John Stossel - Are We Rome Yet?

Townhall.Com - Unfortunately, the fall of Rome is a pattern repeated by empires throughout history ... including ours?

A group of libertarians gathered in Las Vegas recently for an event called "FreedomFest." We debated whether America will soon fall, as Rome did.

Historian Carl Richard said that today's America resembles Rome.

The Roman Republic had a constitution, but Roman leaders often ignored it. "Marius was elected consul six years in a row, even though under the constitution (he) was term-limited to one year."
Sounds like New York City's Mayor Bloomberg.

"We have presidents of both parties legislating by executive order, saying I'm not going to enforce certain laws because I don't like them. ... That open flouting of the law is dangerous because law ceases to have meaning. ... I see that today. ... Congress passes huge laws they haven't even read (as well as) overspending, overtaxing and devaluing the currency."

The Romans were worse. I object to President Obama's $100 million dollar trip, but Nero traveled with 1,000 carriages.   More

Behavioral Insights Team - White House creates 'nudge squad' to shape behavior

Fox News - The federal government is hiring what it calls a "Behavioral Insights Team" that will look for ways to subtly influence people's behavior, according to a document describing the program obtained by FoxNews.com. Critics warn there could be unintended consequences to such policies, while supporters say the team could make government and society more efficient.

While the program is still in its early stages, the document shows the White House is already working on such projects with almost a dozen federal departments and agencies including the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Agriculture.

"Behavioral sciences can be used to help design public policies that work better, cost less, and help people to achieve their goals," reads the government document describing the program, which goes on to call for applicants to apply for positions on the team.

The document was emailed by Maya Shankar, a White House senior adviser on social and behavioral sciences, to a university professor with the request that it be distributed to people interested in joining the team. The idea is that the team would "experiment" with various techniques, with the goal of tweaking behavior so people do everything from saving more for retirement to saving more in energy costs.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/07/30/govt-knows-best-white-house-creates-nudge-squad-to-shape-behavior/#ixzz2acv0kuIO

Peace Talks: Resolution For Two-State Solution Hits Senate Floor With No Support From GOP

Jerusalem Post - Bill introduced by Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein says peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians is a fundamental security interest of the US; resolution has no public Republican support upon release.

WASHINGTON -- Senator Dianne Feinstein of California introduced a bill Tuesday night that would have the Senate resolve itself to supporting Secretary of State John Kerry's push for a two-state solution.

The bill hit the Senate floor just hours after direct negotiations began in Washington between Israel and the Palestinians. The two parties agreed to negotiate in earnest over the next nine months— with the United States facilitating— addressing final status issues with the aim of establishing two independent states side by side.   More

Muslim Brotherhood Torture Chambers Exposed

Raymond Ibrahim - Some time ago, Fox News published a report titled “Egyptian mosque turned into house of torture for Christians after Muslim Brotherhood protest.”   The report opens by explaining how Islamic hard-liners stormed a mosque in suburban Cairo, turning it into [a] torture chamber for Christians who had been demonstrating against the ruling Muslim Brotherhood in the latest case of violent persecution that experts fear will only get worse.  Such stories have become increasingly common as tensions between Egypt’s Muslims and Copts mount, but in the latest case, mosque officials corroborated much of the account and even filed a police report. Demonstrators, some of whom were Muslim, say they were taken from the Muslim Brotherhood headquarters in suburban Cairo to a nearby mosque on Friday and tortured for hours by hard-line militia members.


While it is good that Fox News reported on the Brotherhood’s “torture chambers,” its report is also a reminder of how much the American public is often kept in the dark concerning what happens to Christians in Muslim countries—indeed, about what happens in the Muslim world in general.   More

Hillary to Receive “Patriot” Award in Ronald Reagan Building for “Defending Our Nation”

Daniel Greenfield - Clinton will receive the American Patriot Award from the National Defense University Foundation at a gala dinner on Nov. 14. The award is given to “leaders who have strengthened America’s strategic interests and advanced global security,” according to a press release.

“As First Lady, Senator, and Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton tirelessly worked to support and defend our nation and our allies around the world,” said Al Zimmerman, chairman of the NDU Foundation Board of Directors, in the release.

So what exactly did What Difference Does It Make do to support and defend our nation and allies?
She worked for an administration that tanked two wars, started a third that got four Americans killed and forced the French to invade Mali. That administration also helped overthrow pro-American governments and replace them with Islamist regimes.   More

Rep. Issa Calls for Wider IRS Investigation: Stop Obstructing Committee’s Investigation

Committee On Oversight & Government Reform - WASHINGTON – President Obama’s top official at the Internal Revenue Service has fallen far short of the President’s promise that his Administration would work “hand in hand” with Congress as “it performs its oversight role.”

In a letter sent today House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and Subcommittee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, excoriate Acting IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel for the “systematic manner in which the IRS has attempted to delay, frustrate, impede, and obstruct the Committee’s investigation.”

“Despite your promise to cooperate fully with congressional investigations, the actions of the IRS under your leadership have made clear to the Committee that the agency has no intention of complying completely or promptly with the Committee’s oversight efforts,” the chairmen write.

“Over two months since the Committee’s first request for documents, the IRS has produced only a small fraction of responsive documents.  Indeed, although the IRS initially identified over 64 million pages of documents as responsive to congressional oversight requests, the agency has produced to the Committee only a total of about 12,000 pages, or a mere 0.019 percent of what was initially identified as responsive documents,” Issa and Jordan continue.

