Navy spy "fish" could be operational next year

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navy_surveillanceby Mike Hixenbaugh

It looks like a fish, sort of. l

It swims like one too, if you squint. l

It’s even named after a fish – OK, a Disney one.

The Navy is hoping that’ll be enough to get the little swimmer into enemy territory undetected to patrol and protect U.S. ships and ports from harm.

Project Silent Nemo is under way this week at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek, where a team of civilian engineers and military officers are testing the capabilities of a 5-foot, 100-pound experimental robot that’s designed to look and swim like a bluefin tuna.

Read more from this story HERE.

Rise Of The Machines: Vote For Republicans In Chicago Automatically Changed To Democrats

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Photo Credit: Daily CallerJim Moynihan, Republican candidate for the Illinois State House, went in today to vote early, and to vote for himself. But when he touched the screen mark his name, it was his Democratic opponent’s name that registered the vote.

“While early voting at the Schaumburg Public Library today, I tried to cast a vote for myself and instead it cast the vote for my opponent,” Moynihan told Illinois Review. “You could imagine my surprise as the same thing happened with a number of races when I tried to vote for a Republican and the machine registered a vote for a Democrat.”

Every time he touched the screen for a Republican the machine registered it as a vote for the Democrat. “Clearly, I am concerned that citizens will be unable to vote for the candidate of their choice, especially if they are in a hurry and do not double check their ballot,” Moynihan said.

Read more from this story HERE.

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James O’Keefe Strikes Again

By John Fund.

Many liberals are adamant there is no threat of voter fraud that justifies efforts to improve the integrity of elections. “There is no real concrete evidence of voter fraud,” tweeted Donna Brazile, former acting chair of the Democratic National Committee, this week. “It’s a big ass lie.”

James O’Keefe, the guerilla filmmaker who brought down the ACORN voter-registration fraudsters in 2010 and forced the resignation of NPR executives, politely disagrees. Today, he is releasing some new undercover footage that raises disturbing questions about ballot integrity in Colorado, the site of fiercely contested races for the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House, and the governorship. When he raised the issue of filling out some of the unused ballots that are mailed to every household in the state this month, he was told by Meredith Hicks, the director of Work for Progress, a liberal group funded by Democratic Super PACS.: “That is not even like lying or something, if someone throws out a ballot, like if you want to fill it out you should do it.” She then brazenly offered O’Keefe, disguised as a middle-aged college instructor, a job with her group.

The video of O’Keefe’s encounters with other operatives is equally disturbing. He has a conversation with Greenpeace employee Christina Topping, and suggests he might have access to unused ballots from people who have recently moved out of college fraternity houses. “I mean it is putting the votes to good use,” she responds. “So really, truly, like yeah, that is awesome.”

Colorado secretary of state Scott Gessler, along with several county election clerks, have raised warning flags that a new state law that automatically mails a ballot to everyone is an engraved invitation to commit fraud. “Sending ballots to people who did not even ask for them or have moved out of state is asking for trouble” he told me. For example, little can stop someone who collects discarded ballots from trash cans, fills out the ballots, and mails them in. Election workers are supposed to compare signatures on registration records with signed ballots. But if a person has a “witness” who signs the ballot on the witness line, then the signatures do not have to match and the vote is counted.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: AP‘Calibration error’ changes GOP votes to Dem in Illinois county

By Paul Miller.

Early Voting in Illinois got off to its typical start Monday, as votes being cast for Republican candidates were transformed into votes for Democrats.

Republican state representative candidate Jim Moynihan went to vote Monday at the Schaumburg Public Library.

“I tried to cast a vote for myself and instead it cast the vote for my opponent,” Moynihan said. “You could imagine my surprise as the same thing happened with a number of races when I tried to vote for a Republican and the machine registered a vote for a Democrat.”

