POW Bergdahl: ‘I Am Ashamed To Be An American’…

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Photo Credit: EPA; AP; ReutersThe bizarre tale of America’s last known POW

By Michael Gartland.

Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the last known American POW, was freed after five years in captivity — an ordeal that began and ended in Afghanistan under a shroud of mystery.

The Taliban turned over Bergdahl Saturday morning to US special forces in exchange for five notorious Islamic militants who had been held at Guantanamo Bay and will be sent to Qatar, where they will stay for a year under the terms of the trade.

At least one of the prisoners, ranking Taliban leader Khairullah Khairkhwa, had direct ties to Osama bin Laden.

Bergdahl was picked up by helicopter in western Afghanistan, near the Pakistan border.

After climbing aboard, the 28-year-old Idahoan, trying to communicate with his rescuers over the roar of the rotors, scrawled “SF?” on a paper plate — asking his rescuers whether they were special forces.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Amidst celebrations for Bergdahl’s release, some unsettling questions

By Allen West.

Everyone is celebrating the release of Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, and we’re glad he’ll be home with his family in Idaho soon.

However, there are questions that must be answered – like, why did the young Soldier walk off his Forward Operating Base (FOB) back in 2009? It’s not the modus operandi for Islamic terrorists to detain American troops when captured, as we reported previously. Our troops are brutally, ritually, and savagely murdered — to include American security contractors (remember the Fallujah bridge) — not held for five years.

And to have this “deal” brokered in Qatar (supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood) calls for even more questions.

What we do know are the identities of the five Afghan Taliban who were released.

According to a report in the Weekly Standard, they are five of the most dangerous Taliban commanders in U.S. custody. The Taliban has long demanded that the “Gitmo 5” be released in order for peace talks to begin in earnest. The Obama administration has desperately sought to engage the Taliban as American forces are drawn down in Afghanistan, but those talks have gone nowhere to this point.

Read more from this story HERE.

Harry Reid Threatens Private Property in America

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Photo Credit: TownHall The Commerce Department reports that first quarter GDP contracted by one percent. The Wall Street Journal notes that a contraction of GDP during a time not in recession is rare.

So we continue in the slowest economic recovery since the end of World War II, with unemployment, in the 6th year of the Obama regime, at 6.3 percent, still well above its historic average.

According to a recent Gallup poll, the economy is the number issue on the minds of Americans. Ninety one percent of Republicans and 87 percent of Democrats say it is the most important issue facing the nation.

So how is Democrat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and 49 of his Democrat colleagues spending their time?

Writing to National Football League commissioner Roger Goodell asking that the NFL pressure Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder to change the name of his team.

Read more from this story HERE.

1K Immigrant Children to Be Sent to Arizona Over Weekend

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Photo Credit: AP / Rick ScuteriHundreds of unaccompanied minors who entered the United States illegally through Texas are being shipped to Nogales, Ariz., creating a problem there so serious the federal government is sending relief supplies and asking the state for vaccines, an aide to Gov. Jan Brewer said Friday.

Andrew Wilder, the governor’s communications chief, said federal officials told Brewer’s office they were moving 432 children into Arizona late Friday, with another 367 expected today and an identical number the following day. And that said Wilder, is apparently just the beginning.

“More unaccompanied minors will continue to Arizona,” he said.

Wilder said they are being taken to a detention center in on West La Quinta Road in Nogales for at least preliminary processing. He said state officials were told they would stay there for about three days before being shipped out to detention facilities in San Antonio, Fort Sill, Oklahoma, or Ventura, California.

That center in Nogales was recently opened to handle the large influx after being closed for several years. It has no indoor plumbing.

Read more from this story HERE.

Vermont Firearms Dealer To Lay Off 41 Because of Obama Executive Action

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Photo Credit: APBy Chuck Ross.

A Vermont firearms dealer says the Obama administration is responsible for him having to lay off 41 of its workers in a “last minute” move that has even angered some of the state’s liberal politicians.

Century International Arms had a $30 million contract in place to import World War II era M1 Garand Rifles from the South Korean government. The U.S. State Department had given preliminary approval to the deal, and the State, Justice and Defense departments had cleared the transaction.

But an executive action announced last year by President Obama ultimately blocked the plan, according to the gun seller, despite pleas from Sen. Patrick Leahy and Gov. Peter Shumlin, both Democrats.

