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Journalist Shot in Head, Egyptian Christian Church Attacked, Muslim Brotherhood Posts Fake Photos of Dead ‘Egyptian’ Children (+videos)

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Photo Credit: Mohamed RashedBy MENA. Masked gunmen opened fire at Mar Mina Church in Port Said’s al-Manakh early Tuesday and managed to get away, according to state-run news agency MENA. No casualties were reported.

Army and police squads arrived at the scene of the attack and efforts are being undertaken to identify the perpetrators.

This is the third such attack in 24 hours. Yesterday, unknown attackers assaulted Port Said’s western seaport and the province’s traffic police department.

A priest was killed Saturday in Masaeed in North Sinai. Read more from this story HERE.

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BBC Reporter Shot in the Head

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Muslim Brotherhood Using Old Photo’s of Dead Syrian Children, Claiming Egyptian Army Killed Them

Egypt Continues to Spiral into Extreme Violence as Obama Fumbles Away (+videos)

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Egypt violence: Gang throws rivals to their deaths from top of a building

By A bloodthirsty gang is filmed flinging r­ivals to their deaths from the top of a building as violence spirals out of control in Egypt.

Horrific scenes captured on a mobile phone and posted on YouTube show a group of men surrounded by captors in the north-east city of Alexandria, the Sunday People can report.

Sickeningly, the victims are tossed head-first from a ledge. They land on the ­concrete roof below, where they are beaten and left for dead.

Clashes between opponents and supporters of deposed President Mohamed Morsi intensified yesterday, leaving 36 people dead. British tourists were feared to be at risk of terrorist attack last night after the head of al Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, issued a call to arms after the military coup ousted Islamist Morsi. Read more from this story HERE.

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Sexual Assaults Reportedly Rampant During Egypt Protests

By Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson. From afar, Tahrir Square appears almost festive as protesters chant against the Islamist president who was overthrown by the Egyptian military last week. But inside the crushing crowds, the scene can be a lot more sinister.

In a video posted by the Muslim Brotherhood, an unidentified woman cries out as men attack her. The group, from which former President Mohammed Morsi hails, claims the attack occurred in Tahrir Square in late June.

Human Rights Watch reports a sharp rise in sexual assaults here since anti-Morsi protesters took to the streets in record numbers last week. Activists report more than 100 sexual assaults in or near Tahrir Square during the past week alone, many of them gang rapes.

Most of the victims are Egyptian, though some are Western journalists covering the protest.

The rights group says the latest attacks follow an all too familiar pattern since mass protests began in 2011: A few men force a girl or woman away from the people she’s with; rip off her clothes and assault her. Passersby join in the attacks, which range from groping to gang rapes that can last more than an hour. Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: Ahmed Ali/APDemocracy doesn’t on its own mean effective government

By Tony Blair. The events that led to the Egyptian army’s removal of President Mohamed Morsi confronted the military with a simple choice: intervention or chaos. Seventeen million people on the street is not the same as an election. But it is an awesome manifestation of people power. The equivalent turnout in Britain would be around 13 million people. Just think about it for a moment. The army wouldn’t intervene here, it is true. But the government wouldn’t survive either.

The Muslim Brotherhood was unable to shift from being an opposition movement to being a government. Of course governments govern badly or well or averagely. But this is different. The economy is tanking. Ordinary law and order has virtually disappeared. Services aren’t functioning properly. Individual ministers did their best. A few weeks back, I met the tourism minister, who I thought was excellent, with a sensible plan to revive Egypt’s tourist sector. A few days ago, he resigned, when the president took the mind-boggling step of appointing as governor of Luxor (a key tourist destination) someone who was affiliated to the group responsible for Egypt’s worst-ever terror attack, in Luxor, which killed more than 60 tourists in 1997.

Now the army is faced with the delicate and arduous task of steering the country back on to a path towards elections and a rapid return to democratic rule. We must hope that they can do this without further bloodshed. Meanwhile, however, someone is going to have to run things and govern. This will mean taking some very tough, even unpopular decisions. It is not going to be easy.

