Photo Credit: YouTube
“Speaking of inviting you, I hadn’t even pressed ‘send’ on the email yet,” host Brian Sack told Dossen, played by TheBlaze’s Matt Fisher.
“No need, no need,” Dossen replied dismissively. “Of all the Orwellian bureaucracies, I like to think we give taxpayers the best bang for their buck.”
Read more from this story HERE.
Photo Credit: Fox News
The officials are Scott Bultrowicz, who until Feb. 1 served as director of DS, and Tracy H. Mahaffey, who remains the executive director of DS. In videotaped depositions conducted this past February, Bultrowicz claimed not to know about any claims by a federal agency that DS officials have failed to follow proper procedures; and Mahaffey claimed not to know about any pending investigations into DS.
Yet Fox News has obtained meeting notes, draft reports and other evidence that suggest both officials were aware, at the time they were deposed, of a pending investigation into DS and its operations by the State Department’s Office of Inspector General (OIG). What’s more, both officials had been apprised of the OIG’s preliminary finding that DS did indeed fail to follow proper procedures in at least eight cases, and possibly more, because of “undue influence” and “pressure” brought to bear by senior State Department officials to halt internal investigations.
Read more from this story HERE.
Photo Credit: NPA
Targeted for his work on combating illegal immigration, Kobach has certainly faced opposition in the past, but it has always been in public locations. Now, he says, “the left has crossed a line” by surrounding his home.
Kobach said he is asking prosecutors to look into how the mob may have violated civil rights laws, explaining: “They’re called the Klan Laws…a set of laws that say you cannot intimidate an official by trespassing on his property threatening violence, [and] you cannot intimidate an individual by threatening violence so that they don’t vote or don’t exercise their civil rights.”
After Beck noted that Martin Luther King, Jr. faced similar intimidation tactics, Kobach agreed: “This is exactly — they’re just not wearing white cloaks — but this is exactly KKK-type of intimidation.”
The secretary of state proceeded to describe what he has learned about the protesters, organized by a group called “Sunflower Community Action.” He said the group rose to prominence around the time ACORN shut down, has “lots of money,” and at least one full-time, paid community organizer.
Read more from this story HERE.
Photo Credit: Reuters
The former NSA contractor who leaked information on the government’s top-secret Internet- and phone-tracking programs on Monday denied being a Chinese spy, calling the speculation a “predictable smear.”
Edward Snowden addressed those rumors, and a number of other questions, during an extensive online chat hosted by Guardian.com. From an undisclosed location presumably in Hong Kong, Snowden blasted the U.S. government’s surveillance programs and indicated he plans to hunker down in Hong Kong as long as possible.
Snowden was asked directly during the chat about speculation he did or would provide classified material to the Chinese government in exchange for asylum.
“This is a predictable smear that I anticipated before going public, as the US media has a knee-jerk ‘RED CHINA!’ reaction to anything involving HK or the PRC, and is intended to distract from the issue of US government misconduct,” Snowden answered.
“Ask yourself: if I were a Chinese spy, why wouldn’t I have flown directly into Beijing? I could be living in a palace petting a phoenix by now.” Read more from this story HERE.
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NSA chief Alexander to testify on classified leaks in rare public hearing
National Security Agency chief Gen. Keith Alexander will address the House intelligence committee on Tuesday in a rare public hearing that could shed new light on the scope of the federal government’s classified phone and Internet surveillance programs.
The session involving two of Washington’s most secretive bodies comes as an NSA leaker, former contractor Edward Snowden, threatens to reveal more government secrets from his hiding spot in Hong Kong.
Alexander has already gone to Capitol Hill several times since Snowden revealed details earlier this month about the government programs — to discuss the agency’s budget and meet privately with congressional members.
But the upcoming meeting, titled “How Disclosed NSA Programs Protect Americans, and Why,” will be the first time Alexander speaks publicly about the agency-led surveillance programs.
The meeting will also come one day after Snowden, the former NSA contractor who gave the classified documents to journalists, conducted an online chat for The Guardian in which the self-proclaimed whistleblower wrote: “Truth is coming and it cannot be stopped.” Read more from this story HERE.
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Father of Edward Snowden urges son not to commit ‘treason,’ to return home
The father of the former NSA contractor who leaked details of the government’s massive Internet- and phone-tracking programs made an impassioned plea to his son to stop leaking, telling Fox News that “I hope, I pray” he does not do anything considered treasonous.
