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John McCain Lectures Tea Party Senator on How ‘Business’ Gets Done in Congress: ‘That’s What We’ve Been Doing for a Couple Hundred Years’

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Can You Spot All the Errors in This Baseball Graphic?

Jonathon M. Seidl — Fri, 24 May 2013 17:59:18 +0000

Errors in writing are a fact of life. They happen. But even though not many of us can cast the first stone, that doesn’t make some errors any less amusing. Such was the case during a Kansas City Royals baseball broadcast on TV on Thursday night.

Let’s play a little game. Can you spot all the errors in the graphic used during the fan interactive portion?

(Source: Yahoo’s Big League Stew blog)

Stumped?

We’ll give you a few more chances.

Give up?

Okay, let’s point them out:

(Source: TheBlaze/Yahoo’s Big League Stew blog)

Yahoo’s Big League Stew blog explains:

• That Bryce Hunter of the Detroit Tigers sure has similar numbers to the Bryce Harper that plays for the Washington Nationals, doesn’t he? Even looks exactly like him, come to think of it. Wonder if he’s available on my league’s waiver wire?

• Well, it’s nice to see Matt Jones has found another career since bouncing his way out of the NFL. Oh, that’s not the former Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver, you say? It’s actually a picture of Matt Harvey, who pitches for the New York Mets and not the Baltimore Orioles? Welp.

• I’m sure the Chicago White Sox would love to have Manny Machado. He’d come a lot cheaper than Jeff Keppinger, at least. (It really is a wonder, though, that they nailed Machado’s name while bungling the much-simpler Harper and Harvey.)

• Oh c’mon. Mike Trout is at least a few years from signing with the New York Yankees.

All you can do is chuckle. And hope someone’s boss isn’t having a bad day.

P.S. Any errors in this article are intentional. I swear.

P.S.S. My intentional error in the headline was lost on many. Alas, I’ve changed it.

John McCain Lectures Tea Party Senator on How ‘Business’ Gets Done in Congress: ‘That’s What We’ve Been Doing for a Couple Hundred Years’

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Horrifying: 10 Men Allegedly Kill Mother & Her 2 Daughters in Egyptian ‘Honor Killing’

Erica Ritz — Fri, 24 May 2013 17:48:24 +0000

A local sailboat, known as faluka, sails in the River Nile on the outskirts of Cairo on May 18, 2010. (Photo: AFP/Getty Images)

LUXOR, Egypt (TheBlaze/AP) — A mother and two daughters were allegedly killed by male relatives in southern Egypt who believed they’d had affairs, the latest apparent example of so-called “honor killings” in which women are slain for violating traditional Islamic morals in the conservative region, a security official said Friday.

Police believe the 10 men stormed the house of the women, strangling them and beating them with sharp tools, the official said, based on the alleged confession of one of the suspects. The men then wrapped the women’s bodies in blankets, weighted them with stones and throw them in the river Nile, the official added.

He said one of the men, who was arrested on Thursday, gave a detailed account of the killings and said they were intended to protect the family’s honor.

One woman’s body was seen floating on the surface of the Nile near the town of Esna close to the ancient city of Luxor, the official added. Police are searching for the two other bodies and nine remaining suspects.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.

Egyptian papers frequently chronicle crimes in which fathers, brothers or even sons kill their female relatives on suspicions that they are having affairs outside marriage. The word “affairs” should be interpreted loosely in such cases — a glance perceived to be flirtatious can sometimes be enough to warrant the death of a young woman.

Such “honor killings” are especially common in the conservative south and in the countryside, where women’s actions are considered to bring shame on the family.

The practice is against Egyptian law, and perpetrators are prosecuted if they are arrested. Courts are sometimes sympathetic to the accused, though, and give lighter sentences.

Many times, however, the murder is not reported, or the gruesome deaths are spun as suicide.

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‘I Will Never Forget the Sheep in the Streets of London’: Beck’s Scathing Rebuke of Londoners Who Stood By During Terror Attack

Erica Ritz — Fri, 24 May 2013 17:35:26 +0000

Image source: ITV

A brutal terrorist attack in London shocked the world this week after an off-duty soldier who served in Afghanistan was publicly beheaded in the neighborhood of Woolwich.

The murdered soldier has been identified as Lee Rigby, reportedly known as “Riggers” to his friends. He leaves behind his wife and two-year-old son, and has been described as “larger than life,” “at the heart” of his unit, “experienced and talented,” and easily identifiable by the “huge smile” he always displayed, according to CNN.

Glenn Beck opened his radio program today in a state of shock at how Londoners have reacted to the brutal slaying.

Noting that world leaders have referred to the murder with words like “divisive” and “senseless violence,” Beck said with disgust that calling someone a “bitter clinger” or a “Marxist” is divisive.

“Chopping someone’s head off in the middle of the street is not divisive, it’s a terrorist act,” he said.

But what shocked him most was the reactions of those on the scene during the attack. If they did anything at all, it seemed only to be to reach for their camera phones.

This undated image released Thursday May 23, 2013, by the British Ministry of Defence shows Lee Rigby, identified by the MOD as the serving member of the armed forces who was attacked and killed by two men in the Woolwich area of London on Wednesday. Credit: AP

“I started looking for the men in the crowd, and they were all standing there like sheep,” Beck said. “And I thought to myself, ‘Nobody? Nobody?’ Then I thought, let me go back to the greatest American generation…The British citizens weren’t mice, they were men! There’s no way a German would’ve walked in the streets in the 1940′s, taken a gun or a knife to a soldier during a war, and walked in the middle of the street and said, ‘Everybody film this! Everybody watch!’ There’s no way that guy would’ve ever, ever gotten away from the scene,” Beck said.

Maybe the people wouldn’t have been able to save the soldier, he added, but they certainly would’ve apprehended the murderer — they wouldn’t be standing around taking pictures.

But Beck noted that there was one person who confronted the murderer — a 48-year-old Christian woman, who said she was not scared because “better me [be the next victim] than a child.”

“Where were the rest of the sheep?” Beck demanded to know. “Why do you think these people are so bold? Because you have been taught to be silent!”

Beck said the scene paints a dangerous picture for the next generations, describing a world run by the Muslim Brotherhood and Islamic extremists.

Describing flight 93, which crashed in a field on September 11, 2001 after the passengers stood up against the hijackers, Beck said: “I will never forget Todd Beamer’s name. I will never forget ‘Let’s roll.’ And I am ashamed to say I will never forget the sheep in the streets of London.”

“Choose today, what the future is you want your children to live under,” Beck concluded. “Freedom — where yes at times we can be divisive — or death, because that is your choice,” he concluded.

Watch Beck’s entire monologue below:

–

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How 3D Printing Technology Created a Special Part for Baby’s Windpipe and Saved His Life

Liz Klimas — Fri, 24 May 2013 17:12:33 +0000

Innovators are increasingly using 3D printing technology for everything from creating firearms (and bullets) to meat and veggies to custom prosthetics. On the medical side they’re working on printing body parts that include biomaterial to reduce rejection rates.

A baby born with a condition that frequently collapsed his windpipe has been saved thanks to 3D printing being able to make a custom splint out of a material that would eventually dissolve safely into the body.

Kaiba, while still an infant, had a condition that collapsed his lungs when he breathed out. Doctors were able to use 3D printing technology to make a splint. (Image: YouTube screenshot)

Doctors at the University of Michigan were able to apply for an emergency clearance from the Food and Drug Administration to make a tracheal splint for the then infant, Kaiba Gionfriddo.

Before receiving the splint, Kaiba would stop breathing frequently and would need to be resuscitated. Doctors said in his current state before the operation, even with some treatments, he “was imminently going to die.”

The splint surgically implanted into the now 20-month-old was sewn in such a way that it would expand the collapsed bronchus and give it the support it needed to grow properly and strong.

This is a model of Kaiba’s trachea and bronchi. The splint was slipped over one of the bronchus. (Image: YouTube screenshot)

Here’s what the splint looks like. (Image: YouTube screenshot)

“It was amazing. As soon as the splint was put in, the lungs started going up and down for the first time and we knew he was going to be OK,” U of M associate professor of pediatric otolaryngology Glenn Green said according to the university’s website.

Not only that, but the material the splint was made out of – a biopolymer called polycaprolactone — is designed to be reabsorbed into the body over a period of three years, at which point Kaiba’s own bronchus should be fully functional.

Kaiba at 20 months has not had to go back on a respirator since the operation. (Image: YouTube screenshot)

“The material we used is a nice choice for this. It takes about two to three years for the trachea to remodel and grow into a healthy state, and that’s about how long this material will take to dissolve into the body,” professor of biomedical engineering and mechanical engineering and associate professor of surgery Scott Hollister said, according to U of M. “Kaiba’s case is definitely the highlight of my career so far. To actually build something that a surgeon can use to save a person’s life? It’s a tremendous feeling.”

“He has not had another episode of turning blue,” Kaiba’s Ohio mother April Gionfriddo told the university. “We are so thankful that something could be done for him. It means the world to us.”

Watch U of M’s video about the innovative material that helped save Kaiba:

Publishing the success in the New England Journal of Medicine, the doctors believe the biomaterial they used to 3D print the custom splint could be used for a variety of medical functions, such as to help rebuild bones.

(H/T: Popular Science)

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Obama Needs to Step Up and Make a Deal on Debt Ceiling, Sen. Lamar Alexander Says

Christopher Santarelli — Fri, 24 May 2013 17:06:13 +0000

Don’t look now, but another debt ceiling showdown is quickly approaching Washington. After suspending the country’s legal borrowing limit at $16.394 trillion as part of a compromise in February, the debt ceiling automatically reset this past Sunday increasing $265 billion. The CBO estimates another debt ceiling increase can be avoided until October or November.

Tennessee Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander says President Barack Obama needs to make a deal with Republicans sooner than later to avoid another political showdown and address the nation’s biggest issue: Debt.

“If we don’t fix the debt this country is going to be in deep, deep trouble — It’s our number one issue,” the former Tennessee governor said in an interview with TheBlaze contributor Mallory Factor

Alexander said Obama is speaking with Republicans on the debt in a way now that he wishes the president had done three or four years ago.

“The president needs to put a proposal on the table,” Alexander said in a video interview (below) from TheBlaze newsroom in New York. “If I were him I’d work it out with a few Republican senators so that when he does it he knows he has some support on our side of the aisle, then it needs to go through the regular process in the open light of day.

“This is the kind of presidential leadership we need, of the kind that President Johnson gave on civil rights, of the kind that President Nixon did on China, that President Carter did on the Panama Canal, that President Clinton did on welfare reform that President Reagan did on social security — it’s unpopular stuff,” Alexander continued. ”Particularly for President Obama to change the benefit structure for payments for medicare for his own party, but that’s why we have presidents.”

During the interview, Alexander elaborated on his support of the Marketplace Fairness Act, which would allow states to require online and catalog out-of-state retailers to collect sales tax. Civil libertarian groups have come out in strong opposition to the legislation.

Alexander explains he supports the act because “it’s a states rights bill,” and would be a tax on what’s already owed.

“I trust our Republican governor and legislature to make the decisions about Tennesee tax policy a lot more than I do Washington D.C.”

Over the last two weeks Alexander, has been calling attention to another scandal brewing within the Obama administration, this time at the Department of Health and Human Services.

As The Washington Post reported earlier this month, HHS Secretary Kathy Sebelius has been calling on health industry officials to make large financial donations to help implement ObamaCare after Congress repeatedly rejected administration requests for additional funding. Enroll America, a nonprofit group that the Post reports many of Sebelius’s calls have gone to, is led by a former White house staffer.

Alexander is the ranking member on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, and has said Sebelius’s private fundraising with Enroll America may be in violation of the Anti-Deficiency Act, comparing the new HHS scandal to the Iran-Contra affair.

“Thats not allowed by the Constitution, and that’s illegal under a number of federal statutes,” Alexander told TheBlaze.

Watch the Tennessee Senator’s full interview below where he also addresses the state of bipartisanship in Washington, the filibuster, recent Obama recess appointments, and outstanding student loans:

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New House Homeland Security Chair’s Blunt Analysis: Obama Admin’s Narrative Is One of Biggest Security Threats

Christopher Santarelli — Fri, 24 May 2013 16:36:55 +0000

Five-term Texas Rep. Michael McCaul, the newly appointed chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, believes the greatest threat to national security can come from homegrown radicalization, cyber space and an unsecured border. But there’s another one that some might not recognize.

“Many (threats) are coming out of the Middle East but one of the bigger threats I talk about is the narrative being spun out of this administration that the war against Al Qaeda and radical Islam is over,” McCaul said in an interview at TheBlaze newsroom in New York. ”After bin Laden was killed, they want to close the case on al-Qaeda and radical Islam…The idea that somehow this is all over is really preposterous.”

McCaul cited the killing of the U.S. Ambassador and other citizens in Benghazi, which “was not an attack of terrorism according to them,” the 2009 shooting at Ft. Hood in Texas, which was called a case of ”workplace violence” and the Boston Bombings, which McCaul thinks the Obama administration treated like “a domestic event that we can sweep under the rug.”

“That kind of narrative and rhetoric is very dangerous because it underplays and undercuts the threat itself,” McCaul said in a video interview (below) with TheBlaze contributor Mallory Factor. “If you can’t identify the enemy, you can’t defeat the enemy.”

In the ongoing investigation of the events leading up to the Sept. 11, 2012 attack on a U.S. consulate in Benghazi, McCaul said that as chair of his committee and a leading Republican examining the issue, he and his colleagues are trying to operate methodically and in a responsible way.

“If we get too inflammatory, I think people are going to question us on this,” he said.

McCaul noted the points he raised during the congressional hearing with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, when the secretary and State Department were scrutinized for not responding in a stronger way after they were briefed multiple times from the consulate about the need for more security before the attack. McCaul said he and his colleagues will continue to investigate who was involved in manipulating administration talking points on the issue from a political standpoint.

In defending against homegrown terrorism, like the Tsarnaev brothers responsible for the Boston Marathon bombings, McCaul told Factor that it becomes very important to leverage state and local law enforcement, to spot when people radicalize on a local level and stop them.

Given fears that increased homeland security measures could impact traditional American civil liberties, McCaul said there must be a balance between respecting those rights and national security.

“I would argue anything on the public domain is fair use to look at” McCall said for investigating homegrown terrorism. If not, we need to look at Fourth Amendment protections and get a search warrant, but a lot is available in public domain,” he said.