The letter also notes that many documents that IRS has produced “contain excessive redactions that go well beyond those necessary to protect confidential taxpayer information.”

The IRS obstruction extends to interfering with individual IRS employees’ ability to provide information to the Committee.

“Of the 288,000 pages of documents that Ms. Thomas provided to the IRS for review, the IRS produced only about 2,600 pages to the Committee, or less than 1 percent of the total material that Ms. Thomas desired to provide…As of today, the IRS is still withholding over 280,000 pages of documents that Ms. Thomas desired to produce to the Committee.”

The IRS also refused to provide the Committee with a copy of its own internal review completed last month. “Your attempt to carefully orchestrate the public release of that information before providing it to the Committee echoes the attempt by Lois Lerner to preempt the public release of the TIGTA audit in May 2013,” the chairmen write.

The attempt to withhold information from the Committee included refusing to provide a hard copy during an in person encounter: “Committee staff came upon you and members of your staff carrying hard copies of the report in the Capitol complex, you and your staff again refused to provide the report to the Committee at that time.”

The letter also notes that IRS has recently asserted it with withholding documents based on “amorphous” reasons.

“The July 26, 2013, letter states that the IRS refined various searches, including a recent search for 2010 election information that identified approximately 660,000 potentially responsive documents, ‘by eliminating any documents that [IRS] reviewers had previously identified as . . . private in nature.’ (emphasis added).  Moreover, searches performed on Chief Counsel William Wilkins’ documents were also limited to exclude materials that had already ‘been marked as private.’”

The letter continues: “[T]here is no valid basis to deny the Committee access to ‘private’ documents—regardless of what such an amorphous term may mean in the eyes of an IRS reviewer.”

“Taxpayer dollars may not be used to pay the salaries of federal officials who deny or interfere with employees’ rights to furnish information to Congress,” the letter concludes. “ If the IRS continues to hinder the Committee’s investigation in any manner, the Committee will be forced to consider use of compulsory process.”

Click here for a copy of the letter.

Brain-Eating Amoeba Infects Girl, 12, During Swim in Lake

Video Captures Arkansas Inmate Escape

Domestic Drone Program: First commercial drones to start flying this summer

Howard Dean: Obamacare's Rationing Board is a Terrible Idea That Will Fail

Guy Benson - Since the Obamacare debate began in 2009, conservatives have warned that the law's Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) is an unaccountable government panel that will ration care in order to cut costs.  The administration dismissed these "smears," refusing to even acknowledge the possibility of rationing, even as the president made illuminating comments like this.  Five years later, former DNC Chairman and firebrand presidential candidate Howard Dean is conceding that Obamacare critics were right all along on several key points.  From his Wall Street Journal op/ed:

One major problem is the so-called Independent Payment Advisory Board. The IPAB is essentially a health-care rationing body. By setting doctor reimbursement rates for Medicare and determining which procedures and drugs will be covered and at what price, the IPAB will be able to stop certain treatments its members do not favor by simply setting rates to levels where no doctor or hospital will perform them.  There does have to be control of costs in our health-care system. However, rate setting—the essential mechanism of the IPAB—has a 40-year track record of failure. What ends up happening in these schemes (which many states including my home state of Vermont have implemented with virtually no long-term effect on costs) is that patients and physicians get aggravated because bureaucrats in either the private or public sector are making medical decisions without knowing the patients. Most important, once again, these kinds of schemes do not control costs. The medical system simply becomes more bureaucratic. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has indicated that the IPAB, in its current form, won't save a single dime before 2021. As everyone in Washington knows, but less frequently admits, CBO projections of any kind—past five years or so—are really just speculation. I believe the IPAB will never control costs based on the long record of previous attempts in many of the states, including my own state of Vermont.   More

Watchdog report finds millions in government payments to dead farmers

Fox News - The Agriculture Department has paid millions of dollars to dead farmers over the last several years, according to an audit released Monday.

The Government Accountability Office estimated in a new report that agencies within the department may have paid more than $30 million to thousands of deceased recipients between 2008 and 2012. The findings come as Congress tries to pass a new farm bill, and could stir concerns among conservatives that the government's many subsidy programs are not being carefully managed.

The GAO found that at two agencies that play a big role in aid for farmers, until changes are made "these agencies cannot know if they are providing payments to, or subsidies on behalf of, deceased individuals."

The report found that at the Risk Management Agency, which deals with crop insurance, a review of payments showed $22 million may have gone to more than 3,400 individuals "two or more years after death."

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/07/30/watchdog-report-finds-millions-in-govt-payments-to-dead-farmers/#ixzz2aWsApuA2

Nigeria's Christians Plead for Help Against Boko Haram Onslaught

Investigative Project on Terrorism - "We are in the vineyard of Allah," Abubaker Schekau, the leader of the Nigerian Islamist terrorist organization Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'awati wal-Jihad ("People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet's Teachings and Jihad") has stated. Nigerian Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, president of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) representing a claimed 80 million Nigerian Christians, quoted Schekau during the second of two successive briefings last Thursday at the Rayburn House Office Building and the National Press Club. The chilling accounts of today's Nigeria facing Islamist terror by Oritsejafor and his associates gave rise to a cry for American help.

