Another Democratic Screw-up: DNC Paid Tribute to US Navy Veterans Using Images of Russian Warships

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DNC, Democrats, Russia Warships

On the last night of the Democratic National Convention, a retired Navy four-star took the stage to pay tribute to veterans. Behind him, on a giant screen, the image of four hulking warships reinforced his patriotic message.

But there was a big mistake in the stirring backdrop: those are Russian warships.

While retired Adm. John Nathman, a former commander of Fleet Forces Command, honored vets as America’s best, the ships from the Russian Federation Navy were arrayed like sentinels on the big screen above.

These were the very Soviet-era combatants that Nathman and Cold Warriors like him had once squared off against.

“The ships are definitely Russian,” said noted naval author Norman Polmar after reviewing hi-resolution photos from the event. “There’s no question of that in my mind.”

Naval experts concluded the background was a photo composite of Russian ships that were overflown by what appear to be U.S. trainer jets. It remains unclear how or why the Democratic Party used what’s believed to be images of the Russian Black Sea Fleet at their convention.

A spokesman for the Democratic National Convention Committee was not able to immediately comment Tuesday, saying he had to track down personnel to find out what had happened.

The veteran who spotted the error and notified Navy Times said he was immediately taken aback.

“I was kind of in shock,” said Rob Barker, 38, a former electronics warfare technician who left the Navy in 2006. Having learned to visually identify foreign ships by their radars, Barker recognized the closest ship as the Kara-class cruiser Kerch.

“An immediate apology [from the committee] would be very nice,” Barker said. “Maybe acknowledge the fact that yes, they screwed up.”

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Obama Set to Meet Muslim Brotherhood While Snubbing Netanyahu

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President Obama invited Muslim Brotherhood-backed Egyptian President Mohammad Morsi to meet him in New York next week, right after publicly snubbing a request from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to meet with him and discuss the escalating crisis over a nuclear Iran. The Egyptian president’s invitation follows upon repeated protests at the U.S. embassy in Cairo.

The initial protest at the Cairo embassy began on the eleven-year anniversary of the September 11th attacks, and led to the compound’s breach. An official U.S. flag was confiscated and burned. Renewed clashes with Egyptian protesters have led to more American flag burnings and the firing of tear gas to disperse the crowd.

Oddly enough, several protesters spotted at the Cairo embassy were wearing Guy Fawkes masks, which are popular with members of anarcho-socialist movements. It should be noted that the Muslim Brotherhood is an organization that can be justifiably described as a blending of socialist and Islamist traditions.

Even though the political situation in Egypt is fluid, President Obama forgave a billion dollars owed to the U.S. by the Egyptian government and guaranteed a billion dollar infrastructure loan for the country. A recent intelligence report disclosing increasingly closer ties between Egypt and Iran is a red flag that all effective military aid to the country should undergo further State Department review.

The reaction of the Cairo embassy has been a cause for concern for the Obama administration, which has separated itself from the besieged embassy’s public relations campaign. The Cairo embassy originally condemned “the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims – as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions.”

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Federal Judge Strikes Down ‘Indefinite Detention’ Provision of NDAA

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An anti-terrorism law was struck down Wednesday by a federal judge who said she saw legitimate fears in claims by journalists, scholars and political activists that they could face indefinite detention for exercising First Amendment rights.

U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest in Manhattan ruled that the law, passed as part of the National Defense Authorization Act for 2012, was unconstitutional. She said the government has softened its position toward those who filed suit challenging the law, but she said the “shifting view” could not erase the threat of indefinite military detention. She urged Congress to make the law more specific or consider whether it is needed at all.

“First Amendment rights are guaranteed by the Constitution and cannot be legislated away,” Forrest wrote. “This Court rejects the Government’s suggestion that American citizens can be placed in military detention indefinitely, for acts they could not predict might subject them to detention.”

In May, the judge temporarily struck down the law subjecting to indefinite detention anyone who “substantially” or “directly” provides “support” to forces such as al-Qaida or the Taliban. She heard additional arguments last month before issuing the final ruling, likely to be appealed to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

While calling the law “unconstitutionally overbroad,” Forrest said the government can use another law to indefinitely detain people connected to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks or others picked up on the field of battle. She said the government at some point without additional congressional authorization began interpreting its detention authority more broadly.

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Al Qaeda Releases Video of American Hostage Captured in Pakistan (+video)

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By Muhammad Lila. Al Qaeda has released a new video of American hostage Warren Weinstein delivering a personal message to Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu.

In the video, Weinstein, 71, believed to be held in the tribal regions along Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan, appears healthy and calm, speaking in a soft, controlled manner.

“Unfortunately President Obama and the American government have shown no interest in my case,” Weinstein says in the video, seated on a chair with his back slightly slouched, wearing a thin white t-shirt.

“Therefore, as a Jew, I’m appealing to you, Prime Minister Netanyahu, the head of the Jewish state of Israel, one Jew to another, to please intervene on my behalf.”

