New, Creepier “Hail Satan” Video from Pro-Abortion Hecklers at Texas Rotunda

Photo Credit: YouTube As seen in a video posted earlier this week, the pro-abortion heckling at the Texas state capitol has grown much worse since the second special session was called by Governor Perry.

One of the harassing tactics opponents to the session used was a chant of “Hail Satan,” apparently designed to interrupt and discourage pro-lifers. Even though this chanting was heard all day, the earlier video suggested that pro-lifers had only managed to get one recording of it.

Turns out, another, clearer recording of the sick Satan chants has been found.

In this new video, the pro-abortion “Hail Satan” chanting is very obvious and ominous. It is especially pronounced at about 5:15 of the recording:

Christian Preachers Brutally Beaten at Gay Pride Festival (+video)

Photo Credit: YouTubeTwo street preachers were brutally beaten — punched and kicked — by a crowd at a gay pride festival in Seattle and the entire melee was captured on video.

The preachers were holding signs reading “Repent or Else” and “Jesus Saves From Sin.” The video shows a group of people initially screaming and threatening the men during Pridefest at the Seattle Space Needle.

Television station KOMO reported that some of the attackers belonged to a group called NOH8.

A group of women tried to steal their signs but were unsuccessful. The video then shows a group of men grabbing onto one of the preacher’s signs and dragging him to the ground. At some point he was punched in the back of the head a number of times while others can be seen kicking the man.

Another preacher was sucker punched in the back of the head.

Read more from this story HERE.

“Stunned” GOP Launches Probe into Obamacare Delay While Obama Continues to Grease the Skids (+video)

Photo Credit: Fox NewsRepublicans launch probe into ObamaCare mandate delay

By Fox News. House Republicans are investigating the Obama administration’s move to delay a key part of the health care overhaul, claiming the announcement was “completely at odds” with prior claims that ObamaCare was running on schedule and questioning what provisions might be delayed next.

“It’s clear we have no idea the full scope of delays and disarray that may be coming. The American public deserves answers,” Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said in a statement.

Republicans on Upton’s committee fired off a pair of letters on Wednesday to both the Treasury Department and Department of Health and Human Services. They demanded records detailing deliberations regarding the recently announced delay and ongoing talks about other “elements” of the law that some groups want “changed, delayed or repealed.” Read more from this story HERE.


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Republicans “Stunned” Over Delay, Trying to Figure Out What to Do

By Byron York. The move stunned Republicans in Congress, who immediately asked: Whose feedback? What businesses were meeting with the White House? What deals did they make?

“These communications and the decision-making process related to the delay… have not been disclosed publicly,” wrote House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Rep. Fred Upton in a letter to the Treasury Department and the Department of Health and Human Services. Along with 13 other Republican committee members, Upton demanded the administration reveal which businesses and which government officials were involved in the decision.

But the bigger question for Republicans is how to handle the administration’s surprise retreat. Should they focus on secretiveness, as Upton & Co. are doing? Should they push the White House to explain how Obamacare can still work when large employers don’t have to pay fines for not covering workers and, perhaps more importantly, don’t have to report their employees’ health care information to the giant new Obamacare bureaucracy, so the bureaucracy can determine whether those employees are eligible to buy coverage on the exchanges? Or should Republicans just keep pressing for repeal of the whole thing?

“I think we’ll almost certainly be sticking to a full repeal message all the way,” says one GOP Senate aide. “The question here is for the administration – not us – and it’s basically this: At what point will they realize that this law is unworkable?”

Probably never. When key Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett wrote, after the delay announcement, that, “We are full steam ahead for the marketplaces opening on Oct. 1,” she was reflecting the administration’s determination to get the health care exchanges up and running no matter what. Delay the employer mandate? OK. Waive this or that rule? Fine. Just make sure the exchanges get going. Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: M.Scott MahaskeyWhite House greases squeaky wheels on Obamacare

By David Nather. The delay of Obamacare’s employer coverage rules is giving the critics plenty of new ammunition — but that doesn’t mean the sudden movement is out of character for the administration at all.

It’s just the latest example of a pattern with the implementation of Obamacare: The Obama administration almost always listens to the squeaky wheel.

