Patriot Act Showdown: Surveillance Powers Lapse With No Deal in Senate [+video]

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Here’s what happens now that the Patriot Act provisions expired

By Erin Kelly. The Senate voted Sunday to move forward with consideration of the USA Freedom Act, a measure that would end the controversial bulk collection of phone metadata. However, Senate leaders were unable to reach a deal to avoid the expiration of key provisions of the Patriot Act before the midnight deadline. Here are some of the immediate impacts:

• The “lone wolf” provision of the law has expired. This allows U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies to target surveillance at suspected terrorists who are acting alone without any direct ties to terrorist groups or rogue nations. It specifically says that it does not apply to U.S. citizens. It has never actually been used, White House officials said.

• The “roving wiretap” provision has expired. This allows federal agencies to monitor a person rather than a specific phone or electronic device. The government can keep track of suspected terrorists regardless of how many cell phones they use and throw away. Approval for the surveillance must be obtained from a federal court.

• Section 215 of the Patriot Act had expired. (Read more on the Patriot Act showdown HERE)

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By Associated Press. The National Security Agency will lose its authority at midnight to collect Americans’ phone records in bulk, after an extraordinary Sunday Senate session failed to produce an 11th-hour deal to extend the fiercely contested program.

Intelligence officials warned that the outcome amounts to a win for terrorists. But civil liberties groups applauded the demise, at least temporarily, of the once-secret post-Sept. 11 program made public by NSA contractor Edward Snowden, which critics say is an unconstitutional intrusion into Americans’ privacy.

The program is all but certain to be revived in a matter of days, although it also looks certain to be completely overhauled under House-passed legislation that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell reluctantly blessed in an about-face Sunday evening. With most senators opposed to extending current law unchanged, even for a short time, McConnell said the House bill was the only option left other than letting the program die off entirely. The Senate voted 77-17 to move ahead on the House-passed bill.

But no final action was expected before Sunday’s midnight deadline after McConnell’s fellow Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul served notice that he would assert his prerogatives under Senate rules to delay a final vote for several days.

“This is what we fought the revolution over, are we going to so blithely give up our freedom? … I’m not going to take it anymore,” Paul declared on the Senate floor, as supporters wearing red “Stand With Rand” T-shirts packed the spectator gallery. (Read more from “Patriot Act Showdown: Surveillance Powers Lapse With No Deal in Senate” HERE)

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Pressure on US Senate to Act Before NSA Spy Programs Expire

By Michael Mathes. CIA chief John Brennan warned Sunday that allowing vital surveillance programs to lapse could increase terror threats, as the US Senate scrambled to renew the controversial provisions hours before their expiration.

With key counterterrorism programs under threat of suspension at midnight Sunday, the top intelligence official made a final pitch for Senate action, arguing that the bulk data collection of telephone records of millions of Americans unconnected to terrorism has not abused civil liberties and only serves to safeguard citizens.

“This is something that we can’t afford to do right now,” Brennan said of allowing the counterterrorism provisions to expire at midnight Sunday.

“Because if you look at the horrific terrorist attacks and violence being perpetrated around the globe, we need to keep our country safe, and our oceans are not keeping us safe the way they did century ago,” he said on CBS talk show “Face the Nation.”

Brennan added that groups like Islamic State have followed the developments “very carefully” and are “looking for the seams to operate.” (Read more from this story HERE)

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EPA Using Taxpayer Funds to Cheer Horrendous New Water Regs

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It’s another day and Americans are waking up to another nightmare of executive overreach by President Obama and the inability of the GOP-led Congress to stop his assault on our liberty.

This week, it was the turn of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to expand government reach by jointly issuing a new clean water regulation.

Known as the “Waters of the U.S. United States,” the new regulation aims to protect drinking water by expanding regulatory control to upstream waterways, such streams and wetlands that drain into larger bodies of water like lakes and rivers.

The larger water bodies serve as a source for drinking water.

