BillOReilly.com Headlines

New crossword: All is OK

2013-05-24T22:51:00Z

As Oklahomans begin to rebuild after Monday's tornado, this week's puzzle pays homage to the state and its people. Play online or print it out for the road.

Go: O'Reilly crossword

Muslim hard-liners ID suspect in London attack

2013-05-24T12:35:00Z

A man seen with bloody hands wielding a butcher knife after the killing of a British soldier on the streets of London was described as a convert to Islam who took part in demonstrations with a banned radical group, two Muslim hard-liners said Thursday. Police raided houses in connection with the brazen slaying of the off-duty soldier, identified as Lee Rigby, of the 2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, who served in Afghanistan. In addition to the two suspects who were hospitalized after being shot by police, authorities said they had arrested a man and a woman, both 29, on suspicion of conspiracy to murder. Police would not say whether it appeared Rigby had been targeted specifically because of his military service. Although he was not in uniform at the time he was killed, he was said by witnesses to be wearing a T-shirt for a British veterans' charity.

Authorities have not identified either of the two wounded suspects and have not said when they would do so. Officials in Britain usually wait to name suspects until charges have been filed. Anjem Choudary, the former head of the radical group al-Muhajiroun, told The Associated Press that the man depicted in startling video that emerged after Rigby's death was named Michael Adebolajo, a Christian who converted to Islam around 2003 and took part in several demonstrations by the group in London. Asked if he condemned what Adebolajo did, Choudary told CBS News: "I don't think it helps. There's so many people who have been slaughtered, killed by drones, who are being tortured." The BBC broadcast video from 2007 showing Adebolajo standing near Choudary at a rally.

Bear Season Hits California Again

2013-05-24T12:26:00Z

April showers may bring May flowers but, in the foothills of Southern California, you can also expect bears. From May 1 to June 21, as grills fire up and tasty smells waft through the neighborhood, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife considers it "second bear season." The department spokesman, Andrew Hughan, told ABC News that he expects at least one bear a week for the next month. So far, the bears have already been living up to his predictions. All around Southern California, news reports have shown bears climbing fences, spooking horses and roaming streets all in search of their next meal.

One woman in Duarte, Calif., came downstairs thinking there was a burglar in her home. Instead, she found a cub halfway through her kitchen window. "You must have had something that smelled good in that kitchen," the 911 operator told the woman, who had barricaded herself in her bedroom bathroom, according to the 911 recording obtained by ABC News. And that's the problem. As bears eat more human food or garbage, or even the fish out of the koi pond, they become habituated to a human food source and less frightened of people, according to the California Department of Fish and Wild Life website. This could lead to a more tenacious and even aggressive bear. "Once a bear's habituated, they cannot unlearn," Hughan told ABC News. "It's a death sentence."

US News | Weird News | More ABC News Videos

Paula Broadwell Apologizes for Extramarital Affair With David Petraeus

2013-05-24T12:23:00Z

The woman at the center of the sex scandal that led to David Petraeus' resignation from the CIA has spoken publicly for the first time about the affair and apologized for the "harm" she caused to the families involved. "I have remorse for the harm that this has caused, the sadness this has caused in my family and other families," Paula Broadwell said in her first interview with ABC News' affiliate WSOC in Charlotte, N.C.,since news of the extramarital affair broke last November. Broadwell met Petraeus, 60, while she was a graduate student at Harvard University and working on a dissertation about Petraeus. Broadwell wrote the biography on Petraeus titled "All In: The Education of General David Petraeus." As Petraeus' personal biographer, she enjoyed tremendous access to the decorated war hero and former four-star general. "I 'm the first to admit I've made mistakes, and I'm regretful for the pain I've caused, but at some point again you pick yourself up face forward and keep moving," Broadwell said. Broadwell said it was support from loved ones that got her through the public scrutiny she faced in the aftermath of the affair. Broadwell, who lives in Charlotte with her husband and two kids, spends her time supporting veterans and wounded warriors.

