One can only wonder if this was the outcome Snowden wanted all along.
The United States’ ambassador to France Charles H. Rivkin has been summoned by the French foreign minister following claims made by the Le Monde newspaper group Monday that the National Security Agency spied on millions of French citizens.
Le Monde made the allegations it said based on documents it secured from the former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told reporters at a European Union foreign ministers meeting that the ambassador has been asked to go to the foreign ministry in Paris “immediately” to explain the allegations.
According to the report, over a 30-day period between December last year and January 2013 the NSA’s top-secret “US-985D” program intercepted data on over 70 million phone calls made in France.
“When a telephone number is used in France, it activates a signal which automatically triggers the recording of the call. Apparently this surveillance system also picks up SMS messages and their content using key words,” the French newspaper reported, explaining how the NSA collects the information.
Le Monde said that when it presented its evidence to authorities in the U.S. no comment was offered.
France’s Interior Minister Manuel Vallas was said to have described the revelations as “shocking.”
On Sunday, a report by the German news magazine Der Spiegel, also based on documents leaked by Snowden, said that the U.S. had infiltrated the e-mail system of former Mexican President Felipe Calderon. The Mexican government vowed to send what the Associated Press called a “diplomatic note” to the Washington as a result.
After the spending deal last week that reopened the federal government through early 2014, Republicans tried to ease concerns Sunday about the possibility of another shutdown in just a few months.
Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the chamber’s top Republican who helped broker the agreement, said that although he disliked the new health care law — the sticking point in the latest impasse — there was no use in Republicans’ trying to roll it back while Democrats control the Senate and the presidency.
“There will not be another government shutdown,” he said on the CBS program “Face the Nation.” “You can count on that.”
But Senator Ted Cruz, the Texas Republican who was criticized by many in his own party for prolonging the gridlock, called last week’s budget agreement “terrible” and did not rule out another shutdown.
“I would do anything, and I will continue to do anything I can to stop the train wreck that is Obamacare,” he said on ABC’s “This Week.”
Republicans backed away from their push to defund President Obama’s health care law on Wednesday, agreeing to a deal to reopen and finance the government through Jan. 15 and allow the government to continue borrowing money through Feb. 7.
Fannie Mae has been looking for John Kuzmanich, but John is no where to be found. The mortgage lender even sent processors to his know locations 19 different times, but still, no luck.
It’s as if Kuzmanich fell off the face of the Earth!
John should practice what he preaches.
The founder and chairman of the Oregon Tea Party is often seen on television and radio shows, bemoaning the government for not living within its means.
Six days into the Government Shutdown, John made an appearance on KATU Channel 2’s Your Voice, Your Vote on Oct. 6 and expressed support for the Tea Party/Republican shutdown.
“We are just good and decent principled Americans who believe in the Constitution and a fiscally responsible government,” Kuzmanich said.
That statement was made 3 years into his apparent decision that fiscal responsibility doesn’t apply to him.
Back in 2009, Kuzmanich made the decision to run for Congress representing Oregon’s 1st Congressional District. He finished third out of four in the Republican primary, getting 28% of the vote. On his website, Kuzmanich said, “We need to decrease the size of government and make it live within its means just like we do.”
Maybe his lack of mortgage payment to the federal agency that loaned him $361,000 for a duplex on Southwest 150th Avenue in Beaverton, is Kuzmanich’s way to “decrease the size of government,” or maybe he is just another teabagging hypocrite. Whatever he is, John is on the run, and Fannie Mae has been unsuccessful in locating him.
After visiting his last known address back in June to serve the papers, the server wrote in an affidavit that there was “no answer at the door, no noise inside and no movement inside. No vehicles.”
On August 12, Fannie Mae’s lawyer Michael Thornicroft said, “After exercising due diligence, Plaintiff has been unable to serve defendants John Kuzmanich and Occupants of the premises, but believes they reside in Washington County.”
John Kuzmanich – a teabagging hypocrite who believes in fiscal responsibility Republican style. It’s kinda like shutting down the government for 16 days resulting in a $25 billion dollar loss to the American economy, to prove absolutely nothing.
This is not an Onion story, this is for real! Former Vice President Dick Cheney says he once feared that terrorists could use the electrical device that had been implanted near his heart to kill him and had his doctor disable its wireless function.
Cheney has a history of heart trouble, suffering the first of five heart attacks at age 37. He underwent a heart transplant last year at age 71.
In an interview with CBS’ ”60 Minutes,” Cheney says doctors replaced an implanted defibrillator near his heart in 2007. The device can detect irregular heartbeats and control them with electrical jolts.
Cheney says that he and his doctor, cardiologist Jonathan Reiner, turned off the device’s wireless function in case a terrorist tried to send his heart a fatal shock.
