General: Supposed Anti-Group Incites Hatred and Violence Against Christian Organizations in U.S.

/3 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: WNDLt. Gen. Jerry Boykin, the executive vice president for the Family Research Council, is blasting the Southern Poverty Law Center for still maintaining – a year after it was linked to a domestic terror case – an online feature that identifies the family group as a “hate” organization.

In an exclusive commentary on WND, Boykin notes that attacker Floyd Corkins II picked the FRC as a target – he testified he went there wanting to kill as many people as possible – through the SPLC feature.

That organization described FRC as a “hate” group even though it “actually is a pro-family organization championing faith, family and freedom,” Boykin wrote.

“It is the intention of the SPLC to fix animus and hostility on the organizations it places on its Hate Map,” Boykin wrote. While some are “racist or supremacist” groups, the map also includes those who simply “oppose liberalized standards of sexualized morality and the redefinition of marriage.”

“There is no resemblance of such groups to violent, extremist organizations. But, that is the point. The SPLC wants to associate groups that have voiced moral objections to same-sex marriage with groups like the Skinheads. It is a powerful campaign of defamation, bullying, and destruction.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Administration Eases Restrictions on Asylum Seekers with Loose Terror Ties

/3 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: APThe Obama administration has unilaterally eased restrictions on asylum seekers with loose or incidental ties to terror and insurgent groups, in a move one senator called “deeply alarming.”

The change, approved by Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and Secretary of State John Kerry, was announced Wednesday in the Federal Register. It would allow some individuals who provided “limited material support” to terror groups to be considered for entry into the U.S.

Supporters of the change, including Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., argued that the current ban on anyone who has ever aided terrorists has unfairly blocked thousands of refugees.

“The existing interpretation was so broad as to be unworkable,” Leahy said in a statement. “It resulted in deserving refugees and asylees being barred from the United States for actions so tangential and minimal that no rational person would consider them supporters of terrorist activities.”

But critics say despite the good intentions, the change raises security concerns, particularly after a report published Thursday on asylum fraud.

Read more from this story HERE.

GOP Thwarts New Try to Restore Unemployment Benefits

/0 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Reuters Senate Republicans narrowly blocked the advance of legislation to restore benefits for the long-term unemployed on Thursday for the second time in less than a month, and Democrats said they intended to call yet another vote on the issue.

“We’re one Republican vote away from restoring unemployment benefits for 1.7 million Americans,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said.

The White House called the outcome disappointing.

The measure called for a three-month renewal of an expired program that provided up to 47 weeks of federal benefits when state-paid aid runs out, generally after 26 weeks. The cost was estimated at slightly more than $6 billion over a decade. It would have been offset by lowering pension obligations for some companies, a step that would have increased their taxable income.

The vote was 58-40, two shy of the 60 that backers of the measure needed to prevail. That understated the measure’s true support, because Reid sided with opponents at the last minute in a maneuver that will permit him to have the issue reconsidered under the Senate’s rules.

Read more from this story HERE.

ACLJ Chief Counsel: Very Possible IRS Targeting Impacted 2012 Election (+video)

/1 Comment/in , /by

Photo Credit: APBy Tony Lee.

Jay Sekulow, chief counsel for the American Center for Law & Justice, said it was “very well possible” that the IRS’s targeting and harassment of conservatives and Tea Party groups impacted the 2012 presidential election between President Barack Obama and Republican candidate Mitt Romney.

Testifying before a House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs hearing Thursday to discuss the IRS’s targeting of conservatives, Sekulow, whose organization is representing some Tea Party groups that were targeted, was asked by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) whether he felt that the targeting changed or impacted the 2012 election.

Read more from this story HERE.

_______________________________________________________________________

Not a Smidgen of Corruption? Cleta Mitchell Rattles Off A Litany Of IRS Criminal Offenses

By Debra Heine.

As I was watching the explosive IRS targeting hearing, this morning, I was reminded of Speaker Boehner’s words from eight and a half months ago. “My question isn’t about who is going to resign. My question is who’s going to jail over this scandal?”

