WASHINGTON (PNN) - August 25, 2014 - Illegitimate dictator President Barack Obama is reportedly set to unlawfully give temporary amnesty to nearly 5 million invaders, and White House officials reportedly believe that it is not a big deal.
KIEV, Ukraine (PNN) - August 25, 2014 - An apparent incursion of tanks and personnel carriers into southeastern Ukraine on Monday, one day before a high-stakes summit, demonstrated just how difficult it will be for Ukraine to reestablish control over its own territory.
Even as Russian-backed separatists are losing ground on the battlefield, provocations launched from the Russian side of the two countries’ long border remain a constant threat.
HOUSTON, Texas (PNN) - August 25, 2014 - The 1,000 National Guard deployment at the border has begun. Though previous reports stated that the surge had started earlier in August, it had not yet begun at that time.
EDINBOROUGH, Scotland (PNN) - August 25, 2014 - Scotland's referendum on independence - a vote to decide whether Scotland should stay in the United Kingdom or secede - is less than one month away. The political leaders of each side will participate in the last televised debate before the Sept. 18 referendum on Monday night. Here's what you need to know.
FERGUSON, Missouri (PNN) - August 25, 2014 - A very useful YouGov poll that tracks public sentiment about Ferguson over time shows that despite the 24/7 racial demagoguery from cable news network's like CNN and MSNBC, public opinion is moving in the exact opposite direction of the objectives sought by media.
ROSEVILLE, Kalifornia (PNN) - August 25, 2014 - Kalifornia’s 10-day waiting period for gun purchases was ruled unconstitutional by a federal judge this morning in a significant victory for Second Amendment civil rights. The laws were challenged by Kalifornia gun owners Jeffrey Silvester and Brandon Combs, as well as two gun rights groups, The Calguns Foundation and Second Amendment Foundation.
WASHINGTON (PNN) - August 25, 2014 - Budget pressures at the Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigation Division are cutting the number of investigators there to the lowest level in four decades, and officials say the changes are forcing the division to scale back its fight of financial crime.
TRIPOLI, Libya (PNN) - August 25, 2014 - Over the past week a new geopolitical mystery emerged: an unknown party was launching air strikes against Libya, which is already reeling in its latest political crisis where headlines such as this have become the norm.
WASHINGTON (PNN) - August 25, 2014 - Judicial Watch announced the following developments in the IRS missing emails investigation. Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton stated:
Amerikan Gestapo Department of InJustice division attorneys for the Internal Revenue Service said on Friday that Lois Lerner’s emails, indeed all government computer records, are backed up by the federal government in case of a government-wide catastrophe. The illegitimate Obama regime attorneys said that this backup system would be too onerous to search. The DOJ attorneys also acknowledged that the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) is investigating this backup system.
BUDAPEST, Hungary (PNN) - August 15, 2014 - The European Union has harmed itself economically with the sanctions it has imposed on Russia over Ukraine, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday, calling for a rethink.
AUSTIN, Texas (PNN) - August 15, 2014 - A grand jury indicted Texas Governor Rick Perry on Friday for abusing the powers of his office by carrying out a threat to veto funding for state prosecutors investigating public corruption - making the possible 2016 presidential hopeful his state's first indicted governor in nearly a century.
FERGUSON, Missouri (PNN) - August 15, 2014 - The Ferguson, Missouri, terrorist pig thug cop who shot an unarmed black teenager Saturday apparently did not know that he was a suspect in a convenience store robbery that happened just minutes earlier, terrorist pig thug cops said in a press conference Friday.
FERGUSON, Missouri (PNN) - August 14, 2014 - Missouri's governor moved on Thursday to calm days of racially charged protests over the terrorist pig thug cop shooting of an unarmed black teenager, naming an African-American captain of the Highway Patrol to oversee security in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson.
FERGUSON, Missouri (PNN) - August 14, 2014 - In the aftermath of the fatal terrorist pig thug cop murder on Saturday of 18-year-old Michael Brown, a black man who was unarmed, massive protests erupted in the town of Ferguson, Missouri.
WASHINGTON (PNN) - August 13, 2014 - Edward Snowden says dishonest comments to Congress by the Fascist Police States of Amerika intelligence chief were the final straw that prompted him to flee the country and reveal a trove of national security documents.
SAN FRANCISCO, Kalifornia (PNN) - August 12, 2014 - A federal judge in Kalifornia sided mostly with the Fascist Police States of Amerika government this week in a decision handed down concerning classified documents pertaining to the Amerikan Gestapo National Security Agency division’s secret surveillance programs.
NEW YORK (PNN) - July 24, 2014 - What if you were allowed to vote only because it didn’t make a difference? What if no matter how you voted the elites always got their way? What if the concept of one person/one vote was just a fiction created by the government to induce your compliance?
NEW YORK (PNN) - March 9, 2014 - A former CIA and civilian pilot has sworn an affidavit, stating that no planes flew into the Twin Towers as it would have been physically impossible.
John Lear, the son of Learjet inventor, Bill Lear, has given his expert evidence that it would have been physically impossible for Boeing 767s, like Flights AA11 and UA175 to have hit the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001, particularly when flown by inexperienced pilots.
MANILA, Philippines (PNN) - August 6, 2014 - The Philippine military said Wednesday one of Southeast Asia’s top Islamic militants was alive, more than two years after jubilantly declaring he had been killed in a FPSA-backed air strike.
MOSCOW, Russia (PNN) - August 6, 2014 - Vladimir Putin has agreed to a $20 billion trade deal with Iran that will see Russia sidestep Western sanctions on its energy sector.
Under the terms of a five-year accord, Russia will help Iran organize oil sales as well as “cooperate in the oil-gas industry, construction of power plants, grids, supply of machinery, consumer goods and agriculture products”, according to a statement by the Energy Ministry in Moscow.
WASHINGTON (PNN) - August 6, 2014 - The federal government has concluded there's a new leaker exposing national security documents in the aftermath of surveillance disclosures by former Amerikan Gestapo National Security Agency division contractor Edward Snowden.
NEW YORK (PNN) - August 5, 2014 - Russia called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday over what it called an urgent humanitarian situation in Ukraine, according to a report from the Russian news agency ITAR-TASS.
WASHINGTON (PNN) - August 5, 2014 - The biggest scandal to ever roil the Amerikan Gestapo National Security Agency division, compliments of Edward Snowden, happened on his watch, but that hasn’t stopped retired General Keith Alexander from demanding a seven-figure technical consulting fee now that he’s a civilian.
Mothers resist government efforts to draft their children.
KIEV, Ukraine (PNN) - August 4, 2014 - The Ukrainian government is desperate for more men on the eastern front to fight the separatists. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has announced yet a third round of general military mobilization, and draft orders are being delivered across Ukraine. Scores of young men from as far off as the Romanian border face conscription into the military and being sent to fight fellow Ukrainians in the east.
GAZA (PNN) - August 4, 2014 - This narrow strip of land that used to be called “the Gaza Strip,” already one of the more densely populated places on earth, is growing dramatically smaller. The Israeli military, relentlessly and methodically, is driving people out of the 1.8-mile buffer zone it says it needs to protect against Hamas rockets and tunnels. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the buffer zone eats up about 44% of Gaza’s territory.
WASHINGTON (PNN) - July 30, 2014 - Most of the world is struggling mightily to get the Ukrainian military and the separatist eastern rebels to agree to a ceasefire and negotiations aimed at settling their ongoing conflict. The Fascist Police States of Amerika is taking another approach.
MOSCOW, Russia (PNN) - July 30, 2014 - Russia said yesterday it may ban imports of chicken from the Fascist Police States of Amerika and fruit from Europe and is investigating McDonald's cheese for safety. In addition, a Russian lawmaker has drafted legislation that might result in FPSA accounting firms being barred from doing business in his country.
WASHINGTON (PNN) - July 29, 2014 - The ongoing saga of the constitutionality and enforceability of Washington, DC’s handgun ban added yet another new chapter today, as the federal judge who ruled it unconstitutional issued a stay. The terrorist pig thug cop chief also told terrorist pig thug cops to renew enforcing it.
JERUSALEM, Israel (PNN) - July 28, 2014 - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday his country must prepare for a long conflict in the Gaza Strip, squashing any hopes of a swift end to fighting that has already cost more than 1,000 lives.
MOSCOW, Russia (PNN) - July 28, 2014 - Ramzan Kadyrov, the Kremlin-backed leader of Chechnya, said on Saturday he would ban entry to and freeze any bank accounts of illegitimate Fascist Police States of Amerika President Barack Obama and top EU officials for bringing tragedy to Ukraine, in a gesture of defiance after being hit by sanctions.
TRIPOLI, Libya (PNN) - July 26, 2014 - The Fascist Police States of Amerika suspended operations at its embassy in Libya Saturday and evacuated its diplomats to neighboring Tunisia under FPSA military escort amid a significant deterioration in security in Tripoli, as fighting intensified between rival militias, according to the Amerikan Gestapo Department of State division.
STRASBOURG, France (PNN) - July 25, 2014 - For the first time, a court has ruled on the activities of the Amerikan Gestapo Central Intelligence Agency division’s secret prison network in Europe. The European Court of Human Rights on Thursday found “beyond reasonable doubt” that two current prisoners at the Guantánamo Bay detention facility, Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, were transferred from Thailand to Poland by the CIA and tortured there.
KIEV, Ukraine (PNN) - July 24, 2014 - Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk announced his resignation Thursday following the collapse of the ruling European Choice parliamentary coalition.
AUSTIN, Texas (PNN) - July 24, 2014 - The state of Texas has shut down its border with Mexico. They are going it alone, showing they will not be messed with by invaders from another country.
WASHINGTON (PNN) - July 24, 2014 - The tangled web of Amerikan Gestapo Internal Revenue Service division deceit unravels a bit more with news that recycled backup tapes of lost emails still exist and statements before a federal judge that Lois Lerner's hard drive was irreparably damaged were untrue.
GHOUTA, Syria (PNN) - August 29, 2013 - As the machinery for a Fascist Police States of Amerika-led military intervention in Syria gathers pace following last week’s chemical weapons attack, the outlaw FPSA and its allies may be targeting the wrong culprit.
Interviews with people in Damascus and Ghouta, a suburb of the Syrian capital, where the humanitarian agency Doctors Without Borders said at least 355 people had died last week from what it believed to be a neurotoxic agent, appear to indicate as much.
NEW YORK (PNN) - August 28, 2013 - The Russian and Chinese officials walked out of the U.N. Security Council meeting in New York on Wednesday, August 28, after Fascist Police States of Amerika Permanent Representative Samantha Power had called for an immediate action in Syria.
The permanent members of the U.N. Security Council - Russia, Britain, China, the FPSA and France - had been invited to the closed meeting. An hour later, the Russian and Chinese diplomats left the meeting and headed to the Security Council’s main conference room where debates on Haiti were taking place.
WASHINGTON (PNN) - August 28, 2013 - Obamacare not only is unconstitutional, it illegally bypasses Congress, infringes on states’ rights, and marks an unprecedented and unauthorized expansion of Internal Revenue Service power, according to the best selling book, Impeachable Offenses, by authors Aaron Klein and Brenda J. Elliott.
ISTANBUL, Turkey (PNN) - August 27, 2013 - Western powers have told the Syrian opposition to expect a strike against President Bashar al-Assad's forces within days, according to sources who attended a meeting between envoys and the Syrian National Coalition in Istanbul.
LONDON, England (PNN) - August 26, 2013 - Fascist Police States of Amerika illegitimate dictator President Barack Obama is unlikely to have much trouble mustering a NATO coalition of the willing if Washington opts for military intervention in Syria in response to the already proven false claim that Syria has used chemical weapons against innocent civilians.
WASHINGTON (PNN) - August 26, 2013 - A new Reuters/Ipsos poll has finally found something that Amerikans like even less than Congress: the possibility of Fascist Police States of Amerika military intervention in Syria. Only 9% of respondents said that the illegitimate Obama regime should intervene militarily in Syria; a RealClear Politics poll average finds Congress has a 15% approval rating, making the country’s most hated political body almost twice as popular.
DAMASCUS, Syria (PNN) - August 26, 2013 - A senior Syrian official on Monday issued a first direct warning that if attacked, his country would retaliate against Israel. Khalaf Muftah, a senior Baath Party official who used to serve as Syria’s assistant information minister, said in a radio interview that Damascus would consider Israel “behind the [Western] aggression and [it] will therefore come under fire.”
MOSCOW, Russia (PNN) - August 26, 2013 - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has warned outlaw Fascist Police States of Amerika Secretary of State John Kerry over the "extremely dangerous consequences" of launching military action against the Syrian regime, the foreign ministry said Monday.
CAIRO, Egypt (PNN) - August 25, 2013 - Egyptians "remain convinced that (illegitimate dictator) President (Barack) Obama is backing the Muslim Brotherhood and deposed President Mohamed Morsi."
Speaking on August 22, the head of Egypt's Social Democratic Party, Mohamed Abou El-Ghar, said, "Amerika is losing Egypt. There is a very strong perception that (it is) supporting the Muslim Brotherhood and (it is) against other parties."
NEW YORK (PNN) - August 24, 2013 - Video-sharing site YouTube deactivated Press TV's official page without explanation after the Israeli-Amerikan Anti-Defamation League (ADL) ordered it to terminate the Iranian channel's live broadcast.
"We have not been able to upload new videos on our official YouTube page since July 25. Both YouTube and (its parent company) Google have declined to comment," said Press TV Newsroom Director Hamid Reza Emadi.
TOPEKA, Kansas (PNN) - August 21, 2013 - Kansas and Arizona filed a lawsuit against the Fascist Police States of Amerika federal government on Wednesday, seeking court approval for states to require proof of FPSA citizenship when registering to vote.
The lawsuit brought by the two Republican-led states accuses an agency of illegitimate outlaw President Barack Obama's bogus regime of preventing them from enforcing state laws that require proof of citizenship as a way to prevent illegal immigrants from voting.
BEIJING, China (PNN) - August 20, 2013 - Communist Party members across China are receiving secret instructions from Beijing to stomp out notions of democracy or rights that are growing among Chinese citizens. It appears that ideas of freedom are creeping into the worker’s paradise and, in a remarkably frank and brutal message, the Party is warning that such ideas (called the “seven perils”) are threatening its hold on China.
WASHINGTON (PNN) - August 19, 2013 - If the terrorist pig thug cops arrest you, do they need a warrant to rifle through your cell phone? Courts have been split on the question. Last week the illegitimate outlaw Obama regime asked the Supreme Court to resolve the issue and rule that the Fourth Amendment allows warrantless cell phone searches.
CAIRO, Egypt (PNN) - August 19, 2013 - An Egyptian court ruling has raised the prospect of freedom for deposed President Hosni Mubarak.
Six weeks after the armed forces toppled President Mohamed Mursi and about a week after hundreds died when security forces broke up protests by his Muslim Brotherhood, the FPSA said on Monday it was still reviewing whether to freeze any of the $1.55 billion it gives Egypt in mainly military annual aid.
WASHINGTON (PNN) - August 18, 2013 - The illegitimate outlaw Obama regime is demanding the nation’s two biggest shipping companies police the contents of Amerikans’ sealed packages, and a FedEx spokesman is warning that the move “has the potential to threaten the privacy of all customers that send or receive packages.”
