Puerto Ricans Qualify as Disabled for Social Security Because They Can’t Speak English

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puerto ricoHundreds of Puerto Rico’s residents qualified for federal disability benefits in recent years because they lacked fluency in English, according to government auditors.

The Social Security Administration’s inspector general questioned the policy this month in light of the fact that Spanish is the predominant language in the U.S. territory.

Under Social Security regulations, individuals are considered less employable in the United States if they can’t speak English, regardless of their work experience or level of education.

In a report this month, the independent watchdog suggested that a more appropriate standard might be to consider local conditions when making benefits decisions.

According to the latest U.S. Census Bureau data, 95 percent of Puerto Rico residents above age 5 speak Spanish at home, and about 84 percent say they do not speak English “very well.” (Read more from “Puerto Ricans Who Can’t Speak English Qualify as Disabled for Social Security” HERE)

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Obama Moves Forward Plan to Remove Castro Terror Regime from U.S. Terror List

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flagsDespite the fact that the brutal Castro regime enslaving Cuba continues to support terrorism and harbor American fugitives from justice — not to mention its ruthless oppression of the Cuban people — the Obama administration is reportedly plotting to remove the Communist Party dictatorship from the official U.S. government list of state sponsors of terrorism. According to media reports, the John Kerry-led State Department completed a “review” of Havana’s record and recommended that the regime be taken off the list. However, numerous analysts have pointed out that doing so would be a disaster — not least because the Castro regime has never stopped supporting terrorism.

Obama, who is currently at the socialist-dominated “Summit of the Americas” in Panama schmoozing with various Latin American autocrats, claimed he was waiting for a “recommendation” from his advisors before deciding to remove Castro from the terror list. “That review has been completed at the State Department,” Obama was quoted as saying. “It is now forwarded to the White House. Our inter-agency team will go through the entire thing and then present it to me with a recommendation. That hasn’t happened yet.” More than a few analysts expect Obama to make his big announcement by the end of the summit, which runs into the weekend, about removing Castro from the list. Multiple media outlets reported that Obama called the tyrant over the phone prior to the confab in Panama.

Speaking in Jamaica the day before the Panama summit, Obama dropped several hints suggesting that he would cave in to Castro’s demands. “Our emphasis has been on the facts,” Obama claimed, sounding oblivious to the irony. “We want to make sure that given that this is a powerful tool to isolate those countries that genuinely do support terrorism, that when we make those designations we’ve got strong evidence that, in fact, that’s the case.” The Castro regime genuinely supports terrorism, and Obama knows that. In fact, Castro’s thugs are currently in Panama terrorizing dissidents and critics of his regime. However, as The New American has documented extensively, top establishment players — ranging from the global government-promoting Council on Foreign Relations and Big Business to the dictator-dominated United Nations — have been trying to legitimize the autocracy for years.

Critics, though, say it would be a tragedy to remove the terrorist regime from the terror list. “Removing Cuba from the U.S. terror list is a terrible mistake,” said Frank De Varona, a Cuban-born American patriot who fought to free Cuba in the Bay of Pigs invasion and was imprisoned in one of Castro’s dungeons. “Cuba continues to support terrorism around the world.” Among other strategies, De Varona told The New American that the Cuban regime, through its close ally Venezuela, was providing intelligence to Hamas and Hezbollah. The regimes ruling Cuba, Venezuela, and Iran all have a very close relationship and continue to support terrorism across the Middle East, too, he said. The Castro regime also inked a deal with Russia’s Putin to establish military, intelligence, and naval bases in Cuba that “will threaten the national security of the United States,” said De Varona, also a former university professor, author, and expert on Cuba. (Read more from “Obama Set to Remove Castro Terror Regime from U.S. Terror List” HERE)

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DHS Ordered to Explain Secret Plan to Shut Down Phone Service

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phone serviceThe U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is questioning the Department of Homeland Security’s decision to keep secret its plan to shut down mobile phone service during “critical emergencies.” The court originally sided with the federal government that the plan should not be disclosed under a Freedom of Information Act request, but has since revisited the ruling and has ordered the DHS to explain the secrecy.

According to Ars Technica, the Department of Homeland Security plan, known as Standing Operating Procedure 303, was created after mobile phones were used to detonate explosives in London.

Court documents explain that SOP 303 is a “unified voluntary process for the orderly shut-down and restoration of wireless devices during critical emergencies such as the threat of radio-activated improvised explosive devices” . . .

As noted by The Blaze, outside groups have been requesting information about SOP 303 for years. The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) became particularly interested in SOP 303 in 2011, when officials attempted to stop a protest by shutting down cellular phone service near a San Francisco subway station. Likewise, Bay Area Rapid Transit shut down a portion of its train service during the same period. Following that incident, the Electronic Privacy Information Center filed a Freedom of Information Act request asking the federal government to disclose the federal document that granted the DHS the authority to enact SOP 303. The government agreed to the request, but redacted much of the document. (Read more from “DHS Ordered to Explain Secret Plan to Shut Down Phone Service” HERE)

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NY Times Blatantly Lies About the Carry of Guns at NRA Annual Meeting

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Photo Credit: Bearing Arms

Photo Credit: Bearing Arms

If the New York Times editorial board didn’t already exist, I’d have to invent them for my amusement.

