WASHINGTON, DC – The relationship between search engine giant, Google, and agencies of the federal government is under the spotlight again. First it was Google’s partnership with the National Security Agency and now with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is asking if Google hasn’t received some kind of a sweetheart deal in its lease of an airfield in California. In question is Google’s deal to house a fleet of its aircraft at California’s Moffett Airfield operated by NASA. Several large Boeing jets and a fleet of other jets and helicopters
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MARICOPA COUNT, AZ – Obama administration attorneys recently argued before the US Supreme Court that Arizona’s tough immigration bill, if allowed to stand, will cause a “mass incarceration” of Latinos. But Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio says he does not see that as a problem for his jurisdiction. “We lock up people all the time,” Arpaio said in a phone interview with CNSNews last week. “Since I started enforcement, we’ve arrested on the streets, investigated – in our jails over 51,000. I didn’t see any problem, other than the fact that some activists and politicians
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Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists recently discovered an Air Force intelligence brief that states it can use “incidental” surveillance data gathered on American citizens. The briefing entitled “The Instruction” is dated April 23 of this year. While it states that the Air Force cannot legally conduct “non-consensual surveillance” on Americans, it can retain and analyze accidentally captured surveillance footage from drones for up to 90 days. This means the Air Force has been given legal permission to study data gathered in military intelligence missions over U.S. soil to determine if the subjects
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WASHINGTON, DC – A joint congressional panel reported Wednesday that safety equipment costing taxpayers an estimated $184 million, which was purchased to screen airline passengers, is collecting dust in government warehouses.  The investigative report comes from the Republican staff of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, chaired by Darrell Issa (Rep – CA) and the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, headed by John Mica (Rep – FL). The report, “Airport Insecurity: TSA’s Failure to Cost-Effectively Procure, Deploy and Warehouse its Screening Technologies”, reveals how 85 percent of about 5,700 security units is warehoused
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WASHINGTON, DC – Calls for the congressional subpoena of Attorney General Eric Holder to be enforced are now crossing party lines. Representative Joe Donnelly (Indiana – D) is on record that he supports the House oversight committee’s efforts to question Attorney General Eric Holder concerning Operation Fast and Furious. Speaking to The Daily Caller, Donnelly said, “There has been a serious allegation of federal law enforcement misconduct and we need to get to the bottom of this issue without playing partisan politics.” Ever since it was revealed that a U.S. Border Agent was killed with
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SEOUL, South Korea – South Korean authorities have seized thousands of pills billed as Viagara-style performance enhancers that contain the powdered flesh of babies. The pills, smuggled in from China are apparently a part of a burgeoning home-business in parts of rural China. South Korea’s Customs service released a statement on Monday in which it said 17,500 of the pills had been confiscated from international mail and tourists’ luggage. Some of the 35 smugglers arrested said they told customs officials they thought the capsules contained ordinary stamina boosters and did not know what ingredients were
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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Republican lawmakers are backing a bill that would eliminate roadblocks to mining a number of “rare earth” minerals in the United States. These strategic minerals, essential components in green and high technology such as hybrid cars, iPods and solar panels, are readily available in the U.S. but mining them has been stalled by the Washington bureaucracy for years. The rare earth minerals valued at are more than $6 trillion, include terbium, yttrium and dysprosium are found throughout the U.S. The U.S. Geological Survey reported in 2010 that 13 million tons of known
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WASHINGTON, DC – Senator Rand Paul (R—Kentucky) issued a press release this week vowing to lead a movement to “end the TSA,” to stop the unnecessary and humiliating groping of toddlers and grandmothers. Paul made news earlier in the year when he was detained by the TSA. Earlier this year, Senator Paul was detained at an airport in Nashville, Tennessee while attempting to board a flight to the US capital. After passing through a full body scanner, an “anomaly” in the lawmaker’s knee raised a red flag and TSA agents asked him to submit to
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WASHINGTON, DC – Former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott has changed his mind about a UN Treaty he adamantly opposed less than six years ago. The difference is that he is now a lobbyist for interests that would benefit from the treaty. Throughout his time in the Senate, Lott consistently opposed the “U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea”, also known as the Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST), arguing it would create a “U.N. on steroids” that “would undermine U.S. military operations … and impair navigational rights” by subjecting maritime disputes to U.N. authority. Lott
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El Paso, TX – The shooting of an illegal immigrant by a U.S. Border Patrol agent two years ago has prompted the Mexican government to make what amounts to a diplomatic threat to the United States. At issue is the fact the agent was exonerated for fatally shooting the illegal who assaulted him with rocks. In the summer of 2010, Border Patrol Agent Jesus Mesa intercepted a group of Mexicans crossing the Rio Grande near El Paso. When the group begin pelting the agent with rocks, the agent shot into the group, killing Sergio Hernández-Guereca,
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