Jay Z’s most mentioned brand is Mercedes Benz, though he also holds a candle for Lexuses, Maybachs, BMWs, Bentleys, Range Rovers, and Porsches (in that order). In terms of designer labels, his change in taste over the years is apparent: His love of Gucci remains restrained but consistent, he was forced to take a hiatus from Versace during its shaky early-aught designs, and his new favorite designer—mentioned for the first time, nine times on his latest album—is Tom Ford. Also, in case you are one of the many people who enjoy Jay Z’s music but are unfamiliar with the 9-mm handgun market, Glock and Kel-Tec are gun brands.
Most obvious is Jay Z’s love-hate relationship with luxury champagne brand Cristal. The beverage is practically worshipped in most of his songs up until Cristal’s infamous snub to the hip-hop community in 2006. From then on the rapper name-dropped the bubbly only to remind us it’s “racist.”
But enough from us—take a look for yourself. Below, the luxury-filled life of Jay Z, charted.
Politico Reports: Republican donors were horrified in November after pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into campaigns for president and Congress with nothing to show for it. A year later they’re appalled by how little has changed, angered by the behavior of Republican lawmakers during a string of legislative battles this year capped by the shutdown, and searching for answers.
In conversation after conversation, donors express growing frustration with the party and the constellation of outside groups they’ve been bankrolling. After getting squeezed last year by an array of campaign committees, party committees and disparate super PACs, many of them are still sitting on their checkbooks — a worrisome sign for the party with the 2014 midterm elections fast approaching.
Some donors are looking to take matters into their own hands.
New York City GOP mega-bundler Paul Singer has held a series of informal, and a few very formal, discussions in recent months with other extremely wealthy donors about how best to spend their cash in 2014, including debating the idea of forming a new entity to play a serious role in the midterm races. Its focus would be on improving the quality of Republican candidates in the hopes of avoiding more Todd Akin-like candidates who blow eminently winnable races.
“He wants to win,” one donor who attended a session said of Singer. The donor stressed that the hedge fund billionaire’s meetings, like other informal gatherings among the monied class this year, were taking place well prior to the government shutdown.
Still, some donors think the reluctance about giving among their ranks may have reached an inflection point over the way a number of Republicans in Washington acquitted themselves the past few weeks.
Donors and business leaders, whose words used to carry great weight with candidates ever worried that the money spigot might be turned off, now face a new reality. It’s a Frankenstein syndrome of sorts, in which the candidates they’ve helped fund, directly or indirectly, don’t fear them, and don’t think they need them.
Many business leaders are exasperated by their diminished influence among congressional Republicans since the 2012 election, and by the rising clout of groups like the Senate Conservative Fund, which have run ads against incumbent Republican senators for not taking enough of a hard line on the shutdown.
Where there is agreement — as is the case with donors who believe the Republican National Committee should be shored up — there is also dissatisfaction with the slow pace of progress.
At issue is not just the shutdown, but legislative battles earlier this year, such as the stymied attempt at immigration reform. Several Republican donors said watching that effort run into headwinds among conservative House members, combined with the tortured standoff over the government shutdown and potential debt default, had left a sour taste in their mouths.
“Come to the flashing lights Avonte.” ~ Vanessa Fontaine, Avonte’s mother
Fourteen year old Avonte Oquendo, a severely autistic teen from New York City, has been missing for two weeks. He doesn’t speak and has trouble performing many basic tasks on his own according to his mother, Vanessa Fontaine’
He was last seen on school video cameras at the Center Boulevard School in the Long Island City section of Queens by a school safety agent on duty at the front door. The videotape shows Avonte walking down the hall, and exiting the school through a side door.
Avonte has an affinity for trains so subway tunnels to train yards are being scoured by police and volunteer search teams.
A van from Citywide Disaster Services, using a recording of Avonte’s mother’s voice, tours the Queens neighborhood near where Avonte disappeared.
Police have also elicited the help infra-red cameras that detect heat signatures of live bodies, multi language missing posters and even psychics to locate the teenager. A $70, 000 award is being offered for Avonte’s safe return to his family, who are frantic.
Recently the teen’s family has indicated that they may file a lawsuit against the city, angered over the fact that Avonte, who needs constant supervision, was able to just walk out of the school without an aide. The school waited an hour before notifying police and his parents that he was missing according to interviews.
New York’s police commissioner James Kelly, however, says the school safety officer, who was the last person to see the boy did nothing wrong.
“We have spoken to the school safety agent who was on duty at the front door. We looked at the video tape. She directs the young man to go back upstairs [when] he’s just at the front door. He goes down the hall and actually exits the building from a side door. You see nothing after this juncture that shows the conduct of the school safety agent was inappropriate or there was any misconduct involved.” says Kelly.
Really. Ms. Fontaine’s attorney, David Perecman, questioned why a side door would even be unlocked and unguarded in a school with autistic students. He also questioned whether it was sufficient for the guard to simply tell Avonte to return to his class, or should he have followed to make certain he did. Or at least contact someone else to have done so.