According to the EPA, the new rule targets 60% of the smaller bodies of water such as streams that were previously unregulated.

Similar to EPA’s attack on coal-fired power plants where the agency created its Clean Power Plant Rule from manipulation of the Clean Air Act, the EPA has finalized the new water rule by its regulatory twisting of the Clean Water Act.

In both cases, the new regulations are not based on new laws from Congress to address the underlying environmental issues.

In classic style, the EPA adopted the progressive strategy of “you never let a serious crisis go to waste” and seized on Supreme Court decisions regarding the Clean Water Act, including vague language in a 2006 ruling by the Supreme Court that failed to limit agency power allowing the EPA to regulate waters close proximity to navigable water on a case by case basis.

President Obama issued a statement supporting the new rule saying it will remove uncertainty surrounding the water regulation, “This rule will provide the clarity and certainty businesses and industry need about which waters are protected by the Clean Water Act, and it will ensure polluters who knowingly threaten our waters can be held accountable.”

Despite claims about clarity made by Obama and the EPA, the reality is the administration is significantly expanding its power to control “just about anything that’s wet,” as The Wall Street Journal concluded.

In typical fashion, the EPA engaged in propaganda to manipulate the public opinion about the new water regulation.

The New York Times reported that the EPA engaged in a significant public relations campaign that uses social media vehicles including Facebook and Twitter to boost public support for the new regulation.

In a likely violation of federal lobbying laws, the agency led an effort with left-wing environmental and grassroots groups such as the Sierra Club and Organizing for Action to generate supportive comments about the EPA’s proposed regulation during the agency’s public comment period.

The campaign orchestrated by the agency was successfully allowing EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy to smugly tout the overwhelming support of the water regulation during Congressional testimony.

McCarthy said, “We have received over one million comments, and 87.1 percent of those comments we have counted so far — we are only missing 4,000 — are supportive of this rule. Then she added, “Let me repeat: 87.1 percent of those one-plus million are supportive of this rule.”

McCarthy’s use of astroturf to promote the EPA’s agenda undermines the integrity of the public comment period which is intended to measure feedback on regulations by the people that are going to be impacted by the rule.

It’s also clearly outrageous for the EPA to use taxpayer money to sell its own agenda to the American people.

Farmers, developers, and mining groups among others fear the new regulation will give the EPA control of extremely small bodies of water on their land including ditches and puddles.

The regulation is also unpopular in Congress and it was blasted by Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH). Jim Inhofe (R-OK), Senate Environment and Public Works chairman vowed to stop EPA’s land grab saying, “I will not allow it.”

Inhofe is particularly upset because he is working on a bipartisan bill, the Federal Water Quality Protection Act, to prevent the EPA from using water regulations to control land.

EPA’s latest end-run around Congress serves as another example of government bureaucracy gone wild.

The EPA is making a mockery of representative government and Congress must go beyond using words to protest this lawlessness. It must use its power to defund the agency’s arrogant and radical agenda. (See “EPA Using Taxpayer Funds to Cheer Harmful Water Regs”, originally posted HERE)

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Phoenix Organizer Final Words: ‘I’m Going Into Hiding . . . This Is Tyranny, Terrorism Right Here in America’

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The organizer of a free-speech rally held outside a Phoenix mosque Friday said he and his family are going into hiding after threats on his life.

Friday’s protest, organized by former Marine Jon Ritzheimer, was held outside the Islamic Community Center, a mosque attended by the two men who were killed by police after they attacked the Prophet Muhammad cartoon contest in Garland, Texas. The protest was peaceful, thanks in part to a heavy police presence, although it attracted a vocal counter-protest . . .

“They’re mad at us for exercising our First Amendment rights,” he said. “This is further proof that our First Amendment is under attack. This is tyranny right here. This is tyranny at its finest” . . .

“I’m having to sell my house. My family is in hiding right now,” he said. “I’m having to go into hiding after this because they’re calling for a ‘lone wolf’ to come and behead me. That’s following their book as it’s written … and that’s tyranny . . .