Since then, the Obama administration has gone from an initial “outrage” phase to a “phony scandal” phase, to the current old news/”what difference does it make” phase in which they think enough time has passed that they can push IRS rules on 501 (C) (4) groups that codify into law the what the IRS did to target Obama’s political opponents. And now the president feels comfortable enough to say, there’s not “a smidgen of corruption” in the IRS scandal that targeted his political opponents. That a president would say such a thing while there is an ongoing DOJ investigation, (albeit a sham investigation) should set anyone’s spidey sense a-tingling, I don’t care who you are.

“This scandal is not over,” said Washington Attorney Cleta Mitchell, who’s representing about a dozen of the targeted tea party groups. She rattled off a number of criminal offenses that have been committed in what she called, “this very ugly episode”:

“The lying has not stopped. There are lies upon lies in this ugly episode. The Commissioner of the IRS lied to Congress in March 2012 when he said there was absolutely no targeting, Mitchell declared, making sure to note that, “lying to Congress is a crime.”

Read more from this story HERE.

_______________________________________________________________________

Photo Credit: CNS News Witness at IRS Hearing: ‘I Will Not Retreat; I Will Not Surrender’

By Melanie Hunter.

King Street Patriots founder Catherine Engelbrecht, one of many conservatives who claim they were unfairly targeted by the IRS when applying for tax-exempt status, told Congress Thursday that she is “more determined ever than before to stand before you and to all of America and say that I will not retreat.”

“Know this,” she said, “my experiences at the hands of this government in the last five years have made me more determined ever than before to stand before you and to all of America and say that I will not retreat. I will not surrender. I will not be intimidated, and I will not ask for permission to exercise my constitutional rights.”

Engelbrecht said shortly after founding and leading True to Vote and King Street Patriots, she was visited by law enforcement agencies and Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), even though outside of filing their tax returns, she and her husband never dealt with any government agency in nearly two decades of running their small business.

“We had never been audited. We had never been investigated, but all that changed upon submitting applications for the non-profit statuses of True the Vote and King Street,” she told the House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee.

Read more from this story HERE.

Predator Drone Used to Arrest American Ranch Family

/1 Comment/in , /by

Photo Credit: AP Photo/Kirsty WigglesworthA Predator drone designed to catch terrorists in Afghanistan was used to track a recalcitrant North Dakota rancher and his sons accused of cattle thieving and monitor them to see when they were unarmed and alert the police in a case believed to be the first where an American citizen was arrested with the aid of a drone.

On Jan. 14, 2014, Rodney Brossart was acquitted of stealing cattle and criminal mischief, but convicted of terrorizing police (a conviction he is appealing) and sentenced to three years in prison with all but six months suspended.

This all stems from an incident on June 22, 2011, when six cattle from a neighboring property wandered onto Brossart’s ranch. Brossart found the cattle and, not knowing to whom they belonged, penned them in an area known as the “missile site.”

Brossart refused to return the cattle without remuneration (which he is entitled to under state law), but the police asserted that Brossart needed to return the cattle to the neighbor under estray laws.

According to the North Dakota statute on estrays or stray animals (Chapter 36-13), a person may take possession of a stray animal when it is on their property if it does not know who owns it. Once the owner is identified, the person shall notify the county sheriff or chief brand inspector. The person who takes possession of an estray may charge for actual damage done to the person’s crops or property by the estray as well as costs incurred for the care and feeding of the estray.

Read more from this story HERE.

No Criminal Charges Against TSA Agent Over Pat-Down At DIA

/1 Comment/in , /by

Photo Credit: CBSThe Denver District Attorney’s Office has declined to file criminal charges against a female Transportation Security Administration agent at Denver International Airport after a passenger complained the pat-down she received amounted to sexual assault.

“I felt sick to my stomach,” said Jamelyn Steenhoek, 39, when she learned Wednesday that Denver prosecutors were no longer pursuing her complaint and would not be filing criminal charges.