The ravages of Shekau's group, commonly known by its Hausa nickname Boko Haram (BH) or "Western education is forbidden," was a central concern for Oritsejafor. He described a Nigeria in which "every week I get a text message—a church was burnt or a pastor was murdered or Christians were randomly rounded up on a roadside and summarily executed." More than 100 Christians died a month on average during 2012, amounting to about 70 percent of all Christians killed around the world that year. Whether by machete-wielding mobs or Vehicle-Borne Improvised Explosive Devices (VBIED) suicide bombing attacks on churches, "it is open season on Nigeria's Christians."

CAN's secretary for Borno state in northeastern Nigeria, Reverend Faye Musa Pama, was one such victim on May 14. That same day, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency (SOE) in Borno and neighboring Yobe and Adamawa states. Oritsejafor stated that Pama's "children pleaded for his life; they refused, they killed him." Oritsejafor also received a call from another pastor in neighboring Yobe describing his imminent murder by a BH mob. "They are coming, they are shooting," the pastor said. "I couldn't do anything until they shot him," Oritsejafor recounted.

"That was the end, gone." The Nigerian lawyer and human rights activist Emmanuel Ogebe, meanwhile, described a Yobe state that has "been so de-Christianized" with "entire villages run out of town."   More

The Only Thing “Phony” is the Investigation

ACLJ - The Obama Administration is hunkered down.  The spin machine is in full force.  The mantra is the same: the IRS targeting conservatives is a “phony” scandal, just like all the rest.

The only thing phony here is the investigation.

For example, the Secretary of the Treasury, Jack Lew, on Fox News this weekend refused to answer the simple question if he or anyone at Treasury, which supposedly oversees the IRS, has asked IRS Chief Counsel William Wilkins if he had any involvement in the targeting of the Tea Party.

Senior IRS attorneys have pointed the finger directly to the IRS Chief Counsel’s office as being intimately involved in the targeting scheme.  The question – did the head of that office, Wilkins, an Obama political appointee, have anything to do with the scandal – is apparently too much to ask.    Read More

Video: Syrian officer drops own arm, talks to rebels in a rare peaceful encounter

Al Arabiya - The video of a Syrian regime officer who dropped his weapon to engage in talks with his rebel enemies has gone viral on the internet.

“We did not come to destroy or harm anyone, because you are our families and brothers,” the soldier shouted to a group of rebel fighters after an exchange of gunfire.

“Regardless of where you are from, you are Syrian so you are my brother,” he added.

The voice of rebels can be heard in the background.

One rebel asked the soldier to come forward and offered him safety.

When the army officer reached the rebels, he is seen talking with one of them.

Read More & Watch the Video

Obama To Meet With Congressional Dems To Shore Up Support For Legislative Agenda

Florida Woman Escapes After Allegedly Being Held Captive & Abused For 3 Years By Qasem Alabed

Ted Cruz calls for rebellion against Washington: ‘Liberty is never safer when politicians are terrified’

Washington Examiner - Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Monday morning, disparaged Washington Republicans for refusing to back a proposal to defund Obamacare.

“What I can tell you is that there are a lot of Republicans in Washington who are scared, they’re scared of being beat up politically,” Cruz said during an interview on Glenn Beck’s radio show.

Cruz pointed out that Repubicans were worried that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and President Obama would “scream at the top of their lungs” about the “evil mean nasty Republicans” were trying to shut down the federal government.   More

Notes on ‘Counterjihad’ - Counterjihadists are today’s anti-Communists – in more ways than one

FrontPageMag.Com - “Counterjihadist.” If you had told me a couple of decades ago that this would be one of the many labels that would someday be attached to my name with some regularity, I would hardly have known what to say. Counter what? What jihadist?

But then these are strange times. On the evening of September 11, 2001, you might’ve expected responsible-minded, in-the-know public servants, journalists, and academic Islam experts throughout the Western world to start giving their respective publics a crash course (as it were) in Islamic jihad, so as to ensure that absolutely everybody understood exactly why those men wanted to take down those buildings. Instead, the President of the United States, the Karen Armstrongs and John Espositos, and virtually the entire Western media were quick to begin issuing fervent assurances that the terrorists were a fanatical minority who’d hijacked not only airplanes but Islam itself. Similar assurances followed hard upon every major terrorist act in the succeeding years. Those of us who knew better – who recognized that the terrorists were doing exactly what the Koran ordered them to do, and who believed that it was vitally important for everyone in the West to understand this – began to see our names yanked to a term that identified us not as people who were seeking to educate and inform but as antagonists of something to which every one of us, after all, should be opposed.

Think of it. If there was going to be such a term, every freedom-loving person in the Western world should’ve been eager to see the word “counterjihadist”  appended to his or her name after 9/11. The attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, after all, were jihadist acts. Ditto the later assaults on London, Madrid, Bali, Mumbai, and so on. How can you not be against all that, and proud of it?

But no: the Western cultural elite managed to turn “counterjihadist” into a dirty word. One of the weirdest things of all, perhaps, is that when what is now known as the “counterjihad movement” is mentioned by those who despise it, the topic of jihad itself is usually nowhere in sight. It’s invisible. It’s irrelevant. It’s as if we critics of jihad were opposed to an entirely imaginary enemy – like mermaids or leprechauns.   More

Multiple Detroit police officers suspected of armed robbery during traffic stops

h/t - Susan Duclos

Obamacare nonprofit educates Democrats only

Washington Examiner -

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius’ favorite pro-Obamacare nonprofit held a Democrats-only congressional briefing earlier this year, according to emails obtained by nonprofit watchdog Judicial Watch.

