Homeland Security News Wire

Last Friday, Mississippi joined forty other states and announced it would comply with the REAL ID Act, according to the U.S.Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Coalition For A Secure Driver License(CSDL). Forty-one states and territories are fully or partially compliant withREAL ID – of which twenty states are fully compliant.

The Examiner reports that the deadline for other states to adopt the measure has been postponed until 2016.   Continue reading “Mississippi to comply with REAL ID”

imagePoor Richard’s News

President Obama wants you to know that he’s just like you! He signed up for health insurance, just like he’s forcing you to do. The only difference that while the little people are stuck getting error messages on the Obamacare website or getting the runaround by a navigator on the phone, Obama is on vacation while his staffers work to enroll him in a “symbolic” plan that he won’t even use.   Continue reading “Privilege: Obama vacations as staffers bypass Obamacare site to enroll him in “symbolic” insurance”

People take shelter Sunday at a makeshift camp at a U.N. compound in Juba, SouthSudan.CNN – by Marie-Louise Gumuchian. Barbara Starr and Antonia Mortensen

(CNN) — About 150 U.S. Marines are poised to enter turbulent South Sudan to help evacuate Americans and provide security for the U.S. Embassy, two U.S. military officials said Monday.

The troops are moving from Spain to Africa, probably to the nation of Djibouti, the officials told CNN’s Barbara Starr on Monday.   Continue reading “U.S. Marines poised to enter South Sudan”

Mikhail Kalashnikov.(Reuters)RT News

The inventor of the iconic AK-47 assault rifle, Mikhail Kalashnikov, has died at the age of 94. His ingenuity earned him widespread admiration, but his legacy became more controversial when his weapons were used in some of the world’s bloodiest conflicts.

“Mikhail Kalashnikov’s entire life is a shining example of dedication to serving your country,” said a statement from Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu.   Continue reading “Inventor of AK-47 rifle Mikhail Kalashnikov dies at 94”

The Hill – by Jeremy Herb

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday criticized U.S. spying on Israel; he’s the latest world leader to take aim at the National Security Agency’s surveillance activities.

Documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden to The Guardian and others on Friday showed that the NSA and Britain’s Government Communications Headquarters had targeted an email address for then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in 2009, as well as the Israeli defense minister.   Continue reading “Netanyahu: NSA spying on Israel ‘not acceptable’”

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is traveling to China to promote trade with Chicago and city tourism.Daily Herald – by Associated Press

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is traveling to China to promote trade with Chicago and city tourism.

He’s set deliver remarks at Tsinghua University in Beijing on Monday morning and later at a Choose Chicago luncheon. He’s also scheduled to address the minister of commerce, vice mayors and leaders of several major Chinese cities to sign an agreement related to trade with Chicago.   Continue reading “Emanuel Travels To China To Promote Chicago”

article imageOpposing Views – by Sarah Fruchtnicht

A recent college graduate in Washington says he wants an apology after deputies in Spokane County mistakenly raided his home, with guns drawn, giving him the scare of his life.

Conner Guerrero says he noticed somebody sneaking around his yard at night and assumed it was burglars.

“Just trying to enjoy my evening. All the sudden, I see a flashlight shining through my doors…” said Guerrero. “I’m thinking this could be a dangerous situation for me.”   Continue reading “Cop Who Raided The Wrong House Tells Homeowner ‘You’re Lucky I Didn’t F–King Shoot You’”

Yahoo News

WASHINGTON (AP) — A covert CIA program has helped Colombia’s government kill at least two dozen leaders of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the rebel insurgency also known as FARC, The Washington Post reported Saturday.

The National Security Agency has also provided “substantial eavesdropping help” to the Colombian government, according to the Post. And the U.S. provided Colombia with GPS equipment that can be used to transform regular munitions into “smart bombs” that can accurately home in on specific targets, even if they are located in dense jungles.   Continue reading “Report: CIA helped Colombia kill rebel leaders”

New York Times – by CHARLIE SAVAGE and DAVID E. SANGER

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration moved late Friday to prevent a federal judge in California from ruling on the constitutionality of warrantless surveillance programs authorized during the Bush administration, telling a court that recent disclosures about National Security Agency spying were not enough to undermine its claim that litigating the case would jeopardize state secrets.

