San Diego Mayor Ignores Calls to Resign, Plans 2 Weeks of ‘Therapy’ Instead (+video)

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Photo Credit: Fox News San Diego Mayor Bob Filner once again brushed off mounting calls to resign on Friday, saying at a hastily arranged news conference that he has decided instead to enter what he described as a behavioral counseling clinic for two weeks of “intensive therapy.”

The decision comes after a total of seven women came forward this week to accuse him of sexual harassment and unwanted sexual advances.

The succession of allegations prompted the head of the Democratic Party, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, to call for Filner’s resignation earlier Friday.

Filner, however, did not resign. In a bizarre public statement beset by audio problems, Filner said he would merely take two weeks off starting Aug. 5 for therapy. He described this as the “first step in what will be a continuing program” of regular counseling.

He made clear he intends to stay in office, saying he’ll be getting briefed on city activities every morning and evening while in therapy. And when he returns on Aug. 19, he said, “my focus will be on making sure that I am doing right by this city in terms of being the best mayor I can be and the best person I must be.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Benghazi Hero Fought Alongside Fallen SEALs, Still Recovering at Walter Reed (+video)

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Photo Credit: Fox NewsBy Catherine Herridge

One of the most severely wounded survivors of the Benghazi terror attack, Diplomatic Security agent David Ubben, risked his life to help save his fellow Americans, and is still being treated at Walter Reed medical center to this day, Fox News has learned.

Fox News is the first news organization to make direct contact with Ubben — who has had multiple surgeries at Walter Reed to save his right leg, which was badly wounded in the Sept. 11 attack.

Fox News has also learned new details about Ubben’s heroic actions on the night of the attack, including fighting alongside the former Navy SEALs who were later killed.

The Diplomatic Security agent, earlier in the night, helped recover the body of Foreign Service Officer Sean Smith, going back into the smoke and flames at the Benghazi consulate multiple times until he found Smith, whom he believed to be already dead from smoke inhalation.

Fox News is not publishing his photo in full, out of respect for Ubben’s request for privacy as he remains focused on his family and his recovery alongside America’s wounded warriors from Iraq and Afghanistan. Read more from this story HERE.


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Photo Credit: WNDKey Benghazi Witness Found

By Garth Kant

A highly sought witness in the Benghazi investigation was scheduled to testify Thursday morning behind closed doors in Congress, WND has learned.

No word yet on whether he appeared or what he may have said before a closed session of the House Intelligence Committee.

Marine Col. George Bristol is considered a key witness because he may be able to shed light on why no U.S. military help was sent when the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, came under attack on Sept. 11, 2012.

The U.S. ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, and three other Americans died in the attack.

Congressional investigators have been trying to locate Bristol for months. As commander of Joint Special Operations Task Force-Trans Sahara, he knew what military options the U.S. had when the compound in Benghazi came under attack. Read more from this story HERE.

How Nancy Pelosi Saved the NSA Surveillance Program (+video)

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Photo Credit: FPBy John Hudson

The obituary of Rep. Justin Amash’s amendment to claw back the sweeping powers of the National Security Agency has largely been written as a victory for the White House and NSA chief Keith Alexander, who lobbied the Hill aggressively in the days and hours ahead of Wednesday’s shockingly close vote. But Hill sources say most of the credit for the amendment’s defeat goes to someone else: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. It’s an odd turn, considering that Pelosi has been, on many occasions, a vocal surveillance critic.

Ahead of the razor-thin 205-217 vote, which would have severely limited the NSA’s ability to collect data on Americans’ telephone records if passed, Pelosi privately and aggressively lobbied wayward Democrats to torpedo the amendment, a Democratic committee aid with knowledge of the deliberations tells The Cable.

“Pelosi had meetings and made a plea to vote against the amendment and that had a much bigger effect on swing Democratic votes against the amendment than anything Alexander had to say,” said the source, keeping in mind concerted White House efforts to influence Congress by Alexander and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. “Had Pelosi not been as forceful as she had been, it’s unlikely there would’ve been more Democrats for the amendment.”