In the case of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, McCaul said there were many signs when he came back from the Chechen region that he had become radicalized. From the Iman at his mosque wanting to throw him out, friends discussing his behavior to Tamerlan’s YouTube website, flags were all over the place, McCaul said.

McCaul also addressed the issue of improving U.S. border security and cyber security, comparing the budget cost of defense spending versus mandatory spending, and where he would like to see the Homeland Security Department three years from now.

Watch the full interview with Congressman Michael McCaul below:

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Guess How Baltimore City Schools Spent Some of Their Federal Stimulus Money (Hint: It Wasn’t for Education)

Dave Urbanski — Fri, 24 May 2013 16:10:15 +0000

Dinner cruises. Fried chicken and biscuits. Theater performances. A mother/daughter makeover.

Such were activities that Baltimore City Schools spent using federal stimulus and Title I funds, a federal audit discovered.

WJZ13 spoke to Baltimore City Schools CEO Andres Alonso; he downplayed the “errors.”

“Anytime there’s an audit of Title I dollars, you’re going to see errors at the school level because schools spend money for what they need, and then sometimes they worry about if it fits the parameter of the grant later,” Alonso said.

Baltimore City Schools CEO Andres Alonso (Credit: WJZ13)

“We’re talking $15 million out of $112 million, and what we see are school events to engage parents, but when the auditors came to look at it they said, ‘Wait a second. This should have been paid out of general funds, rather than Title I,” said Alonso.

The U.S. Department of Education is reviewing 2009 and 2010 expenses that showed more than $4,300 were spent on dinner cruises…

(Credit: WJZ13)

…more than $2,400 for fried chicken and biscuits at a PTA meeting to discuss the budget…

(Credit: WJZ13)

…$1,300 to attend a theater performance, and $500 on a mother/daughter makeover.

(Credit: WJZ13)

“I’m appalled this sort of stuff is going down because you can’t educate the children by taking things for your own pleasures,” said George Downs.

“I’m appalled this sort of stuff is going down,” said George Downs. (Credit: WJZ13)

“It’s mismanagement. It’s negligent,” said Pat McDonough (R) of the Maryland House of Delegates.

The victims, according to state lawmakers, are Maryland taxpayers and Baltimore City school children.

“Funding for some of Baltimore’s neediest children was simply squandered and transparency requirements were completely disregarded. This abuse of tax dollars is one example of why many Americans mistrust government,” said Congressman Dutch Ruppersberger in a statement.

“Who’s responsible? There needs to be a serious investigation,” said McDonough.

“Of course we don’t want schools to make mistakes, but I think error is a little different than the way it’s being portrayed,” said Alonso.

Here’s the full report from WJZ13:

(H/T: WJD13)

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Obama Doesn’t Return Marine’s Salute, Shakes Hand Instead — Is This a Protocol Misstep?

Liz Klimas — Fri, 24 May 2013 15:41:22 +0000

CBS News’ White House correspondent Mark Knoller tweeted this morning that President Barack Obama did not return a salute to a Marine before boarding Marine One on the South Lawn:

(Image: Mark Knoller/Twitter)

Indeed, the press pool report notes the same thing:

In-town pool report #1
South Lawn departure for Annapolis

Under gray skies and intermittent drizzle, President Obama boarded Marine One at 9:30 a.m. EDT in an open press event.

A few White House regulars were atwitter (and on Twitter) when the President walked directly up the steps of Marine One without saluting the Marine on duty. He soon came out of the helicopter, walked down the steps, shook hands with the Marine and engaged in a brief conversation.

Here’s a photo sequence of the president’s departure Friday morning:

President Barack Obama boards Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House, Friday, May 24, 2013, in Washington. (Photo: AP/Carolyn Kaster)

(Photo: AP/Carolyn Kaster)

Now, you might be confused by the second photo in the sequence, as it does show the president offering some sort of salute. Even the Associated Press caption to the photo says, “President Barack Obama salutes at the top of the step as he boards Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House.”

So what’s that about? We contacted the journalist – Rick Dunham of the Houston Chronicle — who filed the report and he told us while the president may have offered some salute at the top, he definitely broke with normal and accepted procedure.

In fact, video of the series of events seems to show that the salute was offered to someone already on the chopper. Watch via ABC’s footage of the event:

That all raises the question: Even if the president did completely forget to return a salute are they obliged to even do so? Is this even a potential protocol gaffe like the controversy that surrounded Obama recently requesting two Marines hold umbrellas during a White House press conference, which some said put them at odds with uniform code (we showed that the president can make such requests, by the way)?

In 2008, David Alexander with Reuters reported that presidents saluting is actually a “thorny debate.” Alexander wrote that the military has long had a practice of saluting the commander in chief, but the president saluting back didn’t start until President Ronald Reagan.

“Dwight Eisenhower, a former five-star general, did not return military salutes while president. Nor had other presidents,” Alexander noted.

Carey Winfrey, the editor of Smithsonian magazine who was in the Marine Corps, has more on the history of military salutes in a 2009 New York Times article. The piece discusses whether presidents should salute as Marines are taught never to salute out of uniform and he didn’t quite regard the president’s suits a uniform. Ultimately, Winfrey called the president’s salute “impeccable in every way.” Here’s more on Reagan’s salutes that started it all:

Presidents have long been saluted, but they began returning salutes relatively recently. Ronald Reagan was thought to be the first, in 1981. He had sought advice on the matter from Gen. Robert Barrow, commandant of the Marine Corps. According to John Kline, then Mr. Reagan’s military aide and today a member of Congress from Minnesota, General Barrow told the president that as commander in chief he could salute anybody he wished. And so it began.

Mr. Reagan’s successors continued the practice, and I continued to be conflicted — believing that when it comes to salutes (and one or two other matters), presidents deserved to be cut some slack, but also feeling a little uneasy about the whole thing.

Alexander for Reuters noted historian John Lukacs writing in 2003 that the president saluting “represents an exaggeration of the president’s military role.”

Let us know what you think of presidents returning salutes by taking our poll:

Update 1: The latest round of press pool report notes states that Obama did salute a group of the Marines before heading back onto Marine One for his return trip to D.C. after delivering the commencement address to the graduates of the U.S. Naval Academy.

Update 2: The press pool report’s latest update states that when the president touched down around 1 p.m. ET, Obama again made sure to salute the Marine waiting for him at the bottom of the choppers stair’s.

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Terror Fears Stoked By Trend Of Young Muslims From U.S., Europe Fighting With al-Qaeda in Syria, Africa

Sara Carter — Fri, 24 May 2013 15:27:24 +0000

A growing trend of young muslims traveling from the U.S. and Europe to Syria, as well as Africa, to train and fight alongside al-Qaeda is pushing Western intelligence agencies to heighten surveillance at airports, harbors and border crossings amid fears that these trained fighters will return home to launch terror attacks.

Those fears were highlighted Wednesday when two Islamic jihadists slaughtered a British soldier in the streets of London and the recent bombings at the Boston Marathon by Chechen born Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and his brother Tamerlan. These terrorist attacks have left investigators – on both sides of the Atlantic – with more questions than answers. Were these groups acting alone or were they following orders from al-Qaeda central, or one of its fringe groups?

Rebel fighters in Syria. Credit: AP

One thing is certain: this will not be the end of these seemingly random and difficult to predict terror attacks, say U.S. officials. And with the war escalating in Syria and Islamic extremists groups gaining momentum in Africa, Western law enforcement will have to contend with more trained fighters returning from these war zones to the U.S. and other European nations.

“We know young men are leaving London, U.S. and other parts of Europe with medical bags, tactical gear and other supplies to Syria, and some are heading to Africa to fight in places like Somalia, Algeria and Mali,” said a Western official, with direct knowledge of the terror investigations. “Unfortunately, the rebel groups they are fighting with have strong ties to al-Qaeda and other extremist groups. This is where they will be indoctrinated – what happens when they come home trained, ready to fight and hating the west?”

The problem is that many of these fighters are skilled enough not to be detected by law enforcement “and therefore slip through the cracks – Syria isn’t the only country we’re concerned with,” the official added.

War on Terror

In President Obama’s speech on Thursday, he narrowed the definition of the “war on terror” saying “beyond Afghanistan, we must define our effort not as a boundless ‘global war on terror’ – but rather as a series of persistent, targeted efforts to dismantle specific networks of violent extremists that threaten America.”

Steven Bucci, a former a deputy assistant defense secretary under Donald Rumsfeld, said a major problem is that the Obama Administration downplays the seriousness of the threat.

The administration explains many of these incidents as “lone-wolf” actions and Obama’s speech Thursday, reiterated the administration’s inability to understand the capabilities of the enemy.

“He is totally delusional about “winding down the war,” Bucci said. “I don’t know if he noticed that the bad guys don’t want to stop – think about London (Wednesday.)”

In London, one of the men, identified in British news reports as Adebolajo, told a bystander who witnessed the attacks that “he swears by almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you,” as he held a meat cleaver in his blood soaked hands.

The men hacked into the British soldier like a “piece of meat,” stunned bystanders told the media.
One bystander said one of the men told them, “the only reasons we have done this is because Muslims are dying every day. This British soldier is an eye for an eye, a tooth for tooth. …You people will never be safe.”

Muslim Jihadists Traveling to Syria

A U.S. military official, with direct knowledge of terror networks in Afghanistan and Africa, said military officials are aware of the growing trend of young Western Muslim jihadists traveling to the front lines in Syria and Africa.

“It is extremely concerning when these extremists eventually return home with skills that bring the battle zone to our front door and endanger our way of life,” the military official said. “It’s overseas where they gain the knowledge to build bombs, use weapons, connect with leaders in the jihadist movement. It’s not a matter of if we’ll see terror attacks at home but when.”

Since 2008, FBI officials have been monitoring the travel of Somali men who have left the U.S. to fight alongside rebel forces in their former homeland. Some of these young fighters were used as suicide bombers, while others were taken under the wing of Somalia’s al-Qaeda affiliate, Al-Shabaab Mujahideen.

FBI Spokeswoman Kathleen Wright acknowledged that law enforcement is aware of the threat, referring to testimony given to Congress by FBI Director Robert Mueller in March, where he explained why radicalization in the U.S. is more prevalent now than in the past.

“First, American extremists appear to be attracted to wars in foreign countries,” Mueller told a House Appropriations subcommittee. “We have already seen a number of Americans travel overseas to train and fight with extremist groups. The increase and availability of extremist propaganda in English perpetuates the problem.”

In 2010, the FBI and DHS were closely monitoring the U.S. Mexico border when information that 23 Somalis, some with ties to Al-Shabaab, were plotting to illegally enter the United States after being mistakenly released from custody by Mexican officials, a confidential federal law enforcement report said.

U.S. officials don’t have a number on how many young men may have left the U.S. to fight alongside Syrian rebel groups but in Europe hundreds of young men have gone to their homeland to fight, according to European intelligence officials and news reports from the region.

Recruiting Terrorists

Al-Qaeda groups work together in war zones overseas – sharing information and recruiting new members, according to U.S. Intelligence officials who spoke to The Blaze and Bucci.

Claims by Obama that al-Qaeda is “disseminated,” gives power to the terrorists here at home and lowers the guard of Americans and Europeans who are the group’s primary targets, Bucci said.

“To say al-Qaeda is diminished, and try to be so specific you have sound bites for it, is disingenuous,” said Bucci, who is now director of the Douglas and Sarah Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies at the Heritage Foundation. “These AQ fringes work together in Mali, Libya, Algeria, Yemen, Syria, Somalia, Iraq and make connections with followers all over the world. They are transnational terrorist groups who swap expertise and narratives.”

“Every time they succeed in an attack, regardless of the regional venue, it makes their job more successful to radicalize people here.”

–

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MSNBC Hosts Martin Bashir and Chris Hayes Claim London Machete Killers Aren’t Terrorists: ‘These Are Just Murderers’

Billy Hallowell — Fri, 24 May 2013 14:50:07 +0000

Photo Credit: MSNBC

In responding to President Barack Obama’s counter-terrorism speech on Thursday, MSNBC’s Martin Bashir was joined on-air by Chris Hayes, another host at the network. In addition to speaking about the president’s proposals and plans, the two had a curious conversation about the horrific machete attack that unfolded in London on Wednesday.

Bashir and Hayes both maintained that the attackers are merely “murderers” and likely not al-Qaeda operatives and that they — and others like them — cannot be used to justify an ongoing War on Terror.

“Two lunatics out of nowhere with no connection to any terrorist nexus or any organization decide to hack a British soldier to death in the name of Allah, as they said,” Bashir noted, going on to connect this scenario back to national security and America’s ongoing war against extremism and asking, “Where does the war end?”

Using the Tsarnaev brothers’ — suspects in the Boston Marathon terror attack — as examples, Hayes noted that they were not connected to larger terror cells. He compared their lack of a link to a larger umbrella group to the suspects in the London attack.

“They may say that they’re some affiliate or something,” Hayes said of the machete murderers. “These are just murderers. These are murderers.”

Then, the two went on the lament the fact that anecdotal incidents perpetuated in the name of Islamic extremism, but absent of any larger-scale plot on behalf of an organization like al-Qaeda, are sometimes used to bolster efforts associated with the War on Terror.

“Those individuals are used by people to justify the fact that the War on Terror continues,” Bashir said.

Hayes, who maintained that these men are mere murderers throughout the exchange, said that their actions should not force the U.S. into perpetual war. In Britain, though, Prime Minister David Cameron and other officials have dubbed the deadly assault an act of terror.

“We may never be able to create a world in which there are no Tsarnaev brothers,” Bashir added.

Watch the exchange, below:

(H/T: Mediaite)

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6 Fascinating Spy Gadgets You’ll Probably Want (and Can Have) After Seeing

Liz Klimas — Fri, 24 May 2013 14:10:18 +0000

Government and law enforcement “spying” — be it through use of GPS trackers, triangulating cellphone calls, obtaining online communications, etc. — has been in the news a lot lately. But the technology that allows similar types of spying — and counter-surveillance — is very much available to the average citizen.

Whether it be detecting potential infidelity or making sure a babysitter or elderly caregiver is treating their charges appropriately, Allen Walton, the president of the Cheaters Spy Shop, an online store selling such surveillance gadgets, said everyone from your average Joe to professional athletes, celebrities and politicians have used products from the site.

