White House Knew CIA Snooped on Senate, Illegally Hacked Computer

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Photo Credit: CNNCentral Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan consulted the White House before directing agency personnel to sift through a walled-off computer drive being used by the Senate Intelligence Committee to construct its investigation of the agency’s torture program, according to a recently released report by the CIA’s Office of the Inspector General.

The Inspector General’s report, which was completed in July but only released by the agency on Wednesday, reveals that Brennan spoke with White House chief of staff Denis McDonough before CIA employees were ordered to “use whatever means necessary” to determine how certain sensitive internal documents had wound up in Senate investigators’ hands. The conversation with McDonough came after Brennan first issued the directive, but before he reiterated it to a CIA attorney leading the probe.

Brennan’s consultation with McDonough also came before the CIA revealed the search to then-Senate Intelligence Committee chair Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), whose staff was the target of the snooping.

The new information suggesting the White House was aware of — and did not stop — the CIA’s computer snooping is unlikely to improve the existing distrust between Senate committee members and the executive branch. Feinstein has said that the CIA’s computer search likely violated the constitutional separation of powers, an allegation the White House has declined to directly address.

The Oval Office’s prior knowledge of the controversial computer review will no doubt worsen the tensions that have erupted over the matter between the executive branch, its chief intelligence agency and the lawmakers tasked with their oversight. (Read more on how CIA snooped HERE)

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Ferguson Violence Upswing: 7 Homicides in One Day in St. Louis

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The night manager of a Drury Inn in St. Louis was shot to death during an early Thursday robbery attempt, one of the city’s seven homicides during a 24-hour span. Police quickly made three arrests in cases in which the victims reportedly knew their assailants.

Police Chief Sam Dotson and Mayor Francis Slay condemned the violence at a Thursday afternoon news conference. They did not identify the suspects in custody, who will be formally charged Friday.

Scott Knopfel, 50, was shot in the head at the Drury hotel near Interstate 44 just before 3 a.m. after he struggled with his assailant while opening a cash drawer. Surveillance video shows the suspect, whom the manager mistook for a patron, entering the hotel and leaving less than 30 seconds later. He can be seen pulling out a handgun and vaulting a counter, then leaving the hotel in the same manner.

Seven homicides within 24 hours is an unusually high number for St. Louis, which has a population of about 320,000 people and recorded 159 homicides in 2014. Dotson and Slay linked the overnight violence to crime increases in the area documented since the fatal Ferguson police shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown more than five months ago in north St. Louis County.

“To see this much violence going on in our city within such a short period of time, it is absolutely outrageous,” Slay said. “It’s out of hand. It disgusts me.” (Read more about the Ferguson violence upswing HERE)

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Here’s the Unlikely Story of a Green Beret Turned NFL Prospect

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Green Beret, Texas Longhorn football player, NFL’s most improbable prospect – had just finished fixing a sat-com radio in the rear of an M-ATV, light-armored, mine-resistant vehicle. Now he was scrambling to get back to the relative safety of its cabin.

This was July 2014. This was on a thin ribbon of road on the edge of Tagab, a small village in the Kapisa Province of Afghanistan . . .

Boyer was part of the U.S. Army’s 3rd Special Forces Group, which he linked up with as a sort-of summer job, leaving major college football where he was Texas’ starting long snapper for the field of battle, only to return to the States, and his team, on the eve of preseason camp.

On this day, on the side of that road in Tagab, there were a dozen Americans and 100 Afghan soldiers they’d helped train, running a sweep for Taliban through a collection of mud huts not far from the Pakistani border.

Boyer’s convoy of maybe 25 vehicles had come under gun and mortar fire as it approached a town. Chaos ruled the day. The group was left scanning for muzzle flashes in order to target and return fire. Providing cover for medics charging into dirt fields to aid the injured. Trying to gain perspective amid clouds of smoke, courtesy of something burning behind the village walls. This is what Boyer was long used to, battle hardened via years of deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was 33 years old and long past panicking. (Read more about the green beret and his story HERE)

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Republicans Bracing for Obama’s Massive Spending Hike

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As President Obama prepares to ask for a 7 percent hike in federal spending in fiscal 2016, congressional Republicans are gearing up for a new budget fight.

Multiple reports have indicated that Obama is planning to request an additional $68 billion above current spending limits, and Republicans are none too happy about that development.