Enroll America president Anne Filipic, a former Obama White House aide, exchanged emails with Debra Curtis, a Democratic staffer on the House Ways and Means Committee.

 “They [House Democrat leadership] want to do another one next week while Congress is in recess that would be open [to] all House Democratic Staff  to start getting folks up to speed,” Curtis wrote to Filipic in a Feb. 11, 2013, email.

“We’ll check IDs to be sure we’ve got all Dems coming as well,” Curtis added the next day while projecting that a 100 people would attend.   More

Planned Parenthood to Pay $1.4 Million in Medicaid Fraud Settlement

The Foundry - Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, which serves southeast Texas and Louisiana, agreed this week to pay $1.4 million to the state of Texas, settling claims that one of the largest abortion providers in the Southeast had fraudulently overbilled the state’s Medicaid program.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott’s office stated that its investigation into the fraud allegations “revealed that Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast improperly billed the Texas Medicaid program for products and services that were never actually rendered, not medically necessary, and were not covered by the Medicaid program.”

The Texas Planned Parenthood allegedly “falsified material information in patients’ medical records” to bolster fraudulent claims for reimbursement.

Alliance Defending Freedom’s recent analysis of state and federal audits of family planning programs suggests that in 12 states, Planned Parenthood affiliates overbilled Medicaid for more than $8 million. One federal audit of New York’s Medicaid family planning program reported that certain providers, “especially Planned Parenthoods,” had engaged in improper practices resulting in overpayment.   More

The IRS: Exempt from Obamacare While Making the Rest of Us Comply

Townhall.Com - There are lots of despicable people in Washington engaged in a lot of unsavory behavior, so it would be very difficult to get agreement if you asked regular people to select the most odious feature of the political class.

Many people would probably choose corruption as the defining characteristic of Washington, and it would be hard to argue with that choice, but I think hypocrisy is an even better choice.

There's something fundamentally wrong when people push for policies while making sure they don't have to abide by the results.

Yet it happens all the time in government.

1. It galls me that the pro-tax bureaucrats at the OECD get tax-free salaries while pushing for higher taxes on everyone else.

2. Or how about rich left wingers who bleat about compassion but who are stingy with their own money.

3. And the wealthy leftists who use tax havens while trying to deny others from protecting their money.   More

H.R. 2009 – Keep the IRS Off Your Health Care Act of 2013 & Other Floor Action in the House This Week

The Foundry - 

House Cloakroom: July 29 – August 2

Analysis: This week, the House will be in session for four days before members leave for August recess. The theme for the legislative week will be “Stop Government Abuse.” The House will consider a bill by Representative Todd Young (R-IN) designed to rein in growing red tape and burdens that are placed on Americans without the approval of their elected representatives. The House will likely consider a bill sponsored by Representative Tom Price (R-GA) that prevents the IRS from enforcing or implementing any component of Obamacare. Finally, a $44.1 billion appropriations bill could be on the floor. Previously, Heritage identified $30 billion in additional cuts to the bill.

Major Floor Action:

• H.R. 2610 – Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2014
• H.R. 367 – Regulations From the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act of 2013 (bill that would require Congress to approve all new major regulations)
• H.R. 2009 – Keep the IRS Off Your Health Care Act of 2013 (prevents IRS implementation of Obamacare)
• H.R. 1582 – the Energy Consumers Relief Act
• H.R. 1911 – Smarter Solutions for Students Act, agreeing with the Senate amendment.

More

Protesters say Turkey is backsliding on democracy

Thousands In Germany Protest NSA Spying (VIDEO)

Susan Duclos - Thousands of German's are taking to the streets of Hamburg, Munich, Berlin and up to 35 other German cities and towns, to protest the invasive spying of Internet users by the NSA, and the alleged part German officials have played in cooperation with the U.S.

Reports are being seen of protesters wearing tinfoil hats, carrying signs that say "Stop Watching Us," with others stating "Standing Against Prism."   Read More

Congress proposes changes to Postal Service - Cuts could end door-to-door & Saturday mail service

32 Incredible Moments in Photos

Mashable - The royal baby has been dominating headlines recently, overshadowing many other camera-worthy moments. So, we've curated 32 breathtaking images that capture some incredible events from the past week.

Brazil celebrated the arrival of Pope Francis in full force, Japan contended with the results of this week's upper-house election, and earthquakes and floods devastated regions in China and India.

 
Meanwhile, enthusiasts attended a variety of wacky conventions, including cosplay competitions, the World Santa Claus Congress and the Bride Parade in Minsk, Belarus. What's more, newborn animals took center stage at zoos in Bristol, England and Japan, while wild ponies made their annual swim to Chincoteague, Va.

We've collected these moments, and many more, for your enjoyment. Did we miss any? Let us know in the comments.

View the Photos!

House Committee Pressing Forward With Benghazi Investigation - The Key Questions That Need to Be Answered

One of the most severely wounded survivors of the Benghazi terror attack, Diplomatic Security agent David Ubben, risked his life to help save his fellow Americans, and is still being treated at Walter Reed medical center to this day. - Fox News


The Foundry - Rumors of the disappearance of the Benghazi scandal are vastly premature. This week, Special Forces veterans gathered on Capitol Hill to unveil a 60-foot scroll of signatures demanding a discharge petition for legislation authorizing a House select committee to investigate Benghazi.

