Gov’t Official Put on Leave After Benghazi Finally Breaks His Silence and Levels Big Charges
[TheBlaze.com]
May. 21, 2013 10:26am – by Becket Adams
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. (Getty Images)
Raymond Maxwell, one of four State Department employees recently disciplined by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, made headlines this month for penning slightly cryptic verses critical of the agency’s handling of the Sept. 11, 2012, terrorist attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi.
And now Maxwell, who was placed on forced “administrative leave” despite his claim had no role in consulate-related security issues, is back in the news for ditching the poetry and outright accusing former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton of making him the Benghazi scapegoat.
Will U.S. Designate Egypt, Pakistan, Iraq and Nigeria As Religious Freedom Violators?
[CNSNews.com]
May 20, 2013 By Patrick Goodenough
Pakistani Christians protest against the country’s blasphemy laws and violence targeting their minority community. An independent U.S. watchdog has urged the executive branch every year since 2002 to designate Pakistan as a “country of particular concern” over religious freedom violations. (AP Photo)
(CNSNews.com) – As the State Department prepares to release its annual report on international religious freedom Monday, a key issue for many Americans concerned about religious persecution is whether it will blacklist a handful of particularly egregious violators – or, as in previous years, ignore the recommendations of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.
The question is especially sensitive in the case of countries where the plight of minority Christians has worsened, even as their governments benefit significantly at the cost of U.S. taxpayers.
CBS: Police Found Note Claiming Responsiblity Inside Boat Where Boston Bombing Suspect Was Hiding
[TheBlaze.com]
May. 16, 2013 8:55am
Police found a note inside the boat where Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was found hiding and eventually captured — a note written by the suspect and claiming responsibility for the destruction, CBS News is reporting.
The note said the bombing was retribution for the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the actions that have killed Muslims.
“When you attack one Muslim, you attack all Muslims,” the note — which CBS reports was scrawled with a pen on an interior wall — apparently said.
According to CBS, the note is significant because it is an admission of guilt outside of the questioning administered to Tsarnaev before he was read his Miranda rights. Any admissions made during that questioning would not be admissible in court.
Benghazi Hearing…
[FloppingAces.net]
May 09, 2013
Watching the Benghazi hearings and I’m struck with how the Democrats are trying to filibuster the testimony. One side seems to want to get the facts, one side seems to want to cover Hillary and Obama’s ass.
Sad…but not surprising.
The most important testimony is the fact that the “Foreign Emergency Support Team” was ordered to stand down…
Also, Gregory N. Hicks, deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Libya, was angry at the Susan Rice narrative, he let it be known that he was angry and was subsequently told to shut up.
What this all comes down to is that the United States was attacked and our ambassador and his protectors were denied help. Then the cover-up began.
And the cover-up is what always brings down the house of cards.
Click here for Video’s, tweets and updates to follow below: http://floppingaces.net/2013/05/08/benghazi-hearing/
SEAL Team 6 Families to Blame Government For Deaths
[Infowars.com]
“Never before revealed information” to be aired at press conference
By Paul Joseph Watson
May 8, 2013
Families of the SEAL Team 6 members who were killed when their helicopter crashed in Afghanistan in August 2011 are set to give a press conference tomorrow during which they will hold the Obama administration partially responsible for the deaths of their sons.
With the administration already reeling over today’s Benghazi revelations, a press release on the ‘Tea Party Command Center’ website promises “never before revealed information” about the circumstances behind the incident.
“Accompanying the families of these dead Navy SEAL Team VI special operations servicemen will be retired military experts verifying their accounts of how and why the government is as much responsible for the deaths of their sons as is the Taliban,” states the press release.
Why did no one object to the “Pentagon mosque”?
[Salon.com]
Muslims have been praying inside the Pentagon since Sept. 11 but right-wingers have been strangely silent
[Separation of Church and State in a Military Complex like the Pentagon? What's wrong with this picture?]
Navy imam Chaplain Abuhena M. Saifulislam lifted his voice to God as he called to prayer more than 100 Department of Defense employees Monday at a celebration of Ramadan at the Pentagon.
