American Muslims Flocking to Jihadist Group

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Photo Credit: APRadicalized young American Muslims — including as many as 15 Somali-born Minnesotans — have flocked to a jihadist group in recent months, lured by rap videos and hip social-media propaganda.

Security experts are calling it the “Jihad Cool” rebranding of terrorism, and say it’s highly effective in pushing Americans like Abdirahmaan Muhumed, a Twin Cities father of nine, to high-tail it to Syria to help the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant topple President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

“I give up this worldly life for Allah,” Muhumed said of joining the Islamic State in a Facebook message earlier this year…

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Presbyterian Assembly: Gay Marriage Is Christian

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Photo Credit: PargonThe top legislative body of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has voted by large margins to recognize same-sex marriage as Christian in the church constitution, adding language that marriage can be the union of “two people,” not just “a man and a woman.”

The amendment approved Thursday by the Presbyterian General Assembly requires approval from a majority of the 172 regional presbyteries, which will vote on the change over the next year. But in a separate policy change that takes effect at the end of this week’s meeting, delegates voted to allow ministers to preside at gay weddings in states where the unions are legal and local congregational leaders approve. Nineteen states and the District of Columbia recognize same-sex marriage.

The votes, during a national meeting in Detroit, were a sweeping victory for Presbyterian gay-rights advocates. The denomination in 2011 eliminated barriers to ordaining clergy with same-sex partners, but ministers were still barred from celebrating gay marriages and risked church penalties for doing so. Alex McNeill, executive director of More Light Presbyterians, a gay advocacy group, said the amendment was “an answer to many prayers.”

The Rev. Krystin Granberg of the New York Presbytery — in a state that recognizes gay marriage — said she receives requests “all the time” from friends and parishioners to preside at their weddings.

“They want to be married in the church they love and they want me to do it,” Granberg said during the debate. “I want pastoral relief.”

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Sen. Cruz Files S. 2510 to Prohibit Guantanamo Transfers Until Administration Justifies Release of ‘Taliban 5’

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Photo Credit: APU.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, with original co-sponsors Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-New Hampshire, and Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kansas, has filed legislation to temporarily halt further transfers or releases for detainees at Guantanamo Bay. Following the controversial prisoner swap the Obama Administration made earlier this month, resulting in the release of the Taliban 5 terrorists, further releases should be off the table until President Obama can explain how this swap was in the United States’ national security interests.

“Americans need to know how the Obama Administration thinks it has made our nation safer by negotiating with terrorists to release these five dangerous terrorist leaders,” Sen. Cruz said. “Until President Obama can make his case and convince the American public that this swap was in our national interest, prudence dictates that all further transfers and releases from Guantanamo Bay should be off the table.”

“With 29 percent of former Guantanamo detainees returning or being suspected of returning, to terrorism, the administration should not release or transfer Guantanamo detainees who could potentially return to the battlefield. The security of the American people, not a political promise to close Guantanamo Bay, should guide decisions regarding detainees,” said Sen. Ayotte. “Our common sense legislation would suspend the transfer of Guantanamo detainees to other countries until Congress can get more answers regarding the recent transfer of the Taliban Five. We need to better understand the risks associated with this transfer—including the likelihood they will return to terrorism and whether this transfer will encourage the Taliban and terrorist groups around the world to capture U.S. personnel in order to obtain concessions from our country.”

“The dangerous terrorists housed at Guantanamo Bay pose the same serious threat they always have,” Sen. Roberts said. “For this President to release five of the worst al Qaeda affiliates at the same time that terrorists are taking charge in Iraq is a dangerous game I am not willing to play. I don’t know why the President does not feel the same desire to protect our national security.”

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‘They Are Being Totally Intolerant’: Ben Carson Defends Biblical Definition of Marriage

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Photo Credit: AP / The Herald-Palladium, Jody WarnerRetired pediatric neurosurgeon Ben Carson has freely shared his theological views since his bold 2013 National Prayer Breakfast speech catapulted him onto the national stage — and in a recent interview he affirmed his support for the biblical definition of marriage, encouraging Christians to stand up against “intolerance.”

When asked how Christians can “show God’s love to the gay community without compromising God’s word,” Carson, an outspoken Christian, told Charisma News that he believes consenting adults should be able to do whatever they want, but that the definition of marriage shouldn’t change.

“If they want to have [a] legal relationship so that they can have visitation rights and property transfer, I don’t have a problem with that,” he said. “What I do have a problem with is changing the definition of marriage. This is established by human history of thousands of years.”

Carson went on to note that, in the Bible, God compares marriage to the relationship that the Almighty has with the church, arguing that the definition of matrimony is extremely important and shouldn’t be amended so lightly.

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Obama Administration to Announce More Benefits for Same-Sex Couples

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Photo Credit: Reuters The White House is set to announce the extension of more benefits to same-sex married couples Friday, including plans to give workers across America leave from work to care for same-sex spouses.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the Obama administration will urge Congress to pass legislation to make certain provisions like Social Security benefits to apply to same-sex married couples.

Friday’s announcement will arrive at the end of a nearly yearlong review of federal regulations after the Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act, which denied benefits to legally married gay couples.

After the ruling, President Obama directed Attorney General Eric Holder to work with the cabinet to review relevant status.

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Maj. Gen Vallely: Saddam’s Right-Hand Man Is ISIS Ringleader

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Photo Credit: Interdependent By Bill Hoffmann.