“Does the White House truly believe it’s got ‘enough goodwill building’ on the economy to start running up the nation’s credit card again?” asked Cory Fritz, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.

White House press secretary Josh Earnest on Thursday declined to confirm the details of the president’s budget request, saying only that the administration would unveil the blueprint Feb. 2.

Federal budgeting is done by the House of Representatives, however, making presidential budget requests symbolic documents that amount to a White House wish list. (Read more about the spending hike HERE)

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UPDATE: Duke University Reverses Decision to Broadcast Muslim Call

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By Ashley Pratte. Duke University reversed it’s decision to allow the “adhan”–Muslim call to prayer to be broadcast across campus every Friday.

Yesterday, the University was extremely supportive of the initiative and said that it would enhance the religious plurality on campus.

Well, enough people weighed in on the decision and now the school has decided to not allow the weekly “adhan” to take place–effectively beginning tomorrow. (Read more about the university to broadcast Muslim call HERE)
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Oxford University Warns Against Authors Writing About Pork Because it may Offend Muslims

By Jessica Chasmar. The largest university press in the world has warned its authors not to mention pigs or pork in their books to avoid offending Muslims and Jews.

Oxford University Press (OUP) explained that their books must take into consideration other cultures of the world and must avoid mentioning pigs or “anything else which could be perceived as pork,” the International Business Times reported.

The move was revealed during a discussion on free speech during BBC Radio 4’s “Today,” following last week’s terror attacks in Paris.

“I’ve got a letter here that was sent out by OUP to an author doing something for young people.” Presenter Jim Naughtie said. “Among the things prohibited in the text that was commissioned by OUP was the following: Pigs plus sausages, or anything else which could be perceived as pork.

“Now, if a respectable publisher, tied to an academic institution, is saying you’ve got to write a book in which you cannot mention pigs because some people might be offended, it’s just ludicrous. It is just a joke,” he said. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Duck Dynasty’s Phil Robertson: Editors Cut Name of Jesus to NOT Offend Muslims (+video)

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Duck Dynasty patriarch Phil Robertson said that when the Duck Dynasty show began on A&E in 2012, the video editors, based in Los Angeles, would often take out the words “in Jesus’ name” from the family prayer scene because they thought the name “Jesus” might “offend some of the Muslims or something.”

Robertson said he advised the show’s producers, in West Monroe, La., that they and the entire world kept time, the “year of Our Lord,” A.D., Anno Domini, based upon Jesus Christ and that it would not hurt to “throw His name in there from time to time,” and he noted that this example represented, the “spiritual warfare” that is always occurring.

Robertson made his comments during an interview with reporters for Sports Spectrum TV. He first related that video editors of Duck Dynasty initially added bleeps to the audio to suggest there was profanity when there was, in fact, no cursing by the cast members. Robertson got the editors to stop making those insertions.

He then recounted, “The other thing was when we prayed, we said, ‘In Jesus’ name. Amen.’ Now, I don’t have any verse that says you must always use or pray in the name of Jesus but it’s a very good idea, I think. So they were just having me saying, ‘Thank you Lord for the food, thank you for loving us. Amen.’”

“So I said, why would you cut out ‘In Jesus’ name’?” recalled Robertson. “They said, ‘Well, those editors are probably doing that and they just think, you know, they don’t want to maybe offend some of the Muslims or something.’” (Read more from this story HERE)

Duke University to Broadcast Muslim Call to Prayer Every Friday

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Photo Credit: Breitbart By Ashley Pratte. In a new initiative to promote religious pluralism, Duke University will broadcast the Muslim call to prayer every Friday on campus. The call to prayer—also known as “adhan”—will be chanted by the Duke Muslim Student Association.

The prayer itself is set to start this Friday at 1:00 p.m. and will be broadcast and amplified from the Chapel bell tower on campus.

As campuses continue to foster political correctness, they use it as a way to favor religions seemingly at war with Western Civilization and Judeo-Christian beliefs.


[LISTEN TO THE MUSLIM CALL TO PRAYER THAT DUKE WILL BE PLAYING HERE]

Frequently, we see students fighting for their religious freedom on campus—especially Christians. We hope that Duke University will also allow equal opportunity for Christian students to gather to pray and respect their religious freedom. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Rev. Graham: End the Muslim Call to Prayer Policy at Duke University

By Michael W. Chapman. Donors and alumni of the prestigious Duke University in Durham, N.C., a school founded by Quakers and Methodists, should “withhold their support” until Duke reverses its new policy allowing the Muslim Call to Prayer on Fridays, said Rev. Franklin Graham, son of world renowned pastor Billy Graham.

