Safety Panel: ATF Blocking Access to Texas Fertilizer Plant Blast Site

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Photo Credit: Reuters Federal agents and the state fire marshal have effectively barred a federal safety panel from the site of a Texas fertilizer plant blast that killed 15 people and injured about 200 others, hampering its investigation, the panel’s chairman said.

In a May 17 letter to Sen. Barbara Boxer, U.S. Chemical Safety Board Chairman Rafael Moure-Eraso asked the California Democrat to help the board obtain evidence under control of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives that he contends is essential to the board’s investigation, the Waco Tribune-Herald and Austin American-Statesman reported.

“To date, the CSB has experienced significant obstacles that potentially compromise and delay our ability to complete the `comprehensive investigation’ that you have rightly demanded, and that we would very much like to produce,” he wrote to Boxer. The chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works has said she planned to hold hearings into the April 17 West Fertilizer explosion.

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CBS Star Reporter: Feds Hacked My Computers, Too

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Photo Credit: WNDCBS News reporter Sharyl Attkisson has been a thorn in the Obama administration’s side for some time now.

The Emmy-award winning journalist has refused to let the president’s scandals be swept under the rug, interviewing “Fast & Furious” whistleblowers and chasing down Benghazi leads long after even her own network didn’t want to hear it anymore.

Now she says, however, her personal and work computers have been compromised, an intrusion that may be linked back to the White House.

“I can confirm that an intrusion of my computers has been under some investigation on my end for some months, but I’m not prepared to make an allegation against a specific entity today, as I’ve been patient and methodical about this matter,” Attkisson told Politico. “I need to check with my attorney and CBS to get their recommendations on info we make public.”

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State Dept. Leaking False Info to Smear Whistleblower

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Photo Credit: WNDThe State Department has been leaking to reporters false information to discredit Benghazi whistleblower Gregory Hicks, charged his legal counsel, Victoria Toensing, in an interview with WND.

Hicks, who testified May 8 before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is the former State Department deputy chief of mission who was in Libya at the time of the Benghazi attack.

Toensing told WND the State Department has been telling reporters that U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens could not reach Hicks by telephone on the night he was killed in the terrorist attack, Sept. 11, 2012, because Hicks was relaxing, watching television, and did not have his telephone with him.

“This is a total fabrication,” Toensing charged. “Telephone reception in Libya is notoriously unreliable. Sometimes you just don’t get your calls. And besides, the record will show Hicks reached Stevens by telephone within five or 10 minutes at the most after Stevens first telephoned him.”

Toensing said several reporters, whom she declined to identify, have called her to ask if the story about Hicks being AWOL at the time of the Benghazi attack was true.

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Court of Appeals: CIA Was Right to Withhold Photo’s of Dead Bin Laden

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Photo Credit: APA federal appeals court Tuesday backed the U.S. government’s decision not to release photos and video taken of Osama bin Laden during and after a raid in which the terrorist leader was killed by U.S. commandos.

The three-judge panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia turned down an appeal from Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog group, which had filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the images.

The Defense Department said it didn’t turn up anything pertinent to the FOIA. The CIA had found 52 such records, but withheld all of them, citing exemptions for classified materials and information specifically exempted by other laws.

In Tuesday’s ruling, the appeals court said that the CIA properly withheld publication of the images of the al Qaeda leader. The court concluded that the photos used to conduct facial recognition analysis of bin Laden could reveal classified intelligence methods, and that images of bin Laden’s burial at sea could trigger violence against American citizens.

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Texas Judge Says Lesbian Couple Can’t Cohabitate, Cites Morality Clause in Divorce Papers

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Photo Credit: Fibonacci BlueA judge has ruled that a North Texas lesbian couple can’t live together because of a morality clause in one of the women’s divorce papers.

The clause is common in divorce cases in Texas and other states. It prevents a divorced parent from having a romantic partner spend the night while children are in the home. If the couple marries, they can get out from under the legal provision — but that is not an option for gay couples in Texas, where such marriages aren’t recognized.

The Dallas Morning News (https://dallasne.ws/16MlSUQ ) reported that in a divorce hearing last month for Carolyn and Joshua Compton, Collin County District Judge John Roach Jr. enforced the terms detailed in their 2011 divorce papers. He ordered Carolyn Compton’s partner, Page Price, to move out of the home they shared with the Comptons’ two daughters, ages 10 and 13. The judge gave Price 30 days to find another place to live.