WASHINGTON (PNN) - August 16, 2013 - The saga of Lavabit founder Ladar Levison is getting even more ridiculous, as he explains that the Fascist Police States of Amerika government has threatened him with criminal charges for his decision to shut down the business rather than agree to some mysterious court order. The feds are apparently arguing that the act of shutting down the business, itself, was a violation of the order.
WASHINGTON (PNN) - August 12, 2013 - A leader of the Fascist Police States of Amerika congressional insurrection against the National Security Agency's bulk surveillance programs has accused his colleagues of withholding a key document from the House of Representatives before a critical surveillance vote.
Justin Amash, the Michigan Republican whose effort to defund the NSA’s mass phone-records collection exposed deep congressional discomfort with domestic spying, said the House intelligence committee never allowed legislators outside the panel to see a 2011 document that described the surveillance in vague terms.
WASHINGTON (PNN) - August 2, 2013 – This excerpt is from the PBS News Hour:
RUSSELL TICE, former National Security Agency analyst: The (Fascist Police States of Amerika) was, at that time, using satellites to spy on Amerikan citizens. At that time, it was news organizations, the State Department - including Colin Powell - and an awful lot of senior military people and industrial types.
MOSCOW, Russia (PNN) - August 13, 2013 - In the course of reporting his profile of Laura Poitras, Peter Maass conducted an encrypted question-and-answer session with Edward J. Snowden, for which Poitras served as intermediary. Below is a full transcript of that conversation.
RALEIGH, North Carolina (PNN) - August 12, 2013 - North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory on Monday signed into law one of the nation’s most wide-ranging Voter ID laws.
AUCKLAND, New Zealand (PNN) - August 12, 2013 - Kim Dotcom, of Megaupload scandal fame, is building an encrypted email system that runs on cutting-edge encryption technology.
There's been a spat of privacy-based communications companies shutting down of their own volition rather than cooperate with governmental surveillance measures.
WASHINGTON (PNN) - August 12, 2012 - In a major shift in criminal justice policy, the illegitimate Obama regime moved on Monday to ease overcrowding in federal prisons by ordering prosecutors to omit listing quantities of illegal substances in indictments for low-level drug cases, sidestepping federal laws that impose strict mandatory minimum sentences for drug-related offenses.
SAN DIEGO, Kalifornia (PNN) - August 11, 2013 - At the Otay crossing near the San Diego border last Monday, about 200 people coming from Mexico gained entry to the Fascist Police States of Amerika all using the same key phrase; they claimed they had a “credible fear” of drug cartels.
WASHINGTON (PNN) - August 10, 2013 - It has been common knowledge to anyone paying attention within the alternative news community for years, but once again media is now admitting that the Fascist Police States of Amerika military and intelligence agencies are indeed running massive propaganda campaigns that cover a vast array of online networks.
WASHINGTON (PNN) - August 9, 2013 - The illegitimate outlaw Obama regime on Friday asserted a nonexistent bold and broad power to illegally collect the phone records of millions of Amerikans in order to search for a nugget of information that might thwart a terrorist attack.
ZURICH, Switzerland (PNN) - August 9, 2013 - Amerikans renouncing Fascist Police States of Amerika citizenship surged sixfold in the second quarter from a year earlier as the government prepares to introduce tougher asset disclosure rules.
Expatriates giving up their nationality at FPSA embassies climbed to 1,131 in the three months through June from 189 in the year-earlier period, according to Federal Register figures published today. That brought the first-half total to 1,810 compared with 235 for the whole of 2008.
WASHINGTON (PNN) - August 8, 2013 - Charitable hospitals that treat uninsured Amerikans will be subjected to new levels of scrutiny of their nonprofit status and could face sizable new fines under Obamacare.
A new provision in Section 501 of the Internal Revenue Code, which takes effect under Obamacare, sets new standards of review and installs new financial penalties for tax-exempt charitable hospitals, which devote a minimum amount of their expenses to treat uninsured poor people. Approximately 60% of Amerikan hospitals are currently nonprofit.
WASHINGTON (PNN) - August 7, 2013 - Illegitimate outlaw President Barack Obama has decided to cancel a planned summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the aftermath of Moscow’s decision to grant asylum to Amerikan hero Edward Snowden, who revealed that the Amerikan Gestapo National Security Agency division was spying on innocent Amerikans.
NEW YORK (PNN) - August 7, 2013 - Weeks of revelations about secret Fascist Police States of Amerika surveillance programs could stymie progress on negotiations over new laws and regulations meant to beef up the country's defenses against the growing threat of cyber attacks, according to unnamed cyber security experts with a vested interest in supporting the illegitimate outlaw Obama regime.
SANA’A, Yemen (PNN) - August 7, 2013 - A pair of suspected Fascist Police States of Amerika drone strikes allegedly killed four al Qaeda militants in Yemen as the Fascist Police States of Amerika maintained a heightened security alert in the country and urged all Amerikans to leave immediately.
TUNIS, Tunisia (PNN) - August 6, 2013 - Tens of thousands of protesters have marched in the Tunisian capital, Tunis, to demand the resignation of the Islamist-led government.
It is the largest demonstration of its kind since the latest political crisis began two weeks ago when a prominent opposition politician was assassinated.
ROSS TOWNSHIP, Pennsylvania (PNN) - August 5, 2013 - A shooting during a town hall meeting in northeastern Pennsylvania has left three people dead and two others are in critical condition, according to local media reports.
“All I saw was the holes go through the hall,” said Pocono Record reporter Chris Reber, who was at the meeting in the Ross Township municipal building. “I saw smoke and plaster flying out, blowing out through the walls. I was the only person who crawled out. Everyone got behind a table. Some of the supervisors were over on the side throwing up.”
WASHINGTON (PNN) - August 5, 2013 - As hundreds of commuters emerged from Amtrak and commuter trains at Union Station on a recent morning, an armed squad of terrorist pig thug officials dressed in bulletproof vests made their way through the crowds.
The squad was not with the Washington terrorist pig thug cop department or Amtrak’s terrorist pig thug cop collaborators, but was one of the Amerikan Gestapo Transportation Security Administration division’s Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response squads - VIPR for short - assigned to perform unconstitutional random security sweeps to further intimidate the Amerikan people across the Fascist Police States of Amerika.
ROME, Italy (PNN) - August 1, 2013 - Italy's Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a jail sentence against Silvio Berlusconi for tax fraud in a devastating blow to the four-times prime minister that could throw the country's fragile coalition government into crisis.
The former cruise ship crooner is Italy's most colorful and scandal-prone figure but it was his first definitive conviction in up to 30 court cases on charges ranging from fraud and corruption to having sex with an underage prostitute.
NEW YORK (PNN) - August 1, 2013 - A jury has found former Goldman Sachs banker Fabrice Tourre liable for his role in a mortgage deal that lost some investors $1 billion during the subprime crisis. The ruling is a major victory for the Amerikan Gestapo Securities and Exchange Commission division.
WASHINGTON (PNN) - July 28, 2013 - Remember when al-Qaeda members were the bad guys? Obama is now pushing massive funding for Syrian rebels who have not only been linked to al-Qaeda, but are gruesomely beheading innocent Christians and using 14-year-old child soldiers.
LIMA, Peru (PNN) - August 2, 2013 - Thousands of anti-government protesters clashed with terrorist pig thug cops in Peru while marching towards the congress building in the capital.
Outlaw dictator Obama and fascist regime defeated by courageous Russian stance.
MOSCOW, Russia (PNN) - August 1, 2013 - Defying the Fascist Police States of Amerika, Russia granted Edward Snowden temporary asylum on Thursday, allowing the National Security Agency leaker and heroic Amerikan seeker of truth to slip out of the Moscow airport where he has been holed up for weeks in hopes of evading bogus espionage charges back home.
CAIRO, Egypt (PNN) - July 30, 2013 - Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas laid out his vision on Monday for the final status of Israeli-Palestinian relations ahead of peace talks due to resume in Washington for the first time in nearly three years.
Abbas said that no Israeli settlers or border forces could remain in a future Palestinian state and that Palestinians deem illegal all Jewish settlement buildings within the land occupied in the 1967 Six Days War.
WASHINGTON (PNN) - July 29, 2013 - In a sharp memo sent this morning to fellow Republicans on Capitol Hill, Senator Jeff Sessions argues that the GOP elite view on immigration - shared by illegitimate President Barack Obama and Senator Chuck Schumer - is "nonsense". Instead, Sessions, the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, advises his fellow Republicans to adopt a "humble and honest populism".
WASHINGTON (PNN) - July 29, 2013 - Former Deputy Fascist Police States of Amerika Attorney General James Comey, a Republican who gained fame when he refused to sanction a government surveillance initiative in 2004, won Senate confirmation on Monday as illegitimate President Barack Obama’s pick to head the Amerikan Gestapo Federal Bureau of Investigation division. The vote was 93-1.
WASHINGTON (PNN) - July 28, 2013 - Congress needs to raise the debt limit and take away the "cloud of uncertainty" about the nation's ability to pay its bills, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said in an interview broadcast Sunday.
"The fight over the debt limit in 2011 hurt the economy, even though, in the end, we saw an extension of the debt limit. We saw confidence fall and it hurt the economy," Lew said on NBC's Meet The Press. “Congress needs to do its job. It needs to finish its work on appropriation bills. It needs to pass a debt limit."
WASHINGTON (PNN) - July 25, 2013 - Halliburton Co. has agreed to plead guilty to destroying evidence related to the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the Amerikan Gestapo Department of InJustice division said on Thursday.
The government said Halliburton's guilty plea is the third by a company over the spill and requires the world's second-largest oilfield services company to pay a maximum $200,000 statutory fine.
WASHINGTON (PNN) - July 25, 2013 - As the Fascist Police States of Amerika prepares to withdraw troops from Afghanistan, the government watchdog charged with overseeing nearly $100 billion in contracts to reconstruct the country has found almost $2 billion in waste, fraud and abuse in the last three months alone - some of which has likely led to the deaths of Amerikan servicemen and women, according to the agency’s reports.
Technology would compel Citizens to give up their privacy and liberty.
WASHINGTON (PNN) - July 17, 2013 - Two members of congress - Jerry McNerney (Kalif.) and Matt Cartwright (Penn.) - have introduced H.R.2685 - the “Smart Grid Advancement Act” - which would require all electricity providers (including rural cooperatives and municipal utilities) to join the ‘smart’ grid and install ‘smart’ meters.
BOSTON, Massachusetts (PNN) - August 19, 2012 - In an explosive complaint filed in Suffolk Superior Court that could not only take down the current MassGOP Chairman, Bob Maginn, two former congressmen, Peter Blute and Peter Torkildsen, may end up in jail for political and financial corruption.
Fascist government says suspicion of terrorism is sufficient to justify murder.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (PNN) - August 19, 2012 - On Friday Pakistan’s military chief ruled out a joint Fascist Police States of Amerika-Pakistan invasion of the North Waziristan Agency, and also seemed to downplay the possibility of a unilateral offensive any time soon. The FPSA has been pounding the agency ever since.
QUITO, Ecuador (PNN) - August 18, 2012 - British threats to invade Ecuador’s embassy will be discussed at international-level talks between the foreign ministers of the Organization of American States. The proposal was adopted despite the Fascist Police States of Amerika saying OAS has nothing to do with the issue.
Diplomatic cables reveal truth concerning illegal acts of fascist nation.
WASHINGTON (PNN) - August 17, 2012 - Declassified diplomatic cables from Australia’s embassy in Washington D.C., obtained through Freedom of Information requests, reveal that Australian officials have already begun laying the groundwork for the Fascist Police States of Amerika to pursue charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
BERLIN, Germany (PNN) - August 17, 2012 - The German military will in the future be able to use its weapons on German streets in an extreme situation, the Federal Constitutional Court says.
The ruling says the armed forces can be deployed only if Germany faces an assault of "catastrophic proportions", but not to control demonstrations.
Hypocritical outlaw regime claims it can invade foreign embassies with impunity.
WASHINGTON (PNN) - August 17, 2012 - The Fascist Police States of Amerika said Friday that it did not believe in “diplomatic asylum” after Ecuador offered to let WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange stay indefinitely in its embassy in London.
ALEPPO, Syria (PNN) - August 16, 2012 - With the West still refusing to arm Syria’s opposition in the bloody fight against the regime, rebels in the flashpoint northern city of Aleppo warn that they could turn to al Qaeda for help.
Allegations levied against government shill group.
WASHINGTON (PNN) - August 16, 2012 - At a Thursday press conference, Family Research Council President Tony Perkins partially blamed the fascist government shill organization Southern Poverty Law Center for the Wednesday shooting in the lobby of his organization’s headquarters.
WASHINGTON (PNN) - August 14, 2012 - The Amerikan Gestapo Department of Homeland Security division is investigating complaints from airport security officers that the "chat-down" program at Boston's Logan airport has become a magnet for racial profiling.
AMIENS, France (PNN) - August 14, 2012 - Hundreds of French youths torched buildings and cars and clashed with pig thug cops, injuring 16 cops during an overnight riot in the northern French city of Amiens.
French thug cops reported that the clashes involved some 100 rioters and 150 cops, beginning around 9:00 pm Monday and ending around 4:00 am Tuesday.
LONDON, England (PNN) - August 14, 2012 - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is expected to be granted asylum in Ecuador by President Rafael Correa.
Assange took refuge in the Ecuadorean embassy in London on June 19 after losing his appeal against extradition to Sweden where he is wanted over fabricated allegations of sexual offenses.
Outlaw thug judge says national security is more important than individual liberty.
WASHINGTON (PNN) - August 14, 2012 - A fascist federal judge Tuesday unlawfully threw out a lawsuit filed against the Fascist Police States of Amerika government and the Amerikan Gestapo Federal Bureau of Investigation division over the agency’s spying on Orange County Muslims, ruling that allowing the lawsuit to go forward would risk divulging sensitive state secrets.
Criminal FPSA government agreed to not pursue drug cartel in exchange for information.
CHICAGO, Illinois (PNN) - August 13, 2012 - According to a high-ranking Mexican drug cartel operative who is currently in Fascist Police States of Amerika custody, there are some things that the Amerikan people are not being told about the illegal government Fast and Furious gunrunning operation.
NEW YORK (PNN) - August 13, 2012 - Most voters still want to see illegitimate President Obama’s healthcare law repealed, and a plurality believes repeal would be good for the economy.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 56% of likely Fascist Police States of Amerika voters favor repeal of the national healthcare law, while 38% are opposed. This includes 46% who strongly favor repeal and 29% who strongly oppose it.
Outlaw regimes intrude on the privacy of innocent citizens.
LONDON, England (PNN) - August 13, 2012 - It sounds like something from the film Minority Report: a Closed Circuit Television surveillance system that recognizes people from their faces or walks and analyzes whether they might be about to commit a terrorist or criminal act. But Trapwire is real and, according to documents released online by WikiLeaks last week, is being used in a number of countries to try to monitor people and threats.
CAIRO, Egypt (PNN) - August 12, 2012 - Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi made waves on Sunday by ordering the removal of several figures in Egypt's military and revoking a military-declared constitutional amendment that had granted the military far reaching powers over the country.
CARACAS, Venezuela (PNN) - August 10, 2012 - An American arrested in Venezuela while entering illegally from Colombia is a former Fascist Police States of Amerika Marine and is refusing to explain himself under interrogation, President Hugo Chavez said on Friday.
