Must See Video: ‘There’s No Way We Can be a Free Country When the Government has a Dossier on Every Citizen’

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Photo Credit: APSenators strongly criticise intelligence chiefs over NSA data collection

By Spencer Ackerman. On the eve of a major US Senate hearing on the National Security Agency’s bulk surveillance, two senators called for major reforms of the NSA’s collection of phone records and accused US intelligence leaders of misleading the public about its impact on privacy.

A letter sent by the director of national intelligence, James Clapper, to Ron Wyden, a Democratic senator for Oregon, on Friday said that there had been “a number of compliance problems” with the NSA’s bulk, ongoing collection of millions of Americans’ phone records, but “no findings of any intentional or bad-faith violations”.

On the Senate floor late on Tuesday afternoon, Wyden, a member of the Senate intelligence committee, all but accused Clapper of lying.

Citing classified documents that he did not specify, but referring to “violations of court orders”, Wyden said that “these violations are more serious than those stated by the intelligence community, and are troubling”. Wyden urged senators to read classified intelligence documents about the bulk surveillance for themselves.

“Any policymaker who simply defers to intelligence officials without asking to see their evidence is making a mistake,” Wyden warned. Read more from this story HERE.

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Effort to get NSA leaker Edward Snowden’s father to Moscow collapses

By Jerry Markon. The FBI tried to enlist the father of National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden to fly to Moscow to try to persuade his son to return to the United States, but the effort collapsed when agents could not establish a way for the two to speak once he arrived, Snowden’s father said Tuesday.

“I said, ‘I want to be able to speak with my son. . . . Can you set up communications?’ And it was, ‘Well, we’re not sure,’ ” Lon Snowden told The Washington Post. “I said, ‘Wait a minute, folks, I’m not going to sit on the tarmac to be an emotional tool for you.’ ”

In a wide-ranging interview, the elder Snowden offered a vehement defense of the young man some have labeled a traitor. He said that Edward, who is holed up at an airport in Moscow, grew up in a patriotic family in suburban Maryland, filled with federal agents and police officers, and that he “loves this nation.’’

Asked what triggered his son’s decision to leak top-secret intelligence documents, Snowden, a retired Coast Guard officer, said he didn’t know. Although Edward had seemed troubled in April during their final dinner together, he said his son had recently put up a “firewall between himself and his family.”

“We had no idea what was coming,’’ he said. Read more from this story HERE.

Top Weiner Aide Goes on Four-Letter Tirade After Intern Gives “Tell-All” Interview (+video)

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Photo Credit: TPMTop Weiner Aide Trashes Intern Who Wrote Campaign Tell-All

By Hunter Walker. Tuesday was an angry day in Weinerland.

The campaign staff awoke to see their former intern, Olivia Nuzzi, on the front cover of the Daily News. Inside the paper was an article bylined by Nuzzi in which she told a rather unflattering tale of her experience working on Anthony Weiner’s mayoral bid.

Now, Team Weiner is firing back. TPM called Weiner’s communications director Barbara Morgan to discuss an unrelated story Tuesday and she went off on a curse-filled rant about Nuzzi, describing her as a fame hungry “b**ch” who “sucked” at her job. Morgan also called Nuzzi a “slutbag,” “t**t,” and “c**t” while threatening to sue her.

On Monday, Nuzzi, a college student and writer, published a story on the blog NSFWCORP that claimed multiple sources on the campaign told her there had been “six departures” from Weiner’s team, more than had been previously disclosed. She also claimed that staffers had been underpaid and that the former campaign manager, Danny Kedem, left over the weekend because Weiner “lied to him about the timing of his sexting scandal.”

Nuzzi’s post on NSFWCORP was followed up by Tuesday’s Daily News cover story in which she claimed Weiner incorrectly called multiple interns “Monica” and said people only joined Weiner’s campaign to curry favor with his wife, Huma Abedin, a close aide to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Along with these allegations, Nuzzi wrote in the Daily News that “a lot” of Weiner’s staff had “short résumés,” including Morgan, who Nuzzi derisively noted “last worked as the press secretary for the New Jersey state education commissioner.” Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: CNNWeiner spokesperson apologizes for trash-talking about ex-intern

By Ashley Killough. Anthony Weiner¹s communications director apologized Tuesday night for bashing a former intern in a scathing interview laced with four-letter words.

