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Support Grows for Petition to Pardon NSA Leaker Edward Snowden

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Photo Credit: AP Photo/The Guardian

A petition for President Obama to pardon Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who admitted leaking information on classified government surveillance programs, had collected more than 18,000 signatures on the White House’s website shortly after 1 p.m. Monday.

“Edward Snowden is a national hero and should be immediately issued a full, free and absolute pardon for any crimes he has committed or may have committed related to blowing the whistle on secret NSA surveillance programs,” states the petition, which was created on Sunday.

Mr. Snowden, who is seeking asylum in Hong Kong, said he leaked the information to Britain’s Guardian newspaper because he wanted the public to know the scope of the U.S. government’s surveillance programs. In the past week, he has revealed the government’s collection of millions of citizens’ phone records and a top-secret program known as Prism that monitors data from top Internet companies.

Read more from this story HERE.

Tense: Ed Henry Confronts Jay Carney on Obama Statements During White House Press Conference (+video)

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Photo Credit: YouTube

White House press secretary Jay Carney clashed with both Fox News Chief White House correspondent Ed Henry and CBS News correspondent Major Garrett during Monday’s afternoon briefing.

Both intense exchanges surrounded the federal government’s data collection of phone and internet records and the administration’s handling of the issue.

Carney’s back-and-forth with Henry was the most notable. The journalist asked a number of pointed questions, especially about Obama’s claim on Friday that “every member of Congress” had been briefed on the NSA’s program involving monitoring of phone calls and Internet service.

“Why then are not just Republicans but Democrats like Keith Ellison saying ‘I’ve heard nothing about this.’?”

Carney responded by saying he couldn’t speak to “individual members,” and then launched into a prepared statement saying that the chair and ranking members had made clear that “every member” had been “advised of this” and “had the opportunity for briefings.”

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Beck: If We Don’t Stop this Right Now, US Will Become the Most Evil Nation the World has Ever Known

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As reports continue to flood in about President Obama’s massive surveillance state, media powerhouse Glenn Beck says, “There wouldn’t be a Jew alive on the planet today if Hitler had this technology.”

Beck made the statement Friday on his radio program while interviewing NSA whistleblower William Binney.

Binney worked at the National Security Agency for nearly four decades, and said the secret surveillance of Americans began in October 2001.

He believes the NSA is storing information on 3 billion phone calls every day.

“I’m telling you, America,” Beck cautioned, “If we don’t stop this right now, we will be remembered as the most evil nation in history of the world. We will dwarf what Germany did. And I’d say that if Mitt Romney were in office and this were happening. I would be saying exactly the same thing.”

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Liberal Pundit: U.S. Has Become an ‘Authoritarian Surveillance State’ (+video)

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Photo Credit: YouTube

Paul Krugman, an outspoken liberal economist known for his support of the Obama administration, today said the United States has become an ‘authoritarian surveillance state.’

Part of a panel on This Week with George Stephanopoulos, Krugman offered his take on the bombshell NSA spying revelations:

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DoD Stupidity Continues: Airmen Ordered Not to Read Stories About NSA Phone Surveillance

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Photo Credit: WND

WND has received an unclassified NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) that warns airmen not to look at news stories related to the data-mining scandal.

The notice applies to users of the Air Force NIPRNET (Non-classified Internet Protocol Router Network), which is the only way that many troops stationed overseas and on bases in the U.S. are able to access the Internet.

The last line of the executive summary states:

“Users are not to use AF NIPRNET systems to access the Verizon phone records collection and other related news stories because the action could constitute a Classified Message Incident.”

Cindy McGee, the mother of an airman stationed in the UAE, spoke with WND.

“The fact that our government is attempting to censor our service members from the truth of what is happening here at home is truly frightening and disheartening,” said McGee.

Read more from this story HERE.

Obama Lies Again: Claims Immigration Bill Requires Illegals to Learn English

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Photo Credit: Breitbart

In his weekly address, President Barack Obama claimed the Senate “Gang of Eight” immigration bill would require illegal immigrants to learn English to earn their citizenship.

“This bill would provide a pathway to earned citizenship for the 11 million individuals who are already in this country illegally–a pathway that includes passing a background check, learning English, paying taxes and a penalty, and then going to the back of the line behind everyone who’s playing by the rules and trying to come here legally,” Obama said.

While that claim would quell a lot of criticism of the bill if it were true, it simply is not accurate.

As Breitbart News has previously reported, when illegal immigrants apply for “registered provisional immigrant” status under the provisions of the bill, the first step in legalization, they do not need to demonstrate that they can speak English. When they apply for renewal of their RPI status, they still do not need to prove they can speak English.

Only when illegal immigrants apply for their “legal permanent resident” status, or green card, would they be required to demonstrate their ability to speak English or prove that they are currently enrolled in a course “to achieve an understanding of English and knowledge and understanding” of civics.

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.”

Limbaugh: ‘We are in the Midst of a Coup’

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Photo Credit: WND

This week’s revelations about the federal government collecting massive amounts of communication data on American citizens has the country’s most-listened-to radio voice saying President Barack Obama is leading a coup against the nation.

“What everybody knows and what nobody wants to come to grips with is we are in the midst of a coup taking place,” talk-show host Rush Limbaugh said Friday afternoon. “It’s almost on a par with [when I said] ‘I hope he fails.’ How does that sound now, by the way?”

“What’s wrong with calling this a coup?” he continued. “There’s a lot here to be concerned about.”

“This is the guy, don’t forget, convincing people that this kind of stuff was never going to happen here. … This is the guy who got elected president by telling us that what is happening now was never going to happen when he was president. … He got elected warning us that what was happening now was happening in 2008. … [Now] it’s more sweeping than it’s ever been.”

He pointed out that information gathering has already been used to target political supporters of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney in the 2012 election cycle.

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.”

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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.