Lucianne.com News Forum - HomePage - RSS (http://www.lucianne.com/) http://www.lucianne.com/rssfeed/ Fri, 24 32 2013 10:32:23 GMT Fri, 24 32 2013 10:32:23 GMT Lucianne.com Fri, 24 31 2013 10:31:36 GMT http://www.lucianne.com/thread/?artnum=737109 f4a92b8224c371a791a44a4400413a215016ba78 New Yorker, by Andy Borowitz Posted By: StormCnter- Fri, 24 31 2013 10:31:36 GMT WASHINGTON —In a dramatic departure from existing White House procedures, President Obama requested today that his staff start cc’ing him on stuff. “Look, I know a lot of you think I’m really busy and you don’t want to bother me,” the President reportedly told his staff in an Oval Office meeting. “But cc me anyway. It’s good for me to keep up on what’s going on around here.” “It’s not good when I turn on the news and they’re talking about something at the White House and I’m like, whoa, when did that happen?” Fri, 24 28 2013 10:28:38 GMT http://www.lucianne.com/thread/?artnum=737108 8128f8694982e66f51466c6894628c8d59631672 New York Post, by John Podhoretz Posted By: StormCnter- Fri, 24 28 2013 10:28:38 GMT Amid catcalls from a Leftist heckler too blitheringly stupid to understand her dream was coming true, President Obama yesterday declared his intention to end the War on Terror — not quite 12 years since the 9/11 attacks. In what may have been the most important speech of his presidency, Obama said he would ask Congress to join him in efforts to “refine, and ultimately repeal,” the Authorization to Use Military Force passed three days after 9/11. In other words, he intends to write the War on Terror out of US law. “This war, like all wars, must end,” he said. Fri, 24 20 2013 10:20:40 GMT http://www.lucianne.com/thread/?artnum=737107 3d5b075dc8ea6eb0e93ee53526d434966f2f505c Daily Beast, by Josh Rogin Posted By: Pluperfect- Fri, 24 20 2013 10:20:40 GMT President Obama called today for a renewed effort to close the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. But back in 2009, the White House dropped the ball on closing the controversial military prison by failing to come up with a plan in time, refusing to help House Democrats who were fighting for its closure, and then abandoning the plan altogether and blaming Republicans. In a speech at the National Defense University in Washington, Obama said his Jan. 21, 2009, executive order to close the prison was never implemented because House Republicans placed funding and legislative restrictions on moving Fri, 24 16 2013 10:16:41 GMT http://www.lucianne.com/thread/?artnum=737106 4d3916cada6090372fb13afeff96a63ea4868523 Daily Beast, by Eli Lake Posted By: StormCnter- Fri, 24 16 2013 10:16:41 GMT More than eight months after the 9/11 anniversary attacks on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, the CIA is still trying to find out how the attack that killed two former Navy SEALs at the agency’s annex transpired. The attack on the CIA base came more than seven hours after an armed mob stormed the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, setting the compound ablaze and killing U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens and Sean Smith, a State Department communications officer who was with him. On Wednesday, Deputy CIA Director Mike Morrell—along with CIA officers who were Fri, 24 11 2013 10:11:41 GMT http://www.lucianne.com/thread/?artnum=737105 55d2644f81ed1d02cc0b23a07cc0af912e2f460e The Week, by Peter Weber Posted By: StormCnter- Fri, 24 11 2013 10:11:41 GMT T he CIA Iran rescue operation featured in Argo isn´t the first time the U.S. has used the arts to foil a bitter enemy. This week, PBS premiered a documentary on the U.S. Army´s 23rd Headquarters Special Troops, nicknamed the Ghost Army, a group of 1,100 handpicked soldiers in World War II who played an unlikely, but pivotal, role in the Allied victory over Nazi Germany. If you´ve never heard of the Ghost Army, you´re in good company. The unit was a classified secret until 1996 — it´s still partially classified — and Rick Beyer, the director of The Ghost Army, Fri, 24 11 2013 10:11:34 GMT http://www.lucianne.com/thread/?artnum=737104 46b8dc46d172ecd07c599240d5da52cfa274d17f Breitbart Big Journalism, by Joel B. Pollak Posted By: JoniTx- Fri, 24 11 2013 10:11:34 GMT Fox News chief Roger Ailes´s letter to his employees is a battle cry that will echo beyond the Avenue of the Americas. "The administration’s attempt to intimidate Fox News and its employees will not succeed and their excuses will stand neither the test of law, the test of decency, nor the test of time. We will not allow a climate of press intimidation, unseen since the McCarthy era, to frighten any of us away from the truth," he wrote. Already, Fox News has found some unlikely allies''even in the left media. Salon.com´s Washington, DC correspondent, a frequent critic Fri, 24 