God is most great, sang the lieutenant commander and Islamic leader, in Arabic, as iftar — the end of the daily fast began.
Uniformed military personnel, civilians and family members faced Mecca and knelt on adorned prayer rugs chanting their prayers in quiet invocation to Allah.
The “ground zero mosque” story seems to be dying down, but nothing lays bare the absurdity of what we’ve just lived through quite so much as this Washington Times story, quoted above, from 2007.
Yes, Muslims have infiltrated the Pentagon for their nefarious, prayerful purposes — daring to practice their religion inside the building where 184 people died on Sept. 11, 2001. They haven’t even had the sensitivity to move two blocks, let alone a mile, away from that sacred site.
The “desecration” began shockingly soon after the attacks. Cox reported in October 2001:
Justin Elliott is a reporter for ProPublica. You can follow him on Twitter @ElliottJustin More Justin Elliott.
Special forces could’ve responded to Benghazi attack, whistle-blower tells Fox News
[FoxNews.com]
Published April 30, 2013
A military special ops member who watched as the deadly attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi unfolded last September told Fox News the U.S. had highly trained forces just a few hours away, and said he and others feel the government betrayed the four men who died in the attack.Speaking on condition of anonymity, and appearing in a Fox News Channel interview with his face and voice disguised, the special operator contradicted claims by the Obama administration and a State Department review that said there wasn’t enough time for U.S. military forces to have intervened in the Sept. 11 attack in which U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens, an embassy employee and two former Navy SEALs working as private security contractors were killed.
“I know for a fact that C-110, the EUCOM CIF, was doing a training exercise in … not in the region of North Africa, but in Europe,” the operator told Fox News’ Adam Housley. “And they had the ability to act and to respond.”
“You know, it’s something that’s risky, especially in our line of profession, to say anything about, anything in the realm of politics, or that deals with policy.”
- Special Forces operator
The C-110 is a 40-man Special Ops force capable of rapid response and deployment specifically trained for incidents like last year’s attack in Benghazi. During the night of the Sept. 11, 2012, attack in Libya, in which U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed in Libya, the C-110 were training in Croatia, just 3 ½ hours away.
“We had the ability to load out, get on birds and fly there, at a minimum stage,” the operator told Fox News. “C-110 had the ability to be there, in my opinion, in a matter of about four hours…four to six hours.”
Photos Show ‘Persons of Interest’ in Boston Marathon Bombings
[Newsmax.com]
April 18, 2013
The FBI is now sharing the photos with the public but the New York Post ran several photos that they linked to the investigation Thursday.
In the photos being distributed by law-enforcement officials, one of the men is carrying a blue duffel bag. The other is wearing a black backpack in the first photo, taken at 10:53 a.m., but it is not visible in the second, taken at 12:30 p.m, the Post reported.
“The attached photos are being circulated in an attempt to identify the individuals highlighted therein,” said an e-mail obtained by The Post. “Feel free to pass this around to any of your fellow agents elsewhere.”
Authorities know the names of the two men, but do not have enough evidence to make an arrest for Monday’s attack, which killed three and wounded 176, sources told the Post.
Fox said a reporter for the network had seen the photos and called them “clear.”
Ricin-laced letters threaten Washington
[HumanEvents.com]
By: John Hayward
4/17/2013 01:07 PM
Yesterday the Senate mail facility discovered a letter addressed to Republican Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi that was laced with a suspicious white powder. Preliminary tests somewhat inconclusively suggested the powder included ricin, a toxic substance made from castor beans. According to the Centers for Disease Control, ricin can cause injury or death in very small amounts, through either inhalation, ingestion, or skin contact. This makes it an attractive chemical-biological warfare option for the evil scumbag on a budget.
