Former CIA and DIA Operatives Warn of Another 9/11 Attack

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9_11_rect1The United States could be facing another 9/11 attack as factions grow deeper among the Taliban, al-Qaida and the Islamic State group, especially with the recently confirmed death of the Taliban’s one-eyed leader Mullah Omar, according to a senior U.S. lawmaker, federal law enforcement and intelligence officials.

The tensions between Islamic State group, also known as ISIS or ISIL, and the Taliban is as dangerous a national security threat to the United States as it was before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, said Brian Fairchild, who spent two decades with the CIA and has testified before Congress on terrorism.

“Right now, al-Qaida, under Zawahiri, needs the Khorasan group or some affiliated group to attack the U.S. again like 9/11 in order to lift up his stature and that of the organization,” Fairchild said. “He doesn’t want something small but something big – a big-scale attack like 9/11 to make him relevant again. This is an extremely dangerous time as Islamic State, al-Qaida and the Taliban fight and compete for dominance.”

A 32-page Islamic State recruiting document obtained in Pakistan by American Media Institute detailed the growing division between the Islamic State group and al-Qaida. The document — authenticated by retired Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn and two other senior U.S. intelligence officers — called for the Islamic State group to launch a war with India that would draw the United States into battle and end the world.

Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) also issued two threatening communications in August calling on believers to take action in the U.S. through more lone-wolf attacks, according to SITE Intelligence Group and Middle-East Research Institute, both of which track terror activity. (Read more from “Former CIA and DIA Operatives Warn of Another 9/11 Attack” HERE)

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Sources: Man Taken Into Custody in Phoenix Allegedly Boasted to Friends of Rash of Freeway Shootings

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150909-arizona-shootings_792df76de1ac45d506369b911033318f.nbcnews-ux-2880-1000The man taken into custody in Phoenix Friday allegedly boasted to friends of his involvement in a rash of freeway shootings over the last 12 days, a police source said, adding the unidentified man is also wanted in connection with other crimes.

Bart Graves, a spokesman for the Arizona Department of Public Safety, would not confirm the information, saying only the individual is a “person of interest” who will be “questioned all day” . . .

Sources also say police are attempting to place the man and his white Chevrolet Tahoe at the scene of previous shooting incidents using cell phone data from nearby towers, license plate readers and video taken from the 19 Department of Transportation cameras lining a 10-mile stretch of Interstate 10 through Central and West Phoenix.

The man and his mother were detained Friday morning in Phoenix outside a convenience store about four miles north of Interstate 10, where a majority of the 11 confirmed shootings took place.

Multiple undercover units and marked patrol cars boxed in the man’s SUV and wrestled him to the ground as he exited the store. Minutes later he spoke to Fox affiliate KSAZ through the back window of a patrol car. (Read more from “Sources: Man Taken Into Custody in Phoenix Allegedly Boasted to Friends of Rash of Freeway Shootings” HERE)

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Top 1% Are Biggest Winners in Jeb Bush’s Tax Plan

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BN-KF556_BUSHTA_G_20150909153905Jeb Bush has been highlighting the benefits of his new tax plan for the middle class, which in many cases are considerable. But by some measures the biggest winners would be – well, winners.

A new analysis by the business-backed Tax Foundation shows that the biggest percentage increases in after-tax income under Mr. Bush’s tax plan would go to the top 1% of earners, people making more than about $406,000. They would see their after-tax incomes increase on average by 11.6%, according to the analysis. That’s the biggest change for any income group.

The average for all income levels would be a 3.3% increase in income. The second-biggest beneficiaries would be folks in the top 10%, those making more than about $117,000. Their incomes would go up by 4.7%.

The benefits to the top 1% would be even higher when the full economic impacts of the change are considered, according to the Tax Foundation analysis.

