Gay Marriages Get Recognition From the I.R.S. in All States

/2 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Getty Images

Photo Credit: Getty Images

All same-sex couples who are legally married will be recognized as such for federal tax purposes, even if the state where they live does not recognize their union, the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service said Thursday.

It is the broadest federal rule change to come out of the landmark Supreme Court decision in June that struck down the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, and a sign of how quickly the government is moving to treat gay couples in the same way that it does straight couples.

The June decision found that same-sex couples were entitled to federal benefits, but left open the question of how Washington would actually administer them. The Treasury Department answered some of those questions on Thursday. As of the 2013 tax year, same-sex spouses who are legally married will not be able to file federal tax returns as if either were single. Instead, they must file together as “married filing jointly” or individually as “married filing separately.”

Their address or the location of their wedding does not matter, as long as the marriage is legal: a same-sex couple who marry in Albany, N.Y., and move to Alabama are treated the same as a same-sex couple who marry and live in Massachusetts.

“Today’s ruling provides certainty and clear, coherent tax-filing guidance for all legally married same-sex couples nationwide,” Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew said. “This ruling also assures legally married same-sex couples that they can move freely throughout the country knowing that their federal filing status will not change.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Obama Setting ‘Scary and Dangerous Precedent’

/4 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: WND

Photo Credit: WND

By Garth Kant

One of the most respected and veteran voices in Congress told WND it would be a “scary and dangerous precedent” if President Obama does not seek approval for a military strike on Syria because there is no “direct threat to the United States.”

“It isn’t like the United States has been attacked,” observed Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., a 17-term congressman whose tenure extends back to Ronald Reagan’s 1980 victory.

President Obama has been considering whether to order a military strike on Syria for allegedly using chemical weapons against its own people on Aug. 21.

Asked whether the president is obligated under the War Powers Act to obtain congressional approval to strike Syria, or whether consultation would suffice, Wolf was adamant that the president must get authorization from Congress.

“I think we should have a vote, up or down.”

Read more from this story HERE.

__________________________________________________________

Obama Ready to Go It Alone on Syria

By Cathy Burke

The White House signaled Thursday that President Barack Obama is ready to go it alone to strike Syria despite the British parliament’s rejection of military action and the lack of a UN mandate.

Aides said Obama believes that Syria must pay a price for breaking taboos on the use of chemical weapons, action which he sees as posing a grave threat to US national security.

US plans to build an international coalition for a “limited” strike on Syria suffered a devastating blow when the House of Commons in London voted against the use of force to punish a chemical weapons attack last week outside Damascus.

US officials signaled earlier Thursday that Obama would take unilateral action if necessary, but the possibility became a reality with the vote, which reverberated immediately across the Atlantic.

“We have seen the result of the parliament vote in the UK tonight,” National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said. “The US will continue to consult with the UK government — one of our closest allies and friends.

Read more from this story HERE.

Administration Announces New Gun Control Measures, Targets Military Surplus Imports

/4 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

The Obama administration unexpectedly announced two new gun control measures on Thursday, including one that would curb the import of military surplus weapons — in a move that could anger collectors.

Vice President Biden announced the new measures Thursday morning. The new rules, announced while Washington was otherwise focused on the crisis in Syria, took the form of executive actions, which President Obama added to the list of 23 steps the White House already determined the president could take on his own.

The steps come after Congress declined to pass any gun control legislation earlier this year despite an aggressive White House push for action in the wake of the Newton, Conn., shooting massacre. With the political world focused on Mideast tensions and looming fiscal battles, the move signaled Obama’s intent to show he hasn’t lost sight of the issue.

The National Rifle Association, though, ripped the administration, saying its proposals would do little to reduce crime.

“The Obama administration has once again completely missed the mark when it comes to stopping violent crime,” the NRA said in a statement.

Read more from this story HERE.

U.S. Spy Network’s Successes, Failures and Objectives Detailed in ‘Black Budget’ Summary

/0 Comments/in , /by

Budget DeficitBy Barton Gellman and Greg Miller.

U.S. spy agencies have built an intelligence-gathering colossus since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, but remain unable to provide critical information to the president on a range of national security threats, according to the government’s top-secret budget.