With 111 liberal-to-moderate Democrats voting for the amendment alongside 94 Republicans, the vote in no way fell along predictable ideological fault lines. And for a particular breed of Democrat, Pelosi’s overtures proved decisive, multiple sources said.

“Pelosi had a big effect on more middle-of-the road hawkish Democrats who didn’t want to be identified with a bunch of lefties [voting for the amendment],” said the aide. “As for the Alexander briefings: Did they hurt? No, but that was not the central force, at least among House Democrats. Nancy Pelosi’s political power far outshines that of Keith Alexander’s.” Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: The BlazeA different amendment restricting NSA spying was passed overwhelmingly by the House – but ‘no one is talking about it’

By Jason Howerton

While the most talked-about news out of the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday was the defeat of the so-called Amash amendment that would have defunded the NSA’s massive data collection program, another amendment related to NSA spying was quietly passed overwhelmingly by lawmakers.

The Pompeo amendment (championed by Rep. Mike Pompeo of Kansas) passed the House with a bipartisan vote of 409-12. However, “no one is talking about it,” Rep. John Culberson (R-Texas) told TheBlaze on Thursday.

The amendment that passed is reportedly intended to “ensure none of the funds may be used by the NSA to target a U.S. person or acquire and store the content of a U.S. person’s communications, including phone calls and e-mails.”

In contrast, the Amash amendment sought to “end authority for the blanket collection of records under the Patriot Act. It would also bar the NSA and other agencies from using Section 215 of the Patriot Act to collect records, including telephone call records, that pertain to persons who are not subject to an investigation under Section 215.”

Culberson told TheBlaze in a phone interview why he supported the Pompeo amendment over the more sweeping amendment authored by Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.). Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: Fox NewsFox News Poll: Voters concerned NSA can’t keep a secret

By Dana Blanton

Voters think the National Security Agency surveillance program is more likely to hurt than protect law-abiding Americans. They are also concerned the agency can’t keep its own secrets secret.

That’s according to a Fox News poll released Thursday — a day after the U.S. House voted down legislation that would have stopped the NSA from collecting the phone records of millions of Americans.

By a 47-41 percent margin, more voters think the government’s electronic surveillance program does more to hurt Americans by using their private info improperly than it does to help track down terrorists and protect Americans.

The number of Democrats who believe the NSA’s efforts are more likely to help catch terrorists (52 percent) is matched by the number of Republicans who think it will hurt everyday Americans (52 percent). More than 7 in 10 voters who are part of the Tea Party movement say the tracking is more likely to hurt Americans (72 percent). Read more from this story HERE.


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Photo Credit: J Scott ApplewhiteNSA amendment’s narrow defeat spurs privacy advocates for surveillance fight

By Spencer Ackerman and Paul Lewis

The razor-thin defeat of a congressional measure to rein in domestic surveillance galvanized civil libertarians on Thursday for what they expect to be a drawn-out political and legal struggle to clip the wings of the intelligence apparatus in the US.

While a measure by Representative Justin Amash, a Michigan Republican, failed in the House on Wednesday night, the tight vote was the closest that privacy advocates have come since 9/11 to stopping the National Security Agency from collecting Americans’ data in bulk.

Members of Congress, liberties groups and former surveillance officials pointed to a variety of measures, from new legislation in both the Senate and House to court cases, as means to reset the much-contested balance between liberty and security in the US over the coming weeks and months.

“There are many voices concerned in the Senate about this same issue,” said J Kirk Wiebe, a former senior NSA analyst turned whistleblower. “It doesn’t mean it’s the end of it. It’s the beginning.”

Aides to congressman James Sensenbrenner, the Wisconsin Republican who wrote the Patriot Act, told the Guardian on Thursday that he plans to introduce legislation through the House judiciary committee that would restrict the NSA’s bulk surveillance of Americans’ phone records.

“Yesterday’s amendment was only a first step in what will be a long debate,” said Sensenbrenner spokesman Ben Miller. Read more from this story HERE.

