Top Obama Campaign Bundler And U.S. Ambassador To Belgium “Solicited Prostitutes, Including Minors”

Report: U.S. Ambassador To Belgium Who Was Top Obama Campaign Bundler “Solicited Prostitutes, Including Minors” – Weasel Zippers

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The last time we heard from Ambassador Gutman (who raised $500,000 for Obama’s campaign) he was blaming Israel for rampant Muslim anti-Semitism.

WASHINGTON – A State Department whistleblower has accused high-ranking staff of a massive coverup – including keeping a lid on findings that members of then-Secretary Hillary Clinton’s security detail and the Belgian ambassador solicited prostitutes.

A chief investigator for the agency’s inspector general wrote a memo outlining eight cases that were derailed by senior officials, including one instance of interference by Clinton’s chief of staff, Cheryl Mills.

Any mention of the cases was removed from an IG report about problems within the Bureau of Diplomatic Security (DS), which provides protection and investigates crimes involving any State Department workers overseas.

“It’s a coverup,” declared Cary Schulman, a lawyer representing the whistleblower, former State Department IG senior investigator Aurelia Fedenisn. “The whole agency is impaired.

“Undue influence… is coming from political appointees. It’s coming from above the criminal- investigation unit,” added Schulman, whose client provided the document with the revelations.

Some of the revelations were first reported by CBS News.

Among the bombshell findings:

* A DS agent was called off a case against US Ambassador to Belgium Howard Gutman over claims that he solicited prostitutes, including minors.

“The agent began his investigation and had determined that the ambassador routinely ditched his protective security detail in order to solicit sexual favors from both prostitutes and minor children,” says the memo.

“The ambassador’s protective detail and the embassy’s surveillance detection team… were well aware of the behavior.”

Undersecretary of State for Management Patrick Kennedy ordered the investigation ceased, and the ambassador remains in place, according to the memo.

Gutman was a big Democratic donor before taking the post, having raised $500,000 for President Obama’s 2008 campaign and helping finance his inaugural.

Keep reading…

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Chinese Hackers Access Major U.S. Weapons Systems

Chinese Hackers Access Major U.S. Weapons Systems – Washington Free Beacon

Chinese hackers have gained access to designs of more than two dozen major U.S. weapons systems, a U.S. report said on Monday, as Australian media said Chinese hackers had stolen the blueprints for Australia’s new spy headquarters.

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Citing a report prepared for the Defense Department by the Defense Science Board, the Washington Post said the compromised U.S. designs included those for combat aircraft and ships, as well as missile defenses vital for Europe, Asia and the Gulf.

Among the weapons listed in the report were the advanced Patriot missile system, the Navy’s Aegis ballistic missile defense systems, the F/A-18 fighter jet, the V-22 Osprey, the Black Hawk helicopter and the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

The report did not specify the extent or time of the cyber-thefts or indicate if they involved computer networks of the U.S. government, contractors or subcontractors.

But the espionage would give China knowledge that could be exploited in a conflict, such as the ability to knock out communications and corrupting data, the Post said. It also could speed China’s development of its defense technology.

In a report to Congress this month, the Pentagon said China was using espionage to modernize its military and its hacking was a serious concern. It said the U.S. government had been the target of hacking that appeared to be “attributable directly to the Chinese government and military.”

China dismissed the report as groundless.

China also dismissed as without foundation a February report by the U.S. computer security company Mandiant, which said a secretive Chinese military unit was probably behind a series of hacking attacks targeting the United States that had stolen data from 100 companies.

AUSTRALIAN “SECURITY BLUNDER”

In Australia, a news report said hackers linked to China stole the floor plans of a A$630 million headquarters for the Australia Security Intelligence Organization, the country’s domestic spy agency.

The attack through the computers of a construction contractor exposed not only building layouts, but also the location of communication and computer networks, it said.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei, asked about the Australian report, said China disapproved of hacking.

“China pays high attention to the cyber security issue and is firmly opposed to all forms of hacker attacks,” Hong said at a daily briefing.

“Since it is very difficult to find out the origin of hacker attacks, it is very difficult to find out who carried out such attacks,” Hong said. “I don’t know what the evidence is for media to make such kinds of reports.”

Repeating China’s position that every country was susceptible to cyber attacks, Hong said nations should make joint efforts towards a secure and open Internet.

Australia security analyst Des Ball told the ABC that such information about the yet to be completed spy headquarters made it vulnerable to cyber attacks.

“You can start constructing your own wiring diagrams, where the linkages are through telephone connections, through wi-fi connections, which rooms are likely to be the ones that are used for sensitive conversations, how to surreptitiously put devices into the walls of those rooms,” said Ball.

The building is designed to be part of an electronic intelligence gathering network that includes the United States and Britain. Its construction has been plagued by delays and cost over-runs with some builders blaming late design changes on cyber attacks.

The ABC report said the Chinese hacking was part of a wave of cyber attacks against business and military targets in the close U.S. ally.

It said the hackers also stole confidential information from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, which houses the overseas spy agency, the Australian Secret Intelligence Service, and had targeted companies, including steel-manufacturer Bluescope Steel, and military and civilian communications manufacturer Codan Ltd.

The influential Greens party said the hacking was a “security blunder of epic proportions” and called for an inquiry, but the government did not confirm the breach.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard said the reports were “inaccurate”, but declined to say how.