First more than 1,200 employers and health plans got waivers from early coverage rules. Next, many states that couldn’t decide whether to build a health insurance exchange or let the feds do it for them were given repeated extensions. And then, when Republican governors were holding out on expanding Medicaid, they were finally told there’s no deadline at all.

So when the Obama administration announced Tuesday that it would delay the Affordable Care Act’s insurance mandate for employers for a year, it was just one more piece of evidence that the administration is perfectly willing to bend the rules for some powerful interests — a a welcome invitation for other players to raise their hands in the coming months as the law heads into overdrive.

Already, other groups are grumbling at the decision. Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: Washington Examiner Liberals blame GOP, Fox, Drudge in Obamacare fiasco

By Paul Bedard. The pro-Obama media watchdog Media Matters Wednesday, defending the administration’s surprise move to cancel implementation of major elements of Obamacare, said that Republicans were to blame and accused conservative media leaders like Fox News and the Drudge Report for ignoring the GOP’s role.

In a release, the liberal group said that Fox and Drudge instead charged that the one-year delay was political with the goal of pushing off the expected initial implementation disaster until after the 2014 elections.

“Fox News and the Drudge Report are ignoring years of Republicans obstructing the implementation of health care reform to accuse the Obama administration of delaying the law for political gain, in the process dismissing the fact that businesses are praising the administration’s move,” said Media Matters. Read more from this story HERE.

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Realities Force President to Scale Back Vision for Obamacare

By Todd Beamon. Six years ago, presidential candidate Barack Obama stood before Iowa voters and introduced a plan designed to extend healthcare to all Americans.

“We can do this,” he said with confidence. “The time has come for universal, affordable healthcare in America.”

Three years ago, President Obama signed into law a plan designed to extend coverage to more than 30 million uninsured people.

“This is what change looks like,” he exulted.

But it has become clear that Obama’s vision for universal health care is dramatically different than it was that day in Iowa. The president been forced to cut, reshape and compromise on his signature Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act because of economic — and political — realities. Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: APWall Street Journal Apologizes for Not Fighting Hard Enough Against Obamacare

By Wall Street Journal. These columns fought the Affordable Care Act from start to passage, and we’d now like to apologize to our readers. It turns out we weren’t nearly critical enough. The law’s implementation is turning into a fiasco for the ages, and this week’s version is the lawless White House decision to delay the law’s insurance mandate for businesses, though not for individuals.

The employer mandate is central to ObamaCare’s claim of providing universal coverage. Companies with 50 or more “employee equivalents” must pay a $2,000 penalty per full-time employee if they don’t provide government-approved health insurance. The provision was supposed to start in January, and delaying it is like Ford saying its electric car is ready to go, except the electric battery doesn’t work.

But all of a sudden on Tuesday evening Mark Mazur—you know him as the deputy assistant Treasury secretary for tax policy—published a blog post canceling the insurance reporting rules and tax enforcement until 2015 as Washington began to evacuate for the long Independence Day weekend. Enjoy the holiday, mate.

White House fixer Valerie Jarrett tried to contain the fallout with a separate blog post promising that ObamaCare is otherwise “staying the course.” That’s true only if she’s referring to the carelessness and improvisation that have defined the law so far. Read more from this story HERE.

International Fall-Out Over Snowden Continues with Anger from Bolivian, French Officials (+video)

Photo Credit: APBolivian President: US ‘Imperialism’ Caused Flight From Russia To Be Diverted

By CBSDC/AP. Bolivian President Evo Morales blames the United States for his plane from Moscow being diverted to Vienna, Austria, Wednesday for a 14-hour layover after suspicions arose he was harboring National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden.

Returning home to a hero’s welcome, Morales called it an “open provocation” to the South American continent after France, Spain and Portugal refused to let his plane pass through their airspace.

The United States and European allies “use the agent of North American imperialism to scare us and intimidate us,” Morales said.

Morales added: “I regret this, but I want to say that some European countries should free themselves from North American imperialism.”

The United States declined to comment on whether it was involved in any decision to close European airspace for Morales’ plane. Read more from this story HERE.

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French official lashes out at US at July 4 party, in latest clash over Snowden leaks

By Fox News. As NSA leaker Ed Snowden struggles to find a country that will take him, the case continues to cause diplomatic headaches for the U.S. government.

In the latest flare-up, France’s top security official on Thursday publicly dressed down the U.S. at the American ambassador’s July 4 garden party.