Although the name of the site might suggest the technology is to catch cheaters in the act, which some of it is, Walton said there are many more uses. Hidden cameras have been used to catch abuse of Alzheimer’s patients in an elderly care home and of an autistic student being verbally abused. Walton said they’re also used for activities like secret shoppers being sent in by businesses to evaluate if a store’s operations are up to snuff.

“Most people don’t really know products like this exist that are readily available to them,” Walton said.

The shop breaks down technologies by intended use, which includes infidelity detection, child, teen, elderly and office safety, and home security.

Here are some of the coolest products:

iPhone and Android recovery sticks, which help recover data from these devices that might have been deleted.

iRecovery Stick. (Image: Cheaters Spy Shop)

A phone call recorder, which Walton said is popular among those who, for legal reasons, need to keep records of their calls and voicemails.

(Image: Cheaters Spy Shop)

An audio recorder that looks like an actual pen.

(Image: Cheaters Spy Shop)

Would you believe the products will actually record video footage?

A camera disguised in as a coat hook. (Image: Cheaters Spy Shop)

This isn’t really an MP3 player. (Image: Cheaters Spy Shop)

And this keychain will not unlock a car. (Image: Cheaters Spy Shop)

This outdoor camera is actually the exact opposite of the hidden cameras pictured above. It’s a fake meant to deter people from conducting nefarious activity for fear that they might be filmed.

(Image: Cheaters Spy Shop)

Sprinkle a little UV powder on whatever you don’t want touched and then use a UV light to reveal who might have been messing with something they shouldn’t have.

(Image: Cheaters Spy Shop)

In addition to the items that can be used for spying/safety, Walton said they also have counter-surveillance products as well. These would include items like those that detect if a space has a hidden camera or bug.

Being in the spy/surveillance technology field for several years now, Walton said recent advancements that have made gadgets smaller and cheaper, allowing more people to take on the role of a private detective, which can be expensive, themselves.

Everything sold on the site, Walton said, he has tested himself to make sure it works as it’s claimed.

“If it works, then our customer will be happy with it,” he said.

When it comes to the legal issues of some of the products — like planting a GPS tracker on someone’s car, which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year violated the Fourth Amendment — Walton first noted that all products on Cheaters Spy Shop have a legitimate purpose.

“If people choose to use a them in a different way, that’s their choice,” he said.

Now if the website’s customer service line is contacted and a person divulges how they plan to use the technology illegally, he said the operators are trained to let the customer know that their activity sounds like it could be against the law and that they should call a lawyer.

“We get so many calls from people who don’t realize what they want to do is completely illegal,” Walton said.

Any shop that carries tools that claim to help people spy — even if it’s in the name of safety — is sure to see some sort of criticism from privacy advocates. Walton’s response: go online.

“The sort of stuff we carry and that we use [...is] nothing compared to the sort of information that is being collected about you online,” he said. “Anyone that criticizes us should check their Facebook account and make sure it’s hidden.”

He also pointed out data companies like cellphone providers and Internet service providers are continually giving up information about their users, obliging law enforcement requests. This is something the FBI has been trying to facilitate more of, while civil liberties and privacy advocates have been calling for a reform in outdated laws that allow such requests to be fulfilled.

Featured image via Shutterstock.com.

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Did You Catch the Possibly Policy-Changing Ft. Hood Reference in Obama’s Terror Speech?

Billy Hallowell — Fri, 24 May 2013 13:50:30 +0000

During President Barack Obama’s counter-terrorism speech on Thursday he did something that hasn’t yet been done by the administration — at least not so overtly. He referred to the Fort Hood shooting as an act that was “inspired by larger notions of violent jihad.” That is big step toward dubbing the attack an act of terror instead of “workplace violence” as it has been categorized.

“Deranged or alienated individuals — often U.S. citizens or legal residents — can do enormous damage. Particularly when inspired by larger notions of violent jihad.” Obama said during the speech. “That pull towards extremism appears to have led to the shooting at Fort Hood and the bombing of the Boston Marathon.”

By linking the Boston bombing, which has officially been called terrorism, with Fort Hood, Obama essentially admitted that the former is a comparable act that could (or should) be given the same designation. This is notable for a number of reasons.

President Barack Obama (Photo Credit: AP)

For quite some time, the government has taken criticism from liberals and conservatives, alike, for officially calling the 2009 shooting (the only prime suspect is former U.S. Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan) “workplace violence” instead of terrorism. Contention over this designation continues to run rampant.

Earlier this month, ABC News reported that at least one Democrat is joining the chorus of those who are discontented with the Obama administration’s failure to use the terrorism label:

A long-serving Pennsylvania Democrat has joined Republican colleagues to ask Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to overturn the “indefensible” decision by the military to designate the Fort Hood massacre “workplace violence” rather than terrorism.

“This designation has since resulted in an embarrassing lack of care and treatment by our military for the victims and their families,” said Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-Penn.), Rep. Thomas Rooney (R-Fla.) and Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Virg.) in a later dated May 6 and obtained by ABC News.

In the letter, the trio of lawmakers blame “considerations of ‘political correctness’” not only for the “workplace violence” designation, but for allowing the attack to unfold in the first place.

Fattah’s entrance into the controversy comes after Republicans in Congress have generally taken the lead in pressing the White House for answers about the victims’ treatment, as chronicled in an ABC News investigation.

Watch Obama’s comments about Fort Hood, below:

Following the speech, Rep. Tom Rooney (R-Fla.) noted the importance of Obama’s words, claiming that they may help push through efforts for a reclassification of the shooting.

“When he put Ft. Hood in the same breath as Boston… he was basically making our case for us,” Rooney said in an interview with Fox News.

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Fighter Jets Escort Pakistan Airlines Passenger Plane in U.K. For Security Concerns

Liz Klimas — Fri, 24 May 2013 13:37:37 +0000

RAF Typhoons were deployed to escort the re-routing of a Pakistan International Airline’s plane in U.K. airspace Friday. (Photo: Wikimedia)

Fighter jets of the Royal Air Force escorted the re-route of a Pakistan International Airlines’ passenger plane destined for Manchester Airport in the U.K., according to Sky News.

The airline confirmed the diversion of the plane with 297 passengers was for security reasons. The plane was re-routed near York toward the North Sea and traveled south to Stansted, Sky News reported. It was confirmed that the aircraft landed at Stansted Airport, where two men were arrested on suspicion that they would have endangered the aircraft.

The plane, flight PK709, had departed from Lahore, Pakistan, Friday morning.

“An incident has occurred on an aircraft. Police and partners are responding,” Essex police spokeswoman said, according to Sky News.

The diversion of the flight occurred just 10 minutes before the plane was due to land at its original destination, according to Channel 4 News, which also noted that the same plane and flight plan was diverted to Stansted on Sept. 7, 2011, after a bomb scare.

“Typhoon aircraft from RAF Coningsby were launched today to investigate an incident involving a civilian aircraft within UK airspace; further details will be provided when known,” NBC News reported defense officials saying.

Philip Baum with Aviation International called the incident “significant” to BBC but noted the RAF planes scrambling to intercept was not an unusual occurrence.

“We don’t know what the incident was: fighter jets are scrambled when there is a bomb threat, when there is a hijack, when the wrong transponder code is used or if an aircraft cannot communicate with the ground. Often the result is when there is an unruly passenger on board,” Baum told BBC. ”What is interesting in this case is that it would appear that the aircraft was only 10 minutes from landing – these are initial reports coming in – when they decided to divert to Stansted. So to actually change a destination 10 minutes from landing would certainly imply that there was some serious incident taking place.”

News of this incident occurs after a British soldier was killed in London in an attack that has been called terrorist activity earlier this week.

Sky News reported its security sources saying it does not appear at this time that the plane was the target of a terrorist attack though. The aircraft is currently isolated but the rest of the airport is operating normally.

Update: Passenger Nauman Rizvi told Pakistan’s GEO TV that two men who had tried to move toward the cockpit during the flight were handcuffed and arrested once the plane landed. Rizvi said that after the men were taken away, the flight crew told passengers there had been a terrorist threat and that the pilot had raised an alarm.

This is a developing story. We will continue to update it as more information becomes available.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Dem. Rep. Apologizes for Attending ‘Racist, Anti-Semitic and Homophobic’ Speech

Billy Hallowell — Fri, 24 May 2013 13:33:14 +0000

The Minister Louis Farrakhan’s latest sermon to capture headlines led the Anti-Defamation League and other Jewish groups to condemn his patently anti-Semitic statements. And following the fiery speech, amid controversy, a congressman who was in attendance has come forward to publicly repudiate Farrakhan’s comments — and to apologize.

Such language as “Satanic Jews” and “Synagogue of Satan” is nothing new for the Nation of Islam leader, but when prominent politicians are in attendance while he’s making these comments, the dynamic presents an intriguing, and some would argue troubling, situation. As previously reported by TheBlaze’s Sharona Schwartz, the May 17th event, held at Fellowship Chapel in Detroit, Michigan, had some popular leaders in the audience.

Among them: Rep. John Conyers (D-Michigan) and Detroit City Councilwoman JoAnn Watson. The Detroit Free Press said that Conyers and Watson nodded in agreement during portions of Farrakhan’s speech, although the exact comments they appeared to be agreeing with weren’t divulged.

Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) (L) and Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX) (R) hold a news conference on H.R.1962, the ‘Free Flow of Information Act of 2013′, May 22, 2013 in Washington, DC. The bill would protect reporters from having to reveal their sources in federal court, with some exceptions including specific threats to national security. Credit: Getty Images

Now, nearly one week after the speech, Conyers is denouncing the faith leader’s “racist” and anti-Semitic remarks. On Thursday, the congressman issued a statement, CBS Detroit reports. He also called the minister’s comments “homophobic” and said that he condemns them “in the strongest possible terms.” Here is Conyers’ statement, as published by the Detroit Free Press:

“Farrakhan made unacceptable racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic statements, which I condemn in the strongest possible terms. It was my expectation that Minister Farrakhan’s speech would focus on the many challenges facing the city of Detroit. In previous days, he had discussed efforts to revitalize our city by purchasing property and investing in blighted neighborhoods. Regrettably, he used this opportunity to promote views that have no place in civilized discourse.

The fact that Minister Farrakhan has engaged in important charitable work aimed at expanding economic opportunities for underserved communities does not excuse these statements. I sincerely offer my apologies to my constituents and others who also may have been offended by the minister’s words.”

While he apologized for being at the speech, some will likely still be wondering at which points he was purportedly nodding his head — and how much negative public reaction to the speech played a role, if at all, in his apology.

Sharon Lipton, president of the Jewish Community Relations Council, applauded Conyers for saying he was sorry, but noted that he shouldn’t have been at the speech in the first place. Lipton also noted that it wasn’t good that it took the congressman nearly a week to apologize.

Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan speaks to Detroit City Council on Friday, May 17, 2013 in Detroit. Farrakhan said it’s time for his movement to join others to invest in the struggling city where it was founded more than 80 years ago. He called on residents and religious leaders to “pool their resources” to buy distressed properties and create economic opportunities. Credit: AP

“I think that people in public office have to be very aware of where they’re going, what they’re doing, and what the perception might be for being in a certain place at a certain time,” Lipton told CBS Detroit.

Read the original report about Farrakhan’s controversial sermon.

(H/T: CBS Detroit)

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What Would You Do if You Were Sitting in the Bathroom and a Bullet Came Flying Through? See What This Guy Allegedly Did

Jonathon M. Seidl — Fri, 24 May 2013 12:49:22 +0000

Imagine you’re sitting in your home, minding your own business, when your window shatters and your bookshelf just performed the duty of a bullet-proof vest.

Or consider this: You’re using your toilet when all of the sudden the shampoo bottle sitting on the bathtub explodes, and when the lather settles there’s a bullet hole in your wall. What would you do?

That’s what allegedly happened to two separate men who took to Reddit to post pictures of their unbelievable bullet and gun stories.

The bookcase bullet

Redditor p_morrow7, who appears to live in San Francisco, said he was just sitting at his dining room table on Wednesday when he heard a few “pops” outside.

“Next thing there’s a loud bang, dust everywhere and the cabinet glass shatters,” he explained. “Took me a second to figure out what happened, dropped to the floor, called the cops.”

Here’s what it looked like:

(Source: p_morrow7 via Reddit)

(Source: p_morrow7 via Reddit)

(Source: p_morrow7 via Reddit)

According to the post, when police arrived and investigated they found, “a single shooter with a rifle about 2 blocks away, shooting down the street.”

But that’s not all: “A woman was hit in the back, not fatally wounded thankfully. Police said it might have been gang related, but one guy with a rifle shooting randomly down the street? Seems more like some whacko. They didn’t get the guy, but apparently have his car.”

The incident has been confirmed by the local media. Here’s how the San Francisco Appeal described the incident:

A woman was wounded in a shooting near San Francisco’s Alamo Square on Wednesday night, police said today.

The shooting was reported at 10:13 p.m. in the 1600 block of McAllister Street, near Divisadero Street.

The 26-year-old victim was walking in the area when she was struck in the torso by a bullet fired from about a block away, according to police.

The shooter then fled in a black vehicle last seen traveling west on McAllister Street toward Broderick Street, police said.

The woman was taken to San Francisco General Hospital to be treated for her injuries, which are not considered life-threatening.

For the record, the poster — identified on Twitter after posting the pictures there as Patrick Morrow — says the book that stopped the bullet is “the Lonely Planet guide to South Africa.”

The bathroom bullet

But the California case isn’t the only botched bullet story to hit Reddit this week.

Redditor stevensquared claimed on Thursday that he was sitting on the toilet in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, when his shampoo bottle exploded.

While you might not know what you would do if that happened, stevensquared decided to post his experience to the Internet for everyone to see.

“If I had been standing it would have hit me,” the title of his post says.

Here’s what he says he experienced:

(Source: Reddit via stevensquared)

Apparently the police and crime scene investigators that showed up to investigate have a sense of humor, telling the poster “Looks like you dodged the bullet this time.”

He also says they arrested his neighbor in the incident — the neighbor who was allegedly a felon but had a gun and claimed to have accidentally fired it.

A local news search could not confirm this incident. And so far reports indicate the crime scene investigators will not be performing at the local comedy club this weekend.

–

This story has been updated.

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How Would a 3D-Printed Shotgun Slug Hold Up? Here’s the Test

Liz Klimas — Fri, 24 May 2013 12:33:20 +0000

The trend — and controversy — of DIY firearms made using a 3D printer has gotten a new partner: 3D-printed shotgun slugs.