To some degree, this result is expected, given Mr. Bush’s stated objectives. He’s trying to use his plan to boost anemic economic growth. And given the way economic models work, tax plans almost have to lower taxes on business- and investment-related income in order to get the desired growth effects. For good or ill, the top 1% tend to receive a lot of that kind of income, and thus benefit disproportionately from any tax reductions. (Read more from “Top 1% Are Biggest Winners in Jeb Bush’s Tax Plan” HERE)

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Washington State Announces It Will Not Allow Professors to Ban Words They Don’t Like

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3358232491_512bc5a84eAfter a national uproar over a Washington State professor who threatened to mark down or even fail students who used words such as “illegal aliens,” “tranny,” or referring to men and women as “male or female,” campus officials on Monday came out in strong support of free speech, pledging to “modify” syllabuses that ban words.

Here is their statement:

PULLMAN, Wash. – Washington State University deeply values the tenets of freedom of expression for every member of our community, including all students, faculty and staff. Those First Amendment rights are reinforced in our policies, procedures and practices. Open dialogue, vigorous debate and the free exchange of ideas, as well as the language used to convey these ideas, are at the core of who we are as a higher education institution.

Over the weekend, we became aware that some faculty members, in the interest of fostering a constructive climate for discussion, included language in class syllabi that has been interpreted as abridging students’ free speech rights. We are working with these faculty members to clarify, and in some cases modify, course policies to ensure that students’ free speech rights are recognized and protected. No student will have points docked merely as a result of using terms that may be deemed offensive to some. Blanket restriction of the use of certain terms is not consistent with the values upon which this university is founded.

Free speech and a constructive climate for learning are not incompatible. We aim to cultivate diversity of expression while protecting individual rights and safety.

(Read more from “Washington State Announces It Will Not Allow Professors to Ban Words They Don’t Like” HERE)

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Trump Just Took His Fight With Ben Carson to a Whole New Level With These Words

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donald-trump-angry1-1024x575Donald Trump has largely benefited from the dust-ups he has had with fellow Republican presidential candidates thus far in his unconventional campaign. White House contenders including Jeb Bush and Rick Perry have seen their favorability ratings drop after exchanging blows with the billionaire front-runner.

Two of Trump’s closest challengers, however, have been reticent to engage Trump in a war of words. Both Ben Carson and Ted Cruz have been willing to compliment Trump’s campaign, though the former recently earned the real estate mogul’s ire by questioning his faith.

Earlier this week, Carson told a crowd that he doesn’t “in any way deny” his Christian faith, describing the “humility and fear of the Lord” with which he lives his life. Such qualities, however, were difficult for Carson to ascribe to Trump . . .

Trump shot back Thursday on ABC’s The View.

“He talked about my faith,” the candidate said. “He doesn’t know me.”

He noted that he hardly knows Carson, adding that the retired neurosurgeon’s public expressions of faith seem to be a recent development. (Read more from “Trump Just Took His Fight With Ben Carson to a Whole New Level With These Words” HERE)

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Senate Republicans Doing Nothing to Stop Obama’s Lawless Iran Treaty

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Sen. Bob CorkerSenate Republicans have hit a new low. Not only are they doing nothing to stop Obama’s lawlessness on Iran in forging a treaty without Senate ratification, they are allowing him to break the very law that broke the treaty clause of the Constitution. You can’t make this stuff up!

First, the good news. When Mark Levin and Conservative Review were the lone voices against Corker-Cardin in April, everyone thought we were being purists. Most conservative pundits and elected Republicans thought this was the best opportunity to get congressional input. Every major news outlet was reporting this bill as a means of requiring congressional approval for the deal. It was so complicated and convoluted to explain to the American people that this bill really did the opposite of what it was advertised to do.

But as I noted a few weeks ago, you can’t fool all the people all the time, and now the entire country is aware of the Corker-Cardin betrayal and they don’t like it one bit. The pressure is so intense that when House leadership promised to bring the resolution of disapproval to the floor, House conservatives promised to vote down the rule to consider the legislation. Now the House is being forced to do what we have been demanding for months. They are scuttling the unconstitutional process of requiring congress to disapprove of the treaty. Instead they will bring the following three resolutions to the floor tomorrow:

A resolution (H. Res 411) stating that Obama has not abided by Corker-Cardin because he withheld the side agreements, thereby preventing the 60-day clock for congressional view from commencing.

