George Zimmerman: NOT GUILTY (+video)

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By Yamiche Alcindor. George Zimmerman, the man accused of murdering Trayvon Martin, has been found not guilty of second-degree murder and manslaughter.

The verdict is the culmination of a case that captured the nation’s attention and will undoubtedly be imprinted in America’s history. The not guilty verdict means the jury of six women found that Zimmerman justifiably used deadly force and reasonably believed that such force was “necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm” to himself— Florida’s definition of self-defense.

Zimmerman showed no emotion as the verdict was read. After the verdict was read, he smiled slightly and shook hands with one of his lawyers.

The women decided Zimmerman didn’t “intentionally commit an act or acts that caused death” or demonstrate a “depraved mind without regard for human life” –Florida’s definitions of manslaughter and second degree murder, respectively.

“Its means there was reasonable doubt,” said Susan Constantine, a jury consultant and body language expert who attended Zimmerman’s trial regularly. “They just could not put the pieces together.” Read more from this story HERE.

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State never proved its case, legal analysts say

By David Ovalle. After five weeks of trial and 56 witnesses, few legal observers believed prosecutors came close to proving Sanford, Fla., neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman committed second-degree murder when he shot and killed Trayvon Martin in February 2012.

So for many legal analysts, it was no surprise that jurors rejected even a lesser “compromise” verdict of manslaughter, acquitting Zimmerman outright of all criminal charges and deciding he acted in a reasonable way to protect his own life.

The acquittal was a stinging blow for prosecutors and their decision to file the second-degree murder charge against Zimmerman, who was not initially arrested by Sanford police after claiming self-defense. And it was a resounding embrace of the defense’s strategy during closing arguments not just to establish that prosecutors hadn’t proven Zimmerman guilty, but also to show he was “absolutely” innocent.

“The jury clearly believed that you have a right to defend yourself,” said Jude M. Faccidomo, the former president of Miami’s Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. “Especially when cases are so gray, like this one was, self-defense really resonates because people can associate with being afraid.”

And while some also have questioned the state attorney’s office acceptance of a mostly white jury, a more diverse panel would have returned the same verdict, lawyers who have watched the case believe. Read more from this story HERE.

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Guilty until proven innocent: how the press prosecuted Zimmerman while stoking racial tensions

By John Nolte. As we await the verdict in the trial of George Zimmerman, the Florida man who claims to have shot and killed teenager Trayvon Martin in self-defense, this seems the perfect time to reflect on the media’s cynical and dishonest role in turning a local crime into a national obsession.

As you will see below, by hook and crook, the mainstream media did everything in its still-potent power to not only push for the prosecution of Mr. Zimmerman (the police originally chose not to charge him) but also to gin up racial tensions where none needed to exist.

It all started with the anchor of a major television network (Al Sharpton) inserting himself in the story to spread division and hate; it continued straight through to the closing days of the trial when another major news network, desperate to keep a fabricated racial narrative alive, propagated the portrayal of Zimmerman as part of a racial group that doesn’t exist — the “white Hispanic.”

In-between, there has been an astonishing amount of malicious fraud and lies, all in an effort to serve a president, stir racial hatred, and influence the justice system. Read more from this story HERE.

IRS Intentionally Paying Billions to Illegal Aliens, Won’t Turn Over Info to Immigration Officials

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Photo Credit: APThe question of whether to legalize illegal aliens and put them on a pathway to citizenship may be the most controversial legislative issue facing the U.S. Congress this year.

But, according to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA), seventeen years have already passed since the Internal Revenue Service made its own “policy decision” to “’legalize’ illegal aliens.”

That policy, made those many years ago, not only determined that the IRS would treat illegal aliens the same as legal immigrants and U.S. citizens, but also that the IRS would not hand over to federal immigration authorities information about employers who appeared to be hiring large numbers of illegal aliens and about illegal aliens who filed false documents with the IRS.

