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Documentary: Time to Scuttle IRS

October 14, 2014 By Editor Leave a Comment

irs.buildingCraig Bergham hopes his new documentary will provide a powerful platform to urge fellow Americans to join the growing movement to abolish the IRS. “Unfair: Exposing the IRS,” which he wrote and produced, delves deep into the alleged abuses of power and cover-ups  at the Internal Revenue Service, including its apparent targeting of conservative groups.

“The national conversation needs to be the start of an abolitionist movement. The IRS is over the line and has got to go,” the nationally-syndicated radio host told FOX411. “We have to take this into a political movement where the tax policy becomes one of the main issues. It has to be black and white. You are either for an income tax system or you are not.”

Gov. Mike Huckabee, who is featured in the documentary, echoed such Bergham’s sentiments – stating that the IRS has become a “criminal enterprise that shakes down innocent people, harasses them out-of-business and does so without accountability.”

Glenn Beck, Ted Cruz, Michele Bachmann, David Barton and Grover Norquist are just some of the prominent figures featured in the film.

image.axdBergman insisted that the IRS is still targeting right-leaning groups, even though there was a lot of backlash last year when certain IRS practices were made public. Lois Lerner, who has since stepped down as IRS Director, made headlines and was held in contempt of congress earlier this year in association with the scandal. But ultimately, Bergman doesn’t think she or any other employee will have the book thrown at them.

“I believe none of them will go to jail,” he predicted. “They are going to get away with it. The IRS never allowed a case to go to the Supreme Court. They have the resources to push back, but they know what they do is unconstitutional.”

The film features several members of Tea Party groups and others who claim to have been targeted by IRS officials, but Bergman told us that getting people to talk on camera about their experiences proved to be a challenge.

irs_bullies“We met hundreds of people and made hundreds of phone calls. I was calling good Americans and yet they were so paranoid about their government having been targeted that they didn’t want to talk about it,” he continued.

“Unfair,” the first theatrical documentary to expose the negative impact the IRS has supposedly had on our liberties, businesses, religious, charitable and civic organizations, seeks to make both a moral and economic case for ending the service. In doing so, it brings to light numerous stories of betrayal seemingly enacted by the government faction.

Perhaps in perfect timing, 2014 also marks the 100th anniversary of United States citizens paying income tax.

“The idea of progressive tax on what people earn not what they spend – income tax – came out of the 1850s with Karl Marx and the communist manifesto. The way to destroy and to enslave the free people is go down this route and have class division and take money from people before they even see it,” Bergman added. “The IRS is out-of-control and people should care.”
The IRS could not immediately be reached for comment.

“Unfair: Exposing the IRS” opens in theaters nationally on Oct. 14.

By Hollie McKay

 

Filed Under: All Stories, Economy, Elections, Entitlement, Ethics, Foreign, Gender, Religion, Sci-Tech

EBOLA TOLL SOARING: Warning That Virus Cases Could Top 10,000 a Week

October 14, 2014 By Editor Leave a Comment

ebolaThe number of cases in the Ebola outbreak has risen to nearly 9,000, with the number of dead climbing to nearly 4,500, as the World Health Organization (WHO) warned Tuesday that there could be up to 10,000 new cases a week in two months.

For the last four weeks, there’s been about 1,000 new cases per week – including suspected, confirmed and probable cases, WHO assistant director-general Dr. Bruce Aylward said, adding that the U.N. health agency is aiming to get 70 percent of cases isolated within two months to reverse the outbreak.

WHO increased its Ebola death toll tally to 4,447 people on Tuesday, nearly all of them in West Africa, from 8,914 cases. The death rate has risen to 70 percent— previously the WHO estimated the death rate at around 50 percent.

Aylward said the 70 percent death rate was “a high mortality disease” in any circumstance and that the U.N. health agency was still focused on trying to get sick people isolated and provide treatment as early as possible.

Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia have been hardest hit nations in the current outbreak. Aylward said WHO was very concerned about the continued spread of Ebola in the three countries’ capital cities -Freetown, Conakry and Monrovia.

He said the agency was still focused on trying to treat Ebola patients, despite the huge demands on the broken health systems in West Africa.

“It would be horrifically unethical to say that we’re just going to isolate people,” he said, noting that new strategies like handing out protective equipment to families and setting up very basic clinics – without much treatment – was a priority.

In Berlin, a U.N. medical worker infected with Ebola in Liberia died despite “intensive medical procedures.” The St. Georg hospital in Leipzig said Tuesday that the 56-year-old man, whose name has not been released, died overnight of the infection.

The man tested positive for Ebola on Oct. 6, prompting Liberia’s U.N. peacekeeping mission to place 41 other staff members under “close medical observation.”

He arrived in Leipzig for treatment on Oct. 9. The hospital’s chief executive, Dr. Iris Minde, said at the time there was no risk of infection for other people, since he was kept in a secure isolation ward specially equipped with negative pressure rooms that are hermetically sealed.

He was the third Ebola patient to be flown to Germany for treatment. The first man recovered and returned home to Senegal. A Uganda aid worker is still being treated in Frankfurt.

FoxNews.com / The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Filed Under: All Stories, Economy, Elections, Entitlement, Ethics, Foreign, Gender, Religion, Sci-Tech

Clay Aiken Trails Rep. Renee Ellmers in Poll

October 13, 2014 By Editor Leave a Comment

aikenU.S. Rep. Renee Ellmers has a lead over challenger Clay Aiken in the race to hold on to her seat in House District2, according to a recent poll.

The flash poll of 400 registered voters conducted by the conservative-leaning Civitas Institute over the weekend shows Ellmers leading with 47 percent to 39 percent, with a five-point margin of error.

“It’s a comfortable lead,” said Patrick Sebastian, a senior adviser with the Ellmers campaign. He said the 54 percent disapproval rating of President Obama bodes well for Ellmers with undecided voters.

“Renee is not taking this race for granted and is working around the clock to earn the chance to represent the 2nd District in Washington,” he said.

Tucker Middleton, communications director for the Aiken campaign, said the poll shows Ellmers is in trouble.

“When a conservative group like Civitas has you up by eight points,” she said, the margin is likely lower.

“She’s under 50 percent, which never bodes well for an incumbent,” Middleton said. “There’s room for it to narrow.”

The poll is a rare public look into voter sentiment regarding the 2nd District race, which encompasses about 480,000 registered voters including many in Cumberland County.

Despite Ellmers’ lead among those surveyed, the poll showed the candidates with the same favorability rating – at 25 percent. But more voters judged them unfavorably, with Ellmers at 28 percent and Aiken at 35 percent.

Jim Tynen, communications director for the Civitas Institute, said the Ellmers-Aiken contest “is the most high-profile congressional race in the state right now” and fits well into a series of legislative flash polls the institute will be releasing this fall.

North Carolina pollsters and political analysts told The Fayetteville Observer last week that many polling organizations have steered clear of polling on the race because they don’t expect it to be terribly close.