What is happening in Egypt is the latest example of the interplay, visible the world over, between democracy, protest and government efficacy. Democracy is a way of deciding the decision-makers, but it is not a substitute for making the decision. I remember an early conversation with some young Egyptians shortly after President Mubarak’s downfall. They believed that, with democracy, problems would be solved. When I probed on the right economic policy for Egypt, they simply said that it would all be fine because now they had democracy; and, in so far as they had an economic idea, it was well to the old left of anything that had a chance of working.

I am a strong supporter of democracy. But democratic government doesn’t on its own mean effective government. Read more from this story HERE.

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Disgraced Senator Menendez Agrees with Obama: Muslim Brotherhood Should Be Part of Egypt’s Government

Disgraced Senator Bob Menendez believes – as does Obama – that the Muslim Brotherhood should have an active role in the next Egyptian government:

…an Egypt for all includes in my mind, participation from the Muslim Brotherhood. But, you know, President Morsi himself acted rather dictatorially back in November when he said that his decrees were not subject to judicial review, when he said the constitutional assembly was not subject to judicial review. So at the end of the day, while I would have liked to have seen early elections and then see him test his support among the people and the people would have had a choice and, therefore, less likely to have them be further … radicalized, at the end of the day, that’s not what happened. So now the question is can we bring everybody together to create a more inclusive society in terms of the representation that it has in government? If we can do that, then Egypt has a possibility.

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Photo Credit: APRep. Mike Rogers: Egyptian military deserves continued U.S. support

By David Sherfinski and David Eldridge. Rep. Mike Rogers said Sunday that the Egyptian military is a stabilizing force and should continue to receive U.S. aid, despite its role in deposing a democratically elected government.

Mr. Rogers, a Michigan Republican who is chairman of the House intelligence committee, said on CNN’s “State of the Union” that he would support making an exception to U.S. law that calls for the suspension of U.S. aid in the case of a military coup.

“We should continue to support the military, the one stabilizing force that can temper down the political feuding that you’re seeing going on now,” he said. Read more from this story HERE.

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Egyptian military supporters flood Tahrir Square

By Ghazi Balkiz and Andrew Rafferty. Cairo’s Tahrir Square on Sunday filled with supporters of the Egyptian military, demonstrating in favor of the army’s actions to remove President Mohammed Morsi and blasting those who have called the leader’s ouster a military coup and not a revolution.

Street clashes between Morsi supporters and opponents in recent days have claimed more than 30 lives.

On Sunday, it was tens of thousands of people gathered in the infamous focal point of the Arab Spring to voice support for the military, whose leaders removed the democratically elected president Morsi last week and put him under house arrest.

“It’s not an army decision it’s our revolution, this is the way that we choose it and we thank the army for supporting us for this decision,” Nasham Basharah told NBC News while demonstrating in the square. Read more from this story HERE.

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Obama Golfing, Kerry Boating, “Terrible Optics” for Administration

Egypt Teeters on Brink of Overthrow, 23 Reported Killed in Protests; Update: Coup Now Underway (+video)

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Photo Credit: Fox News

Photo Credit: Fox News

Supporters of Egyptian president say military coup is underway

By Richard Engel, Charlene Gubash and Erin McClam. Armored cars, tanks and troops deployed in the Egyptian capital on Wednesday, and advisers said they had lost contact with President Mohammed Morsi in what they described as a military coup.

In a scene reminiscent of the earliest days of the Arab Spring, tens of thousands of Egyptians who had demanded the president’s ouster staged a jubilant celebration in Tahrir Square — dancing, cheering and setting off fireworks.

Earlier in the day, the president and the military each swore to fight to the death for control of the country, and a military deadline for Morsi to step aside came and went with no statement from the president.

“We swear to God to sacrifice with our blood for Egypt and its people against any terrorist, extremist or ignoramus,” the military said in a statement. “Long live Egypt and its proud people.”