Although much of the 3D-printed gun controversy has surrounded the company Defense Distributed and its founder Cody Wilson, the new plastic shotgun slugs were designed by 50-year-old Tony Griffy of Tennessee and tested on 48-year-old Jeff Heeszel’s YouTube channel Taofledermaus.

(Image: YouTube screenshot)

Why make the 3D-printed slugs? Griffy told Wired’s Danger Room “I might be a redneck from Tennessee, but I love the technology.” He printed the slugs for pure enjoyment. For this reason, he asked Heeszel to test them out on his channel, which Wired describes as “Nickelodeon-style entertainment with firearms.”

“You have to spend six hours printing a barrel that you’re going to use one time, and it’s not as much fun. It’s more about the enjoyment and the sport. And if you’re having to labor that much, then the enjoyment goes away,” Griffy told Wired.

The slugs were made using a $300 Solidoodle 3 3-D printer and take between 30 minutes to an hour to print, depending on size. A metal ball was put on the tip of the slugs to add weight. The slug is used with a standard shotgun shell.

How did it perform? Heeszel and the sharp shooter who helped him out tested the slugs on a dart board, plank of wood and a mannequin.

Here are a few screenshots showing how the materials and the slug itself held up.

Here’s the leftover slug after going through the dart board and the plastic container behind it. (Image: YouTube screenshot)

(Image: YouTube screenshot)

This is what the slug looked like after going through the wood board. (Image: YouTube screenshot)

Damage to the board. (Image: YouTube screenshot)

The slug design used to shoot the mannequin resulted in only the wadding hitting the head. (Image: YouTube screenshot)

“I didn’t think it would go through the first piece of wood at all, much less hit anything,” Heeszel told Wired.

In general though, he called the slugs “kind of crappy little rounds” and more of a novelty than anything else.

Watch the tests:

Unlike the statements made with 3D-printed firearms, which to Defense Distributed/Wiki-Weapons founder Cody Wilson said have both First and Second Amendment implications, those involved with the 3D-printed slugs said they don’t have a political message with them.

After Wilson demonstrated earlier this month the first fully functional 3D-printed firearm, the lawmakers were quick to call for bans on 3D-printed guns and the federal government within days sent him a notice that resulted in the take down all 3D printable gun designs for now while legal issues are worked out.

Wilson was recently featured on the Glenn Beck Program to discuss his innovation and how government is controlling technology.

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Church vs. State Complaint Leads City to Remove Christian Crosses on Water Tower — Now See What They’ve Been Replaced With

Billy Hallowell — Fri, 24 May 2013 11:55:53 +0000

Water tower cross in Roberts, Idaho (Photo Credit: KI

Once again, water tower crosses — this time in Roberts, Idaho — are sparking intense debate.

A local resident, identified by KIDK-TV as Joe Cohea, recently took issue with the fact that the city’s tower was adorned with three crosses. While it’s unclear whether his angst is rooted in atheism, Cohea has certainly made known his views about the expression of religious sentiment on government property.

Worrying that the symbols gave an impression that Roberts favors Christians over other religious people, he took his concerns to city hall and to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

“My opinion is no kind of religious symbol belongs on city property, period,” Cohea told KIDK-TV.

The city agreed that the population is certainly diverse, but Mayor Robert Berlin said that Roberts has always been welcoming to everyone, regardless of religious of cultural viewpoints. The politician also said that anyone is allowed to post a religious symbol on the water tower — so long as it isn’t offensive.

This, though, according to KIDK-TV, isn’t satisfying Cohea or the ACLU. For the moment, the controversy has tempered, as the crosses have been removed and replaced with American flags — clearly more universal symbols of national unity.

But the debate may not be over. Cohea claims that he will, once again, go after the crosses if they are posted. Additionally, he plans to take his grievances to the town when a nativity scene that is displayed each year in the city park re-emerges next Christmas. He will, again, appeal to the ACLU for assistance.

The take away: Some towns apparently have a penchant for allowing Christian crosses on water towers. Just the same, atheist activists and church-state separatists have an affinity for challenging the constitutionality of these symbols on public land. These elements, when combined, are a recipe for contentious debate.

This isn’t the first time a water tower cross has sparked intense controversy. The scenario that unfolded back in 2011 in Whiteville, Tennessee, took some interesting turns, as atheists and the mayor similarly clashed over the presence of the religious symbol (although the town was a bit more unrelenting in this previous situation).

(H/T: KIDK-TV)

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Live TV Host Finds Out ‘World’s Hottest Pie’ Is Apparently as Hot as Advertised

Becket Adams — Fri, 24 May 2013 11:37:01 +0000

Screen grab.

Karl Stefanovic, the host of Australia’s “Today” show, is famous for regularly pranking his co-hosts and chasing after bizarre and entertaining gimmicks. And it’s a winning strategy — the show’s ratings prove it.

However, in their attempt to amuse their TV audience, Stefanovic and his co-host Ben Fordham every now and then take on more than they can handle.

“[T]his week [they] were challenged to eat a meat pie billed as ‘the world’s hottest,’” MSN reports. “Karl, boasting he’s already eaten the world’s hottest curry and world’s hottest chili, laughed off the challenge — until he bit into the pie.”

About a minute in to the challenge, the pies start to have a deeply unsettling affect on both Stefanovic and Fordham.

But, hey, it’s what you do for ratings:

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Featured image screen grab.

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Wichita Teacher Arrested at Elementary School for Possessing Unloaded Gun on Campus to Protect Students

Dave Urbanski — Fri, 24 May 2013 11:32:24 +0000

A Wichita, Kan., teacher has been suspended with pay, officials say, following his arrest for possessing a gun on school grounds Monday.

A fellow White Elementary School employee saw Daniel Nagel, 31, in possession of a firearm at the school and called 911.

Daniel Nagel (Credit: KCWH)

A USD 259 spokesperson said the gun was not loaded, and there was never any threat to anyone at the school, according to KAKE.

A family member tells Eyewitness News that Nagel was carrying the gun to protect students and never intended to do any harm, adding that Nagel has a concealed carry permit.

But Wichita Police say it’s a moot point since the school is within a gun-free zone. Nagel faces a misdemeanor charge of carrying a concealed firearm and a $50 fine if it’s a first-time offense.

Nagel has been taught physical education at White for five years and is on paid administrative leave pending completion of the school district’s investigation.

You can watch the KCWH report here.

The initial report from KAKE:

(H/T: KAKE, KWCH)

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Why Are Some Labor Unions Turning Against Obamacare and Calling for ‘Repeal’?

Billy Hallowell — Fri, 24 May 2013 11:31:23 +0000

WASHINGTON (AP) — When President Barack Obama pushed his health care overhaul plan through Congress, he counted labor unions among his strongest supporters.

But some unions leaders have grown frustrated and angry about what they say are unexpected consequences of the new law – problems that they say could jeopardize the health benefits offered to millions of their members.

The issue could create a political headache next year for Democrats facing re-election if disgruntled union members believe the Obama administration and Congress aren’t working to fix the problem.

“It makes an untruth out of what the president said, that if you like your insurance, you could keep it,” said Joe Hansen, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union. “That is not going to be true for millions of workers now.”

Credit: AP

The problem lies in the unique multiemployer health plans that cover unionized workers in retail, construction, transportation and other industries with seasonal or temporary employment. Known as Taft-Hartley plans, they are jointly administered by unions and smaller employers that pool resources to offer more than 20 million workers and family members continuous coverage, even during times of unemployment.

The union plans were already more costly to run than traditional single-employer health plans. The Affordable Care Act has added to that cost – for the unions’ and other plans – by requiring health plans to cover dependents up to age 26, eliminate annual or lifetime coverage limits and extend coverage to people with pre-existing conditions.

“We’re concerned that employers will be increasingly tempted to drop coverage through our plans and let our members fend for themselves on the health exchanges,” said David Treanor, director of health care initiatives at the Operating Engineers union.

Workers seeking coverage in the state-based marketplaces, known as exchanges, can qualify for subsidies, determined by a sliding scale based on income. By contrast, the new law does not allow workers in the union plans to receive similar subsidies.

Bob Laszewski, a health care industry consultant, said the real fear among unions is that “a lot of these labor contracts are very expensive and now employers are going to have an alternative to very expensive labor health benefits.”

“If the workers can get benefits that are as good through Obamacare in the exchanges, then why do you need the union?” Laszewski said. “In my mind, what the unions are fearing is that workers for the first time can get very good health benefits for a subsidized cost someplace other than the employer.”

However, Laszewski said it was unlikely employers would drop the union plans immediately because they are subject to ongoing collective bargaining agreements.

In this Sept. 7, 2009, file photo President Barack Obama speaks at the AFL-CIO Labor Day picnic at Coney Island in Cincinnati. Some labor unions that initially backed Obama’s health care overhaul are now frustrated and angry about what they say are unexpected consequences of the plan that could hurt their members. Credit: AP

Labor unions have been among the president’s closest allies, spending millions of dollars to help him win re-election and help Democrats keep their majority in the Senate. The wrangling over health care comes as unions have continued to see steady declines in membership and attacks on public employee unions in state legislatures around the country. The Obama administration walks a fine line between defending the president’s signature legislative achievement and not angering a powerful constituency as it looks ahead to the 2014 elections.

Union officials have been working with the administration for more than a year to try to get a regulatory fix that would allow low-income workers in their plans to receive subsidies. But after months of negotiations, labor leaders say they have been told it won’t happen.

“It’s not favoritism. We want to be treated fairly,” said Hansen, whose union has about 800,000 of its 1.3 million members covered under Taft-Hartley policies. “We would expect more help from this administration.”

Sabrina Siddiqui, a Treasury Department spokeswoman, declined to discuss the specifics of any negotiations between the administration and union officials. But she said the law helps bring down costs and improve quality of care.

Katie Mahoney, executive director of health policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said employers were concerned about possible increases in health care costs and would do what was needed to keep their businesses running and retain worker talent. The Chamber has not taken a position on the union concerns, but Mahoney said it was highly unlikely that the administration would consider subsidies for workers in the union plans.

“They are not going to offset the expense of added mandates under the health care law, which employers and unions are going to pay for,” Mahoney said.

Unions say their health care plans in many cases offer better coverage with broader doctors’ networks and lower premiums than what would be available in the exchanges, particularly when it comes to part-time workers.

Unions backed the health care legislation because they expected it to curb inflation in health coverage, reduce the number of uninsured Americans and level the playing field for companies that were already providing quality benefits. While unions knew there were lingering issues after the law passed, they believed those could be fixed through rulemaking.

But last month, the union representing roofers issued a statement calling for “repeal or complete reform” of the health care law. Kinsey Robinson, president of the United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers and Allied Workers, complained that labor’s concerns over the health care law “have not been addressed, or in some instances, totally ignored.”

Photo Credit: AP

“In the rush to achieve its passage, many of the act’s provisions were not fully conceived, resulting in unintended consequences that are inconsistent with the promise that those who were satisfied with their employer-sponsored coverage could keep it,” Robinson said.

Harold Schaitberger, president of the International Association of Firefighters, said unions have been forceful in seeking solutions from the Obama administration, but none have been forthcoming. While Congress could address the problem by amending the health care law, Schaitberger said Senate Democrats told union leaders earlier this month that any new legislation was highly unlikely.

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Have You Had Scotch at a NJ TGI Friday’s Lately? You Might Have Been Drinking Rubbing Alcohol

Jonathon M. Seidl — Fri, 24 May 2013 11:19:26 +0000

Hiroyuki Yamada of Tokyo, Japan, winner of the TGI Friday’s World Bartender Championship at the House of Blues in Dallas TX Wednesday March 6, 2013. Credit: Richard W. Rodriguez

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — At one bar, a mixture that included rubbing alcohol and caramel coloring was sold as scotch. In another, premium liquor bottles were refilled with water – and apparently not even clean water at that.

State officials provided those new details Thursday on raids they conducted a day earlier as part of a yearlong investigation dubbed Operation Swill.

Twenty-nine New Jersey bars and restaurants, including 13 TGI Fridays, were accused of substituting cheap booze – or worse – for the good stuff while charging premium prices.

As part of Operation Swill, investigators collected 1,000 open bottles of vodka, gin, rum, scotch, whiskey and tequila from the wells of the bars, state Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa said.

New Jersey Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa, right, talks about an investigation dubbed “Operation Swill,” in which 29 bars and restaurants in New Jersey are accused of putting cheap booze in premium brand liquor bottles and selling it, during a news conference, Thursday, May 23, 2013, in Trenton, N.J. Thirteen of the restaurants cited are TGI Fridays located in central and northern New Jersey. Credit: AP

“This alleged scheme is a dishonest ruse to increase profits and is a slap in the face of the consumer,” Chiesa said.

Within seven days, the establishments must turn over records to help state authorities determine how many patrons were overcharged and by how much. They also will have to inform the state which employees were at work the days samples were covertly taken earlier this year.

State officials would not say what establishment used the rubbing alcohol or which one used dirty water, or water not from a tap. They said no health issues were reported.

TGI Fridays Inc. said it was conducting its own investigation, working with the franchisee that owns the 13 restaurants cited, The Briad Group.

Briad, based in Livingston, said it “takes great pride in the quality of food and drink” served at its TGI Fridays franchises and was troubled and surprised by the allegations. It said in an emailed statement it would take immediate steps to correct any problems it identified.

“We want every assurance possible that our guests can continue to feel confident in the great food and drink they order at our T.G.I. Friday’s restaurants,” said Rick Barbrick, president of The Briad Restaurant Group.

Operation Swill started after the state began receiving more complaints than usual about possibly mislabeled drinks, said the director of the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control, Michael Halfacre. An informant with knowledge of the industry contacted the agency in the fall to help in the investigation, he said.

In January and February, investigators went to 63 establishments they suspected were scamming liquor customers. They ordered drinks neat – that is, without ice or mixers – and then covertly took samples for testing.

Of 150 samples collected, 30 were not the brand as which they were being sold.

The establishments face suspensions of their liquor licenses and possible revocations if there are enough violations.

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Faith-Healing Parents Charged With Murder for Refusing Kids’ Medical Care — Should They Go to Prison?

Billy Hallowell — Fri, 24 May 2013 10:58:21 +0000

A Philadelphia couple who believe in faith healing over medicine and have had two children die of pneumonia can’t post bail before a hearing Friday. This year, the family lost a child after refusing to provide him with medical care. But it’s not the first time that Herbert and Catherine Schaible have come under scrutiny for denying life-saving health services to one of their children.