03 2013 10:03:18 GMT http://www.lucianne.com/thread/?artnum=737103 475c351c6d0bf5c9c537ab5c6f066020146ea66e PJ Media, by Bob Owens Posted By: StormCnter- Fri, 24 03 2013 10:03:18 GMT The United States is the most heavily armed nation in world history, and it seems we have President Barack Obama to thank for it. Before you ask: we’re not talking about the U.S. military, we’re talking about the firearms owned by the general population. The National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action (NRA'ILA) estimates that there are roughly 300 million firearms in the United States — and of those, nearly 40 million new firearms have been sold just since Barack Obama came into office in 2009. This is a staggering jump of more than 15 percent Fri, 24 57 2013 09:57:53 GMT http://www.lucianne.com/thread/?artnum=737102 81e875889e55f7b0b5b81dbc838cebe79db867d9 Fiscal Times, by Ed Morrissey Posted By: StormCnter- Fri, 24 57 2013 09:57:53 GMT To listen to press secretaries and congressional hearings, one might think that an epidemic had erupted in the nation’s capital – an epidemic of incompetence and absentee leadership. Practically no area of government has immunity from this disease, whether it’s at the White House, the State Department, the IRS and Treasury, or at the Department of Justice. Let’s start with the White House, which may well be the epicenter of the disease. The administration faces at least three major scandals – Benghazi, the Department of Justice’s snooping on reporters for the AP and Fox News, and the IRS targeting Fri, 24 53 2013 09:53:12 GMT http://www.lucianne.com/thread/?artnum=737101 bd8ab814d47d7c8c463bade74ccc3add79198ea9 Politico, by Josh Gerstein Posted By: StormCnter- Fri, 24 53 2013 09:53:12 GMT Until this week, the recent debate over leaks largely fit a familiar frame: Republicans and national security hard'liners faulted President Barack Obama’s administration for dishing out self'serving national security secrets to news outlets that many conservatives view as liberal. But now, conservatives have a journalistic hero to call their own: Fox News reporter James Rosen may have reported sensitive information about North Korean nuclear tests — but what’s certain is he had his email searched and his phone calls and personal movements tracked in connection with that reporting by the government to find out who gave him the information. Rosen’s network Fri, 24 50 2013 09:50:26 GMT http://www.lucianne.com/thread/?artnum=737100 a003dbba1477463f5f3801d3ed87519b6b669a72 ABC News, by Genevieve Shaw Brown Posted By: Pluperfect- Fri, 24 50 2013 09:50:26 GMT American tourists dining on a glacier in eastern Iceland found themselves floating away from shore on an iceberg earlier this week, an Icelandic newspaper reported. Four people were rescued from Fjallsárlón glacial lagoon. They had set up a table and chairs with plans for dinner when a gust of wind pushed the ice from the land. They were stranded about 30 feet from shore. One of the diners managed to jump to shore before the ice drifted too far and call for help. The tourists have not been identified, but a photo captured three of the diners Fri, 24 45 2013 09:45:32 GMT http://www.lucianne.com/thread/?artnum=737099 d1f8c9385412b0f6e598615e0299bb484f006b53 Associated Press, by Manuel Valdez & Mike Baker Posted By: Pluperfect- Fri, 24 45 2013 09:45:32 GMT MOUNT VERNON, Wash. '' Dan Sligh and his wife were in their pickup truck on Interstate 5 heading to a camping trip when a bridge before them disappeared in a "big puff of dust." "I hit the brakes and we went off," Sligh told reporters from a hospital, adding he "saw the water approaching ... you hold on as tight as you can." Slight, his wife and another man in a different vehicle were dumped into the chilly waters of the Skagit River when the span collapsed Thursday evening.They were injured, but miraculously, authorities said it appeared nobody was killed Fri, 24 17 2013 06:17:28 GMT http://www.lucianne.com/thread/?artnum=737098 8c7ef60c556ed7950c0af51184c3c94d0e97719e Telegraph [UK], by Alan Johnson Posted By: Attercliffe- Fri, 24 17 2013 06:17:28 GMT If I had slept through yesterday, woken up this morning, and gone online, I might have thought the EDL beheaded someone. There is a lot of displacement on Twitter and FB, as if it´s all too politically difficult and socially awkward to talk about the killers´ ideology, or the place of religion in that ideology. So we talk instead about the EDL, or John Reid, or drones, or "the religion of peace" or say "Christians kill too" or "what about Anders Breivik", or, well, anything but the brute fact that the murderers, like so very many before them, shouted "Allahu Fri, 24 02 2013 06:02:41 GMT http://www.lucianne.com/thread/?artnum=737097 c9a4106f0670f5b4625e30d91559732758e75673 