“In a moment of frustration, I used inappropriate language in what I thought was an off the record conversation,” Barbara Morgan said in a statement to CNN. “It was wrong and I am very sorry.”

Morgan added that she called and apologized Tuesday night to the former intern, Olivia Nuzzi.

Talking Points Memo, a left-leaning news organization, published a report late Tuesday night, quoting Morgan as she responded to a New York Daily News article written by Nuzzi, who described an unflattering account of Weiner¹s New York City mayoral campaign.

“(Morgan) went off on a curse-filled rant about Nuzzi, describing her as a fame hungry ‘b**ch’ who ‘sucked’ at her job. Morgan also called Nuzzi a ‘sl*tb*g,’ ‘tw*t,’ and ‘c**t’ while threatening to sue her,” the TPM article stated. Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: APHuma Abedin to take break from job with Hillary Clinton

By Maggie Haberman. Huma Abedin, Hillary Clinton’s transition office chief and the wife of embattled New York City mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner, is expected to take extended vacation time from her job with the former first lady in the coming days, sources told POLITICO.

The move is not a leave of absence, two sources familiar with the move insisted, and it’s not precisely clear when she will depart for her vacation time from her day job.

It was a loose plan she’d had for weeks, since Hillary Clinton has close to no schedule next month – the Clintons are expected to vacation in the monied East Hampton enclave on Long Island – and Abedin had been expected to take the final few weeks leading up to the mayoral primary to be with her husband.

But she decided to stick to it as current events in her husband’s campaign have unfolded, the sources said. Weiner has spent the last week answering questions about fresh sexting incidents after he left Congress in 2011, and Abedin has been the subject of a string of rough headlines since she spoke at a press conference with her husband and said she loved and believed in him.

“Huma is not taking a leave of absence, but she will be taking vacation time in August to support her family during Anthony’s campaign,” said a Weiner campaign source. “She had always intended to do this.” Read more from this story HERE.

Rush Limbaugh: We Must Take the GOP Over (+video)

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Photo Credit: Fox NewsBy Jason Howerton. Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh sees a “battle” for the Republican Party happening right now between “mainstream” Republicans and true conservatives who rely on principle over politics. Meanwhile, he says that President Barack Obama is “relishing the opportunity to put into play what the leftists have only dreamed about in faculty lounges for 50 to 75 years.”

“I mean — there’s a battle for the [Republican] party going on,” Limbaugh told Greta Van Susteren in a rare and wide-ranging TV interview. “And sure, it — it’s — it would be a tough battle. But there’s no other option. I mean you don’t want to go third party. That’s just — that — that just ensures the Democrats are a majority party forever. You don’t want to do that.”

So what’s the solution, according to Limbaugh?

“[Y]ou have to do what you can to work within the Republican Party and take it over,” he said.

When asked about who he admires within Republican politics, Limbaugh named Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. However, he also said he respects all politicians who are “fearless and have the courage of their convictions and have no compunction about saying it.”

Read more from this story HERE.

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Limbaugh: Republicans Want a New Base Without Tea Party

By Greg Richter. The Republican Party wishes the tea party would go away, and would prefer a new base altogether, says conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh.

In an hourlong interview with Fox News Channel’s Greta Van Susteren Tuesday, Limbaugh said the Republican leadership isn’t conservative.

“They’re not particularly crazy about conservatives,” he said, adding that members of the tea party can’t be controlled by the GOP leadership. In 2010, the grassroots movement rose up in opposition to President Barack Obama, but the Republican establishment didn’t embrace them.

Tea party members sensed that rejection and sat home in the 2012 presidential election, Limbaugh said, handing defeat to GOP nominee Mitt Romney.

And Limbaugh says the GOP establishment isn’t too enamored of him either. Read more from this story HERE.

Mark Levin Hammers Boehner, Chris Christie for Stance on Obama Scandals (+video)

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Photo Credit: Daily CallerOn Neil Cavuto’s “Your World” program on the Fox News Channel Tuesday, syndicated radio talker Mark Levin took on President Barack Obama, the Republican leadership in the U.S. House and New Jersey Republican Gov. Chris Christie for the handling of the various scandals surrounding the White House.

In a nearly 10-minute interview, Levin took on the terrorist attack in Benghazi, the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of conservative groups, and the National Security Agency’s domestic spying program.

