Nearly 40 news outlets sent a letter to the White House in November complaining about what they see as an unprecedented lack of access for photographers. At the White House press briefing Thursday journalists angrily confronted press secretary Jay Carney over the issue.
Puppet Masters
The conspiracy he revealed is vast. It involves former President George W. Bush, President Obama and their aides, a dozen or so members of Congress, federal judges, executives and technicians at American computer ISPs and telecoms, and the thousands of NSA employees and vendors who have manipulated their fellow conspirators. The conspirators all agreed that it would be a crime for any of them to reveal the conspiracy. Snowden violated that agreement in order to uphold his higher oath to defend the Constitution.
The object of the conspiracy is to emasculate all Americans and many foreigners of their right to privacy in order to predict our behavior and make it easier to find among us those who are planning harm.
A conspiracy is an agreement among two or more persons to commit a crime. The crimes consist of capturing the emails, texts and phone calls of every American, tracing the movements of millions of Americans and foreigners via the GPS system in their cellphones, and seizing the bank records and utility bills of most Americans in direct contravention of the Constitution, and pretending to do so lawfully.The pretense is that somehow Congress lessened the standard for spying that is set forth in the Constitution. It is, of course, inconceivable that Congress can change the Constitution (only the states can), but the conspirators would have us believe that it has done so.
© Sky News
Gen Jang was removed from a party meeting by soldiers
Gen Jang was removed from a party meeting by soldiers
In a sharp reversal of the popular image of Jang Song Thaek as a kindly uncle guiding young leader Kim Jong Un as he consolidated power, the North's official Korean Central News Agency indicated that Jang instead saw the death of Kim's father, Kim Jong Il, in December 2011 as an opportunity to challenge his nephew and win power.
Just days ago, North Korea accused Jang of corruption, womanizing, gambling and taking drugs, and said he'd been "eliminated" from all his posts. But Friday's allegations, which couldn't be independently confirmed, were linked to a claim that he tried "to overthrow the state by all sorts of intrigues and despicable methods with a wild ambition to grab the supreme power of our party and state."
Pyongyang's statement called him a "traitor to the nation for all ages," "worse than a dog" and "despicable human scum" - rhetoric often reserved in state propaganda for South Korean leaders.
In the North Korean capital, dozens of people crowded around billboards displaying the morning paper. The execution was the top story, which said Jang's actions had created an explosion of outrage in the nation.
© Town Hall.com
Darrell Issa
Darrell Issa
Issa's Committee has been looking into the details of how Obamacare was implemented, along with the major problems with Healthcare.gov and has requested a number of documents from HHS, none of which he's received. The documents requested pertain to companies hired by HHS to build and operate Healthcare.gov.
"The Department [HHS] subsequently instructed those companies not to comply with the Committee's request. The Department's hostility toward questions from Congress and the media about the implementation of Obamcare is well known. The Department's most recent effort to stonewall, however, has morphed from mere obstinacy into criminal obstruction of a congressional investigation," Issa wrote.
© AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana
An Army carry team, carries the transfer case containing the remains of Army Sgt. 1st Class Ricardo D. Young of Rosston, Ark., arriving at Dover Air Force Base, Del. on Saturday, Aug. 31, 2013. The Department of Defense said Young was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.
An Army carry team, carries the transfer case containing the remains of Army Sgt. 1st Class Ricardo D. Young of Rosston, Ark., arriving at Dover Air Force Base, Del. on Saturday, Aug. 31, 2013. The Department of Defense said Young was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.
This embarrassing lack of basic knowledge from State Department and Pentagon experts on Afghanistan at a House hearing Wednesday prompted even a Democrat to say he was stunned.
© EAG News
Convicted pedophile Neal Erickson
Convicted pedophile Neal Erickson
The father of the victim is outraged, calling the union's efforts on behalf of the sex criminal "ludicrous" and saying any school money due to the teacher should go to his son, who is "out there trying to make it in this world all messed up."
Neal Erickson, a former math teacher at Rose City Middle School, was convicted this summer of raping a young student over three years, from 2006 to 2009, and sentenced to 15-30 years in prison.
The case sparked community outrage when several of the district's teachers wrote letters of support for Erickson, pleading for a lenient sentence. A school board member, Mike Eagan, also drew the public's ire when he sat with the Erickson family at the pedophile's sentencing.
Nicolas Sarkozy has given his strongest indication so far that he plans to return to politics and battle Francois Hollande for the French presidency in 2017.
"The question is not to know if I want or don't want to return. I cannot not return. I don't have a choice. It's destiny. Destiny," he has told friends and political allies, according to Thursday's edition of Le Point weekly magazine.
© Reuters/Yara Nardi
Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi reacts as he attends a rally to launch the "Forza Silvio" (Go Silvio) club in downtown Rome December 8, 2013
Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi reacts as he attends a rally to launch the "Forza Silvio" (Go Silvio) club in downtown Rome December 8, 2013
The 77-year-old media magnate was stripped of his Senate seat after he was convicted of tax fraud and sentenced to four years in jail. This was commuted to a year, likely to be spent performing community service.
But without parliamentary protection, he is now more vulnerable in other criminal cases where he is accused of offences including political bribery. He is also appealing against a conviction for abuse of office and paying for sex with a minor.
© Reuters/Mikhail Voskresensky
Leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) Vladimir Zhirinovsky speaks to media after voting at a polling station in Moscow, March 4, 2012
Leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) Vladimir Zhirinovsky speaks to media after voting at a polling station in Moscow, March 4, 2012
Nationalist lawmakers want to ban foreign languages at the workplace - a rule that would leave some foreigners speechless, from menial laborers from former Soviet states to Western business executives in suits and ties.
Two deputies from flamboyant ultranationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky's party introduced a bill on Thursday that would bar Russians and foreigners from speaking foreign languages on the job during working hours, state-run RIA news agency reported.
The reputation of the National Security Agency has taken quite a hit this year, what with fresh revelations from Edward Snowden hitting the press every week or two. The agency clearly needs some help on the public relations front
As the year drew to a close, the 30-year-old Snowden remains exiled in Russia, his final port of call following a worldwide game of cat-and-mouse that appeared to come straight from the pages of a spy novel.
A traitor to some, a heroic whistleblower to others: Snowden's disclosures have shed light on intelligence-gathering methods which shocked many through their sheer scale.
Comment: The hubris of some people has no limits!