Interior Minister Manuel Valls, who was a guest of honor at the event hosted by Ambassador Charles Rivkin, denounced alleged U.S. “espionage” of France and other countries, while the European Parliament voted to open an investigation.

In a speech before hundreds of guests, he said that “in the name of our friendship, we owe each other honesty. We must say things clearly, directly, frankly.” He said the alleged spy tactics, “if proven, do not have their place between allies and partners.”

The European suspicion is the product of yet another news story presumably based on material leaked by Snowden, who continues to evade arrest by staying in the transit zone of the Moscow airport. Read more from this story HERE.

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Do we care about our privacy anymore?

By Bill Press. Every Fourth of July, somebody reminds us there’s more to this national holiday than hotdogs and fireworks. Take time over the weekend, we are piously admonished, to remember what it’s all about. Annoying advice, perhaps, but important. And, this year, more so than ever because one of our most basic rights is under attack.

In powerful words that still stir our hearts, our Founding Fathers laid forth the foundation on which America is built: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” And those rights are so sacred “that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government.”

Clearly, the founders were telling us they wouldn’t tolerate any wholesale attempt to undermine our basic rights — and we shouldn’t, either. So where’s the outrage today over the massive invasion of our privacy by the National Security Agency? Have we forgotten how to fight?

All we’ve been talking about for the last two weeks is Edward Snowden. Where is he? Will he ever get out of the Moscow airport? Will he be granted asylum anywhere? Who cares? The real issue is not Snowden’s fate. It’s what Snowden revealed about the NSA’s collection of data, which we now know to be even more widespread than previously believed.

Under a broad interpretation of Section 215 of the Patriot Act, and with the full blessing of the court set up by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, NSA’s amassing and storing a record of every phone call – every single phone call! – made in the United States: from what number, to what number and how long it lasted: what Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., has called “a massive invasion of Americans’ privacy.” The NSA has also capturing records of every email sent outside the United States. Read more from this story HERE.

Michael Savage on George Zimmerman: ‘You Have to Find this Man Guilty’ (+video)

By Jeff Poor. On his show on Tuesday night, talk show host Michael Savage said that George Zimmerman, who is currently on trial for the murder of Trayvon Martin, should be found guilty of second-degree manslaughter based on two things: 1) The state of his firearm and 2) The language he allegedly used on a 911 call when he was first reporting his suspicions about Martin.

But first Savage explained why his insight should be valued over others in the media covering the trial.

“I’m about to break an analysis that no one yet in the media has done, as you would expect from me — being the senior member of the American media and possibly the most insightful,” Savage said. “And I have to blow my own horn because everyone else tries to break my horn.”

“I will tell you that I broke the case down as follows,” Savage continued. “You want to hear it, or don’t you want to hear it? I know your mind is made up: White people generally think Zimmerman is innocent, except for liberals who are sure he is guilty; black people probably to the 99th percentile are sure Zimmerman’s a murderer. So where does Michael Savage fit in? I’m an independent observer and I call them as I see them, and I think Zimmerman committed what he’s being charged with: manslaughter. He didn’t intend to kill him, but he may as well have intended to kill him.”

Read more from this story HERE.

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Medical examiner who called Zimmerman injuries ‘insignificant’ no stranger to controversy

By Chuck Ross. An investigator in the Jacksonville, Fla. Public Defender’s office tells the Daily Caller that he is “skeptical” of the testimony given by Dr. Valerie Rao, the medical examiner called by the prosecution to testify in the George Zimmerman trial on Tuesday.

Rao, a state witness and the chief medical examiner for Florida’s 4th district, called Zimmerman’s injuries “very insignificant” and testified that they were not life threatening. Zimmerman’s face and head injuries are central to his claim of self-defense in the February 2012 shooting death of Trayvon Martin.

Rao reviewed photographs of both Zimmerman and Martin as well as a re-enactment video recorded by Zimmerman with Sanford police investigators. In direct examination by state prosecutor John Guy, Rao said that as little as one impact could have caused the injuries to the back of Zimmerman’s head.

On cross-examination, Zimmerman attorney Mark O’Mara pushed Rao to admit that it was possible that Zimmerman’s injuries could be consistent with several more blows and impacts.

