The White House legal advisor who framed the administrations legal references for drone killing of American citizens is due to be confirmed without allowing his drone memos to be reviewed prior to confirmation vote.  Yeah, we have a problem with that…. 

WASHINGTON DC – Bolstered by the promised public release of a secret legal memo, Senate Democrats are ready to approve a top federal judgeship for a former Obama administration official who helped formulate the justification for the drone killings of suspected American terrorists overseas.

The Senate was expected Thursday to approve David Barron to join the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which is based in Boston.

Barron cleared a pivotal hurdle Wednesday when senators voted 52-43 to end opponents’ efforts to derail the nomination. In that roll call, Barron was opposed by every voting Republican and two Democrats, Sens. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Joe Manchin of West Virginia. (more…)

If Eli Lake leaves the Daily Beast you will see this level of exposition stop immediately.  Despite his leftist leanings on the subject of Libya and Islamic extremism Mr. Lake is perhaps the most accurate of all reporters on the specifics.  We  give him props for swimming against the tide of his colleges and outlining the falsehoods present in the Obama ‘head-in-the-sand’ hypocrisy around Islam.  -SD

(Via Eli Lake – Daily Beast) In 2012, the Obama administration produced a draft National Intelligence Estimate that reached a surprising conclusion: al Qaeda was no longer a direct threat to America. That classified assessment, which has never before been publicly disclosed, was in keeping with the message coming from the White House. President Obama rode to re-election in 2012 partly on the success of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. At rallies and in press conferences, the president and top officials publicly said al Qaeda was on the run.

But some senior U.S. intelligence officials, like Defense Intelligence Agency Director Gen. Michael Flynn, fought hard against that assessment, which amounted to an official pronouncement of the American intelligence community’s collected wisdom. Flynn and his faction won a partial victory, striking the judgment that the terrorist group no longer posed a threat to the homeland. “Flynn and others at the time made it clear they would not go along with that kind of assessment,” one U.S. intelligence officer who worked on the al Qaeda file told The Daily Beast. “It was basically: ‘Over my dead body.’” (more…)

The crucified Coptic Christians beg to differ….

(Via MEMRI)  Muhammad Badi, General Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, made an address to the court on May 18, 2014, rejecting the accusations brought against him and other members of the movement. In footage from the trial posted on the Internet, Badie says: “We have fought only against the Jews… yet now we are being accused of conspiring with Hamas against the Egyptian people. This is an absolute lie.”

Following are excerpts:

Muhammad Badi (standing before the court): Assalam Alaykum. Allah’s blessings and prayers upon you.

Judge: You have two minutes. (more…)

There’s a print story about it HERE because it caught someone’s attention.

But here’s the actual video from this morning – Forward the video to @1:27:50 as Rep Duncan asks the question:

Duncan’s question:  “Do you think Boko Haram is targeting Christians in the attacks“?

State Dept Dr. Sewell:  “I wish there were such discrimination in Boko Haram attacks“.

(more…)

HOUSTON – A man stepping off a METRO light rail train was punched in the face and left with a black eye, a cut and fractured nose.

“I looked down at my phone to read a text message and the next thing I know…POW!” said Vincent Gonzalez, who got suckered punched. “I looked behind me and saw a person standing there yelling at me and cursing at me.”

Police said Gonzalez wasn’t the only person punched that day and both attacks were unprovoked.  (more…)

Nigeria – At least 118 people have been killed and dozens wounded in two bomb blasts that caused buildings to collapse in a crowded market area of the Nigerian city of Jos, authorities say.

The massive car bombs on Tuesday, just a few minutes apart, were the latest in a deadly wave of bombings across Nigeria over the past few weeks, raising fears that the extremist group Boko Haram has become powerful enough to expand its terrorist operations far outside its traditional strongholds and into new regions of the country. (link)

Remember, this falls on the heels of over 300 killed last week, and 200 killed and/or wounded in a bombing the week just prior to that.

JOS, Nigeria — Two car bombs exploded at a bustling bus terminal and market in Nigeria’s central city of Jos on Tuesday, and police said at least 46 were killed and dozens were wounded.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the twin car bombs, but they bore the hallmarks of Boko Haram, an Islamic extremist group.

The second blast came half an hour after the first, killing some of the rescue workers who had rushed to the scene that was obscured by billows of black smoke.

Dozens of bodies and body parts were covered in grain that had been loaded in the second car bomb, witnesses said. A Terminus Market official said he helped remove 50 casualties, most of them dead. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not allowed to give information to reporters. (more…)

(WXYZ – video at link) – Steven Utash’s son Joe is speaking to 7 Action News about his father and says the man that was severely beaten is slowly getting his memory back and is finally home after 6 weeks of medical care.

On Thursday afternoon, Steven was released from the DMC Rehabilitation Institute and is under the care of his fiancee at his home in Macomb County.

This is the first time he’s been out of the hospital since April 2 when Utash was beaten by a mob of men after getting out of his work pick-up truck to help a 10-year-old boy he accidentally hit when the child darted into traffic on the city’s east side.

(more…)

We interrupt your regularly scheduled ‘Donald Sterling is a racist’ coverage to bring you a more substantive story replete with actual deadly racism that’s drawing no media attention.

In Middletown Ohio a white single mother became the victim of horrific threats and attacks while living in a predominantly black community.    The attacks ultimately culminated in teens setting fire to the house late at night trying to murder the family.

Unknown to the thug arsonists, who started the fire at 1:00am, the woman and her children had escaped through a rear window earlier in the evening at the request of her sister who begged her to just leave.

Reverse the races and this story would be playing 24/7 on CNN.

OHIO CBS – […]  A few hours before her house burned down, homeowner Jennifer Saylor told police she was having ongoing problems with juveniles (17 and 18-year-olds) in the neighborhood.

Earlier this year, she filed a police report about a break-in at her home. A teen was arrested and ever since, the youth’s friends have been threatening to hurt her and her child, the report states. (more…)