The army took control of state television and sent troops to parts of Cairo where crowds sympathetic to Morsi had gathered. Supporters of the president said democracy was being subverted by a military intervention, and the Muslim Brotherhood, which backs Morsi, said some of its leaders had been arrested. Read more from this story HERE.
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23 Killed in Protests; Morsi Teeters…

By Fox News. Egypt teetered on the brink of overthrow late Tuesday after a defiant Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi rejected an ultimatum issued by the military and at least 23 people were reported killed in clashes between his supporters and opponents.

Defense officials have pledged to intervene if the government does not address public demands and end the political turmoil engulfing Cairo.

In a speech to the nation broadcast live late Tuesday, Morsi said he would not step down and would protect his “constitutional legitimacy” with his life.

The deadly clashes came just one day before the deadline set by the military for Morsi and his opponents to work out their differences.

The Associated Press reported that at least 23 people were killed in Cairo Tuesday and more than 200 injured, according to hospital and security officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. Most of the killings took place outside Cairo University located at Cairo’s twin city of Giza. The official Al-Ahram website reported that the armed forces deployed armored vehicles to the area.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Egypt’s Leader Vows to Stay

By Reem Abdellatif and Matt Bradley. Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi rejected protesters’ calls for him to step down, telling Egyptians in a late-night address that he is willing to give his life “to protect the legitimacy” of the country’s ballot box and Islamist-drafted constitution.

Without elaborating, he mentioned the possibility of parliamentary elections in six months, part of a list of proposals he said he would consider during talks with the opposition.

Moments later, antigovernment protesters in four provinces across Egypt chanted against the president, calling for him and his Muslim Brotherhood-backed party to leave, according to live footage. Antigovernment protests again swelled on Egypt’s streets, reaching millions, according to local media estimates, just hours ahead of the military’s Wednesday deadline for Mr. Morsi to patch relations with the country’s opposition.

Morsi supporters and antigovernment protesters clashed near Cairo University in the suburb of Giza late Tuesday, leaving at least four people dead, according to the Ministry of Health. The groups traded fire of rubber bullets and pellets in Cairo’s Kit Kat district, according to residents and local media.

The Obama administration has used U.S. diplomatic and military channels to deliver quiet messages and warnings to Mr. Morsi and Egyptian commanders to try to head off the crisis and avert any military coup, according to current and former officials. Read more from this story HERE.

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‘All of you infidels will die’: Christians battle radical islamists in deadly Egypt clashes

By Billy Hallowell. The southern Egyptian city of Assiut has long been a haven for radical Islamists, and its Christian minority has largely kept a low profile. That all changed this weekend. These believers, who have been relegated and silenced for so long, have spoken up in the past few days — and with force.

An estimated crowd of 50,000 packed the streets this weekend to join protests calling for President Mohammed Morsi’s ouster, prompting a violent response that left three people dead.

The show of defiance can only be fairly measured in view of the city’s bloody history and the shifts in the local centers of power when Morsi became president a year ago, empowering many of the hard-line Islamist groups around the country, including those in Assiut.

The bloody end of the protest — 32 people were also injured — points to the high risks that Assiut residents, particularly Christians, face if they were to join the wave of opposition to Morsi’s rule that culminated Sunday when millions of Egyptians came out across the country to demand his ouster.

“I, my kids Mariam and Remon and my husband, Nabil, came out because we miss the Egypt we know and we want it back,” Assiut resident Mary Demian said. “These people (militant Muslims) say we are infidels and they terrorize us, but we are not scared. This is our nation and we have always lived with Muslims in peace.” Read more from this story HERE.

Middle-Class Rage Sparks Protest Movements in Turkey, Brazil, Bulgaria and Beyond

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Photo Credit: Washington Post

Photo Credit: Washington Post

As protests raged in Turkey and were set to explode in distant Brazil, Asen Genov sat in his office in Bulgaria’s capital on the cloudy morning of June 14, about to strike the computer key that would spark a Bulgarian Spring.

