Hillary Clinton’s Refusal to Put Murderous Boko Haram on Terrorist List Will Hurt Her in 2016

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Hillary Clinton will have yet another decision as secretary of state scrutinized during her upcoming run for president.

Boko Haram, the Islamic terrorist group that Secretary of State John Kerry called one of the most evil in the world, was not always treated as a significant threat by the Obama administration.

As secretary of state, Hillary Clinton refused to put the group on the official U.S. terrorist list.

Many officials have said the decision not to put Boko Haram on the terrorist organization list limited what the United States could do to stop their atrocities . . .

“This is going to be a problem for Hillary Clinton because Boko Haram has been around for quite a while,” MSNBC analyst China Okasi said. “When Hillary Clinton was secretary of state, she was a bit reluctant to put the group on the terrorist list because she did not want to give the group the validation.” (Read more about the refusal to put Boko Haram on terrorist list HERE)

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New Police Radars Can See Inside Homes

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Photo Credit: USA Today
At least 50 U.S. law enforcement agencies have secretly equipped their officers with radar devices that allow them to effectively peer through the walls of houses to see whether anyone is inside, a practice raising new concerns about the extent of government surveillance.

Those agencies, including the FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service, began deploying the radar systems more than two years ago with little notice to the courts and no public disclosure of when or how they would be used. The technology raises legal and privacy issues because the U.S. Supreme Court has said officers generally cannot use high-tech sensors to tell them about the inside of a person’s house without first obtaining a search warrant.

The radars work like finely tuned motion detectors, using radio waves to zero in on movements as slight as human breathing from a distance of more than 50 feet. They can detect whether anyone is inside of a house, where they are and whether they are moving.

Current and former federal officials say the information is critical for keeping officers safe if they need to storm buildings or rescue hostages. But privacy advocates and judges have nonetheless expressed concern about the circumstances in which law enforcement agencies may be using the radars — and the fact that they have so far done so without public scrutiny.

“The idea that the government can send signals through the wall of your house to figure out what’s inside is problematic,” said Christopher Soghoian, the American Civil Liberties Union’s principal technologist. “Technologies that allow the police to look inside of a home are among the intrusive tools that police have.” (Read more about the radars being able to see inside homes HERE)

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Man Claims NYPD Set Him Up With Planted Gun

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By Josh Saul. A Brooklyn man who says​ ​he was​ ​falsely arrested by police who planted a​ ​gun on him is​ suing the city and the​ ​NYPD.

Jeffery Herring, 53, was cleared last week on​ ​the​ ​weapons rap when prosecutors failed to produce a confidential police informant, despite a judge’s order that the witness​ ​be brought to court.

“Despite Mr. Herring’s innocence, the defendants fabricated and falsified evidence to have him arrested and prosecuted,” states the lawsuit, which was being filed in Brooklyn federal court Monday by lawyer Joseph Indusi.

Herring’s suit also levels a new allegation against the officers — it claims they pocketed the $1,000 reward that would have gone to a confidential informant for leading them to the gun arrests.

“The individually named defendants were abusing the ‘Operation Gun Stop’ program to enrich themselves at the expense of violating plaintiff’s constitutional rights,” the suit claims. (Read more about the man claiming NYPD set him up with a planted gun HERE)

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Invoking King’s Memory, de Blasio, Sharpton Try to Mend Fences With NYPD

By Maria Alvarez. Mayor Bill de Blasio and the Rev. Al Sharpton embraced after giving heartfelt speeches that promised their commitment to social justice while respecting the NYPD as they vowed to mend fences between police and the community.

The two men were with a dozen elected officials who spoke to several hundred National Action Network members and supporters at Sharpton’s House of Justice in Harlem, where they noted the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

“We are not anti-police. We respect the police who put their lives on the line for us,” said Sharpton, whose organization hired five tour buses to bring supporters to Brooklyn to lay wreaths where slain officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu were shot and killed Dec. 20 while sitting in their police cruiser. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Petition Forces White House Response for Imprisoned Lieutenant

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Photo Credit: Army Times Supporters of a former first lieutenant convicted of murder in the 2012 deaths of two Afghan men now await a response from the White House after a petition calling for his pardon gained 100,000 signatures.

