NSA phone searches increased by 50 percent in 2013, report finds

6/28/2014

Jan. 17, 2014: Member of the protest group, Code Pink, protests against President Obama and the NSA.Reuters

The number of phone numbers searched under the National Security Agency's phone-data surveillance program increased by 50 percent last year, according to a report that otherwise provides scant new information on the numbers of Americans and foreigners subject to U.S. surveillance.

The report, by the Director of National Intelligence, focused on the mechanics of a network of surveillance programs that sweep up millions of American phone records and gain indirect access to 75 percent of the nation's telecom infrastructure to facilitate those searches.

The report, the first such effort under new Obama administration guidelines pledging greater transparency, was as notable for what it left out as what it provided.

For example, the report provides no acknowledgment of the millions of American phone records collected by the NSA to build its database for searches, nor did it provide the number of Americans whose communications get swept up in the process of investigating foreign intelligence targets.

The 50 percent increase in phone numbers searched, for example, represents a relatively small number: 423, up from 288 in 2012. Until Friday, the only recent statistic officials had provided on the program was the 2012 figure.

However, those figures represent the number of terror suspects whose phone numbers are searched daily against continual, new data dumps of American phone records, and any connection can be searched two degrees out from the original phone number to create vastly larger groups of individuals whose records are examined.

The government also for the first time reports the number of known or presumed U.S. persons who were the subjects of data queries in 2013 was 248.

"U.S. person" is a term of art for American citizens and people who are in the country legally.

Click for more from The Wall Street Journal. 

Obama Administration Outsources Prevailing Wage Highway Jobs To Spain

6/28/2014

Spanish-Led Consortium Wins U.S. Highway Contract

MADRID – A consortium led by a unit of Spanish infrastructure group Ferrovial obtained a 50-year, $655 million contract to build and maintain a stretch of U.S. Interstate Highway 77 in the state of North Carolina.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation selected Ferrovial’s Cintra Infrastructuras and a U.S. partner, construction company W.C. English, to complete the 41.8-kilometer (26-mile) segment of I-77.

The project is intended to improve links between Charlotte, the state’s largest city, and suburban areas to the north.

Cintra has concessions to maintain 2,180 kilometers (1,354 miles) of roadway in the United States, Canada and Europe.

The I-77 contract brings the value of Cintra’s U.S. projects to nearly $14 billion, Ferrovial said.

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Photo: New 'Ashley Madison' Billboard Depicts Hillary Clinton

6/28/2014

Cheating website depicts most cheated on woman in the world.

CHICAGO (myfoxchicago) -A new billboard for ‘Ashley Madison’ along Harlem and Central allegedly depicts Hillary Clinton in sketch-form.

You could call it a head turner. “I think it's a tasteless company with a tasteless ad,” said Sam Chapman, CEO of Empower Public Relations.

Ashley Madison’s latest billboard featuring the United States’ former secretary of state could be slowing up traffic on the Stevenson.

The ad is for a dating site for married people looking to have affairs and it reads, "Harder Choices... Lead to Ashley Madison.com." It also shows a sketch of Clinton looking like she's keeping a secret.

The billboard, however, is no secret and is provoking lots of debate and conversation.

“I think Hillary Clinton is an important person in our society and this really takes advantage of someone who doesn't deserve it, and there's something really shameful about what they're up to,” Chapman said. He thinks the company is trying to ride the coattails of the book Clinton recently launched titled ‘Hard Choices.’ He said that it's inappropriate.

“It’s a tough choice to cheat and therefore joining Ashley Madison.com is even a harder choice than some of the choices she had to make over Benghazi, or whatever difficult choices she had to make,” added Chapman.

Watch the video from Fox32

FOX 32 News Chicago



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Coming to a Mexican Border Near You:

6/28/2014

Chikungunya Virus Spreads to Mexico from the Caribbean

MEXICO CITY – Mexico’s National Epidemic Surveillance System has identified an “imported” case of the chikungunya virus, the Health Secretariat said in a statement.

The patient had traveled to a sports event in Antigua and Barbuda, where the Pan American Health Organization has reported four confirmed cases.

“Up to now no domestic cases have been detected in our country,” the official statement said.

Mexico joins the list of countries affected by a virus that up to seven months ago was unknown in this part of the world.