The $52.6 billion “black budget” for fiscal 2013, obtained by The Washington Post from former ­intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, maps a bureaucratic and operational landscape that has never been subject to public scrutiny. Although the government has annually released its overall level of intelligence spending since 2007, it has not divulged how it uses the money or how it performs against the goals set by the president and Congress.

The 178-page budget summary for the National Intelligence Program details the successes, failures and objectives of the 16 spy agencies that make up the U.S. intelligence community, which has 107,035 employees.

The summary describes cutting-edge technologies, agent recruiting and ongoing operations. The Post is withholding some information after consultation with U.S. officials who expressed concerns about the risk to intelligence sources and methods. Sensitive details are so pervasive in the documents that The Post is publishing only summary tables and charts online.

“The United States has made a considerable investment in the Intelligence Community since the terror attacks of 9/11, a time which includes wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Arab Spring, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction technology, and asymmetric threats in such areas as cyber-warfare,” Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. wrote in response to inquiries from The Post.

Read more from this story HERE.

_____________________________________________________

Photo Credit: Danita Delimont/Getty/Gallo Images

Photo Credit: Danita Delimont/Getty/Gallo Images

US intelligence spending has doubled since 9/11, top secret budget reveals

By Ewen MacAskill and Jonathan Watts.

US spending on intelligence has doubled since 9/11, with the National Security Agency and the CIA taking the biggest share, according to the top secret budget leaked by the former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

Details of the $52.6bn request for 2013 by America’s 16 spy agencies were revealed by the Washington Post on Thursday.

The NSA has requested $10.45bn from Congress, while the CIA is asking for $14.7bn. The NSA has long been regarded as the most productive of the spy agencies, so the higher spending by the CIA is one of the biggest surprises in the four-volume, 1,452-page budget.

The Congressional Budget Justification for the National Intelligence Program, dubbed the “black budget”, offers insights into new projects as well as the successes and failures of the spy agencies. It outlines the countries they have successfully infiltrated and those where they are struggling, primarily North Korea.

Ironically, in view of Snowden’s revelations, part of the budget is is dedicated to stopping whistleblowers. Among the $3.7bn counterintelligence section of the budget is an item dedicated to detecting insider threats “who seeks to exploit their authorized access to sensitive information to harm US interests.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Justice Department Won’t Sue States Over Pro-Pot Laws

/1 Comment/in , /by

Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

The Justice Department on Thursday said it won’t stop Colorado and Washington from implementing laws legalizing marijuana for recreational use, paving the way for states nationwide to enact pro-pot measures.

The move was part of a sweeping national policy statement issued by the agency that outlines its top priorities for marijuana enforcement. Those priorities include preventing the distribution of marijuana to minors, preventing sales revenue from going to criminal enterprises, gangs and cartels, and preventing the diversion of marijuana outside of states where it is legal under state law.

But as long as states maintain strict rules regarding distribution of the drug, the Justice Department suggested it won’t challenge state laws that allow for small-scale personal marijuana use.

“Outside of those enforcement priorities, the federal government has traditionally relied on states and local law enforcement agencies to address marijuana activity through enforcement of their own laws,” said a Justice Department memo to U.S. attorneys in all 50 states.

“The department’s guidance [to states] rests on its expectation that states and local governments that have enacted laws authorizing marijuana-related conduct will implement strong and effective regulatory and enforcement systems that will address the threat those state laws cld pose to public safety.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Snowden Impersonated NSA Officials, Sources Say

/2 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: AFP-Getty Images

Photo Credit: AFP-Getty Images

Edward Snowden accessed some secret national security documents by assuming the electronic identities of top NSA officials, said intelligence sources.

“Every day, they are learning how brilliant [Snowden] was,” said a former U.S. official with knowledge of the case. “This is why you don’t hire brilliant people for jobs like this. You hire smart people. Brilliant people get you in trouble.”

Snowden was a Honolulu-based employee of Booz Allen Hamilton, an NSA contractor. His job gave him system administrator privileges on the NSA’s intranet, NSAnet. He reportedly used his privileges to download 20,000 documents.

The NSA still doesn’t know exactly what Snowden took. But its forensic investigation has included trying to figure out which higher level officials Snowden impersonated online to access the most sensitive documents.