The conservative website Illinois Review reported that “While using a touch screen voting machine in Schaumburg, Moynihan voted for several races on the ballot, only to find that whenever he voted for a Republican candidate, the machine registered the vote for a Democrat in the same race. He notified the election judge at his polling place and demonstrated that it continued to cast a vote for the opposing candidate’s party. Moynihan was eventually allowed to vote for Republican candidates, including his own race.

Read more from this story HERE.

Rwanda to Screen Visitors from United States, Spain for Ebola

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Photo Credit: APBy MARY CHASTAIN.

On Tuesday, Rwanda announced all visitors from United States and Spain will be screened for Ebola. The new system was implemented just a few days after a New Jersey school banned two students from Ebola-free Rwanda.

“On October 19, the Rwandan Ministry of Health introduced new Ebola Virus Disease screening requirements,” said the US Embassy in Rwanda in a statement. “Visitors who have been in the United States or Spain during the last 22 days are now required to report their medical condition—regardless of whether they are experiencing symptoms of Ebola—by telephone by dialing 114 between 7:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. for the duration of their visit to Rwanda (if less than 21 days), or for the first 21 days of their visit to Rwanda.”

The Embassy continued: “The Government of Rwanda screens each visitor entering Rwanda for symptoms of Ebola at its land borders and at the Kigali International Airport. The screening includes taking each visitor’s body temperature via a laser thermometer. Each visitor must also complete a detailed questionnaire concerning whether they have any symptoms of illness and where they have traveled in the past 22 days.”

There are no cases of Ebola in Rwanda. The country is 2,600 miles east of Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea where the Ebola outbreak is the worst. Liberian Thomas Eric Duncan died of Ebola in Dallas, TX and two nurses tested positive for the disease after they treated him. Two missionaries in Spain died after they visited West Africa. A nurse recently tested positive.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Freelance cameraman free of Ebola, can leave Nebraska hospital

By Ralph Ellis, Holly Yan and Ashley Fantz.

Freelance cameraman Ashoka Mukpo no longer has the Ebola virus in his bloodstream and will be allowed to leave Nebraska Medical Center, the hospital said Tuesday.

“Just got my results,” Mukpo tweeted. “3 consecutive days negative. Ebola free and feeling so blessed. I fought and won, with lots of help. Amazing feeling.”

The 33-year-old was working for NBC News when he tested positive for Ebola in Liberia. Mukpo was among a team working with Dr. Nancy Snyderman, the network’s chief medical correspondent.
Mukpo spent about two weeks at the hospital in Omaha, Nebraska. The hospital said he can head back home to Rhode Island on Wednesday.

“Recovering from Ebola is a truly humbling feeling,” the hospital quoted Mukpo as saying. “Too many are not as fortunate and lucky as I’ve been. I’m very happy to be alive.”

Read more from this story HERE.

In Partisan Pitch, Obama Tells Hispanics ‘I Need You to Have My Back’

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Photo Credit: AP / Jacquelyn MartinWith frustration mounting, President Barack Obama sought Thursday to quell doubts he’ll use his presidential powers to act on immigration, telling Hispanics and immigration activists it’s “not a question of if but when.”

At the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute’s annual gala, Obama warned activists that his eventual actions will spark intense political opposition that could threaten the durability of what he does. In a partisan pitch a month before Election Day, he urged Hispanics across the U.S. to use their votes to improve prospects in the future for a legislative fix.

“The moment I act — and it will be taking place between the November election and the end of the year — opponents of reform will roll out the same old scare tactics,” Obama said. “When opponents are out there saying who knows what, I’m going to need you to have my back.”

Once hailed as a champion for Hispanic rights, Obama’s relationship with the Hispanic community has become strained since he decided last month to abandon his earlier pledge to act quickly after summer’s end to help some immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally. Instead, he said he’d wait until after the Nov. 4 elections, exasperating immigration activists who accused the president of putting politics ahead of their families and said they had waited far too long already

Read more from this story HERE.