In December 2013, a local infection of the chikungunya virus was detected for the first time in the Americas with the confirmation of two cases on the island of St. Martin.

The chikungunya virus was originally reported in the 1950s when an outbreak occurred in a village in southeastern Africa.

Chikungunya is a virus transmitted to man and monkey by the same mosquitoes that spread dengue fever: the Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus species.

The disease has symptoms similar to dengue, including muscle pain, high fevers and general fatigue.

The Health Secretariat said that no vaccine exists to prevent infection by this virus nor any specific treatment, and that it can only be managed by relieving the symptoms.

The number of suspected chikungunya cases in the Americas rose to more than 185,000 by June 20 and the illness has caused 21 deaths.

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Anchor Baby coach accused of sexually abusing 9 year old cheerleader

6/28/2014

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A cheerleading coach is facing criminal charges after being accused of a sexually abusing a female student.

Pharr police booked Jose Garza III into the Hidalgo County Jail early Tuesday afternoon.

The 22-year-old man is facing an aggravated sexual assault of a child charge.

Court documents released to Action 4 News show that Garza is accused of repeatedly sexually abusing a female student more than four years ago.

The girl came forward with the allegations on May 30th where she told police that she was between 9 and 10 years old when it happened.

Action 4 News does not identify victims of sexual abuse but the girl told police that Garza was her cheerleading coach and that the abuse happened when they were alone.

The girl told investigators that Garza performed sexual acts on her and also forced her to perform sexual acts on him.

Court records also show that the girl was examined by a nurse who confirmed a bite mark allegedly made by Garza during an alleged act of sexual abuse.

It's not clear where Garza worked as a cheerleading coach but he was released from custody after posting a $25,000 personal recognizance bond on Tuesday afternoon.

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McAllen police arrest Anchor Baby in connection to woman's murder

6/28/2014

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Authorites have arrested a man in connection to the weekend death of a woman in McAllen.

McAllen police have charged 42-year-old Simon Hernandez with the murder.

Investigators told Action 4 News that Hernandez is accused in the death of 43-year-old Maria Magdalena Cruz.

Police were called out to a home at 2120 Gumwood Avenue on Sunday afternoon where they found her body inside.

An investigation revealed the Cruz died from an act of violence.

Full details were not immediately available but investigators said detectives linked Hernandez to the crime.

Hernandez appeared before a McAllen Municipal Court judge where he was issued a $1million dollar bond.

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Anchor Baby Update: 50 year sentence for man who shot ex-girlfriend 6 times

6/28/2014

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A steel rod and a knuckle from a cadaver have been placed in Yazmin Reyes' right hand.

Gunfire shattered it.

Blood from the injury stained the then 21-year-old's shoes red.

Adrian Reyes still remembers the day his daughter nearly died.

"She heard him calling her name," he recalled.  "So when she looked back and turned around he started to shoot at her."

27-year-old Victor Hernandez is the one with a gun, according to Adrian.

He says the ex-boyfriend waited for Yazmin to come home from work, followed her to the door and opened fire.

Adrian says security cameras at his Brownsville home recorded exactly what happened onto a hard drive.

The evidence would later be used to convict Hernandez in court.

The suspect spent nearly a year as a fugitive in Mexico before turning himself in to police last July.

Adrian says he’ll never forget the cold-hearted, cowardly-nature in which Hernandez opened fire on his daughter.

"She tried to run," he told Action 4’s Ryan Wolf.  "So she turned back to run into the house.  He kept shooting.  My daughter fell to the floor and she was halfway standing and he kept shooting until he had no more bullets."

That happened back in May of 2012 along Keith Lane.

Yazmin was shot 6 times.

"3 in her abdomen," Adrian said.  "She lost a kidney and also part of her intestine.  Some bullets went through her arm, her right arm.  There's a plate to hold the bone.  And a bullet also went through her hand and blew up her knuckle."

Her father says she still isn't ready to publicly speak out.

The family relocated shortly after the crime.

He hopes Hernandez's 50 year sentenced handed down on Friday will help Yazmin’s emotional scars to heal.

"We know that he isn't going to be a threat anymore for her," he said.

Justice has been served.

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Harboring An Illegal Or Helping A Refugee?