“I will tell you this — this president could give a damn about a serious investigation about scandals that are swirling around his administration,” Levin said. “And then his lackeys go on TV, including ‘Fox News Sunday’ and tell us there’s no evidence. Their people plead the fifth. Their attorney general doesn’t conduct investigations. And what’s necessary is for the Republicans in the House to get their act together. We don’t need five committees investigating Benghazi. We need one special investigative committee with former assistant U.S. attorneys, other types of prosecutors, who are serious people, who have the resources necessary, full-time, to pursue these matters and put the information on the table. Same with the Internal Revenue [Service] investigation.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Bradley Manning Acquitted of Aiding the Enemy but Guilty of Espionage Violations (+video)

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By Chelsea J. Carter, Ashley Fantz and Larry Shaughnessy. A military judge acquitted Army Pfc. Bradley Manning on Tuesday of aiding the enemy, but convicted him of violations of the Espionage Act for turning over a trove of classified data to the website WikiLeaks, in a case where the soldier has been portrayed variously as a traitor and as a whistle-blower.

The verdict by the judge, Col. Denise Lind, dismissed the prosecution’s argument that Manning released documents — in the largest leak of classified information in U.S. history — that he knew would end up in the hands of al Qaeda. The verdict also found Manning not guilty of unauthorized possession of information relating to national defense.

If he had been found guilty of aiding the enemy, he would have faced life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Manning still faces the prospect of years, if not decades, behind bars. He was found guilty on 20 counts. The sentencing phase of the court-martial begins Wednesday, and Manning faces up to a maximum 136 years in prison.

Among the charges, Manning was found guilty of the theft of more than 700 U.S. Southern Command records, the possession of records pertaining to Afghanistan; the theft of State Department cables and the possession of classified Army documents.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Bradley Manning verdict: cleared of ‘aiding the enemy’ but guilty of other charges

By Ed Pilkington. Bradley Manning, the source of the massive WikiLeaks trove of secret disclosures, faces a possible maximum sentence of 136 years in military jail after he was convicted on Tuesday of most charges on which he stood trial.

Colonel Denise Lind, the military judge presiding over the court martial of the US soldier, delivered her verdict in curt and pointed language. “Guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty,” she repeated over and over, as the reality of a prolonged prison sentence for Manning – on top of the three years he has already spent in detention – dawned.

The one ray of light in an otherwise bleak outcome for Manning was that he was found not guilty of the single most serious charge against him – that he knowingly “aided the enemy”, in practice al-Qaida, by disclosing information to the WikiLeaks website that in turn made it accessible to all users including enemy groups.

Lind’s decision to avoid setting a precedent by applying the swingeing “aiding the enemy” charge to an official leaker will invoke a sigh of relief from news organisations and civil liberties groups who had feared a guilty verdict would send a chill across public interest journalism.

The judge also found Manning not guilty of having leaked an encrypted copy of a video of a US air strike in the Farah province of Aghanistan in which many civilians died. Manning’s defence team had argued vociferously that he was not the source of this video, though the soldier did admit to the later disclosure of an unencrypted version of the video and related documents. Read more from this story HERE.

105 Children Lured into Prostitution are Rescued by FBI in Biggest Ever Bust of its Type in U.S. History – 150 Pimps in 76 Cities Who ‘Tortured’ Girls as Young as 13 are Arrested (+video)

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Photo Credit: FBI.govThe FBI rescued 105 teenagers over the weekend who were forced into prostitution in the largest child sex trafficking sting in U.S. history, which encompassed 76 cities, the agency said Monday.

The youngest child rescued was 13 years old, the FBI said.

The raids resulted in the arrests of 150 ‘pimps’ involved in the sexual exploitation of both adults and children, said Ronald Hosko, assistant director of the FBI’s criminal investigative division.

The FBI said 60 percent of the children rescued were in foster care or group homes when they ran away.

‘With no way to survive on their own they are lured into a life of being trafficked for sex,’ Hosko said.

Read more from this story HERE.

Democratic Sex Scandals May Affect Clinton’s Presidential Aspirations (+video)

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Photo Credit: Fox NewsWherever Anthony Weiner goes on the streets of New York these days, he’s surrounded by reporters, microphones and cameras – a crush that would ordinarily signal intense interest in a surging campaign. For the beleaguered Weiner, it portends his likely demise.