When asked if the event was worth the trouble, Ritzheimer paused for a moment before saying, “Let’s ask our Founding Fathers if it was worth it for them to sign the Declaration of Independence.” (Read more from “Phoenix Organizer Final Words: ‘I’m Going Into Hiding . . . This Is Tyranny, Terrorism Right Here in America'” HERE)

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Ann Coulter: With Amnesty, Elites Conspire Against the Middle Class

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Photo Credit: NY Post Controversial firebrand Ann Coulter’s new book, “Adios, America” argues that fettered immigration is destroying the country by driving down the salaries of the middle class while increasing their tax burden. And it’s the elites on both sides — right and left — who are making it happen. An excerpt:

This is “Goodbye,” America. Adios. Paalam Na. No further warning will be issued.

For 40 years, the people have tried to tell politicians they want less immigration, but the politicians won’t listen.

Every single elite group in America is aligned against the public — the5 media, ethnic activists, big campaign donors, Wall Street, multimillionaire farmers and liberal “churches.”

They all want mass immigration from the Third World to continue. Both political parties connive to grant illegal aliens citizenship and bring in millions more legally, and the media hide the evidence.

Their game plan is: Never allow an honest debate on immigration.

Only in the case of immigration is the public systematically lied to from every major news outlet. They tell us, for example:

Polls show the public overwhelmingly supports “comprehensive immigration reform.”

No poll shows this. The Left uses polls to manipulate public opinion, rather than quantify it. Typical is a Brookings Institution Poll that asked respondents to chose between two ways to solve the illegal immigration problem: “Arrest and deport all those who are here illegally” or “provide an earned path to citizenship.” Absolutely no one has proposed that we deport all those here illegally — much less “arrest” them. But can’t I be against amnesty without voting for rounding up illegals at gunpoint? No! Look at the menu — no substitutions!

(Read more from “Ann Coulter: With Amnesty, Elites Conspire Against the Middle Class” HERE)

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A Full-Time Minimum Wage Job Can’t Pay Rent for an Apartment Anywhere in the U.S.

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A new report from the National Low-income Housing Coalition has made a startling discovery, at least to anyone who has not tried to survive at a minimum wage job.

This map shows how many hours per week a person would have to work in order to rent a one-bedroom apartment without spending more than 30 percent of his or her take-home pay.

Photo Credit: National Low Income Housing Coalition

In the states with the lowest apartment cost, West Virginia, Arkansas, and Montana, a person would still have to work 54 hours per week to afford rent. In places like Washington D.C., Hawaii, or Maryland, a person would have to work more than 100 hours per week . . .

Photo Credit: National Low Income Housing Coalition

The report also showed that in expensive states, like Maryland or California, the renting wage can be exponentially higher than the current minimum wage. In California the minimum wage varies from $9.00-per-hour to more than $12-per-hour, but the renting wage is anywhere from $24- to $31-per-hour. (Read more from “A Full-Time Minimum Wage Job Can’t Pay Rent for an Apartment Anywhere in the U.S.” HERE)

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Tragedy Haunts Joe Biden Once Again

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Tragedy has not just afflicted Joe Biden, it has shaped his political soul.

In the latest personal devastation, the Vice President must now endure the torment of burying a second child, after his beloved son Beau died from brain cancer Saturday night.

It’s particularly heartrending because Beau, 46, was also a victim of an earlier incident that shattered Biden’s life, a car crash at Christmas in 1972 that killed his first wife and an infant daughter and badly injured another son as well as Beau.

Stricken with grief back then, Biden contemplated vacating the Delaware Senate seat he had just won as a young rising star of the Democratic Party, but his decision to endure became the foundation on which he built his political creed and public service. In a famous photo at the time, Biden was seen being sworn into the chamber in his sons’ hospital room . . .