“All the normal approvals were in place to obtain the import permits for this sale from ATF,” the company wrote in a statement on Thursday.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: IJ Review Finally, A Mandate Liberals Will Oppose: Colorado Town Requires Citizens to Own Guns

By Kevin Boyd.

The town of Nucla, Colorado (population 750 or so) has become the first town in the state of Colorado to mandate that all of its residents own guns. The town board passed the ordinance with only one vote opposed.

The Denver Post has the story:

The Venus Stylin’ beauty salon is one of the few businesses in this town where the heads of hunted animals don’t stare glassy-eyed from the walls. But that doesn’t mean that this is a zone free of the gun-rights fervor that grips Nucla.

“We should all have guns, lots of them,” opined stylist Traciena Johannsen as she painted highlights on the hair of a client who spoke up from beneath the tent of foil on her head to say she has two guns. In fact, she shot a wild turkey with one of them last week.

Read more from this story HERE.

Obama Working to Bring Gun Registration ‘Horror Show’ to Every Corner of America

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Photo Credit: TownHallThe scene above isn’t from a foreign country. It’s happening right here in America.

Law-abiding gun owners in Connecticut were recently forced to line up and register their firearms with the state government by January 1 of this year.

Now, citizens who either missed the deadline, or simply refused to submit to the blatantly unconstitutional law, are facing felony charges and up to five years in prison.

In fact, anti-gun groups and their allies in the state media are outright campaigning for authorities to “use the background check database” to round up an estimated 300,000 gun owners, fine them $5,000, and put them behind bars.

“If this can happen anywhere in America, it can happen everywhere,” warns Chris Cox, Executive Director of the National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA).

Read more from this story HERE.

Liberal Law Professor Turley: Obama Broke the Law (+video)

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Photo Credit: Pete SouzaBy Brendan Bordelon.

George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley said Monday that he doesn’t believe there’s much debate over whether the White House broke the law by releasing five high-ranking Taliban prisoners from Guantanamo Bay without congressional notification — noting that not even the White House is seriously arguing that it is not violating federal law.

Turley spoke with CNN anchor Carol Costello on Monday about the weekend prisoner swap, which saw Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl released from Taliban custody in exchange for five top-ranking Taliban officials held at Gitmo. Republicans in Congress have already accused the White House of ignoring a law requiring a 30-day notification before any prisoners are transferred from the high-security Caribbean prison, and have promised to hold hearings on the issue.

“Did the White House violate federal law?” Costello asked Turley.

“They did,” the professor replied matter-of-factly. “I don’t think that the White House is seriously arguing that they’re not violating federal law. And to make matters worse, this is a long series of violations of federal law that the president’s been accused of. … This is going to add to that pile. I don’t think there’s much debate that they’re in violation of the law.”

Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: AP / U.S. Army, FilePentagon Knew Bergdahl’s Whereabouts But Didn’t Risk Rescue for ‘Deserter’

By Guy Taylor / Washington Times.

The Pentagon on several occasions had ground-level intelligence on where ArmySgt. Bowe Bergdahl was being held captive at various times — down to how many gunmen were guarding him — but special operations commanders repeatedly shelved rescue missions because they didn’t want to risk casualties for a man they believed to be a “deserter,” sources familiar with the mission plans said.

Commanders on the ground debated whether to pull the trigger on a rescue several times in recent years, according to one of the sources, a former high-level intelligence official in Afghanistan, who said the conclusion each time was that the prospect of losing highly trained troops was too high a price to pay for rescuing a soldier who walked away from his unit before being captured by the enemy.

A second source told The Washington Times that the rescue operation plans were “high risk” and became even less attractive in recent months when officials in the Pentagon’s Joint Special Operations Command grew convinced that the Taliban and the militant Haqqani network, whose operatives were holding Sgt. Bergdahl, were eager to cut a deal for his release.

“Joint Special Operations Command always had the rescue mission on the table and it was entirely under their ownership, but the big question centered on whether Bergdahl was somebody you risk lives for when you still have time and space to maneuver diplomatically,” said the source, a high-level congressional aide, who, like the former intelligence official, spoke only on the condition of anonymity.

Read more from this story HERE.

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VIDEO: Terrorists Released From Guantanamo Bay Get a ‘Heroes’ Welcome’ in Qatar

By Soopermexican / IJ Review.