As a result of the IRS’s policy, by 2010, according to TIGTA, the service was paying out $4.2 billion in refundable “Additional Child Tax Credits” to illegal aliens. In 2011, according to TIGTA, the IRS would pay more than $46 million in tax refunds to what theoretically were 23,994 illegal aliens who all used the same address in Atlanta.

The story starts in 1996, when Democrat Bill Clinton was president, and the Republicans controlled Congress.

Read more from this story HERE.

Journalist: US Better Not Do Anything to Snowden or Undisclosed Info Will Be Fed’s “Worst Nightmare”

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Photo Credit: ReutersSnowden documents could be ‘worst nightmare’ for U.S. – journalist

By Reuters. Fugitive former U.S. spy contractor Edward Snowden controls dangerous information that could become the United States’ “worst nightmare” if revealed, a journalist familiar with the data said in a newspaper interview.

Glenn Greenwald, the Guardian journalist who first published the documents Snowden leaked, said in a newspaper interview published on Saturday that the U.S. government should be careful in its pursuit of the former computer analyst.

“Snowden has enough information to cause harm to the U.S. government in a single minute than any other person has ever had,” Greenwald said in an interview in Rio de Janeiro with the Argentinian daily La Nacion.

“The U.S. government should be on its knees every day begging that nothing happen to Snowden, because if something does happen to him, all the information will be revealed and it could be its worst nightmare.”

Snowden, who is sought by Washington on espionage charges after revealing details of secret surveillance programs, has been stranded at a Moscow airport since June 23 and is now seeking refuge in Russia until he can secure safe passage to Latin America, where several counties have offered him asylum. Read more from this story HERE.

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The (spy) game’s afoot in hunt for NSA leaker Snowden

By Rowan Scarborough. One twist in the fugitive hunt for asylum-seeking Edward Snowden is that the man who has revealed the most secrets about the National Security Agency in history now is undoubtedly one of its chief targets.

A subplot in this international thriller is a cat-and-mouse game: Will the NSA penetrate his communications or will the master leaker outwit all the agency’s high-tech gadgets — since he, as well as anyone, knows how they work?

“NSA is probably doing what it does best, which is sweeping the ‘electronicshere’ for communications, voice and data, indicating his next chess move,” former CIA officer Bart Bechtel says. “They may also be looking at known and suspected collaborators.”

A second analyst, a former intelligence operative, says that the same methods Mr. Snowden, an ex-NSA contractor, disclosed in documents leaks to the press are now being turned on him. Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: AFPMorales says US hacked Bolivian leaders’ emails

By AFP. Bolivia’s leftist president Evo Morales on Saturday accused US intelligence of hacking into the email accounts of top Bolivian officials, saying he had shut his own account down.

Latin American leaders have lashed out at Washington over recent revelations of vast surveillance programs, some of which allegedly targeted regional allies and adversaries alike.

Bolivia has joined Venezuela and Nicaragua in offering asylum to Edward Snowden, the former IT contractor for the US National Security Agency who publicized details of the programs and is now on the run from espionage charges.

Morales said that he learned about the alleged US email snooping at the Mercosur regional summit in Montevideo earlier this week.

“Those US intelligence agents have accessed the emails of our most senior authorities in Bolivia, Morales said in a speech. Read more from this story HERE.

Computer Security Vanishing: Hackers Exploit Vulnerabilities for NSA, Governments

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Photo Credit: Gianni CiprianoOn the tiny Mediterranean island of Malta, two Italian hackers have been searching for bugs — not the island’s many beetle varieties, but secret flaws in computer code that governments pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to learn about and exploit.

The hackers, Luigi Auriemma, 32, and Donato Ferrante, 28, sell technical details of such vulnerabilities to countries that want to break into the computer systems of foreign adversaries. The two will not reveal the clients of their company, ReVuln, but big buyers of services like theirs include the National Security Agency — which seeks the flaws for America’s growing arsenal of cyberweapons — and American adversaries like the Revolutionary Guards of Iran.

