GAO: DHS Flew Drones for 1,726 Hours Over Interior of U.S.

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Photo Credit: AP / John MillerThe Department of Homeland Security flew drones equipped with video cameras over the United States–away from border and coastal areas–for 1,726 hours from fiscal 2011 through this April, according to the Government Accountability Office.

At times, the drones–or Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS)–were being used for purposes other than border or immigration enforcement. But the GAO does not have a full accounting of when and where the drones were flown, or what they were used for during the flight hours spent in “other airspace.”

In a series of briefing slides provided in August to the staffs of the House and Senate appropriations subcommittees on homeland security (and publicly released this week), the GAO examined whether DHS’s use of drones complied with U.S. privacy and civil liberty laws. In the slides, the GAO noted that DHS border patrol drones, which are primarily used to “support border security operations,” were sometimes flown away from the border “in support of other federal, state or local law enforcement activities and for emergency humanitarian efforts.”

“DHS’s review reported that CBP operates UAS in accordance with its authorities, which do not limit use to border and coastal areas,” the GAO reported on briefing slide No. 2. “The location of UAS operations is limited by FAA requirements and CPB policies and procedures.”

These flights included missions to “provide aerial support for local law enforcement activities and investigations,” to agencies including the FBI and multi-agency task forces, and to “provide aerial support for monitoring natural disasters,” the report added on slide No. 11.

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Robert F. Kennedy, Jr: Corporations That ‘Sponsor Climate Lies’ Should Get ‘Death Penalty’

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Photo Credit: NewscomIn an op-ed published earlier this week for EcoWatch, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. called for all organizations that “deliberately, purposefully, maliciously and systematically sponsor climate lies” to undergo the corporate equivalent of the death penalty.

“This can be accomplished through an existing legal proceeding known as ‘charter revocation,’” Kennedy wrote. “State Attorneys General can invoke this remedy whenever corporations put their profit-making before the ’public welfare.’”

He likens organizations that produce research promoting job-creating industries, like The Heritage Foundation, to the tobacco industry:

Like the Tobacco Institute and CTR, these front groups are snake pits for sociopaths. Run by venomous carbon industry toadies, they stable a craven menagerie of propaganda wizards, slick biostitutes, tobacco scientists, snake oil hucksters, voodoo economists and other so called “experts” employed to publish beguiling studies, appear on TV and radio, and write deceptive articles critiquing the “flawed science” predicting climate change.

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BLM Employees Charged Taxpayers $799,000 for 'Gift Cards'

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Wildfire management employees at the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) used government charge cards to by $799,000 worth of gift cards from vendors such as REI, American Express, FredMeyer and Visa, according to a report released Sept. 30 by the Interior Department’s Office of the Inspector General.

When investigators requested supporting documentation such as purchase orders, receipts, and authorizing signatures, BLM staff claimed that they were “missing,” according to the report.

The inspector general describes widespread misuse of government-issued charge cards at the agency, making the “purchase card program susceptible to fraud, waste, and abuse.”

In 2010, BLM conducted an agency-wide audit of the purchase card program. Auditors traced $70,000 of the undocumented purchases to the Idaho State Office, where one employee was found to have purchased personal items and gift cards totalling $41,276.33.

In May 2011, the investigation resulted in the suspension of BLM employee Maria Gilbert’s government credit card. On Sept. 13, 2013 Gilbert was charged with one count of theft of government funds between 2007 and 2011, to which she pleaded guilty.

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HUD Official Pleads Guilty To Stealing $843,000 In Taxpayer Funds

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Photo Credit: Daily CallerFormer Housing and Urban Development loan specialist Brian Thompson pleaded guilty Thursday to stealing $843,000 of taxpayer money in a wire fraud scheme.

Thompson was responsible for selling properties acquired by the government after borrowers defaulted on their HUD-guaranteed mortgages. Specialists like Thompson were tasked with ensuring the sale of these properties at the best possible price to reimburse the government for taxpayer funds made to mortgage lenders for insured loans. Instead, he funneled portions of the proceeds into bank accounts he controlled, netting himself $843,000 in the process.

Thompson scheme went undetected for nearly a year. To conceal his fraud, he fabricated settlement documents with false sales prices and even buyer names.

“Brian Thompson exploited his government job to rob the American taxpayer of more than $800,000,” said U.S. Attorney Ronald Machen. “This crooked HUD employee diverted the proceeds of real estate sales from the U.S. Treasury to his own pockets through lies and trickery. He now faces serious prison time as a result of criminal breach of the public trust.”

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Obama To Questioner On Rising Health Costs: You’re Doing It Wrong

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Photo Credit: Daily CallerWhen a company manager asked President Obama about his company’s rising health care costs on Friday, Obama’s first response was to blame the company.

Speaking at Millennium Steel Services in Princeton, Indiana, the president said that if the company’s health insurance costs were still rising, the management simply isn’t “shopping” correctly.

“We are seeing almost a double-digit increase in health-care costs every year,” Millennium Steel general manager Mihir Paranjape told President Obama. “Do you think that trend is going to go down, and what can we do to control that trend?”

“I think that’s really interesting, you’re gonna have to talk to Henry,” Obama replied, referring to Henry Jackson, Millennium Steel’s CEO. “No, no, no, this is serious,” he continued, when several audience members laughed, “The question is whether you guys are shopping effectively enough.”

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U.S. Soldiers in “War” with ISIS Not Eligible for Medals?

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With 1,600 military “advisers” on the ground in Iraq, 2,300 of our troops being deployed to the Middle East as a “special purpose marine air ground task force,” and ongoing airstrikes being conducted in Iraq and Syria against ISIS’s jihadist army, it is absolutely stunning that our military personnel are NOT eligible for certain military medals.