Clint Lorance’s supporters launched the White House petition Jan. 2, after the commander of the 82nd Airborne Division upheld the guilty verdict in the case.

The petition needed 100,000 signatures by Feb. 1 to get a response from the White House. The petition reached that threshold Monday night; it had 101,273 signatures late Monday.

In the petition, supporters call for a presidential pardon for Lorance, saying the former lieutenant was punished for trying to protect his soldiers.

“The president has the chance to tell the military and our enemies that when we send our young sons and daughters into harm’s way, we do not turn against them,” the petition states. (Read more about the imprisoned lieutenant HERE)

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Kentucky Bill Tries to Reverse Insane Transgender Rule Allowing Boys and Girls to Use Same Bathroom at the Same Time

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In a rebuke to a Louisville high school, a Kentucky lawmaker is sponsoring a bill that would ban transgender students from using school restrooms that don’t correspond to their anatomical sex.

The “Kentucky Student Privacy Act,” proposed by State Sen. C.B. Embry Jr., R-Morgantown, also would allow students to sue the school for $2,500 when they encounter a person of the opposite biological sex in a bathroom or locker room if staff have allowed it or failed to prohibit it.

“Parents have a reasonable expectation that schools will not allow minor children to be viewed in various states of undress by members of the opposite biological sex,” Embry wrote in Senate Bill 76, filed this month in the state’s General Assembly.

The bill, backed by the Family Foundation of Kentucky, would allow transgender students to ask for special accommodations, such as a unisex bathroom.

It comes in direct response to a controversy last year in Louisville, where Atherton High School principal Thomas Aberli allowed a transgender student who was born male but identifies as a female to use the girls’ bathrooms and locker rooms. (Read more about the bill targeting the insane transgender rule HERE)

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Martin Luther King’s Legacy Honored With Tributes Around the Nation

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Speakers honoring the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. at his spiritual home in Atlanta repeated the same message on his national holiday Monday: We’ve come a long way, but there’s still much to be done to fulfill King’s dream.

King’s daughter, the Rev. Bernice King, urged those gathered at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta for the 47th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Annual Commemorative Service to act out against injustice. But she also said they should heed her father’s message of nonviolence.

“We cannot act unless we understand what Dr. King taught us. He taught us that we still have a choice to make: nonviolent coexistence or violent co-annihilation,” she said. “I challenge you to work with us as we help this nation choose nonviolence.”

The courage and sacrifice of those who participated in the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s provides a model for those seeking to effect change today, Bernice King said, adding, “We praise God for a new generation of activists.”

Commemorative events and service projects were organized nationwide to celebrate King’s life and legacy. In cities nationwide, demonstrators also used the occasion to protest persistent inequality. (Read more about Martin Luther King’s legacy HERE)

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Dead of Apparent Murder-Suicide: Writer/Director of “The Gray State” Movie, Predicted U.S. Police State (+videos)

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In the white rambler in the 1000 block of Ramsdell Drive in Apple Valley, a terrible sight awaited police: The bodies of a man, woman and child lying in the living room, the perpetrator and victims of an apparent murder-suicide.

The bodies may have been there for up to four weeks before they were found Saturday afternoon; neighbors next door and across the street said they hadn’t seen the family since before Christmas.

Authorities have not officially identified the people found in the home, but neighbors, real estate records and other data showed they were David T. Crowley, 29; his wife, Komel Crowley, 28, and their 5-year-old daughter, Rani. A black handgun lay nearby.

The family’s dog was still alive, but wild and aggressive when police arrived, said neighbor Collin Prochnow, who discovered the bodies. . .

[Neighbor] Judy Prochnow said another neighbor had commented to her about the curtains at the Crowleys’ home being wide open when, usually, they were closed.

