Video: Obama’s Pledge to Boost Oversight of NSA Surveillance Draws Scrutiny

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Photo Credit: Fox NewsBy Fox News.

President Obama’s pledge to work with Congress on “appropriate reforms” for parts of the National Security Agency’s surveillance programs came under scrutiny Friday from some Republicans and skeptical Democrats.

Surveillance programs that allow the government to collect basic information about phone calls and email communications have been under scrutiny since NSA leaker Edward Snowden revealed classified programs in June. The government has defended these programs as necessary to prevent terror attacks.

Obama on Friday acknowledged the domestic spying has troubled Americans and hurt the country’s image abroad. But he called it a critical counterterrorism tool.

“I am comfortable that the program currently is not being abused,” Obama said. “I am comfortable that if the American people examined exactly what was taking place, how it was being used, what the safeguards were, that they would say, ‘You know what? These folks are following the law.'”

His most significant proposal would create an independent attorney to argue against the government during secret hearings of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which reviews requests for surveillance inside the U.S. As it stands now, prosecutors alone can go to the court and make their case unopposed.

Read more from this story HERE.

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NSA Debate a ‘Privileged Discussion’

Iowa Evangelical Leader: Ted Cruz Is ‘A Liberal’s Worst Nightmare’

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In an interview you will only see on The Brody File, influential Iowa evangelical leader Bob Vander Plaats, head of The Family Leader organization says that Sen. Ted Cruz, “is a liberal’s worst nightmare.”

He goes on to say that Cruz has unlimited potential to energize the GOP base.

“I haven’t seen anything like it for a long time, probably ever,” Vander Plaats tells The Brody File.

Read more from this story HERE.

Video: Exiled Egyptian Christian Says U.S. Foreign Policy Is ‘Definition of Insanity’

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Rev. Majed El Shafie declared on TheBlaze TV Friday that “the Arab Spring is a lie” that has turned into a “cold deadly winter,” especially for minorities. He also criticized the U.S. for continually arming radicals in the Middle East, only to be attacked by them later.

The native Egyptian is intimately familiar with the subject, having been tortured and sentenced to death after converting to Christianity at the age of 18. He described how he stole a jet ski and fled to Israel, and how he has since begun the human rights group “One Free World International” that now has 28 branches around the world.

“And that was under the Mubarak regime,” Erick Stakelbeck, author of The Brotherhood: America’s Next Great Enemy, pointed out. “I can’t imagine how it would be under the Muslim Brotherhood!”

“That’s correct,” Shafie responded. “It [would] be one hundred times worse.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Video: Carney Won’t Answer Question About Benghazi Witness Intimidation

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White House Press Secretary Jay Carney wouldn’t answer Fox News correspondent Ed Henry’s question Thursday about reports on the CIA being on the ground the night of the Benghazi attack and whether operatives with information about it were being silenced by agency higher-ups.

Carney dodged, referring Henry to the CIA and claiming the agency had provided “an extraordinary amount of information” related to the attack. He also said he was not aware of any CIA employees who experienced retaliation, although a CNN report last week said there was an “unprecedented” effort by the agency to keep its Benghazi secrets from ever leaking out:

HENRY: Last one. Last week CNN reported that dozens of people were working for the CIA around Benghazi on the night of the attack, and they are claiming that some of these CIA operatives now feel like they’re being intimidated, that they’re getting polygraph tests sometimes on a monthly basis, which is much more frequent than CIA officials apparently normally get, because the government is trying to figure out whether or not they’re talking to the media, they’re talking to Congress about what happened that night. Can you assure the American people that’s not happening, and can you shed any light on what the CIA was doing? I realize there may be classified information there, but in general, is there anything you can say about what the CIA was doing there?

CARNEY: I don’t have any information on CIA individuals or operations in — around the world. I would refer you to the CIA on that. I would also refer you to the very clear statement in response to that put out by the CIA, which says the CIA has worked closely with its oversight committees to provide them with an extraordinary amount of information related to the attack on U.S. facilities in Benghazi. Furthermore, CIA leadership has informed officers who may want to speak with the oversight committees on this matter that it will support and facilitate such contact. CIA employees are always free to speak to Congress if they want to, and there is an established process to facilitate such communication on a confidential basis…

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Video: GOP Town Hall Explodes With Anger – ‘We’re Losing The Country’ So Quit Being ‘Nice Guys’!

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Photo Credit: MediaiteIf one Maryland town hall is any indication, Republican voters are not happy with how little Republican politicians are doing to reign in the government. Greta Van Susteren took viewers to a town hall where Congressman Andy Harris was confronted by constituents angry about NSA surveillance, the Obama administration, and Republicans not doing enough for them. One man scolded Harris, “We’re dying out here because you guys are being nice guys!”

One man complained about NSA spying, saying Congress needs to “come clean” with the public about the government’s secret interpretation of the law. Harris assured him that he’s personally outraged by NSA surveillance, adding that they have “not seen the end of” investigations into Benghazi and the IRS scandals.

Read more from this story HERE.

Obama Administration Imposing Diversity (+video)

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In a move some claim is tantamount to social engineering, the Department of Housing and Urban Development is imposing a new rule that would allow the feds to track diversity in America’s neighborhoods and then push policies to change those it deems discriminatory.

The policy is called, “Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing.” It will require HUD to gather data on segregation and discrimination in every single neighborhood and try to remedy it.

HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan unveiled the federal rule at the NAACP convention in July.

“Unfortunately, in too many of our hardest hit communities, no matter how hard a child or her parents work, the life chances of that child, even her lifespan, is determined by the zip code she grows up in. This is simply wrong,” he said.