Only months earlier, public outrage over high electricity bills in the country had brought down a previous government, but Genov saw more reason for anger when the new administration tapped a shadowy media mogul to head the national security service. Furious, Genov posted a Facebook event calling for a protest in Sofia, the nation’s capital, though he was dubious about turnout for a demonstration focused not on pocketbooks but on corruption and cronyism in government.

“We made bets on how many would come. I thought maybe 500,” said Genov, a 44-year- old who helps run a fact-checking Web site.

But as he arrived in Sofia’s Independence Square, they were streaming in by the thousands, as they have every day since, with the snowballing protests aiming to topple the government.

“We are all linked together, Bulgaria, Turkey, Brazil. We are tweeting in English so we can understand each other, and supporting each other on other social media,” said Iveta Cherneva, a 29-year-old author in Sofia, who was one of the many peopleprotesting for the first time. “We are fighting for different reasons, but we all want our governments to finally work for us. We are inspiring each other.”

Read more from this story HERE.

US Warns Against Egypt Travel After Reports Say American Killed

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Photo Credit: Sky News

Photo Credit: Sky News

By Associated Press. The Obama administration on Friday warned Americans against all but essential travel to Egypt and moved to reduce the official U.S. presence in the country amid fears of widespread unrest.

Just hours after Egyptian officials said an American had been killed in clashes between government supporters and opponents in the city of Alexandria, the State Department said Americans should defer nonessential travel to Egypt, citing the uncertain security situation. It also said it would allow some nonessential staff and the families of personnel at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo to leave Egypt until conditions improve.

“Political unrest, which intensified prior to the constitutional referendum in December 2012 and the anniversary in 2013 of Egypt’s 25th January Revolution, is likely to continue in the near future due to unrest focused on the first anniversary of the president’s assumption of office,” it said. “Demonstrations have, on occasion, degenerated into violent clashes between police and protesters, resulting in deaths, injuries and extensive property damage.”

“Participants have thrown rocks and Molotov cocktails and security forces have used tear gas and other crowd control measures against demonstrators. There are numerous reports of the use of firearms as well,” it said. Read more from this story HERE.

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US Citizen Killed In Alexandria Protests

By Sky News. Violent clashes in the Egyptian city of Alexandria have left two people dead and more than 70 people injured.

A senior security official said a 21-year-old US male died from a stab wound to the chest after violence erupted between supporters and opponents of President Mohamed Morsi.

The second victim was shot dead during the clashes.

It comes as leading clerics warned of “civil war” in Egypt after violence in the last week has left several dead and hundreds wounded.

They backed President Morsi’s offer to talk to opposition groups ahead of mass protests scheduled for Sunday. Read more from this story HERE.

Michelle Obama Loses Her Cool, Threatens to Leave Fundraiser After Lesbian Interrupts Her; White House Censors Exchange from Official Transcript

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Photo Credit: AFP/Getty Images

First lady Michelle Obama’s speech at a Washington, D.C. political fundraiser was interrupted by a lesbian protester on Tuesday night, and she threatened to leave the event if the gay rights activist wasn’t forced to leave. But the official White House transcript doesn’t indicate anything about the heckler or Mrs. Obama’s audible reaction.

While the first lady was speaking to approximately 200 Democratic Party loyalists who paid up to $10,000 to attend the event at the swanky Washington home of a wealthy lesbian couple, the protester interrupted with demands that the president issue an executive order forcing federal contractors to stop discriminating against gay and transgendered job applicants.

Amanda Terkel, a Huffington Post scribe who served as the night’s ‘pool’ ‘reporter, wrote that the ‘[m]ost notable part of the event was an interruption from a protester about 12 minutes into the 20-minute speech. A pro-LGBT rights individual standing at the front began shouting for an executive order on gay rights.’

