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On Monday, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told the American Bar Association annual meeting in San Francisco that she would be launching a series of speeches about American foreign policy in the “next few months.” According to Philip Rucker, White House correspondent for The Washington Post, Hillary planned to emphasize restoring faith in government – an ironic theme, considering that she was a member of the current administration presiding over the rapid decline in faith in government.

<p>Former Florida Rep. Allen West had some harsh words for nationally known civil rights activists like the Rev. Jesse Jackson and the Rev. Al Sharpton, who have remained silent on a video showing black teens beating a white boy on a school bus.</p>

Following in the well-worn footsteps of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his Blueprint for Federal Action on Illegal Guns, this week the Council on Foreign Relations released a memo urging the Obama administration to disregard the will of the American people and Congress and unilaterally enact a series of gun controls. Entitled, A Strategy to Reduce Gun Trafficking and Violence in the Americas, and written by CFR Senior Fellow for Latin American Studies, Julia F. Sweig, the memo pins the ills of Central and South America on U.S. gun owners and urges the president to curb our rights to...

North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory (R) on Monday signed into law one of the nation’s most wide-ranging Voter ID laws. The move is likely to touch off a major court battle over voting rights, and the Justice Department is weighing a challenge to the new law. The measure requires voters to present government-issued photo identification at the polls and shortens the early voting period from 17 to 10 days. It will also end pre-registration for 16- and 17-year-old voters who will be 18 on Election Day and eliminates same-day voter registration. Democrats and minority groups have been fighting against the...

A sudden influx of illegal immigrants from Mexico requesting asylum is overwhelming immigration agents in San Diego, forcing agencies to rent hotel rooms

"Comprehensive immigration reform," like virtually any initiative containing the magic word "comprehensive," looks good on the surface. But the details of the comprehensive immigration bill passed by the Senate in June by a 68-32 margin reveal a lot gone wrong underneath. Oblivious to this, top union leaders are gearing up for an all-out blitz this fall to secure passage of similar legislation in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives. Led by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka (in photo), they are obsessed with providing 11 million or more persons living illegally in this country with amnesty and eventual citizenship, and with enabling millions...

A federal court handed a big defeat to Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the New York Police Department today, ruling that the controversial “stop and frisk� program infringed on constitutional rights. Judge Shira Scheindlin appointed a federal monitor to oversee the NYPD and “reform� the practice, although that might prove impossible: A federal judge appointed an independent monitor Monday to oversee changes to the New York Police Department’s contentious policy known as stop, question and frisk, a significant judicial rebuke for what the mayor and police commissioner have defended as a life-saving, crime-fighting tool. …Four men had sued saying they were...

Sarah Palin has chosen sides in the ongoing feud between the Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. “I’m on team Rand,” she said on Fox News Saturday. “Rand Paul understands. He gets the whole notion of don't-tread-on-me government. Whereas Chris Christie is for big government and trying to go-along-to-get-along in so many respects.”

There is no connection, of course, between the prosecution of Whitey Bulger and the recent spate of scandals and revelations roiling the Obama administration. Or is there? * * * The corruption of the federal government was a key element in Bulger’s trial, as it was in so much of his sadistic career. Officials charged with defending the public from gangsters like Bulger used their considerable influence to defend the gangster instead. * * * The Bulger trial, the IRS scandal, and our surveillance state are the latest reminders that even the best government in the world depends on human...

WASHINGTON – For President Barack Obama, August was supposed to be the time when a major immigration bill landed on his desk. There was hope for movement on a deficit deal with Republicans, and in the optimistic early days of his second term, even a belief that he would have achieved stricter gun laws. Instead, Obama finds his fifth year in office beset by distractions, perhaps none with broader implications than the revelation of secret government surveillance programs. That matter dominated Obama’s hourlong news conference Friday. The issues that the White House had hoped to be promoting this summer? They...

President Obama took his case for ending the sequester to hundreds of disabled veterans Saturday, saying he protected their benefits from the “reckless” cuts to the federal budget but suggesting next year might be different. “It’s hurting our military. I made it clear that your veteran’s benefits are exempt from this year’s sequester,” the president said to the applause of hundreds at the Disabled American Veterans' convention in Orlando, Fla. “But I want to tell you going forward the best way to protect the VA care you have earned is to get rid of this sequester altogether.” The president...