The two are charged with third-degree murder in the April death of their 8-month-old son, Brandon. Previously, the Schaibles were convicted of involuntary manslaughter and child endangerment after 2-year-old Kent died in 2009 and were ordered afterward to get their children medical care. Considering that this was part of their probation deal, the notion that another child was denied care could land them 14 years in prison — or more.

Catherine, left, and Herbert Schaible arrive to turn themselves in at police headquarters in Philadelphia on Wednesday, May 22, 2013. The couple who believe in faith healing over medicine and who were on probation in their son’s pneumonia death were charged with murder Wednesday after a second young child died under what a prosecutor called “eerily similar” circumstances. Credit: AP

Rather than comply with this order, the parents purportedly followed the same steps that they took in handling Kent’s illness. Prosecutors claim they prayed over Brandon as his condition worsened instead of seeking the assistance of a doctor who might have been able to save the child; he suffered from diarrhea and breathing issues for at least a week and was reportedly not eating.

Brandon’s death has landed the couple’s seven surviving children in foster care and has created yet another legal conundrum for the family. While First Assistant District Attorney Ed McCann said that the parents are perfectly entitled to practice their religious beliefs, a line is crossed when their children are endangered.

“How many kids have to die before it becomes extreme indifference to human life? They killed one kid already,” McCann said as the murder charges were announced.

Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams, left, accompanied by 1st Assistant District Attorney Ed McCann, center, and Assistant District Attorney Joanne Pescatore, speaks during a news conference, Wednesday, May 22, 2013, in Philadelphia. Williams announced Herbert and Catherine Schaible who believe in faith healing over medicine have been charged with murder after a second child died of pneumonia. Credit: AP

The Schaibles, according to the Associated Press, are members at the First Century Gospel Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The church’s website, the outlet notes, quotes Bible verses purportedly forbidding Christians from visiting doctors or taking medicine and suggests it’s a sin to trust in medicine over faith.

A judge set bail Thursday at $250,000 apiece, but prosecutors had the decision stayed until a hearing Friday. While the family clearly violated the court’s previous determination, their defense lawyers say the Schaibles have no ill intent, and they hope to have the bail reduced. Prosecutors want the couple held without bail until trial.

This obviously opens up a major discussion about the limits of religious freedom. Should parents be allowed to decline their children’s medical care? Does the government have the right to ensure that kids get proper, life-enhancing or life-saving treatment? These are just two of the many questions surrounding this case. Take the poll, below, and let us know your views.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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‘We Ain’t Scared of Nobody!’: New Documentary Claims to Show the KKK Thriving in Deep South

Dave Urbanski — Fri, 24 May 2013 03:59:41 +0000

VICE magazine trekked to Memphis to interview members of the Ku Klux Klan prepping for a rally, and the publication ended up creating a three-part documentary, “Triple Hate,” about racism in America.

(Credit: Vice)

In the film Klan members are dressed in robes and wear pointed white hoods and assemble in broad daylight…and deep in the woods in the dead of night.

(Credit: Vice)

“Anybody who doesn’t think the KKK is alive and well today in America,” whispered a Vice reporter standing in a circle of hooded men gathered around a flaming cross, “I encourage you to go to the woods of Mississippi and see for yourself.”

(Credit: Vice)

Check out the trailer:

(H/T: Daily Mail)

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Bill O’Reilly Spars with Marc Lamont Hill Over Obama & the IRS Scandal, Drones

Dave Urbanski — Fri, 24 May 2013 03:33:17 +0000

Bill O’Reilly’s debate tonight with Marc Lamont Hill started out on an even keel as The Factor host and his longtime guest covered President Obama’s role in the IRS scandal but heated up during their segment on Obama’s speech earlier today on national security.

Hill acknowledged early in the interview that someone at the top of the IRS echelon must be fired over the severity of the agency’s overreach in targeting conservatives, saying that the scandal “stinks,” but he wouldn’t budge when it came to Obama’s responsibility for what the IRS has done wrong.

Hill believes Obama likely didn’t know anything in advance of news reports; O’Reilly wasn’t exactly buying it, although he noted that the president’s staff may have hid things from him to keep “the big kahuna from the real nasty stuff.”

(Credit: YouTube)

When O’Reilly shifted to Obama’s national security speech, things got tense…though not immediately. Hill again took the approach that Obama’s is a “very dangerous foreign policy” and that his speech today was essentially used to “distract us” from the scandal trifecta within the beltway.

But when the subject of drones came up, the gloves came off. Hill vehemently blasted the government’s drone policy, to which O’Reilly responded with skepticism.

Watch the pair’s latest fiery debate below:

(H/T: Mediaite)

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Cars, People Sent Plunging Into River After Bridge Collapses Near Seattle

Jason Howerton — Fri, 24 May 2013 03:00:20 +0000

UPDATE 12:43 a.m.: MOUNT VERNON, Wash. (AP) — Authorities say there were no fatalities when an Interstate 5 bridge over a river north of Seattle collapsed.

The Thursday evening bridge failure dumped vehicles and people into the water.

Marcus Deyerin (DayERin), a spokesman for the Northwest Washington Incident Management team, said there were no fatalities or suspected fatalities. He said three people were rescued from the water and sent to area hospitals. He didn’t know the extent of their injuries.

A search of the river continues and a dive team was on scene as well as several rescue boats still on the river.

–

The Interstate 5 bridge over the Skagit River at Mount Vernon collapsed on Thursday evening, sending cars and people plunging into the water below, KOMO-TV reports. The bridge is just north of Seattle.

Washington State Patrol trooper Mark Francis told KOMO that the northbound and southbound portions of the bridge collapsed into the river at around 7 p.m. Thursday.

Francis also said there were several cars on the bridge when it went down, and many vehicles are now in the river.

Francis said he had no immediate estimate of how many people were in the water or whether there were any injuries or deaths.

He did not know what caused the collapse.

(KING5)

(Photo courtesy of Dan Peterson/KOMO)

(KXLY, Twitter)

A Skagit Valley Herald reporter at the scene said a sheriff’s office rescue boat has arrived and rescue crews were looking for people in the water.

The reporter saw one person sitting atop one vehicle in the water and could see a second vehicle as well.

Crowds of people lined the river to watch the scene unfold, the newspaper reported.

Xavier Grospe, 62, who lives near the river, said he could see three cars with what appeared to be one person per vehicle. The vehicles were sitting still in the water, partially submerged and partly above the waterline, and the apparent drivers were sitting either on top of the vehicles or on the edge of open windows.

“It doesn’t look like anybody’s in danger right now,” Grospe said.

Washington state was given a C in the American Society of Civil Engineers’ 2013 infrastructure report card and a C- when it came to the state’s bridges. The group said more than a quarter of Washington’s 7,840 bridges are considered structurally deficient of functionally obsolete.

This story has been updated. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Armed Montana Homeowner Drops Burglar With One Bullet

Jason Howerton — Fri, 24 May 2013 02:24:34 +0000

A Montana man returned home on Wednesday afternoon to find a burglar inside his home. The homeowner, also a gun owner, was able to retrieve one of his firearms and shoot the intruder once in the chest.

That one shot proved to be fatal.

Lewis & Clark County Sheriff’s investigators say the alleged burglar may have burglarized two additional homes in the area before the was killed, KXLH-TV reports.

The incident occurred at around 2:40 p.m. on Wednesday. Police received a 911 call from the homeowner who informed the dispatcher that he had just shot a home intruder who was trying to burglarize his home.

After being shot once in the chest, the homeowner says the intruder broke through a window in a desperate bid to escape the armed man. He managed to make it to his getaway car but drove into a chain link fence. He died in the car from his injuries, police said.

shutterstock.com

“The homeowner is not injured, and it’s unknown as to whether or not the intruder had a firearm or any type of weapon on his person at the time of the confrontation,” said Captain Jason Grimmis of the Lewis & Clark County Sheriff’s Department.

Detectives found evidence that may tie the deceased intruder to additional burglaries.

Featured image via shutterstock.com

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Model, 19, Hatches Insane Plan to Win Back Her Ex-Boyfriend

Jason Howerton — Fri, 24 May 2013 01:48:57 +0000

Kayla Earl, 19, was charged with false reporting after making false claims that she was raped.

Break-ups are tough for anyone. Different people have various ways of coping with the loss of a boyfriend or girlfriend.

Kayla Earl, a 19-year-old aspiring model suffering from heartbreak and denial, reportedly chose to throw herself in a ditch with a plastic Walmart bag over her head and claim she was raped — all in an effort to win back her ex-boyfriend. Definitely not a healthy way of coping.

Earl was arrested by police in Pleasant Grove, Ala., and charged with false reporting after her story was discovered to be a hoax, AL.com reports.

“Investigators said Earl, of Hueytown, was trying to lure back her estranged boyfriend with sympathy when she told lawmen she was attacked in a Pleasant Grove cemetery. A Jefferson County sheriff’s deputy on patrol spotted the woman about 5 a.m. in the dirt just off the road near Five Acre Road. She appeared unconscious,” the report adds.

The woman was taken to UAB Hospital, checked out and released. Earl told police that she was visiting a friend’s grave at the cemetery when a man approached her from behind and put a bag over her head. Her car was found parked in a cemetery.

She claimed a struggle ensued and she was able to get free and run to the roadway, where she said she passed out.

Detectives were eventually able to get the truth out of her.

“She even said she put the bag on her head to make it look like someone tried to suffocate her,” Pleasant Grove Detective Jason Davis said. “She is going through some personal problems. Between that and wanting attention, it turns out none of this happened.”

(H/T: Daily Mail)

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Hundreds of Police Officers Attend Little Girl’s Kindergarten Graduation After Father Died in Line of Duty

Liz Klimas — Fri, 24 May 2013 01:45:10 +0000

Tatum Raetz graduated from kindergarten at a Phoenix elementary school Wednesday and while many of her classmates had parents there to congratulate her. Tatum only had her mother, Stephanie. Her father, Officer Daryl Raetz, was killed in the line of duty over the weekend.

But in lieu of her father, hundreds of Phoenix Police Department officers showed up to be in attendance for her graduation in a touching display of support.

(Photo: AZ Family/Tess Rafols/Facebook)

AZ Family reported Officer James Holmes calling the moment for his fallen comrade’s daughter “absolutely amazing” but “bittersweet and [...]overwhelming for all of us.”

AZ Family described the auditorium as “standing room only with a sea of blue in the back and along the side of the room.”

“We tried to keep this small. We tried to keep this to Daryl’s squad and his precinct,” Holmes told AZ Family. “But the word got out that this was happening and it went viral within the department and there was absolutely no way that you could keep officers who could be here away from here. They came, even with their families.”

(Photo: AZ Family/Tess Rafols/Facebook)

The 29-year-old officer, who was also a veteran of the war in Iraq, was killed in a hit-and-run while investigating a DUI early Sunday. The vehicle that struck him has been identified by police, but AZ Family reported no arrest has been made in the case yet. Although, the owner of the SUV was arrested on drug charges.

This undated photo provided by the Phoenix Police Department shows Officer Daryl Raetz. Raetz was struck by another vehicle, which was traveling northbound on 51st Avenue Sunday May 19, 2013. Raetz was transported to a local hospital, where he died of his injuries. (Photo: AP/Phoenix Police Department)

Police Chief Daniel Garcia described the loss as “gut-wrenching.”

“This is every officer’s nightmare,” he said. “I honestly don’t have the words to describe the sorrow in my heart for Daryl Raetz and his family. He was one of Phoenix’s finest, one of our heroes who was out there every day (serving) the community.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

(H/T: Reddit)

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State Department Official Who Played Key Role in Editing Benghazi Talking Points Nominated for Assistant Secretary of State Position

Jason Howerton — Fri, 24 May 2013 01:00:50 +0000

State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland listens to US Secretary of State John Kerry and Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida speak to the press prior to a meeting at the State Department in Washington on February 22, 2013. Credit: AFP/Getty Images

President Barack Obama has nominated Victoria Nuland, a State Department official who played a key role in editing the administration’s Benghazi talking points, to be then next assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, the White House announced in a press release on Thursday.

It is was later discovered that the talking points used by U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice when she appeared on several Sunday shows days after the deadly Benghazi attack were loaded with faulty information.

Emails show that Nuland expressed “serious concerns” about an early draft of the talking points and passed along the State Department’s request to scrub references to al-Qaeda and the CIA’s warnings about the threat of such groups to U.S. diplomats in Libya from the document.

Nuland, “a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Career Minister,” has served as the State Department spokesperson since 2011.

Obama’s former traveling press secretary Jen Psaki has replaced Nuland as the top State Department spokesperson. She conducted her first on-camera press briefing last week, Politico reports.

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Venezuelan President Blames Toilet Paper Shortage on the Rich

Becket Adams — Fri, 24 May 2013 01:00:11 +0000

Nicolas Maduro, Hugo Chavez’s handpicked successor. (Getty Images)

The people of Venezuela are grappling with a nationwide shortage of toilet paper, an all too common occurrence in socialist states.

But rather than revisit the country’s approach to economics and price controls, President Nicolas Maduro said this week that shortages in luxury items are the result of a shadowy conspiracy concocted by his wealthy and conservative opponents.

“President Nicolas Maduro, who won a narrow majority in April’s presidential elections, maintains that the country’s periodic shortages of basic goods are the result of a conspiracy by the opposition and rich sectors of society,” the BBC reports.

“Mr Maduro has vowed to uphold the legacy of his late predecessor, Hugo Chavez, whose ‘21st-Century socialism’ involved sweeping nationalisation and extensive social programmes,” the report continues.

Of course, many analysts believe that the Venezuelan government’s overbearing controls are to blame for the shortages, not some shadowy right-wing conspiracy.

“Price controls, for example, act as a disincentive to local producers, forcing them to cut output,” said Consensus Economics, a survey organization.

“The resulting scarcity forces up inflation, defeating the entire purpose of price controls in the first place,” the group adds.

But don’t worry: Venezuela’s National Assembly has a plan that they say will address the shortages.

The Assembly has “backed plans to import 39 million rolls of toilet paper, in an effort to relieve a chronic shortage,” BBC reports. “Lawmakers voted to approve a $79m credit for the country’s ministry of commerce, which will also be used to buy toothpaste and soap.”

“The oil-rich nation relies on imports, but currency controls have restricted its ability to pay for foreign goods,” the report adds.