Boy, nothing warms the cockles of your heart like watching grinning, happy terrorists hailed as heroes after being released from Guantanamo Bay by our feckless president…

Read more from this story HERE.

Ted Cruz: ‘Obama’s Lawlessness’ Responsible for Spike in Illegal Immigration

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Photo Credit: Breitbart By Kristin Tate.

A sharp spike in illegal immigration has caused facilities and resources along the U.S.-Mexico border to become overwhelmed. As a result, U.S. Border Patrol has been releasing thousands of illegal immigrants onto U.S. soil each week. Some released immigrants are even criminals–as Breitbart Texas previously reported, more than 36,000 convicted criminal illegal aliens were released by U.S. authorities in 2013 alone.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz told Breitbart Texas that this “humanitarian crisis” is a “direct consequence” of the Obama Administration’s actions and rhetoric surrounding illegal immigration.

“We need a president who is willing to uphold the law,” Cruz said. “On issue after issue the Obama Administration has openly ignored, defied, and unilaterally tried to change the law. With respect to securing the border, the Obama Administration has handcuffed the courageous men and women who serve in Border Patrol. Morale in ICE is at an all-time low because the political operatives leading this Administration are preventing them from doing their job and upholding the law.”

He continued, “Just a few months before the last election the president illegally and unconstitutionally granted amnesty to some 800,000 people illegally. If the president wants to change federal immigration laws, the Constitution lays out a way to do so–you go and make your case to Congress and you convince Congress to change the laws…unfortunately for President Obama, following the Constitutional structure is apparently too cumbersome. One of the consequences were seeing on the border is a humanitarian crisis that is a direct consequence of Obama’s lawlessness.”

Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: AP / Rex C. CurryTexas will lead fight for freedom, Cruz tells GOP convention

By Kevin Diaz.

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz told an ecstatic crowd at the Texas Republican Convention that their freedom is being threatened by a lawless president who has shown weakness abroad and overstepped his boundaries at home.

The first-term Texas senator, an oft-mentioned potential White House contender, offered up a full-throated indictment of President Obama and the Democrats in Congress, prompting sustained cheers and calls of “Run, Ted!”

“Today liberty is under assault like never before,” Cruz thundered as he paced the large, open stage. “And again today Texans will stand up and lead the fight for freedom.”

The line could serve as a reference to Cruz and fellow Texas native Rand Paul, the Kentucky senator who will follow him on the stage later in the day as a possible rival for conservatives’ affection in the run-up to the battle for the GOP presidential nomination in 2016.

Read more from this story HERE.

Six Soldiers Who Served with Bergdahl Come to Chilling Consensus in Riveting Interview

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Megyn Kelly interview with members of Bergdahl’s platoon

By Caroline Schaeffer.

Megyn Kelly hosted 6 members of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl’s platoon to discuss their reactions to the Bergdahl situation, and they were unanimous in their explanations of what they saw: Bergdahl deserted, he sought out the Taliban, and he deserves a court martial.

Read more from this story HERE.
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Photo Credit: GettyFeinstein Says She’s Seen No Evidence that Taliban Would Have Killed Bergdahl

By Jonathan Topaz.

Senate Intelligence Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein said she has not seen any evidence that the Taliban would have killed Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl if details of an agreement had leaked, contrary to what Obama administration officials have said.

When asked whether there was a “credible threat” on Bergdahl’s life if word had gotten out, the California Democrat responded: “No, I don’t think there was a credible threat, but I don’t know. I have no information that there was.”

Feinstein’s comments, part of an interview with Bloomberg Television’s Political Capital with Al Hunt airing Friday evening, put her at odds with White House officials. At a briefing Wednesday, administration officials told lawmakers that they couldn’t give Congress advance notice on the Bergdahl deal because the Taliban vowed to kill him if any details about the prisoner exchange came out.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: WNDShrink questions sanity of Bergdahl AND Obama

By Drew Zahn.

A prominent psychotherapist and author has publicly questioned the mental stability of both Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl and the U.S. president who traded five terrorists back to the Taliban to secure Bergdahl’s release.

Dr. Gina Loudon is host of “Smart Life with Dr. Gina” on Money Biz Life Network and has appeared on or been cited by the BBC, ABC, CNN, New York Times, Fox News and more. Her columns also appear regularly on WND.