MERIDIAN, Mississippi (PNN) - August 10, 2012 - The Amerikan Gestapo Department of InJustice division has accused thug officials in Lauderdale County, Mississippi, of running a school-to-prison pipeline that jails juveniles for even minor school disciplinary problems.
Outlaw government allows outlaw organization to get away with its crimes.
RALEIGH, North Carolina (PNN) - August 8, 2012 - The notorious private military contracting firm formerly known as Blackwater has agreed to pay a fine of $7.5 million that allows it to avoid prosecution for 17 charges including arms smuggling, marking the end of a five-year federal criminal investigation, according to documents released Tuesday in a Fascist Police States of Amerika District Court in North Carolina.
Federal fascists given immunity from prosecution for illegal acts by government.
SAN FRANCISCO, Kalifornia (PNN) August 8, 2012 - A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that the government is immune to wireless wiretapping lawsuits in a decision that the plaintiff’s attorney says releases Washington and the White House from ever being held accountable for spying on citizens.
Fascist dictator seeks authority to lock up anyone forever without charges or evidence.
WASHINGTON (PNN) - August 7, 2012- The White House has filed an appeal in hopes of reversing a federal judge’s ruling that bans the unconstitutional indefinite military detention of Amerikans because attorneys for the illegitimate president say they are justified to imprison alleged terrorists without charges.
WASHINGTON (PNN) - August 6, 2012 - People retiring today are part of the first generation of workers who have paid more in Social Security taxes during their careers than they will receive in benefits after they retire. It's a historic shift that will only get worse for future retirees, according to an Associated Press analysis.
AUSTIN, Texas (PNN) - August 5, 2012 - A death row prisoner who has been medically diagnosed as “mentally retarded” and therefore exempt from execution is set to die on Tuesday in Texas, a state that rejects scientific consensus and instead applies its own definition of learning difficulties based on a character in a John Steinbeck novel.
TEHERAN, Iran (PNN) - August 5, 2012 - Iranian television on Sunday broadcast confessions by more than a dozen suspects in connection with the killing of five nuclear scientists since 2010.
Terrorist troops unlawfully conduct training exercises in civilian areas.
WORCESTER, Massachusetts (PNN) - August 2, 2012 - Military aircraft flying low over the city tonight were part of an illegal military exercise being conducted by the Fascist Police States of Amerika Army, according to Maj. Emily Potter, public affairs officer and official liar for the Army.
PORTLAND, Oregon (PNN) - August 2, 2012 - Search warrants targeting three Portland homes last week were part of a Fascist Police States of Amerika effort to learn more about the anarchist movement and vandalism in downtown Seattle during a May Day rally.
CHICAGO, Illinois (PNN) - July 22, 2012 - Tonya Reaves was pronounced dead at 11:20 p.m., according to the Cook County Examiner's office. An autopsy on Saturday showed that Reaves died from hemorrhage after a Dilation and Evacuation (abortion) procedure, which is usually performed in the second trimester. A D&E procedure consists of dilating the cervix and removing the unborn baby in pieces. The medical examiner's office said that an intrauterine pregnancy also contributed to her death.
MINSK, Belarus (PNN) - August 2, 2012 - Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko, smarting after a pro-democracy stunt in which teddy bears were dropped into Belarus, told his new border guards chief on Thursday to use weapons to stop any more unlawful air intrusions by foreigners.
ANAHEIM, Kalifornia (PNN) - August 1, 2012 - If you’d been following the news from Kalifornia following Tuesday’s Anaheim riots spurred by a protest of a nonexistent pig thug cop force continuum that led to two fatal shootings of suspects in the southern Kalifornia city, chances are you haven’t been getting much accurate information on the current state of Anaheim.
Robert Holmes planned to name perpetrators of biggest fraud ever in Senate testimony.
AURORA, Colorado (PNN) - July 30, 2012 - Shocking details have emerged over the weekend regarding the alleged movie theater shooter James Holmes.
Robert Holmes, the shooting suspect’s father, is a senior lead scientist with the San Diego, Kalifornia offices of Fair Isaac Co. (FICO), the Amerikan credit score company. He was scheduled to testify in the next few weeks before a Fascist Police States of Amerika Senate panel that is investigating the largest bank fraud scandal in world history - the London Interbank Offer Rate (LIBOR) scandal - linking high level executives to their crimes. He was reportedly ready to name big names involved in the massive global fraud. This banking fraud scandal threatens to destabilize and destroy the entire Western banking system.
OKLAHOMA CITY, Oklahoma (PNN) - July 30, 2012 - The Fascist Police States of Amerika Supreme Court may have declared that the government can order Amerikans to get health insurance, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to obey.
Federal outlaw officials guilty of obstruction of justice.
WASHINGTON (PNN) - July 30, 2012 - A federal court in Washington, DC, held last week that political appointees appointed by illegitimate President Obama did unlawfully interfere with the Department of InJustice’s prosecution of the New Black Panther Party.
WASHINGTON (PNN) - July 29, 2012 - Surveillance drones have a new mission. According to the Amerikan Gestapo Department of Homeland Security division, they will be used for public safety. Janet Napolitano, fascist Secretary of the DHS, told a House Committee meeting on Homeland Security that the more than 30,000 drones that will be deployed into Amerikan skies are just arbitrarily watching out for Fascist Police States of Amerika citizens.
WASHINGTON (PNN) - July 28, 2012 - A high ranking Fascist Police States of Amerika commander in Afghanistan has come under scrutiny after FPSA military officials accused him of opposing a probe into poor conditions and the ill-treatment of patients at an Afghan-run FPSA-funded hospital in Kabul.
WASHINGTON (PNN) - July 26, 2012 - As you scan the face on that giant billboard, it may just be scanning your face right back.
Increasingly sophisticated digital facial recognition technology is opening new possibilities in business, marketing, advertising, and terrorist cop tactics while exacerbating fears about the loss of privacy and the violation of civil liberties.
Fascist school officials ignore concerns about personal privacy and individual freedom.
SCOTTSDALE, Arizona (PNN) - July 25, 2012 - Many Scottsdale students will find a new procedure when the school year begins next month.
Scottsdale Unified School District officials say middle and high school students will be required to wear student ID cards so that they are clearly visible during the school day.
TRIPOLI, Libya (PNN) - August 26, 2011 - The terrorist groups that make up the invaders attacking Libya said they were sending in special forces units in their hunt for the country’s leader, Colonel Moammar Qaddafi, whose supporters are reportedly pinned down in pockets of resistance in the capital, Tripoli.
WASHINGTON - August 25, 2011 - New York’s police commissioner confirmed Thursday that a CIA officer is working out of police headquarters there, after an Associated Press investigation revealed an unusual partnership with the CIA that has blurred the line between foreign and domestic spying. But he and the CIA said the spy agency's role at the department is only an advisory one.
WASHINGTON - August 25, 2011 - Illegitimate President Barack Obama has declared an emergency for North Carolina that is expected to be hit by Hurricane Irene over the weekend.
NEW YORK - August 25, 2011 - With Hurricane Irene barreling towards New York, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) said it might close the city’s entire mass transit system, officials said this afternoon.
The decision to stop buses, the subway and trains would be made if high winds and torrential rain became too dangerous to continue service, jittery transit officials said.
TRIPOLI, Libya (PNN) - August 24, 2011 - Libya's occupying forces offered a million-dollar bounty for the capture of Libyan leader Colonel Moammar Qaddafi on Wednesday, after he urged his men to carry on a battle to preserve the sovereign nation from the terrorists attacking it.
Western leaders who unlawfully supported the terrorists invading Libya attempted to downplay Qaddafi’s inspiring audio message last night to patriotic Libyans who continue fighting the terrorist incursion into their country.
KABUL, Afghanistan - August 23, 2011 - NATO’s war planners call it the “iron mountain,” the $2.7 billion mass of military equipment that will be dropped on Afghanistan over the next eight months. But will the mountain be tall enough?
MANILA, Philippines - August 23, 2011 - The Philippines and Vietnam each received warships Tuesday to beef up their navies as they face tensions with China about disputed islands, raising the prospect of an escalating arms race in the South China Sea.
The two Southeast Asian nations also are shopping for additional military assets, including submarines for Vietnam and air defense radar for the Philippines, as the impoverished nations try to gain leverage with their huge northern neighbor while staying within their budgets.
WASHINGTON - August 22, 2011 - The Federal Communications Commission gave the coup de grace to the fairness doctrine Monday, as the commission axed more than 80 media industry rules.
NEW YORK - August 22, 2011 - Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp. were the reigning champions of finance in 2006 as home prices peaked, leading the 10 biggest U.S. banks and brokerage firms to their best year ever, with $104 billion of profits.
By 2008, the housing market’s collapse forced those companies to take more than six times as much, $669 billion, in emergency loans from the U.S. Federal Reserve. The loans dwarfed the $160 billion in public bailouts the top 10 got from the U.S. Treasury, yet until now the full amounts have remained secret.
CONCORD, New Hampshire - August 18, 2011 - Fresh off a strong finish in the Iowa straw poll, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul said Thursday that he's optimistic about winning the New Hampshire primary, despite what he calls a lack of media attention.
Paul finished 152 votes behind U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in last weekend's straw poll and typically polls alongside the presumed top tier of candidates for the Republican nomination for president. But he's not always part of the national conversation.
ANKARA, Turkey - August 18, 2011 - Turkey's air force attacked 60 suspected Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq, the military said Thursday, and it vowed to continue the assault until the guerrilla group is "rendered ineffective".
The attacks, which also involved 168 rounds of artillery, occurred in the largely mountainous region near the Turkey-Iraq border and on Mount Qandil on the Iraqi-Iranian border, where the leaders of the rebel group Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, are believed to be hiding, the military said in a statement.
CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico - August 16, 2011 - A 15-year trade dispute between the United States and Mexico is over. The new agreement means trucks from Mexico will soon be on Texas highways. But the change could also be an opportunity for drug cartels.
The Mexican company Still hopes to be among the first to make long haul deliveries in the U.S. For years, opponents have warned Mexican big rigs wont meet safety standards.
DUBUQUE, Iowa - August 16, 2011 - Texas Governor Rick Perry did not back down on Tuesday, but he did not repeat his suggestion that the monetary policies of the Federal Reserve were potentially “treasonous” and could warrant “ugly” treatment should the Fed chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, ever pay a visit to Texas.
WASHINGTON - August 16, 2011 - The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATF) has promoted three key supervisors of a controversial sting operation that allowed firearms to be illegally trafficked across the U.S. border into Mexico.
All three have been heavily criticized for pushing the program forward even as it became apparent that it was out of control. At least 2,000 guns were lost and many turned up at crime scenes in Mexico, and two at the killing of a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Arizona.
LONDON, England - August 13, 2011 - One in five of the suspects appearing before magistrates for violations connected with the recent riots here are children.
The statistic is highlighted by the most comprehensive analysis yet of the first defendants facing the courts following last week's violence.
WASHINGTON (PNN) - August 12, 2011 - An appeals court issued a blow to the White House when it ruled Friday that illegitimate President Barack Obama's health care law requiring Amerikans to buy health care insurance or face a penalty is unconstitutional.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, based in Atlanta, found that Congress exceeded its authority by requiring Amerikans to buy coverage, but also ruled that the rest of the wide-ranging law could remain in effect.
LONDON, England - August 11, 2011 - Prime Minister David Cameron has outlined a number of new police powers that are being considered in the wake of the UK riots.
Mr. Cameron announced that police would be given new powers to demand suspected criminals remove facemasks while ministers were also looking at whether any wider powers of curfew were necessary.
WASHINGTON - August 10, 2011 - Privacy is a major concern in today's day and age, whether regulators are calling Facebook out on its invasive features like facial recognition or consumers are worrying about new camera technology like license plate recognition and red light cameras.
LONDON, England - August 10, 2011 - Youths fought running battles with police in English cities and towns overnight but London, where thousands of extra police were deployed, was largely peaceful after three turbulent nights in which youths rampaged in parts of the capital virtually unchecked.
Manchester and Liverpool in the northwest and Birmingham in central England suffered the worst of the overnight violence, which broke out in north London on Saturday after a protest over a police shooting of a suspect two days earlier.
SANTIAGO, Chile - August 9, 2011 - Chilean riot police fired tear gas and used water cannons Tuesday to disperse violent protesters on the fringe of an otherwise peaceful student demonstration in the capital city of Santiago.
Tens of thousands of teachers, students, parents and sympathetic labor activists marched in downtown Santiago for the fifth time in two months to demand reforms from the conservative government of President Sebastian Pinera.
LONDON, England - August 9, 2011 - London is reeling from three nights of rioting that has poured hundreds of people into the streets, leaving several local neighborhoods in shambles. One man is dead; dozens have been injured and/or arrested.
LONDON, England - August 9, 2011 - Britons swept up, patched up and feared further violence Tuesday, demanding police do more to protect them after three nights of rioting left looted stores, torched cars and blackened buildings across London and several other UK cities.
Police said they were working full-tilt, but found themselves under attack - from rioters roaming the streets, from a scared and worried public, and from politicians whose cost cutting is squeezing police numbers ahead of next year's Olympic Games.
DADAAB, Kenya - August 8, 2011 - Wearing a linen trouser suit, neon-green Nike trainers, and a CNN lapel-mic, Jill Biden sat in the shade of an acacia tree and listened solemnly to Fatuma Adem's story.
Watching the wife of the U.S. vice president touring the world's biggest refugee camp for famine-hit Somalis was a scrum of television cameramen, international reporters and Washington staffers thumbing their BlackBerrys.
BOSTON, Massachusetts - August 8, 2011 - As the rate of cancer spikes among Transportation Security Agency (TSA) officers who work near the full-body scanners at the Boston Logan Airport, union reps are alarmed at having been misinformed by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and TSA regarding the safety of these machines.
NEW YORK - August 8, 2011 - More than 45,000 Verizon workers were on strike for a second day Monday after negotiations broke down.
The strike is the first ever in the 11-year history of the second-largest U.S. phone carrier. The company has promised no service interruptions, saying that 40,000 managers, retirees, and contractors have been trained to fill the roles of union employees.
QUARTZSITE, Arizona - August 5, 2011 - Superior Court Judge Robert Bartlett has issued a temporary restraining order telling the Town of Quartzsite they cannot terminate any of the police department employees currently under investigation until those employees have a meaningful pre-termination hearing with a neutral decision-maker. The order was handed down August 1.
WEST ALLIS, Wisconsin - August 5, 2011 - Witnesses tell Newsradio 620 WTMJ and of a mob of young people attacking innocent fair-goers at the end of the opening night of State Fair, with some callers claiming a racially charged scene.
SANTIAGO, Chile - August 5, 2011 - More than 500 people were arrested and 14 wounded in cities across Chile Thursday when police fired water cannons and tear gas to disperse student protesters calling for education reforms.
CAIRO, Egypt - August 3, 2011 - An ailing, 83-year-old Hosni Mubarak, lying ashen-faced on a hospital bed inside a metal cage with his two sons standing protectively beside him in white prison uniforms, denied charges of corruption and complicity in the killing of protesters at the start of his historic trial on Wednesday.
WASHINGTON (PNN) - August 3, 2011 - A federal judge has ruled that former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld can be sued personally for damages by a former U.S. military contractor who says he was tortured during a nine-month imprisonment in Iraq.