But in a deeper sense, his personal tribulations cemented in Biden an almost mystical reverence for family. It pulsates through his politics and is at the root of his love affair with the U.S. Senate, which sustained him when his home life was torn apart and where he served for nearly four decades. (Read more from “Tragedy Haunts Joe Biden Once Again” HERE)

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Get Ready! Armed Biker Gang Drew Muhammad At Phoenix Mosque

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Protesters clash outside Phoenix mosque rally

By ABC15.com. Hundreds of Valley residents gathered at the Islamic Community Center in Phoenix Friday night, some as part of a “Freedom of Speech” rally and others to tout the tolerance of all religions.

What started as a few supporters around 5 p.m., turned into hundreds by the protest start time at 6:15 p.m., with both sides passionately vocalizing their views and waving signs in the air.

As the two sides argued and yelled, dozens of police officers formed a line between them and kept them separated. There were no reports of injuries or arrests at the protest, which lasted a couple of hours and gained attention around the country on social media. Phoenix police estimated about 500 protesters showed up, roughly 250 on each side. (Read more about the Phoenix mosque Muhammad protest HERE)
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Get Ready! Armed Biker Gang Drew Muhammad At Phoenix Mosque

By Louder With Crowder. Yesterday a biker rally was held outside of a mosque which included a Draw Muhammad contest. The event, organized by Jon Ritzheimer and Flash Nelson, has a Facebook page, and participants are encouraged to exercise their second amendment rights.

Despite the assurances that the protest will be both peaceful and lawful, the organizers are already receiving “credible threats.” John Ritzheimer posted late Thursday afternoon:

Credible threats being made and now having to move my family into hiding. Real nice Islam. Thank you for showing your true colors. I have not made any threats nor do I condone any threats. I’ve been preaching peace this whole time and once again Islam shows its lack of tolerance for others freedom. I will say that I think this cartoon contest is completely stupid, but this is all to show what Islam is about. The only one threatening with violence and that has a track record of it is them. Rally going on as planned.

Ritzheimer is a former United States Marine, and has not been deterred by the threats. Dang, son.

At the time of this posting, the event page shows 378 have RSVPd as attending, with another 125 listed as ‘maybe.’ That’s a bad sign. When dealing with Islam, there can be no maybe. You’re either in or out. Don’t half-ass it.

Fox 5 in Vegas quotes Riztheimer as saying that he “let [the mosque] know we’re coming to their doorstep and we’re going to be there utilizing our First Amendment; we’ll be ready to protect it with our Second Amendment.”

The Islamic Community Center of Phoenix, where the event will take place, is where the two dead gunmen who attacked the Garland event previously worshiped.

Jackass move? Maybe. But this is what freedom of speech means. This is absolutely protected, and it is undeniably courageous to stand up against the tyranny of violent threats and actions and say “this will not stand.” Tomorrow, we will see what happens when the event takes place. We pray for safety. But we demand success. It is our right as Americans.

I will personally host any of these bikers on my program, if they change their name to “Sons of Muhammad” or “Allah’s Angels.”

That’s not a joke. (See “Get Ready! Armed Biker Gang Drew Muhammad At Phoenix Mosque”, originally posted HERE)

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Islamists Promise Kuffar Blood Will Spill at the Phoenix Draw Muhammad Contest

By Awr Hawkins. Breitbart News previously reported that former Marine Jon Ritzheimer and fellow bikers will be holding a “Draw Muhammad” contest Friday night at 6 p.m. Islamists now warn participants not to bring their children with them if they love them, promising blood spill if Muhammad is drawn.

According to Gateway Pundit, “Islamists have promised to murder the attendees [at the contest] tonight in Phoenix” . . .

One tweet, sent May 28 at 10:14 pm from an account that has since been suspended, says, “WARNING IF U LOVE UR CHILDREN DONT BRING THEM IN THE EVENT TODAY THE WILL SPLIT OF BLOOD IN THE EVENT OF MUHAMMAD SAW DRAWINGS.”