In a set of filings in the two long-running cases in the Northern District of California, the government acknowledged for the first time that the N.S.A. started systematically collecting data about Americans’ emails and phone calls in 2001, alongside its program of wiretapping certain calls without warrants. The government had long argued that disclosure of these and other secrets would put the country at risk if they came out in court.   Continue reading “White House Tries to Prevent Judge From Ruling on Surveillance Efforts”

In this image taken from video obtained from the Shaam News Network, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, smoke billows from a building after a blast in Aleppo, Syria, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2013. In northern Syria, government war planes have bombed rebel-held districts of Aleppo for the fifth straight day, leveling apartment buildings, flooding hospitals with casualties in attacks that have so far killed nearly 200 people, activists said. (AP Photo/Shaam News Network via AP Video)Yahoo News – by DIAA HADID

BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian rebels seized control a strategic hospital near Aleppo, giving a boost to beleaguered anti-government forces in the northern city after days of relentless airstrikes on opposition-held neighborhoods there, activists said Saturday.

The rebels’ capture of Kindi hospital does not drastically alter the broader battle for Aleppo, which has been divided for more than a year between opposition and government forces. But it does provide a lift to a rebel movement that has been dogged in recent months by infighting that allowed President Bashar Assad’s forces to chip away at rebel-held territory on several fronts.   Continue reading “Syrian rebels seize strategic hospital in Aleppo”

ABC News

China’s military lashed out Saturday at Japan’s plans to boost defense spending, accusing Tokyo of raising regional tensions under the pretext of safeguarding national security.

China “resolutely opposes” the five-year defense plan adopted by Japan on Tuesday, Defense Ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng said in a statement posted on the ministry’s website.   Continue reading “China Lashes out at Japan’s New Defense Plan”

No. 2 reactor buildings of the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear power plant (AFP Photo / Pool)RT News

TEPCO has found a record 1.9 million becquerels per liter of beta ray-emitting radioactive substances at its No.2 reactor. Also radioactive cesium was detected in deeper groundwater at No.4 unit’s well, as fears grow of a new leak into the ocean.

The level of beta ray-emitting radioactivity in groundwater around the crippled Fukushima reactor No. 2 reactor has been rising since November, NHK reported.   Continue reading “TEPCO detects record radiation at Fukushima’s reactor 2, new leak suspected”

Saudi soldiers (Reuters/Fahad Shadeed)RT News

A joint Gulf military command will have a force of around 100,000 strong, Saudi Arabia has announced, as the Kingdom tries to secure its force in the region, following a rift with the US over Washington’s rapprochement with Iran, Riyadh’s regional rival.

“There will be a unified command of around 100,000 members, God willing. I hope it will happen soon, and the National Guard is ready for anything that is asked of it,” Minister of the National Guard Prince Miteb Bin Abdullah announced, Saudi Press Agency reports.   Continue reading “Joint Gulf military command to control 100,000 combat troops”

US army soldiers stand guard as a US army aircraft remains on the runway awaiting the arrival of American nationals who are being evacuated due to recent unrest and violence in South Sudan, on December 21, 2013, in JubaYahoo News

Washington (AFP) – President Barack Obama warned South Sudan on Saturday that Washington and its allies would cut aid to the country over any attempted military coup, amid growing fears of civil war.

And top US diplomat John Kerry called South Sudanese President Salva Kiir to stress that the renewed violence endangers the independence of the young nation born in July 2011 with backing from the United States, breaking away from Sudan after a five-decade struggle.   Continue reading “Obama warns S. Sudan against military coup”

As different pyramids were built, the Egyptians learnt from the construction mistakes made on previous versions to build stronger versions later on. The true pyramids, so called because they were exact pyramid shapes, would have been the culmination of trial and error, according to engineer Peter JamesDaily Mail –  by VICTORIA WOOLLASTON

For centuries it’s been thought that the ancient Egyptians built their huge pyramids by hauling heavy granite blocks up specially crafted ramps.

Yet Newport engineer Peter James has branded this ‘impossible’, claiming the ramps would need to have been a quarter of a mile long or else they would have been too steep to carry the large blocks up.   Continue reading “Were the pyramids built INSIDE OUT?”

Cartoon animals warrantlessly search a family's belongings. (Source: YouTube)Police State USA

In an effort to condition children to accept the police state, the TSA has released a cartoon depicting an animated family enduring a warrantless federal checkpoint at an airport.

The video casts the the travelers and government agents as cute doggie characters that show how fun it can be to go through a checkpoint.   Continue reading “TSA releases cartoon animation to introduce kids to warrantless checkpoints”

utahinternal.jpgFox News

A federal judge struck down Utah’s same-sex marriage ban Friday in a decision that brings an increasing nationwide shift toward allowing gay marriage to a conservative state where the Mormon church has long been against it.

U.S. District Judge Robert J. Shelby issued a 53-page ruling saying Utah’s law passed by voters in 2004 violates gay and lesbian couples’ rights to due process and equal protection under the 14th Amendment.   Continue reading “Judge strikes down Utah’s same-sex marriage ban as unconstitutional”