Photo Credit: Immigration DepartmentPrime Minister Kevin Rudd says asylum seekers who arrive by boat will have no chance of being settled in Australia as refugees.
Mr Rudd has confirmed a deal that will see asylum seekers sent to Papua New Guinea for assessment, and if they are found to be refugees, they will be resettled there…
“I understand this is a very hard-line decision. I understand the different groups in Australia and around the world will see this decision in different ways,” he said.
“But our responsibility as a government is to ensure we have a robust system of border security and orderly migration on the one hand, as well as fulfilling our legal and compassionate obligations under the Refugees’ Convention on the other.”
A New York business owner was targeted by local police after they became suspicious of his store. As a result, they sent in an undercover informant on two separate occasions who ultimately hurt them a lot more than he helped.
On the second visit, the informant allegedly planted and photographed crack cocaine, which led to the arrest of store owner Donald Andrews Jr.
Andrews operates a “smoke shop” in Scotia that sells incense and other smoking paraphernalia that can easily be used for other illicit activities.
Andrews’ attorney, Kevin Luibrand, narrated a video that was shot by in-store surveillance cameras that appears to show the informant planting and photographing the crack.
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2013-07-27 04:13:312016-04-11 11:18:16Undercover Informant Plants Crack Cocaine In Store of NY Businessman (+video)
photo credit: fibonacci blueBy Todd Beamon. The federal employees who will be responsible for administering Obamacare for the American people don’t want it for themselves.
The National Treasury Employees Union, which represents workers at the Internal Revenue Service, is asking its members to write letters to Capitol Hill saying they are “very concerned” about legislative efforts requiring IRS and Treasury employees to enroll in the Obamacare exchanges.
“I am a federal employee and one of your constituents,” one letter begins, Forbes blogger Avik Roy reported on Friday. “I am very concerned about legislation that has been introduced by Congressman Dave Camp to push federal employees out of the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) and into the insurance exchanges established under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).”
Camp, the Michigan Republican referred to in the letter, is chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, whose members oversee tax legislation in the House of Representatives. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that Obamacare’s insurance subsidies are technically tax credits, falling under the authority of the IRS.
Camp introduced legislation in April to put all federal employees on the healthcare exchanges in response to news reports that members of Congress and their staffs were seeking to be exempt from the Obamacare requirement that they enroll in the exchanges. Read more from this story HERE.
Krauthammer: Effort to defund Obamacare ‘really dumb’
By Jeff Poor. On Friday’s “Special Report,” Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer went against the conventional wisdom of some in the conservative movement by arguing efforts to defund President Barack Obama’s 2010 health care legislation at the expense of shutting down the federal government was “really dumb.”
“Never issue a threat you’re not prepared to in the end honor and deliver on,” Krauthammer said. “And if the Republicans imagine they’re going to either stop the funding of the government or refuse the raising of the debt ceiling, they’re out of their minds. It would be a catastrophe in the end. All the president has to do is wait and they’re going to cave. This happened on January 1 of this year. It happened with the debt ceiling. We know the end game. Why would you threaten something and demand in return something you know the president will never do? It’s his signature legislation. It would be repudiation of his entire first term. The only alternative is to go over a cliff. It is really dumb.” Read more from this story HERE.
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2013-07-27 04:11:552016-04-11 11:18:16IRS Workers Want Out of Obamacare (+video)
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is ripping libertarians — including Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) — for challenging government surveillance programs and failing to understand the dangers of terrorism.
“This strain of libertarianism that’s going through parties right now and making big headlines I think is a very dangerous thought,” the New Jersey GOP governor said on Thursday at a Republican governors forum in Aspen, Colo. “You can name any number of people and (Paul is) one of them.”
Christie, a potential 2016 candidate who appeared on the panel with Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, said lawmakers who are questioning government surveillance programs should hear from the families affected by the Sept. 11 attacks.
“These esoteric, intellectual debates — I want them to come to New Jersey and sit across from the widows and the orphans and have that conversation. And they won’t, because that’s a much tougher conversation to have,” Christie said.
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.”
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2013-07-27 03:49:292016-04-11 11:18:19San Diego Mayor Ignores Calls to Resign, Plans 2 Weeks of ‘Therapy’ Instead (+video)
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.
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.
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00newseditorhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngnewseditor2013-07-26 01:53:582016-04-11 11:18:21Benghazi Hero Fought Alongside Fallen SEALs, Still Recovering at Walter Reed (+video)
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.
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.
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.
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.
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00newseditorhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngnewseditor2013-07-26 01:51:182016-04-11 11:18:21How Nancy Pelosi Saved the NSA Surveillance Program (+video)
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.
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00newseditorhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngnewseditor2013-07-26 01:49:322016-04-11 11:18:22Graham: Why is Obama Silent While Iran Tortures American Pastor? (+video)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00newseditorhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngnewseditor2013-07-24 23:51:232016-04-11 11:18:28He’s Counting Down: Obama Mentions How Many Days He Has Left in Office for 2nd Time in 3 Days (+video)
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.
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.
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00newseditorhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngnewseditor2013-07-24 01:48:022016-04-11 11:18:30Video: Ted Cruz Warns that Charging Pastors with Hate Speech Is Next Step