David Douglas, who investigates in the same 4th district out of Jacksonville as Rao, said that he listened to Dr. Rao’s testimony yesterday and said he “was a bit skeptical of her motives and conclusions.” Read more from this story HERE.

Video Appears to Show Activist Adam Koresh Loading a Shotgun in Washington, D.C.’s Freedom Plaza

Photo Credit: YouTube An activist who planned, and then canceled, an armed march into the District on July Fourth posted online what appeared to be a video of himself loading a shotgun in Freedom Plaza.

Adam Kokesh can be seen in the 22-second YouTube video in a suit jacket and an open collar loading four shells into a shotgun and pumping a shell into the chamber.

The video is stamped with the date July 4, 2013.

As he loads the shotgun, Mr. Kokesh recites the closing lines of his Final American Revolution Pledge of Resistance, which was posted on his website Wednesday.

“We will not be silent. We will not obey. We will not allow our government to destroy our humanity. We are the final American revolution,” he said, before closing with, “See you next Independence Day.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Surveillance State on Steroids: Fed’s Tracking All Postal Mail, Too (+video)

Photo Credit: NY Times Leslie James Pickering noticed something odd in his mail last September: a handwritten card, apparently delivered by mistake, with instructions for postal workers to pay special attention to the letters and packages sent to his home.

“Show all mail to supv” — supervisor — “for copying prior to going out on the street,” read the card. It included Mr. Pickering’s name, address and the type of mail that needed to be monitored. The word “confidential” was highlighted in green.

“It was a bit of a shock to see it,” said Mr. Pickering, who with his wife owns a small bookstore in Buffalo. More than a decade ago, he was a spokesman for the Earth Liberation Front, a radical environmental group labeled eco-terrorists by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Postal officials subsequently confirmed they were indeed tracking Mr. Pickering’s mail but told him nothing else.

As the world focuses on the high-tech spying of the National Security Agency, the misplaced card offers a rare glimpse inside the seemingly low-tech but prevalent snooping of the United States Postal Service.

Mr. Pickering was targeted by a longtime surveillance system called mail covers, a forerunner of a vastly more expansive effort, the Mail Isolation Control and Tracking program, in which Postal Service computers photograph the exterior of every piece of paper mail that is processed in the United States — about 160 billion pieces last year. It is not known how long the government saves the images.

Read more from this story HERE.

GSA Parody Videos Released by Watchdog Group (+video)

Photo Credit: YouTubeA conservative watchdog group released more than a half-dozen movie parody and comedy skit videos Tuesday that were removed from the General Services Administration website last year after a scathing inspector general report revealed the agency overspent taxpayer money on a lavish Las Vegas conference.

Judicial Watch used the federal Freedom of Information Act to obtain the videos, which include costumed GSA employees in parody movies scenes from “Rocky,” “The Godfather,” and “Mission Impossible.”

In the parody of “Rocky,” senior GSA officials lead employees on an extended jog through the corridors of the agency’s New York office and the streets of Manhattan, with the movie’s theme music playing. In another video, officials and employees participate in an elaborate “Jeopardy” game show parody, complete with theme music, light-up board and canned audience applause.

The group says it was tipped off about the videos from GSA whistle blower Linda Shenwick.

“This latest round of extravagant and embarrassing GSA videos is further evidence of a bloated federal government completely out of control,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.

[Here’s a lengthy compilation of the skits. At about 7:50, you can watch a senior GSA employee rap, and at about 11:00, enjoy a GSA version of Jeopardy. And there’s much more, if you have the time to watch it]

Read more from this story HERE.

Rush Limbaugh Accuses Fox of Trying to Censor His Criticism of Amnesty Bill (+video)

Photo Credit: Mediaite

Photo Credit: Mediaite

Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh is accusing Fox News producers of trying to prevent him from talking about the damage immigration reform would cause to the Republican Party during his appearance on “Fox & Friends” on Tuesday.

“I told the people at Fox, I wanted to talk about this today three or four times,” Limbaugh said. “And they wouldn’t do it. They were not interested in bringing this subject up.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Egypt Teeters on Brink of Overthrow, 23 Reported Killed in Protests; Update: Coup Now Underway (+video)

Photo Credit: Fox News

Photo Credit: Fox News

Supporters of Egyptian president say military coup is underway

By Richard Engel, Charlene Gubash and Erin McClam. Armored cars, tanks and troops deployed in the Egyptian capital on Wednesday, and advisers said they had lost contact with President Mohammed Morsi in what they described as a military coup.