Of all the countries in Latin America, Venezuela has the highest inflation rate (currently about 25 percent). Meanwhile, the country’s currency (the bolivar) has devalued precipitously over the past couple of years, falling by as much as 32 percent in February:

This five-year chart shows the VEF-USD exchange rate. The line dropping means that the Venezuelan currency has become weaker against the U.S. dollar (remember, it’s bolivar to dollar). (Bloomberg)

But it’s probably the work of the wealthy.

–

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Lawyer That Represented Christian Coalition Against Lois Lerner-Led FEC in 1990s Speaks Out

Christopher Santarelli — Fri, 24 May 2013 00:44:44 +0000

After invoking her Fifth Amendment right to remain silent and not answer any questions from lawmakers when appearing before Wednesday’s House Oversight Committee, Lois Lerner has been placed on administrative leave. Lerner, director of exempt organizations at the IRS, first acknowledged the scandal at the IRS involving the targeting of conservative groups two weeks when responding to a planted question from Washington-based tax lawyer.

Despite refusing to answer questions before the committee, Lerner incurred the wrath of Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy who demanded Lerner testify after the IRS director gave a lengthy opening statement denying any wrongdoing.

“You don’t get to tell your side of the story and not be subjected to cross-examination. That’s not the way it works. She waived her right to Fifth Amendment privilege by issuing an opening statement, she ought to stand here and answer our questions,” Gowdy said, earning applause from the audience.

When Lerner was head of the FEC enforcement division from 1986 to 2001 she sued the Christian Coalition for allegedly conspiring with political candidates. During the case, representatives for the FEC asked intrusive questions on religion of several people involved, including Lt. Col. Oliver North. At one point, a representative demanded to know details regarding Pat Roberstson praying for North after reading a letter from North to Robertson indicating as much. The group’s attorney also noted that during the investigation third parties were required to comply with “burdensome FEC document requests,” reminiscent of the IRS/Tea Party requests. The Christian Coalition’s attorneys adamantly objected, and the group eventually rebuffed the charges.

James Bopp, Jr. represented the Christian Coalition against the FEC in 1995, and joined ‘Wilkow!‘ Thursday to discuss his case and where Lerner has found herself now.

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What Are the Biggest Challenges Facing Conservative College Students Today?

Erica Ritz — Fri, 24 May 2013 00:43:24 +0000

(Photo: TheBlaze TV)

It is a truth generally accepted that college campuses are mildly if not extremely left-leaning. Students who arrive undecided (or even somewhat conservative) often leave as committed Democrats, berated by their peers and pressured by their professors into holding certain opinions.

On TheBlaze TV Thursday night, a group of conservative college students spoke about the challenges they’ve faced, and about the broader issues facing the country through their unique perspective.

Some were concerned about the IRS targeting conservative groups, wondering, if they’re targeting larger organizations, what would stop them from targeting individuals?

One girl jokingly asked if the IRS is allowed to “plead the 5th,” if she can as well when it comes time to pay her taxes?

In a “question and answer” segment with Glenn Beck, one student asked Beck if he had any advice for an aspiring journalist who is conservative.

You probably couldn’t have predicted Beck’s response. Find out, below:

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London’s Brutal Attack and the Changing Face of Terrorism

Christopher Santarelli — Fri, 24 May 2013 00:42:09 +0000

Former FBI counter-terror investigator and special agent Tim Clemente joined ‘Real News‘ Thursday to discuss yesterday’s terrorist act in London and the changing face of terrorism.

It was revealed Thursday that the Islamic radical attackers who nearly decapitated and hacked to death an off-duty British soldier in London Wednesday were both British born. Before the terrorists were shot by police, they were caught speaking into a camera-phone wielding bloody knives. In addition to the two suspects who were hospitalized after being shot by police, the Associated Press reports that authorities said they had arrested a man and a woman, both 29, on suspicion of conspiracy to murder.

The two butchering suspects had been featured in previous investigations by security services, a British official told the AP Thursday.

On TheBlaze TV Thursday the panel discussed what happened in London and the notion of ‘soft target’ attacks. Watch a clip below:

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Shocking Video: Police Shoot Crazed London Terrorists Accused of Butchering British Soldier

Jason Howerton — Fri, 24 May 2013 00:31:37 +0000

Editor’s note: The following story contains video footage that is graphic in nature and may be disturbing to some readers.

–

LONDON (TheBlaze/AP) — A man seen with bloody hands wielding a butcher knife after the killing of a British soldier on the streets of London was described as a convert to Islam who took part in demonstrations with a banned radical group, two Muslim hard-liners said Thursday.

This image taken from video made available by The Sun newspaper shows what appears to be one of the attackers speaking to the camera, holding a knife and a cleaver in his bloodied hands, after a brutal attack in broad daylight Wednesday, May 22, 2013 near a military barracks in London. The attack just a few blocks from the Royal Artillery Barracks in the Woolrich neighborhood of London left one man dead and two suspects hospitalized after a shootout with police. British Prime Minister David Cameron said the attack appeared to be terror related. Credit: AP

Police raided houses in connection with the brazen slaying of the off-duty soldier, identified as Lee Rigby, of the 2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, who served in Afghanistan. In addition to the two suspects who were hospitalized after being shot by police, authorities said they had arrested a man and a woman, both 29, on suspicion of conspiracy to murder.

Police would not say whether it appeared Rigby had been targeted specifically because of his military service. Although he was not in uniform at the time he was killed, he was said by witnesses to be wearing a T-shirt for a British veterans’ charity.

Authorities have not identified either of the two wounded suspects and have not said when they would do so. Officials in Britain usually wait to name suspects until charges have been filed.

New graphic footage reportedly showing police shooting two of the suspected terrorists was released on Thursday. Watch the disturbing video below via the Mirror (Warning! Graphic content):

The Mirror has some additional details about the video:

The brave WPC first on the scene at the Woolwich beheading comes within inches of death, a dramatic Daily Mirror video shows.

The driver, unable to draw her firearm, is saved by a male colleague in the back who fires his machine-gun through his window at a suspect who is charging at her.

The callous Islamic extremists had lured police to the scene by dragging the body of the murdered fusilier – named yesterday as Lee Rigby, 25 – into the middle of the road.

When they see the first police car arrive, the pair split up.

Anjem Choudary, the former head of the radical group al-Muhajiroun, told The Associated Press that the man depicted in startling video that emerged after Rigby’s death was named Michael Adebolajo, a Christian who converted to Islam around 2003 and took part in several demonstrations by the group in London.

The BBC broadcast video from 2007 showing Adebolajo standing near Choudary at a rally.

Omar Bakri Muhammad, who now lives in Lebanon but had been a radical Muslim preacher in London, also said he recognized the man seen on TV as Adebolajo and said he attended his London lectures in the early 2000s.

Bakri, speaking from Lebanon, said he remembers Adebolajo as a “shy person” who was keen to learn about Islam and asked interesting questions.

“He used to listen more than he spoke,” Bakri said. “I was very surprised to learn that he is the suspect in the attack.”

Mary Warder, who has lived in the Woolwich area for more than 30 years, told the AP said she had seen both of the suspects preaching on the streets. Shopkeepers, however, said they couldn’t remember seeing them.

The two men suspected of killing the 25-year-old Rigby had been part of previous investigations by security services, a British official said Thursday, as investigators searched several locations and tried to determine whether the men were part of a wider terrorist plot.

There also was no clear indication on when or where the suspects may have been radicalized.

In this undated image released Thursday May 23, 2013, by the British Ministry of Defence, showing Lee Rigby known as Riggers to his friends, who is identified by the MOD as the serving member of the armed forces who was attacked and killed by two men in the Woolwich area of London on Wednesday. The Ministry web site included the statement “It is with great sadness that the Ministry of Defence must announce that the soldier killed in yesterday’s incident in Woolwich, South East London, is believed to be Drummer Lee Rigby of 2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers.” Credit: AP

LONDON, ENGLAND – MAY 23: A framed picture of Drummer Lee Rigby of the 2nd Battalion the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers who was killed yesterday, lays with flowers outside Woolwich Barracks on May 23, 2013 in London, England. Drummer Lee Rigby of the 2nd Battalion the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers was murdered by suspected Islamists near London’s Woolwich Army Barracks yesterday. British Prime Minister David Cameron has said that the ‘appalling’ attack appeared to be terror related. Credit: Getty Images

Rigby, the father of a 2-year-old boy, was slain Wednesday afternoon outside the Royal Artillery Barracks in the Woolwich area of south London while horrified bystanders watched in the busy city known for its decorum.

The bizarre scene was recorded on witnesses’ cellphones, with one of the two suspects boasting of their exploits and warning of more violence as the soldier lay on the ground. Holding bloody knives and a meat cleaver, they waited for the arrival of police, who shot them in the legs, according to a passerby who tried to save the dying soldier.

A British government official said one of the two men tried to go to Somalia to train or fight with the terror group al-Shabab. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about the police investigation, would not say if the suspect had been arrested or whether he had made any other trips to the country.

Citing unidentified sources described as having “knowledge of British jihadis,” the BBC’s “Newsnight” program reported that one of the suspects in the attack was arrested last year on his way to joining al-Shabab.

Prime Minister David Cameron vowed that Britain would not be cowed by the horrific bloodshed, and that it would reject “the poisonous narrative of extremism on which this violence feeds.” In Washington, President Barack Obama said the U.S. “stands resolute with the United Kingdom” in the fight against violent extremism.

There were few signs of alarm on the streets of London, which has been hit by terrorist attacks during a long confrontation with the Irish Republican Army and more recently, in July 2005, by al-Qaida-inspired suicide bombings that killed 52 commuters.

“It’s hateful, it’s horrific and upsetting. But it doesn’t seem to have made much of a difference,” Christian White, 43, said at King’s Cross station, close to the site of one of the 2005 bombings. “Londoners are used to living in a city where life is complicated.”

Even so, security was increased at military barracks and installations in the capital, with extra armed guards added in many cases. Police said extra patrols were added at sensitive areas, including places of worship, transport hubs and congested areas.

Both of the hospitalized suspects had been part of previous terrorism investigations by Britain’s security services, according to a British official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about the police inquiry and cautioned that details could jeopardize future trials.

It was unclear how recent the investigations were, whether the men were loosely tied to other suspects being investigated, or whether they themselves had been put under surveillance, which could have included being watched by undercover investigators or having their phone calls and emails intercepted.

Dramatic video showed a black man – animated, hands stained with blood and holding a meat cleaver – criticizing the British government and the presence of U.K. troops in foreign lands.

Maajid Nawaz, a former Islamist now with the London-based Quilliam anti-extremism think tank in London, said the video and emerging details indicated the men had been inspired by al-Qaida even though they may not have been directed by any specific affiliate to attack the soldier.

“There is always mood music playing before these attacks happen,” Nawaz told the AP. “In this instance, I’m not saying they are operationally linked to al-Qaida, but these men clearly felt an affinity to this global jihadist zeitgeist. And they wouldn’t have had to have visited any foreign countries for this ideology to have resonated with them.”

Security officials have been worried over the recent increase of men seeking training and fighting opportunities in countries such as Syria, Somalia and Yemen.

Dozens of British men and women are said to have been radicalized by U.S.-born militant cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, the militant leader who was killed in a 2011 U.S. drone strike in Yemen.

A Twitter account used by members of Somalia’s al-Shabab militant group made a lengthy post Thursday about the attack in Woolwich.

The Twitter account referenced the video in which the bloodied suspect called the attack “an eye for an eye.” The tweet said the British army had a “woeful record of abuses” against Muslims worldwide.

“We swear by almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you,” the man in the video declared, complaining about British troops fighting Muslims. “We must fight them as they fight us.”

The camera then panned away to show a body lying on the ground. This video, with its venomous threats, may provide the lasting image of the tragedy.

Police in the eastern England county of Lincolnshire said a property was searched in connection to the Woolwich attack. Police said a search warrant had been obtained but would not provide details. Police were also scouring the attack site for further clues.

There also was a police raid on a public housing complex in east Greenwich just outside of London thought to be related to the investigation.

One man was arrested Wednesday outside a mosque in Essex after he threw a smoke bomb, police said. He was also found to be carrying knives and is expected in court Friday. No one was injured.

Separately, police in Kent said they charged a 45-year-old man with religiously aggravated criminal damage and burglary. The man, Andrew John Grindlay, was arrested Wednesday night.

There were no incidents reported at London mosques. Police called for calm and said there were 1,200 officers deployed on the streets.

Britain’s security threat remained the same since the killing, but security officials said they were reviewing preparations for the June 17-18 Group of Eight summit in Northern Ireland. Obama and other world leaders are expected to attend.

Police defended the speed of the department’s response to the Woolwich attack. Assistant Commissioner Simon Byrne said police were on the scene nine minutes after receiving the first emergency call. Once it became clear that guns were involved, firearms officers were called and arrived 14 minutes after the first call to police, he said.

The Ministry of Defense said Rigby, who joined the army in 2006, was a machine gunner posted in Cyprus, Afghanistan and Germany before becoming a recruiter who assisted with duties in the Tower of London.

Nicknamed “Riggers,” he was an important member of the Corps of Drums who was known for his good nature and wit, and his love of his hometown soccer team, Manchester United, according to fellow soldiers.

“He was one of the battalion’s great characters, always smiling and always ready to brighten the mood with his fellow Fusiliers. He was easily identified … on parade by the huge smile on his face and how proud he was to be a member of the Drums,” Warrant Officer Class 1 Ned Miller said in a statement issued by the ministry.

Rigby’s family said he would “do anything for anybody,” always looked out for his sisters and took a “big brother” role with everyone he met.

“He was a loving son, husband, father, brother, and uncle, and a friend to many,” the family said in a statement issued by the ministry.

–

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This Terrible Chart Shows the Change in Food Stamp Participation Over the Last 10 Years

Becket Adams — Thu, 23 May 2013 23:50:53 +0000

The Senate Budget Committee Republican staff under Ranking Member Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) on Thursday released this depressing chart:

“Food stamps are only 1 of 80 means-tested public assistance programs,” the senator’s office explained.

“If all spending on federal welfare and public add was converted into cash one could send a check for $60,000 to each household living beneath the poverty line.”

And the Alabama senator, a long-time proponent of fiscal restraint, is not happy with the data.

“No longer can we measure compassion by how much money we spend on poverty but how many people we help to rise out of poverty,” the senator said.