A ruthless ally of Saddam Hussein is one of the top ringleaders involved in the violent overtaking of key cities in Iraq by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), retired U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Paul Vallely has revealed.

“In the past 24 hours, the attacks coming out of eastern Syria and down toward Baghdad have all been conducted by Gen. Ibrahim al-Douri,” Vallely told “The Steve Malzberg Show” on Newsmax TV.

“He was the right hand man of Saddam Hussein. If you remember the conference tables in Saddam’s offices, al-Douri was the guy with the beret and the mustache and the red hair.”

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Photo Credit: APNancy Pelosi: Obama Doesn’t Need Approval for Iraq Airstrikes

By Todd Beamon.

President Barack Obama does not need approval from Congress to begin airstrikes to stem the Iraqi crisis, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said on Thursday.

“The president does not need any additional congressional authority to act upon measures for our national security,” the California Democrat said, Politico reports.

She added that she, like Obama, did not support putting “boots on the ground.”

“Generally speaking, I think that you have to be careful about sending special forces, because it’s a number that has a tendency to grow, because I would like to see the context, purpose, timeline and the rest for anything like that,” Pelosi told Politico.

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Why Darrell Issa Just Asked the IRS to Hand Over a Hard Drive

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Photo Credit: ThinkStockHouse Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa on Tuesday issued a subpoena to the Internal Revenue Service, ordering the agency to turn over the hard drive they claim is responsible for wiping out two years of critical email communications.

Issa has dramatically widened his probe into the IRS after the agency announced last week that it had lost the emails, which may have provided information about an IRS policy of targeting for extra scrutiny and delay many conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status.

Issa is not only seeking emails, but wants equipment, “communication devices,” printed documents and just about anything else related to former IRS official Lois Lerner, who has refused to testify before Congress and who the GOP believes is a central player in the targeting scheme.

“After a year of beating down efforts by the Obama administration and its allies to obstruct an investigation into targeting, the IRS now says it lost perhaps the most critical evidence,” Issa said. “We still do not have answers about how and why the IRS tried to deceive Congress about these missing e-mails. This subpoena seeks those answers.”

This latest order comes a day after Issa suppoenaed IRS Commissioner John Koskinen to testify at an Oversight hearing on June 23.

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Federal Prosecutors Reopen Probe of Air Marshal Gun Scheme

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Photo Credit: Fox News The U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Virginia has reopened its criminal investigation into allegations of illicit gun-selling at senior levels of the Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS), multiple sources told FoxNews.com.

“They’re taking another look at everything. They appear to have received new information they did not have during their initial investigation,” one of the sources briefed on the case told FoxNews.com.

In addition to the criminal probe, sources said internal investigations within the Air Marshal Service and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) have involved a larger number of senior officials than previously had been reported. Those senior officials may have illicitly purchased guns or been involved with a June 2009 contract bid awarded to Sig Sauer, the weapons manufacturer whose guns allegedly were involved in the gun-selling scheme.

Sources said the U.S. attorney’s office reopened the case following congressional inquiries into the matter and an April 10 FoxNews.com story revealing the existence of the investigation. The probe initially focused on allegations Danny Poulos, an Air Marshal supervisor, benefited from his professional relationship with Sig Sauer to receive free or discounted weapons, which were then allegedly sold to senior FAMS executives, including recently retired director Robert Bray.

A TSA spokesman, when asked about the case, confirmed the internal probe remained ongoing but referred FoxNews.com to the U.S. attorney’s office regarding the federal investigation. The spokesman said: “TSA has found no evidence of criminal misconduct by any senior FAM or TSA manager.”

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Rick Perry: Feds Gobble Up Available Rooms for Illegal Children — Nothing Left for Texans

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Photo Credit: Washington Examiner Texas Gov. Rick Perry said that the federal government has taken up every bit of spare available space in his state to house the tens of thousands of illegal children flooding over the U.S. border, leaving him with no rooms for Texans who might be left homeless in a natural disaster like a hurricane.

“Were we to have a major event, I literally would not have places to house our citizens because of this influx from Mexico,” he warned at a media luncheon hosted by the Christian Science Monitor.

“I am greatly concerned about the huge catastrophe that could occur with those two events happening simultaneously,” he said of the potential for a hurricane hitting as the federal government continues to embrace illegal youths instead of sending them home.

Federal authorities are housing the youths in hotels and even military bases while they search for relatives to turn them over to.

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Social Security Administration CLOSES 597 Offices

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Photo Credit: Daily Caller Social Security has long-term financial challengers but the agency that administers it faces more immediate problems, according to a bipartisan report.

Sixty-four Social Security offices have closed since 2009, despite an ever-increasing backlog of applications for benefits, MarketWatch reports. The Senate Special Committee on Aging discussed these findings earlier this week.

Only 1,245 offices are currently operational in the country as of 2014, since 533 temporary mobile offices have also been closed, and of the offices still remaining, availability hours have been significantly reduced.

The Social Security Administration (SSA) is in its largest five-year decline since it was created 79 years ago. Aside from offices, over 11,000 workers have been laid off in the last three years.

“They don’t do any kind of analysis on what would happen to a community when their field office closes, including figuring out how the most vulnerable populations would make their way to the next-closest office,” said Florida Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson, chairman of the Aging Committee.

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