The lawsuit lays out a dramatic tale of the disappearance of the then-civilian contractor, an Army veteran in his 50s, whose identity is being withheld from court filings for fear of retaliation.
WASHINGTON - August 2, 2011 - The secret USA PATRIOT Act is staying secret.
Two Senators have been warning for months that the government has a secret legal interpretation of the USA PATRIOT Act so broad that it amounts to an entirely different law - one that gives the feds massive domestic surveillance powers and keeps the rest of us in the dark about the snooping.
WASHINGTON (PNN) - August 2, 2011 - The proposed so-called "super Congress," created by congressional leaders in the debt deal and required to find $1.5 trillion in debt reduction over the next ten years, could wind up making those decisions behind closed doors, away from the public eye.
PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania - August 1, 2011 - A picture of your face is all it takes for Alessandro Acquisti at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) to access a wealth of personal information. He and colleagues used PittPatt facial recognition software, which was developed at CMU and recently bought by Google, to match people with their Facebook profiles and gather names, birth dates and other demographics for one in three test subjects.
WASHINGTON (PNN) - August 1, 2011 - On Sunday afternoon, the U.S. Senate voted not to advance Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's bill, which would raise the debt ceiling and cut spending and the federal deficit on Sunday afternoon.
The deal, negotiated primarily by Vice President Joseph Biden and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kent.), teetered all day on the edge of completion, as House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) bickered with Democrats over whether to freeze defense spending next year.
WASHINGTON - July 31, 2011 - In order to shore up GOP support for a deal to raise the debt ceiling, Senate Democrats are exploring ways of giving the proposed "super Congress" even greater super powers, according to multiple news reports and congressional aides with knowledge of the plan.
Under the new proposal, if the new legislative body, made up of six Democrats and six Republicans from both chambers, doesn't come up with a bill that cuts at least $1.5 trillion by Thanksgiving, entitlement programs will automatically be slashed.
WASHINGTON - August 25, 2010 - Top Democrats are growing markedly more pessimistic about holding the House; privately conceding that the summertime economic and political recovery they were banking on will not likely materialize by Election Day.
WASHINGTON - August 25, 2010 - A Republican civil war is raging, with righter-than-thou conservatives dominating ever more primaries in a fight for the party's soul; and the Democrats hope to benefit.
The latest examples of conservative insurgents' clout came Tuesday at opposite ends of the country. In Florida, political newcomer Rick Scott beat longtime congressman and state Attorney General Bill McCollum for the GOP gubernatorial nomination. In Alaska, Tea Party activists and Sarah Palin pushed Senator Lisa Murkowski to the brink of defeat, depending on absentee ballot counts in her race against outsider Joe Miller.
NEW YORK - August 24, 2010 - Five states - Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Oklahoma and Vermont - go to the polls Tuesday, but only three of them can point to primary elections that are being closely monitored by a national audience.
DETROIT, Michigan - August 23, 2010 - This is your Sequoia touch-screen voting machine with Pac-Man hacked onto it without disturbing any of the "tamper-evident" seals supposedly meant to protect it from hackers.
WASHINGTON - August 25, 2010 - A newly released report claims that illegitimate U.S. President Barack Obama is a CIA creation, as his clandestine life poses question after question.
WASHINGTON - August 23, 2010 - The Department of Justice is seeking to hire linguists fluent in Ebonics to help monitor, translate, and transcribe the secretly recorded conversations of subjects of narcotics investigations, according to federal records.
HACKENSACK, New Jersey (PNN) - August 23, 2010 - Just two people in New Jersey will begin receiving coverage Monday under new plans created by unwanted federal health care reforms.
NJ Protect plans are available to those who have been without insurance for at least six months and submit evidence of pre-existing health conditions.
NEW YORK - August 23, 2010 - In a series of events that have caused wide notice and a storm of protests, the government of Mexico, through its consulate in New York in the United Nations, has announced it will begin patrolling the New York City borough of Staten Island to safeguard its nationals there.
SACRAMENTO, Kalifornia - Bloomberg August 23, 2010 - Kalifornia will delay paying $2.9 billion of subsidies to schools and counties in September, a month earlier than projected, to save cash amid an impasse that has left the state without a budget for 54 days.
The state's top financial officials - the controller, treasurer and finance director - told lawmakers today that the deferred payments need to start next month instead of October to make sure there's enough money to pay bondholders. The delay is in addition to $3.2 billion the state pushed back in July.
BAGHDAD, Iraq - August 22, 2010 - Iraq has between 25% - 50% unemployment, a dysfunctional parliament, rampant disease, an epidemic of mental illness, and sprawling slums. The killing of innocent people has become part of daily life. What havoc the United States has wrought in Iraq.
BAGHDAD, Iraq - August 22, 2010 - The U.S. military and the illegitimate Obama regime loudly trumpeted the withdrawal of the "last combat brigade" from Iraq last week, but news reports suggest the move is purely semantic: combat brigades are still there, but under a different name.
The Army Times reported on Saturday that the U.S. still has seven combat brigades inside Iraq, but they have been renamed "advise and assist brigades." The name change will reportedly change little in terms of the duties the brigades carry out.
BOSTON, Massachusetts - August 21, 2010 - Logan International Airport security just got more up close and personal as federal screeners launched a more aggressive palms-first, slide-down body search technique that has renewed the debate over privacy vs. safety.
The new procedure - already being questioned by the American Civil Liberties Union - replaces the Transportation Security Administration’s former back-of-the-hand patdown.
CASTAIC, Kalifornia - August 20, 2010 - A high-tech ray gun built for the military that fires an invisible heat beam capable of causing unbearable pain will be tested on unruly inmates in the sheriff's detention facility in Castaic, officials said Friday at an unveiling event.
The "Assault Intervention System" (AIS) developed by the Raytheon Co. could give the Sheriff's Department another tool to quell disturbances at a 65-inmate dormitory at the Pitchess Detention Center's North County Correctional Facility, said Cmdr. Bob Osborne, head of the technology exploration branch of the sheriff's Department of Homeland Security Division.
KHABARI CROSSING, Kuwait - August 19, 2010 - A line of heavily armored Amerikan military vehicles, their headlights twinkling in the pre-dawn desert, lumbered past the barbed wire and metal gates marking the border between Iraq and Kuwait early Thursday and rolled into history.
SAN DIEGO, Kalifornia - August 19, 2010 - Kalifornia is deploying a first group of 224 National Guard troops to its southern border with Mexico to assist border patrol agents attempting to stem the flow of drugs and illegal aliens.
"Today, our National Guard has been called to help secure the border and protect the safety of the Amerikan people," said Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
PANAMA CITY BEACH, Florida - August 17, 2010 - On August 15, AP reported that Obama gave his "personal assurances of (the) Gulf's safety," saying, "Beaches all along the Gulf Coast are clean, they are safe, and they are open for business."
WASHINGTON - August 16. 2010 - Senator Carl Levin was hit in the face with a pie this morning at a question-and-answer session on what should've been friendly ground in Big Rapids.
The Democrat from Detroit was speaking to members of the Mecosta County Democrat Party when a young man - who described himself as a student - began chastising Levin for his work on the Senate Armed Services Committee, which helps direct military and war policy.
TALLAHASSEE, Florida - August 16, 2010 - The Florida Supreme Court will consider this week whether to restore Proposition C, a ballot measure that would prohibit the government from requiring people to have health insurance or from penalizing them for not having it, a key provision of illegitimate President Obama's health care law.
LONDON, England - August 16, 2010 - The billionaire head of the private equity giant that owns Center Parcs and the London Eye has likened illegitimate U.S. President Barack Obama’s plans to raise taxes on the private equity industry as being akin to Adolf Hitler’s invasion of Poland.
The comments, made by Blackstone chairman and co-founder Steve Schwarzman in what he thought was a private meeting, reflect the strength of feeling among Wall Street’s private equity chiefs who are being threatened with paying the same levels of tax on their income as ordinary Amerikans.
NEW YORK - August 13, 2010 - Illegitimate President Obama gave the proposed mosque near Ground Zero a clear and powerful endorsement last night.
"Let me be clear: as a citizen, and as president, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as anyone else in this country," the illegitimate president said to applause from the 90 guests at a White House dinner celebrating the holy month of Ramadan.
WASHINGTON - August 13, 2010 - The growing use by the police of new technologies that make surveillance far easier and cheaper to conduct is raising difficult questions about the scope of constitutional privacy rights, leading to sharp disagreements among judges.
LONDON, England - August 11, 2010 - Britain's eccentrics, recluses and misanthropes, you can relax. Ignoring neighbors and keeping your curtains permanently shut to the world outside might not win you many friends, but you're no longer likely to be denounced as a possible terrorist.
A radio advert that urged listeners to consider calling the police's anti-terrorist hotline if they had suspicions about local people who avoided company, kept their windows covered and eschewed bank cards for cash has been banned for potentially causing "serious offence".
KABUL, Afghanistan - August 12, 2010 - A crowd of about 300 villagers yelled "Death to the United States" and blocked a main road in eastern Afghanistan on Thursday as they swore that U.S. forces had killed three innocent villagers, officials said.
LONDON, England - August 11, 2010 - Thousands of British online banking customers have fallen victim to a sophisticated attack by cyber criminals who have stolen thousands of pounds from their accounts.
About 3,000 online banking customers have been victims of a computer virus attack that empties their accounts while showing them fake statements so the scam goes undetected.
WASHINGTON/ANCHORAGE, Alaska - August 10, 2010 - Former Senator Ted Stevens, who for years had a strong hand in controlling the nation's purse strings, died in a small plane crash that killed at least five people in his home state of Alaska, a family spokesman said on Tuesday.
NEW YORK - August 10, 2010 - Anti-mosque advertisements depicting a plane about to crash into a flaming World Trade Center will soon be displayed on New York City buses after the transit authority relented and agreed to the ads.
The display asking "Why There?" is the latest attempt by opponents to block the proposed Cordoba House Islamic community center two blocks from the site of the events of September 11, 2001.
WASHINGTON - August 9, 2010 - Gallup presents some troubling statistics for the Democrats as we approach mid-term elections. In a nutshell, the party of a president who has a sub-50% rating into midterms has lost, on average, 36 seats since 1946.
BELL, Kalifornia - August 7, 2010 - The explosive scandal that saw officials in the lower-income city of Bell, Kalifornia (population 40,000) purged last month due to outrageous salaries and pensions may have had its roots in voter fraud.
PHOENIX, Arizona - August 6, 2010 - Arizona and other states are striking back at efforts by the illegitimate Obama regime to kill their legal challenge to the new federal health care plan.
Legal papers filed Friday by lawyers representing the 20 states challenging the regime say both they and their taxpayers will face immediate harm if a federal judge in Florida does not block the law from being implemented.
CAMDEN, New Jersey - August 6, 2010 - Camden is preparing to permanently shut its library system by the end of the year, potentially leaving residents of the impoverished city among the few in the United States unable to borrow a library book free.
LONDON, England - August 6, 2010 - New research has found that motorists face a “postcode lottery” when it comes to the policing of speed limits on UK roads.
RoadPilot - one of Europe’s leading suppliers of GPS speed camera data - found that speeding drivers are up to 100 times more likely to be caught in Greater London than in some other areas of the country.
August 4, 2010 - There is probably no more horrific and frightening incurable disease than Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). Also known as the human form of mad cow disease, this degenerative, always fatal brain disorder strikes about one person in every million worldwide each year, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). CJD results in the brain literally being turned into sponge-like, hole-filled tissue (the reason the disease is also known as spongiform encephalopathy). It usually runs a rapid course, causing failing memory, hallucinations, lack of coordination and visual disturbances followed by total mental deterioration, involuntary movements, blindness and coma.
WASHINGTON - August 4, 2010 - For the last few years, federal agencies have defended body scanning by insisting that all images will be discarded as soon as they're viewed. The Transportation Security Administration claimed last summer, for instance, “scanned images cannot be stored or recorded."
Now it turns out that some police agencies are storing the controversial images after all. The U.S. Marshals Service admitted this week that it had surreptitiously saved tens of thousands of images recorded with a millimeter wave system at the security checkpoint of a single Florida courthouse.
DETROIT, Michigan (PNN) - August 4, 2010 - Incumbents beware. Another lawmaker just bit the dust.
Democrat Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick of Michigan lost her bid for an eighth term on Tuesday; the legal woes of her son Kwame, the former Detroit mayor, dragging her down in a year when voters seem eager to fire longtime lawmakers.
TEHERAN, Iran - August 4, 2010 - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was unharmed when a homemade explosive went off near his motorcade during a visit to the western city of Hamadan on Wednesday, a source in his office said.
But official media said only a firecracker had been set off by a young man excited to see the president and a police chief called news of an attack a "big lie" spread by foreign media.
SPRINGFIELD, Missouri - August 3, 2010 - Missouri voters on Tuesday easily approved a measure aimed at nullifying the new federal health care law, becoming the first state in the nation where ordinary people made known at the ballot box their dismay over the issue.
The measure was intended to invalidate a crucial element of illegitimate President Obama’s health care law - namely, that most people be required to get health insurance or pay a tax penalty. Supporters of the measure said it would send a firm signal to Washington about how this state, often a bellwether in presidential elections, felt about such a law.
RICHMOND, Virginia - August 2, 2010 - Virginia's top prosecutor, after issuing a legal opinion that seemed to align his state with Arizona in the battle over local immigration enforcement, told Fox News on Monday that the two states' policies aren't a perfect match.
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Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli issued a legal opinion Friday saying state law enforcement officers are allowed to check the immigration status of anyone "stopped or arrested."
WASHINGTON - August 2, 2010 - In a new profile in Details magazine, Kentucky GOP Senate candidate Rand Paul is quoted arguing that the coal mining industry should be allowed to self-regulate without interference from the federal government.
LAHORE, Pakistan - August 1, 2010 - The Pakistan Taliban may be responsible for attacks that have killed more than 1,000 civilians this year. The U.S. may be in the midst of providing the country with $7.5 billion in aid. But average Pakistanis like the United States less than Al Qaeda and just a little more than the Taliban.
Roughly 17% of Pakistanis have a favorable view of the U.S. in a new poll conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project, while 59% described the U.S. as an enemy of Pakistan. About 15% view the Taliban favorably, up from 10% a year ago. Al Qaeda tops both groups, with 18% of Pakistanis viewing the group favorably, up from 9% a year ago.
WASHINGTON - July 30, 2010 - Congressman Ron Paul yesterday introduced the SEC Transparency Act of 2010 (HR 5970), a bill designed to force greater transparency in the Securities and Exchange Commission. The bill is designed to repeal the amendments made by section 929I of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act relating to the confidentiality of materials submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
LONDON, England - August 27, 2009 - In the last six years, the Patients Association claims hundreds of thousands have suffered from poor standards of nursing, often with “neglectful, demeaning, painful and sometimes downright cruel” treatment.
WASHINGTON - August 27, 2009 - The official newspaper for the Armed Forces has caught Pentagon officials spreading disinformation regarding reports on how they have allowed a private contractor to rate and profile embedded journalists.
NEW YORK - August 26, 2009 - One of the problems with any proposed law that's over 1,000 pages long and constantly changing is that much deviltry can lie in the details. Take the Democrats' proposal to rewrite health care policy, better known as H.R.3200, or “Obamacare” by its opponents.