Graham: Why is Obama Silent While Iran Tortures American Pastor? (+video)

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Photo Credit: YouTubeOne of the nation’s most prominent evangelical leaders wants to know why President Obama has remained silent as Iran tortures an American pastor held captive in one of the Islamic republic’s most notorious prisons.

Franklin Graham, the president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan’s Purse, told Fox News the imprisonment and torture of Pastor Saeed Abedini is a blatant example of “religious intolerance.”

“Many in the international community are expressing outrage over this blatant example of religious intolerance,” Graham said. “I ask that our government do the same and demand that Pastor Saeed Abedini be released and allowed to return home to his wife and family in the United States.”

Graham said Abedini’s wife, Naghmeh, is terrified to hear reports of her husband’s physical condition.

“Naghmeh worries that she and her two young children may never see Saeed again,” he told Fox News.

Read more from this story HERE.

He’s Counting Down: Obama Mentions How Many Days He Has Left in Office for 2nd Time in 3 Days (+video)

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Photo Credit: AFP/GettyPresident Barack Obama continues to pay close attention to the number of days he has left in office.

“I’ve got a little over 1,200 days left in office,” he told a crowd at an Organizing for Action event Monday night.

Read more from this story HERE.

Video: Ted Cruz Warns that Charging Pastors with Hate Speech Is Next Step

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Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore By David Brody. Sen. Ted Cruz tells The Brody File that America is going down a dangerous road regarding what is considered “hate speech,” saying the next step could very well be charging pastors with a crime for speaking in support of traditional marriage from the pulpit.

We’ve provided a partial transcription. You’ll need to watch the entire video clip to get his full comments.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: WNDU.S. City look to penalize Bible believers

By Bob Unruh. Think it’s hot in Texas these days? Just wait a few weeks, until the San Antonio City Council ends its summer hiatus and resumes work on a proposed change to its nondiscrimination ordinances that apparently will discriminate against all who take the Bible at its word and follow it.

That’s because the change creates a penalty for those who ever exhibit a “bias,” which clearly could include adopting the Bible’s condemnation of homosexuality, with a permanent ban on participation in city government, business or employment.

Opponents of the plan, which would add “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to the nondiscrimination ordinances, charge it is a violation of constitutional Article VI, paragraph 3, which states, “[N]o religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.”

The opponents explain that the ordinance would bar anyone from office who has “demonstrated a bias” against someone based on categories that include “sexual orientation.”

The proposal, however, does not define “bias,” which, according to local church leaders, could mean someone who declares homosexual behavior is sinful. Read more from this story HERE.

Video: The New Power Triangle

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Barack Obama, to hear his advisers tell it, has finally found The One he has been looking for: John McCain.

“We have been looking literally for years for someone we can cut deals with, and finally someone has stepped up,” a White House official said. West Wing aides say they now talk with McCain roughly every other day.

McCain, to hear fellow Republicans tell it, has finally found The Two he has needed to make such conversations worth the bother: Sen. Chuck Schumer, a Democrat who can actually get things done in the Senate, and Denis McDonough, a White House chief of staff who actually cares what senators say and think and do.

While Obama and party leaders clash endlessly and hopelessly, these three men are showing it is possible to put aside political and personal grievances to get consequential stuff done, even in Washington’s currently twisted state.

They would never say it this way, but more often than not, they do it by going around those party leaders — their bosses — who seem stuck in fights they will never be able to end.

Read more from this story HERE.

And You Thought the NSA was Bad: Obamacare Data Hub a ‘Honey Pot’ for Leftist ID Thieves, Warn Critics (+videos)

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Photo Credit: National Review Obamacare’s Branch of the NSA

By John Fund. President Obama has had a poor record of job creation, but at least one small economic sector is doing well: community organizing.