Weinstein, a former Peace Corps and USAID official, was kidnapped from his home in an upscale neighborhood in Lahore in August 2011 after gunmen tricked his security guard into letting them enter the premises. At the time, Weinstein was working as the country director for J.E. Austin Associates, a consultancy firm whose website states its goal is to “improve productivity, to enhance competitiveness, to strengthen management and strategy implementation, and to facilitate economic development.” According to the website, the company works with government and non-government organizations. Read more from this story HERE.

This ABC News Report includes segments from the Al Qaeda video:

Rush Limbaugh Predicts End of GOP, Rise of 3rd Party, Destruction of US if Obama Wins (+video)

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In this excerpt from Rush’s program this week, he hammers the GOP for Romney’s failure to run a conservative campaign and predicts that if Obama is reelected, the GOP is dead, a third party will emerge, and the US will face total economic collapse within eighteen months:

Andrew Kirell also reports:

On his syndicated radio show Monday afternoon, conservative host Rush Limbaugh predicted that if President Barack Obama wins re-election, it will mean an end to the Republican Party and the triggering of economic collapse within 18 months.

“How long does this country have if Obama wins?” Limbaugh asked. “We’re headed toward an economic collapse and we are the leader of the world. And when it happens to us, there are reverberations all over the world […] How long is it going to take? I’m asking a serious question. 18 months? You throw ObamaCare onto what we know what we are going to get from Obama — more debt, more spending, the expansion of the welfare state. How long can this go on?” he continued.

He went on to refer to MSNBC host Chris Matthews saying last week that an Obama re-election would mean the end of conservatism. “Nope,” Limbaugh disagreed, “if Obama wins, it’s the end of the Republican Party.”

“There’s going to be a third party that’s going to be orientated towards conservatism — or Rand Paul thinks libertarianism,” he continued. “If Obama wins, the Republican Party will try to maneuver things so conservatives get blamed. The only problem is right now, Romney is not running a conservative campaign.”

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Laura Ingraham: “If You Can’t Beat Obama With His Record, Shutdown GOP”

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On her Monday program, conservative radio host Laura Ingraham ripped into Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s campaign for its lackluster performance, citing unfavorable polling data showing Romney trailing President Barack Obama, despite the bad economy and high unemployment numbers.

Given that the economy is bad, Ingraham argued Romney should be shoo-in and blamed the Republican Party’s leadership for that not being the case.

“If you can’t beat Barack Obama with this record, then shut down the party,” Ingraham said. “Shut it down, start new, with new people because this is a give-me election, or at least it should be. And the millions of dollars — I keep going back to the million and millions and millions of dollars that are paid to these political consultants election after election. We hire people who have lost previous campaigns, that run campaigns that have failed, who have message campaigns where the message fell flat — and they keep getting rehired. I don’t understand that. I don’t know why those are the people you hire.”

Ingraham singled out branding as one of the Romney campaign’s primary flaws.

“If I’m hiring messaging people — I’m finding out for instance who did the original GEICO gecko commercial?” she said. “Because that guy or gal who did actually knows how to brand something. So I’m going for the best branders and the people who have been successful against the Alinsky crowd in the past. That’s it. And if you’re Mitt Romney with all of your expertise and all of your knowledge about how the economy works and you’re in this — you have one shot. This is going to be the first line of your obituary. You won, or you lost. It’s all on the line for the country and it’s all on the line for you. You know saying that, ‘Well the numbers are disappointing’ — yeah the numbers are disappointing.”

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Hollywood: Mainstreaming Incest

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Back in 1986, Justice Antonin Scalia was excoriated as a hate-monger and extreme doomsayer when he wrote the dissent on Lawrence et al. v. Texas, a case which basically overturned sodomy laws on the grounds sexual behavior could not be legislated by appealing to traditional morality. Scalia wrote:

State laws against bigamy, same-sex marriage, adult incest, prostitution, masturbation, adultery, fornication, bestiality, and obscenity are likewise sustainable only in light of Bowers’ validation of laws based on moral choices. Every single one of these laws is called into question by today’s decision; the Court makes no effort to cabin the scope of its decision to exclude them from its holding[…]The impossibility of distinguishing homosexuality from other traditional ‘morals’ offenses is precisely why Bowers rejected the rational-basis challenge. ‘The law,’ it said, ‘is constantly based on notions of morality, and if all laws representing essentially moral choices are to be invalidated under the Due Process Clause, the courts will be very busy indeed[.] […] What a massive disruption of the current social order, therefore, the overruling of Bowers entails.

The justice was a prophet.

As it has turned out, incest is now being viewed approvingly by some in Hollywood. Director Nick Cassavetes is producing the film Yellow, the plot line of which depicts a brother and sister falling in love with one another. Cassavetes has given new meaning to the term “brotherly love” by declaring incest OK:

I have no experience with incest. … We had heard a few stories where brothers and sisters were completely, absolutely in love with one another. You know what? This whole movie is about judgment, and lack of it, and doing what you want. Who gives a sh-t if people judge you? I’m not saying this is an absolute but in a way, if you’re not having kids – who gives a damn? Love who you want. Isn’t that what we say? Gay marriage – love who you want? If it’s your brother or sister it’s super-weird, but if you look at it, you’re not hurting anybody except every single person who freaks out because you’re in love with one another.

