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“You’ll have to take my word for it,” said a spokesperson for the most transparent administration in history when reporters asked her to substantiate her claim that the CIA removed references to terrorists from the Benghazi talking points before the State Department ever saw them. “If you look at the talking points and the train of that, the reference to al Qaeda was taken out even before the State Department saw the talking points,” Jen Psaki, former traveling campaign press secretary for the Obama team in 2012, told reporters during the State Department press briefing Monday.

The Foundation for Individual Rights In Higher Education (FIRE) is the premier non-partisan organization fighting to protect free speech and other constitutional rights on campus.  The FIRE defends everyone’s rights, regardless of political affiliation.We have cited The FIRE numerous times here and at College Insurrection, and they have submitted a few guests posts on campus issues.The FIRE is not an organization prone to hyperbole.So when I received this email late this afternoon from FIRE Senior Vice President Robert Shibley, it got my attention: THIS. IS. OUTRAGEOUS. The government has mandated speech codes on all campuses. I hoped I would never see this day, but...

See note Victoria sent me: Greta, I really do not appreciate a headline saying I was accused of lying. Here is my response for you to add to your piece: I said Ventrell was “incompetent or lying’” because he said on 4/30 he knew of no “attorney” requests when he knew very well that Issa had written two letters asking for a process to clear lawyers and DOS had not responded. He purposefully mischaracterized it as an “attorney” request so he could shoot it down. I have never said I requested my clearance; I always said the Department had not...

The State Department has acknowledged that five U.S. personnel killed in Afghanistan, including 25-year-old diplomat Anne Smedinghoff, were on foot when they were attacked by a suicide bomber, and not in an armored vehicle, as officials had told bereaved relatives earlier this week. The violent deaths of U.S. diplomatic personnel — and the State Department’s changing account of how they died — harken back to the debacle in Benghazi, Libya, where Islamist extremists killed four Americans in assaults on the U.S. diplomatic compound on Sept. 11. “We are able to clarify at this point that they were

I’m still waiting for the Hitler quote. Or is there a minimum number of people that a dictator has to murder before he gets placement on a part of the Department of Education website devoted to kids. This isn’t a generic quote about education being a good thing. It’s actually a quote about the need for Communist indoctrination among Communist Party members. The full quote that the Department of Education cut down comes at the end of an essay on “The Role of the Chinese Communist Party in the National War” “Whoever refuses to study these problems seriously and carefully...

A top Obama administration Department of Labor (DOL) official sent an email to Department employees March 1, as workers were fearing furloughs as a result of sequestration, urging them to vote in an Episcopal Church-themed online game called “Lent Madness,” prompting outrage from Department workers who perceived the email as being in poor taste and a possible violation of separation of church and state. Carl Fillichio, senior adviser for communications and public affairs at DOL, sent an email from his government computer and official email account system to instruct DOL Office of Public Affairs employees to vote in an online...

Remember the State Department had no money for Benghazi security because of the mean GOP. But it can always seem to find huge chunks of cash for really stupid things like this. This “Hope” nonsense smacks of an extension of Obama’s permanent campaign and it’s largely meant to fool Americans into thinking that matters in Afghanistan have improved so much that the departure is not a defeat. That makes this expensive propaganda boondoggle of dubious legality and obvious uselessness. The U.S. Embassy in Kabul plans to spend up to $250,000 in taxpayer money on the creation of a website that...

The U.S. government has approved the sale of U.S. taxpayer-backed A123 Systems to a Chinese company, despite security and economic concerns about sensitive technology changing hands. A representative with A123 Systems confirmed Tuesday to FoxNews.com that Wanxiang America Corp. has gotten approval from a Treasury Department agency to take over "substantially all" of the non-government business assets of the lithium ion battery manufacturer. "We're pleased the government has completed its review and provided us with the go-ahead to finalize this transaction," Pin Ni, president of Wanxiang America, said in a written statement. A representative with the Treasury Department's Committee on...

Washington-The Obama administration has delayed a decision on TransCanada Corp´s rerouted Keystone XL oil pipeline until after March, even though Nebraska´s governor on Tuesday approved a plan for part of the line running through his state. "We don´t anticipate being able to conclude our own review before the end of the first quarter of this year," said Victoria Nuland, a spokeswoman at the State Department, which had previously said it would make a decision by that deadline. She said the department would take into consideration approval of the line by Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman.

The Obama administration has been consistently arguing since announcing a year’s grace period for some religious organizations to figure out how to violate their consciences and obey the Department and Health and Human Services abortion-drug, contraception, sterilization mandate, that the controversy over religious freedom and the mandate is over and the Catholics are happy. That, as has been pointed out here before, ignores all the lawsuits pending. And that they are not just from Catholics. Today in New York, a judge dismissed Justice Department claims that the Archdiocese of New York’s lawsuit in response to the coercive mandate is unnecessary....