US News | Weird News | More ABC News Videos

Arias Jury Reaches No Unanimous Verdict; Judge Orders Retrial In Penalty Phase

2013-05-24T12:20:00Z

The judge in the Jodi Arias murder trial declared a mistrial in the penalty phase Thursday after the jury reported for a second time that it was deadlocked on whether to sentence her to life in prison or death for killing her boyfriend in 2008. The judge scheduled a retrial for July 18. A new panel likely will be seated to try again to reach a decision on a sentence -- unless the prosecutor takes death off the table agrees to a life sentence. The panel began deliberating Tuesday and first reported they had failed agree the next day. The judge instructed them to keep trying. The same panel on May 8 found Arias guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Travis Alexander, who was stabbed and slashed nearly 30 times and nearly decapitated at his Mesa home. The jury later determined the killing was cruel enough to merit consideration of the death penalty. Under Arizona law, a hung jury in the death penalty phase of a trial requires a new jury to be seated to decide the punishment. If the second jury cannot reach a unanimous decision, the judge would then sentence Arias to spend her entire life in prison or be eligible for release after 25 years. The judge cannot sentence Arias to death. (AP)

Morgan Freeman seems to fall asleep during on-air interview

2013-05-24T12:14:00Z

Morgan Freeman is pretty much Hollywood royalty, so it’s no surprise that two Seattle-based news anchors were super excited to interview the famous actor. But the 75-year-old star didn’t seem to share their excitement, as he struggled to keep his eyes open during an early-morning interview with the anchors on Wednesday. Freeman appeared to nod off during the segment, as his “Now You See Me” co-star Michael Caine answered the anchors’ questions about the impressive magic tricks in their upcoming film. The actor, who previously starred as God in “Bruce Almighty,” plays Thaddeus Bradley in the film, out May 31. The movie is about a team of illusionists who rob banks and share their earnings with their magic show audiences. (Fox News)

Holder OK'd Search Warrant For Fox News Reporter's Private Emails

2013-05-24T12:06:00Z

Attorney General Eric Holder signed off on a controversial search warrant that identified Fox News reporter James Rosen as a “possible co-conspirator” in violations of the Espionage Act and authorized seizure of his private emails, a law enforcement official told NBC News on Thursday. The disclosure of the attorney general’s role came as President Barack Obama, in a major speech on his counterterrorism policy, said Holder had agreed to review Justice Department guidelines governing investigations that involve journalists. I am troubled by the possibility that leak investigations may chill the investigative journalism that holds government accountable," Obama said. "Journalists should not be at legal risk for doing their jobs." Rosen, who has not been charged in the case, was nonetheless the target of a search warrant that enabled Justice Department investigators to secretly seize his private emails after an FBI agent said he had "asked, solicited and encouraged … (a source) to disclose sensitive United States internal documents and intelligence information." Obama's comments follow a firestorm of criticism that has erupted over disclosures that in separate investigations of leaks of classified information, the Justice Department had obtained private emails that Rosen exchanged with a source and the phone records of Associated Press reporters. (NBC News)

Conservative group's lawsuit targets IRS employees personally

2013-05-24T12:04:00Z

True the Vote is not only suing the IRS, but also taking action against the IRS employees who participated in the harassment of the voter education and election monitoring organization. Those employees could personally be held liable to pay damages that would be established in litigation. True the Votes’ lead counsel, Cleta Mitchell, explained in an email to The Daily Caller that she does not know whether the employees, if found to be liable in the lawsuit True the Vote filed against the IRS and its employees Tuesday, would pay out of pocket or take other avenues such as accessing union funds or homeowners insurance. Either way, she noted, the group will pursue its action. “[T]heir unlawful actions caused my clients to have to come up with the money to deal with their demands…out of their own personal finances… They didn’t seem to worry / care about that,” Mitchell wrote to TheDC. “Government employees never do care about the costs to private citizens of their burdensome demands….” Founder and president of True the Vote Catherine Engelbrecht explained in a conference call Thursday morning that in July of 2010 her organization filed an application for tax exemption. The request has been in limbo since then. (Daily Caller)

Bill O'Reilly: President Obama trying to reassert his authority

2013-05-24T12:03:20Z

By Bill O'Reilly

At a major foreign policy speech today at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C., the President put forth that his administration is winning the "war on terror." Although, of course, Mr. Obama does not use that phrase "war on terror."