These organizations have for the most part devoted resources to the neck-and-neck U.S. Senate race between Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan and Republican state House Speaker Thom Tillis. Civitas’ flash poll also showed 2nd District voters at a tie in their support of these two candidates, at 44 percent each.

“Every poll is just a snapshot of voter sentiment,” Tynen said.

He noted that sentiment can change and that other polls may show different snapshots.

“We think for practical reasons, this is about the best kind of look you’re going to get right now.”

By Paige Rentz

Filed Under: All Stories, Economy, Elections, Entitlement, Ethics, Foreign, Gender, Religion, Sci-Tech

Wake Up America–Liberalism is a Virus

October 13, 2014 By Editor Leave a Comment

Harry-Reid-obamaWake up, America!

While everyone is up in arms about Ebola, and we must remain vigilant and fight it with all we have, there is another virus that has already taken hold of Americans in every state: liberalism.

Truth, transparency, freedom and liberty.  The flag, “Under God” patriotism have all been tossed out the window.

They are  being replaced by “everybody gets a trophy,” “share the wealth,” “government knows what’s best for your business,” your family and even what should go on in your bedroom.

What the hell is happening?

Be careful, America. Liberalism is a dangerous virus. Here are four signs you might have caught the liberalism virus:

1. If you think it’s OK to call ISIS “the J.V. team” — until Americans are seen being beheaded on video..

2. If you think it’s OK that President Obama promised Ebola wouldn’t arrive here on an airplane from a country where the virus has been virulent. And then it did.

Obama_Communist3. If you think it’s OK that representatives from the Obama White House continue to tell you that our economy is great. Milk prices are at a record high. Gasoline prices have almost doubled. Yet American’s wages, household worth and the percentage of Americans working, those numbers are all still in the Dumpster.

But wait, there’s more…

4. You might have liberalism if you think it’s OK to  pay members of our armed services just 94 cents an hour as combat pay… if…  they fight ISIS in Iraq or Syria.. Let me repeat: Just 94 cents an hour to fight ISIS.

Meanwhile, our country’s government spends hundreds of billions of dollars on things like:
– Obamaphones — that is, the $2 billion program to give low income households free cell phones.

– Windmills to nowhere and the administration’s $100 billion green energy push.

Yet, we send our sons and daughters into combat and we bump their pay up to a measly  94 cents per hour!

So, my fellow Americans, the next time you’re at Starbucks and you buy that Venti Skim Latte, just think, a Marine couldn’t even buy that coffee with the combat pay she earned fighting ISIS for eight hours (do the math: 94 cents x 8 hours = $7.52. After taxes where does that leave you?).

What the hell is happening?

Wake up,  America. Liberalism is a virus, too.

Try not to catch it. And if you do, for goodness sake, don’t spread it!!

Eric Bolling currently serves as co-host of Fox News Channel’s “The Five” (weekdays 5-6PM/ET). He also serves as the host of “Cashin’ In” (Saturdays 11:30AM-12PM/ET), an analysis program on FNC’s weekend business block, “The Cost of Freedom.” Bolling joined the network in 2008. Click here for more information on Eric Bolling. 

Filed Under: All Stories, Economy, Elections, Entitlement, Ethics, Foreign, Gender, Religion, Sci-Tech

Health Worker Who Tested Positive for Ebola was Wearing Full Protective Gear

October 12, 2014 By Editor Leave a Comment

ebola_texasA health care worker at a Dallas hospital tested positive for Ebola in a preliminary test, the Texas Department of State Health Services said in a statement early Sunday.

The health care worker at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, who has not been identified, provided care for Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person diagnosed with Ebola in the United States, who died last week.

If the preliminary diagnosis is confirmed, it would be the first known case of the disease being contracted or transmitted in the U.S.

A statement posted on the Texas Department of State Health Service’s website said “confirmatory testing will be conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.”

“The health care worker is a heroic person who provided care to Mr. Duncan,” Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said at a press conference Sunday morning. “We expected it was possible that a second person could contract the virus. Contingency plans were put into place.”

Jenkins said he wanted to stress Ebola cannot be contracted unless one comes into contact with the bodily fluids of an Ebola victim.

“You cannot contract it by walking by people on the streets,” he said. “There is nothing about this case that changes that basic premise of science.”

Dr. Daniel Varga, of the Texas Health Resource, said the worker was in full protective gear when they provided care to Duncan during his second visit to the hospital.

Varga said the family of the worker has “requested total privacy.”

Varga said the health care worker reported a fever Friday night as part of a self-monitoring regimen required by the CDC.

Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said the Dallas Fire Department’s rescue hazmat team has decontaminated any open areas of the health care worker’s apartment complex.

“Police are standing by to make sure no one enters that apartment complex,” he said.

Rawlings said officials have knocked on every door within a block of the apartment and have spoken with every person that came to the door. Reverse 911 calls have been made to residents within four blocks of the apartment complex and printed materials have been left at each door, he said.

A team has decontaminated and secured the vehicle the health care worker drove to the hospital. Rawlings said hazmat units will go into the worker’s apartment and clean up the interior Sunday.

“We had this plan in place last week, so when we got this phone call, which we thought we might get, we put an action team in place,” Rawlings said.

“We knew a second case could be a reality, and we’ve been preparing for this possibility,” said Dr. David Lakey, commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services. “We are broadening our team in Dallas and working with extreme diligence to prevent further spread.”

Health officials have interviewed the patient and are identifying any contacts or potential exposures. They said people who had contact with the health care worker after symptoms emerged will be monitored based on the nature of their interactions and the potential they were exposed to the virus.

Ebola spreads through close contact with a symptomatic person’s bodily fluids, such as blood, sweat, vomit, feces, urine, saliva or semen. Those fluids must have an entry point, like a cut or scrape, or someone touching the nose, mouth or eyes with contaminated hands, or being splashed. The World Health Organization says blood, feces and vomit are the most infectious fluids, while the virus is found in saliva mostly once patients are severely ill. The whole live virus has never been culled from sweat, WHO says.

Duncan, the first person diagnosed with Ebola in the U.S., died Wednesday in Dallas. Duncan, 42, grew up next to a leper colony in Liberia and fled years of war before later returning to his country to find it ravaged by the disease that ultimately took his life.

Duncan arrived in Dallas in late September, realizing a long-held ambition to join relatives. He came to attend the high-school graduation of his son, who was born in a refugee camp in Ivory Coast and was brought to the U.S. as a toddler when the boy’s mother successfully applied for resettlement.

The trip was the culmination of decades of effort, friends and family members said. But when Duncan arrived in Dallas, though he showed no symptoms, he had already been exposed to Ebola. His neighbors in Liberia believe Duncan become infected when he helped a pregnant neighbor who later died from it. It was unclear if he knew about her diagnosis before traveling.

