Neil Cavuto Goes Off on the Surveillance State, Shuts Down Mic of Obama Defender (+video)

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Fox’s Neil Cavuto confronted Democratic strategist Julian Epstein with mounting evidence of the Obama administration’s wholesale disregard of the Fourth Amendment. He suggested that the near-daily disclosures of the White House’s surveillance of US citizens amounted to a pattern:

“You see one incident after another that comes up. It all comes back to the same basic issue: privacy invaded or potentially invaded. Institutions of all sorts doing the same thing. There is a pattern.”

Epstein insisted on playing politics with the issue, suggesting that the surveillance had no direct connections to White House: “If you want to conflate and combine the issues and make the general statements you can do that. I don’t think it’s a thoughtful way to approach it.”

Cavuto retorted: “Think about what I said. Julian, don’t play the politics thing. I’m telling you, drop the liberal thing and focus on the reality thing. You have one entity after another going after American people. You have one system of government, one agency, one department after another essentially doing the same thing. You can call that conflating. I am telling you there is a pattern.”

Epstein reiterated, “You can’t conflate all these issues, you have to speak about them differently. In the case of the IRS, I agree the targeting is wrong, but there was never any connection to the White House. Nobody has proven that.”

Right before cutting off his microphone, Cavuto responded, “I’m not going to get anywhere arguing this point You are saying nothing and it’s offensive. It’s annoying how obnoxious you can be on reality.”

School Cuts Off Class Valedictorian’s Mic When He Starts Talking About Constitution (+video)

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Photo Credit: Fox News

A North Texas high school silenced its Valedictorian’s microphone during his speech, prompting questions over his free speech rights.

Students attending the Joshua High School graduation say Remington Reimer’s microphone was cut off, right when he began to talk about the Constitution.

“He just said, he was talking about getting constitutional rights getting taken away from him,” Colin Radford, a Joshua H.S. graduate, said. “And then he said, just yesterday they threatened to turn my microphone off, and then his microphone went off.”

Reimer, who was accepted into the Naval Academy, had his speech pre-approved by the school district.

Read more from this story HERE.

Leno: “We Wanted a President That Listens to All Americans. Now We Have One” (+video)

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Photo Credit: Screenshot

Jay Leno is continuing his unrelenting, hilarious attacks on the Obama administration.

He hammers the White House for listening to phone calls, going through computer records, and basically acting like a “psycho ex-girlfriend.”

Leno rejects Obama’s statement yesterday that the feds “aren’t listening to your phone calls.”

He also suggests that Obama put his aggressive surveillance program to good use in watching the IRS.

Leno criticizes the IRS’s multi-million dollar conferences and wasteful spending on art, like paying an artist $17,000 to paint pictures of Lincoln to inspire agents. He suggests saving $16,995 by using a $5 bill.

Finally, Leon concludes his monologue suggesting one IRS party taxpayers would be happy to pay for: a “going away party.”

GOP Congressmen: EPA Biased Against Conservatives, not Objective (+video)

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Dozens of Republican lawmakers have joined in accusing the Environmental Protection Agency of “apparent bias” against conservative groups following a claim that it routinely showed favoritism to liberal organizations.

The allegations were first made by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a conservative Washington, D.C., think tank. It claimed the EPA was not being fair as it weighed whether to charge fees to groups seeking information via Freedom of Information Act requests.

Its research showed liberal groups have their fees for documents waived about 90 percent of the time, while conservative groups are denied fee waivers about 90 percent of the time.

“This activity calls into question the objectivity of the FOIA employees at EPA and undermines public confidence in an agency that is charged with protecting our air and water,” a group of nearly three dozen House Republicans wrote in a letter to EPA Acting Administrator Bob Perciasepe.

Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., chairman of the Republican Study Committee, said in a separate statement that the findings are “not a coincidence” and track with the kind of targeting conducted by the IRS against conservative groups.

Read more from this story HERE.

Obama Left Speechless Without Prepared Remarks on Health Care (+video)

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Photo Credit: Evan Vucci

President Obama was left stranded without a copy of his speech Friday as he prepared to give a short presentation about the importance of Californians enrolling in his health-care program.

As Mr. Obama walked on stage at the event in San Jose, Calif., he immediately noticed that a paper copy of his speech wasn’t on the podium with the presidential seal. The president was working without a teleprompter, and he tried to stall for time until aides could rescue him.

“Good morning everybody, it is wonderful to see all of you,” Mr. Obama said to the audience. “I want to thank everybody who is here. I think there’s only one problem, and that is that my remarks are not sitting here.”

Read more from this story HERE.

What a Relief: Our Trustworthy President Assures Us that the Feds aren’t Listening to Your Phone Calls (+video)

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Photo Credit: Washington Examiner

President Obama on Friday for the first time publicly defended his administration’s top-secret phone and Internet surveillance programs, insisting that Americans weren’t being directly targeted and that national-security benefits were worth the “modest encroachments on privacy.”

“Nobody is listening to your telephone calls,” Obama said, acknowledging that his National Security Agency was collecting massive amounts of data on Americans. But he insisted that the data included only telephone numbers and durations of conversations — and that there was no monitoring of actual calls. To listen in on conversations, Obama said it would require court approval.

As for the revelation that the NSA and FBI are also accessing the Internet servers of major U.S. providers, Obama said, “This does not apply to U.S. citizens, and this does not apply to people living in the United States.”

Obama was forced to address the simmering controversies at an event in San Jose, Calif., meant to trumpet his healthcare overhaul. Allies and political foes alike have battered the administration with charges of government overreach as details continue to emerge about its surveillance programs.