“That is why compassion requires us to reform a broken welfare state that is fostering dependency, hurting families and communities, and failing in the most important goal of helping people achieve self-sufficiency,” he added. “Welfare spending has increased thirty percent in the last four years, but poverty has gone up, not down.”

The senator continued:

The best example of our broken welfare state may be the food stamp program: food stamp spending has increased every single year since 2000, even when the economy is improving. 1 in 6 Americans are now on food stamps and the USDA has an aggressive campaign to enroll millions more—whether they need the benefit or not.

We must return to the moral principles of the 1996 reform and the idea that, over time, welfare damages not only the Treasury but the recipient. Normal support structures like family, church and community are replaced by federal bureaucracy.

President Obama recently said that ‘every dollar we budget, every decision we make has to be an expression of who we wish to be as a nation, our values.’ It is through that prism that we should address the need to reform our welfare programs, ensure resources are targeted to those in genuine need, and help more people transition from dependence to independence.

–

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Featured image screen grab.

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Man Who Helped Rescue 3 Kidnapped Women in Ohio Gets Awesome Hometown Surprise

Jason Howerton — Thu, 23 May 2013 23:25:43 +0000

FILE – This May 6, 2013 file photo shows neighbor Charles Ramsey speaking to media near the home where missing women Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michele Knight were rescued in Cleveland. Ramsey, the man who famously put down his Big Mac to help rescue three women held captive for a decade in an Ohio house will never have to pay for another burger in his hometown. Ramsey has been promised free burgers for life at more than a dozen Cleveland-area restaurants. Credit: AP

CLEVELAND (TheBlaze/AP) — The man who famously put down his Big Mac to help rescue three women held captive for years in a Cleveland house will get free McDonald’s for the next year, a company spokeswoman confirmed Thursday.

Local franchisees in Charles Ramsey’s neighborhood have offered him free food at their restaurants, said Heidi Barker, a spokeswoman for Oak Brook, Ill.-based McDonald’s Corp.

Ramsey was called a hero after helping Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight break out of the house May 6. Homeowner Ariel Castro faces charges. His defense team has said he will plead not guilty.

Ramsey had noted in an interview with a local TV station that he was eating McDonald’s when the scene unfolded. He also spoke of it in a 911 call. Both the interview and the call quickly became popular online, and McDonald’s caught wind of Ramsey’s mentions.

The world’s biggest hamburger company had said a day after the rescue on Twitter: “We salute the courage of Ohio kidnap victims & respect their privacy. Way to go Charles Ramsey – we’ll be in touch.”

Barker said local McDonald’s owner-operators later connected with Ramsey.

“Out of respect for the survivors of this harrowing ordeal and the ongoing investigation, we have not shared publicly details of our outreach,” Barker said in an email.

McDonald’s also has made a $10,000 donation to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in the names of the three women and Ramsey, Barker said.

Ramsey has also been promised free burgers for life at more than a dozen Cleveland-area restaurants.

The restaurant where Ramsey worked as a dishwasher initially created a special burger in his honor, but eateries in the city decided a larger tribute was due, The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer reported.

The newspaper said Ramsey was traveling and would get his reward when he returns.

Ramsey’s viral interview following the three women’s rescue has since spawned another viral video featured an auto-tuned Ramsey singing a song titled, “Dead Giveaway.” The video has more than 14 million views on YouTube.

Watch below:

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Did Morgan Freeman Fall Asleep During a Live TV Interview?

Mike Opelka — Thu, 23 May 2013 23:03:39 +0000

Promoting a movie can be exhausting work. Just ask oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman. The 75-year-old star appears to actually fall asleep during a live television interview with Seattle’s Fox TV station Q13.

Freeman and his co-star Michael Caine were in the middle of a “press junket” – a back-to-back-to-back series of interviews – in support of their new movie, “Now You See Me.” What happens in a press junket? The stars are planted in a studio and typically are connected to stations via satellite one after another. If you watch closely, it looks like Freeman dozes off for a few seconds.

Oscar winning actor Morgan Freeman falls asleep on camera. Image: Q13 / Seattle

At the very end of the interview, Michael Caine — thinking the press tour had been completed — makes a comment about this being “the last one.” If that was the case, it is likely that the two had been sitting in those chairs for a couple of hours, answering the same questions and delivering the same talking points about their movie, over and over and over.

Watch closely.

You can watch the full interview with A13 News’ Kaci Anderson and Bill Wixley here.

Here’s the official trailer for “Now You See Me” – opening in theaters on May 31.

So, do you think Freeman feel asleep, or was he just lost in deep thought?

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Beck: What If Obama Admin. Isn’t Lying About the Scandals?

Erica Ritz — Thu, 23 May 2013 22:40:09 +0000

U.S. President Barack Obama speaks at the National Defense University May 23, 2013 in Washington, DC. (Photo: Getty Images)

On his Thursday night television program, Glenn Beck took a different approach to the scandals currently facing the Obama administration: let’s take our leaders at their word.

Few on the right believe the administration’s ever-changing stories regarding Benghazi, the IRS targeting conservatives, and the DOJ seizing the phone records of reporters. The struggle has been to elicit more information to fill in the gaps, or determine who was lying and when.

But Beck said that tonight, for the sake of covering all the bases, we should analyze the ramifications of if the president and his top officials are actually telling the truth.

Would it make you feel more, or less safe?

“The mantra of this administration in the face of the scandals has been the same: We don’t know, we just don’t know,” Beck said, playing a montage of the president, Attorney General Eric Holder, and others.

The only possible explanation if they are telling the truth, Beck said, is that President Obama is “completely disengaged and out of the loop.”

“That would mean he is not in charge of what is happening in the agencies that answer to him. If that is true, are you comfortable with it?” he asked. “Why is he so uninformed and out of touch? How could he possibly effectively govern if he is that far removed? …If he is not the one being informed and updated and steering the ship, who is? Is there anyone?”

Beck proceeded to analyze Benghazi, the DOJ seizing the records of reporters, and Operation Fast and Furious.

“…And the president of the United States had no clue?” Beck said. “None? …If the president is not informed on national security threats like this, what else is he not being informed on? How can he give a speech [on counter-terrorism] like he did today? By his own admission, he’s not being brought into the loop.”

After covering all the scandals in more detail, Beck summarized: “This is the scenario the administration wants you to believe, it’s just been condensed. It’s a scenario where, through their incompetence and indifference, Americans suffer and then when they find out about it, they vow to get to the bottom of it. But have they gotten to the bottom of any of these yet?”

“If this is the story they want you to believe, it is so bad it begs one more question,” Beck concluded. “How bad is the truth?”

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Boy Scouts of America Vote to Allow Gay Members

Becket Adams — Thu, 23 May 2013 22:14:54 +0000

The Boy Scouts of America voted Thursday to lift its long-standing restriction on openly gay members.

Local Scout leaders voting at the group’s annual meeting in Texas supported the measure by more than 60 percent. The new policy will go into effect on January 1, 2014.

From the Associated Press:

The Boy Scouts of America’s National Council has voted to ease a long-standing ban and allow openly gay boys to be accepted as Scouts.

Of the local Scout leaders voting at their annual meeting in Texas, more than 60 percent supported the proposal.

Under the proposal drafted by the Scouts’ governing board, gay adults will remain barred from serving as Scout leaders.

The outcome is unlikely to end a bitter debate over the Scouts’ membership policy.

Some conservative churches that sponsor Scout units wanted to continue excluding gay youths, in some cases threatening to defect if the ban were lifted. More liberal Scout leaders — while supporting the proposal to accept gay youth — have made clear they want the ban on gay adults lifted as well.

Here’s an official statement released in April explaining the reasoning behind the group’s desire to shift policy:

The restriction on openly gay members has stood for nearly 103 years. All that changed today.

–

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Featured image boyscouttrail.com This post has been updated.

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Attorney General Eric Holder’s Role in Fox News Spying Case Revealed?

Jason Howerton — Thu, 23 May 2013 22:11:15 +0000

WASHINGTON, DC – MAY 15: U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder testifies during a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee on oversight of the U.S. Department of Justice May 15, 2013 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Holder faced questions on reports of the subpoena of two months worth of Associated Press journalists’ phone records and the Internal Revenue Services’ scrutiny of conservative organization’s tax exemption requests. Credit: Getty Images

Attorney General Eric Holder personally signed off on the search warrant that labeled Fox News reporter James Rosen a “possible co-conspirator” and resulted in the seizure of his private emails, according to an NBC News law enforcement source.

Holder’s role in the Fox News spying case had not been previously known.

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‘America Is at a Crossroads’: Everything You Need to Know About Obama’s Counter-Terrorism Speech

Erica Ritz — Thu, 23 May 2013 21:56:35 +0000

U.S. President Barack Obama speaks at the National Defense University May 23, 2013 in Washington, DC. (Photo: Getty Images)

President Barack Obama gave a speech on counter-terrorism at National Defense University on Thursday, where he addressed the current policies and practices of the United States, and how he hopes to develop them.

The speech was wide-ranging, hitting on everything from drones to the Department of Justice spying on reporters (and even included a tense exchange with a protester).

“Our nation is still threatened by terrorists,” but the threat has “shifted and evolved” from what we faced on 9/11, Obama said.

He continued: “We must define the nature and scope of this struggle, or else it will define us, mindful of James Madison’s warning that ‘No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.’”

So here’s what you need to know…

Identifying the Enemy: Al-Qaeda Affiliates and Homegrown Extremists

President Obama said during his speech that “the core of al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan is on a path to defeat,” and what we are facing now is more “diffuse” al-Qaeda affiliates “from Yemen to Iraq, from Somalia to North Africa.”

Unrest in the Middle East (he didn’t mention the ‘Arab Spring’ by name) has allowed extremists and state-sponsored networks like Hezbollah to gain territory in places like Syria and Libya. But according to the president, they are primarily “focused on operating in the countries and regions where they are based.” The government remains on the alert in case they attempt any transnational attacks.

But we also need to be aware of the “real threat from radicalized individuals here in the United States,” Obama concluded. The president referenced “a shooter at a Sikh Temple in Wisconsin, a plane flying into a building in Texas,” and “the extremists who killed 168 people at the Federal Building in Oklahoma City,” incorporating a case of terrorism not inspired by radical Islam.

“Deranged or alienated individuals – often U.S. citizens or legal residents – can do enormous damage, particularly when inspired by larger notions of violent jihad,” he said. “That pull towards extremism appears to have led to the shooting at Fort Hood, and the bombing of the Boston Marathon.”

“So that’s the current threat,” he concluded. “Lethal yet less capable al-Qaeda affiliates. Threats to diplomatic facilities and businesses abroad. Homegrown extremists. This is the future of terrorism.”

In Defense of Drones (and a response to Rand Paul)

President Obama spent a significant part of speech defending the use of drones by the U.S. government.

“Despite our strong preference for the detention and prosecution of terrorists, sometimes this approach is foreclosed,” he said. “Al Qaeda and its affiliates try to gain a foothold in some of the most distant and unforgiving places on Earth…”

The use of drones is “effective,” he said, and reduces the risk for our own troops and for civilians located nearby.

Moreover, he added, the use of drones is authorized and legal against an enemy that “would right now kill as many Americans as they could if we did not stop them first.”

Still, there will be new guidelines in place as the war enters a new phase.

“Over the last four years, my administration has worked vigorously to establish a framework that governs our use of force against terrorists – insisting upon clear guidelines, oversight and accountability that is now codified in Presidential Policy Guidance that I signed yesterday,” he said. The appropriate committees of Congress have been briefed on every strike, he added, continuing to say that “beyond the Afghan theater, we only target al-Qaeda and its associated forces.”

Perhaps in response to the buzz created by the filibuster begun by Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) after he received a letter from the Department of Justice that didn’t rule out the possibility of domestic drone strikes, the president said: “For the record, I do not believe it would be constitutional for the government to target and kill any U.S. citizen – with a drone, or a shotgun – without due process. Nor should any President deploy armed drones over U.S. soil.”

Outreach and Foreign Aid

“For all the focus on the use of force, force alone cannot make us safe,” the president continued, saying the “next element of our strategy involves addressing the underlying grievances and conflict that feed extremism, from North Africa to South Asia.

He said we must “patiently” support the transition to democracy in post-Arab Spring countries, support the rebels in Syria while isolating the extremists, and work towards peace between Israelis and Palestinians. But we must also help “modernize economies, upgrade education, and encourage entrepreneurship.”

“Success on these fronts requires sustained engagement, but it will also require resources,” he warned. “I know that foreign aid is one of the least popular expenditures – even though it amounts to less than one percent of the federal budget. But foreign assistance cannot be viewed as charity. It is fundamental to our national security, and any sensible long-term strategy to battle extremism. Moreover, foreign assistance is a tiny fraction of what we spend fighting wars that our assistance might ultimately prevent.”

Targeting Journalists

President Obama also touched on the Department of Justice’s secret seizure of the phone records of Associated Press and Fox News reporters.

He once again insisted he had no part in or prior knowledge of the matter, but said “the Justice Department’s investigation of national security leaks offers a recent example of the challenges involved in striking the right balance between our security and our open society.”

He continued:

“As Commander-in Chief, I believe we must keep information secret that protects our operations and our people in the field. To do so, we must enforce consequences for those who break the law and breach their commitment to protect classified information. But a free press is also essential for our democracy. I am troubled by the possibility that leak investigations may chill the investigative journalism that holds government accountable. Journalists should not be at legal risk for doing their jobs.

Our focus must be on those who break the law. That is why I have called on Congress to pass a media shield law to guard against government over-reach. I have raised these issues with the Attorney General, who shares my concern. So he has agreed to review existing Department of Justice guidelines governing investigations that involve reporters, and will convene a group of media organizations to hear their concerns as part of that review. And I have directed the Attorney General to report back to me by July 12th.”

Guantanamo Bay:

President Obama reiterated his call to close Guantanamo Bay during his speech on Thursday, noting that the cost per prisoner is nearly $1 million per year, in an era of budget cuts. He said we could successfully transfer detainees to other countries or hold them in the United States in prisons where no one has ever escaped from.

“And given my Administration’s relentless pursuit of al-Qaeda’s leadership, there is no justification beyond politics for Congress to prevent us from closing a facility that should never have been opened,” he said.

It was during the Guantanamo portion of his speech that the president was confronted by a vociferous protester who shouted relentlessly about the death of 16-year-old Anwar al-Awlaki’s son, Guantanamo Bay, and more.