The NSA has as many as 40,000 employees. According to one intelligence official, the NSA is restricting its research to a much smaller group of individuals with access to sensitive documents. Investigators are looking for discrepancies between the real world actions of an NSA employee and the online activities linked to that person’s computer user profile. For example, if an employee was on vacation while the on-line version of the employee was downloading a classified document, it might indicate that someone assumed the employee’s identity.

Read more from this story HERE.

Bill Clinton Takes Subtle Jab at Obama: ‘MLK Did Not Live and Die to Hear his Heirs Whine about Political Gridlock.’

/6 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Daily Caller

Photo Credit: Daily Caller

Former president Bill Clinton told the March on Washington audience Wednesday that Dr. Martin Luther King “did not live and die to hear his heirs whine about political gridlock.”

“Oh, yes, we face terrible political gridlock now. Read a little history; it’s nothing new. Yes, there remain racial inequalities in employment, income, health, wealth, incarceration, and in the victims and perpetrators of violent crime. But we don’t face beatings, lynchings and shootings for our political beliefs anymore,” Clinton said in his commemoration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech on Wednesday.

“And I would respectfully suggest that Martin Luther King did not live and die to hear his heirs whine about political gridlock,” he continued. “It is time to stop complaining and put our shoulders against the stubborn gates holding the American people back.”

President Barack Obama has repeatedly criticized political gridlock in Congress, which he blames on Republican “hyper-partisanship.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Huffington Post Contributor Suggests Conservative Dana Loesch Should Be Raped

/6 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: TownHall

Photo Credit: TownHall

Leave it to a progressive male to publicly promote the rape of conservative radio host, activist, wife and mother Dana Loesch.

Late last night, in response to a tweet from Loesch about gun control, Huffington Post contributor Pascal Robert told her she should be raped and described a sick sexual fantasy.

“I know you would look lovely with thigh high stockings and would love to have a brother give to you up the a**. Wouldn’t you?” Robert said…

The Huffington Post has not condemned the attack.

Read more from this story HERE.

Obama Embraces the Imperial Presidency

/3 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: National Review

Photo Credit: National Review

British prime minister David Cameron has recalled Parliament from summer vacation for a special session on Thursday, where there will be “a clear government motion and vote on the United Kingdom’s response to chemical weapons attacks,” Cameron promised on Twitter.

President Obama has a different view. The U.S. government’s Voice of America reports: “Pressed about calls for congressional authorization, White House spokesman Jay Carney Tuesday indicated the president believes consulting with congressional leaders is enough.”

Oh my, how liberals have learned to love the imperial presidency they used to so scorn when Richard Nixon or George W. Bush was in office. Last night, I appeared on Lou Dobbs Tonight with Mary Anne Marsh, a Democratic consultant whose clients have included the late Ted Kennedy and John Kerry, our current secretary of state. Armed with the latest Democratic talking points, she dismissed any need for Obama to consult with what she dismissed as “a special Congress.”

Marsh is worth quoting at length:

There is a special Congress that we’re dealing with right now that has the lowest popularity rating in history and Republicans who overwhelmingly would oppose taking any action. The president of the United States cannot be handcuffed by the same Republicans that are holding the rest of the country hostage on every other issue. That is wrong.

Read more from this story HERE.

Nidal Hasan Sentenced to Death for Fort Hood Shooting Rampage

/8 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan was sentenced to death Wednesday for killing 13 people and wounding 32 others in a 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Tex., the worst mass murder at a military installation in U.S. history.

Dressed in Army fatigues, Hasan, who turns 43 next month, listened impassively as the death sentence was handed down by a panel of 13 senior military officers in a unanimous decision after less than two hours of deliberations. If even a single panel member had objected, Hasan would instead have been sentenced to life in prison. He also was stripped of pay and other financial benefits, which he continued to receive while in custody.

No active-duty service member has been executed since 1961, and legal experts said it will probably be many years, if ever, before the sentence will be carried out. Hasan will be flown shortly to Fort Leavenworth, Kan., where he will join five other inmates on military death row, officials said.

In military cases, there are several mandatory appeal stages and a military death sentence requires final approval by the president, as commander in chief.

Despite the expected delays, survivors of the shooting welcomed the verdict. According to news reports, Kathy Platoni, an Army reservist, said: “From the bottom of my heart — he doesn’t deserve to live. I don’t know how long it takes for a death sentence to be carried out, but the world will be a better place without him.”

Read more from this story HERE.