Duncan had arrived at a friend’s Dallas apartment on Sept. 20 — less than a week after helping his sick neighbor. For the nine days before he was taken to a hospital in an ambulance, Duncan shared the apartment with several people.

FoxNews.com / The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Filed Under: All Stories, Economy, Elections, Entitlement, Ethics, Foreign, Gender, Religion, Sci-Tech

Kim’s No-show at Major Event Fuels Speculation About Health, Coup

October 10, 2014 By Editor Leave a Comment

wheres_kimNorth Korea’s mysterious leader Kim Jong-un has not been seen in public for 35 days and was not on a list of dignitaries at a celebration of the anniversary of the founding of the ruling Workers’ Party on Friday, sparking speculation that the head of one of the world’s most secretive countries is ailing or has been removed in a secret coup.

An official state media dispatch listed senior government, military and party officials who paid their respects at an event marking the party’s 69th anniversary, but not Kim. It said a flower basket with Kim’s name on it was placed before statues of his father and grandfather, both of whom also ruled North Korea.

There has been rampant speculation that the leader is ill or is no longer in power. Unidentified sources tell South Korean reporters it may be gout, diabetes, or high blood pressure. A source Friday told Sky News that Kim suffered a pulled tendon during a military drill. There has been no confirmation.

State media earlier said that the might of the party “is growing stronger under the seasoned guidance of Marshal Kim Jong Un.”

While his absence is not in itself all that important or unusual — such anniversaries are generally given more weight when they are landmark years, though he attended the celebrations in the last two years.

Kim, who was last seen in public attending a concert on Sept. 3., had been seen earlier walking with a limp.

During a surprise visit to South Korea last week to attend the closing ceremonies of the Asian Games in Incheon, three senior North Korean leaders assured their South Korean counterparts that Kim was healthy, but that has done little to calm the rumors abroad that he was unwell.

Paul French wrote in a Reuters’ opinion, “to add to the current coup rumors, Hwang Pyong So, recently appointed director of the General Political Bureau of the Korean People’s Army (the top political position in the powerful DPRK military), appeared in Incheon in South Korea sparking more speculation that Kim was gone and a coup had occurred.”

U.S. and South Korean officials told The New York Times that there is no immediate evidence that there has been a coup.

“The last time was when everyone was predicting that Kim Jong-un would be pushed aside by his more experienced uncle, and look what happened to him,” a senior official told the paper.

After surviving several earlier purges, Kim’s uncle, Jang Song Thaek, was publicly shamed and then executed on treason charges in December 2013.

Geoffery Cain wrote in The Global Post that some analysts believe the 31-year-old leader’s younger sister, Kim Yo Jong has been running the country in his absence.

“She is one of the only people in that we know has unfettered direct access to KJU. At the present time I would not be surprised if she is sole gatekeeper,” Michael Madden, who runs the North Korea Leadership Watch blog, told Cain.

The article points out that little is known about the sister, believed to be born in the late 80s, but in March she appeared on state television as a senior official.

Kim, for his part, missed a meeting of the country’s parliament late last month, and was absent again from a gathering this week to mark his late father’s election as ruling party head.

Adding to the uncertainty, Kim has not been seen in North Korean media reports greeting the athletes who returned from the Asian Games — though they were given a lavish reception and heavy media coverage when they returned to the capital.

Kim is usually a near-constant one-man show in state media, but he has kept a low profile before. In 2012, he wasn’t seen publicly for about three weeks, South Korean officials say.

“Such vanishing acts would be most unusual in democracies, but in totalitarian North Korea, Kim is the state. He is free to come and go as he pleases,” Lee Sung-yoon, a North Korea expert at Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, told The Times.

FoxNews.com / The Associated Press contributed to this report

Filed Under: All Stories, Elections, Entitlement, Ethics, Foreign, Gender, Sci-Tech

Supreme Court Puts Temporary Hold on Gay Marriage Rulings

October 8, 2014 By Editor Leave a Comment

Supreme_Court_GayWASHINGTON –  Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy on Wednesday allowed same-sex marriage to begin in Nevada, clarifying that an earlier order temporarily blocking gay unions applies only to Idaho.

Kennedy said in a brief order that he was lifting the hold he imposed five hours earlier Wednesday on same-sex weddings in Nevada. He said his order would continue to block gay marriage in Idaho, where state officials have asked for the delay. Nevada officials did not make a similar request.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco declared gay marriage legal in Idaho and Nevada on Tuesday. A day earlier, the Supreme Court let similar rulings from three other appeals courts become final and effectively raised to 30 the number of states where same-sex couples can marry, or soon will be able to do so.

In response to the 9th Circuit decision, Idaho officials filed an emergency request with the court about 90 minutes before they said that state and county officials would otherwise have been required to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

Kennedy’s initial order was issued around 9:50 a.m. EDT, 10 minutes before the deadline cited by Idaho officials. The order initially included Nevada, where officials had been planning to start issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples later Wednesday.

The delay in Idaho could last just a few days. Kennedy’s order requested a response from the plaintiffs involved in Idaho’s gay marriage lawsuit by the end of day Thursday.

The full court almost certainly would weigh in to extend the delay much beyond the weekend. That has been the justices’ practice in other cases in which a single justice initially blocked a ruling from taking effect.

Having just allowed other appellate rulings to take effect without a full review by the Supreme Court, it would be surprising if the justices were to put the 9th circuit ruling on hold for any length of time.

The high court’s action Monday suggested that only an appellate ruling upholding a gay marriage ban would prompt the court to step in.

Published October 08, 2014 / Associated Press

Filed Under: All Stories, Economy, Elections, Entitlement, Ethics, Foreign, Gender, Religion, Sci-Tech

Who Gives More Charity-Liberals or Conservatives?

October 6, 2014 By Editor Leave a Comment

911Philanthropy.com has just released the relative charitable giving of all 50 states (and DC) based on a percentage of adjusted gross income.

The 17 most charitable states in order: UT, MS, AL, TN, GA, SC, ID, OK, AR, NC, KS, TX, SD, KY, LA, NE & IN.

The 24 least charitable states in order starting with the stingiest: NH, ME, VT, NJ, RI, MA, CT, ND, WI, HI, PA, CA, MN, AK, DE, NV, IL, WV, WA, OH, CO, VA, OR & NY.

What have libs (backed by the media) told you your entire life? That they’re the ones who are giving and compassionate while conservatives are cold-hearted, selfish and care only about money. So let’s see: The 17 most charitable states ALL voted for Mitt Romney in 2012. While on the other end 21 OUT OF THE 24 least charitable states voted for Barack Obama. (below)

Libs always insist that they are more caring and generous yet as this proves beyond a shadow of a doubt … ONLY WITH OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY!

By Paula Priesse

charitable_giving

Filed Under: All Stories, Economy, Elections, Entitlement, Ethics, Foreign, Gender, Religion, Sci-Tech

Allen West: ‘Barack Hussein Obama is an Islamist’

October 5, 2014 By Editor Leave a Comment

obama-islamistFormer congressman, Lt. Col. Allen West proclaimed on Wednesday that there is only one true explanation that Obama is “purposely enabling the Islamist cause.”

