World News

on June 21, 2013 in World News

Supreme Court’s authority faces stunning challenge

A coalition of Christian organizations is warning that the U.S. Supreme Court  does not have the power to redefine the institution of marriage, which predates  government, churches and even religion. The  statement comes just as the court is expected to release its ruling on the  Proposition 8 case in California and the federal Defense of Marriage Act. In the Proposition 8 case, a homosexual judge in California ruled that the  state’s voters did not have the right to limit marriage to one man and one  woman. Voters approved an amendment in 2008 defining marriage only months after  the state Supreme… View Article

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on June 21, 2013 in World News

FBI ‘justified’ in every shooting since 1993 – report

It’s standard operating procedure for the FBI to conduct an internal investigation when an agent shoots a suspect. Questions are being raised, though, after a report found that every single intentional shooting in the past 20 years was deemed ‘justified.’ Between 1993 and early 2011 FBI agents fatally shot 70 people and  wounded approximately 80 others. In no incident, including one  that led to a $1.3 million payout for a victim wrongfully  identified as a bank robber, was an agent wrong to fire their  weapon. The records were obtained by The New York Times through a  Freedom of Information Act… View Article

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on June 21, 2013 in World News

Gun Manufacturer Moving To SC Due To Conn. Gun Control Laws

BRISTOL, Conn. (AP) — Less than a week after Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signed gun restrictions into law in April, gun manufacturer PTR Industries said it intended to leave the state to avoid the damage it expected to be inflicted on its business. On Wednesday, the rifle manufacturer kept its promise, announcing it will move to Aynor, S.C. “One hundred percent of our product line is now illegal in Connecticut due to that law,” said John McNamara, the company’s vice president for sales. He offered few details of the relocation, saying that a formal announcement and ribbon-cutting are scheduled… View Article

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on June 21, 2013 in World News

Revealed: the top secret rules that allow NSA to use US data without a warrant

Top secret documents submitted to the court that oversees surveillance by US intelligence agencies show the judges have signed off on broad orders which allow the NSA to make use of information “inadvertently” collected from domestic US communications without a warrant. The Guardian is publishing in full two documents submitted to the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (known as the Fisa court), signed by Attorney General Eric Holder and stamped 29 July 2009. They detail the procedures the NSA is required to follow to target “non-US persons” under its foreign intelligence powers and what the agency does to minimize data… View Article

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on June 21, 2013 in World News

Sen. Mike Lee: ‘Banana Republic Quality’ to Harry Reid Rushing Immigration Bill

Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) said on the Senate floor Thursday evening that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s tactics rushing through the “Gang of Eight” immigration bill are like those that would be used by a third-world dictator. Lee’s fiery comments came during a colloquy with Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) in which the two were fighting against Reid’s rush to pass the immigration bill. “I find it repugnant to the system of government under which we are supposed to be operating,” Lee said of Reid allegedly pushing the bill to a vote in less than a week. “I find it even… View Article

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on June 20, 2013 in World News

NSA Boss Asks Congress For Blanket Immunity For Companies That Help NSA Spy On Everyone

This will come as no surprise to anyone, but NSA boss General Keith Alexander is pestering Congress for a new law which would provide blanket immunity for companies helping the NSA collect data on everyone. Gen. Keith Alexander has petitioned Capitol Hill for months to give Internet service providers and other firms new cover from lawsuits when they rely on government data to thwart emerging cyberthreats. Basically, he’s arguing that if the NSA orders companies to do something illegal, the companies shouldn’t be liable for that.  There’s some logic behind that, because when you get an order from the government,… View Article

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on June 20, 2013 in World News

Big Brother alert: Cameras in the cable box to monitor TV viewers

It hardly gets more Orwellian than this. New technology would allow cable  companies to peer directly into television watchers’ homes and monitor viewing  habits and reactions to product advertisements. The technology would come via the cable box, and at least one lawmaker on  Capitol Hill is standing in opposition. Mass. Democratic Rep. Michael Capuano has introduced a bill, the We Are  Watching You Act, to prohibit the technology on boxes and collection of  information absent consumer permission. The bill would also require companies  that do use the data to show “we are watching you” messages on the screen and to … View Article

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on June 20, 2013 in World News

‘We were told to lie’ – Bank of America employees open up about foreclosure practices

Employees of Bank of America say they were encouraged to lie to customers and were even rewarded for foreclosing on homes, staffers of the financial giant claim in new court documents. Sworn statements from several Bank of America employees contain a  number of damning allegations, the latest claims entered as  evidence in a multi-state class action lawsuit that challenges  the bank’s history with foreclosures. According to testimonies obtained by journalists at ProPublica,  supervisors at various Bank of America branches across the United  States encouraged employees to regularly deny loan modification  applications with no reason. At times, they were told to… View Article

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on June 20, 2013 in World News

Gallup Poll Shows Only One in Four Americans Trusts Newspapers, TV News

A  new poll conducted by the Gallup Organization contains some very bad  news for the news industry. The survey indicates that only 23 percent  of American adults have “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in  newspapers and television news, the worst results since 2007. According  to Elizabeth Mendes, deputy managing editor at Gallup, newspapers have  been trending downward since 1979, when they reached a high of 51  percent, but TV news bounced up slightly from its all-time low  of 21 percent a year ago. Confidence in newspapers declined from 28 percent in 2011 and 25 percent in … View Article

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on June 20, 2013 in World News

California in the red by $127.2 billion, state auditors say

A financial report  issued by state auditors finds that the state of California is in the red by an  unsustainable $127.2 billion. The report says that the state’s negative status increased that year, largely  because it spent $1.7 billion more than it received in revenues and wound up  with an accumulated deficit of just under $23 billion in fiscal year 2011-2012,  the Sacramento Bee stated. Gov. Jerry Brown has referred to the  deficit and other budget gaps, mostly money owed to schools, as a “wall of debt”  totaling more than $30 billion, the Sacramento Bee reported. About half of the… View Article

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