‘”One of the things I don’t do well is this,” replied FLOTUS to loud applause,’ according to Terkel. ‘She left the lectern and moved over to the protester, saying they could “listen to me or you can take the mic, but I’m leaving. You all decide. You have one choice.”‘

The crowd, the pool report continued, ‘started shouting that they wanted FLOTUS to stay.’

Read more from this story HERE.

Protesters Interrupt Obama Counterterrorism Speech (+video)

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Photo Credit: ReutersThe woman who heckled President Barack Obama during his speech at the National Defense University on Thursday gained access to the closed event by saying she was a member of the press, the university said.

Medea Benjamin, the leader of the human rights activist group Code Pink, stood and shouted several times as the president gave his national security speech focused on drone use and closing down the Guantanamo detention center.

Officials at the university, located at Fort McNair in Washington, D.C., later said Benjamin was able to get into the invite-only speech by saying she was with the news media. It was unclear which media outlet she told them she was with.

Read more from this story HERE.

IRS Protests, IRS Refuses to Apologize, IRS Official Claims the 5th, and Other Developments (+video)

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Photo Credit: APBy Kate Grise. Tea party members gathered outside the Internal Revenue Service in Washington, D.C. Tuesday to protest the targeting of conservative groups that had identified themselves as “tea party” or “patriots” on applications for tax-exempt status.

Led in a chant by a man dressed as George Washington, about 75 protesters expressed their discontent with the Internal Revenue Service and the current administration with shouts of “Audit the IRS” and “Indict Obama”…

The flash rally was a part of a larger group of more than 100 nationwide protests organized by Tea Party Patriots. Read more from this story HERE.
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Top IRS official to invoke 5th Amendment, decline to testify at House hearing

By Barnini Chakraborty. Lois Lerner, the director of the IRS division that singled out conservative groups, is expected to invoke the Fifth Amendment Wednesday when she appears before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Fox News has learned.

That means Lerner, head of the exempt organizations division, probably won’t answer any questions on what she knew about IRS agents going after Tea Party-related groups. That also means she probably won’t say why she sat on the information for so long before it became public.

Lerner’s attorney William Taylor III asked committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., in a letter if she could skip Wednesday’s hearing since she would be pleading the Fifth. Read more from this story HERE.

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Video: Former IRS Chief Refuses to Apologize

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“The IRS Thing, It’s Not America, We’re Sick of It”

By Dionne Searcey. About 300 people gathered Tuesday for a short, angry rally outside the federal building here that houses the unit of the IRS embroiled in a scandal over workers improperly scrutinizing the charity applications of politically conservative groups.

Holding signs that said “Internal Rigging Service” and “Tyranny” and shouting chants of “You work for us!” and “IRS! KGB!” the group included many members of the local Tea Party organization who demanded punishment for those who were involved.

“Heads have to roll here,” said one protester, Kevin Tinsley, who works in advertising sales and said everyone from President Barack Obama down to the lowest level workers in the IRS determinations unit must be held accountable for the targeting of tea party groups.

“The IRS thing, it’s not America, and we’re sick of it,” Mr. Tinsley said before letting loose with a string of swear words. Read more from this story HERE.

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Why Were DHS Agents Seemingly Monitoring Multiple Tea Party IRS Protests Across the Country on Tuesday?

By Jason Howerton. There were multiple reported sightings of agents with the Department of Homeland Security at several Tea Party-led IRS protests in states like Missouri, Florida, Illinois and Indiana. The rallies that occurred across the country on Tuesday were sparked by the IRS’ unfair targeting of conservative groups — one of the several scandals the Obama administration is dealing with.

What is unclear though is why federal officials felt the Tea Party presence required more than the attention of local law enforcement.

These photos, one showing “armed” DHS guards, were reportedly taken at the St. Louis IRS protest:

Read more from this story HERE.

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For Tea Party Groups, Shades of 2010

By Trip Gabriel. They are getting the band back together.