“They dropped the ball; there’s no other way to put it,” Daniel Oquendo Sr., Avonte’s father, told the New York Daily News. “He was seen, but nobody did anything!”
One thing’s for sure, either Avonte’s family has some pull, or — and not to devalue in any way the importance of the safe return of that boy to his mother — the commissioner is envisioning the possible repercussions of a lawsuit. Many in black neighborhoods have repeatedly complained that less effort and media attention are given to missing black children, than white ones. There have also been calls for more and better security to be provided in city schools. In response, The New York City Police Department is pulling out all the stops to find Avonte. Mr. Kelly said Wednesday;
“We’re using a significant amount of resources to look for this young man,”
And the police department has devoted a significant number of officers to the search and has deployed water and air search teams to aid in the effort.
A psychic’s tip sent police to search a tunnel in the East Village section of Manhattan, but there was no sign of Avonte.
The family told CBS New York that they believe Avonte is alive. I hope so.
Avonte was last seen wearing a gray striped shirt, black jeans and black sneakers, police said. He is 5 foot 3 inches tall and weighs 125 pounds.
Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS. You can also submit tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at www.nypdcrimestoppers.com.
Cue the predictable Tea Party reactions of “What’s the big deal?” “Kids will be kids” “lower the drinkin’ age” “FREEEEEEDOM!!!!” in 3… 2… 1…
Kentucky authorities say they have cited U.S. Sen. Rand Paul’s 20-year-old son on alcohol possession by a minor at a Kentucky racetrack.
Kentucky Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control spokesman Dick Brown says agents cited William Hilton Paul on Friday during a “targeted enforcement detail” at Keeneland in Lexington. Brown told the Lexington Herald-Leader that William Paul can pay a $25 fine and court costs in advance or appear in court Nov. 15 to answer the citation. Paul is a full-time student at the University of Kentucky,
William Paul also faced alcohol-related charges in North Carolina this year, but they were dismissed in a deferred prosecution program.
Rand Paul spokeswoman Moira Bagley had no comment on the latest citation.
Law enforcement officials are investigating a threat against Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who was vaulted into national prominence with his push to defund ObamaCare.
A person identifying himself as Troy Gilmore Jr., posted on Twitter Friday morning: “Take down Ted Cruz, at his home” and listed Cruz’s home address in Houston.
“What goes around comes around CRUZ!!” the person wrote.
The author of the threat uses the Twitter handle @ArmyVet54 and identifies himself as having served in the U.S. Army and Navy.
Sean Rushton, Cruz’s spokesman, said, “We’re aware of it and have alerted the proper authorities.”
“I can’t comment further on security matters,” he said.
At about 5:30 pm on Friday, @ArmyVet54 posted another apparent threat, urging that Cruz “needs tobe [sic] taught a street wise [sic] lesson”.
The person posted Cruz’s home address several other times this month and repeatedly used threatening language.
The apparent threats are not directed at any audience in particular because @ArmyVet54 does not have any Twitter followers. But a search of Cruz’s name on Twitter can find them.
The Capitol Police takes all threats to members of Congress seriously.
“We are looking into that matter,” said Officer Shennell Antrobus, a spokesman for the Capitol Police.
Representative C. W. Bill Young, Florida’s longest-serving member of Congress and a Republican hawk on military spending during his 43 years in Washington, died Friday in Bethesda, Md. He was 82.
His chief of staff, Harry Glenn, said Mr. Young died at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where he had been hospitalized with back problems stemming from a 1970 small plane crash.
On Oct. 9, Mr. Young, who represented a district in the Tampa Bay area, announced from his hospital bed that he would not seek another term in 2014.
As one of the strongest military supporters in Congress, Mr. Young made headlines in 2012 when he said that the United States should withdraw its forces from Afghanistan, reflecting a growing weariness with the war.
Mr. Young was considered the elder statesman of Florida’s Republican Party and in the House, where he served 22 terms, beginning in 1970.
A family of a Dallas-area man wants to know why cops showed up and shot 52-year-old Bobby Gerald Bennett, especially after their official description of the incident is proven wrong on a surveillance video.
The police report read that officer Cardan Spencer shot Bennett as he walked towards him with a “knife raised in an aggressive manner.”
But the video shows that Bennett was standing still with both arms at his sides when he was struck in the abdomen by a single bullet. Bennett is currently in intensive care due to the gunshot wound.
The original story, based on the police report, can be read here. The Dallas News articles says that the officers asked Bennett to show his hands, but he allegedly told them “you all are going to need more officers out here.”
Bennett began walking toward officers with the knife raised, police said. One of the officers on the scene fired four times, striking Bennett once.
Police said Bennett’s mother told them he had been off his antipsychotic medications for several months.
Bennett was arrested and faces an aggravated assault to a public servant charge. His bond hasn’t been set.
The surveillance video shows that Bennett clearly did nothing that would merit an aggravated assault charge.
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