Vice President Joe Biden is calling Democrats to action to stop grassroots conservatives from electing more Republicans in the mold of Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Ted Cruz (R-TX). In a fundraising letter for the Democratic National Committee, first reported by Ed Krayewski at Reason, Biden wrote told prospective donors that a “group of freshmen senators are running the show in the Republican Party” and played up the possibility of a government shutdown over ObamaCare.

Sen. Mark Pryor gets an assist from Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand to save him from Bloomberg’s money, then cuts the ribbon at an ammunition factory. Gun control advocates are fine with the factory thing, but not Gillibrand’s money. Welcome to Arkansas 2014. WASHINGTON — Sen. Mark Pryor broke ground at an expanded Remington ammunition factory in his home state of Arkansas Thursday — a gun-friendly move by a gun-friendly Democrat. That’s not normally something that would make much news: Even ardent Democrats in Arkansas are firmly supportive of gun rights. But with pro-gun control Democrats coming to his aid, Pryor’s 2014...

Dr. Benny Peiser at The Australian: Europe pulls the plug on its green future Slowly but gradually, Europe is awakening to a green energy crisis, an economic and political debacle that is entirely self-inflicted.The mainstream media, which used to encourage the renewables push enthusiastically, is beginning to sober up too. With more and more cracks beginning to appear, many newspapers are returning to their proper role as the fourth estate, exposing the pitfalls of Europe’s green-energy gamble and opening their pages for thorough analysis and debate. Today, European media is full of news and commentary about the problems of an...

On December 7, 1941, the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor was attacked. Three years, eight months, and eight days later, the Japanese surrendered. These days, America’s military moves at a more leisurely pace. On November 5, 2009, another U.S. base, Fort Hood, was attacked — by one man standing on a table, screaming “Allahu akbar!” and opening fire. Three years, nine months, and one day later, his court-martial finally got under way. The intervening third-of-a-decade-and-more has apparently been taken up by such vital legal questions as the fullness of beard Major Hasan is permitted to sport in court. This...

Thousands of small-business owners have received letters from the Internal Revenue Service questioning whether they are underreporting their business income, a harbinger of a broader initiative aimed at boosting federal tax receipts and ensuring compliance. The program is the latest move in the agency's effort to combat what it sees as a widespread problem: failure by businesses, including mom-and-pops, to report all cash sales in order to minimize tax bills. Tax officials say the letters don't constitute an audit and instead are simply a request for more information. Some business owners and some lawmakers, however, call the new IRS program...

What really happened to Navy SEAL Team 6? In August 2011, the elite special forces unit suffered the worst battlefield calamity in its history. A Taliban fighter shot down a Chinook helicopter carrying 22 Navy SEAL Team 6 members in Afghanistan. All 38 persons on board — the Navy SEAL warriors, other U.S. military personnel and seven Afghan soldiers — were killed. Grieving family members have been demanding answers. They may now get some as Congress finally opens an investigation. Navy SEAL Team 6 has attained international prominence for one reason: They were responsible for killing Osama bin Laden. They...

Obama to Unveil New Plans for Surveillance Transparency President Could Also Address Terrorism Threat, Russian Relations By JARED A. FAVOLE And PETER NICHOLAS WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama is set to announce new measures Friday to "increase transparency and restore public trust" in government surveillance programs, according to a House aide briefed on the plan. The president is expected to disclose specifics at a press conference scheduled for 3 p.m. Eastern time. The press conference, his first in months, comes amid a swirl of pressing issues, including the surveillance programs, new terrorism threats and the deeper chill in Russian relations. Mr. Obama...

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s lobbying outfit has launched a $350,000 ad buy to defend House Budget Committee chairman Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) amid his push for comprehensive immigration reform. Politico reports that Zuckerberg’s FWD.us-run group, Americans for a Conservative Direction, has bought up $350,000 worth of television ad airtime targeted at Ryan’s district. "The spot from the FWD.us affiliate begins with a picture of Ryan and says, ‘Amnesty? Not a chance,’ and goes on to say the House budget chairman is looking at a ‘conservative solution’ to the issue of immigration,” Politico wrote on Thursday. “It then focuses on more...

Security inside Iraq is unraveling at an alarming pace, and al Qaeda terrorists there aren’t just pulling the thread; they’re setting it on fire. More than 1,000 Iraqis were killed in bombings and shootings last month, making July the deadliest month since violence between Sunni and Shiite Muslims peaked from 2006 to 2008, the United Nations says. On Thursday, gunmen stormed a policeman’s home in Tikrit and killed him, his wife and their three children. When neighbors later approached the house, a nearby car bomb exploded and killed eight people — a noted al Qaeda tactic, though the terrorist group...

