Crisis of Trust: Less Than One in Four Americans Trust Newspapers

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Americans’ confidence in newspapers fell slightly to 23% this year, from 25% in 2012 and 28% in 2011.

gallup poll

The percentage of Americans saying they have “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in newspapers has been generally trending downward since 1979, when it reached a high of 51%.

Newspapers rank near the bottom on a list of 16 societal institutions Gallup measured in a June 1-4 survey. Television news is tied with newspapers on the list, with 23% of Americans also expressing confidence in it. That is up slightly from the all-time low of 21% found last year. The only institutions television news and newspapers beat out this year are big business, organized labor, Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs), and Congress.

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GOP Staffer Claims to Live on Food Stamps Without Problems, Suggests Cutting More

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Photo Credit: Daily Caller

Photo Credit: Daily Caller

With dozens of Democratic lawmakers struggling to live on a food stamp budget to protest GOP cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, a Republican staffer says he is living on a SNAP budget without problems.

Texas Republican Rep. Steve Stockman’s communications director and agriculture policy advisor, Donny Ferguson, says he has been able to eat well on $27.58 for a week, less than the $31.50 House Democrats have limited themselves to for their “SNAP Challenge.”

“I wanted to personally experience the effects of the proposed cuts to food stamps. I didn’t plan ahead or buy strategically, I just saw the publicity stunt and made a snap decision to drive down the street and try it myself. I put my money where my mouth is, and the proposed food stamp cuts are still quite filling,” Ferguson said of the challenge.

Stockman’s office noted that Ferguson did not use coupons, discount programs, or a shopping list, and he shopped at locations accessible via public transportation.

“Not only did I buy a week’s worth of food on what Democrats claim is too little, I have money left over. Based on my personal experience with SNAP benefit limits we have room to cut about 12 percent more,” Ferguson said.

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Tea Partyers Rally at Capitol, Blame White House for IRS Mess

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Photo Credit: Andrew Harnik

Photo Credit: Andrew Harnik

Thousands of activists rallied outside the Capitol on Wednesday to protest the IRS targeting of conservative and tea party groups, with many of the event’s speakers laying the blame for the fiasco squarely at the White House.

The “Audit the IRS” rally, organized by the Tea Party Patriots organization in response to the agency’s improper scrutiny of conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status, drew members and leaders of tea party groups across the country, radio personality Glenn Beck and the Senate’s tea party trio: Republicans Rand Paul of Kentucky, Mike Lee of Utah and Ted Cruz of Texas.

“When Richard Nixon tried to use the IRS to target his political enemies, it was wrong,” Mr. Cruz said. “And when the Obama administration does it, it’s still wrong.”

Rep. Tim Huelskamp, Kansas Republican, said the two presidents have become so intertwined in his mind that he thinks of Mr. Obama as “President O’Nixon.”

Ken Hoagland, chairman of Restore America’s Voice PAC, accused former White House counsel Bob Bauer of sending “memo after memo to the Justice Department, to the IRS and other interested parties urging them to go after law-abiding citizens who wanted to end voter fraud [and] exercise their rights to stop an out-of-control government. This abuse of Americans was directed by Washington at the very highest levels of the Obama administration and campaign.”

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TWA 800 Investigators Claim NTSB Conclusion “Falsified,” Explosions Outside Plane Brought it Down

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Photo Credit: CNN

Photo Credit: CNN

Skeptics who have long theorized that TWA Flight 800 was brought down by sinister forces will get a fresh surge of energy when a new documentary attempts to disprove that the 1996 crash was accidental…

It includes six members of the accident investigation team who, publicists say, will “break their silence” on the cause of the explosion.

They will petition the National Transportation Safety Board to reopen its investigation some 17 years after the B-747 fell in pieces into the waters off of Long Island, New York.

They include Hank Hughes, who served as a senior accident investigator with the NTSB and helped reconstruct the aircraft following its destruction. Also included, Bob Young, a top TWA investigator who participated in the investigation, and Jim Speer, an accident investigator for the Airline Pilots Association.

“These investigators were not allowed to speak to the public or refute any comments made by their superiors and/or NTSB and FBI officials about their work at the time of the official investigation,” a news release announcing the documentary said.

“They waited until after retirement to reveal how the official conclusion by the (NTSB) was falsified and lay out their case.”

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Biden: Obama Won’t Give Up on Gun Control

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Photo Credit: Charles Dharapak

Photo Credit: Charles Dharapak

Vice President Joseph R. Biden said Tuesday the fight for congressional action on gun legislation is far from over while outlining unilateral steps the Obama administration has taken to combat gun violence in the wake of the Connecticut school shootings in December.

The address was simultaneously a summary of what President Obama has been able to do through executive actions since the shootings in Newtown, Conn., and a rallying cry to remind voters and lawmakers that neither Mr. Biden nor Mr. Obama is going to let the issue fade from public memory.

“The most important message to take from here today is the president and I are a team,” Mr. Biden said. “We have not given up. Our friends in the House and Senate, they have not given up.”

Mr. Biden said because of a “perverted” rule requiring 60 votes to herd off potential filibusters in the Senate, the 41 Republicans and four Democrats who opposed the administration’s gun control bill were able to block it even though it had the support of 51 Democrats and four Republicans.

“I know for a fact some of them wonder about, now, whether that was a prudent vote,” said Mr. Biden, who described the shooting deaths of 20 first-graders and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School as “the straw that broke the camel’s back” in the gun debate.