Louisiana VA Hospital Lacks Pajamas and Sheets, but Spends Millions on New Furniture, TVs and Solar

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Photo Credit: Fox NewsVeterans at the Shreveport, La., Veterans Affairs hospital have been going without toothbrushes, toothpaste, pajamas, sheets and blankets while department officials spend money on new Canadian-made furniture, televisions to run public service announcements and solar panels, a Watchdog investigation has revealed.

Sources inside the hospital told Watchdog.org that patients also have had to contend with substandard care, as many nurses spend less time on work than on cell phones, iPods or accessing personal data on hospital computers.

“It shouldn’t be like this. These are our veterans,” one employee said. “When I saw those solar panels out there and they waste money on things like new TVs that just play (public service) announcements, it really made me angry.”

According to the VA, the department spent $74,412 on 24 flat screen TVs for “patient/employee information” — one 50 inches wide and the others 42 inches. The furniture cost $134,082 and the solar project was approximately $3 million.

Read more from this story HERE.

Teacher: We're Overwhelmed by Illegal Kids

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The headline of the story: “Schools Scramble to Help Teenagers Who Crossed the Border,” and I must warn you: The AP is not even calling them “undocumented migrants” anymore.

Now they are just “unaccompanied minors.” It’s from Frankford, Delaware. “American schools are scrambling to provide services to the large number of children and teenagers who crossed the border alone in recent months. Unaccompanied minors…” As I say, they’re no longer “undocumented migrants,” no longer “illegal immigrant children.” Nope. These are “unaccompanied minors who made up the summer spike at the border have moved to communities of all sizes, in nearly every state, Federal data indicates, to live with a relative and await immigration decisions.”

To live with relatives.

That’s the key to this. At least they want us to think it’s the key.

“The Supreme Court has ruled that schools have an obligation to educate all students regardless of their immigration status, so schools have become a safe haven for many of the tens of thousands of these young people mostly from central America living in limbo.” They’re not in limbo. They’re home free! That’s what’s happened here. They’re not in limbo. What is this limbo business? They’re home free. The taxpayers are gonna be paying through the nose for it.

Read more from this story HERE.

Sessions Warns of ‘Chilling’ Obama Immigration Plotting

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

By Joel Gehrke.

Senator Jeff Sessions (R., Ala.) called for Americans to pressure their senators about voting against President Obama’s expected executive orders on immigration, which he described as a “chilling” plot with activists to undermine national laws.

“Recent developments suggest the president’s planned executive amnesty could be increasingly imminent and broad in scope. House Democrat Leader Pelosi — clearly one of the White House’s closest allies — has just urged the president to issue ‘the broadest possible’ executive actions,” Sessions said in a statement on Wednesday.

“Open-borders groups have grown bolder and louder in their unlawful demands, launching a campaign for the president to ‘go big,’ and demanding that he ‘stand up’ to Congress and ‘expand DACA,’” he added, citing an Associated Press report that administration officials were meeting with immigration activists and the Chamber of Commerce.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: Manuel Balce Ceneta, AP

Photo Credit: Manuel Balce Ceneta, AP

Alberto Gonzales: Obama’s time for immigration action

By Alberto R. Gonzales.

Along our southwestern border, not far from where I was born, tens of thousands of Central American children are turning themselves over to U.S. Border Patrol officers. The overwhelming majority are not criminals, drug dealers or violent offenders, rather most are escaping those threats in their home countries. Poor economic conditions, the threat of violence, and a parent’s hope for a better life are the reasons for this situation – the children are not to blame.

In spite of this humanitarian crisis and the economic burdens it creates for state and local governments, recently members of Congress failed to pass legislation to address these issues before heading home for the August recess. In response, the President announced that he will take executive action even though he previously professed publicly his power to deal with the influx of young immigrants was limited.

