NSA: Our Systems Are Too Complex To Stop Deleting Evidence (+video)

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Photo Credit: REUTERS / Gary CameronThe National Security Agency is making an ironic excuse for why it can’t stop deleting data evidence that could be used against it, despite receiving multiple court orders to stop – it doesn’t know how.

Technology focused privacy group Electronic Frontier Foundation, which currently has a case pending against NSA alleging the agency illegally intercepted client data, discovered through a Justice Department email slip-up last week that the agency was deleting evidence it had already been ordered to keep by multiple courts.

After failing to comply with an order to retain data collected under both executive authority and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act authority, DOJ claimed in March it misunderstood the order to read it only had to keep data acquired under the former. Pointing to documents proving otherwise, a FISA Court judge accused the department of attempting to mislead the court, and again ordered the retention of data in both circumstances.

Upon learning the destruction of such data was still going on, EFF immediately filed a restraining order against NSA and DOJ, which California U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White issued against the government the same day along with a demand for an immediate explanation from the government for violating the March order.

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Hillary Backtracks From ‘Dead Broke’ Comments (+video)

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Photo Credit: Jose Luis MaganaFormer Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was forced to explain — and recast — what she meant when she complained of her family’s financial struggles after leaving the White House.

The subject was broached on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” when host Robin Roberts asked Mrs. Clinton if she could understand America’s head-scratching reaction to her claim that the Clintons were “dead broke” upon leaving the White House and needed to hit the lucative speaking circuit to build their bank accounts.

“Yes I can, but everything in life has to be put into context,” she said, The Hill reported. “As I recall, we were something like $12 million in debt.”

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Judge Urges Feds to Investigate Denver Police, Sheriff in Abuse Case (+video)

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Photo Credit: Lindsay Pierce, The Denver PostSaying that a Denver police investigation “smacks of a sham,” U.S. District Judge John Kane has asked federal authorities to investigate the “patterns and practices” of the Denver police and sheriff’s offices and suggested they were intimidating a key witness.

In an emergency hearing, Kane ordered Denver police internal affairs detectives to stop an investigation against witness Amos Page, who is testifying in the case of a former jail inmate.

The inmate, Jamal Hunter, has accused the city and Denver jail Deputy Gaynel Rumer of facilitating and encouraging a brutal 2011 attack against him in his cell. Rumer did not come to Hunter’s aid while the inmate screamed and fellow inmates attacked him.

Kane on Friday ordered Denver police to produce all documents in its investigation of Page, including recordings of interviews, e-mails, notes and correspondence by June 16.

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Transgendered Priest to Give Sermon at Washington National Cathedral (+video)

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Photo Credit: APThe most visible Episcopal church in the U.S. is hosting its first openly transgender priest this month.

The Rev. Cameron Partridge is set to give the June 22 sermon at the Washington National Cathedral in Northwest.

Dean of the cathedral, the Rev. Gary Hall, said in a statement that he hopes Mr. Partridge’s presence sends a message of support for the transgender community.

“We at Washington National Cathedral are striving to send a message of love and affirmation, especially to LGBT youth who suffer daily because of their gender identity or sexual orientation,” he said. “We want to proclaim to them as proudly and unequivocally as we can: Your gender identity is good and your sexual orientation is good because that’s the way that God made you.”

The General Convention of the Episcopal Church in 2012 approved the ordination of transgender persons. The convention also approved a rite of blessing for same-sex unions, a decision that’s been a major contributor to the fracturing of Episcopal congregations. The cathedral performs same-sex marriages.

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Rand Paul: Mr. President, Instead of 5 Taliban, Let’s Trade 5 Democrats (+video)

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“Mr. President, let’s set up a new trade. Instead of 5 Taliban, let’s trade 5 Democrats!” #RPTCon14 — Senator Rand Paul (@SenRandPaul) June 6, 2014

WATCH: This Teenager’s Question Had Nancy Pelosi Stammering

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Photo Credit: APJudging from her fading smile, it appears that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi thought her meeting with a group of teenagers would be an easy photo op with no hard questions.

She was wrong.

“Why do you support the NSA’s illegal and ubiquitous data collection?” asked Andrew Demeter, a self-described investigative reporter who runs the TeenTake YouTube channel.

Read more from this story HERE.

Was Michelle Obama Elected President, Too? First Lady Corrects Misstep (+video)

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Photo Credit: AP / Stephan SavoiaFirst lady Michelle Obama got a little carried away with her title Monday, correcting herself after suggesting to supporters that she, too, got elected in 2008.

At a Democratic fundraiser in Boston, Mrs. Obama asked the audience to remember “when we took office.”

Then she said, “Well, when Barack took office and I was there.”

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Obama Reminds the Greatest Generation How He’s Changing the Military (+video)

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Photo Credit: AP / Charles DharapakAt a ceremony commemorating some of the bravest Americans of World War II, President Barack Obama reminded the “greatest generation” how the U.S. military has changed under his command, by slipping in references to immigrants and women.

Speaking at Normandy, President Barack Obama singled out three veterans who stormed the beaches under heavy fire.

These were “the men who were willing to lay down their lives for people they never met,” Obama said. “Wilson and Harry and Rock, they are here today,” the president continued, as he briefly described their service to their country.

“Gentlemen, I want each of you to know that your legacy is in good hands,” he told the three men. “For at a time when it has never been more tempting to pursue narrow self-interest, to slough off common endeavor, this generation of Americans — a new generation…has chosen to do their part as well.”

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WATCH: 70 Years Later, D-Day Vet Jim ‘Pee Wee’ Martin Jumps Again

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Photo Credit: CNNJim “Pee Wee” Martin acted like he’d been here before, like jumping from a plane is as easy as falling off a log.

Maybe that’s because he had — 70 years ago.

“I’m feeling fine,” Martin told reporters moments after landing in a French field. “… It was wonderful, absolutely wonderful.”

Martin was part of the U.S. 101st Airborne Division that parachuted down over Utah Beach in their bid to retake France and, eventually, the rest of Europe from Nazi Germany. They actually touched down in enemy-controlled territory a night before what’s referred to as D-Day.

His jump Thursday in the same area was different and — despite his being 93 years old now — a whole lot easier.

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Reminders from Ronald Reagan (+video)

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Photo Credit: TownHallBy Sarah Jean Seman.

Former president of the United States Ronald Reagan died ten years ago on June 5. While leading the American people from 1981 to 1989 the U.S. economy grew, Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev famously tore down the Berlin Wall, and Reagan earned the title “The Great Communicator…”

If the 40th president were alive today, he might offer the American people these reminders:

1). Government Overreach:

“The most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”

2). Inequality:

“The American dream is not that every man must be level with every other man. The American dream is that every man must be free to become whatever God intends he should become.”

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Be inspired! WATCH: Reagan’s ‘Boys of Pointe Du Hoc’ D-Day Commemoration

By Jamie Weinstein.

Thirty years ago, on the 40th anniversary of the D-Day landings, Ronald Reagan delivered one of the most iconic speeches of his presidency.

Read more from this story HERE.