Despite being one of Beijing’s major trade partners, Australia is seen by China as the southern fulcrum of a U.S. military pivot to the Asia-Pacific. In 2011, it agreed to host thousands of U.S. Marines in near-permanent rotation.

Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei was last year barred from bidding for construction contracts on a new Australian high-speed broadband network amid fears of cyber espionage.

The Reserve Bank of Australia said in March that it had been targeted by cyber attacks, but no data had been lost or systems compromised amid reports the hackers had tried to access intelligence negotiations among a Group of 20 wealthy nations.

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Obama Regime Allowed Radical Cleric To Curse U.S. Navy SEAL Heroes At Funeral Services (Video)

Outrage! Obama Administration Allowed Radical Cleric To Curse U.S. Navy SEAL Heroes At Funeral Services (Video & Transcript) – Gateway Pundit

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This combo shows the 30 troops killed in a helicopter downing in Afghanistan on Saturday, Aug. 6, 2011. The Pentagon on Thursday, Aug. 11, 2011 identified the Americans as 17 members of the elite Navy SEALs, five Naval Special Warfare personnel who support the SEALs, three Air Force Special Operations personnel and an Army helicopter crew of five. (AP Photo)

Today three families of Navy SEAL Team VI special forces servicemen, along with one family of an Army National Guardsman, appeared at a press conference to disclose never before revealed information about how and why their sons along with 26 others died in a fatal helicopter crash in Afghanistan on August 6, 2011. This was just months after the successful raid on the Bin Laden compound in Pakistan.

At the press conference today the families released video on how military brass, while prohibiting any mention of a Judeo-Christian God, invited a Muslim cleric to the funeral for the fallen Navy SEAL Team VI heroes. This cleric disparaged in Arabic the memory of these servicemen by damning them as infidels to Allah. A video of the Muslim cleric’s “prayer” was shown this morning with a certified translation.

This will break your heart.

From the funeral services at Bagram Air Force Base

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Here is the radical cleric’s curse on our fallen SEALs.

Amen. I shelter in Allah from the devil who has been cast with stones.
In the name of Allah the merciful forgiver.
The companions of “THE FIRE”
(The sinners and infidels who are fodder for the hell fire)
ARE NOT EQUAL WITH the companions of heaven.
The companions of heaven (Muslims) are the WINNERS.
Had he sent this Koran to the mountain, you would have seen the mountain prostrated in fear of Allah.
(Mocking the GOD of Moses)
Such examples are what we present to the people, so that they would think.
(repent and convert to Islam)
Blessings are to your God (Allah) the God of glory and what they describe.
And peace be upon the messengers (prophets) and thanks be to Allah the lord of both universes (mankind and Jinn).

For the record – Political correctness killed these heroes.

Are there any courageous Christians left in this country?

Are there any Christians willing to stand up for their faith?

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U.S. Taxpayers Spend $355,825 To Reduce Stigmatization Of India’s Transgenders

U.S. Taxpayers Spend $355,825 To Reduce Stigmatization Of India’s Transgenders – CNS

The federal government is spending $355,825 in taxpayer dollars to develop a “culturally relevant stigma-reducing intervention” program for the transgender population in India.

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Bindiya Rana, right, a transgender candidate in Pakistan’s elections, talks with locals in Karachi, Pakistan

The National Institutes of Health issued a two-phase grant to the Ohio-based Baldwin-Wallace College to conduct the study. The first phase cost $173,221. The second phase cost $182,604.

The reason given for the study is “HIV prevalence is disproportionately high among Male-to-female transgenders (Hijra) in India.”

“Stigma among health care providers limits HIV testing, treatment and care and creates a barrier to HIV protective behavior,” the project summary says. “Stigmatization of transgender by healthcare providers has been documented, and is identified as a significant barrier to effective HIV prevention responses among this marginalized, at-risk population in India. However, evidence based interventions to reduce stigma and discrimination among health care providers are seriously lacking.”

The title of the study is “Project Shakti: Stigma Reduction, Health Care Provider Awareness and Knowledge.”

CNSNews.com asked an NIH spokesperson several questions, including, “Since this study focuses on India, what is the benefit to the U.S.? Why is it worthwhile to U.S. taxpayers?”

In a written response, the NIH told CNSNews.com only, “NIH research addresses the full spectrum of human health across all populations of Americans. Behavioral research will continue to be an important area of research supported by NIH.”

The NIH referred back to the project summary for any other comment.

The funding for the project ends in August.

“The proposed project will address this need by developing a theory-based, culturally relevant stigma-reducing intervention targeting health care providers in Mumbai, India,” the NIH project summary says. “The proposed multidisciplinary US-India collaborative research team with significant HIV/AIDS research experience will implement a two-year formative study to develop and pilot health-care provider-focused stigma reducing intervention.”

The project summary continues, “The study has three specific aims: 1) Document cause and manifestation of stigma among health care providers in Mumbai; 2) Use the information to design a provider-focused intervention module, and obtain community feedback; 3) Pilot the revised intervention module among 50 healthcare providers, and assess its feasibility, acceptability and preliminary effect on health service behavior among healthcare providers. These data will prepare the team to conduct a large scale randomized controlled trial in India.”