Here’s the opening for their latest op-ed.

No Firing Pins, Please, as the N.R.A. Gathers

Seventy-thousand people are expected to attend the National Rifle Association’s convention opening on Friday in Tennessee, and not one of them will be allowed to come armed with guns that can actually shoot. After all the N.R.A. propaganda about how “good guys with guns” are needed to be on guard across American life, from elementary schools to workplaces, the weekend’s gathering of disarmed conventioneers seems the ultimate in hypocrisy.

This lede paragraph in a New York Times editorial today is completely, utterly, factually false.

As NPR discovered after reading one of our articles earlier this week, convention attendees at the NRA Annual meetings can indeed carry firearms at the NRA Annual Meeting. (Read more from “NY Times Blatantly Lies About the Carry of Guns at NRA Annual Meeting” HERE)

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As Encryption Spreads, Feds Contend with Those Who Think the Constitution Matters

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generalFor months, federal law enforcement agencies and industry have been deadlocked on a highly contentious issue: Should tech companies be obliged to guarantee government access to encrypted data on smartphones and other digital devices, and is that even possible without compromising the security of law-abiding customers?

Recently, the head of the National Security Agency provided a rare hint of what some U.S. officials think might be a technical solution. Why not, suggested Adm. Michael S. Rogers, require technology companies to create a digital key that could open any smartphone or other locked device to obtain text messages or photos, but divide the key into pieces so that no one person or agency alone could decide to use it?

“I don’t want a back door,” Rogers, the director of the nation’s top electronic spy agency, said during a speech at Princeton University, using a tech industry term for covert measures to bypass device security. “I want a front door. And I want the front door to have multiple locks. Big locks.”

Law enforcement and intelligence officials have been warning that the growing use of encryption could seriously hinder criminal and national security investigations. But the White House, which is preparing a report for President Obama on the issue, is still weighing a range of options, including whether authorities have other ways to get the data they need rather than compelling companies through regulatory or legislative action.

The task is not easy. Those taking part in the debate have polarized views, with advocates of default commercial encryption finding little common ground with government officials who see increasing peril as the technology becomes widespread on mobile phones and on text messaging apps. (Read more from “As Encryption Spreads, U.S. Grapples with Clash Between Privacy, Security” HERE)

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Ayatollah Khamenei Accuses White House of ‘Lying,’ Being ‘Deceptive,’ and Having ‘Devilish’ Intentions

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Photo Credit: Weekly Standard

Photo Credit: Weekly Standard

President Obama has long known that the real decision maker in Iran is Ayatollah Khamenei, the so-called supreme leader. While other Iranian officials have negotiated with Western powers over the mullahs’ nuclear program, Khamenei’s opinion is the only one that really counts. It is for this reason that Obama began writing directly to Khamenei early in his presidency.

Earlier today, Khamenei broke his silence on the supposed “framework” the Obama administration has been trumpeting as the basis for a nuclear accord. Khamenei’s speech pulled the rug out from underneath the administration.

Khamenei accused the Obama administration of “lying” about the proposed terms, being “deceptive,” and having “devilish” intentions, according to multiple published accounts of his speech, as well as posts on his official Twitter feed.

I trust our negotiators but I’m really worried as the other side is into lying & breaching promises; an example was White House fact sheet.

— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) April 9, 2015

Hours after the #talks, Americans offered a fact sheet that most of it was contrary to what was agreed.They always deceive &breach promises.

— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) April 9, 2015

Khamenei also disputed the key terms Obama administration officials have said were agreed upon in principle. Economic sanctions will not be phased out once Iran’s compliance has been “verified,” according to the Ayatollah. Instead, Khamenei said that if the U.S. wants a deal, then all sanctions must be dropped as soon as the agreement is finalized. Khamenei also put strict limits on the reach of the inspectors who would be tasked with this verification process in the first place.

Beginning earlier this month and in the days since, Obama and his advisers have attempted to portray the negotiations as major step forward. During an appearance in the Rose Garden on April 2, Obama said the U.S. and its allies have “reached a historic understanding with Iran.” (Read more from “Ayatollah Khamenei Accuses White House of ‘Lying,’ Being ‘Deceptive,’ and Having ‘Devilish’ Intentions” HERE)

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Team Obama Fires Back: Justice Dept. Lawyers Insist They Didn’t Lie to Court over Amnesty

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ObamaThe Obama administration vehemently denied Wednesday that it lied to a federal judge about President Obama’s deportation amnesty, but the court is moving to punish him anyway, saying his lawyers were either ignorant or intended to mislead the court when they insisted the amnesty policy was on hold.

In fact, the administration had already processed more than 100,000 cases of so-called Dreamers under the three-year provisions Mr. Obama announced in November — something the president’s lawyers belatedly admitted to Judge Andrew S. Hanen.