Here’s a Quick Recap of What You Need to Know About the Boston Bombings
[TheBlaze.com]
Editor’s note — We’ll be discussing this story and all the day’s news during our live BlazeCast from 12pm to 1pm ET…including your questions, comments & live chat:
BOSTON (TheBlaze/AP) — An explosion at the finish line of the Boston Marathon Monday killed three people and injured dozens more. TheBlaze brought you intense live coverage of the aftermath. Considering all that has unfolded, here’s an an at-a-glance look at the facts in the case:
THE EXPLOSIONS
Two bombs exploded about 10 seconds and 100 yards apart at about 2:50 p.m. Monday in Boston’s Copley Square, near the finish line of the Boston Marathon. Three people were killed, including an 8-year-old boy named Martin Richard (TheBlaze has profiled Martin here), and more than 140 were injured. The explosions occurred four hours into the race and two hours after the winners had crossed the finish line, but thousands of runners were still on the course.
Kerry to NKorea: New Missile Launch Would Be ‘Huge Mistake’
[Newsmax.com]
Friday, 12 Apr 2013 12:15 PM
(more…)
Libya Imprisons American for Allegedly Proselytizing Christianity in Benghazi
[CNSNews.com]
Egyptian protest the deaht of Ezzat Atallah, who died in a Libyan prison, in front of the Libyan embassy in Cairo. (AP Photo)(CNSNews.com) – On Feb. 12, about two years after the U.S. government first militarily intervened in Libya to advance the cause of Libyan revolutionaries and five months after Libyan terrorists murdered Amb. Chris Stevens and three other Americans in that country, the post-revolutionary Libyan government arrested a U.S. citizen for allegedly “proselytizing” Christianity in Benghazi.
As of today, according to both a senior administration official and a State Department spokesperson, this U.S. citizen remains imprisoned in post-Qaddafi Libya.
The Libyan government also arrested seven other Christians in Benghazi in connection with the same alleged case of Christian proselytizing. These include a South African woman, a South Korean man and five Egyptian men.
One of the Egyptians, Ezzat Atallah, was tortured by the Libyans while in detention, according to an Egyptian human rights lawyer. Atallah later died in Libyan custody—from what an Egyptian official characterized as natural causes.
US plan calls for more scanning of private Web traffic, email
[Reuters.com]
Joseph Menn and Deborah Charles
Posted: March 21, 2013
The U.S. government is expanding a cybersecurity program that scans Internet traffic headed into and out of defense contractors to include far more of the country’s private, civilian-run infrastructure.
As a result, more private sector employees than ever before, including those at big banks, utilities and key transportation companies, will have their emails and Web surfing scanned as a precaution against cyber attacks.
Under last month’s White House executive order on cybersecurity, the scans will be driven by classified information provided by U.S. intelligence agencies — including data from the National Security Agency (NSA) — on new or especially serious espionage threats and other hacking attempts. U.S. spy chiefs said on March 12 that cyber attacks have supplanted terrorism as the top threat to the country.
The Department of Homeland Security will gather the secret data and pass it to a small group of telecommunication companies and cyber security providers that have employees holding security clearances, government and industry officials said. Those companies will then offer to process email and other Internet transmissions for critical infrastructure customers that choose to participate in the program.
DHS as the middleman
By using DHS as the middleman, the Obama administration hopes to bring the formidable overseas intelligence-gathering of the NSA closer to ordinary U.S. residents without triggering an outcry from privacy advocates who have long been leery of the spy agency’s eavesdropping.
The telecom companies will not report back to the government on what they see, except in aggregate statistics, a senior DHS official said in an interview granted on condition he not be identified.
“That allows us to provide more sensitive information,” the official said. “We will provide the information to the security service providers that they need to perform this function.” Procedures are to be established within six months of the order.
The administration is separately seeking legislation that would give incentives to private companies, including communications carriers, to disclose more to the government. NSA Director General Keith Alexander said last week that NSA did not want personal data but Internet service providers could inform the government about malicious software they find and the Internet Protocol addresses they were sent to and from.
“There is a way to do this that ensures civil liberties and privacy and does ensure the protection of the country,” Alexander told a congressional hearing.
Fears grow of destructive attack
In the past, Internet traffic-scanning efforts were mainly limited to government networks and Defense Department contractors, which have long been targets of foreign espionage.