In April, appearing before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Secretary of State John Kerry promised to clear the air and make survivors of Benghazi available for congressional questioning.

Though a few have bravely come forward (at the peril of professional retaliation, one might add), little firsthand testimony of the attack has come out. Members of Congress have charged that State Department and CIA witnesses continue to be intimidated and warned against testifying, resulting in the postponement of two hearings planned for last week.

Four basic questions still have to be answered before any Benghazi investigation can be considered closed and the lessons learned.  View the Questions

Union Set To Take Minimum Wage Fight Nationwide

Israel: Talks with Palestinians to begin informally tonight, after cabinet approves prisoner release

Livni, Molcho leave for Washington and expected to meet Erekat Monday; Shin Bet chief says release of prisoners poses threat, but negotiations calm situation on ground; Kerry phones Netanyahu, Abbas.

Jerusalem Post - The cabinet paved the way for negotiations to start informally in Washington on Monday with the Palestinians, as it voted 13-7 on Sunday to approve the talks and empower a ministerial committee to release 104 Palestinian prisoners over the next nine months.

Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, who heads the Israeli negotiating team, and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's envoy Yitzhak Molcho left Sunday evening for the US.  They were expected to hold a preliminary meeting Monday at US Secretary of State John Kerry's home with  Palestinian negotiators Saeb Erekat and Mohammad Shtayyeh, and then begin the negotiations in earnest on Tuesday.

Kerry phoned Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas Sunday evening to extend a formal invitation to the talks. According to a statement put out by the State Department, the meetings will "serve as an opportunity to develop a procedural work-plan for how the parties can proceed with the negotiations in the coming months."     Read More

Hundreds protest PM’s decision to release Palestinian prisoners

Demonstrator: "These terrorists have blood on their hands."

Jerusalem Post - Hundreds of protesters gathered near Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s Jerusalem office Sunday morning to express outrage and anguish over his agreement to release 104 Palestinian prisoners as a concession to restart peace negotiations with PA President Mahmoud Abbas.

The demonstration, arranged by the Almagor Terror Victims Association, and families who have lost loved ones to terrorists, featured haunting black-and-white placards with images of numerous victims killed by the prisoners being released.

Posters with red hand prints – illustrating the blood on the prisoners’ hands – were also prominently displayed by a number of protesters, whose ages ranged from teenagers to octogenarians.

“This is not a political issue for me, it’s a moral one,” said Jeff Daube, director of the Israel office of the Zionist Organization of America, who attended the demonstration.   Read More

Palestinian prisoner release passes cabinet by wide 13-7 margin

After nearly 6 hour meeting, cabinet votes to renew talks with Palestinians including release of 104 Palestinian terrorists in 4 stages over 9 months; cabinet also approves bill to bring peace deal to national referendum.

Jerusalem Post - The cabinet on Sunday voted to approve negotiations with the Palestinians including the release of 104 Palestinian terrorists in stages over the next nine months as part of diplomatic negotiations.

The measure passed at the end of a nearly six hour cabinet meeting by the vote of 13-7, with two abstentions.   Read More


Earlier Coverage -

Jerusalem Post - Israel has decided to raise the number of prisoners that it will release from 82 to 104 as a condition for the Palestinians to return to the negotiating table, Israel Radio reported on Saturday.

Israel increased the number of people to be freed after the Palestinians threatened that they would not attend the opening meeting of talks that is scheduled to take place next week in Washington according to the report that cited a source with knowledge of the negotiations.

Some of the prisoners to be released were Israeli-Arab prisoners that in the past Israel had refused to free, according to the source.

The decision to release Israeli-Arab prisoners as a goodwill gesture to the Palestinians contravenes Israeli policy not to allow the Palestinian Authority to intervene in Israeli-Arab affairs, the report stressed.     Read More

Netanyahu on prisoner release: Sometimes PMs have to make unpopular choices for good of the country

Jerusalem Post - Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu turned to the citizens of Israel in an open letter on Saturday explaining his decision to release Palestinian prisoners as a gesture to the Palestinian Authority ahead of the renewal of peace talks in Washington next week.

"This is an incredibly difficult decision. It hurts the bereaved families, it hurts all of the Israeli people and it hurts me very much. It clashes with the most important principle, the principle of justice," Netanyahu stated.

Netanyahu said that "sometimes prime ministers are forced to make decisions that go against public opinion - when the issue is important for the country."

Netanyahu addressed the upcoming start of peace talks, saying that "in the next nine months we will determine if across from us is a Palestinian partner that desires a true end to the conflict as we do."

Read More

Scores killed in pro-Morsi demonstration in Egypt, as parties give conflicted reports on death toll

 Photo Credit: RT

Hurriyet Daily News - Scores of supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi were killed after security forces opened fire on a mass demonstration early on July 27, deepening the turmoil that has convulsed Egypt for weeks.

Men in helmets and black police fatigues fired on crowds gathered before dawn on the fringes of a round-the-clock sit-in near a mosque in northeast Cairo, Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood said.

Authorities and medics gave conflicting figures to news agencies and media outlets, though dozens are thought to have been seriously injured after the attack. The Muslim Brotherhood's website said 120 people had been killed and some 4,500 injured, while Egypt's health ministry told AFP that it had only counted 20 dead so far.

Photo Credit: RT

For its part, Anadolu Agency quoted officials as saying that 46 were killed during violence in Cairo and Alexandria, but the Turkish state agency put the death toll at over 200, citing medics at the Sahra Hospital at Rabaa al-Adawiya Square, where Morsi supporters had been gathered since the military takeover on July 3.