But he presses on, despite the loss of his campaign manager, blunt face-to-face criticism from tough New Yorkers, and a new Quinnipiac University poll showing him in fourth place. “I’m taking a bet basically that people are more interested in hearing solutions to their problems than hearing about things in my background,” he told one reporter Monday. “And we’ll see if that’s the case.”

Even his wife, in her loyalty to her husband, is now being criticized for risking the presidential hopes of her mentor, Hillary Clinton.

In a “Today” appearance Monday morning, NBC Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Andrea Mitchell said, “This is getting to the point where it is really splashing up against the Clintons because it’s almost unavoidable that people are making comparisons.”

In a broader sense, the Weiner sex scandal, coupled with those of San Diego mayor Bob Filner and NY comptroller candidate, Eliot Spitzer, now compose a trio of targets for Democratic party elders. Last week, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said, “The conduct of some of these people that we’re talking about here is reprehensible, is so disrespectful of women.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Cornel West Calls Obama The Drone President (+video)

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Photo Credit: APLiberal activist and scholar Dr. Cornel West last week called President Barack Obama “the drone president” for his administration’s controversial use of drone strikes.

“Bush was the capture-and-torture president. Now we’ve got the targeted killing president, the drone president. That’s not progress. That’s not part of the legacy of Martin King,” West said in a July 22 interview on “Democracy Now!”

West said Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would not be invited to the 50th anniversary of the slain civil rights leader’s “I Have a Dream” speech on Aug. 28, because he would want to talk about drones.

“And you know what the irony is, Sister Amy? Brother Martin would not be invited to the very march in his name, because he would talk about drones,” West said.

“Do you think anybody at that march will talk about drones and the drone president? Will you think anybody at that march will talk about the connection to Wall Street? They are all on the plantation,” West added.

Read more from this story HERE.

Judge Orders Chandra Levy Court Documents Unsealed (+video)

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Photo Credit: CNNA judge on Monday ordered the release of sealed documents and transcripts from court proceedings related to the murder case of Chandra Levy, a Washington intern whose disappearance in 2001 drew national headlines and damaged a U.S. congressman’s political career.

D.C. Superior Court Judge Gerald Fisher ruled that the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia should release the transcripts of secret conversations between the lawyers and the judge at the judge’s bench in hearings from earlier this year.
The case of Levy, whose body was found in a Washington park in 2002, is back in court because defense attorneys for the man convicted of her murder have called into question the testimony of a key prosecution witness.

Ingmar Guandique, 31, was sentenced in 2011 to two concurrent 60-year sentences for murder with kidnapping and murder with attempted robbery in Levy’s death. He was in court Monday wearing an orange jumpsuit and handcuffs.

Read more from this story HERE.

Trump: Something ‘Mentally Wrong’ with Weiner (+video)

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By Daniel Strauss. Real estate mogul Donald Trump on Monday blasted former Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.), saying there was something “mentally wrong” with the New York City mayoral candidate.

“He’s a disaster. He’s a sick guy; he shouldn’t be running,” Trump said Monday on Fox News.

“He’s gotta drop out at some point, but perhaps he won’t. He’ll go through the process,” he predicted.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: Daily CallerWeiner didn’t declare costs for lavish 2010 wedding

By Charles C. Johnson. Anthony Weiner may have violated federal law when he failed to disclose his lavish six-figure wedding in his financial disclosure forms, says a government accountability group.

Ethics watchdog group National Legal and Policy Center examined the federal Financial Disclosure Reports for both Weiner and long-suffering wife Huma Abedin for 2010, the year of their wedding.

The cost for the ceremony was at least $100,000 but probably ran closer to $250,000 including all accommodations, clothing and extras. Neither Weiner nor Abedin had the resources to pay for the ultra-expensive wedding, yet neither recorded gifts on their Financial Disclosure Reports for that year.

Even though there is an exemption for gifts from personal friends, the Ethics in Government Act requires written permission from the House Ethics Committee for any Congressman getting gifts worth more than $250. Weiner had no such written permission.

NLPC was preparing a complaint to the House Ethics Committee in 2011 against Weiner for filing a false Financial Disclosure Report when Weiner resigned from Congress after the first of his many sexting scandals, leaving the Committee without jurisdiction to take up an investigation. Read more from this story HERE.