West, a favorite among many in the pro-freedom, pro-Constitution Tea Party movement, listed six instances where the Obama regime has been “working counter to the security of the United States of America”:

1. The unilateral release of five senior Taliban back to the enemy while the enemy is still fighting us.

2. Providing weapons of support to the Muslim Brotherhood-led Egyptian government — F-16s and M1A1 Abrams tanks — but not to the Egyptian government after the Islamist group has been removed.

3. Negotiations with Qatar and Turkey, two Islamist-supporting countries.

4. Negotiations with Hamas, a terrorist group.

5. Returning sanction money, to the tune of billions of dollars, back to the theocratic regime led by Iran’s ayatollahs and allowing them to march on towards nuclear capability.

6. Obama’s evident support of Islamists in Libya.

Along with the above, West cited the recent report that Obama has lifted longtime restrictions against Libyans attending flight schools and receiving nuclear science training in the U.S, only two years after the terrorism that took place in Benghazi, Libya.

There is only one logical reason for the Democrat president to make these anti-American decisions, West concluded Wednesday on his website, that there is no other reason why Obama would prop-up America’s enemies:

Sorry, but I can only explain this one way: Barack Hussein Obama is an Islamist in his foreign policy perspectives and supports their cause. You can go back and listen to his 2009 speech in Cairo, where Muslim Brotherhood associates were seated front and center.

All the circumstantial and anecdotal evidence points to that conclusion. The pivot away from the Middle East seems to be nothing more than an opportunity to enable Islamists and their goals. Anyone supporting this Libyan ban being lifted is indeed an enemy of this state.

In June, the former congressman from Florida called for Obama’s impeachment, following Obama’s negotiation with terrorists, releasing military deserter Bowe Bergdahl in exchange for the U.S. release of five notorious Muslim terrorists from GITMO.

Barack Obama’s longtime pastor for over two decades, Jeremiah Wright, told author Ed Klein two years ago that “Barack Obama was steeped in Islam” and that he “knew very little about Christianity.”

“When I asked the Reverend Wright about this whole question of Islam and Christianity. He said, well, you know, Barack Obama was steeped in Islam. He knew a lot about Islam from his childhood. But he knew very little about Christianity. And I made it easy for him to feel not guilty about learning about Christianity without turning his back on his Islamic friends.”

By Matthew Burke

 

Filed Under: All Stories, Economy, Elections, Entitlement, Ethics, Foreign, Gender, Religion, Sci-Tech

A Mormon St. Peter’s in Rome

September 29, 2014 By Editor Leave a Comment

Rome_TempleA new Latter-day Saints temple looms large on the Roman horizon, and the Vatican’s prelates, truth to tell, are not too enthusiastic about what they see.
ROME, Italy — On the outskirts of Rome along the ancient Catholic pilgrim route known as the Via Francigena and not far from a giant shopping center featuring a massive IKEA and the French do-it-yourself Mecca called Leroy Merlin, cranes are hoisting giant spires onto the top of a Baroque-revival-style church. But unlike most of the religious edifices erected in Catholic Rome, this Roman temple is being built by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) of Italy to accommodate a congregation that has grown from 9,000 to nearly 30,000 followers in less than 30 years.

The Rome Temple Complex of the LDS sits on 15 acres and will feature lush gardens, and a 40,000-square-foot temple with floor and ceiling designs to mimic Michelangelo’s Capitoline Hill plaza overlooking the Roman forum. Marble from Italy, Spain, Turkey, and Brazil is being used to decorate the interior and exterior spaces. The grounds will also include a stake center meeting house (a stake being roughly similar to a Catholic diocese), a visitor center, a family history library and a special Mormon-only hotel for workers and worshippers.

The temple, which is expected to be inaugurated sometime next year, is the 12th temple built in Europe and the first ever in Italy, and it is one of 15 new temples currently being built worldwide by the growing Mormon church. Organizers say that while it is under construction the Roman temple will be open briefly to the public for guided tours to help encourage understanding, then it will be closed to all but church members except under special circumstances.

The temple is serving a demand by Italian Mormons, according to local Rome Stake President Massimo De Feo, who says worshippers currently travel to the nearest temple in Bern, Switzerland, if they wish to do temple work which is an integral component of Mormon worship. The cost of the temple is a tightly held secret. “We have paid for it out of our pocket, with no help from Italy,” LDS Rome spokesman Alessandro Dini Ciacci says. “We don’t divulge the specific costs of our operations.”

Italy has 103 Latter-day Saints congregations under 10 stakes, divided into missions based in Milan and Rome, with the highest concentration in the north of Italy, where 53 percent of Mormons live, compared to 29 percent in southern Italy and 18 percent in the central regions. Sicily alone has 3,052 members of the church; the region around Rome has 2,117, according to the LDS Italy archives. There are more female Mormons (53 percent) than men (47 percent) in the country. According to De Feo, the Italy church has seen a surge in requests for baptisms for the living and the dead, and for celestial marriage ceremonies and family sealing ceremonies which officially bind couples or families together for eternity once the temple is ready. He also predicts that many Italians who have moved away because of inadequate ways to practice their faith will move back now that there is a temple in Italy.

“This new Mormon center, the largest in Europe, will certainly be a problem.”

The growth of the LDS church in Italy may be moving fast, but not without opposition. Shortly after the first Mormons were baptized in Italy in 1850, the Catholic Church demanded that members of the congregation emigrate to Salt Lake City. The Italian government refused to allow the LDS church to formally gather until 1951. By 1964, there were just 230 members who were allowed to do missionary work in the country, and it took until July 30, 2012, for Italy’s government to finally legally recognize LDS as a religion in Italy and full “partner of the state.”

According to Massimo De Feo, president of the Rome stake, the construction of the temple is nothing short of a miracle, not least of because of the way the project, which will be the largest in Europe, has raised eyebrows in Catholic circles.

“Certainly the Mormon Church is very rich and they have substantial resources that come from the United States,” said Cardinal Elio Sgreccia, emeritus president of the Pontifical Academy for Life and a close adviser to the last three popes, at a recent public forum on interreligious dialogue. “It is not a sin to have economic resources, but for an ecumenism, this new Mormon center, the largest in Europe, will certainly be a problem.”

“The good news is certainly the fact that the construction of this new temple has created new jobs, and this is a good that comes from their wealth,” said Sgreccia. “As for ecumenism, dialogue and the search for unity among all Christians, their presence in Rome is not necessarily an uplifting factor. We shall wait and see.”

Mormons aren’t dangerous to the Catholic faith, says Monsignor Enrico Feroci, head of Rome’s Caritas. “Everyone has the right to make their own choices of faith and take the necessary measures, from building their headquarters to professsing their faith,” he says. “But for Catholics, this does not mean renouncing its principles and pillars upon which rests the 2,000 years from their faith in Christ, Son of God, who died and rose again for the salvation of humanity. I have a lot of respect for Mormons in Rome, but they certainly do not share the Gospel with us because their concepts and the way they operate in society differ so greatly to Catholics.”