Lon Snowden spoke at length with Fox News about his son Edward’s decision to leak sensitive security details about U.S. intelligence-gathering operations. While defending his son’s integrity and criticizing the government, he pleaded with his son — who is thought to be weathering the political storm from a location in Hong Kong — to return home and not to leak more information.
“I hope, I pray and I ask that you will not release any secrets that could constitute treason,” Snowden told Fox News, in a message meant for his son’s ears. He added: “I sense that you’re under much stress [from] what I’ve read recently, and [ask] that you not succumb to that stress … and make a bad decision.”
Further, Snowden said he would rather see his son return to the U.S. and face the U.S. justice system than stay abroad.
“I would like to see Ed come home and face this. I shared that with the government when I spoke with them. I love my son,” he told Fox News’ Eric Bolling. Read more from this story HERE.
Photo Credit: Breitbart
When broken down by party, 74% of Independents, 71% of Republicans, and 66% of Democrats are in opposition to the president. The main concern of those polled is the fear that the new boss will be an awful lot like the old boss.
Lessons learned from Egypt, perhaps?
A Gallup poll also released Monday backs up Pew, but the numbers aren’t quite as bad for the president. 54% disapprove of Obama’s decision, with only 37% approving.
Obama fares a little better among those following the situation in Syria closely, but he is still upside down seven points, with only 44% approving and a majority of 51% disapproving. Read more from this story HERE.
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Syrian-Rebel Teens Sing at Al Qaeda Camp: ‘We Destroyed America With a Civilian Airplane’
By Terence P. Jeffrey. An al Qaeda video posted online in late May and translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) shows masked Muslim teenage boys undergoing military training and indoctrination at an al Qaeda camp inside Syria.
The video shows the teenagers shooting handguns at a large photo of Syrian leader Bashar al-Asad. It also shows them stating that their leader is Abu Bakr al Baghdadi (the head of al Qaeda in Iraq), and then singing joyfully of their desire to overthrow both Asad and his sister Bushra, of the valor of al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahiri and of al Qaeda’s success in blowing up the World Trade Center towers.
“We destroyed America with a civilian airplane,” the young Syrian rebels sing. “The World Trade Center was turned into rubble. The World Trade Center was turned into rubble. Read more from this story HERE.
[Editor’s note: our apologies, but the embedded viewer in this article is not compatible with all browsers]
And here is another video from a Syrian rebel group:
Photo Credit: The Guardian
“All I can say right now is the U.S. government is not going to be able to cover this up by jailing or murdering me,” Snowden wrote in an online chat hosted by Britain’s Guardian newspaper. “Truth is coming, and it cannot be stopped.”
Writing from an undisclosed location believed to be in Hong Kong, the former CIA and National Security Agency systems administrator vigorously defended his disclosures about the breadth of U.S. surveillance, including programs that sweep up data about Americans’ telephone calls, emails and Internet use.
…Snowden alleged that intelligence agencies keep the information on government computers “for a very long time” and are available for analysts to view as long as they produce a “rubber stamp” warrant.
“The reality is that due to the FISA Amendments Act and its section 702 authorities, Americans’ communications are collected and viewed on a daily basis on the certification of an analyst rather than a warrant,” Snowden said. “They excuse this as ‘incidental’ collection, but at the end of the day, someone at NSA still has the content of your communications.”
Read more from this story HERE.
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Edward Snowden: US government has destroyed any chance of a fair trial
By Ewen MacAskill. In a live Q&A with Guardian readers from a secret location in Hong Kong, Snowden hinted at more disclosures to come and that their publication could not be prevented by his arrest or – more chillingly – his death.
Answering a question about whether he had more secret material, the 29-year-old former National Security Agency contractor wrote: “All I can say right now is the US government is not going to be able to cover this up by jailing or murdering me. Truth is coming, and it cannot be stopped”…
With opinion in the US divided between those who see him as a traitor and those who view him as a hero, Snowden said he fled the country because he did not believe he had a chance of a fair trial.
“The US government, just as they did with other whistleblowers, immediately and predictably destroyed any possibility of a fair trial at home, openly declaring me guilty of treason and that the disclosure of secret, criminal, and even unconstitutional acts is an unforgivable crime. That’s not justice, and it would be foolish to volunteer yourself to it if you can do more good outside of prison than in it,” he said.
