WASHINGTON DC – US intelligence chiefs have confirmed that the National Security Agency has used a “back door” in surveillance law to perform warrantless searches on Americans’ communications.
The NSA’s collection programs are ostensibly targeted at foreigners, but in August the Guardian revealed a secret rule change allowing NSA analysts to search for Americans’ details within the databases.
Now, in a letter to Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat on the intelligence committee, the director of national intelligence, James Clapper, has confirmed the use of this legal authority to search for data related to “US persons”.
“There have been queries, using US person identifiers, of communications lawfully acquired to obtain foreign intelligence targeting non-US persons reasonably believed to be located outside the United States,” Clapper wrote in the letter, which has been obtained by the Guardian. (more…)

When you combine the dots of testimony and information, and pull back from the pixels, a clear image begins to emerge.   The character visible in the image is actually the artist, Denis McDonough....   Here’s the High-Def Version:

WASHINGTON – The CIA’s former deputy director disclosed Wednesday that Obama administration officials were alerted the day before they went on national television that a key tenet of their original Benghazi storyline might be inaccurate. But he did not explain why the administration continued to cling to its narrative even after U.S. intelligence debunked reports that the deadly attack was born out of a protest over an anti-Islam video.
In often testy exchanges with Republicans who accused him of a cover-up, Michael Morell flatly denied that he “inappropriately altered and influenced” the infamous Benghazi talking points to downplay the role of terrorism in the attacks. (more…)

Again, as predicted.    Here’s the way the entire face saving fiasco is being spun by the Palestinians.  Fatah spokesman Ahmad Assaf told reporters the Palestinian Authority “blackmailed” Israel to bring about the release of dozens of prisoners.

Palestinian Media – The Palestinian Authority’s only reason for agreeing to and continuing the peace negotiations with Israel is to bring about the release of prisoners, Fatah’s spokesman Ahmad Assaf has indicated. Stating that the PA “blackmailed” Israel to release the prisoners, Assaf explained that by virtue of the PA’s membership in the UN, the PA is able to threaten Israel with taking it to the International Criminal Court. Assaf maintains that to prevent the PA from doing so, Israel agreed to release 104 prisoners, most of them serving life sentences for murder.

Senior PA leader Nabil Shaath explained already in November and again in December 2013, that the reason the PA has not “stopped negotiations,” is because the PA wants to first fulfill its goal of having all the prisoners Israel arrested before the Oslo Accords released. (more…)

By now most people might have heard about an Israeli request for the release of Jonathan Pollard. Here we present the actual substance behind what’s really going on.
President Obama and Secretary Kerry have been trying for months to establish their own legacy position by leveraging a peace agreement between Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas, and Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
Specifically because Kerry/Obama are less pro-Israel than any other administration – Abbas (Palestinian Authority) has felt empowered, and doubled down on his position that Netanyahu (Israel) must make *ALL* the substantive concessions for peace.
(more…)

First – the brutally obvious.    Four years ago the claim was made that 7 million enrollees were needed for the *initial* phase of ObamaCare to be a success.    And well, what do you know, the figure the White House touts today as VICTORY on the very last day, was 7,041,000.

BREAKING: Affordable Care Act sign-ups hit 7M (!!!)

RETWEET to celebrate! pic.twitter.com/6wcVjkkMtf

— DCCC (@dccc) April 1, 2014

Gee – what are the odds ?
Second – The entire reason to try and get ObamaCare passed was supposedly to “insure the uninsured” and we were told there were 35 million uninsured in 2009.    Of the 7 million signups touted, 5 million are those who lost their coverage DUE TO ObamaCare creating policy cancellations and re-enrolled through ObamaCare.     Of the remaining 2 million *enrollees* they are also counting 1 million Medicaid signups.
So this 2,700 page, $3 trillion healthcare monstrosity boondoggle has generated, at best, insurance for 1 million out of the original 35 million uninsured. (more…)

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(Via NewsBusters) Georgia-based abortionist Tyrone Cecil Malloy is headed for prison.
A judge sentenced Malloy to four years in prison and six years probation on two counts of Medicaid fraud. The judge will hold a restitution hearing at a later date to determine the exact amount of restitution Dr. Malloy will be ordered to pay the Georgia Department of Community Health.
Steven Ertelt of Lifenews.com insists this conviction has a national-media angle: Malloy’s abortion clinic sits in a building owned by Dr. Sharon Malone, the obstetrician and wife of Attorney General Eric Holder, or “The First Lady of Justice,” as they call her at Essence magazine.
If John Ashcroft’s wife owned a building with say, a crisis pregnancy center in it, trying to urge women not to have abortions, would  that be evaded by the liberal media? After a criminal conviction? (more…)

Rumor has it that President Obama may announce new guidelines to the NSA phone data collection.

On January 3rd (2014) Senator Rand Paul filed a lawsuit against the NSA for gathering all phone data as part of their domestic surveillance program.
Leaks from inside administration officials (probably “Skippy” Panetta) are alluding to a soon to be announced policy change of Dear Leader.    The change will possibly outline that the NSA is no longer permitted to capture all phone/data records and they will be held outside the government within the operational structures of the telecom network.
The NSA will then have to get a judicial order approved prior to requesting the data from the phone companies.
(more…)

Grifting As A Profession

(PJ Tatler) Here’s a question I’ll bet nobody ever asked Jay Carney at a White House press briefing: Why does Michelle Obama’s mother live at the White House at taxpayer expense?
(If someone has asked, please send link for me to stand corrected.)

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(Campus Beast)  As a school superintendent, you’re typically measured by a few numbers. Test scores, graduation rates, crime rates, finances, gaps in student achievement, and perhaps a few other metrics, depending on your board of education. You can actually tackle these problems, or you can employ the dark art of data manipulation. In 2012, a news story exploded onto the national stage that was very instructive in how to magically lower school crime statistics – yet nearly every major news outlet missed it. (read more)

WASHINGTON DC – Treasury Department officials didn’t check to make sure they had the legal authority to delay an Obamacare mandate before issuing guidance that flouted the text of the law, a department official told House investigators.
Treasury Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy Mark Mazur, who announced the employer mandate delay in a blog post, told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that he didn’t remember anyone considering the legal basis for the delay.
“Did anyone in the Department of the Treasury inquire into the legal authority for the delays?” Mazur was asked.
“I don’t recall anything along those lines, no,” he replied. He gave a similar answer when asked about the IRS and the Executive Office of the President.  (read more)