Ellen Speaks for America: Obamacare ‘Doing Very, Very Well…I Think Everyone’s Very Grateful You Did This’

/8 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: YouTubeEllen DeGeneres was a completely slavish toady to President Obama as he appeared on her show to sell Obamacare — not to young people, but to mothers.

The president made his pitch to “especially all the moms out there who may have young people – 26, 27, do not have health insurance, but they think they’re invincible and nothing’s ever going to happen to ‘em – what we’ve said is you never know what life is going to throw at ya.” For example, a president who lies about keeping your plan and keeping your doctor. You didn’t see that coming! But DeGeneres said “everyone’s very grateful” for Obamacare:

DEGENERES: It’s doing very, very well…you’ve got 5 million people signed up so far. [Applause] An enormous number of people have signed up, so it’s successful….Well, for people who are starting to applaud here, I think everyone’s very grateful that you did this. And I think it is important for people to sign up. It’s just better to be covered. You just never know.

Read more from this story HERE.

Presidential Hopeful Launches Ad Campaign Promoting Common Core (+video)

/9 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: AP / Wilfredo LeeFormer Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s foundation launched an ad campaign promoting Common Core education standards for the state.

Bush, the son and brother of former presidents, is considered a potential contender for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016.

The ads, sponsored by Bush’s nonprofit Foundation for Excellence in Education, will air a series of digital videos to run for the next 10 weeks featuring four teachers lauding the Common Core standards, according to the Florida-based Saint Peter’s Blog.

The four teachers volunteered for the ad campaign, which is titled, “Learn More, Go Further.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Cruz: GOP Should ‘Continue to Defend Life’ and ‘Defend Traditional Marriage’ (+video)

/6 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: APSenator Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), a potential presidential contender in 2016, said the Republican Party needs a “big tent” that embraces centuries-old “American values” to succeed, adding that the GOP “should continue to defend life and that we should continue to defend traditional marriage.”

Cruz made his remarks during a Mar. 18 interview with the Des Moines Register, where he was asked about Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who recently said that for the Republican Party to grow and recruit more young people, it needed to “agree to disagree on social issues,” specifically homosexual “marriage.”

Cruz was asked whether he agreed with Sen. Paul’s view. The senator from Texas said, “Look, I am a conservative. I’m a fiscal conservative. I’m a social conservative. I think we’ve seen that in order for the Republican Party to succeed, we need to be a big tent. We need to embrace American values. American values that have been present in our country, have been present in every small town, every small business, every family for centuries.”

Read more from this story HERE.

WATCH: Man Arrested and Charged with Felony for Talking Too Much

/7 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Steve Rhodes / Creative Commons A man in Saginaw County is facing a felony charge after being arrested at a township board meeting March 4, for going over his allotted speaking time.

Mark Adams was charged Friday, March 14 with a felony resisting and obstructing police and a disturbing the peace misdemeanor.

The incident was caught on camera and has been viewed thousands of times.

FOX 17 spoke exclusively with the man arrested, traveling across the state to get answers.

Adams was pulled from the podium by several officers and arrested after exceeding the public comment time limit of three minutes, addressing several issues he has with his local government.

Read more from this story HERE.

NSA Collection Systems are Recording ‘Every Single’ Conversation Nationwide (+video)

/2 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: APNSA surveillance program reaches ‘into the past’ to retrieve, replay phone calls

By Barton Gellman and Ashkan Soltani.

The National Security Agency has built a surveillance system capable of recording “100 percent” of a foreign country’s telephone calls, enabling the agency to rewind and review conversations as long as a month after they take place, according to people with direct knowledge of the effort and documents supplied by former contractor Edward Snowden.

A senior manager for the program compares it to a time machine — one that can replay the voices from any call without requiring that a person be identified in advance for surveillance.

The voice interception program, called MYSTIC, began in 2009. Its RETRO tool, short for “retrospective retrieval,” and related projects reached full capacity against the first target nation in 2011. Planning documents two years later anticipated similar operations elsewhere.

In the initial deployment, collection systems are recording “every single” conversation nationwide, storing billions of them in a 30-day rolling buffer that clears the oldest calls as new ones arrive, according to a classified summary.

The call buffer opens a door “into the past,” the summary says, enabling users to “retrieve audio of interest that was not tasked at the time of the original call.” Analysts listen to only a fraction of 1 percent of the calls, but the absolute numbers are high. Each month, they send millions of voice clippings, or “cuts,” for processing and long-term storage.

Read more from this story HERE.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Photo Credit: AFP Photo/Beto BarataRobot Snowden promises more US spying revelations

By Glenn Chapman.

Former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden emerged from his Russian exile Tuesday in the form of a remotely-controlled robot to promise more sensational revelations about US spying programs.

The fugitive’s face appeared on a screen as he maneuvered the wheeled android around a stage at the TED gathering, addressing an audience in Vancouver without ever leaving his secret hideaway.

“There are absolutely more revelations to come,” he said. “Some of the most important reporting to be done is yet to come.”

Snowden, a former National Security Agency contractor who has been charged in the United States with espionage, dismissed the public debate about whether he is a heroic whistleblower or traitor.