All over the world, from South Africa to South Korea, business is booming in what hackers call “zero days,” the coding flaws in software like Microsoft Windows that can give a buyer unfettered access to a computer and any business, agency or individual dependent on one.

Just a few years ago, hackers like Mr. Auriemma and Mr. Ferrante would have sold the knowledge of coding flaws to companies like Microsoft and Apple, which would fix them. Last month, Microsoft sharply increased the amount it was willing to pay for such flaws, raising its top offer to $150,000.

But increasingly the businesses are being outbid by countries with the goal of exploiting the flaws in pursuit of the kind of success, albeit temporary, that the United States and Israel achieved three summers ago when they attacked Iran’s nuclear enrichment program with a computer worm that became known as “Stuxnet.”

Read more from this story HERE.

NIH Spends $3 Million To Study Health Risks of “Dating” Mexican Prostitutes

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Photo Credit: APJust how dangerous is it to your health to shack up with a Mexican hooker? That’s the question at the heart of a five-year, $3,029,663 study by researchers at the University of California San Diego funded by the National Institutes of Health.

The five-year study is taking the first-ever look at the love lives – and sexually transmitted diseases – of 200 prostitutas mexicanas and their “non-commercial” male partners.

Based on previous research, UCSD scientists have been able to determine conclusively that the “non-commercial male partners” of Mexican prostitutes are very likely to pick up and spread their partners’ sexually-transmitted diseases, and may in fact be “significant drivers of HIV/STI acquisition and/or their re-infection.”

Begun in 2009, the Mexican prostitute study has already been receiving federal funding of over half a million dollars annually, and the $3 million price tag does not include the as-of-yet undetermined 2014 grant for the study’s final year.

Read more from this story HERE.

Wal-Mart Says No To Living Wage, Could Leave Washington DC

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Photo Credit: APThe country’s largest private employer dared Washington D.C. lawmakers to call its bluff. Just 24 hours before a key vote, executives and lobbyists from Wal-Mart issued the following threat to D.C. council members “try to force us to pay our employees a living wage, and we will not build stores in the District.”

The council was voting to pass a living wage bill, which would require retailers such as Wal-Mart, Lowes, Costco and Home Depot to pay higher wages to their employees. Wal-Mart’s plan was to pack up and leave, promising to cancel plans for at least three of the six Wal-Mart stores if the proposal becomes law. One lawmaker said it felt like Wal-Mart was “sticking guns to council members’ heads.”

Still D.C. council members held their ground and voted 8-5 this afternoon to require retailers with corporate sales of $one billion or more and operating space of 75,000 sq ft or larger to pay their employees no less than $12.50 an hour.

That would equate to a $26,000 annual salary in a town listed as number nine on a list of most expensive places to live in the country.

But the eight votes still leaves the council one vote shy of being able to override a potential veto from D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray, who has pushed Wal-Mart to plan stores in the city in underserved neighborhoods.

Read more from this story HERE.

Texas Passes Historic Abortion Restrictions While Protesters Attempt to Bring Feces, Urine into Capitol

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Photo Credit: APBy Fox News. The Texas Senate late Friday passed tough new abortion restrictions after weeks of protests, sending them to Gov. Rick Perry to sign into law.

The vote came after weeks of protests and rallies drew thousands to the Capitol and made Texas the focus of the national abortion debate.

Republicans used their majority to pass the bill nearly three weeks after a filibuster by Democratic Sen. Wendy Davis and an outburst by abortion-rights supporters in the Senate gallery disrupted a deadline vote.

Called back for a new special session by Perry, lawmakers took up the bill again as thousands of supporters and opponents held rallies and jammed the Capitol to testify at public hearings.

In a statement released just after the vote, Perry said, “Today the Texas Legislature took its final step in our historic effort to protect life. This legislation builds on the strong and unwavering commitment we have made to defend life and protect women’s health.” Read more from this story HERE.