In a scene reminiscent of the earliest days of the Arab Spring, tens of thousands of Egyptians who had demanded the president’s ouster staged a jubilant celebration in Tahrir Square — dancing, cheering and setting off fireworks.

Earlier in the day, the president and the military each swore to fight to the death for control of the country, and a military deadline for Morsi to step aside came and went with no statement from the president.

“We swear to God to sacrifice with our blood for Egypt and its people against any terrorist, extremist or ignoramus,” the military said in a statement. “Long live Egypt and its proud people.”

The army took control of state television and sent troops to parts of Cairo where crowds sympathetic to Morsi had gathered. Supporters of the president said democracy was being subverted by a military intervention, and the Muslim Brotherhood, which backs Morsi, said some of its leaders had been arrested. Read more from this story HERE.
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23 Killed in Protests; Morsi Teeters…

By Fox News. Egypt teetered on the brink of overthrow late Tuesday after a defiant Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi rejected an ultimatum issued by the military and at least 23 people were reported killed in clashes between his supporters and opponents.

Defense officials have pledged to intervene if the government does not address public demands and end the political turmoil engulfing Cairo.

In a speech to the nation broadcast live late Tuesday, Morsi said he would not step down and would protect his “constitutional legitimacy” with his life.

The deadly clashes came just one day before the deadline set by the military for Morsi and his opponents to work out their differences.

The Associated Press reported that at least 23 people were killed in Cairo Tuesday and more than 200 injured, according to hospital and security officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. Most of the killings took place outside Cairo University located at Cairo’s twin city of Giza. The official Al-Ahram website reported that the armed forces deployed armored vehicles to the area.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Egypt’s Leader Vows to Stay

By Reem Abdellatif and Matt Bradley. Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi rejected protesters’ calls for him to step down, telling Egyptians in a late-night address that he is willing to give his life “to protect the legitimacy” of the country’s ballot box and Islamist-drafted constitution.

Without elaborating, he mentioned the possibility of parliamentary elections in six months, part of a list of proposals he said he would consider during talks with the opposition.

Moments later, antigovernment protesters in four provinces across Egypt chanted against the president, calling for him and his Muslim Brotherhood-backed party to leave, according to live footage. Antigovernment protests again swelled on Egypt’s streets, reaching millions, according to local media estimates, just hours ahead of the military’s Wednesday deadline for Mr. Morsi to patch relations with the country’s opposition.

Morsi supporters and antigovernment protesters clashed near Cairo University in the suburb of Giza late Tuesday, leaving at least four people dead, according to the Ministry of Health. The groups traded fire of rubber bullets and pellets in Cairo’s Kit Kat district, according to residents and local media.

The Obama administration has used U.S. diplomatic and military channels to deliver quiet messages and warnings to Mr. Morsi and Egyptian commanders to try to head off the crisis and avert any military coup, according to current and former officials. Read more from this story HERE.

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‘All of you infidels will die’: Christians battle radical islamists in deadly Egypt clashes

By Billy Hallowell. The southern Egyptian city of Assiut has long been a haven for radical Islamists, and its Christian minority has largely kept a low profile. That all changed this weekend. These believers, who have been relegated and silenced for so long, have spoken up in the past few days — and with force.

An estimated crowd of 50,000 packed the streets this weekend to join protests calling for President Mohammed Morsi’s ouster, prompting a violent response that left three people dead.

The show of defiance can only be fairly measured in view of the city’s bloody history and the shifts in the local centers of power when Morsi became president a year ago, empowering many of the hard-line Islamist groups around the country, including those in Assiut.

The bloody end of the protest — 32 people were also injured — points to the high risks that Assiut residents, particularly Christians, face if they were to join the wave of opposition to Morsi’s rule that culminated Sunday when millions of Egyptians came out across the country to demand his ouster.

“I, my kids Mariam and Remon and my husband, Nabil, came out because we miss the Egypt we know and we want it back,” Assiut resident Mary Demian said. “These people (militant Muslims) say we are infidels and they terrorize us, but we are not scared. This is our nation and we have always lived with Muslims in peace.” Read more from this story HERE.