But as fears grow of a destructive cyber attack on core, non-military assets, and more sweeping security legislation remained stalled, the Obama administration opted to widen the program.
Last month’s presidential order calls for commercial providers of “enhanced cybersecurity services” to extend their offerings to critical infrastructure companies. What constitutes critical infrastructure is still being refined, but it would include utilities, banks and transportation such as trains and highways.
Under the program, critical infrastructure companies will pay the providers, which will use the classified information to block attacks before they reach the customers. The classified information involves suspect Web addresses, strings of characters, email sender names and the like.
Not all the cybersecurity providers will be telecom companies, though AT&T is one. Raytheon said this month it had agreed with DHS to become a provider, and a spokesman said that customers could route their traffic to Raytheon after receiving it from their communications company.
As the new set-up takes shape, DHS officials and industry executives said some security equipment makers were working on hardware that could take classified rules about blocking traffic and act on them without the operator being able to reverse-engineer the codes. That way, people wouldn’t need a security clearance to use the equipment.
Civil liberties implications
The issue of scanning everything headed to a utility or a bank still has civil liberties implications, even if each company is a voluntary participant.
Lee Tien, a senior staff attorney with the nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation, said that the executive order did not weaken existing privacy laws, but any time a machine acting on classified information is processing private communications, it raises questions about the possibility of secret extra functions that are unlikely to be answered definitively.
“You have to wonder what else that box does,” Tien said.
One technique for examining email and other electronic packets en route, called deep packet inspection, has stirred controversy for years, and some cybersecurity providers said they would not be using that. In deep packet inspection, communication companies or others with network access can examine all the elements of a transmission, including the content of emails.
“The signatures provided by DHS do not require deep packet inspection,” said Steve Hawkins, vice president at Raytheon’s Intelligence and Information Systems division, referring further questions to DHS.
The DHS official said the government is still in conversations with the telecom operators on the issue.
The official said the government had no plans to roll out any such form of government-guided close examination of Internet traffic into the communications companies serving the general public.
Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters.
Hacker Distibutes Confidential Hillary Clinton Benghazi Emails, Journalists Won’t Release Contents
[IsThatBaloney.com]
An anonymous hacker only going by the name “Guccifer” has supposedly gotten into an associate of Hillary Clinton’s email account and has distributed confidential emails dealing with a range of issues in Libya including the Benghazi terrorist attack that killed 4 Americans including Ambassador Christopher Stevens. Although the hacker has distributed stolen memos to politicians and journalists, so far no one has published any of their contents.
The hacker apparently broke into former White House aide, Sidney Blumenthal’s email account and sent four recent memos to congressional aides, politicians and journalists across all over the world. One memo which was sent to Clinton was sent the day after the attack on on consulate in Benghazi on September 12, 2012 and was labeled “Confidential.”
Unfortunately we don’t have access to those emails and no one who has received them yet has been brave enough to come forward and discuss or print them so the world can see their contents.
Six months later, where are Benghazi’s survivors?
[HotAir.com]
posted at 1:21 pm on March 12, 2013 by Ed Morrissey
Yesterday marked six months from the date that four Americans were killed in a terrorist attack on our consulate in Benghazi, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, the first American ambassador murdered in the line of duty in 33 years. While the Obama administration begrudgingly cooperated with Congressional panels looking into the attack and the White House response by sending officials to testify, one group still has not yet been made available. CBS’ Sharyl Attkisson wonders — where are the survivors?
Today marks six months since the September 11, 2012 terrorist attacks on the U.S. compounds in Benghazi, Libya in which four Americans were killed, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens. Some watchdog groups, members of the media and Republican members of Congress are asking: Where are the more than two dozen U.S. personnel who survived the attack but haven’t been seen nor heard from in public since? There were also an undisclosed number of witnesses at the U.S. compounds in Tripoli but they also have not spoken publicly.
In a recent press report, Secretary of State John Kerry said he visited one survivor at “Bethesda hospital,” and referred to him a “remarkably courageous person who is doing very, very well.” Kerry added, “I’ve called his wife and talked to her.” But the identities, condition and testimony of the survivors and witnesses have been closely held from the public.