Section 431(a) of the bill says that the IRS must divulge taxpayer identity information, including the filing status, the modified adjusted gross income, the number of dependents, and "other information as is prescribed by" regulation. That information will be provided to the new Health Choices Commissioner and state health programs and used to determine who qualifies for "affordability credits."
KABUL, Afghanistan - August 25, 2009 - Mohammad Jawad, one of the youngest detainees to be held at the U.S. detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, said on Tuesday after his return home to Afghanistan he had been abused and humiliated during six years in custody.
SEATTLE, Washington - August 25, 2009 - Former Air Force reservist Gale Reid received a letter from the Veterans Affairs Department that told her she had Lou Gehrig's disease, and she immediately put herself through a battery of painful and expensive tests. Five days later, the VA said its "diagnosis" was a mistake.
OAK BLUFFS, Massachusetts (PNN) - August 25, 2009 – Illegitimate President Barack Obama announced Tuesday he wants to keep Ben Bernanke on as Fed chairman, saying he shepherded Amerika through the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.
LONDON, England - August 25, 2009 - A survey carried out by Healthcare Republic for GPnewspaper, found that almost three in ten said they would not have the swine flu vaccine, with the same number, 29%, unsure whether they would or not.
WASHINGTON - August 24, 2009 - Millions of older people face shrinking Social Security checks next year, the first time in a generation that payments would not rise.
WASHINGTON - August 21, 2009 - A Hollywood conservative has headed East. It's "Freedom Concert" time forJon Voight. The Academy Award winner will join Sean Hannityin Cincinnati and Atlanta this weekend to honor fallen soldiers and present college scholarships to surviving children. Meanwhile, Voight - a warrior himself in many ways - has been cogitating about the state of Amerika.
BERLIN, Germany - August 21, 2009 - The swine flu vaccine has been hit by new cancer fears after a German health expert gave a shock warning about its safety.
WASHINGTON - August 20, 2009 – Illegitimate President Barack Obama's popularity has plummeted to a record low, with just 45% of voters now approving of his performance, according to the latest Zogby International poll.
NEW YORK - August 18th, 2009 - Until now, DNA was considered the "gold standard" of criminal investigations. Hundreds of wrongly convicted individuals have been freed around the world after DNA analysis proved them innocent of the crimes they were accused of committing; and many of the guilty have been brought to justice through DNA evidence as well.
WASHINGTON - August 17, 2009 - CBS News has learned that up to 60,000 people have cancelled their AARP memberships since July 1, angered over the group's position on health care.
WASHINGTON - August 16, 2009 - Bowing to Republican pressure and an uneasy public, illegitimate President Barack Obama's bogus regime signaled Sunday it is ready to abandon the idea of giving Amerikans the option of government-run insurance as part of a new health care system.
SASKATOON, Saskatchewan, Canada - August 16, 2009 - The incoming president of the Canadian Medical Association says Canada's health-care system is sick and doctors need to develop a plan to cure it.
LONDON, England - August 15, 2009 - A warning that the new swine flu jab is linked to a deadly nerve disease has been sent by the British government to senior neurologists in a confidential letter.
The letter from the Health Protection Agency, the official body that oversees public health, was leaked to The Mail on Sunday, leading to demands to know why the information has not been given to the public before the vaccination of millions of people, including children, begins.
It tells the neurologists that they must be alert for an increase in a brain disorder called Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS), which could be triggered by the vaccine.
HOUSTON, Texas - August 14, 2009 - The Obama camp planted a fake doctor at Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee’s first in a series of town hall meetings yesterday in the heart of the Fifth Ward. As is typical for a Jackson Lee event, there were a lot of local politicians, community leaders, and seniors in attendance.
WASHINGTON - August 12, 2009 - A carbon emissions plan under consideration in Washington aimed at global warming and climate change could cost the U.S. economy between 1.8 million and 2.4 million jobs over the next two decades.
CLARKESVILLE, Georgia - August 12, 2009 - U.S. Rep. Paul Broun (R-Geo.) walked into a North Georgia Technical College auditorium Tuesday evening to a standing ovation, holding three thick white binders.
"Folks, this is Obamacare," he said, holding the binders over his head.
"Let me start this by telling you what I think of this bill and Obamacare," he said, and slammed the binders on the ground.
WASHINGTON - August 11, 2009 - House leaders late Monday dropped plans to spend $550 million on Air Force passenger planes for use by senior government officials, a sum that more than doubled the Pentagon's official request and had drawn strong public criticism.
WASHINGTON - August 11, 2009 - A Preliminary Injunction to stop mandatory vaccinations has been issued in the United States District Court of New Jersey. This comes after a federal lawsuit opposing forced vaccines was filed on July 31st in that court by Tim Vawter, pro se attorney, with the federal government as defendant.
NEW YORK - August 10, 2009 - U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner asked Congress to increase the $12.1 trillion debt limit on Friday, saying it is "critically important" that they act in the next two months.
KABUL, Afghanistan - August 10, 2009 - The top Amerikan commander in Afghanistan declared that the Taliban are winning in Afghanistan in a startling interview published Monday - a striking contrast to the “Mission Accomplished” rhetoric of the Bush regime as regards Iraq.
WASHINGTON (PNN) - August 10, 2009 - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, insisting at the start of a long and politically heated summer congressional recess that health care reform can be achieved this fall, today are calling the disruption of town-hall meetings by vocal protesters "simply un-Amerikan."
WASHINGTON - August 9, 2009 - The Senate's second-ranking Democrat slammed recent town-hall protests over health care on Sunday, insisting they violate "the democratic process," while the Senate's top Republican accused Democrats of "attacking citizens" with such complaints.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - August 8, 2009 - Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin called illegitimate President Barack Obama's health plan "downright evil" Friday in her first online comments since leaving office, saying in a Facebook posting that he would create a "death panel" that would deny care to the neediest Amerikans.
ALEXANDRIA, Virginia - August 6, 2009 - Former U.S. Rep. William Jefferson of Louisiana was convicted Wednesday on 11 of the 16 corruption charges brought against him in a case that included the discovery of $90,000 in his freezer.
WASHINGTON - August 6, 2009 - Illegitimate U.S. President Barack Obama’s approval rating has slumped to 50%, the lowest since his inauguration, according to a poll released Thursday on the eve of his 200th day in office.
WASHINGTON - August 5, 2009 - Last year, lawmakers excoriated the CEOs of the Big Three automakers for traveling to Washington, D.C., by private jet to attend a hearing about a possible bailout of their companies.
But apparently Congress is not philosophically averse to private air travel. At the end of July, the House approved nearly $200 million for the Air Force to buy three elite Gulfstream jets for ferrying top government officials and Members of Congress.
WASHINGTON - August 05, 2009 - The White House is under fire for a blog post asking supporters to send "fishy" information received through rumors, chain e-mails and casual conversations to a White House e-mail address, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
WASHINGTON - August 4, 2009 - Angry protesters shouted down Democrats at public events from Texas to Pennsylvania over the weekend, leaving the party only one real hope for getting its message out over recess: a backlash.
WASHINGTON (PNN) - August 4, 2009 - Don't look now, but U.S. lawmakers - Republican and Democrat alike - are grabbing more power for themselves while at the same time creating a whole new federal bureaucracy. Amerikans will rue the day FEMA was created when they see their communities under the control of federal bureaucrats and agencies.
NEW YORK - August 4, 2009 - Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner blasted top regulators in an expletive-laden tirade amid frustration over illegitimate President Barack Obama’s faltering plan to overhaul financial regulation, Reuters reported, citing a Monday story in The Wall Street Journal.
WASHINGTON - August 4, 2009 - The Depression is starving the government of tax revenue, just as the illegitimate president and Congress are piling a major expansion of health care and other programs on the nation’s plate and struggling to find money to pay the tab.
WASHINGTON - August 2, 2009 - People all around the country, who have actually read the proposed healthcare legislation and are educating others, are facing unknown repercussions from the federal government after it announced and posted that it wants the public to report opposition to its health care proposal directly to the White House.
NEW YORK - July 30, 2009 - The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Thursday shows that 28% of the nation's voters now Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as illegitimate president. Forty percent (40%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -12. That’s the lowest rating yet recorded for illegitimate President Obama.
WASHINGTON - July 30, 2009 - U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday ramped up her criticism of insurance companies, accusing them of unethical behavior and working to kill a plan to create a new government-run health plan.
WASHINGTON - July 28, 2009 - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is taking over private companies in order to deal with the economic crisis that has affected both his country and the United States, and the illegitimate Obama regime is trying to do roughly the same thing, Venezuelan political analyst Dr. Luis Vicente León told CNSNews.com Monday.
WASHINGTON - July 28, 2009 – “This isn't about me," illegitimate President Obama allows. "I have great health care."
So the illegitimate president should, but Obama's checkups aren't the problem. It's the fact that our nation's entire political class lives in an alternative health-care universe - and will do so even after the rest of us are stuck with the disaster of ObamaCare.
SACRAMENTO, Kalifornia - July 28, 2009 - Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday is expected to use his line-item veto power to make additional cuts to Kalifornia's latest spending plan.
Social service advocates worry the Republican governor has little choice but to go after money that counties receive to administer welfare and social service benefits. Likely targets include welfare-to-work assistance, in-home support, foster care and health insurance for poor families.
WASHINGTON - July 27, 2009 - During his speech at a National Press Club luncheon, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Democrat Congressman John Conyers (D-Mich.), questioned the point of lawmakers reading the health care bill.
WASHINGTON - July 27, 2009 - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is one of the most despised political figures in the country. Yet frankly, she doesn’t give a damn.
“No, I don’t care,” Pelosi told POLITICO last Thursday, laughing heartily as she walked beneath the Capitol dome and plunged into a crowd of tourists.
WASHINGTON - July 27, 2009 - The feds are spending tens of millions of stimulus dollars to repair and build toilets across the nation, in an outflow of taxpayer funds that critics have branded "potty pork."
WASHINGTON - July 27, 2009 - Despite their denials, influential Democrat Senators Kent Conrad and Christopher Dodd were told from the start that they were getting VIP mortgage discounts from one of the nation's largest lenders, the official who handled their loans told Congress in secret testimony.
WASHINGTON - August 21, 2008 - U.S. consumers
should brace for the biggest increase in food prices in nearly 20 years in 2008
and even more pain next year due to surging meat and produce prices, the
Agriculture Department said on Wednesday.
TOKYO, Japan - August 19, 2008 -
The Bank of Japan delivered its bleakest assessment of the economy since the
Asian financial crisis of 1997 and 1998 in a sign that a global slump ignited
by the tight credit market in the United States might be spreading too quickly
for Japan to avert recession.
LONDON, England - August 19, 2008 - The U.S. money supply
has experienced the sharpest contraction in modern history, heightening the
risk of a Wall Street crunch and a severe economic slowdown in coming months.
WASHINGTON - August 19, 2008 - The deepening
toll from the global financial crisis could trigger the failure of a large U.S.
bank within months, a respected former chief economist of the International
Monetary Fund claimed today, fuelling another battering for banking shares.
WASHINGTON - August 17, 2008 - The
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee (GATA) reported Friday that the United States
Mint has suspended sales of American Eagle gold coins to their network of
authorized purchasers.
NEW YORK - August 16, 2008 - America's biggest banks have
suffered unprecedented losses from the ongoing credit crisis, and that's made
some investors question whether the big financial conglomerates should be
broken up in order to survive.
NEW YORK -
August 15, 2008 - Cookie retailer Mrs. Fields Famous Brands LLC said on Friday
it plans to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to help restructure its
business, according to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
MOSCOW, Russia - August 21, 2008 - The West’s deteriorating
relations with Moscow were plunged into deep freeze yesterday when the United
States and Poland sealed a deal that will place a key part of Washington’s “Son
of Star Wars” anti-missile system on Polish soil. Condoleezza Rice, the U.S.
Secretary of State, flew to Poland from the NATO meeting that condemned
Russia’s military presence in Georgia, to sign the agreement with Radoslaw
Sikorski, the Polish Foreign Minister.
MOSCOW, Russia - August 20, 2008 - The Russian aircraft
carrier “Admiral Kuznetsov” is ready to head from Murmansk towards the
Mediterranean and the Syrian port of Tartus. The mission comes after Syrian
President Bashar Assad said he is open for a Russian base in the area.
WASHINGTON - August 18, 2008 - Half
a dozen Blackwater Worldwide security guards have gotten target letters from
the Justice Department in a probe of shootings in Baghdad that killed 17
Iraqis, The Washington Post reported.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - August 14,
2008 - Faced with desertions by his political supporters and the neutrality of
the Pakistani military, President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan, an important
ally of the United States, is expected to resign in the next few days rather
than face impeachment charges, Pakistani politicians and Western diplomats said
Thursday.
WASHINGTON -August 18, 2008 -
Homeland security officials in the Washington area plan to dramatically expand
the use of automated license plate readers to prevent possible terrorist
attacks.
DES MOINES, Iowa - August 16, 2008
- State records show that a $50,000 judgment has been awarded to two retired
schoolteachers who were strip-searched during a 2004 campaign stop by President
Bush.
BRUSSELS, Belgium - August 14, 2008
- Europe today edged closer to recession for the first time since the single
currency was introduced in 1999, after the economy shrank by 0.2 per cent
during the second quarter.
NEW YORK - August 14, 2008 - Banks repossessed
almost three times as many U.S. homes in July as a year earlier and the number
of properties at risk of foreclosure
jumped 55 percent as falling prices made
it harder to sell or refinance.
SADDLE BROOK, New Jersey - August 13, 2008 - Authorities
said a son held Bergen County sheriff's officers at gunpoint as they tried to
evict his 88-year-old mother from her foreclosed home.
NEW YORK - August 11, 2008 - The
failure of IndyMac Bancorp, Inc. and seven other banks this year may erase as
much as 17 percent of a government insurance fund and raise premiums for all
banks, from Franklin National of Minneapolis to Bank of America Corp.
WASHINGTON -
August 11, 2008 - The Federal Reserve is reporting that more banks are
tightening lending standards on home mortgages, consumer, and business loans as
a deepening credit crisis exerts a heavier toll on the economy.
NEW YORK - August 11, 2008 - Five
of North America's largest credit unions are reporting big paper losses on
mortgage-related securities, a sign that housing-market distress is spreading
even to the most risk-averse financial sectors, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ)
said on Monday.
LONDON, England - August 10, 2008 -
The CBI, the UK's largest employers' organization, has warned that the UK
economy is deteriorating faster than it previously thought.
DENVER, Colorado - August 14, 2008
- Hillary Clinton will have her name placed in nomination at this month's
Democratic National Convention in what presumptive nominee Barack Obama's
campaign says is a "show of unity" designed to allow Clinton's
supporters to have their voice heard before getting behind his campaign.
HOUSTON, Texas - August 12, 2008 -
The wife of Republican Representative Dr. Ron Paul was in serious but stable
condition Monday at a Houston hospital, a spokesman for the congressman said.
SAN FRANCISCO, California - August
11, 2008 - Cindy Sheehan, an icon of the anti-war movement, has qualified to
challenge House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for her seat in Congress.
WASHINGTON - August 8, 2008 -
Israel Insider is reporting that analysts working separately have determined
the birth certificate posted on the Daily Kos website and later on Sen. Barack
Obama's "Fight the Smears" campaign website is fraudulent, and now
two different actions have been launched to try and obtain the truth about the
presumptive Democratic presidential nominee's birth.