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Female U.S. Sailor Thwarts Dubai Rapist, Puts Him In Stranglehold With Her Thighs, Beats Him Into Submission

U.S. Sailor Thwarts Dubai Bus Driver Rapist After Putting Him In Stranglehold With Her Thighs And Then Beating Him Into Submission – Daily Mail

An off-duty US navy sailor wrestled a bus driver to the ground and beat him into submission after he attempted to rape her at knife point, a court heard yesterday.

Prosecutors said that she knocked the knife from his hand, broke it in two, bit him in the hand, forced him to the ground and locked him between her thighs.

The woman, 28, was on 24-hour shore leave in Dubai and was attacked as she returned to the port where she was based after a day shopping.

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The off-duty navy sailor was attacked at knife point as she returned to the port in Dubai (STOCK IMAGE)

She had been attempting to hail a taxi after visiting shopping centre, Mall of the Emirates and a supermarket when a bus pulled up next to her

After climbing aboard she became suspicious of the drivers route. She said: ‘I noticed he did not take the main road and when I asked him he told me not to worry.’

He then drove for a further 10 minutes before stopping in an area where other buses were parked and attempting to kiss her.

When she refused him he pulled the knife and threatened to rape her but she was able to subdue him.

Following the attack, which occurred on January 19 of this year, she left the bus and reported it to her commander at Port Khalid.

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She had spent a day shopping at the massive shopping centre Mall of the Emirates in Dubai

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The court heard that the woman quickly returned to Port Khalid to report the incident to her commander

The driver, named as K S, from Pakistan, was arrested the next day at his home and the attending police officer said that he was intoxicated at the time.

The court ordered that the 21-year-old be examined to establish his age after he did not produce a birth certificate.

He has been charged with attempted rape, threatening to kill, assault and consuming alcohol illegally.
Having confessed to the alcohol charge, the driver claims to have been too drunk to remember what happened.

Traces of the woman’s hair and blood were found on his bus.

The case was adjourned to May 1.

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Judicial Watch Uncovers USDA Records Sponsoring U.S. Food Stamp Program For Illegal Aliens

Judicial Watch Uncovers USDA Records Sponsoring U.S. Food Stamp Program For Illegal Aliens – Judicial Watch

Judicial Watch today released documents detailing how the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is working with the Mexican government to promote participation by illegal aliens in the U.S. food stamp program.

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The promotion of the food stamp program, now known as “SNAP” (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), includes a Spanish-language flyer provided to the Mexican Embassy by the USDA with a statement advising Mexicans in the U.S. that they do not need to declare their immigration status in order to receive financial assistance. Emphasized in bold and underlined, the statement reads, “You need not divulge information regarding your immigration status in seeking this benefit for your children.”

The documents came in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request made to USDA on July 20, 2012. The FOIA request sought: “Any and all records of communication relating to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to Mexican Americans, Mexican nationals, and migrant communities, including but not limited to, communications with the Mexican government.”

The documents obtained by Judicial Watch show that USDA officials are working closely with their counterparts at the Mexican Embassy to widely broaden the SNAP program in the Mexican immigrant community, with no effort to restrict aid to, identify, or apprehend illegal immigrants who may be on the food stamp rolls. In an email to Borjon Lopez-Coterilla and Jose Vincente of the Mexican Embassy, dated January 26, 2012, Yibo Wood of the USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) sympathized with the plight of illegal aliens applying for food stamps, saying, “FNS understands that mixed status households may be particularly vulnerable. Many of these households contain a non-citizen parent and a citizen child.”

The email from Wood to Lopez-Coterilla and Vincente came in response to a request from the Mexican Embassy that the USDA FNS step in to prevent the state of Kansas from changing its food stamp policy to restrict the amount of financial assistance provided to illegal aliens. In a January 22, 2012, article, the Kansas City Star had revealed that the state would no longer include illegal aliens in its calculations of the amount of assistance to be provided low-income Hispanic families in order to prevent discrimination against legal recipients.

The documents, obtained by Judicial Watch in August 2012, include the following:

* March 30, 2012 – The USDA seeks approval of the Mexican Embassy in drafting a letter addressed to consulates throughout the United States designed to encourage Mexican embassy staffers to enroll in a webinar learn how to promote increased enrollment among “the needy families that the consulates serve.”

* August 1, 2011 – The USDA FNS initiates contact with the Mexican Embassy in New York to implement programs already underway in DC and Philadelphia for maximizing participation among Mexican citizens. The Mexican Embassy responds that the Consul General is eager to strengthen his ties to the USDA, with specific interest in promoting the food stamp program.

* February 25, 2011 – The USDA and the Mexican Consulate exchange ideas about getting the First Ladies of Mexico and United States to visit a school for purposes of creating a photo opportunity that would promote free school lunches for low-income students in a predominantly Hispanic school. Though a notation in the margin of the email claims that the photo op never took place, UPI reported that it actually did.

* March 3, 2010 – A flyer advertises a webinar to teach Hispanic-focused nonprofits how to get reimbursed by the USDA for serving free lunch over the summer. The course, funded by American taxpayers, is advertised as being “free for all participants.”

* February 9 , 2010 – USDA informs the Mexican Embassy that, based on an agreement reached between the State Department and the Immigration & Naturalization Service (now ICE), the Women, Infants & Children (WIC) food voucher program does not violate immigration laws prohibiting immigrants from becoming a “public charge.”