Earlier this week, Loudon told Lou Dobbs on Fox Business Network’s “Lou Dobbs Tonight” that Bergdahl’s anti-American rhetoric doesn’t suggest someone suffering from torture or even “Stockholm Syndrome,” but rather the mind of a man whose thinking had been twisted long before his capture by the Taliban.

She also suggested President Obama may relate to Bergdahl’s “anti-colonialist” rantings, and his recent “erratic” behavior may not be what we “deem sane.”

Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: APIt worked: White House Bowe Bergdahl story took attention off Veterans Affairs scandal, deaths

By Paul Bedard.

It probably didn’t work out exactly as hoped, but the White House’s controversial trade of five hardened Taliban for a U.S. POW diverted the mainstream media’s attention away from the escalating Veterans Affairs Department scandal that threatened President Obama’s reputation with veterans.

According to a new report from the Center for Media Research, the VA story that dominated the news prior to the prisoner swap for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl was reduced to a mere 2 minutes and 16 seconds over all three networks over the last week, said the conservative media watchdog.

Read more from this story HERE.
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Photo Credit: IJ Review Just What We Feared: Freed Taliban Leader Vows To Return To His Reign Of Terror

By Caroline Schaeffer.

One of the five freed Taliban members has vowed to return to Afghanistan so that he can fight Americans, according to a fellow militant and family member. For the next 12 months, Noorullah Noori will be monitored by the Qatari government, but after that time he plans to return to Afghanistan.

NBC News reports a family member has been in touch with the network to share Noori’s threats.

“After arriving in Qatar, Noorullah Noori kept insisting he would go to Afghanistan and fight American forces there,” a Taliban commander told NBC News via telephone from Afghanistan.

Read more from this story HERE.

Judge Orders NSA To Stop Destroying Evidence — For The Third Time

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Photo Credit: REUTERS / Pawel KopczynskiBy Giuseppe Macri.

A federal judge has ordered the government to stop destroying National Security Agency surveillance records that could be used to challenge the legality of its spying programs in court.

U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey White’s ruling came at the request of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which is in the midst of a case challenging NSA’s ability to surveil foreign citizen’s U.S.-based email and social media accounts.

According to the EFF, the signals intelligence agency and the Department of Justice were knowingly destroying key evidence in the case by purposefully misinterpreting earlier preservation orders by multiple courts, multiple times.

In February, the DOJ asked the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to keep metadata beyond the five-year retention limit to address pending lawsuits from organizations like EFF and the American Civil Liberties Union, which alleged NSA illegally surveilled their clients.

According to multiple accounts, the DOJ made a purposefully flawed case for keeping such records, fully expecting FISA Court Judge Reggie Walton to forbid such retention. He did, which allowed the DOJ to tell plaintiffs that the evidence of their surveillance had to be destroyed.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: APCellphone operator reveals scale of gov’t snooping

By Associated Press.

Vodafone, one of the world’s largest cellphone companies, revealed the scope of government snooping into phone networks Friday, saying authorities in some countries are able to directly access an operator’s network without seeking permission.

The company outlined the details in a report that is described as the first of its kind, covering 29 countries — in Europe, Africa and Asia — in which it directly operates. It gives the most comprehensive look to date on how governments monitor the mobile phone communications of their citizens.

The most explosive revelation was that in a small number of countries, authorities require direct access to an operator’s network — bypassing legal niceties like warrants. It did not name the countries.

“In those countries, Vodafone will not receive any form of demand for lawful interception access as the relevant agencies and authorities already have permanent access to customer communications via their own direct link,” the report said.

Read more from this story HERE.

Backpack Found Containing 400 Health-Exchange Enrollees’ Information, May Be Compromised

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Photo Credit: loststreet2010 / Creative Commons The personal information of around 400 health-exchange enrollees may be compromised, according to a statement issued today by Access Health CT CEO Kevin Counihan.

The statement notes that a backpack was recovered in Hartford that held “four notepads with personal information for approximately 400 individuals. The backpack also contained Access Health CT paperwork and it appears as though some of that personal information may be associated with Access Health CT accounts. It is still unclear where the backpack came from, and we are working [with] the Hartford Police Department to investigate, and contact the individuals whose information may be compromised. … Let me be clear: we are sorry this happened. This is a very serious situation and we will hold the person or persons who are responsible to account.”

Read more from this story HERE.