“Those TSA agents were purposely abusive to me,” said the Highlands Ranch mother. “And there isn’t any recourse. I still feel as if a crime was committed, and as an individual American I am powerless to do anything about it.”

Steenhoek was at DIA on Dec. 26 escorting her 13-year-old daughter to a flight. Steenhoek herself was not boarding a flight that day, but she still had to clear security to take her daughter to the concourse and gate.

Read more from this story HERE.

Report: U.S. Postal Service Announces Giant Ammo Purchase

/6 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: InfoWarsThe U.S. Postal Service is currently seeking companies that can provide “assorted small arms ammunition” in the near future.

On Jan. 31, the USPS Supplies and Services Purchasing Office posted a notice on the Federal Business Opportunities website asking contractors to register with USPS as potential ammunition suppliers for a variety of cartridges.

“The United States Postal Service intends to solicit proposals for assorted small arms ammunition,” the notice reads, which also mentioned a deadline of Feb. 10.

The Post Office published the notice just two days after Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) announced his proposal to remove a federal gun ban that prevents lawful concealed carry holders from carrying handguns inside post offices across the country.

Ironically the Postal Service isn’t the first non-law enforcement agency seeking firearms and ammunition.

Read more from this story HERE.

Scalia: US Supreme Court May Force Americans Into Internment Camps Again

/3 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: CRAIG T. KOJIMAU.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia told law students at the University of Hawaii law school Monday that the nation’s highest court was wrong to uphold the internment of Japa­nese-Americans during World War II but that he wouldn’t be surprised if the court issued a similar ruling during a future conflict.

Scalia was responding to a question about the court’s 1944 decision in Kore­ma­tsu v. United States, which upheld the convictions of Gordon Hira­ba­ya­shi and Fred Kore­ma­tsu for violating an order to report to an internment camp.

“Well, of course, Kore­ma­tsu was wrong. And I think we have repudiated in a later case. But you are kidding yourself if you think the same thing will not happen again,” Scalia told students and faculty during a lunchtime question-and-answer session.

Scalia cited a Latin expression meaning “In times of war, the laws fall silent.”

Read more from this story HERE.

House Conservatives: ‘Overwhelming Support for Doing Nothing’ On Immigration

/3 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: AP Photo/Guillermo AriasSeveral influential conservative Republicans on Wednesday put House Speaker John Boehner and other GOP leaders on notice that immigration reform legislation is dead because they don’t trust President Obama to honestly implement any new legislation they might pass.

“Until we have that trust, there will be no immigration reform,” said Rep. Raúl Labrador, an Idaho Republican who backs reform including helping the 11 million illegals in the United States to stay.

Labrador said that it was a mistake for the GOP to get caught in a pre-election fight on the issue before the president can prove he will enforce current immigration laws and the GOP wins the Senate so that the party can offer a united front.

“The problem we have is really a problem of trust with this administration,” he said. “The president has lied and lied.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Cuts in U.S. Defense Spending Force Hard Strategic Choices

/4 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: gregwest98Big budget cuts over the next decade will force the Pentagon to make painful cuts to personnel and readiness and could make it hard to execute a global security strategy, defense analysts predicted on Wednesday.

Teams of analysts from four think tanks, who unveiled the results of a defense budget-cutting exercise at a Capitol Hill briefing, all found themselves slashing large numbers of civilian and uniformed personnel, along with ships and fighter jets, to help meet tough budget targets facing the Pentagon.

“It is very, very hard to reach the required level of budget savings in the first … (five-year planning period) if you don’t touch personnel, readiness or both, frankly, because that’s where the money is,” said Nora Bensahel, a fellow at the Center for a New American Security.

“You can’t do it by just picking out a few systems here and there,” she said.

The analysts unveiled their thinking on the 2015 defense budget and U.S. military strategy just a month before the Pentagon releases its own budget for the upcoming fiscal year as well as the Quadrennial Defense Review, a document produced every four years aligning U.S. strategy and resources.

Read more from this story HERE.