As far back as 2006, in its Corruption Chronicles blog, Judicial Watch revealed that the USDA was spending taxpayer money to run Spanish-language television ads encouraging illegal immigrants to apply for government-financed food stamps. The Mexican Consul in Santa Ana, CA, at the time even starred in some of the U.S. Government-financed television commercials, which explained the program and provided a phone number to apply. In the widely viewed commercial the Consul assured that receiving food stamps “won’t affect your immigration status.”

In 2012, Judicial Watch reported that in a letter to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack, Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions questioned the Obama administration’s partnership with Mexican consulates to encourage foreign nationals, migrant workers and non-citizen immigrants to apply for food stamps and other USDA administered welfare benefits. Sessions wrote, “It defies rational thinking,” Sessions wrote, “for the United States – now dangerously $16 trillion in debt – to partner with foreign governments to help us place more foreign nationals on American welfare and it is contrary to good immigration policy in the United States.”

“The revelation that the USDA is actively working with the Mexican government to promote food stamps for illegal aliens should have a direct impact on the fate of the immigration bill now being debated in Congress,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “These disclosures further confirm the fact that the Obama administration cannot be trusted to protect our borders or enforce our immigration laws. And the coordination with a foreign government to attack the policies of an American state is contemptible.”

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*VIDEO* Congressman Chaffetz Witnesses Mexican Children Crossing Border To Attend School In U.S.

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Obamanomics: U.S. Economy Grew By Dismal 0.4% In Fourth Quarter Of 2012

Worst. President. Ever… Economy Grew By Dismal 0.4% In Fourth Quarter Of 2012 – Gateway Pundit

The Obama disaster continues…

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Democrats must be very proud.

The Obama economy grew by a pathetic 0.4% in the final quarter of 2012.

The AP reported:

The U.S. economy grew at a slightly faster but still anemic rate at the end of last year. However, there is hope that growth accelerated in early 2013 despite higher taxes and cuts in government spending.

The economy grew at an annual rate of 0.4 percent in the October-December quarter, the Commerce Department said Thursday. That was slightly better than the previous estimate of 0.1 percent growth. The revision reflected stronger business investment and export sales.

Analysts think the economy is growing at a rate of around 2.5 percent in the current January-March quarter, which ends this week.

Steady hiring has kept consumers spending this year. And a rebound in company stockpiling, further gains in housing and more business spending also likely drove faster growth in the first quarter.

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U.S. Department Of Homeland Security To Fast-Track Saudi Citizens Through Customs

DHS Plans To Speed Saudis Through U.S. Customs – Sweetness & Light

From IPT News:

Special Travel Benefit for Saudis a “Slap in the Face”

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March 20, 2013

Saudi Arabia, the nation which produced 15 of the 19 hijackers in the 9/11 attacks, is about to become one of a handful of countries whose travelers can bypass normal passport controls at major U.S. airports. Sources tell the Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT) that this will mark the first time that the Saudi government will have a direct role in vetting who is eligible for getting fast-tracked for entry into the United States.

An agreement to accept Saudi Arabian applicants into the Global Entry trusted traveler program drew little notice when it was announced in January. Now, some officials question why the country merits such a benefit – which is similar to a theme park “fast pass” to avoid long lines – when other allies like Germany and France are not yet included. A program for Israeli travelers was reached last May but has not been implemented.

Travelers approved for the program can skip the normal Customs and Border Protection (CBP) lines starting next year and enter the country after providing their passports and fingerprints at a kiosk. Only Canada, Mexico, South Korea and the Netherlands currently enjoy the benefit, although pilot programs could expand it to a handful of others.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced the agreement in January after meeting with Saudi Interior Minister Prince Mohammed bin Nayef. It “marks another major step forward in our partnership,” Napolitano said at the time. “By enhancing collaboration with the Government of Saudi Arabia, we reaffirm our commitment to more effectively secure our two countries against evolving threats while facilitating legitimate trade and travel.”…

Once accepted into Global Entry, travelers can enjoy the faster border entry for five years…

Because nothing increases our security from terrorist threats more than whisking people through customs who are flying in from a terrorist hotbed.

The Global Entry deal comes three years after U.S. officials briefly placed Saudi Arabia on a list of 14 countries whose travelers would face enhanced scrutiny when entering the United States. It followed Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab’s failed attempt to bomb a Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day 2009.

A cable sent from the American embassy to the State Department that was published by Wikileaks reported that Saudi government officials expressed “shock to be included on the list” and threatened to “to re-evaluate areas of cooperation, including counter-terrorism cooperation” if it was not rescinded.

The policy was dropped three months later, replaced with a new program designed to use threat assessments and intelligence of traveler’s behavioral traits and travel patterns…

Meanwhile, Janet Napolitano is warning us that the sequester is going to increase our risk of terrorist attacks.

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Alleged N. Korean Propaganda Video: There Are No Birds In U.S. Because Starving Citizens Have Eaten Them All

Alleged North Korean Propaganda Video: ‘This Is How Americans Live Today’ – Yahoo News

A new video has been posted to the Live Leak site that claims to be a North Korean propaganda video showing a dystopian American society.

It’s unclear if the translation is accurate, and whether the video did in fact originate in North Korea. But it’s tempting and easy to believe the video is the real deal. After all, it was only last month that the North Korean government released a truly strange propaganda video that depicted one of its citizens having a dream in which the U.S. is attacked by Korean missiles – set to the 1980s’ charity song sensation, “We Are the World.”