Citizens, Subjects and The Greatness of Rand Paul’s Filibuster
[RedState.com]
For a Day, Just For a Single Day – It Felt Like We Had An Actual US Senate
By: Repair_Man_Jack (Diary) | March 7th, 2013 at 12:00 PM
Keeping The Subjects From Getting Uppity Since 2009
There are two ways you can relate to the entity that governs you. You are either a citizen or you are a subject. There is a significant difference between the two. This difference involves the number of rights you enjoy and the amount of freedom of action and thought you get to exercise. Tupac Shapur sums it succinctly: Real n—– do they wanna do, b—- n—– do what they can.
In a philosophical sense, Senator Rand Paul just asked Attorney General Eric Holder which class we, the average American fit. Can we do what we want or do we what we can? Or more directly; can the people in charge of the government do what they want? Because if the government can do what it wants, then the people are not citizens, they are subjects, they have to do what they can.
White House [Obama aids] walks back leaked immigration plan amid GOP outrage
[FoxNews.com]
Published February 18, 2013
President Obama’s advisers tried to put the genie back in the bottle after a leaked White House immigration plan drew outrage from Republicans who accused the president of endangering the reform push.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., a key figure in immigration reform talks, was among those who slammed the president for the plan. After what was described as a draft White House proposal was first leaked in USA Today, Rubio said over the weekend it would be “dead on arrival in Congress.”
By Monday, Obama insiders were walking the plan back and suggesting the leak was not intentional.
One White House official told Fox News they were “surprised” that the “draft” language was given to the press and thought the publication was “unfortunate.”
“This was not the administration floating anything,” the official said, adding that the White House reached out to Senate offices Saturday evening to stress their support for ongoing congressional talks.
Jon Stewart Grills Susan Rice on Obama Admin’s Alleged Mismanagement of Benghazi Terror Attack
[TheBlaze.com]
Questions continue to swirl surrounding the Sept. 11 attack in Benghazi, Libya, that left four Americans dead. Among the most confounding factors were inaccurate comments made by U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice in the wake of the assault. The embattled administration official appeared last night on Jon Stewart’s “The Daily Show” to discuss the government’s handling of the crisis.
During the exchange, the host challenged Rice on some of the confusing and contradictory information that emerged in the wake of the terror attack. The ambassador also issued some tough words for those who still believe the Obama administration is hiding key information.
Stewart wasted no time launching into his questioning. Almost as soon as Rice sat down, he asked the ambassador why she was selected to speak out on Sunday morning shows and pondered why someone else more appropriate (i.e. Hillary Clinton or another official) wasn’t chosen. The ambassador gave this long-winded answer:
“I’ve spent many-a-Sunday doing the Sunday shows. In this case, Secretary Clinton, who had been asked originally to do it, felt that she didn’t want to, couldn’t do it that week, having been through quite an intense week with the loss of our colleagues in Benghazi, the violence against our embassies all over the Arab and Muslim world and then — also that Friday having to join President Obama in greeting the families of our fallen colleagues and bringing their bodies back.”
Syria crisis: Rebels ‘take control of key dam’
[BBC-UK]
Syrian rebels are reported to have seized control of the country’s largest hydro-electric dam, in what would be a strategic loss to the government.
Activists and opposition groups said fighters had taken over entrances and exits of the dam in the northern province of Raqa.
Reports said the dam on the Euphrates River was still operational.
Meanwhile an explosion in a car on the Syria-Turkey border has killed at least seven people, officials say.
It is thought that the explosion happened in the area of the Cilvegozu customs post on the Turkish side of the border, in the southern province of Hatay.
Dozens of people were wounded in the blast, the cause of which was not immediately clear.
Netanyahu, allies narrowly cling to victory in Israeli election
[FoxNews.com]
Associated Press
Published January 22, 2013
JERUSALEM – In a stunning setback, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hard-line bloc fared worse than expected in a parliamentary election Tuesday, exit polls showed, possibly forcing the incumbent Israeli leader to invite surprisingly strong moderate rivals into his government and soften his line toward the Palestinians.