In the well-burnished legend of its founding, the Tea Party movement sprang to life at grass-roots rallies, a spontaneous protest against government overreaching that grew and grew until it stunned Democrats and many moderate Republicans in the 2010 midterm elections.

On Tuesday, rallies across the country to protest the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of Tea Party groups seeking tax-exempt status recalled those glory days, drawing colorful crowds in three-cornered hats, with members singing patriotic songs and waving provocative signs like “Fire the Liars” and “I.R.S.S.” — the last two letters drawn like the lightning bolts of the Nazi SS.

Leaders of the Tea Party movement hope outrage over the I.R.S. inquiry will rekindle grass-roots activism that in many places went dormant after big Republican electoral defeats of November 2012. They aim to link the current scandal to other government programs they consider overweening — principally the rollout of the health care overhaul law — and generate a Republican wave in the 2014 midterm elections reminiscent of 2010’s. Read more from this story HERE.

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Christians Claim IRS Harassment in Election

By Jerome R. Corsi. During the 2012 election year, the Internal Revenue Service delayed the application of a conservative Christian group in Ohio that was seeking 501(c)3 tax-exempt status to register Christians to vote and to oppose the ACLU in court in First Amendment cases.

“We have suspicion that the IRS delayed our application for nearly 13 months due to the selective targeting of Ohio conservative groups that Congress is now investigating in both the House and Senate,” stated Chris Long, president of the Ohio Christian Alliance, told WND.

Long said his group’s original application made it clear that the new organization would go into Christian congregations with a non-partisan effort to register voters in the battleground state of Ohio during the 2012 presidential election.

“The IRS knew we would be registering conservative church-goers and weighing in on the 2012 presidential election,” he said.

Long pointed out that the non-partisan Ohio Christian Alliance Educational Fund, operating as a 501(c)3 organization, would have registered both Democrats and Republicans. Read more from this story HERE.

Report: Indian Police Attempt to Bribe Father to Keep Quiet About Horrific Rape of His 5-Year Old Child

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Photo Credit: Washington Post

Anger over sexual assaults erupted on the streets of the Indian capital once again Saturday, as hundreds of people protested the rape of a 5-year-old girl and continuing violence against women and children despite strengthened rape laws.

Police arrested a suspect in the case, Manoj Kumar, 22, who is accused of locking up the girl for 40 hours in his rented room in New Delhi and brutally raping her. The girl had gone missing Monday, when she was playing in her working-class neighborhood in the eastern part of the city.

The girl is in stable condition and alert, according to a medical bulletin released Saturday.

As details of the incident emerged, protesters gathered outside the hospital where the girl is being treated and outside police headquarters and the homes of politicians, demanding the removal of the city’s police chief.

The anger was fueled by comments the girl’s father made to reporters Friday in which he accused police of offering him money for keeping quiet about the incident.

Read more from this story HERE.

University Prof’s Christian Speech Protested

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Photo Credit: WND

University of North Carolina-Wilmington professor Mike Adams isn’t particularly reticent about his conservative viewpoint.

For example, in his Townhall.com column only a few weeks ago, he poked fun at the idea a university should exclude a Chick-fil-A restaurant from its property because of pro-family views of the company’s owner.

Such exclusion, which Adams described as “queer reasoning,” would make the university more “inclusive,” campaigners apparently believed.

“I’ve been thinking about it, and I’ve decided that our LGBTQIA Office here on my campus makes me feel uncomfortable. In fact, the rainbow is a symbol of hate. So, next week, I plan to introduce a resolution to ban them from campus,” he wrote. “I expect the resolution to be defeated because it is idiotic. I’m just hoping I get a special office as a consolation prize – simply for being a narrow minded bigot.”

It was opinions like that, he said, that prompted officials in his department at Wilmington to deny him promotion to full professor. After fighting for nearly seven years, he’s being given the chance now to argue his case in court. The Alliance Defending Freedom says the 4th U.S. Court of Appeals has determined that his columns and writings outside of his work environment are protected speech, and he can argue that in court.

Read more from this story HERE.