But if true, the video is hilarious in its attempt to create an imaginary America where the population lives off of snow and has eaten the entire population of birds. Yes, that’s right, the video repeatedly claims that there are no birds in America because the people have been forced to eat all of them.

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“Drinking coffee made from snow, living in tents and buying guns to kill each other, especially children,” the video intones. “You’ll see there are no birds. They have been eaten by the people who live in these tents and corridors.”

In one of the stranger moments, the video shows a person who supposedly lives in one of these tents. “The American Red Cross supplies curtains for walls for the tents with material from North Korea,” the translator explains.

And in another, a bearded, apparently homeless man waits in line for food from a street truck vendor. “This man, a former Republican candidate from Oregon, is having to get coffee made of snow from trucks,” our narrator grimly intones.

“People pass by, not caring, for they are in the same situation.”

The line that has generated the snarkiest responses so far comes at the video’s conclusion: “This is how they live in America: the poor, the lonely, the homosexual.”

So, what do you think? Is this propaganda video for real or is it too weird even for the North Korean government?

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Obama Ready To Cut U.S. Nuclear Weapons Arsenal By A Third

Obama Ready To Cut U.S. Nuclear Weapons Arsenal By A Third – Right Scoop

As the world becomes a more volatile place, Obama seems only interested in making us weaker. I know the article says that the reduction by a third won’t hurt our national security, but pardon me for being a bit cynical. Perhaps it won’t today, but much is changing about the world including Iran getting nukes of their own.

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I’d think we’d be the last place that would want to draw down our nuclear arsenal.

MCCLATCHY DC – Senior Obama administration officials have agreed that the number of nuclear warheads the U.S. military deploys could be cut by at least a third without harming national security, according to those involved in the deliberations.

Such a reduction would open the door to billions of dollars in military savings, which might ease the federal budget deficit. It also would improve prospects for a new arms deal with Russia before President Barack Obama leaves office, those involved said, but it’s likely to draw fire from conservatives, if previous debate on the issue is any guide.

The results of the internal review haven’t been announced, but they’re reflected in a proposed classified directive prepared for Obama’s signature that details how U.S. nuclear weapons should be targeted against potential foes, according to four people with direct knowledge of the document’s content. The sources, who spoke only on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to talk to a reporter about the review, described the president as fully on board, but said he hasn’t signed the document.

The document directs the first detailed Pentagon revisions in U.S. targeting since 2009, when the military’s nuclear war planners last took account for the substantial shrinkage – roughly by half from 2000 to 2008 – in the number of nuclear weapons in the American arsenal. It makes clear that an even smaller nuclear force can still meet all defense requirements.

MUCH MORE…

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CBO: U.S. To Add $7 Trillion More In Debt In Next Decade

CBO: U.S. To Add $7 Trillion More In Debt In Next Decade – Hot Air

The good news from yesterday’s CBO report is that we may actually end up with a sub-trillion-dollar deficit this year. The annual deficit for FY2013 will come in at $845 billion, the first time in five years that it’s been less than the 13-figure mark. However, that depends on keeping the law at the status quo – including the sequester:

CBO forecast that the deficit for fiscal 2013, which ends September 30, will shrink slightly to $845 billion after four straight years above $1 trillion. The reason is an improving economy and higher taxes paid by wealthy Americans.

The CBO analysis, which will feed into Congress’ bitter debate over how to tame deficits, assumes that $85 billion in automatic spending cuts will launch as scheduled on March 1… It forecast a $616 billion deficit in fiscal 2014 and a $430 billion deficit in fiscal 2015, equivalent to 2.4 percent of U.S. gross domestic product at that time, a level that many economists view as sustainable.

And that’s about the extent of the good news, too, and even that’s qualified. Those figures assume that Congress will not pass any more “doc fixes” and cut Medicare/Medicaid reimbursements substantially, as current law requires. If Congress passes more delays in already-scheduled cuts in reimbursements, those deficits will grow significantly.

By the way, that’s the bad news. Deficits will grow substantially anyway:

But deficits will rise steadily from mid-decade, nearing $1 trillion again by 2023, according to the forecast. The 10-year cumulative deficit is forecast at $6.958 trillion.

“Deficits are projected to increase later in the coming decade, however, because of the pressures of an aging population, rising health care costs, an expansion of federal subsidies for health insurance, and growing interest payments on federal debt,” the CBO said in the report.

Again, that’s assuming we don’t pass any more “doc fixes,” which are the only thing keeping providers in the Medicare/Medicaid business at all. Meanwhile, the economy will remain stuck in stagnation, and joblessness will get worse, too:

It said the fiscal tightening from these across-the-board cuts and from higher taxes will slow economic growth to an anemic 1.4 percent by the end of 2013, causing the unemployment rate to edge higher to 8.0 percent by then from about 7.9 percent currently.

Nor was that the only bad news from the CBO yesterday. Remember those federal subsidies that will fuel ObamaCare’s push to make health insurance universal? The ten-year cost for that program jumped by nearly a quarter-trillion dollars:

The Congressional Budget Office on Tuesday quietly raised the 10-year cost of ObamaCare’s insurance subsidies offered via the health law’s exchanges by $233 billion, according to a Congressional Budget Office review of its latest spending forecast.