Paul Key said his client, Joshua Compton, wanted the clause enforced for his kids’ benefit.

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Jim Caviezel: A Rare Pro-life Star in Hollywood

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Photo Credit: LifeNewsJim Caviezel, famed for his role as Christ in The Passion of the Christ, and currently starring as the leading man in TV’s Person of Interest, is no stranger to being, well, different in Hollywood. From his publicly Catholic faith to his committed pro-life views, he stands in stark contrast to the typical movie star.

Caviezel’s personal life is even more remarkable than his incredible on-screen talent. Taking the road less traveled, Jim and his wife Kerri have adopted two children from China, both of whom had special needs.

Their first adopted child, Bo, came to the Caviezels after a traumatic first five years of life. The little boy had a brain tumor and had been abandoned before he was taken in by an orphanage and subsequently adopted by his loving parents. Bo is a remarkably boisterous child, and with the love he has received from Jim and Kerri, it is hard to believe that just a few short years ago he was struggling to survive in a hostile environment.

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Increasing Numbers of Unions Now Publicly Oppose Obamacare

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Photo Credit: altheadlinesLabor unions are breaking with President Obama on ObamaCare.

Months after the president’s reelection, a variety of unions are publicly balking at how the administration plans to implement the landmark law. They warn that unless there are changes, the results could be catastrophic.

The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) — a 1.3 million-member labor group that twice endorsed Obama for president — is very worried about how the reform law will affect its members’ healthcare plans.

Last month, the president of the United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers and Allied Workers released a statement calling “for repeal or complete reform of the Affordable Care Act.”

UNITE HERE, a prominent hotel workers’ union, and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters are also pushing for changes.

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IRS Worker Used Federal Credit Card For Amazon Buys

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Photo Credit: The Smoking Gun Entrusted with a government credit card, an Internal Revenue Service worker allegedly used the plastic for a years-long Amazon.com shopping spree that netted her hundreds of items, including a chocolate fondue fountain; Bollywood movies; Pampers; Harlequin romance novels; Omaha Steaks; Apple Bottoms skinny jeans; mango body wash; and a Ginsu knife set.

Yetunde Oseni, 37, was named this month in a U.S. District Court felony complaint charging her with embezzling government funds. Oseni has worked since 2000 as a secretary in an IRS office in Lanham, Maryland.

According to a court filing, Oseni was given a Citibank MasterCard for the “purchase of office supplies for her business unit.”

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Rush Limbaugh: ‘We Can’t Impeach Obama’

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Photo Credit: WNDWhile a new poll says half of Americans and one-in four Democrats want Barack Obama impeached from office for a series of recent major scandals, the president’s archenemy in the media says working toward booting the commander in chief is simply a “wasted effort.”

“We can’t impeach Obama, it isn’t gonna happen,” radio powerhouse Rush Limbaugh said on his program Monday, “but we can impeach the Democratic Party and get it out of town by voting them out.”

The Obama administration has come under severe fire this month for its handing of the terrorist onslaught in Benghazi, Libya, the targeting of conservative and tea-party groups by the Internal Revenue Service, and the monitoring of phone records of journalists.

“As far as the public is concerned, Obama’s not in trouble,” Limbaugh said. “This isn’t gonna touch Obama. Benghazi’s not gonna touch Obama. Nothing else has touched Obama. The economy hasn’t touched Obama. The debt hasn’t touched Obama. The fact that nobody can find a decent job anymore hasn’t touched Obama. The fact that militant terrorists are all over the place attacking Americans hasn’t touched Obama. Why is this?”

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Daily Show Co-Creator: Oklahoma Tornado ‘Ordered to Only Target Conservatives’

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Photo Credit: Daily Caller With a massive tornado devastating the Oklahoma City area Daily Show co-creator Lizz Winstead took to Twitter to claim that the tornado was targeted at conservatives.

“This tornado is in Oklahoma so clearly it has been ordered to only target conservatives,” Winstead tweeted in an apparent attempt at humor, trying to apply the Internal Revenue Service targeting of conservatives to the tornado bearing down on Oklahoma…

When she received push-back on Twitter she responded “If Its not OK to YOU for me to combine news stories to point out hypocrisy AND Im not making fun of victims u shld Unfollow.”

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