TV exit polls showed the hard-liners with about 61 seats in the 120-seat parliament, a bare majority, and the counts could change as actual votes are tallied.
Brian Terry family sues officials over Fast and Furious
[Politico.com]
PHOENIX — The family of a slain Border Patrol agent has sued federal officials over the botched “Fast and Furious” gun operation.
Agent Brian Terry was mortally wounded on Dec. 14, 2010, in a firefight north of the Arizona-Mexico border between border agents and five men who had sneaked into the country to rob marijuana smugglers.
Two assault rifles acquired by a straw buyer for the gun smuggling ring targeted in the “Fast and Furious” operation were found in the aftermath of the shootout near Nogales.
Federal authorities conducting “Fast and Furious” have faced tough criticism for allowing suspected straw gun buyers for the ring to walk away from gun shops in Arizona with weapons, rather than arrest them and seize weapons.
The investigation was launched in 2009 to catch trafficking kingpins, but agents lost track of about 1,400 of the more than 2,000 weapons involved.
(more…)
Extortion call, somber visit bring nightmare home for parents of Marine jailed in Mexico [UPDATE: Hammer was released before Christmas]
[FNC]
By Joseph J. Kolb
Published December 13, 2012
Jon Hammar Jr. has been held in Mexico’s notorious CEDES prison since August.
The father of a U.S. Marine jailed in Mexico after being caught with his grandfather’s antique shotgun heard the fear in his son’s voice and felt helpless.
The phone call came at midnight from Mexico’s notorious CEDES prison, where Jon Hammar, Jr. has been held since August. The caller demanded $1,800, then put Hammar on to drive the point home.
“They’re serious, Dad,” Jon Hammar, Sr. heard his son say. “I’ll pay you back; they are going to kill me.”
“They’re serious, Dad. I’ll pay you back; they are going to kill me.”
- Jon Hammar, Jr., speaking by phone from a Mexican jail
NY Observer: Quran ads debut in NY “Pamela Geller is at it again”
[AtlasShrugs.com]
Posted: December 07, 2012
The quran ads are coming to New York on the 17th, and be glad of it. The NY Observer tries to incite anger and hate towards the message. But it is the calls for jihad, genocide and violence in the quran that are the real incitement to hate.
‘New Anti-Islam Ads to Debut This Month, Now With 25% More MTA Disclaimer” NY Observer, December 6, 2012
Pamela Geller is at it again.The outspoken blogger and Executive Director of the American Freedom Defense Initiative has just purchased a slew of advertising space in several subway stations and on numerous Metro-North platforms in order to display her newest anti-Islam message.
Her latest ads, shared exclusively with The Observer, will feature a panorama of the sky the moment the World Trade Center burst into flames in 2001, accompanied by a quote from the Quran that reads “Soon shall We cast terror into the hearts of the Unbelievers.”
NYT: Arms Shipments ‘Secretly’ Approved by Obama Ended Up in Hands of Islamic Militants
[TheBlaze.com]
- Posted on December 5, 2012 at 10:10pm by
Jason Howerton
Rebels in Ras Lanuf, Libya, March 11, (Credit: AP)
The Obama administration “secretly” approved arms shipments to Libyan rebels from Qatar last year, however, U.S. officials quickly became concerned as evidence suggested Qatar was handing the weapons over to Islamic militants, The New York Times reports, citing a number of United States officials and foreign diplomats.
There is no evidence available that suggests the U.S.-approved weapons were involved in the deadly terrorist attack on the U.S. compound in Benghazi, which left four Americans dead on Sept. 11. But the revelation is sure to ignite speculation.
More from The New York Times:
But in the months before, the Obama administration clearly was worried about the consequences of its hidden hand in helping arm Libyan militants, concerns that have not previously been reported. The weapons and money from Qatar strengthened militant groups in Libya, allowing them to become a destabilizing force since the fall of the Qaddafi government. The experience in Libya has taken on new urgency as the administration considers whether to play a direct role in arming rebels in Syria, where weapons are flowing in from other countries.
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