The CBO’s new baseline estimate shows that ObamaCare subsidies offered through the insurance exchanges – which are supposed to be up and running by next January – will total more than $1 trillion through 2022, up from $814 billion over those same years in its budget forecast made a year ago. That’s an increase of nearly 29%.

The CBO upped the 10-year subsidy cost by $32 billion since just last August.

In part, this jump is because more people will get insurance via the exchanges than it had forecast. Where the CBO had seen 22 million enrolled in an exchange in 2022, it now figures 25 million will be.

That explains only part of the cost hike. The rest is largely the result of the CBO’s sharp increase in what it expects the average subsidy will be.

Take a look at the chart from IBD:

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The calculation of average subsidy has risen 38.7% in three years – and we haven’t even implemented the system yet.

Think about that, and now think about what amount of debt we’ll really be adding in ten years.

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Fracking Amazing: U.S. Carbon Emissions In 2012 Will Be Lower Than In 2007 Due To Fracking (Video)

Fracking Amazing: U.S. Carbon Emissions In 2012 Will Be Lower Than In 2007 Due To Fracking – Reason

Instapundit points to this bit of happy news culled from John Hanger, a Democrat who is running for governonr of Pennsylvania, where has been secretary of the state department of the environment and a commissioner of the public utility commission:

U.S. energy related carbon emissions in 2012 will fall below 5,300 million tons or down about 12%, compared to the peak emissions of 6,023 million tons in 2007. Through this September, carbon emissions have been down every month in 2012, when compared to each of the first 9 months of 2011 and 2010. No other country matches that record. http://www.eia.gov/totalenergy/data/monthly/pdf/sec12_3.pdf.

U.S. GDP has grown every quarter since July 1, 2009, and today our economy is bigger than it was in 2007, the peak carbon emission year. Yet, even with an economy in 2012 that is bigger than in 2007, our carbon emissions will be 12% lower than they were in 2007…

Only the USA has had a shale gas boom and only the USA has cut substantially its carbon emissions since 2006… the shale gas boom substantially decreased US carbon emissions. Moreover, US electricity prices in 2012 have barely increased and natural gas prices have plummeted.

Hanger further notes that the U.S. is at around 1995 levels for energy-related carbon emissions. And note that lower emissions aren’t simply an artifact of the rotten economy (which however bad it is is larger than in 2007).

The shale gas boom is a product of fracking, a technology which has not only been around for decades but has apparently been found to be safe in a controversial and not-officially-released analysis prepared for New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Cuomo has been sitting on the report while deciding whether to allow expansive fracking in the Empire State.

Back in 2011 – long before Matt Damon’s anti-fracking movie Promised Land was even a glimmer in the bank account of eventual funders in the oil-rich UAE – Reason’s Science Correspondent Ronald Bailey explained fracking (including how much greens used to love it until its success and safety record starting imperiling interest in subsidizing solar and wind tech).

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U.S. Could Give Every Poor American $20K With The Money Spent On Welfare Last Year

Fun Fact Of The Day: U.S. Could Give Every Poor American A Check For $20,000 With The Money Spent On Welfare Last Year – Weasel Zippers

Long live the welfare state!

(CNSNews.com) – Former Republican vice presidential candidate Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said Tuesday that over a trillion dollars was spent on welfare programs last year, and for that amount, “you could give every single poor American a check for $20,000.”

“Just last year, total federal and state spending on means-tested programs came to over one trillion dollars. What does that mean in practical terms? For that amount of money, you could give every single poor American a check for $20,000 – every man, woman and child,” said Ryan in a speech at the Jack Kemp Award ceremony.

Keep reading…

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Ted Nugent: U.S. Sailed Off The ‘Fiscal Cliff’ Long Ago

U.S. Sailed Off The ‘Fiscal Cliff’ Long Ago – Ted Nugent

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Only a Fedzillacrat could possibly think raising taxes on the wealthy could accomplish anything toward restoring sanity in the financial insane asylum known as our federal government.

Let’s be honest; we are not close to going over the “fiscal cliff.” We drove off that cliff a long time ago. We can only hope the crash doesn’t demolish the republic.

Raising taxes on the wealthy, closing loopholes and eliminating deductions is analogous to seeing Michelangelo’s very first short paint stroke on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and claiming it’s a masterpiece.

We are more than $16 trillion in debt today, and estimates are that America will be $22 trillion in debt at the end of this president’s second term. If that’s not a certifiable, titanic financial disaster, someone please tell the American public what is.

You won’t get an argument from me that America has a spending problem. A much larger problem we face, however, is a federal government problem. We’ve got malfunctioning departments stacked on top of bloated agencies that are stacked on top of a bungled mess of various supporting offices that are overstocked with duplicitous bureaucrats. We’ve created the very beast (hence the name Fedzilla) that our forefathers warned us about, and it’s killing us.

We can’t keep throwing good money after bad and expect different results. What we need is a wholesale, top-to-bottom assessment of the federal government, and then we need to slash and burn all Fedzilla departments, agencies and offices that are not constitutionally required or deemed vital. This should be fundamental before any deals are cut regarding new taxes.

The three sacred entitlement cows in the room that no politician wants to poke are Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. A blinding statement of the obvious is that we are never going to get our financial house in order until these sacred entitlement cows are not only poked, but slaughtered. Until the slaughter is over, everything else is just taxation window dressing.