The Mormon religion is the 10th-largest in Italy after Catholicism, well behind Islam (the fourth after Catholicism) and Judaism (the sixth-largest), but it is the fastest growing, and the construction of the new house of worship will surely draw many whose faith guides them to live close to a temple. “This is a day of thanksgiving,” De Feo said when Thomas S. Monson, the head of the universal church, broke ground in Rome in 2010.  “I think this is the most beautiful temple in the world.”

Barbie Latza Nadeau, The Daily Beast

Filed Under: All Stories, Economy, Ethics, Foreign, Gender, Religion, Sci-Tech

Obama: ‘We’ Understimated Rise of ISIS

September 28, 2014 By Editor Leave a Comment

Obama60MinutesPresident Obama acknowledged Sunday that U.S. intelligence officials “underestimated” the threat posed by the Islamic State and overestimated the Iraqi army’s capacity to defeat the militant group.

The president said in an wide-ranging interview on CBS’ “60 Minutes” that the Islamic State militants went “underground” after being squashed in Iraq and regrouped amid the Syrian civil war.

“During the chaos of the Syrian civil war, where essentially you have huge swaths of the country that are completely ungoverned, they were able to reconstitute themselves and take advantage of that chaos,” Obama said.

The president said his director of national intelligence, James Clapper, has acknowledged that the U.S. “underestimated what had been taking place in Syria.” He also said it was “absolutely true” that the U.S. overestimated the ability and will of the Iraqi army.

Obama also acknowledged that the U.S. is dealing with a conundrum in Syria, as the U.S.-led military campaign against the Islamic State is helping Syrian President Bashar Assad, who the U.N. has accused of war crimes.

“I recognize the contradiction in a contradictory land and a contradictory circumstance,” Obama said.”We are not going to stabilize Syria under the rule of Assad.”

However, Obama called the threat from the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, and other terror groups a more “immediate concern that has to be dealt with.”

“On the other hand, in terms of immediate threats to the United States, ISIL, Khorasan Group — those folks could kill Americans,” he said.

In terms of Iraq, Obama said the U.S. left the country after the war with “a democracy that was intact, a military that was well-equipped and the ability then (for Iraqis) to chart their own course.”

However, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki “squandered” that opportunity over roughly five years because he was “much more interested in consolidating his Shia base and very suspicious of the Sunnis and the Kurds, who make up the other two thirds of the country,” the president said.

Obama said military force is necessary to shrink the Islamic State’s capacity, cut off financing and eliminate the flow of foreign fighters. He said political solutions are also needed that accommodate both Sunnis and Shiites, adding that conflicts between the two sects are the biggest cause of conflict throughout the world.

However, Obama made clear he has no interest in a major U.S. ground presence beyond the 1,600 American advisers and special operations troops he already has ordered to Iraq. When asked if the current conflict was not really a war, Obama said there are clear distinctions between this campaign and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“We are assisting Iraq in a very real battle that’s taking place on their soil, with their troops,” the president said. “This is not America against ISIL. This is America leading the international community to assist a country with whom we have a security partnership.”

Obama also discussed the midterm elections, U.S. relations with Russia and reviewed his six years as president.

Obama described his relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin as “blunt,” saying Russia’s aggression in Ukraine is threatening progress made since the Cold War.

“I’ve always had a business-like relationship with (Putin)– and it’s blunt and it’s firm,” Obama said. “And what I’ve said from the outset is that Russian aggression, violating the sovereignty and territorial integrity of a smaller or weaker country, violates international norms and is contrary to all the progress that’s been made in creating a peaceful and prosperous Europe after World War II and then after the Cold War period.”

Obama also said he believes Democrats can maintain control of the Senate in November.

“I can put my record against any leader around the world in terms of digging ourselves out of a terrible, un– almost unprecedented financial crisis,” Obama said. “Ronald Reagan used to ask– the question, ‘Are you better off than you were four years ago?’ In this case, are you better off than you were in six? And the answer is, the country is definitely better off than we were when I came into office…”

FoxNew.com / The Associated Press contributed to this report

Filed Under: All Stories, Economy, Elections, Entitlement, Ethics, Foreign, Gender, Religion, Sci-Tech

Iraqi Intel Uncovers ISIS Plot to Attack New York, Paris

September 25, 2014 By Editor Leave a Comment

NEW YORK –  Iraq’s prime minister says his country’s intelligence operation has uncovered a plot for an imminent attack on subway systems in United States and Paris.

Aftermath of Hurricane Sandy in New YorkPrime Minister Haider al-Abadi said he was told of the plot by Baghdad on Thursday, and that it was the work of foreign fighters of the Islamic State group in Iraq. Asked if the attack was imminent, he said, “Yes.”

Asked if the attack had been thwarted, he said, “No.” Al-Abadi said the United States had been alerted.

He made the remarks at a meeting with journalists on the sidelines of a gathering of world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly.

Published September 25, 2014 / Associated Press

Filed Under: All Stories, Economy, Elections, Ethics, Foreign, Gender, Religion, Sci-Tech

AG Eric Holder to Resign

September 25, 2014 By Editor Leave a Comment

Obama_holder_ClintonU.S. Attorney General Eric Holder will announce today that he plans to resign his post in the Obama Administration.

Holder, a controversial player on the stage of Obama’s Administration since 2009, has weathered numerous White House scandals, and provided cover for an Administration that has selectively enforced federal law to benefit the Democratic party and its liberal agenda. Holder has been a central figure in the Administration’s attempts to encourage illegal immigration, voter fraud, and IRS and DOJ targeting of conservatives, and those it deems obstructive to its political agenda.

Holder says he will remain in his position until a successor can be found.

PUBLIUS

Filed Under: All Stories, Economy, Elections, Entitlement, Ethics, Foreign, Gender, Religion, Sci-Tech

Hillary Letter to Saul Alinsky Reveals Her Anti-American Mission in Life

September 23, 2014 By Editor Leave a Comment

bill_hillary_clintonPreviously unpublished correspondence between Hillary Clinton and the late left-wing organizer Saul Alinsky reveals new details about her relationship with the controversial Chicago activist and shed light on her early ideological development.

Clinton met with Alinsky several times in 1968 while writing a Wellesley college thesis about his theory of community organizing.

Clinton’s relationship with Alinsky, and her support for his philosophy, continued for several years after she entered Yale law school in 1969, two letters obtained by the Washington Free Beacon show.

The letters obtained by the Free Beacon are part of the archives for the Industrial Areas Foundation, a training center for community organizers founded by Alinsky, which are housed at the University of Texas at Austin.

The letters also suggest that Alinsky, who died in 1972, had a deeper influence on Clinton’s early political views than previously known.