British broadcaster BBC said that based on its own sources over 100 had been killed, while The Guardian put the death toll at 136.   Read More

 
Terror Continues in the Sinai:  Egyptian military launches operation 'Desert Storm' to root out Sinai terrorists 

Jerusalem Post - The Egyptian military has launched an operation in the lawless Sinai peninsula to counter terror and violence against security forces which has intensified in the area since the overthrow of former Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, Egyptian media quoted military sources as saying Saturday.
Operation "Desert Storm" comes amid a spike in attacks in Sinai which have killed around 20 policeman and soldiers since Morsi's ouster on July 3.

During a tour of the southern border on Tuesday, Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon said that Egypt was poised to launch a large counter-terrorism operation against radical Islamic cells in Sinai.   Read More

Egypt braces for mass rallies as Morsi held for conspiring with Hamas, murder

Jerusalem Post - Charges relate to the deposed president's escape from prison with other top Brotherhood leaders; Morsi also accused of "collaboration with Hamas to undertake aggressive acts" in Egypt.

CAIRO - The Egyptian army is detaining ousted President Mohamed Morsi over accusations of kidnapping, killing soldiers and other charges, the state news agency said on Friday.

The army had previously said it was holding Morsi for his own safety and the report was likely to stoke tension before mass rallies on Friday billed as shows of strength between supporters and opponents of the Islamist Morsi, Egypt's first freely elected leader.

Both sides warned of the potential for bloodshed in Egypt, which has been convulsed by political and economic turmoil since the 2011 uprising that ended 30 years of autocratic rule by the US-backed Hosni Mubarak.   More

Huma Abedin faces questions about dual jobs

Fox News - Despite her husband being the butt of late night jokes, and water-cooler ridicule, Huma Abedin is standing by Anthony Weiner, and he, by her. "I love her,” Weiner said at a press conference Thursday. “She loves me. We have a son. Nothing else matters."

 But Abedin is facing her own troubles -- less salacious than her husband's, but potentially more severe.

On June 13, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) wrote her and Secretary of State John Kerry asking why Abedin, the deputy chief of staff at the State Department under former Secretary Hillary Clinton, was granted status as a "special government employee" after the birth of her son.

That  title allowed her to work from home as a part-time consultant to State, earning $135,000 as a government employee -- while also earning  $355,000 as a consultant for Teneo, where former President Bill Clinton is a board member.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/07/26/huma-abedin-faces-employment-questions/#ixzz2a9N2hoZe

Gohmert on DOJ Targeting Texas Voting Rights

Benghazi Scandal - New Details On Actions Of American Hero In Benghazi During Deadly Attack

Obamacare Marketing Campaign to Cost Taxpayers $700M

Washington Free Beacon - The administration’s nationwide marketing campaign for the Affordable Care Act will cost taxpayers nearly $700 million, according to a Thursday report from the Associated Press.

The campaign aims to convince people to sign up for health insurance through the health insurance exchanges created by the law, commonly known as Obamacare.

Observers have warned that the law could face serious problems if people do not buy insurance in the quantities needed to offset the costs of increased coverage for less healthy customers, who can no longer be denied insurance.   More

CAIR asks school to drop tea party speaker Brigitte Gabriel

GOPUSA - LITTLE FALLS -- An Islamic civil rights group is calling for the Little Falls school district to not host a speaking event with a woman who they call an anti-Muslim speaker.

Brigitte Gabriel is scheduled to speak Monday at Little Falls Community High School at a Central Minnesota Tea Party event. Gabriel is a member of ACT! for America.

The Minnesota chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations issued a press release asking the school district to consider the negative impact Gabriel will have on the students.

"By allowing the school to host this event, the perception is that the school is endorsing hate speech and anti-Muslim views," said CAIR-MN Executive Director Lori Saroya in a news release. "This perception could have a negative impact on the learning environment for Muslim students."   More

U.S. Allies Lead in Female Genital Mutilation - Why do leftists and feminists remain silent?

FrontPageMag.Com - UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund, has issued a new report on FGM/C, female genital mutilation/cutting, that raises troubling questions about the practice and the American response to it, particularly in nations such as Egypt.

“Girls and women are made to have their external genitalia removed fully or partially– some when they are just infants, others when they hit puberty,” explains UNICEF, “in the name of preserving female honour, chastity, beauty, ensuring their marriageability.” Kheiriya Abidi, a 10-year-old Somali girl is “terrified of the blood, the pain and physical torture she will have to suffer if her genitals are cut.” As another description notes, untrained practitioners do the cutting with instruments such as broken glass, tin lids, scissors or unsterilized razors, and without anesthesia. This causes intense pain and trauma, and poses health risk such as HIV transmission, and worse.

UNICEF notes that more mothers are now aware that “FGM/C can lead to their daughter’s, or a girl’s, death.” The report finds a “sharp decline” in FGM/C in numerous countries. Among adolescent girls in Benin, the Central African Republic, Iraq, Liberia and Nigeria, FGM/C has dropped by as much as half. All told, female genital mutilation has been inflicted on more than 125 million women and girls, roughly equivalent to the entire population of Japan. Nearly half of the victims reside in Ethiopia and Egypt, a country much in the news.   More

The IRS Mafia: Hush Money and Politics

American Spectator - Ex-IRS Employee: IRS targeting of Christine O’Donnell “not an aberration.”