Right.

If Justice Scalia could look into the future, maybe we also can imagine the future, taking a look at what the gradual acceptance of incest and other currently forbidden sexual practices might look like.

Cassavetes’ film will be hailed as “groundbreaking.” It will be followed up by another film featuring the tragic circumstances of two people who didn’t know they were brother and sister, similar to the situation Oedipus Rex faced when he unknowingly married his mother and had children by her. The film will show graphically explicit sex scenes between brother and sister, in order that the audiences get used to seeing incestuous relationships as sensually thrilling. The brother and sister will later find out their relationship is forbidden but decide to continue anyway, as they are so in love with one another. The film will end with them staying together for the sake of the children. It will win the coveted Palme d’Or at the Cannes film festival.

Read more from this story HERE.

US Financial Collapse Likely if Obama Wins Reelection

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As it loses its sovereignty, Spain finds itself in a vortex from which it cannot escape. It has entered into a second recession within three years. It has no money to combat this dilemma, as the private sector is collapsing, and so, as a result, are tax revenues, and the government is stuck with massive social programs. The national unemployment rate as of August 2012 is 24.6%, but for the young (16-24 years of age) it is now 52.9%. For those between the ages of 20 and 29, the rate is 39%. People are withdrawing and hoarding what cash they have, and many are moving to other countries. Tax revenues thus continue to decline, and few businesses will contemplate a start-up or move to Spain under these circumstances. The nation cannot cut spending beyond a certain point without fomenting a national upheaval, and it cannot promote programs to grow the economy. A financial and societal collapse is thus inevitable.

The United States is on the same path.

Since 2008, the nation’s debt has increased by 75% and will, per Obama’s own budget proposal, more than double (up 130%) by the end of an Obama second term, just four years away. The unfunded liabilities of the U.S. are now 14 times larger than the nation’s annual economic output (GDP). Government at all levels (federal, state, and local) is now spending the equivalent of 40% of the nation’s annual GDP. It will increase to 46-plus percent when ObamaCare and other programs are fully implemented.

The real unemployment rate today (counting all who dropped out of the labor force) is approaching 19%, and over 50% of recent college graduates are unemployed or grossly under-employed, with no hope in sight. There has been a concerted effort by this administration to centralize economic control in Washington through onerous mandates, regulations, and proposed taxes, thus discouraging wealth- and job-creation and forcing many businesses to contemplate a move overseas. The result of all the above is little or no economic growth, thus diminishing tax revenues and forcing more reliance on borrowing to fund the promised spending.

Borrowing that will one day in the not too distant future cost the United States an exorbitant interest rate, combined with a demand for real austerity and a de facto loss of sovereignty, would cement in stone an inevitable collapse.

For those who are maybe undecided or enamored of the Obama cult of personality, there is no need to listen to any of the political speeches and the distortions inevitably contained therein or to read green eye-shade economic reports. Just look across the Atlantic Ocean for a reality check and see the future if the Obama team is given four more years.

Read more from this story HERE.

Fox: Long-awaited ‘Furious’ Report Places Blame on ATF, Justice

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Dozens of senior-level U.S. government officials turned a blind eye to public safety as they pursued an ill-conceived and poorly managed investigation into gun trafficking in Mexico, according to a long-awaited inspector general’s report on Operation Fast and Furious.

Portions of the Justice Department IG report, which has not been made public, were obtained exclusively by Fox News Channel.

The report and accompanying accounts cite a failure in leadership and a lack of accountability and oversight up and down the chain of command at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the Justice Department itself and other offices. It says many senior executives knew the U.S. was helping traffic guns to Mexico that killed people but did nothing to stop it.

“We found no evidence in Operation Fast and Furious that the ATF or the (U.S. attorney’s office) attempted at any point during the investigation to balance the risks to the public safety against the long-term benefits of identifying trafficking networks and participants,” the draft report says.

Fast and Furious was the anti-gunrunning sting that helped send some 2,000 assault weapons to Mexico under the guise of stopping illegal trafficking. The operation ended only after the death of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry — two of the weapons associated with the investigation were found at his murder scene.

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White House in Disarray: Second Time in Two Weeks, Clinton Directly Contradicts Obama

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by a mob of radical Egyptian Al Qaeda sympathizers on the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

Clinton’s statements on the day’s events, released through the State Department’s website and Twitter feed, condemn “in the strongest possible terms” an attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya in Benghazi that left one American dead, but offer no condemnation of the attack on the U.S. embassy in Cairo.

Instead, Clinton reiterates an apology issued earlier today by the U.S. Embassy in Cairo–now deleted–which said: “We condemn the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims.”

“The U.S. deplores any intentional effort to denigrate the religious beliefs of others,” Clinton said. “Our commitment to religious tolerance goes back to the very beginning of our nation,” she added.

However, the White House has distanced itself from such apologies, according to Politico, saying that they were not “cleared by Washington.” Evidently, there is some discord in Washington.

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