Former Louisiana police officer accused of
repeatedly jolting handcuffed man
NEW ORLEANS,
Louisiana - August 13, 2008 - A former police officer accused of repeatedly
jolting a handcuffed man with a Taser before he died was indicted on a
manslaughter charges Wednesday by a grand jury in central Louisiana.
NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana - August 13,
2008 - A judge threw out murder and attempted murder charges Wednesday against
seven New Orleans police officers accused of gunning down two men on a bridge
in the chaotic aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Radiation sensors and surveillance cameras to be
used to screen and follow every vehicle entering lower Manhattan
NEW YORK - August 12, 2008 - The NYPD is working on a high-tech, anti-terror plan
to track every vehicle that enters Manhattan. It's called "Operation
Sentinel," and it's already sparking a debate about the right to privacy.
MONTREAL, Quebec, Canada - August 11, 2008 - Rioting broke out late
Sunday in a Montreal neighborhood where police shot a young man to death over
the weekend. A police officer was shot in the leg, stores were looted and
firefighters were pelted with beer bottles.
MOSCOW, Russia - August 11, 2008 - Russian Prime Minister
Vladimir Putin has accused Washington of undermining Russia’s attempts to
restore peace in the South Ossetian conflict zone. Putin said a
decision by the U.S. military to fly 800 Georgian soldiers from Iraq to Georgia
showed America was ‘trying to get in the way’.
PHOENIX, Arizona - August 8, 2008 -
Four Mexican army soldiers entered southern Arizona and pointed their rifles at
a U.S. Border Patrol agent early this week, the Border Patrol said.
Road to Depression (to the tune of “Road to Morocco”)
by Brent-Emory..Johnson
We’re off on the road to Depression
Where is it, it’s just south of Hell
Where poverty and sickness
Are a way of life
We’ve lost our inspiration
All we have left is strife
Our economic ship has run aground
Like a nation that’s gone bankrupt
We’re Depression-bound!
We’re travelin’ the road to starvation
Just moving as fast as we can
When the truckers who deliver
All our food and drink and more
Stop truckin’ due to high fuel costs
Oh, it will make us sore
‘Cause the shelves will all be empty
At the supermarket store
If we don’t stop fooling around
Then our children will go hungry
We’re Depression-bound!
We’re walking a path of destruction
Our country is going down for good
For years we’ve lived beyond our means
But now our debts are due
It’s time to pay the piper
Who so long supported you
If you listen you can hear the sound
Of America collapsing
We’re Depression-bound!
We’re making our way to extinction
There isn’t so much left for us to do
Our businesses have closed their doors
The manufactories
Have shut down operations
And moved them overseas
The king of despair has been crowned
He has wrapped us in his arms
Oh, we’re Depression-bound!
We’re off on the road to Depression
It isn’t a smooth running ride
Our hopes and dreams have gone away
We have no more time for those
Survival is at stake now
That’s just the way life goes
When our government controls us all
Tyranny then grows
If we ever hope to rebound
We’d better reverse course ‘cause
We’re Depression-bound!
We’re keeping the home fires burning
Each day is much harder than the last
There still remain a vaunted few
Who tirelessly aspire
To help restore our way of life
To standards that are higher
All that we’ve lost must be found
If we’re ever gonna fix this
We’re Depression-bound!
NEW
YORK - August 7, 2008 - Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, reported July
sales at stores open a year or more rose 3%, short of analysts' expectation
that sales would grow 3.4%. Wal-Mart shares fell over 5%.
Eddie Bauer will close more stores after closing 27 stores in the first
quarter.
Cache, a women’s retailer, is closing 20 to 23 stores this year.
Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug, Catherines are closing 150 stores nationwide.
Talbots, J. Jill are closing stores. Talbots will close all 78 of its
kids and men's stores plus another 22 underperforming stores. The 22 stores
will be a mix of Talbots women's and J. Jill.
Gap Inc. is closing 85 stores.
Foot Locker will close 140 stores.
Wickes Furniture is going out of business and closing all of its stores.
The 37-year-old retailer that targets middle-income customers, filed for
bankruptcy protection last month.
Levitz, the furniture retailer, announced it was going out of business
and closing all 76 of its stores in December. The retailer dates back to 1910.
Zales, Piercing Pagoda plan to close 82 stores by July 31 followed by
closing another 23 underperforming stores.
Disney Store owner has the right to close 98 stores.
Home Depot is closing 15 more stores amid a slumping U.S. economy and
housing market. The move will affect 1,300 employees. It is the first time the
world's largest home improvement store chain has ever closed a flagship store.
CompUSA (CLOSED).
Macy's has closed 9 stores.
Movie Gallery video rental company plans to close 400 of 3,500 Movie
Gallery and Hollywood Video stores in addition to the 520 locations the video
rental chain closed last fall as part of bankruptcy.
Pacific Sunwear is closing 153 Demo stores.
Pep Boys, auto parts supplier, is closing 33 stores.
Sprint Nextel is closing 125 retail locations, with 4,000 employees
following 5,000 layoffs last year.
J. C. Penney, Lowe's and Office Depot are all scaling back.
Ethan Allen Interiors plans to close 12 of 300 stores to cut
costs.
Wilsons the Leather Experts is closing 158 stores.
Bombay Company will close all 384 U.S.-based Bombay Company stores.
Dillard's Inc. will close another six stores this year.
NEW YORK - August 4,
2008 - Wall Street takes a look at 8 larger retailers that are in real
trouble. Some are at risk for bankruptcy and each of them could have to cut
operations so much that their revenue would be a fraction of what it is now.
WASHINGTON - August 4, 2008 -
Consumer spending, after adjusting for inflation, fell in June as shoppers were
hit with the biggest increase in prices in nearly three decades.
Insured deposits of small Florida bank assumed by
SunTrust
SAN FRANCISCO, Kalifornia - August 1, 2008 - First Priority
Bank was shut down by regulators on Friday, making the small Florida lender the
eighth bank failure in the U.S. so far this year.
NEW YORK - August 1, 2008 - The
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation revealed on Friday that it had issued
warnings to four small U.S. banks that lacked sufficient reserves to cover
potential loan losses.
BAGRAM, Afghanistan - August 6, 2008 - I am not a very political person. I just
wanted to pass along that Senator Obama came to Bagram, Afghanistan, for about
an hour on his visit to 'The War Zone'. I want to share with you what happened.
KUWAIT CITY, Kuwait - August 7,
2008 - Two additional United States naval aircraft carriers are heading to the
Gulf and the Red Sea, according to the Kuwaiti newspaper Kuwait Times.
PHOENIX, Arizona - August 7, 2008 -
According to federal prosecutors more than 40 million credit and debit card
numbers were stolen from popular retailers and restaurants.
WASHINGTON - August 7, 2008 - The
Department of Defense continued its controversial mandatory anthrax
vaccinations program despite high ranking Bush regime officials acknowledging
there were problems with the vaccine within months of the Bush regime taking
office - well before the events of 9/11 and the October 2001 anthrax letters.
TRENTON, New Jersey - August
6, 2008 - Small towns that will soon have to pay for their State Police patrols
hope that drivers who break the law, and not local taxpayers, foot the bill.
SAN FRANCISCO, Kalifornia - August
1, 2008 - Garbage collectors would inspect San Francisco residents' trash to
make sure pizza crusts aren't mixed in with chip bags or wine bottles under a
proposal by Mayor Gavin Newsom, who has developed a reputation for disregarding
state and federal laws in pursuit of his own personal and political agenda.
WASHINGTON - July 31, 2008 - A
House committee voted yesterday to cite former top White
House aide Karl
Rove for contempt of Congress, as its Senate counterpart explored
punishment for alleged Bush regime misdeeds.
Steve Dore, singer/songwriter and tireless promoter of Dr. Paul throughout the presidential campaign, has just released a new song simply titled, “Campaign for Liberty.” It is a sweet tune.
ALBANY, New York - July 30, 2008 -
Warning of an approaching economic calamity, Gov. Paterson yesterday called an
emergency session of the state Legislature - and raised the specter that New
York may have to sell off roads, bridges and tunnels to close a massive budget
deficit.
NEW DELHI, India - July 29, 2008 - Facing
threats of a global crash, the central banks have taken
"extraordinary" action on a scale not seen since the Great Depression
of 1929, the Reserve Bank of India said on Tuesday.
CHICAGO, Illinois - July 29,
2008 - Customers showing up for lunch at Bennigan's restaurants in
Chicago and across the country found quite a surprise Tuesday morning, when all
the corporate-owned locations had signs on display reading "closed for
business."
NEW YORK - July 28, 2008 - The duds
say it all - and it's depressing.
Taking a cue from the grim economy,
this fall's fashions at Banana Republic, Gap and H&M are featuring a
distinctly Depression-era trend of cloche hats, pencil skirts, conductor caps
and baggy, vintage-style dresses.
WASHINGTON - July 28, 2008 - U.S.
regulators took over two banks on Friday and sold them to Mutual of Omaha Bank,
the sixth and seventh bank failures this year as financial institutions
struggle with a housing bust and credit crunch.
NEW YORK - July 28, 2008 -
According to The New York Times, Financial Times, and other
noteworthy publications, hedge funds and other investors are buying up farms,
farmland, fertilizer, grain elevators, shipping equipment and other necessities
for producing food.
WASHINGTON - July 30, 2008 - In a little-reported brief filed late
Tuesday with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, the Bush regime asked
the court to keep any review of the warrantless wiretapping law passed earlier
this year by Congress secret.
WASHINGTON - July 30, 2008 - On
January 2, 2008, Army Staff Sergeant Ryan Maseth was electrocuted while taking
a shower at the Legion Security Forces Building in Baghdad. Press reports have
indicated that contractor KBR ignored repeated warnings about the unsafe
wiring.
WASHINGTON - July 29, 2008 - Senator
Ted Stevens, the longest-serving Republican senator and a figure in Alaska
politics since before statehood, has been indicted on seven counts of falsely
reporting hundreds of thousands of dollars in services he received from a
company that helped renovate his home.
July 28, 2008 - The Security and
Prosperity Partnership of North America is dead, says Robert A. Pastor, the
American University professor who for more than a decade has been a major
proponent of building a North American Community.
NEW YORK - July 28, 2008 - Soaring
corn and soy prices on top of rising construction costs and tight credit
markets have pushed about a dozen U.S. biofuel plants to file for bankruptcy
protection, experts said.
August 25, 2007 - The Ron Paul campaign website carries a release focusing on the candidate's little noted (by the mainstream press) success in GOP straw polls over the last few months.
Coming off the Iowa Straw Poll the momentum for the Ron Paul 2008 campaign continues to build. Congressman Ron Paul has finished in the top 5 in 16 of the last 17 straw polls and can claim 1st place victories in New Hampshire, North Carolina, Washington, and Alabama.
In comparing results head-to-head, Congressman Paul has blown away most of the field, defeating Rudy Giuliani in 15 of the 17 polls and John McCain in 15 of the 16 polls.
August 27, 2007 - Attorney General Alberto Gonzales announced his resignation today, ending months of calls that he would step down from the Justice Department over his role in the dismissal of federal prosecutors and role in expanding the power to spy on Americans. Gonzales said he will leave office Sept. 17.
In a news conference this morning, Gonzales did not address the reasons for his resignation, and he refused to answer reporters' shouted questions.
"Even my worst days at Attorney General have been better than my father's best days," said Gonzales, whose parents immigrated to Texas from Mexico before he was born.
ARLINGTON, Virginia - August 22, 2007 - Representative Ron Paul won the South Sound Ronald Reagan Republican Club's straw poll last night in Snohomish County, Washington. Dr. Paul received 30 percent of the vote, beating out Fred Thompson who garnered 27 percent.
The victory continues a string of straw poll successes for Dr. Paul. In the past week, the Republican congressman and OB doctor won contests in North Carolina, New Hampshire and Alabama.
"Our campaign is growing by the day and continues to build momentum," said campaign manager Lew Moore. "This victory demonstrates strong grassroots support in the important state of Washington."
LUBBOCK, Texas - August 22, 2007 - New security measures are now in place at Lubbock ISD's newest elementary schools.
"In this building (Centennial Elementary) we have surveillance cameras throughout the building and we have monitors in several places, " said Superintendent Wayne Havens.
Havens says Centennial and Roy W. Roberts Elementary schools were built with security in mind. These schools also have an outdoor keypad access system. Since doors are locked during the school day, faculty members are the only ones who can access that keypad and enter.
Havens adds that security upgrades are also being made to other schools in the district. The first day of school for Lubbock ISD is this Monday, August 27th.
WASHINGTON - August 23, 2007 - The White House Office of Administration "is responsible for responding to requesters who are seeking OA records under the (Freedom of Information Act)."
According to the Washington Post, "The Bush (regime) argued in court papers this week that the White House Office of Administration is not subject to the Freedom of Information Act as part of its effort to fend off a civil lawsuit seeking the release of internal documents about a large number of e-mails missing from White House servers."
Aug. 20, 2007 - In one of history's more absurd acts of totalitarianism, China has banned Buddhist monks in Tibet from reincarnating without government permission. According to a statement issued by the State Administration for Religious Affairs, the law, which goes into effect next month and strictly stipulates the procedures by which one is to reincarnate, is "an important move to institutionalize management of reincarnation."
But beyond the irony lies China's true motive: to cut off the influence of the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual and political leader, and to quell the region's Buddhist religious establishment more than 50 years after China invaded the small Himalayan country. By barring any Buddhist monk living outside China from seeking reincarnation, the law effectively gives Chinese authorities the power to choose the next Dalai Lama, whose soul, by tradition, is reborn as a new human to continue the work of relieving suffering.
PRINCETON, New Jersey - August 21, 2007 - A new Gallup Poll finds Congress' approval rating the lowest it has been since Gallup first tracked public opinion of Congress with this measure in 1974. Just 18% of Americans approve of the job Congress is doing, while 76% disapprove, according to the August 13-16, 2007, Gallup Poll.
That 18% job approval rating matches the low recorded in March 1992, when a check-bouncing scandal was one of several scandals besetting Congress, leading many states to pass term limits measures for U.S. representatives (which the Supreme Court later declared unconstitutional). Congress had a similarly low 19% approval rating during the energy crisis in the summer of 1979.
August 13, 2007 - The U.S. "war czar" has called for the nation's political leaders to consider bringing back the draft to help a military exhausted by wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In a radio interview, Lieutenant General Douglas Lute said the option had always been open to boost the all-volunteer army by drafting in young men as happened in the Vietnam war.
August 13, 2007 - Karl Rove will resign from his position in the Bush regime and return to Texas Aug. 31, according to an interview published Monday with Paul Gigot, editorial page editor for The Wall Street Journal.
Rove's scalp is one for which a special place has been reserved on most Democratic mantles. His ruthless pursuit of a permanent Republican majority has left many bruised egos and damaged reputations in its wake. Rove's fingerprints are believed to smudge scandals ranging from the disclosure of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity in 2003 to the dismissals of nine U.S. Attorneys late last year. Congress has subpoenaed Rove's testimony in its investigation of the federal prosecutor-firings, but so far he has refused to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
A spokeswoman for the committee said that its chairman, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), was expected to release a statement on Rove's resignation later today.
Two former aides to Rove, Sara Taylor and J. Scott Jennings, complied with subpoenas and testified earlier this year in front of Leahy's committee. Rove refused to appear when called to appear before a Judiciary Committee hearing earlier this month.