Another tweet that was sent on May 28 from an acount that has also been suspended says, “WHO EVER LOVE HER OR HIS CHILD DONT TAKE THEM IN THE EVENT WE PROMISE U WE WILL DRINK UR BLOOD.” (Read more from “Islamists Promise Kuffar Blood Will Spill at the Phoenix Draw Muhammad Contest” HERE)

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Abortionists Have Killed More Americans Than the Population of the US in 1880

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The number of American babies who have been aborted in the years since the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision has already exceeded the entire population of the United States as recorded in the 1880 Census . . .

In 1880, according to the Census Bureau, there were 50,189,209 people in the United States. These included, the Census Bureau notes, Mark Twain, who had not yet written The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; Thomas Edison, who would start his electrical company two years later; and Booker T. Washington, who would open the Tuskegee Institute the next year.

The Guttmacher Institute has estimated the number of abortions in the United States in each year from 1973 through 2011. They add up to 51,376,750—or 1,187,541 more than the entire population of the nation as of 1880. In each of the last 36 straight years for which Guttmacher has published an estimate of the number of abortions, the number has exceeded 1 million. (Read more from “Abortionists Have Killed More Americans Than the Population of the US in 1880” HERE)

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Legal Experts: Donations to Clinton Foundation are Likely Bribes

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Two legal experts tell Breitbart News Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Foundation could be in legal peril for violating United States statutes, as found in 18 U.S. Code § 201 – Bribery of public officials and witnesses.

When asked if the donations to the Clinton Foundation by defense contractors including Boeing (which subsequently received State Department approval of sales of their products to foreign governments) constituted a violation of domestic bribery statues, Law School Professor and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) expert Michael Koehler tells Breitbart News, “I’ll answer that question by quoting a former law professor who was fond of saying ‘if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck chances are it is a duck’”

Former Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Andy McCarthy thinks there’s enough evidence for the FBI and DOJ to launch an investigation into whether Hillary Clinton broke federal statutes that prohibit the bribery of public officials.

“There is certainly a reasonable basis for federal agents and prosecutors to investigate whether there was an understanding that Secretary Clinton would be influenced in the performance of her official duties by lavish donations to her family foundation, and, indeed, that the Clinton Foundation was operated as a racketeering enterprise,” McCarthy tells Breitbart News.

“This is the theory on which the Justice Department has proceeded in the prosecution of Senator Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) — in fact, the main difference between the two cases may be that the staggering sums of money that were poured into the Clinton Foundation by supplicants who benefited from Hillary Clinton’s stewardship of the State Department dwarf the amounts involved in the Menendez indictment,” McCarthy continues. (Read more from “Legal Expert on Whether Donations to Clinton Foundation are Bribes: If It Quacks Like a Duck, Chances are It Is a Duck” HERE)

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Indictment of High-Paid RINO Lobbyist Hastert, Former Speaker of the House, Related to Homosexual Molestation of Student

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The indictment of former House speaker J. Dennis Hastert was triggered by an effort he made to hide payments of hush money to a male student he allegedly sexually molested decades ago, a federal law enforcement official said Friday.

The indictment asserts that the acts Hastert wanted to conceal date to a time when he was a teacher and coach in Illinois before entering politics in the early 1980s, the official said. Authorities said the alleged victim, who has spoken with law enforcement officials, was one of Hastert’s students.

Hastert, the longest-serving Republican speaker in House history, is not expected to face molestation charges because authorities don’t think they have enough evidence to bring a case against him, a law enforcement official said.

A federal grand jury in Chicago indicted the former speaker, 73, Thursday on charges that he violated banking laws in a bid to pay $3.5 million to an unnamed person to cover up “past misconduct.” The alleged victim is that person, the official said.

The case has riveted and shocked Washington, where Has­tert has been a high-paid lobbyist since his 2007 retirement from Congress. (Read more from “Hastert Indictment Is Related to Homosexual Molestation of Student” HERE)

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