6/28/2014

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The parade of politicians in the Rio Grande Valley continued today with Texas Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate Greg Abbott taking his turn at the detention center tour.

"They are in rooms about 5 yards wide. There are 20 to 30 people in each."

He's following suit and taking the stance as most of his counterparts saying this is the President's fault.

"The only person not jumping through hopes is the President of the United States."

The protection of the border is key Abbott says, but the fact of the matter is, thousands of women and children have already infiltrated the valley.

We asked if the thousands of women and children who have already crossed the border will be sent back to their home countries.

Abbott says that's up to the Obama Administration.

He says the humanitarian side of this is of major concern and must be dealt with as well.

But he says the outreach should be left to the organized programs already in place across the valley and state resources, not residents in the valley.

We asked Abbott whether a resident who attempts to assist a mother and child by giving them a place to stay will be breaking the law.

He said, "In Texas we all help out when there is a crisis, but they should leave it up to the organizations and churches because if you help harbor a criminal you are committing a crime."

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Eric Holder and Others STILL Not Held Accountable

6/28/2014

Still the US Attorney General after the House of Representatives held Eric Holder in civil and criminal contempt concerning the firearm-walking program (“Fast-N-Furious”)that caused the death of of Border Patrol officer Brian Terry and 200 Mexican nationals; last week Senator Ted Cruz demanded a special investigator be appointed in the IRS scandal after that agency declared it had “lost” evidence in the form of email that Congress asked for more than a year ago.

Diana West wrote a compelling article stating:

About those 300 U.S. military advisers that the Obama administration has ordered to Iraq. They belong on the United States border with Mexico. They are urgently needed to assess what U.S. military force should be deployed immediately to secure our own border, not Iraq's border, from what is surely the most unconventional and, I believe, the most dangerous war in our history. … After all, a nation-state doesn't exist unless it controls its borders and protects its citizens. We, the People, do neither. But the existential danger here comes not from the assault itself. Nightmarishly, it comes from the Obama administration, which, in its greatest betrayal, is leading, or at least supporting, the aliens' charge. That's why the cavalry isn't coming. … Every American should examine the Department of Homeland Security solicitation notice that appeared six months ago at the federal business opportunities site FedBizOpps.gov. The notice seeks "Escort Services for Unaccompanied Alien Children," describing exactly the services now required to process, not deport, this massive influx. … So, while your border is in tatters and perhaps your town under siege, know that you are paying for it. You're paying for that new illegal minor alien facility now opening in Tucson -- the 17th such facility operated by a group called Southwest Key, with an annual budget of more than $150 million, according to NBC affiliate KVOA, "most of which comes from federal government contracts." (Bonus: the chairman of Southwest Key's board of directors, Victor Garza, is an official of La Raza, which hopes to reclaim the Southwest for Mexico.)

Corruption and commitment of high crimes and misdemeanors is the hallmark of the federal government. It did not begin with Barack Hussein Obama and his associates – but it certainly accelerated. Was not the big campaign motto “Hope and Change”? Problem is the American voter did not seek the details of just what kind of change Obama and comrades intended.

The Tea Party movement, an organized effort to return to constitutional law and government accountability is deemed an enemy of the government, and thus the United States while truly subversive organizations work in the background to promote American jihadism and others, like La Raza (“The Race”) is pushing for the unlawful “reclaiming” of the Southwest United States for Mexico (which most of which the US paid Mexico for after the Mexican-American War, the rebellion by the Republic of Texas).

Amidst the IRS and Middle East issues, a headline announced that the US economy collapsed in the first quarter of 2014. More of Obama's “Hope and Change” at work. At a 2.9% annual rate, it is the steepest decline of the last five years. The average consumer can see this where the food prices alone have increased three times since January of 2014. Businesses are preparing for the high cost of Obamacare and prices are escalating at a faster rate while the average American budget falls well below the inflationary index. David Limbaugh wrote: Obama Is Not Finished. The cost of theAffordable Healthcare Act impacted higher education beginning in 2013 and continues to affect it in 2014.

As the Tea Party organization stated:

Wall Street may have gotten a bailout, but American consumers won’t. It’s time for our elected officials to get out of their Washington bubble, and recognize that the burdens they place on average Americans actually do harm the economy as well.

Save the Republic by being a responsible voter in this important election year and every election and demand accountability and constitutionality.