Why? Because the Obama Administration refuses to call our fight against ISIS terror a military campaign.

It’s not only outrageous; it’s insulting to the brave men and women our Commander-in-Chief has put in harm’s way, has sent into a war zone, to defend freedom.

Make no mistake; ISIS is at war with America. They are slaughtering Christians. They have amassed huge wealth and sophisticated weapons. They are a jihadist army.

To tell those who we’ve tasked with defeating them – and President Obama told the American people that’s what we are going to do – that they can’t receive commendation medals in this fight is preposterous.

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Toll Worker: Boss Told Me Not to Say 'God Bless You'

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Photo Credit: Fox NewsA former New Jersey toll booth worker said she was told by her supervisor to stop saying “God bless you,” because it might offend motorists.

Cynthia Fernandez has filed a lawsuit against the Garden State Parkway claiming her former boss violated her First Amendment rights.

“I was so upset, I was crying” the mother of three told me. “There’s nothing wrong with saying ‘God bless you.’”

From day one she had always greeted motorists with a smile and a “God bless.”

A few weeks ago she was meeting with her supervisor when he laid down the law on her toll booth language.

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Judicial Watch Sues DHS For Information Surrounding Release of 36,000 Criminal Aliens

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Photo Credit: TownHallBy Katie Pavlich.

Government watchdog Judicial Watch has filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security for information surrounding the release of 36,000 criminal aliens into American communities earlier this year. The lawsuit comes after DHS officials failed to respond to a May 15, 2014 FOIA request in the amount of time required by law.

In the lawsuit, Judicial Watch is seeking “Any and all records of communications including, but not limited to, emails and memoranda, to or from personnel in the office of the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (including its component offices, such as the Office of Public Affairs), from May 1 to May 15, 2014, concerning, regarding, or related to the report published by the Center for Immigrations Studies concerning the release of 36,000 criminal aliens.”

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Photo Credit: GettyGOP Chairman Touts Immigration For Economy, Sidelines Obama’s Amnesty

By Neil Munro.

Republican Party chairman Reince Priebus outlined a November immigration platform that emphasized the contribution of immigrants to economic growth, but downplayed opposition to President Barack Obama’s immigration-boosting actions.

“We need to make sure America remains a place where people aspire to work and dream and live,” Priebus said in a morning speech in Washington D.C. “Our country should be a welcoming place for those who want to come here and do it the right way,” he said in a speech that was intended to offer a GOP alternative to Obama’s policies.

But GOP populists pushed back, saying Priebus is not sufficiently anti-amnesty.

“The elephant in the room is amnesty for illegal immigrants, and if the Republicans fail to take a strong stand against it, they will squander an opportunity and continue to lose elections,” warned Jenny Beth Martin, head of the Tea Party Patriots, in a press statement.

“Americans oppose amnesty, and it is a winning issue for conservatives,” she said, and added a sharp warning to Priebus.

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Mark Levin Calls for Investigation into Obama Intel Briefings

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Photo Credit: White HouseBy Wynton Hall.

On Tuesday, conservative radio talk show host Mark Levin called for an investigation into the contents of President Barack Obama’s daily intelligence briefings that warned of the Islamic State’s (ISIS) rise years ago–a claim substantiated by Obama’s own national security staff in comments to the Daily Mail.

“He was aware of all of it, if he had read his intelligence briefings,” said Levin. “He is the commander-in-chief. The reason they put together that daily intelligence briefing–Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and sometimes two or three times a day, depending–is so he’ll read it. That’s the least he can do, because most presidents, all previous presidents, have had it explained to them, so they can ask questions right there on the spot and interact. But not Obama.”

Levin said an investigation is needed to find out “what Obama knew and when he knew it” about the Islamic State’s rise to power.

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Photo Credit: Mark Levin: ‘Have You Noticed Nothing Really Works Under This President?’

By Susan Jones.

“[H]ave you noticed really works under this president, from the Secret Service to immigration to the economy?” conservative talk-radio host Mark Levin asked Fox News’s Sean Hannity Wednesday night.

“Is there anything this president, from your perspective, has done well?” Hannity asked Levin.

“No. There’s not a thing he’s done well,” Levin replied. “And here’s the problem, Sean. People who support big government, centralized government, liberalism — well, congratulations, you have it. And it’s an absolute disaster.

“And here’s what’s remarkable to me. He doesn’t go back and actually look at something, have some circumspection, say, You know, we’re going to fix Obamacare. Let’s pull back. Maybe we bit off more than we can chew. It’s full speed ahead, the foot on the gas pedal.

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Rand Paul: ‘Can You Imagine If A Whole Ship Full Of Our Soldiers Catch Ebola?’

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Photo Credit: Richard Ellis / GettySen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., is questioning President Barack Obama’s decision to send 3,000 U.S. military personnel to West Africa to help combat Ebola, worrying that troops might contract the virus.

Speaking to “The Laura Ingraham Show” Wednesday about the first case of Ebola inside the U.S., the potential 2016 presidential contender stated it has to be a concern about having thousands of soldiers on the same ship who could have been in contact with the deadly virus.

“You also have to be concerned about 3,000 soldiers getting back on a ship. Where is disease most transmittable? When you’re in a very close confines on a ship, we all know about cruises and how they get these diarrhea viruses that are transmitted very easily,” Paul told Ingraham. “Can you imagine if a whole ship full of our soldiers catch Ebola?’

Paul said he felt “political correctness” is getting in the way of government officials making sound decisions to deal with the Ebola threat.

“I really think that it is being dominated by political correctness and I think because of political correctness we’re not really making sound, rational, scientific decisions on this,” Paul noted.

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