The Department of Health and Human Services is about to hire an army of “patient navigators” to inform Americans about the subsidized insurance promised by Obamacare and assist them in enrolling. These organizers will be guided by the new Federal Data Hub, which will give them access to reams of personal information compiled by federal agencies ranging from the IRS to the Department of Defense and the Veterans Administration. “The federal government is planning to quietly enact what could be the largest consolidation of personal data in the history of the republic,” Paul Howard of the Manhattan Institute and Stephen T. Parente, a University of Minnesota finance professor, wrote in USA Today. No wonder that there are concerns about everything from identity theft to the ability of navigators to use the system to register Obamacare participants to vote.

HHS secretary Kathleen Sebelius wasn’t satisfied with the $54 million in public funds allocated for navigators this year, so she tried to raise money from health-industry executives for Enroll America, the liberal nonprofit group leading the PR push for Obamacare. She had to retreat under withering criticism that she was shaking down companies that were dependent on government, a clear conflict of interest.

Because 34 states have declined to set up their own insurance “exchanges,” the job of guiding exchange enrollees in those states has been left to Washington. The identity of the groups who will get the Sebelius grants isn’t yet known, but Politico reports they are likely to include Planned Parenthood, senior-citizen advocacy organizations, and churches. Read more from this story HERE.

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Obamacare data hub a ‘honey pot’ for ID thieves, warn critics

By Paul Bedard. The data hub President Obama’s health care team is creating to exchange personal health and financial information on Obamacare users will be a ripe target for computer hackers and identity thieves, charge critics who claim it hasn’t been tested for security flaws.

“It’s the greatest collection of private identification information ever assembled on Americans that will be put into one place,” said Rep. Patrick Meehan, who chairs a House cybersecurity subcommittee. “It is every bit of sensitive information one would need to know to completely take over the identification of a person,” said the Pennsylvania lawmaker.

The Obamacare data hub, he added, “creates a honey pot and the day that it goes online it is going to be a target for hackers and others and they are unprepared to protect the system.”

At an oversight hearing last week, administration officials said that the hub, still under creation, will be used to verify Obamacare applications. It will share information among federal agencies, like the IRS, and state agencies. A separate system will keep store key information such as income, Social Security numbers, email addresses, and even pregnancy status of Obamacare users.

Officials called on the public and Congress to “trust” that the information will be protected from hackers, but several lawmakers balked. Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: Getty ImagesMidlands Voices: Stop Obamacare in its tracks

By Ben Sasse. The author has served as chief of staff for the U.S. Justice Department’s Office of Legal Policy and as assistant U.S. secretary of Health and Human Services under President George W. Bush. Currently president of Midland University, he has been exploring a U.S. Senate candidacy.

Obamacare is a ticking time bomb for Democrats in the 2014 elections. Nobody knows this better than President Barack Obama, which is why over the Fourth of July holiday weekend he unilaterally decided to delay its controversial employer mandate provision until after the midterm elections.

No wonder: The $2,000 per-worker fine is disastrously unpopular. Already, employers are laying off workers and dramatically cutting others’ hours in an effort to skirt the new penalty. The fact that this perfectly predictable development surprises many in Washington only underscores that they didn’t really read this 2,300-page monstrosity before they passed it.

Desperate for any appearance of victory, Republican leaders have decided to match the president’s delay with one of their own: proposing legislation to delay for a year the mandate for individuals. Perhaps useful, perhaps not. Well-meaning people can differ about legislative strategy.

But if Republicans don’t have a larger plan to actually oppose this unprecedented power grab in a way the American people will understand, then they will have given up the ghost on actually turning back the slew of new job-killing bureaucracies. Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: Getty ImagesGOP Senator says coalition to block and defund Obamacare is growing, names names

By Becket Adams. U.S. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) told TheBlaze Monday he has recruited more than a dozen Senate Republicans to help him defund President Barack Obama’s landmark health care law.

Fifteen Republican senators, including Sens. Marco Rubio (Fla.), Ted Cruz (Texas), John Cornyn (Texas), Rand Paul (Ky.), James Inhofe (Okla.), David Vitter (La.), Roger Wicker (Miss.), John Thune (S.D.), and Chuck Grassley (Iowa), will block a continuing resolution to keep the government funded beyond Sept. 30 if it includes funding for Obamacare, Lee said.