I support the President’s commitment to address this issue provided his actions are consistent with his duty under the Constitution to faithfully execute our laws. Determining the limits of the president’s inherent power to act in the absence of either an express constitutional or congressional grant of authority is one of the most difficult challenges in constitutional law. In part, this is because our courts have been inconsistent in defining the scope of the President’s inherent authority. (search “the courts’ abandonment of judicial review that limits Congress’s power…”)

Read more from this story HERE.

Nixon Is Gone, but His Media Strategy Lives On

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Photo Credit: Charles Tasnadi / AP

Photo Credit: Charles Tasnadi / AP

Richard Nixon left the White House in disgrace 40 years ago this month, but the war he launched against journalists has continued under Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and other recent presidents.

Nixon’s resignation is remembered as a great victory for the media. Investigations by Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein, and other reporters helped expose the White House crime spree that caused the president’s downfall. Even though he lost his battle to remain in power, Nixon’s way of handling the press has prevailed in American politics. Intimidating journalists, avoiding White House reporters, staging events for television—now common presidential practices—were all originally Nixonian tactics.

Nixon would enjoy the frustration many reporters feel toward the Obama White House. This summer 38 news organizations sent Obama a letter protesting his administration’s obstruction of journalists. The news groups complained of officials blackballing reporters, delaying interviews until after deadlines had passed, and preventing staff experts from talking with journalists. For example, they said the Environmental Protection Agency refused to answer questions about the mishandling of hazardous waste despite repeated requests from reporters.

Obama’s predecessor, George W. Bush, repeated many of Nixon’s arguments—protecting national security and executive privilege—to keep information about his administration secret. Bush bluntly told reporters he did not think they represented the public, echoing the adversarial relationship cultivated by Nixon.

Read more from this story HERE.

'Obama Will Take Care Of Us'

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images (16)By Jerome R. Corsi.

In an exclusive interview with WND and Rep. Steve Stockman, R-Texas, a 13-year Border Patrol veteran revealed many in the recent surge of illegal immigrants, including unaccompanied minors, are coming prepared to game the U.S. immigration system, even repeating the mantra, “Obama will take care of us.”

“I don’t usually get into the political part of it,” explained Chris Cabrera, now a vice president in the National Border Patrol Council Local 3307, “but I find it odd that their whole thing is, ‘We are going to get amnesty when we get here. Where is my permiso? Where is my permission to go north so I can get my medical care and my schooling and all that? President Obama is going to take care of us and make sure we’re all OK.’

“Whether it’s the adults or the young kids, one thing we consistently hear is, ‘Obama will take care of us,’” he explained.

He also suggested the tens of thousands of unaccompanied minors illegally entering the United States appear to have been coached on what to say when they cross the border.

“The ‘magic words’ are something along the lines of ‘asylum,’ or ‘political asylum’ or to say ‘fighting in my home country,’” Cabrera said. “They know these words … because we can’t send them home because it’s too dangerous back there.”

Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: Reuters

Photo Credit: Reuters

Violent transnational gangs ‘recruiting unaccompanied minors at Border Security facilities’

By Daily Mail Reporter and Associated Press.

Members of some of the United States’ most notorious street gangs have infiltrated shelters housing illegal immigrant minors from Central America and are recruiting them, say Homeland Security sources.

An estimated 57,000 minors from Central America have flooded across the border from Mexico to the U.S. in recent months, and gang leaders are reportedly filling their ranks from among them.

Transnational gangs such as the Mara Salvatruca, also known as MS-13, and the 18th Street gang are using established juvenile members from Central America to cross the border and recruit other children to the cartels, say sources.

According to Fox News, Border Control agents have witnessed gang members using a Red Cross phone bank at the facility at Nogales, Arizona, to ‘recruit, enlist and pressure’ other minors into crossing the border.

Shawn Moran, vice president of the National Border Control Patrol Council, a union which represents border agents, says agents have witnessed the recruiting process.

Read more from this story HERE.