A bill (H.R. 3461) to approve of the agreement, placing Democrats in the tough position of having to affirmatively approve of the legislation.

A bill (H.R. 3460) removing Obama’s waiver authority to lift sanctions until next year. Section (b)(3) of Corker-Cardin prohibits Obama from any effort to “waive, suspend, reduce, provide relief from, or otherwise limit the application of statutory sanctions with respect to Iran” before transmitting all of the components of the deal to Congress.

This process will leave Obama without any semblance of legitimacy to move along with this treaty, whether he ultimately follows through or not.

Now for the bad news. Amazingly, Mitch McConnell and Bob Corker are siding with Obama against their own legislation. They are asserting that the clock already started two months ago and will expire on September 17. Evidently, Corker didn’t read his own bill.

Congressional Quarterly reports that Sen. Lindsey Graham admitted Obama is “in clear violation of the terms” of Corker-Cardin, but still feels that “the best way to handle it is just disapprove the deal.”

These Senate Republicans don’t want to fight even when they have the law on their side. They would rather have a show vote and breathe a sigh of relief they didn’t have to engage in a full media war with Obama. Sen. John McCain, of course, threw in with his partner in trashing the Constitution.

McConnell and the Senate Republicans are a classic example of subtraction by addition. We would be in a stronger political position if they did not exist and the Democrats were forced to take responsibility for Obama’s double betrayal and lawlessness. Now, Republicans are defending them. There is nothing more powerful than having members of the opposite party play interference.

With the growing voice of the people placing these malcontents on defense, the momentum is beginning to change. (For more from the author of “Senate Republicans Doing Nothing to Stop Obama’s Lawless Iran Treaty” please click HERE)

Watch a recent interview with the author below:

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11 Vehicles Driving in Major US City Struck by Act of Terrorism, Police Say

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sniper-913x480Shootings along Interstate 10 in the heart of Phoenix, Ariz., are domestic terrorism being perpetrated by a coward, Arizona Director of Public Safety Colonel Frank Milstead said Wednesday.

“I came literally 24 to 36 inches from losing my life,” said driver Robert Patterson, one of the victims of the shootings.

As of Wednesday, there were 11 incidents in 12 days in which projectiles were fired into cars, mostly along an eight-block section of I-10, Milstead said. Although only one injury has been reported, Milstead said multiple law enforcement agencies have made stopping the spree “Job One.”

“All these actions are potentially lethal encounters. Any time you shoot into a moving vehicle, it has the potential to be a lethal encounter,” Milstead said Wednesday evening. “I think you have to be concerned about safety of yourself and others.”

On Tuesday, an off-duty Phoenix police sergeant was driving to work along I-10 when a projectile shattered the passenger’s side window of his car. Milstead said the officer did not appear to be targeted.

On Tuesday, Milstead had branded the series of incidents, which began Aug. 29, as terrorism. (Read more from “11 Vehicles Driving in Major US City Struck by Act of Terrorism, Police Say” HERE)

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Poll: Donald Trump Surges to 32% Support

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Donald-Trump-smiling1By Jennifer Agiesta. Donald Trump has become the first Republican presidential candidate to top 30% support in the race for the Republican nomination, according to a new CNN/ORC Poll, which finds the businessman pulling well away from the rest of the GOP field.

Trump gained 8 points since August to land at 32% support, and has nearly tripled his support since just after he launched his campaign in June. The new poll finds former neurosurgeon Ben Carson rising 10 points to land in second place with 19%. Together, these two non-politicians now hold the support of a majority of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, and separately, both are significantly ahead of all other competitors.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush stands in third place with 9%, down 4 points since August, and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz holds fourth place with 7%. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker follow at 5%, with all other candidates at 3% or less, including Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who notched the only other statistically significant shift in the poll by falling 5 points since August.