JERUSALEM, Israel -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran is accelerating efforts to produce weapons-grade uranium for making nuclear bombs. Speaking with a delegation of U.S. congressmen, led by Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., Netanyahu said Iran's "quest toward the achievement of atomic weapons not only continues, it continues unabated. It's actually accelerated." "I know that some place their hopes on Iran's new president. He knows how to exploit this," Netanyahu said. "And yesterday he called for more talks." "Of course he wants more talks. He wants to talk and talk and talk. And while everybody is busy talking to...

SNIPPET: "Gufran Ahmed Kauser Mohammed, 30, and Mohamed Hussein Said, 25, face an indictment charging them with conspiring to provide and attempting to provide material support to three U.S.-designated terrorist organizations that have operated in Iraq, Syria and Somalia, according to authorities." SNIPPET: "The defendants, while based overseas in 2011-13, allegedly sent thousands of dollars via Western Union to an al-Qaida terrorist affiliate, al-Nusrah Front, which is fighting the government of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria. They also allegedly sent funds to al-Shabaab, another terrorist group seeking to overthrow the U.S.-backed transitional government in Somalia."

The National Security Agency, hit by disclosures of classified data by former contractor Edward Snowden, said Thursday it intends to eliminate about 90 percent of its system administrators to reduce the number of people with access to secret information. Keith Alexander, the director of the NSA, the U.S. spy agency charged with monitoring foreign electronic communications, told a cybersecurity conference in New York City that automating much of the work would improve security. "What we're in the process of doing - not fast enough - is reducing our system administrators by about 90 percent," he said. The remarks came as...

With conditions continuing to deteriorate in Syria, the Obama administration is making a major policy shift by agreeing for the first time to allow thousands of new Syrian refugees into the United States, The Cable has learned. The numbers are relatively small: just 2,000 refugees, compared to an estimated two million people who have fled Syria during the civil war. But it's a significant increase from the 90 or so Syrian refugees who have been permanently admitted to the U.S. in the last two years. And it's not entirely uncontroversial. The refugees, mostly women and children, will be screened for...

Russian supersonic missiles behave like wolves August 8, 2013 Viktor Litovkin, special to RBTH Yakhont anti-ship cruise missile at the 3rd International Airspace Show in Moscow. Source: RIA Novosti Large-scale construction of the next-generation Project 885 Yasen-class submarine armed with Onyx supersonic missiles is starting in Russia. These ships will compete with the latest American Seawolf-class nuclear submarines and will be world leaders in terms of fire power. Large-scale construction of the next-generation Project 885 Yasen-class multi-purpose nuclear attack submarine, armed with Onyx supersonic cruise missiles, is starting in Russia. The ships will compete with the latest American Seawolf-class nuclear...

In a move some claim is tantamount to social engineering, the Department of Housing and Urban Development is imposing a new rule that would allow the feds to track diversity in America’s neighborhoods and then push policies to change those it deems discriminatory. The policy is called, "Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing." It will require HUD to gather data on segregation and discrimination in every single neighborhood and try to remedy it. HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan unveiled the federal rule at the NAACP convention in July. "Unfortunately, in too many of our hardest hit communities, no matter how hard a child...

Submitted by Simon Black via Sovereign Man blog, A massive 1,131 individuals renounced their US citizenship last quarter, according to data that has yet to be officially released (though I was able to procure an advanced copy). This is a HUGE jump. Compared to the same quarter last year in which 188 people renounced their US citizenship, this year’s number is over SIX TIMES higher. Not to mention, it's 66.5% higher than last quarter's 679 renunciations. This brings the total number of renunciations so far this year to 1,810. While still embryonic, it's difficult to ignore this trend– more and...

Illinois Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D) made a dramatic declaration while talking to the Washington Post about the votes needed to pass immigration reform through the House.

Members of Congress have been on recess for only a few days, but it already seems the time away from Washington means more support for a pathway to citizenship among some Republicans. In the past few days, two Republican members of the House of Representatives - Daniel Webster in Florida, Aaron Schock in Illinois - have expressed preliminary support for a way to legalize undocumented immigrants and allow them to eventually earn full citizenship. Even the House GOP whip, Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), announced support for legal status, although he stopped just short of supporting full citizenship. McCarthy, a big target...