Here’s video of the tense exchange (the woman has since been identified as Code Pink founder Medea Benjamin):

[Click here to read TheBlaze's entire post on the interruption]

President Obama received applause when he reacted by saying he would have to go “off script, as you might expect” after the speech.

However, within a few sentences he was right back on, according to the pre-prepared text of the president’s remarks distributed by the White House.

After renewing his call to Congress to close Guantanamo, the president announced he was lifting the moratorium on detainee transfers to Yemen, a notorious training ground for terrorists. According to the Associated Press, of the 166 detainees currently at Guantanamo, about 90 are from Yemen.

Conclusion

President Obama concluded his speech on a positive note, describing how success will be measured.

“The quiet determination; that strength of character and bond of fellowship; that refutation of fear – that is both our sword and our shield. And long after the current messengers of hate have faded from the world’s memory, alongside the brutal despots, deranged madmen, and ruthless demagogues who litter history – the flag of the United States will still wave from small-town cemeteries, to national monuments, to distant outposts abroad,” he said. “And that flag will still stand for freedom.”

“Thank you. God Bless you. And may God bless the United States of America.”

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John McCain Lectures Tea Party Senator on How ‘Business’ Gets Done in Congress: ‘That’s What We’ve Been Doing for a Couple Hundred Years’

Jason Howerton — Thu, 23 May 2013 21:35:07 +0000

Credit: AP

Speaking on Senate floor on Thursday, a fed-up Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) scolded Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) over his objection to initiating House-Senate budget negations unless a debt limit increase is taken off the table. It’s a stance shared by another Tea Party favorite, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas).

McCain lectured Lee over such a proposal, saying it would “paralyze the process.”

“The senator from Utah keeps talking about back-room, closed-door deals,” McCain said, explaining how that’s how stuff gets done in Congress. “How do we reconcile legislation that is passed by one body and the other body? That’s what we’ve been doing for a couple hundred years.”

McCain said Lee isn’t proposing a different process of reconciling legislation between the House and the Senate. He went on to lecture Lee on the way business is done in Congress.

“Perhaps the senator from Utah doesn’t know about that,” McCain continued, “the fact that even if they did raise the debt limit, it could not become law because it doesn’t go to the president of the United States. So again, maybe the senator from Utah ought to learn a little bit more about how business has been done in the Congress of the United States.”

Watch the video via CSPAN/Mediaite below:

(H/T: Meenal Vamburkar, Mediaite)

Featured image via AP

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Report: Top IRS Official Who Pleaded the Fifth Placed on Administrative Leave — What Does It Mean?

Jason Howerton — Thu, 23 May 2013 21:12:42 +0000

UPDATE: Lerner was reportedly asked to resign by Danny Werfel, the newly installed acting IRS commissioner, but refused. From Politico:

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), a senior member of the tax writing Finance Committee, said in a statement Thursday that Lerner was placed on administrative leave after she refused a request from Danny Werfel, the newly installed acting IRS commissioner, to resign.

“My understanding is the new acting IRS commissioner asked for Ms. Lerner’s resignation, and she refused to resign,” Grassley said. “She was then put on administrative leave instead. From all accounts so far, the IRS acting commissioner was on solid ground to ask for her resignation.”

–

Internal Revenue Service Director of Exempt Organizations Lois Lerner. Credit: AFP/Getty Images

Lois Lerner, a top IRS official at the center of the agency’s targeting scandal, has been placed on administrative leave, a source in the IRS’ Cincinnati official told National Review.

Lerner, director of exempt organizations at the IRS, reportedly sent an email to employees on Thursday announcing that she would be on administrative leave.

“Due to the events of recent days, I am on administrative leave starting today,” Lerner reportedly wrote.

“An announcement will be made shortly informing you who will be acting while I am on administrative leave. I know all of you will continue to support EO’s mission during these difficult times,” she continued. “I thank you for all your hard work and dedication…The work you do is important.”

During Wednesday’s House Oversight Committee hearing, Lerner invoked her Fifth Amendment right to remain silent and did not answer any questions from lawmakers. However, she did deliver an opening statements, saying “I did nothing wrong.”

“She has been at the center of the scandal roiling the IRS and the Obama administration since she clumsily planted the question that allowed her to reveal — and apologize for — the agency’s improper targeting of tea party and other conservative groups,” NRO reports.

Featured image via AFP/Getty

–

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Want to See President Obama’s High School Prom Photos?

Becket Adams — Thu, 23 May 2013 20:49:16 +0000

Well here’s something fun: TIME has acquired previously unpublished photos of a 17-year-old Barack Obama preparing for his senior prom:

Photo courtesy TIME.

“Barry spent his days at the Punahou School in Hawaii studying, shooting hoops and goofing off with his friends,” TIME notes. “On prom night … Obama and his date Megan Hughes, a student at the Hawaii School for Girls at La Pietra, … sipped champagne before going to the dance and then an after-party.”

(You can click here to see more photos of President Obama’s senior prom.)

After looking through the president’s prom photos, we got to thinking: why not dig up old middle and high school photos of past presidents?

So we did. Enjoy:

George W. Bush:

Here’s George W. Bush as a senior at Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass., in 1963-64. (Phillips Academy Yearbook)

President George W. Bush was a Cheerleader at Phillips Academy. (classmates.com)

Bill Clinton:

Bill Clinton spent his high school years at Hot Springs High School in Arkansas. (asylum.com)

George H. W. Bush:

George H. W. Bush played baseball at Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass. Photo circa 1942. (George Bush Presidential Library and Museum)

George H. W. Bush at Phillips Academy (1937). (George Bush Presidential Library and Museum)

Ronald Reagan:

Ronald Reagan (front row, fourth from left) and his brother Neil Reagan (front row, third from right) on their Dixon high school football team in Dixon, Illinois. 1925. (reagan.utexas.edu)

Ronald Reagan worked as a lifeguard in Lowell Park, Illinois. Photo circa 1927 (reagan.utexas.edu)

Jimmy Carter:

Jimmy Carter played on the Plains High School basketball team. Carter is in the back row, second from left. (Courtesy Jimmy Carter Library)

Gerald Ford:

Gerald Ford in High School, 1931. (Ford Library Museum)

Gerald Ford, right, captain of the 1930 South High School football team, is shown with coach Cliff Gidding. (Grand Rapids Press File Photo)

Richard Nixon:

Richard Nixon in high school. (Wikimedia Commons)

Lyndon B. Johnson:

Coach Lyndon Johnson with his Sam Houston High School debate team in Houston. Left to right: Luther E. Jones, Margaret Epley, LBJ, Evelyn Lee, and Gene Latimer. Photo circa 1931. (lbjlibrary.tumblr.com)

JFK:

John F. Kennedy attended Choate, a boarding school in Wallingford, Connecticut. Photo circa 1934. (worldhistoryproject.org)

JFK graduates with the class of 1935. He was voted “most likely to succeed” by his classmates. Except his peers didn’t really elect him. He rigged the vote. (worldhistoryproject.org)

Dwight Eisenhower:

Eisenhower graduated from West Point in 1915. In 1916, he married Mamie Doud. (Photo Credit: Dwight D. Eisenhower Library)

BONUS: Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney at Cranbrook School in Michigan. Photo circa 1963. (s3-ec.buzzfed.com)

–

Follow Becket Adams (@BecketAdams) on Twitter

Featured image TIME.

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‘I Swear I Will Kill You…F**k You’: Conservative Comedian Gets Death Threats Following Anti-Muhammad Video

Billy Hallowell — Thu, 23 May 2013 20:18:25 +0000

Comedian Steven Crowder’s “Jesus vs. Muhammad” video has already attracted more than 140,000 views. And, as was expected, he’s getting a harsh response from individuals who are offended by the statements and quips it includes. In addition to threats, profanity and insults are being thrown his way.

Again, considering the video’s content and subject matter, this is no surprise. As previously reported, TheBlaze spoke with Crowder on Wednesday to ask about his motivation for making the anti-Muhammad video. Today, we followed up to learn more about the response he’s receiving.

Crowder said that, so far, he’s observed mostly generic threats against him and his family. These seem to mostly be coming from social media sites. Throughout the day, he has been tweeting and sharing some of the most comical and troublesome of the comments. Here’s just a sampling (WARNING: Graphic language):

Two of the other threats, according to Crowder’s tweets, read, “I swear I will kill you … f**k you” and “I hope you die choking on ur own blood :) u f**kin piece of s**t” (spelling and grammar kept in tact).

And one of the more intriguing responses comes from YouTube user SEEEMSLEGIT. Earlier today the user posted a comment on Crowder’s video that read, “Watch steven. I hope u get shot” (circled below). Earlier, this same user, commenting about the brutal attack that was allegedly undertaken by Islamic radicals in London, wrote, “Don’t blame the religion. It does NOT teach killing” (also circled below).

Screen shot from YouTube

In addition to the insults and threats, Crowder noted that many people are trying to have his video taken down from YouTube by having it “flagged” as inappropriate. The comedian also shared an e-mail he received from the video-sharing site.

“I did receive a notice from YouTube, claiming that there were complaints [that] I was violating law by not having closed captions on my video, which has never happened before,” he said in an e-mail to TheBlaze (he received a second notice later on in the day, which he also shared with us).

For more of the insults and threats waged against Crowder, visit Twitchy. We’ll leave you with the video that sparked the initial controversy:

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Watch Thursday’s BlazeCast Rewind: How Serious Is the HHS Scandal?

Scott Baker — Thu, 23 May 2013 20:08:31 +0000

Follow Scott Baker on Twitter

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Loyal Obama Supporters React to Multiple White House Scandals: ‘That Sounds Fine With Me’

Jason Howerton — Thu, 23 May 2013 19:43:42 +0000

For his latest “Watters’ World” segment, Jesse Watters walked the streets of New York City and asked President Barack Obama’s loyal supporters about the several scandals currently haunting the White House. Those, of course, include the IRS, AP and Benghazi scandals.

The respondents’ answers, even if expected, are still incredible to hear. Some of them tell Watters they don’t really see any problem with the IRS targeting conservative groups while others make excuses for the president.

“That sounds fine with me,” one male Obama supporter replied after asked about the IRS going after Tea Party organizations.

(Fox News)

Other Obama supporters were not even aware that the Obama administration was embroiled in multiple scandals.

“I don’t think it’s really like a huge scandal,” another man said about the IRS scandal.

One woman gave Obama a pass on the scandals because “he seems like a good guy.”

To be fair, some respondents did express some concern about the scandals. However, one particularly loyal Obama supporter speculated that Obama may have been “planning his next move” to help the economy by spying on reporters at the Associated Press.

“I always assume that a president will be also be a criminal,” one woman told Watters. “There is no way to be an honest president of like a dishonest country.”

Watters also asked several Obama voters about the deadly Benghazi attack. Watch the segment via Fox News below:

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Disney Makes Absolutely Mortifying Photoshop Mistake

Jason Howerton — Thu, 23 May 2013 19:34:04 +0000

Photoshop is a great tool for graphic design artists, but it has also caused problems when the final product doesn’t come out quite right.

The latest example of such a mistake is evident on the packaging of a Pixar Cars-themed kiddie pool manufactured by a Disney company.

As the Huffington Post points out, Reddit user Metenback posted the photo of the box with the horrible Photoshop oversight:

(Reddit)

Other than the obvious, you may also notice part of the woman’s leg is clearly cut off. Fortunately, that is further proof that the photo was cropped together and not a real still image.

“Consumerist’s Chris Morran debunked the theory that the Reddit user was responsible for creating the image — the offending packaging is available on other sites like eBay and Amazon,” HuffPost adds.

However, there is also a non-terrifying version of the Pixar Cars-themed pool on Amazon, so perhaps the mistake was eventually addressed.

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Frustrated Obama Goes Toe-to-Toe With Woman Interrupting Counterterrorism Speech: ‘Why Don’t You Sit Down…?’

Jonathon M. Seidl — Thu, 23 May 2013 18:59:03 +0000

President Barack Obama reacts to a woman yelling at him from the back of the auditorium as he talks about national security, Thursday, May 23, 2013, at the National Defense University at Fort McNair in Washington. Credit: AP

President Obama was interrupted on multiple occasions by a female audience member during his afternoon counterrorism speech at the National Defense University.

“Let me finish, ma’am,” Obama said after the woman — now identified as the co-founder of the group CODEPINK, Medea Benjamin — first interrupted, clenching his mouth and raising a finger. He then tried to laugh it off and move on, but Benjamin continued, prompting a more stern response.

“I’m about to address it ma’am,” he said, pointing out at her, “but you got to let me speak. I’m about to address it.”

Benjamin continued. So did he: “Let me address it.”

She didn’t stop.

“Why don’t you let me address it, ma’am?”

“Why don’t you sit down and I will tell you exactly what I’m going to do?” a visibly frustrated Obama then said.

“Thank you ma’am, thank you,” he added as the audience clapped. “Thank you. Ma’am. Thank you. You should let me finish my sentence.”

That seemed to satisfy Benjamin for a bit, but soon after she continued, screaming out on at least three separate occasions, angry over Obama’s use of drones and that the prison at Guantanamo Bay remained open. She also demanded the release of Shaker Aamer “a Saudi Arabian citizen and former U.K. resident who has been held at GitMo since 2002,” Metro reports.

During the final outburst, Obama let her yell her points, standing silently and looking away.

“The voice of that woman is worth paying attention to,” he said near the end. “Obviously I do not agree with much of what she said. And obviously she wasn’t listening to me in much of what I said. But these are tough issues, and the suggestion that we can gloss over them is wrong.”

He then continued on with is prepared remarks.

It’s unclear why the woman was not removed after the first outburst and allowed to interrupt on multiple occasions and for such a lengthy period.

The first two interruptions are below:

The Huffington Post’s Ryan Reilly captured video Benjamin being escorted out of the speech, identifying her in the video’s description:

Benjamin had retweeted earlier in the day a message from CODEPINK that said the group would be at the speech to protest:

(Twitter.com/medeabanjamin)

CODEPINK proudly claimed responsibility for Benjamin after, even making her available for interviews:

Thanks to our very own @medeabenjamin for standing up and speaking the truth to @BarackObama! @DemocracyNow_ @nytimes @msnbc @nprpolitics

about 23 hours ago via webReply RetweetFavorite

@codepink

CODEPINK

NOW: @medeabenjamin of @codepink available for interviews after speaking out during POTUS speech. Email gmail.com">candice.codepink@gmail.com for info.

about 22 hours ago via webReply RetweetFavorite

@codepink

CODEPINK

This story has been updated

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