It wasn’t an accident.

And the IRS has used hush money.

A former IRS employee — that would be IRS employee-turned-whistle blower Stanley Welli — tells The American Spectator that the IRS targeting of Delaware Republican U.S. Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell, a Tea Party favorite, was neither “isolated” nor “an aberration.”

O’Donnell was recently notified by the IRS that the agency had “received information that your personal federal tax info may have been compromised and may have been misused by an individual…”

Well, a 34-year IRS employee who ran afoul of the IRS culture way back in 1983 and continued to fight it all the way through his retirement in 1996, also accuses the IRS of offering him $15,000 in hush money if Welli would drop an internal grievance filing that came about after Welli and two fellow IRS managers “reported that the executive to whom we reported was associating with organized crime-linked individuals in Chicago and Milwaukee.”

In short, Welli and his two colleagues believed the IRS had in its midst a mobbed-up IRS supervisor. As it were, the Mafia had infiltrated the IRS.

The O’Donnell targeting, says Welli today, “well illustrates the corrupt mentality that has been so prevalent in the IRS.” Welli adds:

 “Some may say that the tax snooping on Christine O’Donnell is isolated, an aberration. Not so! With the IRS, all the rules go out the window ‘when necessary.’ Anything and anyone is fair game.”   More

Congress will ship arms to Syrian rebels despite overwhelming public disapproval

Creeping Sharia - 

With your tax dollars. via Deal done for U.S. to ship arms to Syria rebels.

A deal reached in Congress to allow the United States to ship arms to Syrian rebels could spur more support from other nations, blunting the military gains of dictator Bashar Assad and preventing him from crushing the rebel movement.

Syrian rebels say the decision by U.S. lawmakers to go along with President Obama’s plan announced weeks ago to arm their factions will give them an edge.

Rep. Mike Rogers, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, issued a statement saying committee members questioned the plan but have agreed it can move forward.

“The House Intelligence Committee has very strong concerns about the strength of the administration’s plans in Syria and its chances for success,” Rogers, R-Mich., said in a statement issued this week.

Rogers and other committee members declined to elaborate on the deal.   More

Which State Has the Most Self-Reliant People?

Townhall.Com - Back in 2010, I put together a “Moocher Index” as a rough measure of which states had the highest levels of welfare dependency after adjusting for poverty rates.

My goal was to answer this question.

Is there a greater willingness to sign up for income redistribution programs, all other things being equal, from one state to another?

It turned out that there were huge differences among states. Nearly 18 percent of non-poor Vermont residents were utilizing one or more welfare programs, putting them at the top of the Moocher Index.

In Nevada, by contrast, less the 4 percent of non-poor residents had their snouts in the public trough.

Does this mean Nevada residents are more self-reliant and Vermont residents are culturally statist?   More

Rep. Mark Meadows: 'All Options On the Table' to Defund Obamacare Implementation

Senior Russian diplomat blasts use of child soldiers by Syrian rebels

RT - The world must react to the fact that the Syrian anti-government rebels reportedly use children in combat, said Russian Foreign Ministry’s plenipotentiary for Human Rights.

“We hope that these facts will not be left without proper reaction on the part of the international community, including the UN General Secretary’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict,” Konstantin Dolgov noted in a statement published on the Foreign Ministry’s website.

Special representative Leila Zerrougui has just completed her visit to war-torn Syria and said on Monday that she was “overwhelmed” by the suffering of children there. Among other crimes, she mentioned that some groups were arming teenagers and using them in fighting.

The military conflict between the military loyal to President Bashar Assad and the assembled force of armed opposition, including militant Islamists and Al-Qaeda has continued since 2011, with an estimated death toll exceeding 100,000 people.   More

Greg Gutfeld: Racial Warfare Is the Crack Cocaine of CNN, MSNBC and Most College Campuses

Last Hospitalized Boston Bombing Victim Heads Home

Not a Single Terrorist Brought to Justice for Benghazi Attack

Judicial Watch - Why is it that nearly a year after the deadly attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi not a single terrorist has been brought to justice? It’s a question many Americans may be asking and this week a federal lawmaker pressed Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel for answers.

In separate letters to the men, Virginia Congressman Frank Wolf blasts the Obama administration for failing to take action against the terrorists who murdered U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans in the attack even though “upwards of 100” may have been involved. Months ago a major news organization reported that the U.S. has identified five men who might be responsible, Congressman Wolf points out.

The U.S. has enough evidence to justify seizing the men by military force as suspected terrorists, according to officials cited in the news report, but there is not enough proof to try them in a U.S. civilian court as the Obama administration prefers. So, the men remain at large while the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) gathers evidence, the congressman writes in the letters citing the news report.

“Is this accurate and, if so, who in the administration made the decision not to use military force to bring these terrorists to justice immediately, but instead allow them to walk free until enough evidence is gathered to try them in a U.S. civilian court?” Congressman Wolf writes. “Equally important, who made the decision that a U.S. court is the appropriate venue to bring these terrorists to justice?”   More

Two Americans Added to Food Stamp Rolls for Every Job Administration Says It Created

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said yesterday that the Obama administration has pulled the nation from the depths of the "Great Recession" with the creation of 7.2 million private sector jobs.
"And what is absolutely true is that we have come a long way since the depths of the Great Recession.  We've created over 7.2 million private sector jobs," Carney told reporters at a press briefing.
Here's what Mr. Carney didn't say:
Since February of 2009, the first full month of Obama's presidency, 9.5 million Americans have dropped out of the labor force.  Nearly 90 million Americans are not working today!
That means that 1.3 Americans have dropped out of the labor force for every one job the administration claims to have created.
- See more at: http://cnsnews.com/mrctv-blog/gregory-gwyn-williams-jr/two-americans-added-food-stamp-rolls-every-job-administration#sthash.RaeOc4Y6.dpuf

CNSNews - White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said yesterday that the Obama administration has pulled the nation from the depths of the "Great Recession" with the creation of 7.2 million private sector jobs.