Telegraph [UK], by Tim Wigmore Posted By: Attercliffe- Fri, 24 02 2013 06:02:41 GMT Republican senator Ted Cruz thinks he knows how to prevent Texas being swamped by demographics. The Senate amendment he is proposing on immigration reform would deny all illegal immigrants access to benefits and a pass to citizenship. The context for Cruz´s intervention is what Greg Abbott, the Republican Attorney General for Texas, last month described as "an assault far more dangerous than what the leader of North Korea threatened when he said he was going to add Austin, Texas, as one of the recipients of his nuclear weapons". That´s the threat of Texas "turning blue" (Democrat) and taking its 38 Fri, 24 53 2013 05:53:41 GMT http://www.lucianne.com/thread/?artnum=737096 2531dff461edcd4035f228ce4acceceb5ae23ea1 KHOU Houston, by KHOU.com staff Posted By: jacooley- Fri, 24 53 2013 05:53:41 GMT HOUSTON '' The man accused of hitting and killing a Harris County sheriff’s deputy while driving drunk was in the country illegally, a judge said in court overnight. Andres Munos'Munos, 23, was charged with intoxication manslaughter in the death of Sgt. Dwayne Polk. Fri, 24 23 2013 04:23:10 GMT http://www.lucianne.com/thread/?artnum=737095 156f10ce6cf11ec725178e4c3c5faf3e25861366 Power Line, by Paul Mirengoff Posted By: Dreadnought- Fri, 24 23 2013 04:23:10 GMT President Obama delivered an address today at the National Defense University called “The Future of our Fight Against Terrorism.” Actually, part of the speech was about the past, including much self'congratulation and some shots at President Bush. This part of the speech is revisionist rubbish. As Max Boot explains: Obama said, for example, that after he came into office, “we unequivocally banned torture, affirmed our commitment to civilian courts, worked to align our policies with the rule of law, and expanded our consultations with Congress.” Umm, actually all of that happened in Bush’s second term. Fri, 24 19 2013 04:19:52 GMT http://www.lucianne.com/thread/?artnum=737094 be9eec84888f613dc3aa0ad28eef25361357483f National Review Online, by Bing West Posted By: Dreadnought- Fri, 24 19 2013 04:19:52 GMT In seventy lugubrious paragraphs, President Obama today asked America whether as commander'in'chief he should bomb terrorists. He concluded that sometimes he should, and sometimes he shouldn’t. He couldn’t quite make up his mind. Therefore, he would appoint a panel to advise him. Mr. Obama has already authorized more than 200 such drone bombings. His staff has bragged that before ordering a bombing, he personally reviews who lives and who dies. Imagine if Prime Minister Churchill or President Truman had appeared on television to announce an advisory panel before bombing our enemy. We would be appalled Fri, 24 15 2013 04:15:58 GMT http://www.lucianne.com/thread/?artnum=737092 2d56997561ca39739f89ff9d5ffbe632c17f2ae8 Seattle Times, by Brian Rosenthal Posted By: maggie2u- Fri, 24 15 2013 04:15:58 GMT An Interstate 5 bridge collapsed into the Skagit River on Thursday evening, according to the Washington State Patrol. Trooper Mark Francis wrote on Twitter that people and cars were in the river north of Mount Vernon. Both the northbound and southbound lanes were in the water, he wrote. Francis told the Associated Press he did not know how many people were in the water or whether there were any injuries or what caused the collapse. Fri, 24 15 2013 04:15:26 GMT http://www.lucianne.com/thread/?artnum=737091 2a3955c911a1101f1bf5d0c1c8d9746d5856426b KOMO-TV [Seattle, WA], by Staff Posted By: Dreadnought- Fri, 24 15 2013 04:15:26 GMT MOUNT VERNON, Wash. '' The Interstate 5 bridge over the Skagit River collapsed Thursday evening, injuring an unknown number of people. Both the northbound and southbound portions of the bridge dropped into the river sometime before 7 p.m., according to Washington State Patrol trooper Mark Francis. Francis said several cars were on the bridge when it collapsed, and some are now in the water. Bart Treece with the Washington State Department of Transportation was unsure when the bridge was last inspected. "All of our bridges in the area are pretty old," he said. Fri, 24 00 2013 04:00:19 GMT http://www.lucianne.com/thread/?artnum=737090 21c5fbd1512ac9ec1351f7a3d40cb1c22fe16513 Washington Post, by Erik Wemple Posted By: Dreadnought- Fri, 24 00 2013 04:00:19 GMT Fox News chief Roger Ailes has sent a memo to his subordinates at the leading cable news network. He sent this memo to his staff today in connection with the federal investigation into an alleged leak to Fox News reporter James Rosen, a story that the Washington Post’s Ann E. Marimow broke earlier this week. The memo’s a masterpiece, too. For all those who wonder what it is about Ailes that endears his people to him — and that makes him such a good