In addition to slaughtering the three sacred entitlement cows that consume a vast majority of the federal budget (and I use the term budget generously), let’s truly spread the pain around and raise taxes on everyone, including the nearly 50 percent of Americans who pay zero federal income taxes. Those Americans need to have some skin in the game, too. I recommend at least a 5 percent federal income tax bracket for them. The insane free ride needs to end.

Every federal agency and department should be required to take an immediate, real 15 percent cut in its budget – no funny accounting tricks, but a real 15 percent cut. Agency budgets then should be rolled back to their 2005 level before the end of 2013.

No tax-raising deal should be signed without including a balanced-budget amendment.

Let’s also stop the insanity by suspending the right to vote of any American who is on welfare. Once they get off welfare and are self-sustaining, they get their right to vote restored. No American on welfare should have the right to vote for tax increases on those Americans who are working and paying taxes to support them. That’s insane.

In addition to suspending a welfare recipient’s right to vote, we also need to get our voting system straightened out and eliminate voter fraud. We need to ensure that only Americans vote by requiring polling places to validate the identification of each voter.

It shouldn’t take a Motown guitar slayer to come up with these common-sense bargaining chips before taxes are raised on the producers, which will further choke the economy. How about it, GOP?

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*LIVE STREAMING* U.S. Vice Presidential Debate – Danville, Kentucky (9pm Eastern – 10/11/12)

Stream 1 – C-SPAN

Stream 2 – FOX NEWS

Stream 3 – CNN

Stream 4 – AOL

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These Are the ‘Least’ & ‘Most’ Business-Friendly States In The U.S.

These Are the ‘Least’ & ‘Most’ Business-Friendly States In The U.S. – The Blaze

The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting entrepreneurship, and Thumbtack.com have released a study ranking the “least” and “most” business-friendly states in the U.S.

Idaho, Texas, Oklahoma, and Utah all scored A+’s for their treatment of small business while California, Hawaii, Vermont, and Rhode Island received F’s.

Massachusetts, Michigan, Connecticut, and New York all scraped by with D’s.

“Six thousand small business owners have told an unusually nuanced story about what they value in their local government,” said Sander Daniels, co-founder of Thumbtack.com., according to the Kauffman Foundation’s press release.

The study’s conclusions are based on data collected from over 7,000 respondents, 6,022 of whom answered questions regarding demographics and the economic health of small business in their state, according to the survey’s methodology.

However, it should be noted that although more than 6,000 small businesses in Thumbtack’s database of 275,000 members responded to the survey, the ranking excluded Alaska, North Dakota, South Dakota, West Virginia and Wyoming because they received fewer than 10 respondents, according to CNN Money.

Here are a few of the categories survey respondents were asked to rank:

* Overall small business friendliness
* Ease of starting a small business
* Cost of hiring a new employee
* Overall regulatory friendliness
* Friendliness of health and safety regulations
* Friendliness of employment, labor, and hiring regulations
* Friendliness of tax code
* Friendliness of licensing regulations

What were some of the major findings of the “business-friendly” study?

For starters, Texas has three of the five highest ranked cities on the list (Dallas-Fort Worth, San Antonio, and Austin) while California has three of the lowest rated (Los Angeles, San Diego, and Sacramento).

Furthermore, and perhaps a little more surprising, many small businesses owners said licensing laws were “nearly twice as important as tax rates in determining overall business-friendliness.” This is interesting considering that the Institute for Justice has just released a report, titled “License to Work: A National Study of Burdens from Occupational,” that argues occupational licensing requirements are an oftentimes unnecessary, unreasonable, and costly burden on workers and business owners.

“Although Texas and Idaho clearly come out on top as the nation’s friendliest states towards small business, entrepreneurs value a lot more than just low tax rates. Easy-to-understand licensing regulations and well-publicized training programs are critical tools necessary to support small business,” Daniels said.

But perhaps more important than the demographic information is the fact that the Kauffman/Thumbtack study comes with some interesting political implications.

“Asking entrepreneurs to rank state friendliness to their businesses is a powerful resource for helping policymakers understand the needs of business owners and for helping aspiring founders understand the full dimensions of their business environment,” said Dane Stangler, director of research at the Kauffman Foundation.

Click here to see Thumbtack’s interactive map.

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Hillary Clinton Pushes To Make Criticism Of Islam A Crime In The U.S.

Hillary Clinton Pushes To Make Criticism Of Islam A Crime In The U.S. – SodaHead

Are Hillary and Barack in a race to see which one can destroy this Country first? May God protect the United States of America from these two Marxist thugs!

One of the fundamental laws of Islam deals with “slander,” which is defined in shariah as saying “anything concerning a person [a Muslim] that he would dislike.” At the OIC’s Third Extraordinary Session, held in Mecca, Saudi Arabia in December 2005, the organization adopted a “Ten-Year Programme of Action to Meet the Challenges Facing the Muslim Ummah in the 21st Century.” A key agenda item of that meeting was “the need to counter Islamophobia” by seeking to have the UN “…adopt an international resolution to counter
Islamophobia, and call upon all States to enact laws to counter it, including deterrent punishments.” The word “Islamophobia” is a completely invented word, coined by the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT), a Muslim Brotherhood (Ikhwan) front group. OIC adoption of the term reflects the close operational relationship between the OIC and the Ikhwan.

