attitude about government.

Republican agreement with the “immediate threat” statement has been higher during the Obama administration than was Democratic agreement during the Bush administration, thus accounting for the overall rise in agreement across all national adults. (Read more from “This Many People in the U.S. Believe the Government Is an Immediate Threat” HERE)

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Defense Department Under Fire for Handling of Child Abuse Claims in Afghanistan

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child_works_in_brick_factoryThe Defense Department is facing mounting criticism for its handling of child abuse allegations involving Afghan commanders, including revived claims that U.S. soldiers were instructed to look the other way when Afghan troops and officers were sexually abusing boys.

As first reported by Fox News, the Army is under scrutiny for moving to kick out Green Beret Sgt. 1st Class Charles Martland, after he got in trouble for shoving an Afghan police commander accused of raping a boy.

This was followed by The New York Times reporting Monday that American soldiers were told to ignore such sexual abuse, even in cases where Afghan allies were abusing boys on military bases.

The White House said Monday that the U.S. is “deeply concerned” about the safety of Afghan boys, when asked about the claims, but referred questions on DOD policy to the Pentagon.

Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis told reporters on Monday that the practices described in the Times article were “abhorrent” and pushed back on the notion that military members were told not to report instances of child rape. (Read more from “Defense Department Under Fire for Handling of Child Abuse Claims in Afghanistan” HERE)

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