-Take Politics Out of Student Loan Process (Debate is divided along party lines) -Working Together Is the Only Way (Republicans opposed to modernizing schools) -American Jobs Act Will Create Jobs Today and in the Future (Nothing controversial & everything paid for) -Fix No Child Left Behind (If congress does not act, Obama will) -DREAM Act Gives Young People a Shot (Only 8 reasonable Republicans)

United Liberty points out that convicted "Speedway bomber" Brett Kimberlin and his Justice Through Music Project are partners with the U.S. Department of State in the "International Visitor Leadership Program," a taxpayer-funded professional exchange program. The Justice Through Music Project reported yesterday on its participation in the State Department's program, and on the visitors the government brought to meet Kimberlin (see photo above--note the anti-Bush poster on the wall): JTMP has been a participant in the State Department's International Visitor Leadership Program for 3 years now, where citizens from around the world involved in the arts get to come to...

The Justice Department today precleared Florida’s Congressional map, making the GOP-friendly lines enforceable law. The new lines, passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature and signed into law by GOP Gov. Rick Scott, are likely to lead to Democrats picking up two to four seats in November. But the Florida delegation is almost certain to remain overwhelmingly Republican. The current House delegation includes 19 Republicans and six Democrats. Reapportionment granted Florida two new seats because of increases in population. The 1965 Voting Rights Act requires the Justice Department or the federal court in Washington, D.C., to certify new Congressional maps before they...

The Justice Department is tightening procedures for responding to information requests from Congress in the aftermath of a troubled arms trafficking investigation. In Operation Fast and Furious, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives allowed hundreds of weapons to flow across the border into Mexico. The Justice Department told three congressional committees in a letter Friday night that it has improved coordination between agents and their managers in carrying out arms trafficking investigations. Attorney General Eric Holder probably will face questions about the changes when he testifies Thursday before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. That committee has...

(CNSNews.com) -- The United States is not “overly concerned” about the Iraqi government detaining a “handful of U.S. contractors” over visas and paperwork, State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters on Tuesday. Back on Jan. 11, the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad issued an “emergency warning” for U.S. citizens in Iraq, informing them “not [to] attempt movements about the country in the absence of valid, current permits and paperwork.” On Sunday, Jan. 15, the International Stability Operations Association (ISOA), an organization that represents contractors in Iraq, sent a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton asking her to intervene regarding...

Laurie Robinson, Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs (OJP) under Attorney General Eric Holder, is leaving the Department of Justice (DOJ), according to an announcement released just before the start of the Iowa caucuses. "Laurie Robinson has helped transform OJP’s role in the criminal and juvenile justice field, bringing scientific rigor, a true sense of partnership, transparency, and accountability to the agency," Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement on her departure at the end of February. "I am proud of her service to OJP’s constituents, the Department of Justice and the Obama Administration and personally...

The U.S. Justice Department has blocked South Carolina’s controversial voter ID law, saying it would prevent black people from voting. It was the first voter ID law to be refused by the federal agency in nearly 20 years. The decision means voters will not have to show a Department of Motor Vehicles-issued driver’s license or photo ID card, a U.S. military ID or a U.S. passport. And it means the state, which says it plans to appeal the decision in court, will spend time and taxpayer dollars on the second such lawsuit during Gov. Nikki Haley’s term.

Phoenix - Sheriff Joe Arpaio said a scathing U.S. Justice Department report about his office's law enforcement tactics against Latinos marks "a sad day for America as a whole." Billed as America's toughest sheriff, Arpaio struck a defiant tone at a Thursday afternoon news conference in response to the report, which he called a politically motivated attack by the Obama administration that will make Arizona unsafe. (Snip) Homeland Security also will restrict the sheriff's office use of the Secure Communities program, which uses fingerprints collected in local jails to identify illegal immigrants.

Today the Islamized State Department will be meeting with the Islamic supremacist Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to discuss strategies and develop action plans in which to impose the restriction of free speech (or blasphemy, as truthful speech about Islam is considered in Islamic law) under the Sharia here in America. Photos accompanying news reports about the upcoming meeting shows Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu at a meeting last summer in Istanbul. Such prominence is given to this totalitarian organization. That photo reminds me of Neville and Adolf.

Wouldn`t it be music to the ears of all freedom loving Americans to hear one of our so called ``conservative`` talk show hosts ask Mr. Gingrich some tough questions, e.g., why he sided with the progressive Jimmy Carter in creating the un-constitutional federal department of education? And likewise ask Mr. Gingrich if he was wrong in helping to create this vehicle for a subversive federal takeover of public school systems established under state Constitutions? How about one of our ``conservative`` talk show hosts asking Mr. Gingrich, in reference to his vote to create the federal department of education, what part...