"And what is absolutely true is that we have come a long way since the depths of the Great Recession.  We've created over 7.2 million private sector jobs," Carney told reporters at a press briefing.

Here's what Mr. Carney didn't say:

Since February of 2009, the first full month of Obama's presidency, 9.5 million Americans have dropped out of the labor force.  Nearly 90 million Americans are not working today!

That means that 1.3 Americans have dropped out of the labor force for every one job the administration claims to have created.   More

Insurgency in the Sinai: Israeli Defense Chief Visits Troops On Nation's Southern Border

CAIR & Other Muslim Brotherhood Entities Working to Block Ray Kelly's Nomination to Head DHS

The Clarion Project - Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, adored by American Islamists and their allies, has resigned and the Islamists aren’t happy about the name being floated to replace her: NYPD Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.

Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Rep. Peter King (R-NY) have both endorsed Kelly for the position, with Schumer going so far as to immediately recommend Kelly to the White House Chief of Staff upon Napolitano’s resignation. Kelly is receptive to the idea, and President Obama is sending the signal that Kelly is a real contender.

Obama praised Kelly’s performance as NYPD chief and said, “Mr. Kelly might be very happy where he is, but if he’s not, I’d want to know about it, because obviously he’d be very well qualified for the job.”   More

EU Boycott Hits Israeli Exporters: Supermarket Chains Block & Suppliers Asked to Verify Origin of Items marked "Made in Israel"

Midway Through The Month of Ramadan, 117 Terror Attacks & 662 Dead

Stats via TheReligionOfPeace.Com

Just a couple of examples, but other countries such as Indonesia and Pakistan are experiencing heightened violence, as well:

Clashes, home robberies, accidents on the rise since beginning of Ramadan
 

AMMONNEWS - Jordanians have been engaged in over 76 altercations throughout the kingdom since the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan, clashes that left 3 dead and dozens injured so far.

In the first 10 days of Ramadan, 3 were killed in clashes in Rusaifah, Azraq, and Jabal al Hussein in Amman in individual and group altercations, in addition to dozens injured.

In addition to fights, negative phenomena increase during the month of Ramadan, including traffic accidents, home robberies, purse snatching in public, and begging, according to security sources.

The Social Defense Department at the Ministry of Social Development arrested 26 beggars during the first week of Ramadan.    Read More

 

More than 70 Die in Iraq Ramadan Violence

(BAGHDAD) -- Dozens of people were killed by a series of coordinated car bombings in Iraq's capital Saturday night.

By Sunday, Baghdad authorities said that 57 people had died from a dozen attacks that left more than 125 people wounded.

The bombs were detonated following the break in the daily fast as Muslims in Iraq continue to celebrate the feast of Ramadan, which has turned particularly violent because of a surge in assaults by al Qaeda and their allies.   Read More

Nightmare on Immigration Street

Harry R. Jackson, Jr. - Meet Sandra and Isaac (not their real names). Both hold advanced degrees and are in the United States on H-1B work permits, temporary workers’ visas which allow them to stay here as long as they are employed by a company that cannot find qualified Americans for their jobs. They pay income and social security taxes; they do not collect welfare or take advantage of other entitlement programs.

Sandra and Isaac, like many members of my church, are highly educated, law-abiding West Africans who would love to become Americans citizens or at least permanent legal residents. Unfortunately, their Green Card applications have been mired in decades of red tape. Yet a bill being debated in Congress right now would put 11 million people who entered the country illegally (or overstayed their initial visas illegally) on a “path to citizenship” that would add to Sandra and Isaac’s bureaucratic nightmare.

The proposed “reforms” being debated in Congress right now avoid the word “amnesty,” but would ultimately legalize over ten million illegal immigrants in exchange for a promise to increase border security. You do not have to be a policy expert to see that there are several problems with this approach. I will offer a partial list of my own concerns:

1. We’ve tried this before and it didn’t work. Our country actually enacted a similar “path to citizenship” under President Reagan. The 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act legalized over three million illegal immigrants with the promise that further entrance of illegals would be halted or at least significantly reduced. Instead, the number of people living here illegally has more than doubled since the passage of the law. Its original sponsors, Alan Simpson and Romano Mazzoli, have admitted that the law did not achieve its intended ends.   More

US congressional hurdles lifted on arming Syrian rebels

Jerusalem Post - Obama to move forward with plan for US to arm struggling Syrian rebels after some congressional concerns eased.

WASHINGTON - US President Barack Obama will move forward with a plan for the United States to arm the struggling Syrian rebels after some congressional concerns were eased, officials said on Monday.

"We believe we are in a position that the administration can move forward," House of Representatives Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers told Reuters.

The White House announced in June that it would offer military aid to vetted groups of Syrian rebels after two years of balking at directly sending arms to the opposition.   More