interviewee for any media reporter lucky enough to get an audience Fri, 24 52 2013 03:52:02 GMT http://www.lucianne.com/thread/?artnum=737089 6c2cd80be694813c78b9ca34dc33d250efe4672a Houston Chronicle, by Nicole Narea Posted By: Dreadnought- Fri, 24 52 2013 03:52:02 GMT Anthony Weiner’s New York mayoral candidacy was only made more improbable today after he revealed that he visited a Houston psychiatric facility following his resignation from Congress in 2011. Haunted by scandal surrounding his sexually explicit online communications with women, the Democratic former congressman sought treatment for his compulsive behavior from mental health professionals at the Gabbard Center. According to its website, the facility provides “3'day outpatient psychiatric evaluation,” particularly to “professionals who are in personal or professional crises.” While Weiner did not disclose Fri, 24 44 2013 03:44:05 GMT http://www.lucianne.com/thread/?artnum=737088 58e9105d11a169a1818bb838619e140658a31353 Washington Times, by Peter Carvill and Ruby Russell Posted By: Dreadnought- Fri, 24 44 2013 03:44:05 GMT LONDON — British police late Thursday arrested a man and a woman in connection with the butchering of a British soldier on a London street, as anti'Muslim protests sprang up across the country. The arrests fueled speculation that the gruesome knife attack Wednesday — the first successful terrorist act in Britain since 2005 — was part of a wider plot, and prompted questions about the prevalence of Islamic extremism in the country and how to combat it. British officials moved quickly to increase security in London and other major cities Thursday as police raided Fri, 24 41 2013 03:41:36 GMT http://www.lucianne.com/thread/?artnum=737087 acc9bdddbf15a8bc7ab85fe0214fddbed945a5cb Washington Times, by Tom Howell Jr. Posted By: Dreadnought- Fri, 24 41 2013 03:41:36 GMT Three days of hearings have shown that IRS scrutiny of conservative organizations extended beyond a few rogue employees in Cincinnati, that the agency staged its announcement of the bad news to try to limit the damage, and that the White House knew more, and knew it earlier, than it first admitted. Republicans argue that they also uncovered evidence that the auditor’s report could have been completed months ago — even before the November elections. They also said an internal IRS investigation confirmed the untoward behavior as early as July 2012. Fri, 24 35 2013 03:35:25 GMT http://www.lucianne.com/thread/?artnum=737086 14ddc062424228a8492ca66c4c7ea067420b0bf2 New York Times, by Jennifer Preston Posted By: LittleHoodedMonk- Fri, 24 35 2013 03:35:25 GMT The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued its 2013 Atlantic hurricane outlook on Thursday, with a warning that the United States could be hit by up to six major hurricanes this year. The seasonal average is three. Oceanic and atmospheric conditions in the Atlantic basin are expected to create stronger and more hurricanes, setting the stage for an “above normal and extremely active” season, said Gerry Bell, lead seasonal hurricane forecaster for NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center, who explained the underlying reasons in a NOAA video. Fri, 24 21 2013 03:21:53 GMT http://www.lucianne.com/thread/?artnum=737085 9dde835426a82a4e72c8f14b928acaed5f4e5149 Los Angeles Times, by David G. Savage Posted By: LittleHoodedMonk- Fri, 24 21 2013 03:21:53 GMT Washington - President Obama said Thursday he was troubled by the possibility that leak investigations may "chill" investigative journalism and said he had asked Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. to review Justice Department guidelines for going after reporters or their records. "Journalists should not be at legal risk for doing their jobs. Our focus must be on those who break the law," Obama said, referring to those who leak secret information. The statement seemed to mark a departure for the president, who has been particularly determined to investigate those in his administration who leak national Fri, 24 18 2013 03:18:32 GMT http://www.lucianne.com/thread/?artnum=737084 30183e919ebf1137090c37353d8308821d115cc8 Washington Post, by Michael Gerson Posted By: Dreadnought- Fri, 24 18 2013 03:18:32 GMT Let us stipulate that now might not be the best time — with IRS officials exposed for abusing power, caught in self'serving deceptions, invoking their constitutional right against self'incrimination — to dramatically expand the authority and size of their agency. But this is what Obamacare requires. Thousands of new IRS agents will implement 40'odd provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act — the exact number is a matter of dispute since the law itself is so confusing. The largest tax law and social policy change in a generation will be imposed