A 23-year-old Hillary Clinton was living in Berkeley, California, in the summer of 1971. She was interning at the left-wing law firm Treuhaft, Walker and Burnstein, known for its radical politics and a client roster that included Black Panthers and other militants.

On July 8, 1971, Clinton reached out to Alinsky, then 62, in a letter sent via airmail, paid for with stamps featuring Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and marked “Personal.”

“Dear Saul,” she began. “When is that new book [Rules for Radicals] coming out–or has it come and I somehow missed the fulfillment of Revelation?”

“I have just had my one-thousandth conversation about Reveille [for Radicals] and need some new material to throw at people,” she added, a reference to Alinsky’s 1946 book on his theories of community organizing.

hillary_then_nowClinton devoted just one paragraph in her memoir Living History to Alinsky, writing that she rejected a job offer from him in 1969 in favor of going to law school. She wrote that she wanted to follow a more conventional path.

However, in the 1971 letter, Clinton assured Alinsky that she had “survived law school, slightly bruised, with my belief in and zest for organizing intact.”

“The more I’ve seen of places like Yale Law School and the people who haunt them, the more convinced I am that we have the serious business and joy of much work ahead–if the commitment to a free and open society is ever going to mean more than eloquence and frustration,” wrote Clinton.

According to the letter, Clinton and Alinsky had kept in touch since she entered Yale. The 62-year-old radical had reached out to give her advice on campus activism.

“If I never thanked you for the encouraging words of last spring in the midst of the Yale-Cambodia madness, I do so now,” wrote Clinton, who had moderated a campus election to join an anti-war student strike.

She added that she missed their regular conversations, and asked if Alinsky would be able to meet her the next time he was in California.

“I am living in Berkeley and working in Oakland for the summer and would love to see you,” Clinton wrote. “Let me know if there is any chance of our getting together.”

saul-alinsky1Clinton’s letter reached Alinsky’s office while he was on an extended trip to Southeast Asia, where he was helping train community organizers in the Philippines.

But a response letter from Alinsky’s secretary suggests that the radical organizer had a deep fondness for Clinton as well.

“Since I know [Alinsky’s] feelings about you I took the liberty of opening your letter because I didn’t want something urgent to wait for two weeks,” Alinsky’s long-time secretary, Georgia Harper, wrote to Clinton in a July 13, 1971 letter. “And I’m glad I did.”

Harper told Clinton that Alinksy’s book Rules for Radicals had been released. She enclosed several reviews of the book.

“Mr. Alinsky will be in San Francisco, staying at the Hilton Inn at the airport on Monday and Tuesday, July 26 and 27,” Harper added. “I know he would like to have you call him so that if there is a chance in his schedule maybe you can get together.”

It is unclear whether the meeting occurred.

A self-proclaimed radical, Alinsky advocated guerilla tactics and civil disobedience to correct what he saw as an institutionalized power gap in poor communities. His philosophy divided the world into “haves”–middle class and wealthy people –and “have nots”–the poor. He took an ends-justify-the-means approach to power and wealth redistribution, and developed the theoretical basis of “community organizing.”

“The Prince was written by Machiavelli for the Haves on how to hold power,” wrote Alinsky in his 1971 book. “Rules for Radicals is written for the Have-Nots on how to take it away.”

Clinton’s connection to Alinsky has been the subject of speculation for decades. It became controversial when Wellsley College, by request of the Clinton White House, sealed her 1968 thesis from the public for years. Conservative lawyer Barbara Olson said Clinton had asked for the thesis to be sealed because it showed “the extent to which she internalized and assimilated the beliefs and methods of Saul Alinsky.” Clinton opponent turned Clinton defender David Brock referred to her as “Alinsky’s daughter” in 1996’s The Seduction of Hillary Rodham.

The paper was opened to the public in 2001. While the thesis is largely sympathetic to Alinsky, it is also critical of some of his tactics.

Clinton described the organizer as “a man of exceptional charm,” but also objected to some of the conflicts he provoked as “unrealistic,” noting that his model could be difficult for others to replicate.

“Many of the Alinsky-inspired poverty warriors could not (discounting political reasons) move beyond the cathartic first step of organizing groups ‘to oppose, complain, demonstrate, and boycott’ to developing and running a program,” she wrote.

The letters obtained by the Free Beacon suggest that Clinton experimented more with radical politics during her law school years than she has publicly acknowledged.

In Living History, she describes her views during that time as far more pragmatic than leftwing.

She “agreed with some of Alinsky’s ideas,” Clinton wrote in her first memoir, but the two had a “fundamental disagreement” over his anti-establishment tactics.

She described how this disagreement led to her parting ways with Alinsky in the summer before law school in 1969.

“He offered me the chance to work with him when I graduated from college, and he was disappointed that I decided instead to go to law school,” she wrote.

“Alinsky said I would be wasting my time, but my decision was an expression of my belief that the system could be changed from within.”

A request for comment from the Clinton team was not returned.

Originally posted at the Washington Free Beacon.

The letters between Clinton and Alinsky can be read here:

 

The Hillary Letters

Filed Under: All Stories, Economy, Elections, Entitlement, Ethics, Foreign, Gender, Religion, Sci-Tech

Dinesh D’Souza Gets Re-education Center for Crimes Against Obama

September 23, 2014 By Editor Leave a Comment

dinesh_dsouza_2LOS ANGELES –  Conservative filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza, facing up to two years in prison after pleading guilty to violating federal campaign finance laws, will not be spending time behind bars.

Judge Richard M. Berman of Federal District Court in Manhattan sentenced D’Souza on Tuesday to five years of probation, a $30,000 fine, and eight month in a San Diego “community confinement center” where he will undergo “therapeutic counseling.”

Such a center typically involves a “residence in a halfway house, restitution center, community treatment center, mental health facility, alcohol or drug rehabilitation center, or other community facility.”

2016_obamaAfter his indictment in January, D’Souza argued that he was being unfairly targeted by the government due to his politics and criticism of the Obama administration, which he highlighted in his 2012 book and documentary “2016.” However, prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s office claimed that his actions were “serious and strikes at the heart of our federal election system” and maintained a push for 16 months prison time.

D’Souza was charged with illegally organizing for two people to each make $10,000 campaign donations to Wendy E. Long, a friend from his days at Dartmouth College. He pled guilty to the charges in May.

Despite the charge and his claims of being singled out over political points of view, D’Souza went ahead with publishing a new book and releasing the documentary “America: Imagine the World Without Her” over the summer.

By Hollie McKay / Follow @holliesmckay on Twitter.

Filed Under: All Stories, Economy, Elections, Entitlement, Ethics, Foreign, Gender, Religion, Sci-Tech, Uncategorized

Obama is the Affirmative Action President

September 18, 2014 By Editor Leave a Comment

barack-obama-smokingBarack Hussein Obama is indeed president of the U.S. due only to the principle of Affirmative Action.

