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”

Gov Slaves.Info

(Erin McClam) JPMorgan Chase, the largest bank in the United States, told customers Saturday that they would be limited to $100 in cash withdrawals and $300 in total purchases per day if they used Chase debit cards at Target during a recent security breach.

The limit applies to about 2 million customer accounts, Kristin Lemkau, a Chase spokeswoman, told NBC News. That represents less than 10 percent of Chase customers, she said. The limit does not apply to Chase credit cards.   Continue reading “JP Morgan Chase Limiting Cash Withdrawal To $100 A Day”

Medicare Advantage planAmac – by Andrew Mangione

As if ObamaCare’s botched website, coverage cancellations, and higher costs were not bad enough, the Obama Administration has quietly dealt yet another blow – this time striking millions of the nation’s most vulnerable seniors.  Specifically, the Obama Administration has decided to deeply cut funding for the Medicare program’s home health benefit as a way to help pay for ObamaCare.

The Administration made this announcement very quietly, waiting to do so until the very end of the last Friday before Thanksgiving, perhaps thinking that most people would not be looking.   Continue reading “ObamaCare’s New Year’s Day Surprise: Deep Cuts to Medicare”

The Article V Convention ScamThe John Birch Society – by Larry Greenley

Article V convention advocates deceptively state that such a convention would be “limited.”

Col: MASON 2ded & followed Mr. Randolph in [criticizing] the dangerous power and structure of the Government, concluding that it would end either in monarchy, or a tyrannical aristocracy; which, he was in doubt, but one or other, he was sure. (Excerpt from Sept. 15 session, James Madison’s Notes on the Constitutional Convention of 1787)   Continue reading “The Article V Convention Scam”

TPP Repeats Lies, Deception, Denials of NAFTA, CAFTA, WTO (Video)The New American – by William F. Jasper

Every year we know that Lucy will entice Charlie Brown to try to kick the football. We know it is her plan to pull it away at the last second. But every time, year after year, we know that Charlie Brown will fall for the same old trick. He will resist at first, reminding her that he doesn’t trust her, that he knows she will pull it away. But she eventually gets him to trust her, with the same inevitable results. We shake our heads and say, “Charlie Brown, you’re so gullible.”   Continue reading “TPP Repeats Lies, Deception, Denials of NAFTA, CAFTA, WTO”

Chinese naval soldiers are pictured manning their stations on China's first aircraft carrier Liaoning, as it travels towards a military base in Sanya, Hainan province, in this undated picture made available on November 30, 2013. (Reuters / Stringer)RT News

Following Washington’s move to increase its military footprint in Asia, China has declared it is building a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier of a size to compete with the mightiest in the US naval fleet.

Chinese website qianzhan.com, citing top sources in the People’s Liberation Army, said China’s first domestically produced aircraft carrier should be launched by 2020.    Continue reading “China planning 110,000-ton ‘super aircraft carrier’ to rival US naval power”

Canada Free Press – by David C. Jennings

The battle for freedom rages on was an opening line in the trailer for Return of the Jedi in 1983. Now the call from the wilderness is return of the Girl Guide and their pledge to God. Select British Girl Guide groups continue to defy the national organization by refusing to change the part of their pledge that says “to love my God”, and replacing it with “be true to myself and develop my beliefs.”

According to the Christian Institute the 37th Newcastle Guide Unit, who wants to give girls the choice of using either the traditional promise or the new version, has been told their membership will end at the end of this year if the choice is not withdrawn. This will affect all age groups – about one hundred girls.   Continue reading “Return of the Girl Guide and their pledge to God!”

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”

AP PROVIDES ACCESS TO THIS PUBLICLY DISTRIBUTED HANDOUT PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE MASSACHUSETTS STATE POLICENew York Daily News

HATFIELD, Mass. — Massachusetts state police say they’ve stopped a car carrying 1,250 packets of heroin stamped “Obamacare” and “Kurt Cobain” and arrested the four people inside it.

Police say a trooper was making a traffic stop in Northampton when another car passed and he noticed several violations.   Continue reading “Mass. drug bust nets 1,250 bags of heroin labeled ‘Obamacare’”

classroomThink Progress – b y Scott Keyes

As if their lives hadn’t been thrown into enough turmoil when their house was foreclosed on and their family became homeless, two Pennsylvania students learned last Monday that they were no longer welcome at the school they had attended their entire lives because the campground they were living in was located just outside of town.

The two students, one eighth-grader and one twelfth-grader whose names are withheld because they are minors, have lived in a camper with their parents in eastern Pennsylvania since losing their home to foreclosure in 2011. The campground where they were able to find refuge is located just outside the school district’s boundaries.   Continue reading “Pennsylvania School Tries To Kick Out Two Students After Their Families Became Homeless”