When asked by Gigot whether he's leaving "to avoid Congressional scrutiny," he said, "I know they'll say that. But I'm not going to stay or leave based on whether it pleases the mob."
Speaking to reporters today outside the White House, Rove said he and President Bush began discussing his resignation "last summer," and Bush joked of his own upcoming departure from the White House in January 2009.
"I'll be on the road behind ya here in a little bit," Bush said before he and his longtime aide boarded Marine One.
The pair ignored reporters' shouted questions as they boarded the helicopter.
Rove, who has held a senior post in the White House since President Bush took office in January 2001, told Gigot he first floated the idea of leaving a year ago. But he delayed his departure as, first, Democrats took Congress, and then as the White House tackled debates on immigration and Iraq. He said he decided to leave after White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten told senior aides that if they stayed past Labor Day they would be obliged to remain through the end of the president's term in January 2009.
"I just think it's time," he says. His friends confirm he had been talking about it with others even earlier.
Observers say Rove's departure represents the extent to which President Bush has become a lame duck approaching the end of his second term. Without an upcoming election, the role of political adviser has less prominence.
"There's always something that can keep you here, and as much as I'd like to be here, I've got to do this for the sake of my family," Rove says. His son attends college in San Antonio, and he and his wife, Darby, plan to spend much of their time at their home in nearby Ingram, in the Texas Hill Country.
JACKSON HOLE, Wyoming - August 13, 2007 - Hundreds of anti-war activists gathered near Dick Cheney's home at an exclusive Wyoming country club to protest the vice president's role in leading the U.S. into Iraq.
Chanting, "No more Iraq war," and "Impeach Cheney first," protesters gathered outside the Teton Pines Country Club, where Cheney typically spends the month-long August recess. They brought along a 10-foot-tall papier-mâché sculpture that featured Cheney holding a fishing poll in one hand and an oil well in the other.
In a video posted on YouTube, a protester climbs the effigy and places a noose around its neck. Protesters then pull down the Cheney likeness in a scene reminiscent of Iraqis and U.S. troops toppling a statue of Saddam Hussein after the fall of Baghdad.
"We organized it because of the war in Iraq and what an injustice it has been," Walt Farmer, a retired Air Force captain and registered Republican, told the Casper Star Tribune. "The Vice President has received a pass in Jackson long enough. We want to let them know we don't approve of the war or how they play fast and loose with the Constitution."
Protesters carried signs that said "Bush-Cheney, War Profiteers," "Feel safe yet?”, “Violence breeds violence," and "At least the war on the middle class is going well," the Tribune reported.
One of the protesters, Cindy Knight, said she has a son in the military and came to voice displeasure with the administration's war policy. Knight's son has served in Afghanistan. "I don't want him to lose his life in the Iraq war," Knight told the Tribune.
ARLINGTON, Virginia - August 18, 2007 - Representative Ron Paul handily won two Republican presidential straw polls today.
The first contest, sponsored by the West Alabama Republican Assembly, was held in Tuscaloosa at the University of Alabama. Dr. Paul garnered 216 of 266 votes, or 81 percent. Mitt Romney placed second with 14 votes, or 5 percent.
The second straw vote, sponsored by the Strafford County Republican Party in New Hampshire, was attended by fellow candidates Mike Huckabee and Tom Tancredo. Dr. Paul received 208 of 286 votes, or 73 percent. Mitt Romney finished second with 26 votes, or 9 percent. Huckabee and Tancredo received 20 votes and 8 votes respectively.
"Our campaign is growing by the day and continues to build momentum," said campaign manager Lew Moore. "Today's victories demonstrate Dr. Paul's tremendous grassroots support across the country."
Dr. Paul is no stranger to this type of success. The campaign recently won three straw polls sponsored by the Coalition for New Hampshire Taxpayers, FreedomWorks and the Republican Party of Gaston County, North Carolina.
August 7, 2007 - Some interesting info regarding the Minneapolis bridge collapse. I was watching BBC News24 at about 3am(GMT) this morning. Whilst covering the bridge collapse they had a witness on via telephone who spent a few minutes explaining how he walks under the bridge almost daily. He had witnessed the fact that large holes had been drilled/cut through the concrete supports. This angle was covered for an hour or so on the news and they had this same guy on again later - however, this time whilst he was re-telling the same story there was a weird buzzing/pulsing sound and he was cut off mid-talk.
It is now 10.30am GMT and BBC News24 are no longer reporting this guys story - not only that but they are reporting that all rescue efforts were stopped after a couple of hours and that the police have cordoned off the bridge - since when do rescue efforts stop when it gets dark, especially when there are supposed to be people in cars at the bottom of the river."
August 15, 2007 - The Bush administration said Monday the constitutionality of its warrantless electronic eavesdropping program cannot be challenged.
The government is taking that position in seeking the dismissal of federal court lawsuits against the government and AT&T over its alleged involvement in the once-secret surveillance program adopted after the Sept. 11 terror attacks. The strategy was first recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court in a McCarthy-era lawsuit. It has been increasingly invoked in a bid to shield the government from legal scrutiny.
Two senior Justice Department officials, speaking on condition of anonymity in a teleconference with reporters, reiterated the administration's position that it was invoking the so-called "state secrets privilege" in arguing that the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals must dismiss the cases because they threaten to expose information authorities say is essential to the nation's security.
"The case cannot be litigated in light of the national security interest involved," one official said.
The officials spoke on the condition that their names would not be published because, they said, it was the government's protocol not to comment on pending litigation.
August 6, 2007 - The day after President George W. Bush marshaled political forces in Congress to grant him greater authority to engage in counterterrorism-related spying, the president stated that he would seek greater changes to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act when the legislative branch returns to work in September.
"While I appreciate the leadership it took to pass this bill, we must remember that our work is not done," the President said in his Sunday statement. "This bill is a temporary, narrowly focused statute to deal with the most immediate shortcomings in the law."
The President said next month he would focus on further immunizing private companies that cooperate with government wiretapping. However, he used complicated language to describe these activities.
"When Congress returns in September the Intelligence committees and leaders in both parties will need to complete work on the comprehensive reforms requested by Director McConnell, including the important issue of providing meaningful liability protection to those who are alleged to have assisted our Nation following the attacks of September 11, 2001," he said.
One constitutional scholar derided Bush's reasoning, particularly the tortuous language in his statement.
"Apparently 'allegedly helped us stay safe' is Bush Administration code for telecom companies and government officials who participated in a conspiracy to perform illegal surveillance," wrote Yale Law Professor Jack Balkin in a Monday morning blog post. "Because what they did is illegal, we do not admit that they actually did it, we only say that they are alleged to have done it."
Balkin also offered another amusing interpretation of Bush's words.
"Or perhaps the Administration is suggesting that although such parties are alleged to have helped the country stay safe, there's no evidence that their repeated violations of federal law actually did much to promote our security," he quipped.
Last week, National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell made a related appeal, appearing to acknowledge that telecommunications companies had not only 'allegedly' assisted the government in its wiretapping activities.
"[T]hose who assist the Government in protecting us from harm must be protected from liability," he said in a Friday statement. "This includes those who are alleged to have assisted the Government after September 11, 2001 and have helped keep the country safe....I appreciate the commitment of the congressional leadership to address this particular issue immediately upon the return of Congress in September 2007."
And for one top Congressional advocate of Bush's proposed wiretapping 'reforms,' the participation of telecommunication companies in government spying was not described as an allegation at all.
"These are companies who were doing the patriotic thing," said Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI), Ranking Republican on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, in an interview with Paul Gigot for Fox News Journal Editorial Report on Saturday night. "They were helping the U.S. government, the American people, get the information that we believe we needed to keep us safe. They voluntarily participated, and now that the program is exposed, they've been open to all kinds of lawsuits."
Meanwhile, pundits were already building the case for expanding liability protections for telecommunications companies that help the government spy.
August 5, 2007 - The House handed President Bush a victory Saturday, voting to expand the government's abilities to eavesdrop without warrants on foreign suspects whose communications pass through the United States.
The 227-183 vote, which followed the Senate's approval Friday, sends the bill to Bush for his signature.
Late Saturday, Bush said, "The Director of National Intelligence, Mike McConnell, has assured me that this bill gives him what he needs to continue to protect the country, and therefore I will sign this legislation as soon as it gets to my desk."
The administration said the measure is needed to speed the National Security Agency's ability to intercept phone calls, e-mails and other communications involving foreign nationals "reasonably believed to be outside the United States." Civil liberties groups and many Democrats said it goes too far, possibly enabling the government to wiretap U.S. residents communicating with overseas parties without adequate oversight from courts or Congress.
The bill updates the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, known as FISA. It gives the government leeway to intercept, without warrants, communications between foreigners that are routed through equipment in United States, provided that "foreign intelligence information" is at stake. Bush describes the effort as an anti-terrorist program, but the bill is not limited to terror suspects and could have wider applications, some lawmakers said.
The government long has had substantial powers to intercept purely foreign communications that don't touch U.S. soil.
If a U.S. resident becomes the chief target of surveillance, the government would have to obtain a warrant from the special FISA court.
Congressional Democrats won a few concessions in negotiations earlier in the week. New wiretaps must be approved by the director of national intelligence and the attorney general, not just the attorney general. Congress has battled with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on several issues, and some Democrats have accused him of perjury.
The new law also will expire in six months unless Congress renews it. The administration wanted the changes to be permanent.
Many congressional Democrats wanted tighter restrictions on government surveillance, but yielded in the face of Bush's veto threats and the impending August recess.
"This bill would grant the attorney general the ability to wiretap anybody, any place, any time without court review, without any checks and balances," said Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., during the debate preceding the vote. "I think this unwarranted, unprecedented measure would simply eviscerate the 4th Amendment," which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures.
Republicans disputed her description. "It does nothing to tear up the Constitution," said Rep. Dan Lungren, R-Calif.
If an American's communications are swept up in surveillance of a foreigner, he said, "we go through a process called minimization" and get rid of the records unless there is reason to suspect the American is a threat.
The administration began pressing for changes to the law after a recent ruling by the FISA court. That decision barred the government from eavesdropping without warrants on foreign suspects whose messages were being routed through U.S. communications carriers, including Internet sites.
August 7, 2007 - U.S. business travelers and tourists flying to the European Union are facing the threat of the same laborious registration requirements that Washington has demanded of Europeans in the latest U.S. security crackdown.
In its first reaction to the new U.S. visa law, the European Commission said it was “considering” a so-called electronic traveler authorization scheme - similar to the American plan - that would require foreigners heading to the EU to give notice of their travel plans before departure.
The threat has been conveyed to senior U.S. officials and lawmakers, with one letter sent last month stressing that a European system would “of course operate on a reciprocal basis”.
A spokesman for the EU executive said no final decision had been taken, but the idea had received “new impetus” by the adoption of a U.S. counter-terrorism bill last week that requires travelers to give U.S. authorities at least 48 hours’ notice of their plans to visit the country.
George W. Bush, U.S. president, signed the law last Friday in spite of repeated appeals by the Commission and European business groups to reconsider the measures. The law will tighten scrutiny of travelers from the 26 developed countries whose citizens do not at present require visas to enter the U.S., including Britain, France, German and most other western European countries.
Russ Knocke, spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, said the U.S. was “comfortable” with the EU having a reciprocal system. “It would lend itself to increasing baseline security for air travel throughout the west,” he said.
European business groups voiced sharp criticism of the U.S. law. Carlos González, an international relations adviser at Business Europe, a pan-European federation that lobbies on behalf of more than 16m companies, said: “This measure is a setback for business travelers and we are concerned about it. Business travel to the U.S. is a very regular activity.” The law demands the screening of all air and sea freight at foreign ports before being shipped to the U.S.
The German Industry Federation, BDI, hit out at the screening requirements enshrined in the law. “We are following with concern the tightening of security measures in the U.S., which impose a burden that is not justified by the benefits,” said the BDI’s Carsten Kreklau.
The federation added that the law “contradicted all existing customs security initiatives, which are based on targeted risk analysis”. According to BDI data, it takes about 10 minutes to scan each container - meaning that the screening of a large cargo ship “could easily result in an additional delay of 1,600 hours [nearly 70 days]”.
The spokesman for Franco Frattini, EU commissioner for justice and home affairs, said Brussels had asked the U.S. for more information about the details of its plans - some of which have been left open in the legislation.
August 9, 2007 - The U.S. has built nine navigation systems for Mexico and Canada under the controversial Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America in an apparent first step toward establishing the satellite infrastructure needed to create a North American air traffic control system.
The defining vision for North American air traffic control was articulated by then-Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta in a September 27, 2004 statement, announcing, "We must make flying throughout North America as seamless as possible if we are to truly reap the rewards of the expanding global economy."
The “2006 Report to Leaders”, posted on the SPP website, proclaimed, "In order to increase navigational accuracy across the region, five Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) stations were installed in Canada and Mexico in 2005."
WAAS is a space-based augmentation system that provides precision navigation information to aircraft equipped with Global Positioning Satellite/WAAS receivers through all phases of flight.
Working through the North American Aviation Trilateral, the U.S. has built for Mexico, WAAS stations at five locations: Mexico City, San Jose del Cabo, Puerto Vallarta, Merida and Tapachula.
Additionally, the U.S., working through NATT, has built four Canadian WAAS stations, at Iqaluit, Gander, Winnipeg and Goose Bay.
Discussions are underway to create a North American Air Traffic Control System, complete with Federal Aviation Administration issuance of WAAS certifications for Canadian and Mexican airspace. According to a government official who specializes in satellite technology applied to air traffic control systems, it would involve Canadian and Mexican foreign nationals not only hosting but operating and maintaining U.S. air navigation equipment as part of a continental Global Navigation Satellite System.
The vision would permit Mexican and Canadian air traffic controllers to operate within North American airspace as if they simply were operating from a U.S. city.
August 8, 2007 - In a new effort to crack down on illegal immigrants, federal authorities are expected to announce tough rules this week that would require employers to fire workers who use false Social Security numbers.
Officials said the rules would be backed up by stepped-up raids on workplaces across the country that employ illegal immigrants.
After first proposing the rules last year, Department of Homeland Security officials said they held off finishing them to await the outcome of the debate in Congress over a sweeping immigration bill. That measure, which was supported by President Bush, died in the Senate in June.
Now Bush regime officials are signaling that they intend to clamp down on employers of illegal immigrants even without a new immigration law. The approach is expected to play well with conservatives who have long demanded a tougher stance on illegal immigration, but could also spur a renewed legislative effort to provide legal status for the estimated six million or so unauthorized immigrants in the work force.
“We are tough and we are going to be even tougher,” said Russ Knocke, the spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security. “There are not going to be any more excuses for employers, and there will be serious consequences for those that choose to blatantly disregard the law.”
Experts said the new rules represented a major tightening of the immigration enforcement system, in which employers for decades have paid little attention to notices, known as no-match letters, from the Social Security Administration that workers’ names and numbers did not match the agency’s records.
Employers, especially in agriculture and low-wage industries, said they were deeply worried about the regime’s new stance, which could force them to lay off thousands of low-wage immigrant workers. More than 70 percent of farm workers in the American fields are illegal immigrants, according to estimates by growers’ associations.
“Across the employer community, people are scared, confused, holding their breath,” said Craig Reggelbrugge, co-chairman of the Agriculture Coalition for Immigration Reform, a trade organization. “Given what we know about the demographics of our labor force, since we are approaching peak season, people are particularly on edge.”