Obama is a man who possessed no qualification to be the president of the United States of America, or the leader of the free world. His only qualifications listed on his public resume were 1) Foreign Exchange Student?, 2) Law School “Professor”, 3) Community Organizer, 4) State Senator, and 5) freshman U.S. Senator. Each of these “qualifications” is the direct result of special treatment afforded “an articulate young black” man with political ambitions and connections to unsavory anti-American, leftist, underworld characters.

obama-kenyaWhat do we mean by Foreign Exchange Student? In fact, Obama was unknown to his fellow Columbia classmates, and no one recalls seeing him in any classes he says he took at the university. A 2008 Wall Street Journal article cited a survey of 400 people who were Columbia students from 1981 to 1983 and found no one who remembered him. The only people who knew him as a child have said that he presented himself as a foreign exchange student.

On his book publicity bio (right –>) he says of himself: “. . . was born in Kenya and raised in Indonesia and Hawaii.” Our point here is not to suggest that Obama was actually born in Kenya, because the “birthers” have yet to prove their pet theory, it is to prove that Obama himself garnered special attention and favors as he was growing up through false claims like being “born in Kenya.”

Regarding Mr. Obama’s tenure as a Law School Professor, the man was never a professor, but merely collected a paycheck for having an office at the University of Chicago Law School. He lectured infrequently, in any capacity, and was rarely seen by anyone at the school.

Community Organizer is one of those catch-all terms, meaning that Obama was active in leftist political causes. By his own admissions in his multiple autobiographies, from his early youth Obama was influenced by friends of his parents and grandparents who were blatant communists and socialists. He was a drug user and dealer, and frequently attended anti-American rallies and strategy sessions throughout his formative years.

Obama was elected an Illinois State Senator in 1996, suddenly unopposed in the election, and took office in 1997, where he remained until 2004 when he ran for the U.S. Senate seat. As a state senator he was often a no-show, and learned to vote “present” instead of yea or nay, to avoid creating a track record.

As a U.S. Senator Obama voted as a straight leftist, but 143 days into his term launched his bid for the presidency, and stopped voting on most issues thereafter.

Obama’s resume is the lightest of any U.S. president, and lighter than most U.S. Senators, or even most House members. What qualified him to be the president of the United States? He was “given” opportunities by those who thought that it was time for a black American to get a chance in the White House, just as he was given opportunities for education at expensive universities based on a false narrative.

Dr_Ben_CarsonContrast Obama with a true American patriot and qualified African American presidential candidate like Dr. Ben Carson, as one of several examples, who worked hard and overcame obstacles on his own, without affirmative action policies to give him an automatic pass to the front of every line, and you see two completely different men. Dr. Carson is a man of character, and has worked tirelessly to help others and to pioneer neurosurgery techniques, especially for children. That course leads to an understanding of economics, human nature and international relations that a drug dealing, anti-American dolt like Barack Hussein Obama will never fathom.

PUBLIUS

Filed Under: All Stories, Economy, Elections, Entitlement, Ethics, Foreign, Gender, Religion, Sci-Tech

ISIS Beheading Plot in Australia Prompts Massive Police Raids

September 18, 2014 By Editor Leave a Comment

isis_beheadings_australiaMore than 15 detained.

It sounds like a 24 episode, and come to think of it, they haven’t done a season in Australia yet. (Granted, they’ve got to get Jack out of Russia first but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.) This is 100 percent real, though. The Australian government received intelligence that ISIS monsters operating in Australia were planning to snatch a random person on the street, take them to a secret location and behead them – all on video, of course – with the black ISIS flag in the background.

In response, the Aussies acted on the intelligence and conducted massive police raids – involving as many as 800 cops – and arrested 15 people believed to be involved in the plot. One suspect has been identified as 22-year-old Omarjan Azari of Sydney. He’s been charged with conspiracy to commit a terrorist act:

Australia is concerned over the number of its citizens believed to be fighting overseas with militant groups, including a suicide bomber who killed three people in Baghdad in July and two men shown in images on social media holding the severed heads of Syrian soldiers.

More than 800 police were involved in the pre-dawn security operation in Sydney and Brisbane, which was described as the largest in Australian history and resulted in the detention of 15 people, police said.

Abbott told a news conference that members of the radical group had planned to conduct a public beheading.

“That’s the intelligence we received,” he said.

Media reported that the plans included snatching a person at random in Sydney, Australia’s largest city, and executing them on camera draped in the group’s black flag.

The evidence the government presents in this case will tell us a lot about how real the threat might be of ISIS perpetrating attacks like this in places like Australia and, of course, the U.S. The left is already mocking the notion that ISIS will soon be coming to your local shopping malls, trying to turn it into the latest silly right-wing paranoid fantasy.

ISIS is under your bed! Bahahahahahahahaha!

ISIS_beheadingsBut the evidence will show what it shows. Is it really that hard to conceive of the most radicalized Muslims in a western nation being conscripted to commit acts of shocking violence and evil? (I suppose this is the point where you bring up 9/11 as an example of it already having happened, and the left screaming that you’re not allowed to bring up or “politicize” 9/11.) But one thing I recall about 9/11 is that no one thought such an event was plausible until we sat there and watched it unfold, after which the nation’s sense of what was possible changed – permanently, we thought, but over time it’s pretty clear we returned to the 9/10 mindset that regarded such notions as the paranoid fantasies of right-wing nut jobs.

I think ISIS still appears to most people as a far-away force threatening a nation we kind of sort of have an interest in – horrific and monstrous to be sure, but not a concern for your town or your neighborhood. But is that reality? Or will we merely cling to that notion until what we see with our own eyes no longer permits it?

The intelligence gathered by the Australian government says ISIS is willing to grab and behead anyone, anywhere. None of us know yet how substantial their information is, but if it’s sound, do you seriously think they’d be doing this in Australia and not in the United States?

by: Dan Calabrese

Filed Under: All Stories, Elections, Ethics, Foreign, Gender, Religion, Sci-Tech

Newspaper Retracts Obama Endorsment: ‘Far Worse Than Nixon’

September 17, 2014 By Editor Leave a Comment

Obamas-Pen“Sometimes, you have to admit you’re wrong,” The Billings Gazette  said about its 2008 endorsement of Barack Obama. “And, we were wrong. We said that things couldn’t get much worse after the sub par presidency of George W. Bush,” the paper wrote in an apologetic editorial on Friday.

The Montana and Wyoming newspaper says that after endorsing the Democrat president in 2008, it now “has us yearning for the good ol’ days when we were at least winning battles in Iraq.”

The paper begins by stating that Obama has earned “every bit” of his “abysmal” approval ratings, referring to the latest NBC/Wall Street Journal polls that “show that Americans are giving Obama lower marks than in 2006 when Iraq was going poorly for Bush and a tepid response to Hurricane Katrina sunk Bush’s ratings.”

“Obama’s hope and change have left liberals and conservatives alike hoping for real change, not just more lofty rhetoric.”