Instead, he used the conference organized by educational non-profit organization TED (“Technology Entertainment Design”), to call for people worldwide to fight for privacy and Internet freedom.

Read more from this story HERE.

Shocking Video: Democrat Official Gives Hitler Salute During a Discussion about Government Transparency

/3 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Palm Beach Post The embattled planning board member who gave the Hitler salute during a public meeting last week has offered her resignation.

Wellington village leaders, employees and residents have expressed outrage since Marcia Radosevich referenced the Nazi dictator during a Planning, Zoning & Adjustment Board meeting March 5, when she directed the gesture at the village’s planning director.

In a letter late Thursday to the Wellington Village Council, Radosevich apologized for her actions and said, “Although I have been asked to remain on the PZAB, I am offering my resignation … so that the public and the village council can focus on important issues regarding the government’s responsibilities to us.”

It’s unclear whether the village council must vote to accept her resignation. Village hall is closed on Fridays.

Councilman Matt Willhite, who appointed Radosevich to the planning board in 2012, said Friday her resignation is “probably for the best.”

Read more from this story HERE.

While Russian Deputy PM Laughs at Obama’s Sanctions, Putin Plans to Sanction U.S. Senators (+video)

/7 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: DonkeyHoteyBy Kirit Radia.

Russia’s deputy prime minister laughed off President Obama’s sanction against him today asking “Comrade @BarackObama” if “some prankster” came up with the list.

The Obama administration hit 11 Russian and Ukrainian officials with sanctions today as punishment for Russia’s support of Crimea’s referendum. Among them: aides to President Vladimir Putin, a top government official, senior lawmakers, Crimean officials, the ousted president of Ukraine, and a Ukrainian politician and businessman allegedly tied to violence against protesters in Kiev.

It remains to be seen whether the sanctions will dissuade Russia from annexing Crimea, but one an early clue that they will not be effective came just hours later when President Putin signed a decree recognizing Crimea as an independent state, perhaps an early step towards annexation.

U.S. official have warned of additional sanctions for Russian action, hoping it will deter Russia from any further aggression towards Ukraine, but it didn’t appear to upset the often outspoke Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin.

Rogozin, a friend of actor Steven Seagal, took to Twitter to tweak Obama, tweeting he thinks “some prankster” came up with the sanctions list

Read more from this story HERE.

___________________________________________________________________________

Photo Credit: Sasha MordovetsRussia Will Sanction U.S. Senators

By Josh Rogin.

Putin is set to respond to Obama’s sanctions of Russian officials with his own list. Several U.S. Senators and officials will be banned from visiting Russia, including Sen. Dick Durbin.

U.S. senators, congressmen and top Obama administration officials are sure to be on Vladimir Putin’s sanctions list; a response to the Obama Administration’s announcement on Monday that 7 Russian officials and 4 Ukrainian officials would be barred from holding assets or traveling to the United States.

Putin is expected to release his retaliation list as early as Tuesday and while the final list is still being crafted, it will include top Obama administration officials and high profile U.S. senators, in an effort to roughly mirror the U.S. sanctions against Russian officials and lawmakers, according to diplomatic sources. At the top of the list in Congress is Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, who recently co-authored a resolution criticizing Russia’s invasion of Crimea.

Durbin’s inclusion on Putin’s list would mirror Obama’s naming of Valentina Matvienko, the head of the upper chamber of the Russian Duma. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell are not expected to be on the Russian sanctions list.

UPDATE: Durbin told The Daily Beast in a statement Monday: “My Lithuanian-born mother would be proud her son made Vladimir Putin’s American enemies list.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Feinstein: A Drone Spied On Me (+video)

/5 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Light Brigading / Creative Commons In an interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes” that aired on Sunday night, the California Democrat said a drone spied into the window of her home during a protest outside her house, and that privacy concerns for the technology were “major.”

Feinstein appeared as a pro-regulation voice in a Morley Safer segment on the legal questions surrounding the commercial drone industry.

“When is a drone picture a benefit to society? When does it become stalking? When does it invade privacy? How close to a home can a drone go?” Feinstein said, listing questions she would like to see answered in the complex regulation process.

Read more from this story HERE.

U.S. Government: Americans Are ‘Killer Zombies’ (+video)

/0 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: WNDVoice of America, through a local cable company, currently distributes “Zindagi 360,” a program VOA uses to target young adults in Pakistan, but the U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors is setting its sights higher.

BBG now is aiming for a Pakistan-wide broadcast of the show, which “focuses on topics that resonate with young people in Pakistan,” such as music and “life in America.”

Photo Credit: WNDThe topics apparently include the stars-and-stripes-adorned killer-zombie adaptation of Uncle Sam, the traditional personification of the American government.

While the promo clearly is intended to be humorous, if not satirical, BGB is using it as a calling card in its search for a distributor capable of spreading its message.

The video features two Urdu-speaking male and female cast members wearing contemporary, non-ethnic clothing, giddily venturing through what appears to be an American city.

Read more from this story HERE.