Trump’s gains come most notably among two groups that had proven challenging for him in the early stages of his campaign — women and those with college degrees. While he gained just 4 points among men in the last month (from 27% in August to 31% now), he’s up 13 points among women, rising from 20% in August to 33% now. Trump has also boosted his share of the vote among college graduates, increasing his support among those with degrees from 16% in August to 28% now. Among those without degrees, he stands at 33%, just slightly higher than the 28% support he had in August.

Trump has also catapulted ahead of the rest of the field among Republicans who back the tea party movement, from 27% support in August to 41% now. Among that group in the new poll, Carson follows with 21%, and Cruz, another candidate with an anti-Washington message, holds third with 11%. No other candidate tops 5% among tea partiers. (Read more from “Poll: Donald Trump Surges to 32% Support” HERE)

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Front-Runner Status Challenged? Polls Show Clinton Trailing Sanders in Iowa, NH

By Fox News. Just days after a New Hampshire poll showed Hillary Clinton slipping further behind Bernie Sanders in the vital early primary state, a fresh survey shows the Vermont senator narrowly edging ahead of her in Iowa as well.

The Quinnipiac University poll shows Sanders leading Clinton 41-40 percent.

The results are well within the margin of error and represent a virtual tie in the first-in-the-nation caucus state. But together, the polling in New Hampshire and Iowa indicates Clinton’s front-runner status is now being challenged in the primary season’s two lead-off contests.

“Obviously the campaign is delighted,” Sanders Press Secretary Lilia A. Chacon said in a statement. “People and Iowans are responding to a message based on issues. The more people know about Bernie the more they like him.”

The Clinton campaign is stressing that they always thought this would be a “close race.” (Read more from this story HERE)

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Two out of Three Hispanics Oppose Immigration Increase

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border-protest-AP-640x480Two out of three Hispanics oppose the establishment’s campaign to increase the annual inflow of migrants into the United States., according to an Aug. 20 report by Gallup . . .

[This is] bad news for Jeb Bush, who claims he can boost the one-in-four Hispanic support for the GOP by inviting more foreign blue-collar and college-graduates to compete for the jobs sought by American Hispanics . . .

Sixty-four percent of each group of Hispanics want migration to be reduced or leveled, said Gallup, which released the report under a misleading headline, “U.S. Support for Increased Immigration Up to 25%.”

Twenty-six percent of self-identified Hispanics born in the United States, all of whom can vote, want legal migration to be reduced. However, the percentage of Hispanics opposing increases may be much higher, partly because a growing number of Hispanics now identify themselves as core white Americans . . .

A late-August poll by Rasmussen showed that 54 percent of whites, 38 percent of blacks, and 42 percent of “others,” most of whom are Hispanics, believe illegal immigration is “very serious.” An additional 51 percent of blacks, and 29 percent of “others,” say illegal immigration is “somewhat serious.” (Read more from “Two out of Three Hispanics Oppose Immigration Increase” HERE)

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New York Times Launches Congress ‘Jew Tracker’

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Earns New York TimesThe New York Times has come under fire from Jewish organizations for launching a website aimed at tracking how Jewish lawmakers are voting on the Iran nuclear agreement.

The online chart, which tracks whether lawmakers who opposes the accord are Jewish, is being criticized as anti-Semitic in nature and an attempt to publicly count where Jews fall on the issue, which some have sought to turn into a debate about dual loyalty to Israel.

The feature, titled “Lawmakers Against the Iran Nuclear Deal,” includes a list of legislators currently opposing the deal.

Critics say the chart feeds into a larger narrative promulgated by the Obama administration that Jewish Americans oppose the deal because they feel that it would endanger Israel. The issue of dual loyalty—or claims that lawmakers are more loyal to Israel than America—has become a trademark criticism of administration supporters seeking to discredit opponents of the Iran deal.

“Though more Jewish members of Congress support the deal than oppose it, the Democrats against the deal are more likely to be Jewish or represent Jewish constituencies,” the Times writes on the site. (Read more from “New York Times Launches Congress ‘Jew Tracker'” HERE)

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