The lengthy op-ed goes on to provide a detailed laundry list of Obama regime failures that have led to its change of heart, including its NSA spying, its attacks against American energy, the “civil war” in Iraq, the Bergdahl exchange that released five top terrorists, nixon_obamaand the VA scandal. Mysteriously, the piece fails to mention the IRS scandal, in which Americans were targeted for their political beliefs, and the terrorist attacks in Benghazi, in which four Americans were left to die while the Obama and Clinton machines lied repeatedly about what caused the attacks.

Contrary to its promise to be the most transparent administration in history, the paper claims that the opposite has turned out to be true, stating the regime “has actually cracked down on journalists, spied on citizens and retaliated against those who leak information to the press.” The Obama administration has earned a reputation must worse than the “disgraced” president, Richard Nixon, who resigned rather than face likely impeachment.

“In fact, the Obama administration has become so opaque and difficult that it has earned the reputation of being far worse than Nixon, the disgraced president whose terrible clampdown of information led to federal law being changed for more transparency.”

After blasting Obamacare as being synonymous with the word “boondoggle,” The Gazette says that when combined with the multiple other massive self-imposed problems, its “a disturbing trend of incompetence and failure.”

By TPNN Staff

Filed Under: All Stories, Economy, Elections, Entitlement, Ethics, Foreign, Gender, Religion, Sci-Tech

Antarctic Sea Ice Reaches Record Levels, Scientists Say

September 16, 2014 By Editor Leave a Comment

antarctic_ice_levelsScientists say the extent of Antarctic sea ice cover is at its highest level since records began.

Satellite imagery reveals an area of about 20 million square kilometres covered by sea ice around the Antarctic continent.

Jan Lieser from the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) said the discovery was made two days ago.

“This is an area covered by sea ice which we’ve never seen from space before,” he said.

“Thirty-five years ago the first satellites went up which were reliably telling us what area, two dimensional area, of sea ice was covered and we’ve never seen that before, that much area.

“That is roughly double the size of the Antarctic continent and about three times the size of Australia.”

The formation of sea ice around Antarctica every year is one of the biggest seasonal events on Earth.

The ice is generated in what scientists refer to as “sea ice factories” or polynia  – areas of the ocean surface where currents and wind patterns combine to generate sea ice.

“As soon as sea ice is produced in these polynias it is actually transported away from that so more sea ice can be produced,” Dr Lieser said.

Record Antarctic sea ice:

  • Antarctic sea ice covers 19.619 million sq km.
  • Maximum area recorded on September 12, 2014.
  • Third year in a row a record has been reached.
  • There has been a 1.5 per cent increase each decade since records began in 1979.
  • Increase believed to be linked to strong westerly winds.

As the area covered in sea ice expands scientists have said the ice on the continent of Antarctica which is not over the ocean continues to deplete.

CEO of the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems CRC, Tony Worby, said the warming atmosphere is leading to greater sea ice coverage by changing wind patterns.

“The extent of sea ice is driven by the winds around Antarctica, and we believe that they’re increasing in strength and part of that is around the depletion of ozone,” he said.

He said changes to sea ice levels could have implications for the entire Antarctic ecosystem.

“So the sea ice is a very important habitat for krill in particular and for the reproduction of krill and that forms one of the absolute staples of the diet for many species in the Antarctic.”

While the Antarctic ecosystem braces for change, the world’s Antarctic research vessels will also have to contend with treacherous conditions in the months ahead.

By Jane Ryan and Sam Ikin

Filed Under: All Stories, Economy, Elections, Entitlement, Ethics, Foreign, Religion, Sci-Tech

White House, Pentagon Contradict Kerry, Saying US ‘At War’ with ISIS

September 12, 2014 By Editor Leave a Comment

john-kerry-isisThe White House and Pentagon acknowledged Friday that the U.S. “is at war” with the Islamic State — contradicting Secretary of State John Kerry and others who a day earlier refused to use that term, prompting criticism from lawmakers that the administration was downplaying the conflict.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest and Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby used almost identical language when pressed by reporters Friday whether or not the expanded military operation against the terrorist group is in fact a war.

“In the same way that the United States is at war with Al Qaeda and its affiliates … the United States is at war with ISIL,” Earnest said.

Kirby said “this is not the Iraq War” from a decade ago, “but make no mistake — we know we are at war with ISIL in the same way we are at war and continue to be at war with Al Qaeda and its affiliates.”

The comments are a sharp turnaround from how Kerry described the military operation on Thursday. In interviews with CNN and CBS News, Kerry described it as a “very significant” and “major counterterrorism operation.” He told CBS News that “war is the wrong terminology.”

His spokeswoman, Marie Harf, also said she would not “refer to our efforts” as part of the “war on terrorism.”

Kerry’s comments, though, stirred confusion on Capitol Hill, coming a day after President Obama announced plans to expand airstrikes in Iraq and authorize them in Syria, while dispatching hundreds more U.S. military personnel.

isis-terroristsObama called for a coalition of nations to ultimately “destroy” the growing terror network. Meanwhile, the CIA confirmed that its latest estimates show the Islamic State has as many as 31,500 fighters across Iraq and Syria. That’s close to the estimated size of the Taliban force in 2001.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and other lawmakers suggested Kerry’s comments did not square with Obama’s stated goal of defeating the vast terror network.

“It’s hard to find a response to that,” McCain told Fox News on Thursday night, when asked about Kerry’s comments. “Then what was the president talking about [Wednesday] night?”

Kerry wasn’t the only one having a hard time describing the mission on Thursday. National Security Adviser Susan Rice likewise told CNN on Thursday she wasn’t sure whether it should be called a war or a “sustained counterterrorism campaign.”

Senior State Department officials stressed to Fox News on Friday that Kerry’s comments were consistent with what other senior U.S. officials were saying at the time, and made clear that the secretary remains on the same page as the rest of the administration.

“This was a deliberate, administration-wide adjustment in language,” a senior State Department official told Fox News, “which Secretary Kerry would have also used today had he been asked.”

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said earlier Friday that the semantics over what to call the operation “weakens the mission.”

“Words matter,” McCaul said. He claimed the administration was being careful with its language because the terror group defies Obama’s “campaign narrative” about ending the war on terrorism and putting Al Qaeda on the run.

“ISIL clearly hasn’t gotten the memo that I think John Kerry did,” McCaul said.

But in the Pentagon and White House briefings Friday afternoon, it appeared the administration was backing off the earlier characterization.

Earnest clarified that the operation is not a case of the United States acting alone against the Islamic State, since the Islamic State, he said, is waging a war against the international community.

But he repeated that the U.S. is “at war” with ISIS as it is at war with Al Qaeda and its affiliates.

Fox News’ James Rosen contributed to this report. 

Filed Under: All Stories, Economy, Elections, Entitlement, Ethics, Foreign, Gender, Religion, Sci-Tech

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