Six years later, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is due to host OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu in Washington, DC in mid-December 2011 to discuss how the United States can implement the OIC agenda to criminalize criticism of Islam. Cloaked in the sanctimonious language of “Resolution 16/18,” that was adopted by the UN Human Rights Council in April 2011, the WDC three-day experts meeting is billed as a working session to discuss legal mechanisms to combat religious discrimination (but the only religion the Human Rights Council has ever mentioned in any previous resolution is Islam). The UN Human Rights Council, which includes such bastions of human rights as China, Cuba, Libya, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia, introduced Resolution 16/18 to the UN General Assembly (UNGA), where it was passed in March 2011.

The Resolution was presented to the UNGA by Pakistan (where women get the death penalty for being raped and “blasphemy” against Islam is punished by death). Ostensibly about “combating intolerance, negative stereotyping and…incitement to violence against persons based on religion or belief,” the only partnership mentioned in the text is the one with the OIC. The U.S., whose official envoy to the OIC, Rashad Hussain, helped write Obama’s Cairo speech, actively collaborated in the drafting of Resolution 16/18.

Now, the OIC’s Ihsanoglu will come to Washington, DC, the capital of one of the only countries in the world with a Constitution that guarantees freedom of speech and a judicial
system that consistently defends it, with a publicized agenda to criminalize criticism of Islam. His agenda, and, apparently that of his host, the U.S. Department of State, seek to bring the U.S. into full compliance with Islamic law on slander, as noted above.

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Hooray For Charlie! U.S. House Decides To Honor One Of Its Most Corrupt Members

House Leaders To Honor Rangel Nine Months After Censure – The Hill

It may be one of the more awkward honorary ceremonies in recent memory.

On Thursday, House leaders will pay tribute to Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), less than a year after the House formally censured the former chairman of the Ways and Means Committee.

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Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) will speak at a ceremony to unveil Rangel’s official portrait as chairman of the storied committee, which the longtime New York Democrat led from 2007 until March 2010, when party leaders pressured him to give up the post amid a growing ethics scandal.

In December, the House voted overwhelmingly, 333-79, to censure Rangel over rules violations that stemmed from unpaid taxes on a villa he owned in the Dominican Republic, undisclosed financial assets and the improper use of his office for fundraising.

The portrait itself was the subject of controversy. Just nine months into his term as chairman, Rangel asked the Federal Election Commission for permission to use campaign funds to pay for the portrait, which his lawyer said would cost more than $64,000.

When pressed about the pricey picture, Rangel joked to reporters at the time that he would have preferred a mural.

The FEC confirmed that Rangel could bill the expense to his campaign, which records show he did in 2008, according to the Sunlight Foundation.

The ceremony on Thursday will be a particular honor for Rangel, a decorated combat veteran who was the first African American to lead the Ways and Means Committee. “As I walk around the Capitol,” he said in 2007, “the only black folks I see are slaves holding the goddamn horses.”

Rangel told The Hill on Wednesday that he was looking forward to the ceremony, which will be followed by a private reception.

“I don’t think I have to share how pleased I am that we’re moving forward. What happened last year is last year,” Rangel said.

In addition to Boehner, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), New York Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand (D), and the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, Rep. Emmanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.), will speak at the event. The current Ways and Means chairman, Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.), will moderate.

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1 Million Safety Violations Won’t Keep Mexican Trucks Out Of U.S.

1 Million Safety Violations Won’t Keep Mexican Trucks Out Of U.S. – Judicial Watch

Weeks before the Obama Administration starts letting Mexican cargo trucks travel deep into the U.S., the Texas Department of Public Safety reveals that, in the last few years, trucks coming from Mexico had more than 1 million safety violations.

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This is hardly earth-shattering news since Mexican trucks have long failed to meet U.S. safety standards. That’s why they aren’t allowed to travel freely throughout the country, but rather in restricted zones within 25 miles of the southern border. Even within their limited boundary, they have created a huge risk to Americans’ safety, according to the Transportation Department Inspector General.

Regardless, the Obama Administration carved out a deal to allow Mexican trucks to travel freely on U.S. highways as part of a 17-year-old international trade pact known as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). In a few weeks Mexican trucks will be allowed to travel into the interior of the United States, even though it could endanger American lives.

In Texas alone, 1.2 million Mexican trucks had safety violations between 2007 and 2011, according to an El Paso newspaper report that quotes official statistics from state public safety officials. Among the safety violations in trucks coming from Mexico were bad brakes, flat tires, axle problems and defective lights. During that period inspectors placed more than 30,000 trucks and 625 drivers out of service.

Federal transportation officials claim that, under the new cross-border trucking program, all Mexican vehicles will be thoroughly inspected and all must comply with rigid U.S. safety standards. The Mexican trucks, notorious for their dismal, third-world country safety standards, must also be equipped with electronic monitoring systems to keep track of drivers’ service hours.

Don’t be surprised if U.S. taxpayers get stuck with the tab. After all, earlier this year the Obama Administration paid to upgrade outdated Mexican trucks that hemorrhage illegal amounts of exhaust when they deliver merchandise near the border. Generous Uncle Sam stepped in for the sake of improving air quality on both sides of the border by replacing old mufflers on dozens of Mexican trucks at a cost of $1,600 each. U.S. truck drivers are required to have the type of converters that Mexicans are getting from the government but they must pay for theirs.

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