Snowden, whose leaked documents opened a debate about the balance between intrusive government surveillance versus security, does not regard himself as having committed a crime but instead as the person exposing alleged criminality on the part of the Obama administration. Read more from this story HERE.
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., is ripping Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and other Republicans for facilitating the Democratic approach to immigration reform and deceiving the American people about what’s in the legislation.
Rubio stated repeatedly in recent weeks that effective border security was essential to getting his vote for the final version, despite his role in drafting the original bill. Earlier this week, however, Rubio told a Univision audience, in Spanish, that the effort to legalize the millions of illegal immigrants in the U.S. was the top priority.
“Let’s be clear,” Rubio said. “Nobody is talking about preventing the legalization. The legalization is going to happen. That means the following will happen: First comes the legalization. Then come the measures to secure the border. And then comes the process of permanent residence.”
Rohrabacher is not impressed.
“Rubio is so mixed up and so confused. I think he has given up his rightful place to advise any of us in Washington what to do, and he’s given up any right to be trusted by the American people,” he said.
Read more from this story HERE.
Photo Credit: AP
“When we were kids, we didn’t need security cameras on the telephone poles to watch us, because we knew God was watching us. We don’t need cameras. We had God,” Ratzenberger, who played Cliff Clavin on “Cheers,” said at the Faith and Freedom Coalition Conference in Washington, D.C.
Ratzenberger also voiced the character Hamm the Piggy Bank on “Toy Story” as well as other supporting roles in Pixar films.
[Editor’s note: our apologies, but the embedded viewer in this article is not compatible with all browsers]
Read more from this story HERE.
Here’s Actor John Ratzenberger’s introduction of Allen West last week:
Photo Credit: Daily Caller
By Breanna Deutsch and Sarah Harvard. Sarah Palin energized a group of social conservatives at the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority Conference Saturday, blasting the Obama Administration’s apparent lawlessness, calling the current state of America “Orwellian,” and urging the United States to stay out of Syria’s chaotic and brutal civil war.
In comments to the Daily Caller, the 2008 candidate for vice president also declined to join many of her fellow Republicans in condemning National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, saying the real problem was the government’s violation of Americans’ rights…
Palin appeared confident and comfortable on stage while inveighing against the NSA tracking American citizens’ phone calls, noting that domestic spying had not prevented the Boston Marathon bombings.
“Our government spied on every one of your phone calls, but they couldn’t find two pot-smoking deadbeat Bostonians with a hotline to terrorist central in Chechnya,” said the Alaska Republican, “And it’s built an apparatus to sneak into all of the good guy’s communications, but whoopsie daisy, it missed the Fort Hood mass murder of our troops despite this Islamic terrorist declaring his ideology in numerous army counseling sessions and even on his own business cards.” Read more from this story HERE.
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Photo Credit: Daily Caller
By Katie McHugh. Former Vice President Dick Cheney declared National Security Agency whistle-blower Edward Snowden ”a traitor” and questioned whether Snowden acted alone or coordinated with the Chinese government as a spy on ‘Fox News Sunday’ this weekend. The prominent hawk also pushed back against Sen. Rand Paul’s concerns about Americans’ constitutional rights.
“I’m deeply suspicious obviously because he went to China,” Cheney told host Chris Wallace. ”That’s not a place where you ordinarily want to go if you’re interested in freedom and liberty and so forth. It raises questions whether or not he had that kind of connection before he did this.”
Cheney feared Snowden would release additional documents that could inflict harm on the U.S. while aiding China. Read more from this story HERE.
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Liberal Media (a/k/a “Establishment Media”) Continues to Hammer Snowden
In the below video, liberal Bob Schieffer on CBS’s Face the Nation strongly criticizes Snowden. Next, listen to reporter Glenn Greenwald – who broke the Snowden story – as he highlights the press’s hypocrisy on this issue.
Photo Credit: YouTube
The word “Jihad” was spray painted across a wall south of the Atlantic Avenue exit along the northbound lanes of I-95.
The Muslim word means “holy war.”
Heather Smith traveled past it Saturday, and was very upset by the message. She said, ” If it’s a joke, it’s a sick joke.”
Florida Highway Patrol troopers came out Saturday evening to investigate the graffiti. They found one can of spray paint nearby that may be linked to the crime. They say they talked to nearby residents who told them they didn’t see the person or people behind the graffiti.
Read more from this story HERE.