“Duke University announced today that they will have a Muslim call to prayer from their Chapel bell tower every Friday,” said Rev. Graham on his Facebook page on Jan. 14.

“As Christianity is being excluded from the public square and followers of Islam are raping, butchering, and beheading Christians, Jews, and anyone who doesn’t submit to their Sharia Islamic law, Duke is promoting this in the name of religious pluralism,” he said.

“I call on the donors and alumni to withhold their support from Duke until this policy is reversed,” added Rev. Graham, who lives in Boone, N.C., and is the president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA). (Read more from this story HERE)

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Pentagon Pushing Soldiers to Join the Teamsters

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The United States Army is recruiting soldiers to join the ranks of labor unions, according to an email obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

An email sent on behalf of Lt. Gen. Howard B. Bromberg, the Army’s head of human resources, urged soldiers on the verge of retirement to get involved with the Teamster Military Assistance Program.

“The Teamster Military Assistance Program and other similar programs focus on assisting soldiers and families who are transitioning from military service to be ‘career ready’ and have access to an established network of enablers, and on connecting soldiers with employment opportunities and the health care and education resources required to successfully reintegrate into civilian society,” the email says.

The email was sent through a Pentagon account Tuesday morning and distributed across the ranks. The program is intended to help soldiers, many of whom have extensive experience driving trucks in warzones, to drive big rigs on highways free of IEDs, according to the Army.

“This training program is a multiyear partnership between the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, ABF Freight, and the Army to train Soldiers for truck driver positions with ABF Freight throughout the country after they transition to civilian life,” the email says. (Read more about the join the teamsters push HERE)

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Need Help With Your New Obamacare Tax Return? IRS Won’t be There to Help

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Filing a federal tax return is about to get more complicated for millions of families because of President Barack Obama’s health law. But they shouldn’t expect much help from the Internal Revenue Service.

Got a question for the IRS? Good luck reaching someone by phone. The tax agency says only half of the 100 million people expected to call this year will be able to reach a person.

Callers who do get through may have to wait on hold for 30 minutes or more to talk to someone who will answer only the simplest questions.

“Taxpayers who need help are not getting it, and tax compliance is likely to suffer over the longer term if these problems are not quickly and decisively addressed,” said a report Wednesday by agency watchdog Nina E. Olson.

IRS Commissioner John Koskinen says budget cuts are forcing the agency to reduce taxpayer services and other functions. The number of audits will decline, technology upgrades will be delayed and the agency might be forced to shut down and furlough workers for two days later this year, Koskinen said. (Read more about how the IRS won’t be able to help with your Obamacare tax return HERE)

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Pelosi Names First Muslim Lawmaker to House Intelligence Committee (+video)

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By Lauren French. Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi announced in a closed-door meeting Tuesday she would name the first Muslim lawmaker to the House’s Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. . .

[Rep. André] Carson would be the first Muslim to serve on the committee and was the second Muslim to be elected to Congress. He already serves on the Armed Services Committee and worked for the Department of Homeland Security’s Fusion Center — the clearinghouse established by the federal government to streamline data sharing between the CIA, FBI, Department of Justice and the military. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Dutch Mayor Tells Muslims Who Can’t Stand Free Speech to “F**K OFF!”

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Ex-NYPD Detective: Muslim-Only “No Go Zones” Coming to the US

By Sean Piccoli. The rise of so-called “no-go zones” in France — segregated Muslim communities governed by local imams and abandoned by French police — are the handiwork of Islamists who plan to spread them throughout the non-Muslim West, a former New York City police detective told Newsmax TV on Tuesday.

“I think this is actually a strategy that is slowly being implemented worldwide by radical Islam,” Harry Houck, a private investigator and retired NYPD detective, told “The Steve Malzberg Show,” describing a process of gradual takeover that he said is key to the Islamists’ dream of world dominion.

“What they do is they imitate the free countries and then ask the politicians that are giving these free zones — these no-go zones — [to] let them implement some type of Sharia law,” said Houck. “That should be a flag to any politician or any government, that if anybody wants to immigrate to your country and then change your laws for the laws they want to follow, those people should be kicked out immediately,” he said. (Read more from this story HERE)