“The president has said that he’s not willing and not able to enforce Obamacare as it was written,” Sen. Lee told TheBlaze in a phone interview. “And so he has chosen instead to enforce this law selectively.”

“He has picked out two things that he has said he won’t enforce. One is the employer mandate and the other is the requirement that the government obtain some kind of proof for those who are claiming eligibility for Obamacare exchange subsidies,” he added.

The senator continued, arguing that the president “doesn’t have the power” to selectively enforce and amend laws passed by Congress. Read more from this story HERE.

George Zimmerman Rescues Family of Four After SUV Topples on Florida Highway (+videos)

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Photo Credit: APBy Philip Caulfield. George Zimmerman helped rescue a family from an overturned car after an accident in Florida, four days after he was acquitted of murder, police said.

Zimmerman was one of two men who helped free four family members trapped in an overturned blue Ford Explorer after it crashed on a highway in Sanford around 5:45 p.m. on Wednesday, the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office said.

Two parents and two children were riding in the truck when it flipped near the intersection of I-4 and Route 46, authorities said.

After spotting the wreck and pulling over, the 29-year-old volunteer watchman grabbed a fire extinguisher from his car and checked for signs of a blaze before freeing the family, Sean Vincent, a spokesman for his legal team, told the Daily News.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: APGeorge Zimmerman rescues family from truck crash last week, police say

By Fox News. George Zimmerman, who has not been seen publicly since his acquittal in the murder of Trayvon Martin earlier this month, surfaced last week to rescue an unidentified family trapped in an overturned vehicle on a Florida highway, police said Monday.

Sanford Police Department Capt. Jim McAuliffe told Fox News that Zimmerman, 29, was identified by a crash victim as the man who pulled him from the mangled vehicle.

“George Zimmerman pulled me out,” firefighters were told by the unidentified driver, according to McAuliffe.

The Seminole County Sheriff’s Office said the single-car accident occurred July 17 at approximately 5:45 pm. and involved a blue Ford Explorer SUV that had left the road and rolled over.

The sheriff’s office said there were four occupants inside — two parents and two children. There were no reports of injuries. Read more from this story HERE.

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Rush Limbaugh predicts how the ‘insane’ left will react to Zimmerman rescuing family after car accident

By Jason Howerton. On his radio show Monday, Rush Limbaugh reflected on reports indicating that George Zimmerman emerged out of hiding last week to help rescue a family involved in a car accident. The story is so incompatible with the way Zimmerman has been portrayed in the media that Limbaugh wondered “how long is it going to be before the story gets out that the whole accident was scripted and planned?”

“If it’s not already out there, it’s going to be a running theme,” he said. “I’m telling you, the left is insane…This just can’t be — Zimmerman, a hero? The Zimmerman haters are going to say that this whole thing was staged.”

Listen to the audio via the Daily Rushbo below:

Read more from this story HERE.

Harry Reid: Mitch McConnell ‘Tried to Make Love to the Tea Party and They Didn’t Like It’ (+video)

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Photo Credit: APSenate Majority Leader Harry Reid is enjoying the possibility of a tea party backed challenger to Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

“He tried to make love to the tea party and they didn’t like it,” Reid quipped about McConnell to at an event hosted by the pro-Obama nonprofit Organizing for Action.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi spoke after Reid, saying that President George Washington warned about political parties who were at war with their own government

Read more from this story HERE.

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Harry Reid says nuclear option still on the table

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Monday that the “nuclear option” is still on the table if Republicans move to block more executive branch nominees.

The procedural move that would end filibusters of President Barack Obama’s nominees with a simple majority “can always come back,” Reid said at an event hosted by the pro-Obama non-profit Organizing for Action.

The Senate reached a last-minute deal last week to avoid the nuclear option. Since the deal, the Senate approved Richard Cordray’s nomination to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Gina McCarthy to serve as EPA administrator; Tom Perez as Labor secretary, among other nominees. Read more from this story HERE.