Casey James Fury simply didn't want to be at work, and in the process cost the Navy nearly a half-billion dollars and one attack submarine. Fury admitted to setting fire to the USS Miami, a nuclear sub, in May 2012 while it was in dry dock. Fury also admitted to starting a second fire at the dry dock three weeks later, according to federal court documents. In both cases, he told investigators that he started the fires because he was having extreme anxiety and was trying to get out of work, according to federal documents. On Tuesday, the Navy announced...

“If you thought the IRS targeting — scandal, controversy, whatever you want to call it — was forgotten, think again,� said CNN’s Jake Tapper, introducing Dana Bash’s report last night on House Oversight Chair Darrell Issa’s expansion of the probe. Issa requested information from the Federal Election Commission after leaked e-mails suggested that coordination may have taken place between the two agencies in pursuit of conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status. That may increase the focus on one particular figure in the scandal, as well as potentially add more to it: CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE VIDEO House Oversight Committee...

The top US military officer is scheduled to arrive in Israel and Jordan next week, in a visit which will focus in part on Iran and the war in Syria, the US military said Wednesday. General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will meet in Israel with his counterpart, IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz, to discuss advances in Iran's nuclear program, which Israel regards as an existential threat, given the Islamic regime's declared ambition of destroying the Jewish State, and continued support for anti-Israel terrorist groups. "In Israel, the chairman expects to discuss the United States'...

Congress has won some partial relief for lawmakers and their staffs from the "Obamacare" health reforms that it passed and subjected itself to three years ago. In a ruling issued on Wednesday, U.S. lawmakers and their staffs will continue to receive a federal contribution toward the health insurance that they must purchase through soon-to-open exchanges created by President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law. The decision by the Office of Personnel Management, with Obama's blessing, will prevent the largely unintended loss of healthcare benefits for 535 members of the Senate and House of Representatives and thousands of Capitol Hill staff. When...

Gripped by more than a year of conflict the thriving commercial hub has been transformed into a series of battlefields and front lines, its residents struggling to live on amid the widespread disease, dirty water and crippling food shortages. The aerial pictures show the extent of the destruction of the city, one of the oldest and most historically rich in the world. The Ancient City of Aleppo is a Unesco World Heritage site, this year placed on the UN organisation's list of World Heritage in Danger. “Aleppo has been utterly devastated, its people fleeing the conflagration in huge numbers," said...

Rep. Darrell Issa's demand follows CNN report of contact between the IRS and FEC House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa demanded Wednesday that the Federal Election Commission turn over records of more than five years of communications with the Internal Revenue Service -- a move that significantly expands the California Republican's ongoing probe of alleged federal targeting of conservative groups. In a letter to FEC Chairman Ellen Weintraub -- a Democrat -- Issa cited CNN reporting on Monday that raises "the prospect of inappropriate coordination between the IRS and the FEC about tax-exempt entities." Among other things, Issa asked for...

<p>WASHINGTON – CIA Director John Brennan is making public his letter to CIA employees who survived the attacks on U.S. facilities in Benghazi, Libya, that requests they share their firsthand accounts with the congressional intelligence committees.</p>

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) made his clearest indication yet that he would be fine with a piecemeal approach to immigration reform preferred by the Republican-led House. Schumer, the leader of the Gang of Eight whose comprehensive immigration reform legislation passed the Senate in June, said even if the House passes separate bills, those measures could eventually be bundled in a House-Senate conference committee.

Former Republican Congressman and Drug Czar Asa Hutchinson (at right) holds an eight-point lead over his Democratic rival for governor, former Democratic Rep. Mike Ross, D. The two men are vying to replace Gov. Mike Beebe, D, who defeated Hutchinson for the job in 2006 but cannot run again due to term limits. The Conservative Intel poll of Arkansas, whose Senate results were released yesterday, was conducted by Harper Polling and surveyed 587 likely voters in the state...

t wasn’t just any terrorist message that triggered U.S. terror alerts and embassy closures—but a conference call of more than 20 far-flung al Qaeda operatives, Eli Lake and Josh Rogin report. The crucial intercept that prompted the U.S. government to close embassies in 22 countries was a conference call between al Qaeda’s senior leaders and representatives of several of the group’s affiliates throughout the region. snip Several news outlets reported Monday on an intercepted communication last week between Zawahiri and Nasser al-Wuhayshi, the leader of al Qaeda’s affiliate based in Yemen. But The Daily Beast has learned that the discussion...

A massive fire destroyed the arrivals hall at Kenya's main international airport early Wednesday, forcing the closure of East Africa's largest airport and the rerouting of all inbound flights.