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Texas Department of Public Safety Press Release Confirms Feces, Urine Taken from Pro-Abortion Protesters Trying to Gain Entrance to Capitol

AUSTIN – The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) today received information that individuals planned to use a variety of items or props to disrupt legislative proceedings at the Texas Capitol.

Therefore for safety purposes, DPS recommended to the Texas Senate that all bags be inspected prior to allowing individuals to enter the Senate gallery, which the Texas Senate authorized.

During these inspections, DPS officers have thus far discovered one jar suspected to contain urine, 18 jars suspected to contain feces, and three bottles suspected to contain paint. All of these items – as well as significant quantities of feminine hygiene products, glitter and confetti possessed by individuals – were required to be discarded; otherwise those individuals were denied entry into the gallery.

In the interest of the safety and security of Texas legislators and the general public, these inspections will continue until the conclusion of Senate business.

Washington Mayor: Mystery Helicopters “Terrorized” City

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Photo Credit: Reuters An Army official apologized Friday for conducting an unannounced training mission around the small city of Port Angeles, Wash., using special operations helicopters that the mayor said “terrorized” his city.

Dozens of alarmed residents called police to ask what was going on and said the noise and light from the mystery helicopters buzzing around the city panicked horses and other livestock, The Peninsula Daily News reported.

The Army said the helicopters involved included both twin-engine Chinooks and Blackhawk attack helicopters.

“No one had any warning about the helicopters, no one said anything afterward, and today city officials had to spend hours just trying to find out what had happened — who had invaded Port Angeles,” said Cherie Kidd, mayor of the Olympic Peninsula city about 60 miles west of Seattle.

The training exercise involved part of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, which is based at Fort Campbell, Ky., but has individual units in various locations, said Sgt. Jimmy Norris, an I Corps spokesman at Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Tacoma, Wash. Part of the 160th is based at Lewis-McChord, he said.

Read more from this story HERE.

Unanswered Questions Plague Seal Team 6 Losses

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Photo Credit: WNDEveryone knows about the U.S. military’s SEAL Team Six and its involvement in the Pakistan raid that left terror leader Osama bin Laden dead – heck, Hollywood made a movie about the members after the Obama administration reportedly dished out classified information to those working on the production.

But there are many, many questions that remain unanswered about the brave Navy SEAL team members who put on the boots and weaponry and defended America and how they may have been used as political pawns in a White House campaign to “reach out and coddle Islamist fundamentalists.”

The new case has been launched by FreedomWatch’s Larry Klayman, whose complaint is on behalf of several families of Navy SEAL Team members who died when their helicopter was shot down by Taliban jihadists on Aug. 6, 2011, in Afghanistan…

Defendants in the case are Vice President Joe Biden and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who are accused of disclosing classified information about the team’s success in Pakistan and putting a “target on the backs” of the heroes and their families.

“Predictably, the Taliban retaliated by blasting the helicopter out of the air and killing all on board,” FreedomWatch said in its announcement about the case.

Read more from this story HERE.

Tom Marino, GOP Congressman, Floats Idea Of Filing Criminal Charges Against Obama

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Photo Credit: Tom Williams/CQ Roll CallRep. Tom Marino (R-Pa.) revealed in a Thursday interview that he is exploring avenues by which members of Congress could try to pursue criminal charges against President Barack Obama.

Earlier this month, the Obama administration announced a delay in the implementation of an Affordable Care Act provision that will require businesses employing more than 50 people to provide them with health insurance. The delay, which puts off the requirement until 2015, drew much criticism from the GOP. The Treasury Department has since released a letter defending the decision as a means of providing “transition relief” for companies.

To say that Marino is critical of the decision may be an understatement. During an interview on local Scranton, Pa., station “94.3 The Talker,” the congressman slammed both the president for allegedly taking illegal action and Attorney General Eric Holder for failing to do anything about it.

“If the chief law enforcer of the country [Holder] will not enforce the law,” said Marino, “and the president decides to break the law because he doesn’t like it, there has to be another mechanism by which we in Congress can … see if there are criminal charges we can file.”

Read more from this story HERE.