Data from this discrimination database would be used with zoning laws, housing finance policy, infrastructure planning and transportation to alleviate alleged discrimination and segregation.

Read more from this story HERE.

Video: Obama’s Epic U.S. Geography Fail

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Tuesday night, President Obama made headlines during his appearance on “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno,” one of his numerous appearances over the years (back in 2009, he was the first sitting president to appear on the show). The President talked with Jay about a myriad of topics such as the NSA (he says that we don’t have a domestic spying program), the threat from Al Qaeda, and Trayvon Martin. However, it was when the discussion turned to infrastructure that the president failed on some fairly basic American geography — and it’s not getting much attention.

Photo Credit: Twitter @JoeTalkShow

How did he screw up? A clip from the official transcript of the interview — sent out by the White House* — says it all:

(watch the comments below starting at the 2:15 mark)

Read more:from this story HERE.

He Just Can’t Tell the Truth: Obama Tells Leno, “We Don’t Have a Domestic Spying Program” (+video)

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Making his sixth appearance on Leno — his fourth as president — Obama and his host stuck to serious subjects as the president promoted his economic and heath care policies, discussed terrorist threats in the Middle East, and defended National Security Agency surveillance programs.

“We don’t have a domestic spying program,” Obama said, describing the NSA efforts as “mechanisms that can track a phone number or an e-mail address that is connected to a terrorist attack … That information is useful.”

Obama also told Leno he’s disappointed that Russia granted temporary asylum to NSA leaker Edward Snowden, but said the two nations can still work together on other issues.

“There are times when they slip back into Cold War thinking and Cold War mentality,” Obama said. “What I continually say to them and to President (Vladmir) Putin, that’s the past.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Video: State Senator who Slammed ‘Government Plantation’ is Back – and You’ll Want to Hear About His New Role

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Photo Credit: YouTube Those who were moved by Louisiana State Senator Elbert Guillory’s powerful YouTube video explaining why he left the “government plantation” in favor of the Republican Party recently may be happy to know that he is back not just with another compelling video — but with an influential new position.

It was recently announced that Guillory will be serving as honorary chairman of the Free at Last PAC, which describes itself as being “formed by several leaders as an effort to support Black Republicans who run for federal office and also to educate Blacks about the values of the Republican Party.”

“Liberalism has nearly destroyed black America, and now it’s time for black America to return the favor,” Guillory says with a smile in his new video.

Throughout the video, the state senator argues that the Republican Party is more in line with the values of the black community than the Democrat Party, asking: “After all, what was God’s plan for our people? Is this why God delivered us from the wilderness of slavery, so that able-bodied men could sit on the porch all day sipping liquor? Was it God’s plan that we would trade one plantation for another?”

Read more from this story HERE.

Fort Hood Trial Turns Bizarre as Shooter Grills Witnesses (+video)

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Photo Credit: Fox NewsBy Perry Chiaramonte

The trial of the Fort Hood gunman, who is acting as his own attorney, took a surreal turn as the former Army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 in the November 2009 attack grilled witnesses — including his former boss in the military and a fellow Muslim who spoke to him the day of the shooting.

After a short opening statement in which ex-Army Maj. Nidal Hasan called himself a “mujahedeen,” admitted to the rampage and said “the dead bodies will show that war is an ugly thing,” Hasan cross-examined prosecution witnesses, including retired Lt. Col Ben Kirk Phillips, his former boss. When pressed by the defendant, Phillips acknowledged that his officer evaluation report had graded Hasan as “outstanding.”

But he declined to cross-examine one of his shooting victims, Sgt. Alonzo Lunsford, who provided the day’s most damning testimony.

Lunsford – who was shot seven times during the incident – described what happened that day, saying he first saw Hasan sitting in a chair, with his arms on his knees while looking at the floor.

He said Hasan then jumped up and ordered the one civilian in the room to leave before shouting, “Allahu akbar” and opening fire. Panic set in among the soldiers, who crowded toward a rear door, which was jammed.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Three Forgotten Facts About the Fort Hood Massacre

By Michelle Malkin

Finally. Four years after Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan walked into the Soldier Readiness Processing Center at Fort Hood, Texas, and perpetrated the bloodiest massacre ever on an American military base, the self-confessed jihadist’s court martial proceedings began this week. Have you forgotten?

Americans obsessed over the O.J. Simpson, Casey Anthony and Jodi Arias trials. Gun-control lobbyists turned Newtown, Aurora and Tucson into national awareness-raising, fundraising and legislation-promoting campaigns. But where are the celebrity lobbyists and high-profile advocates for the victims of bloodthirsty Muslim vigilante Nidal Hasan?

The White House, which downplayed the terrorist mass murder as “workplace violence,” exacerbated national apathy for his evil acts. Our soldiers deserve better. Here are three facts you’ve probably forgotten — or never knew — about the Fort Hood terror spree.

–Fourteen victims fell on Nov. 5, 2009, not 13. Thirteen of our U.S. military personnel died in cold blood at the deployment center. But the death toll was actually 14. Pvt. Francheska Velez, 21, was pregnant when Hasan shot her during the first round of gunfire. At a military Article 32 hearing in 2010 (analogous to a civilian grand jury hearing), a survivor of the Fort Hood shootings testified that Velez cried out, “My baby! My baby!”

In his opening statement on Tuesday, Hasan (acting as his own lawyer) apologized to his fellow jihadists for not destroying more innocent life.

Read more from this story HERE.