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James O’Keefe Says He Was Harassed by Federal Agents

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Photo Credit: dsm012

Photo Credit: dsm012

Journalist James O’Keefe tells Newsmax that the Justice Department monitoring of Associated Press reporters is similar to what he faced when he was investigating voter fraud during the 2012 elections.

O’Keefe’s organization Project Veritas videotaped a man who nearly voted as Attorney General Eric Holder when a poll worker was about to hand over the attorney general’s ballot.

“This spying on reporters is exactly what I faced when I did these voter fraud investigations,” O’Keefe said in an exclusive interview with Newsmax TV. “I had agents showing up at the homes of my friends — and I don’t even know how they got their addresses and that’s a very interesting thought — we had our emails shared potentially with members of the media.

“Again this could have only come from the federal government,” said O’Keefe.

O’Keefe is the author of the new book “Breakthrough: Our Guerilla War to Expose Fraud and Save Democracy.”

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Recall Election for Colorado’s Pro-Gun Control Senate President Moves Forward, Anti-Gunners Plead for Out-of-State Money

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Photo Credit: Ed Andrieski

Photo Credit: Ed Andrieski

The first-ever recall election of a Colorado state legislator moved closer to fruition Tuesday after it was announced that there are sufficient valid signatures to proceed with the recall of Senate President John Morse.

Secretary of State Scott Gessler said the El Paso Freedom Defense Committee had gathered 10,137 valid signatures, well in excess of the 7,178 needed to qualify for the recall ballot. The recall committee submitted more than 16,000 signatures two weeks ago…

Colorado gun-rights advocates launched the recall drive in reaction to Mr. Morse’s support for a package of gun-control bills that were signed in March by Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper.

Meanwhile, Mr. Morse, a Colorado Springs Democrat, released a statement Monday on his Facebook page asking for out-of-state help from those in traditionally liberal cities to help fight the recall effort. Read more from this story HERE.

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Magpul offers soon-to-be illegal weaponry to Colo. gun buyers

Colorado gun owners stocking up on magazines before the state’s ammunition restrictions hit July 1 received an assist Monday from Magpul Industries.

Magpul announced that it would reserve a number of 40-round magazines for Colorado residents as part of its Boulder Airlift Program in response to the state legislature’s recently enacted firearms restrictions.

“Also, to beat the July 1st deadline for ownership in Colorado, a small portion of the first batch of PMAG 40s will be available from the Boulder Airlift Program for direct sale to CO residents, regardless of previous orders,” said Magpul in a Facebook post. Read more from this story HERE.

Could this Keep NSA From Listening In?

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Photo Credit: WND

Photo Credit: WND

Americans worried about National Security Agency surveillance are flocking to alternative technology providers and apps that will actually encrypt their phone calls, according to a Fox News report.

“Sales of online apps to encrypt cell calls are soaring,” reports Fox News correspondent David Lee Miller. “For as little as a few dollars a month there are now at least half a dozen companies such as Silent Circle and Seecrypt selling apps, making it difficult if not impossible for the government or anyone else to monitor your private communication.”

Miller notes both the sending and receiving cell phones need the app for the call to remain secure.

Michael Janke, CEO of Silent Circle boasted to Fox News that the encryption service his company runs would take “all of the world’s supercomputers put together 44 years to break the encryption of 1 message.”

Harvey Boulter, chairman of Seecrypt, revealed his company is following another trend: alternative technology providers locating overseas to avoid the reach of the NSA.

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Largest Medical Military Hospital to Furlough Thousands, Putting Wounded Vets’ Care at Risk

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Photo Credit: Reuters

Photo Credit: Reuters

Thousands of civilian workers at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center — the country’s top facility for wounded combat soldiers — are facing furloughs this summer, as a result of sequester and other federal budget problems, according to the Defense Department.

Roughly 2,400 workers at the suburban Washington facility were recently notified by letter that the department needs them to take off as many as 11 days without pay this summer to help with “extraordinary and serious budgets challenges.”

The furloughs target a wide scope of non-combat facilities and civilian workers to “provide the war-fighters with what they need to protect national security,” states the May 28 letter, first obtained by Federal News Radio.

In a development that worries advocacy groups, the furloughs will impact about 94 percent of the Walter Reed civilian staff including doctors, nurses, lab technicians and physical therapists.

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Death Threats Against Sen. Ted Cruz and his Father Lead to Jail for Houston Man

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Photo Credit: Deborah Cannon

Photo Credit: Deborah Cannon

A Houston man is accused of threatening to burn U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and his father unless the senator paid him $3 million, according to the Harris County District Attorney’s Office…

An intern at Cruz’s Austin office told investigators that a man called the office on June 5, saying that Cruz “owed him money or a bomb would explode,” according to an arrest warrant filed in the case. The man, who identified himself as Abolfazi Akbori, called again the same day after the office had closed and left a threatening message on the office’s voicemail system…

The message states, “Ted has a choice. Give me three million dollars or lose the sun.” The caller said that “due to government misconduct the sun would blow up and said he might be able to prevent the sun from blowing up if he receives three million dollars,” according to the arrest warrant.

It didn’t take long for investigators to track down Gates, who allegedly made the threatening calls from his home telephone.

In a June 10 interview at his Houston apartment with an agent with the Federal Protective Services, Gates admitted to making the phone calls, prosecutors said. He told investigators that he previously spent 12 days in the Harris County Mental Health Center.

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