“Whether by ignorance, omission, purposeful misdirection, or because they were misled by their clients, the attorneys for the government misrepresented the facts,” the judge said, adding that he was stunned the government waited months before coming forward.

Late Tuesday, Judge Hanen issued an order rebuking the administration and granting Texas, which is suing to halt the amnesty, limited discovery in the case. For now, that means the government must turn over documents showing its thought process on how it was planning to carry out the amnesty.

Judge Hanen also shot down the Justice Department’s request to lift an injunction and restart the amnesty immediately, either nationwide or at least in some states where governors have asked for it. The judge said he’s more convinced than ever that Mr. Obama broke federal law when he announced the amnesty last November. (Read more from “Team Obama Fires Back: Justice Dept. Lawyers Insist They Didn’t Lie to Court over Amnesty” HERE)

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CNN Covers up Government Plan to Put Ebola Patients in U.S. Hotels

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Photo Credit: Natural News

Photo Credit: Natural News

The Ebola outbreak in West Africa has long since disappeared from the radars of the world’s news media, with coverage falling off dramatically from its peak last year.

That is especially true in the United States, but that coverage could soon change if a policy being pursued by the federal government’s premier health agency backfires. And as of right now, one mainstream news channel – CNN – may actually be covering up some important details.

According to The Organic Prepper web site, several American healthcare workers who were either exposed or “potentially” exposed to the Ebola virus have been brought back to the United States for treatment. One who was positively diagnosed with the disease was taken to the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.

But what about the others who were “potentially exposed?” The Organic Prepper’s Daisy Luther notes that CNN initially ran a story claiming that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was in charge of a plan to house the potentially infected in hotels, not hospitals. (Read more from “CNN Covers up Government Plan to Put Ebola Patients in U.S. Hotels” HERE)

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Obama Gun Control Push Backfires as Industry Sees Unprecedented Surge

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Photo Credit: Washington Times

Photo Credit: Washington Times

By Stephen Dinan. The American firearms industry is as healthy as ever, seeing an unprecedented surge that has sent production of guns soaring to more than 10.8 million manufactured in 2013 alone — double the total of just three years earlier.

The 2013 surge — the latest for which the government has figures — came in the first full year after the December 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, signaling that the push for stricter gun controls, strongly backed by President Obama, did little to chill the industry despite the passage of stricter laws in states such as New York, Maryland, Connecticut and California.

Indeed, interest in guns appears to be at an all-time high in California, which shattered its previous record for gun-purchase background checks last month, with nearly 200,000 processed, suggesting a vibrant firearms market in the country’s most populous state.

Industry backers say they aren’t surprised firearms buyers and manufacturers alike have responded to the national gun control debate by making and purchasing more.

“The surge in firearms sales in 2013 reflects both a long-term upward trend in shooting sports participation and [a] particular concern that year that law-abiding gun owners and those interested in purchasing a firearm for the first time could face tougher restrictions affecting access to and selection of firearms,” said Mike Bazinet, spokesman for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, an industry group. (Read more from “Obama Gun Control Push Backfires as Industry Sees Unprecedented Surge” HERE)

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Wal-Mart’s Right to Sell Guns at Risk in Lawsuit

By Kellan Howell. Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest gun retailer, is awaiting a verdict Wednesday to see whether it can continue to sell modern sporting rifles if enough investors think it’s a business the company shouldn’t be in.

Arguing that Wal-Mart’s willingness to sell high-capacity magazine rifles contradicts its promise to uphold community and family values, Trinity Wall Street Church in New York won its case in November, when the district court ruled shareholders could propose and vote on a resolution that would force Wal-Mart’s board of directors to review its gun sales policy.

Gun rights activists argue that the district court’s decision allows the church, which owns 3,500 Wal-Mart shares, and other political activists to push gun control via corporate policies rather than struggle to pass such laws in the electoral arena.

“Implications of the decision are already being felt in a wide variety of areas, like shareholders who want companies to divest in Israel or shareholders who wanted, prior to a few days ago, to invest in Indiana,” said Michael Hammond, legislative counsel for Gun Owners of America. “It’s sort of an ongoing effort by people who have been unable to use the political process to achieve political ends and are now trying to destroy corporations in order to achieve those political ends.”

Wal-Mart is worried that the court’s decision will give investors power to protest any of the items sold in Wal-Mart stores across the country. (Read more from this story HERE)

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“I Start Tearing up in the Middle of the Day, and I Can’t Explain It”: Why Obama Is so Sad

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Obama-sadPresident Obama on Tuesday asked for prayers because his daughters are growing up and could soon leave home for college.

During a prayer breakfast at the White House, Obama lamented the fact that his oldest daughter, Malia, 16, is touring colleges.

“I start tearing up in the middle of the day, and I can’t explain it,” Obama said. “Why am I so sad?”

“They’re leaving me,” he added.

Malia, a high school junior, has toured several top universities over the past year. Last summer, she visited Stanford University and the University of California, Berkley. She toured New York University, Columbia University and Barnard College earlier this year. (Read more from “”I Start Tearing up in the Middle of the Day, and I Can’t Explain It”: Why Obama Is so Sad” HERE)

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