But neither the Prochnows nor Alice and Bill Hixson, who live across the street, heard any gunshots or a dog barking, they said. (Read more from this story HERE)
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The Writer/Producer of The Gray State Suggests Second American Revolution Will be Forgotten

Watch the Trailer to The Gray State as well as an interview with David Crowley regarding the movie.


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The Writer/Producer of The Gray State Speaks at PaulFest in 2012

Jane Fonda’s Latest Regret: Sitting on That Gun in North Vietnam

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Having reached her mid-seventies, Oscar-winner Jane Fonda is now in that phase of her career where she’s celebrated with all kinds of “achievement awards.” Last night at the L.A. Press Club gala honoring her, Fonda revealed that her biggest regret in life is no longer not “f***ing” mass-murderer Che Guevera, but that moment that defined her even more than her film career: when she was photographed sitting on a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun meant to shoot down American pilots during the Vietnam War.

In a short speech, Fonda called out her friends in the audience — Daniels, Sam Waterston, Melanie Griffith and Lily Tomlin — and said, “I can’t tell you how moved I am for this award.”

Then, in a “lightning round” Q&A with NBC 4 anchor Robert Kovacik, Fonda touched on a variety of topics: …

– On her greatest regret in life: “Sitting on that gun in North Vietnam. I’ll go to my grave with that one.”

Well, give the actress credit. This is a step up from what we learned in Patricia Bosworth’s Biography, “Jane Fonda,” where the star reportedly said: “My biggest regret is I never got to f*** Che Guevara.” (Read about Fonda’s regret of sitting on the gun in North Vietnam HERE)

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Middle Class Decline Looms Over Final Years of Obama Presidency

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By Howard Schneider. Barack Obama enters the final two years of his presidency with a blemish on his legacy that looks impossible to erase: the decline of the middle class he has promised to rescue.

The revival of middle-class jobs has been one of Obama’s mantras since he took office in 2009 fighting the worst economic crisis in generations. It was a major theme of his last State of the Union address and is expected to feature in the one scheduled for Tuesday.

Administration officials said on Saturday the president would propose higher capital gains taxes, new fees on large financial firms, and other measures to raise $320 billion for programs and tax breaks aimed at the middle class . . .

But for the middle class the scars of the recession still run deep. Federal Reserve survey data show families in the middle fifth of the income scale now earn less and their net worth is lower than when Obama took office. (Read more about the middle class decline HERE)

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Majority of U.S. Schools Poor Enough for Lunch Help

By Reuters. The share of public school students who qualify for free or reduced lunch in the United States has grown to 51 percent, in an indication of growing poverty, according to a report released on Friday.

The problem is most acute in Mississippi where 71 percent of students were in that category, according to the report from the Southern Education Foundation.

The group identified the share of students from low-income families by analyzing 2013 federal data on children who qualify for free or reduced lunch at school, which is offered to those from families at or below 185 percent of the federal poverty level. For a family of four, the poverty level is less than $24,000 a year and 185 percent of that figure is about $44,000. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Senators Defy Threatened Obama Veto on Iran Sanctions

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Photo Credit: Daily CallerAs talks over Iran’s nuclear program resumed Sunday in Geneva, lawmakers in Congress moved forward with legislation to impose new sanctions on Tehran, defying a veto threat from President Obama.

The Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee announced that it would meet Thursday to consider bipartisan sanctions legislation by Sens. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., and Bob Menendez, D-N.J.

It’s an indication that the two senators have lined up enough support to deliver Obama a humiliating defeat on the issue just days after he publicly threatened to veto any proposed sanctions. Last month, Kirk told the Washington Examiner that he and Menendez were aiming for legislation that could receive bipartisan support sufficient to overcome any presidential veto.

House lawmakers are working on their own sanctions bill.

Support for sanctions is strong in both chambers of Congress, in spite of intense administration lobbying on the issue. Legislation to impose new sanctions on Iran passed the House in July 2013 by a 400-20 vote. In the Senate, an earlier version of the legislation by Menendez and Kirk had majority support last year but was blocked by then-Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. (Read more about the veto on Iran sanctions HERE)

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