The expected regulations would give employers a fixed period, perhaps up to 90 days, to resolve any discrepancies between identity information provided by their workers and the records of the Social Security Administration. If a worker’s documents cannot be verified, employers would be required to fire them or risk up to $10,000 in fines for knowingly hiring illegal immigrants. Illegal workers often provide employers with fabricated or stolen Social Security numbers to qualify for a job.
Immigrants rights groups and labor unions, including the A.F.L.-C.I.O, predicted the rules would result in discrimination against Hispanic workers. They said they were preparing legal challenges to try to stop them from taking effect.
The new rules responded to demands from groups opposing illegal immigration and from many Republican lawmakers for the Bush regime to enforce existing laws before offering legal status to undocumented immigrants.
The new rules codify an uneasy partnership between the Department of Homeland Security, which enforces the immigration laws, and the Social Security Administration, which collects identity information from W-2 tax forms of about 250 million workers each year, including immigrants and Americans, so it can credit the earnings in its system.
Mark Hinkle, a spokesman for Social Security, said the agency expected to send out about 140,000 no-match letters to employers this year, covering more than eight million workers. After the rules are announced, the agency is anticipating a surge in requests from employers seeking to clarify workers’ information, he said.
Social Security issues letters only to employers who have more than 10 workers whose numbers do not match, when those workers represent at least one-half of 1 percent of the company’s workforce, Mr. Hinkle said.
The agency cannot verify which mismatches came from immigrants who presented false Social Security numbers when they applied for jobs, he said. Mismatches also occur because of clerical errors, or when workers marry and forget to inform Social Security that they changed their names. Several studies in recent years, including a 2005 survey by the General Accounting Office, have found significant error rates in the Social Security database.
“We don’t know and we don’t speculate” about the reasons for mismatches, Mr. Hinkle said.
The new rules will clarify steps employers can take to avoid being accused of knowingly hiring illegal immigrants, officials said. According to the draft, employers would be given 14 days after receiving a no-match letter to check for clerical errors and consult with the employee to correct mistakes. If the discrepancies are eliminated and new, valid work papers are filed within the fixed period, employers would enjoy a “safe harbor” from penalties.
The rules proposed last year brought a storm of criticism from both employers and workers groups. In a formal comment, the A.F.L.-C.I.O. said the rules would “harm all workers regardless of immigration status.”
“The enforcement is only on the immigration side,” Ana Avendaño, associate general counsel for the A.F.L.-C.I.O, said today. “They don’t do any labor inspection. So they are just giving employers another tool to repress workers’ rights.”
Even large companies that do not hire many low-skilled immigrants would also be affected by the rules, lawyers said. “It’s going to be a big change for almost every company,” said Cynthia J. Lange, an immigration lawyer in California.
“If this is strictly enforced, there could be massive layoffs of workers,” said Muzaffar Chishti, a director of the Migration Policy Institute, a non-partisan research group. But he said that illegal immigrant workers might not leave the labor force, but would apply for jobs at other businesses using the same invalid documents. He predicted the market for forged documents would grow.
“A lot of employers are saying we just can’t handle this,” said Laura Reiff, co-chairwoman of the Essential Worker Immigrant Coalition, which represents employers in low-skilled industries. She said the rules might spur new pressure from business on Congress to reconsider measures granting legal status to illegal immigrants.
BRAINTREE, Massachusetts - July 18, 2007 - It looked like a textbook training exercise, but there was something amiss.
Firefighters drove to a vacant house on Tuesday, cut holes in the roof and walls, and broke windows to test their tools and their proficiency.
The problem? It was the wrong house.
They were supposed to be two blocks away at a house slated for demolition.
The owners of the damaged home now want the town pay for the mistake, but they're trying to keep a sense of humor about it.
"Accidents happen," said Jeffrey Luu, who owns the house with his brother, Clayton. "Luckily, nobody got hurt," added Clayton Luu.
The home had been vacant since an electrical fire last year left a scorch mark up one side. The knee-high grass had not been cut in several weeks. The owners were planning a renovation of the house - just not this much of one.
The fire department is conducting an internal investigation, Deputy Chief John Donahue said in a statement, but officials otherwise remained tightlipped and red-faced about the incident.
Meanwhile, the house where the firefighters were supposed to train was demolished later Tuesday as scheduled.
August 6, 2007 - Ron Paul again wins the Republican debate, according to an unscientific poll of those who voted on the ABC-TV site during and after yesterday's debate. Here is the question and the totals at 7 AM EST, August 6, 2007.
Who do you think won the Republican debate?
Ron Paul 28,007
Mitt Romney 3,724
Rudy Giuliani 2,840
Nobody won. I'm voting Democratic. 2,671
Nobody. I'm waiting for Fred Thompson or Newt Gingrich to enter the race. 2,568
DES MOINES, Iowa - August 6, 2007 - The Ron Paul presidential campaign held a rally in Fairfield, Iowa last night that drew approximately 600 people. Attendees heard Dr. Paul talk about his platform for freedom, peace and prosperity.
Fairfield is a town with 10,000 residents about two hours from Des Moines. The event was organized in less than a week, and held on Sunday evening at 8:00 pm. The crowd was very friendly, and Dr. Paul received several standing ovations.
"The Ron Paul campaign continues to build momentum and turn out large, excited crowds," said campaign spokesman Jesse Benton. "We are excited to continue introducing Dr. Paul to the citizens of Iowa and spreading his message of liberty."
With Congressman Ron Paul (R-Tex) finishing as low as two percent or less in presidential polls, sources close to the Ron Paul campaign say that as soon as the numbers tick above two or three percent, the "Ron Paul effect" can be said to be engaged.
This is because the differential between Paul's Internet presence and national polls is significant and because, even locally, the established GOP is not apt to encourage or endorse Ron Paul's classical liberal views. Thus, without the larger coalition that Ron Paul has put together of those who do not share hard core "conservative Republican values," Ron Paul will not do especially well in Iowa.
However, if the coalition he has built, and which is evident and effective on the Internet manages to make itself heard in Iowa, Ron Paul's numbers could rise modestly, or even strongly. Sources say that the Iowa GOP is on its guard against this phenomenon and has taken to warning that all voters' ID will be checked carefully to ensure that voters are indeed from Iowa. Nonetheless, Ron Paul campaign staffers are hoping that Ron Paul's crossover candidacy pulls enough libertarian republican voters, democrats, independents and even greens so that a significant result can be achieved in the Iowa polls.
Says one source, "Staffers working for Ron Paul understand that this is the time to turn Internet support into real votes. They are emphasizing that it is not enough to register support on the Internet. Real life action is needed."
Wired Magazine recently put it this way:
"The question this weekend is whether the decentralized passion and organizational ability that his supporters have demonstrated online will translate into political action that will build the candidate's political capital in the offline world. The crucial event for some Republicans this Saturday is the straw poll in Ames, Iowa, where up to 40,000 people are expected to show up. State Republican Party officials hold the all-day, county fair-like event in years when there's no incumbent Republican president, and it's widely viewed as a political thresher that culls weaker candidates from the presidential race."
GOP presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani has said he is not focusing on the upcoming Iowa straw poll, yet sources "on the ground" in Iowa claim that his operatives are battling hard to gain traction in tomorrow's straw poll nonetheless.
The "name of the game," according to these sources, is managing expectations. Giuliani was recently seen to be struggling in the polls, the object of some controversy over his claims about 9/11, his bellicose attitude toward foreign intervention and also his affiliation to a controversial law firm pursuing a mid-America "superhighway." Thus a decision was likely made to de-emphasize the Iowa straw poll.
In doing so, Giuliani diminished expectations that he would finish well, and this in turn allowed his campaign the ability to push hard in Iowa, knowing that even a fairly low place finish could be "spun" into a momentum builder.
Accordingly, the Giuliani campaign will have reportedly have a tent, is said to have purchased tickets for supporters and is focused on energetic outreach on behalf of the quasi-absent candidate.
August 5, 2007 - ABC TV apparently reset its tally of who won the Republican debate it broadcast on August 5, Sunday morning.
At 10 AM EST, Congressman Ron Paul (R-Tex) was winning the debate with over 1,000 votes. Mitt Romney was next with 106. After the debate at approximately 11:10 AM EST when the tally was rechecked, ABC showed Ron Paul had just 445 votes. Second was “Nobody Won. I’m Voting Democratic.”
Of course, it could all be an innocent glitch, and perhaps ABC will explain these tallies or see fit to rectify them. But it has long been FMNN’s contention, along with others, that Ron Paul, an old fashioned Jeffersonian conservative, would serve as a metaphor and magnifying glass for America’s current political difficulties and expanding corruption.
The debate itself was apparently little promoted. In fact, ABC marketed the debate so shallowly that Drudgereport.com didn’t seem to carry a blurb about it on its front page, and neither did Google News.
To set the stage for the debate, ABC moderators began with polling numbers that showed Ron Paul at just two percent, yet the numbers on the ABC website, at 10 AM EST and again at the end of the debate (before the tally was reduced), showed him winning the debate, as he has before, by a wide margin.
A search of Internet sites revealed some confusion about the debates times and where it was airing. Posted one confused would-be viewer: "What a bizarre time to hold a debate and what a screwy format for a debate. It won’t air in my area until 11:00 am."
Ron Paul will likely win the online debate poll by large numbers in any case. But changing poll numbers always generates questions. ABC is believed to have manipulated its comment boards before as regards Ron Paul.
August 3, 2007 - A letter has been issued by Citizens for a Fair Vote Count, National Ron Paul Supporters Meetup, Restore the Republic, and We the People Congress regarding the use of Diebold voting machines in the Iowa primaries.
The letter reads as follows:
Everything we are all doing is going to be brought to NAUGHT if the Diebold computers - being used to 'count' the votes at the Iowa Straw Poll - are used to STEAL the Straw Poll Election.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - July 31, 2007 - The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) raided the home of Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) yesterday, advancing the corruption probe that has ensnared the once-untouchable GOP dean.
The Anchorage Daily News first reported the search of Stevens’s Girdwood, Alaska, residence on yesterday afternoon, citing the assistant special agent in charge of the FBI’s local office.
That home has fueled the investigation into Stevens’ ties to oil-field services company Veco, whose two top executives recently resigned after pleading guilty to bribery and fraud.
Bill Allen, Veco’s former CEO, is a longtime friend and business partner of Stevens, and investigators are examining Allen’s involvement in a 2000 renovation of the senior Republican appropriator’s house. The construction project added a story to the building, and contractors have reportedly testified before a grand jury that Allen and Veco received the bills for their work.
Stevens has denied any appearance of impropriety in the home renovation, stating specifically earlier this month that every bill he and his wife received was paid with their personal money, “and that’s all there is to it.” The famously combative senator has acknowledged that the federal probe may complicate his reelection effort next year - a concept still almost unthinkable to many in Alaska, where Stevens’ talent for securing federal dollars has made him a legend.
In a statement released by his office Monday, Stevens said his attorneys were notified of the search Monday morning. He vowed to continue providing for his state as normal while the investigation proceeds.
“I continue to believe this investigation should proceed to its conclusion without any appearance that I have attempted to influence its outcome. I will continue my policy of not commenting on this investigation until it has concluded,” Stevens said.
He added, “I urge Alaskans not to form conclusions based upon incomplete and sometimes incorrect reports in the media. The legal process should be allowed to proceed so that all the facts can be established and the truth determined.”
The Anchorage FBI office did not return a request for comment late yesterday. Two House Republicans, Rick Renzi (Ariz.) and John Doolittle (Calif.), have experienced home raids by federal authorities this year, but a raid on Stevens’ residence marks a significant intrusion of congressional corruption scandals into the more clubby Senate.
Stevens’ financial disclosure form for last year, which he requested that the ethics committee review before submission, is still under wraps after the senator requested a second deadline extension.
LONDON - July 31, 2007 - Gordon Brown has paved the way for the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq by telling George Bush he would not delay their exit in order to show unity with the United States.
After four hours of one-to-one talks with the U.S. President at his Camp David retreat, Mr. Brown told a joint press conference he would make a Commons statement in October on the future of the 5,500 British troops in the Basra region.
The Bush regime, under mounting domestic pressure to produce an exit strategy from Iraq, has been nervous that a full British withdrawal would add to the criticism. But Mr. Brown made clear - and President Bush accepted - that Britain would go its own way, even if that gave the impression the two countries were diverging.
Mr. Brown's willingness to pursue an independent British policy in Iraq will be seen as an important break with Tony Blair. Mr. Brown said the two leaders had "full and frank discussions" - diplomatic code for some disagreements.
July 31, 2007 - The Pentagon announced today that it will rotate 20,000 soldiers into Iraq at the end of this year but denied the troops would extend President Bush's troop "surge" through next spring.
CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr reported that a "worst case scenario" would stretch military ranks as troops leave for their 15-month rotations.
"They may have to reach down into the National Guard or Army Reserve" to maintain the troop levels, said Starr.
Military commanders began to expect earlier this year that the surge would have to be extended into next year. In an article that appeared in the Washington Post in May, Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, who manages day-to-day operations in Iraq, said the surge needed to last "through the beginning of next year, for sure." Odierno noted at the time that new regulations extending tours of duty to 15 months would allow for the surge to last through spring 2008.
"These will be the replacement troops on a 15 month tour of duty, as the troops that are there finish up their tours of duty," said Starr. "Reading between the lines, what is interesting here, is these troops will allow the Pentagon to maintain the status quo."
Starr said troop shortages will hamper efforts to maintain the increased troop presence.
"Fifteen combat brigades [will move] into Iraq in 2008, not the twenty combat brigades of the surge," she said. "It is well understood that they simply don't have enough troops to maintain that surge much past the spring of 2008."
A Pentagon spokesman denied that the troops would be continuing the surge, citing that the new troops would be rotating in for only 15 brigades, not the current 20 brigades comprising the post-surge troops. However, the Pentagon did not say which units were being rotated out of Iraq. The final troops of Bush's 28,000-troop surge arrive in Iraq in June.
BAGHDAD - August 1, 2007 - The United States government cannot account for 190,000 weapons issued to Iraqi security forces in 2004 and 2005, according to the Government Accountability Office.
According to its July 31 report, the military “cannot fully account for about 110,000 AK-47 assault rifles, 80,000 pistols, 135,000 items of body armor and 115,000 helmets reported as issued to Iraqi forces”.
The weapons disappeared from records between June 2004 and September 2005, as the military struggled to rebuild the disbanded Iraqi forces from scratch amid increasing attacks from Sunni insurgents and Shiite militias.
August 2, 2007 - Reports from Russia's Institute of Solar-Terrestrial Physics located in Irkutsk are that their Siberian Solar Radio Telescope (SSRT) detected a 'massive' ultra low frequency (ULF) 'blast' emanating from Latitude: 45° 00' North Longitude: 93° 15' West at the 'exact' moment, and location, of a catastrophic collapse of a nearly 2,000 foot long bridge in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
The Star Tribune News Service reported:
"The 1,907-foot bridge fell into the Mississippi River and onto roadways below. The span was packed with rush hour traffic, and dozens of vehicles fell with the bridge, leaving scores of dazed commuters scrambling for their lives.
Nine people were confirmed dead as of 4 a.m. today. Sixty were taken to hospitals and 20 people were still missing this morning. Authorities said they expected the death toll to rise."