U.S. House Speaker John Boehner, R Ohio, spoke at a fundraiser for U.S. Rep. Scott Perry's campaign committee... Dozens of immigration reform advocates, union representatives, supporters of President Barack Obama and others protested outside a fundraiser for U.S. Rep. Scott Perry's campaign committee. The main target of their criticism was the guest speaker: U.S. House Speaker John Boehner, R Ohio..... Tickets for the private fundraiser started at $500 for an individual and $750 for a couple.... Bob Wilson, chairman of the York County Republican Committee, attended the fundraiser. He said Obamacare and tax reform were two major topics during the...

Japan on Tuesday unveiled its biggest warship since World War II, a huge flat-top destroyer that has raised eyebrows in China and elsewhere because it bears a strong resemblance to a conventional aircraft carrier. The ship, which has a flight deck that is nearly 820 feet long, is designed to carry up to 14 helicopters. Japanese officials say it will be used in national defense -- particularly in anti-submarine warfare and border-area surveillance missions -- and to bolster the nation's ability to transport personnel and supplies in response to large-scale natural disasters, like the devastating earthquake and tsunami in 2011....

The Army psychiatrist behind the shooting rampage at Fort Hood nearly four years ago called himself a "mujahideen" in a short and unrepentant opening statement at his military trial, which will likely feature the bizarre spectacle of him questioning his own victims.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today issued a final rule for the amount of renewable fuels to be added to the nation’s transportation fuel supply in 2013. The most publicized issue related to renewable fuels has been the ethanol “blend wall,” the theoretical point at which ethanol use will be surpassed by the amount of ethanol required by law. As Americans drive less, demand for gasoline falls also reducing demand for ethanol. Because blenders are required either to use the mandated amount, regardless of demand, or pay for credits for the amount they don’t use, the EPA has been...

Yemeni officials have suggested al-Qaida threats to multiple potential targets in their country in recent days, including foreign installations and government offices in the capital of Sanaa as well as to the strategic Bab al-Mandeb straits at the entrance to the Red Sea in the southern Arabian Peninsula. It is not clear if these reports are the same as the intelligence that led to the temporary shutdowns of 19 U.S. diplomatic posts across the Muslim world, reportedly instigated by an intercepted message between al-Qaida chief Ayman al-Zawahri and his deputy in Yemen about plans for a major terrorist attack. The...

When U.S. Rep. Tom Cotton, R (at right) announces his candidacy for Senate at a barbecue this evening, he will be doing so as an early frontrunner in a 2014 race that could ultimately determine which party controls the U.S. Senate.

WASHINGTON — As hundreds of commuters emerged from Amtrak and commuter trains at Union Station on a recent morning, an armed squad of men and women dressed in bulletproof vests made their way through the crowds. The squad was not with the Washington police department or Amtrak’s police force, but was one of the Transportation Security Administration’s Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response squads — VIPR teams for short — assigned to perform random security sweeps to prevent terrorist attacks at transportation hubs across the United States. “The T.S.A., huh,” said Donald Neubauer of Greenville, Ohio, as he walked past the...

SANAA, Yemen (AP) — A suspected U.S. drone killed four alleged al-Qaida members in Yemen on Tuesday, as the U.S. and British embassies evacuated staff amid reports of a threatened attack by al-Qaida that has triggered temporary shutdowns of 19 American diplomatic posts across the Muslim world. Yemeni officials have suggested al-Qaida threats to multiple potential targets in the Arabian Peninsula country in recent days, including foreign installations and government offices in the capital Sanaa as well as to the strategic Bab al-Mandeb straits at the entrance to the Red Sea to the south. It is not clear if these...

The office of George W. Bush revealed the former president had heart surgery Tuesday morning. According to a press release, doctors discovered a blockage in an artery in Bush's heart during the former president's annual physical examination at the Cooper Clinic in Dallas. Bush agreed to have a stent placed to open the blockage and successfully completed the surgery Tuesday morning without complication at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital.

The State Department on Tuesday ordered most embassy personnel out of Yemen and urged all U.S. citizens currently in that country to leave over the Al Qaeda threat that triggered the shutdown of 19 American diplomatic posts this week. The U.S. Air Force already has flown State Department personnel out of the capital of Sanaa as part of the broad evacuation effort. "The U.S. Department of Defense continues to have personnel on the ground in Yemen to support the U.S. State Department and monitor the security situation," Pentagon spokesman George Little said. The rapid-fire developments on Tuesday came as two...