Obama offered no apologies, at one point brushing off the controversies as “hype.” He said the secret programs, originated in President George W. Bush’s administration, were subject to Congressional oversight.

Read more from this story HERE.

Obama: If You Can’t Trust Government, We’re Going to Have Some Problems (+video)

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Photo Credit: Washington Examiner

President Obama this afternoon addressed recent reports of the National Security Agency secretly obtaining phone records and private data for surveillance.

During his speech he indicated that Americans needed to trust the system of government set up to thwart abuse.

“If people can’t trust not only the executive branch but also don’t trust Congress, and don’t trust federal judges, to make sure that we’re abiding by the Constitution with due process and rule of law, then we’re going to have some problems here.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Assault Against Christians, Conservatives in Military Continues: Video Mentioning God Banned, Hannity, Levin and Limbaugh Censored (+video)

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Air Force Removes Video that Mentions God

The Pentagon directed an Air Force Base to remove a video tribute to First Sergeants because it mentioned the word ‘God’ and might be offensive to atheists or Muslims, Fox News has learned.

The tribute was created by a chaplain at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst. The chaplain wrote a poem titled, “God Created A First Sergeant.” It was later adapted into a video with a narration. First Sergeants are senior non-commissioned officers who look after enlisted members.

The video was modeled after the Dodge Ram Super Bowl commercial titled, “God Created A Farmer.”

“On the eighth day, God looked down on His creation and said, ‘I need someone who will take care of the Airmen,’” the tribute read. “So God created a First Sergeant.”

Chaplain leadership at the base signed off on the project as well as other base officials and earlier this week the video was posted on YouTube. But it was soon taken down after other officers objected. Read more from this story HERE.

The Fox and Friends clip about the Air Force video starts a few seconds after the Jay Leno intro:

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Soldier Told Not to Read Levin, Limbaugh or Hannity in Uniform

A veteran member of the U.S. Army Band said he is facing retribution and punishment from the military for having anti-Obama bumper stickers on his car, reading books written by conservative authors like Mark Levin and David Limbaugh, and serving Chick-fil-A sandwiches at his promotion party.

Master Sgt. Nathan Sommers, a 25-year Army veteran and conservative Christian based at Fort Myer in Washington, believes his outspoken opposition to gay marriage prompted higher-ups to take a closer look at his beliefs. The recipient of an Army Commendation Medal and a soloist at the funeral of former First Lady Betty Ford, Sommers said his core beliefs are enough to mark a soldier for persecution in today’s military.

“It seems like with the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell – that the Christians have been the ones who’ve had to go underground and in the closet – for fear of retaliation and reprisals,” Sommers told Fox News. “Christians feel like they can’t be forthright with their faith. They have to hide.”

Ret. Navy Commander John Bennett Wells is representing the master sergeant. He said there is no doubt in his mind that the U.S. military is discriminating against Christians – and specifically his client.

“There’s no question about it,“ Wells told Fox News. “Because he is religious, because he feels that homosexual conduct is wrong for religious reasons, he is basically being persecuted.” Read more from this story HERE.

County Commissioners Propose Secession, Formation of 51st State, North Colorado (+video)

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Photo Credit: HuffingtonPost

By Analisa Romano. Weld County commissioners on Thursday announced that they want to join other northeastern Colorado counties in forming a new state — North Colorado.

Commissioners said a “collective mass” of issues have cumulated during the past several years that isolate rural Colorado from the rest of the state and put those counties at a disadvantage.

They said they met with county commissioners at a Colorado Counties, Inc. conference earlier this week to discuss the feasibility of forming a new state, a question that would first be put to voters on the November ballot.

Commissioners said Morgan, Logan, Sedgwick, Phillips, Washington, Yuma and Kit Carson counties all expressed interest in the idea.

The signing of S.B. 252, which increases renewable energy standards in rural areas in a way that rural energy companies say is too costly, and an attack on the oil and gas industry from the Legislature this year were the “straws that broke the camel’s back,” commissioners said. Read more from this story HERE.

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Rural Colorado Counties Threaten Secession From State, Propose Forming New One: North Colorado

By HuffingtonPost. Several of the rural, predominantly Republican counties of North and and Northeastern Colorado are fed up with the left-leaning laws that Democrats passed this year in the state and want to split from Colorado and form the 51st state: North Colorado.

“Our very way of life is under attack,” Weld County Commissioner Sean Conway said on Thursday, 9News reported.

Conway is leading the charge for Weld, Morgan, Logan, Sedgwick, Phillips, Washington, Yuma and Kit Carson counties to split off and form a new state, a plan that was formed at a Colorado Counties Inc. conference earlier this week, according to The Denver Post.

The secession plan is driven by a number of new laws passed in the Democrat-controlled legislature this year, including gun control, the curbing of perceived cruel treatment of livestock to expanded regulation of oil and gas production but the final straw was the signing of Senate Bill 252 by Gov. John Hickenlooper on Wednesday which requires an increase in renewable energy standards in rural areas. Read more from this story HERE.

Congress Disputes Obama’s Claim That ‘Every Member’ Was Briefed (+video)

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Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) on Friday disputed a claim President Obama made at a press conference only moments earlier, when the president said that every member of Congress had been briefed on the National Security Agency’s (NSA) domestic phone surveillance program.

Merkley said only select members of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees had been briefed on the program, and that he was only aware of it because he obtained “special permission” to review the pertinent documents after hearing about it second-hand.

Read more from this story HERE.