In the address the President explained how the drone attacks are legal and effective. "Talking Points" agrees. He once again called for the closing of the prison at Guantanamo Bay. T Points would have to see exactly where and how the terrorist would be tried in the USA before agreeing with that.

Also the President talked about increasing security for diplomats abroad this off the Benghazi story. Finally, Mr. Obama's promise to protect the rights of journalists off the AP and James Rosen situations.

It's clear Mr. Obama is doing damage control. And that was also done in the "The Washington Post" this morning -- article in the paper about the IRS scandal clearly planted by the White House. It said the President was not in the loop, that his top advisors kept IRS information from him for a variety of reasons.

Fascinating footnote is that David Plouffe, a fervent supporter of the President, attacked Lanny Davis for saying this about White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler who admits she knew well in advance about the IRS abuse.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LANNY DAVIS, FORMER SPECIAL COUNSEL TO PRESIDENT CLINTON: I don't know Ms. Ruemmler but they don't think about anything more than the legal issues. Well it's an investigation. We're not going to share the conclusions. You don't have to. Just give a heads up and do crisis management planning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: So, Davis gets hammered by Obama acolytes for saying that. I don't get it. So the White House strategy is clear. The President did not know anything about the IRS targeting conservative groups even though his top advisors did.

There's also new information from the Daily Caller Web site, it says Ms. Ruemmler met with Christopher Meade, chief counsel for the Treasury Department which oversees the IRS three times last fall. The two had never met one-on-one before. Meade is a long time left-wing activist who apparently knew about the IRS investigation a year ago.

It's clear Ms. Ruemmler and Mr. Meade must testify in front of Congress and White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough must do so as well. The country needs their sworn testimony. Especially after Lois Lerner who oversaw the IRS abuse took the Fifth yesterday. The IRS story just beginning to surface.

And that's "The Memo."

- You can catch Bill O'Reilly's "Talking Points Memo" weeknights at 8 and 11 p.m. ET on the Fox News Channel and any time on foxnews.com/oreilly. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com.

Transcript Date:

Thu, 05/23/2013

Transcript Show Name:

O'Reilly Factor

Transcript Talent Byline:

Bill O'Reilly

Code Pink protester interrupts the president

2013-05-24T11:57:00Z

A left-wing activist heckled President Barack Obama during his foreign policy speech Thursday, objecting to the president’s inability to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center as promised.“There is no justification, beyond politics, for Congress to prevent us from closing a facility that should have never been opened,” Obama said in regard to Guantanamo Bay, prompting an outburst from veteran Medea Benjamin, co-founder of the progressive activist organization Code Pink, who recently said in an interview that she refuses to allow Obama to shift the blame for not closing Guantanamo to Congress.“It’s not Congress. It’s you, sir! … You are commander-in-chief. You can close Guantanamo today!” Benjamin shouted at Obama, drawing a moderate amount of applause for her disruption.“Part of free speech is you being able to speak, but also me being able to speak. And you listening,” Obama said in response to Benjamin. Obama notably agreed with the content of Benjamin’s interruption. “It’s worth being passionate about. Is this who we are?” he asked.Benjamin was interviewed May 11 after a Code Pink protester chained herself to the White House gate in protest of Guantanamo Bay’s continued existence, saying that she refuses to allow the president to blame Congress for his own inaction. (Daily Caller)

IRS official on leave refused to resign

2013-05-24T11:51:00Z

First she refused to testify. Now Lois Lerner, the IRS official at the center of the tax agency scandal, is refusing to resign, according to a top Republican senator. Sources confirmed to Fox News earlier Thursday that Lerner, the head of the IRS division that oversaw the unit targeting conservative groups, had been placed on administrative leave, with pay. But Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, claimed she was only put in that status after refusing to step down. He said the commissioner was in his right to demand her resignation, and said taxpayers should not continue to pay her salary indefinitely. “My understanding is the new acting IRS commissioner asked for Ms. Lerner’s resignation, and she refused to resign. She was then put on administrative leave instead,” Grassley said in a statement. “The IRS owes it to taxpayers to resolve her situation quickly. The agency needs to move on to fix the conditions that led to the targeting debacle."

Capitol Hill sources said Lerner, the director of exempt organizations, was placed on paid leave Thursday, amid calls from some lawmakers for her to be suspended or fired. In her absence, Ken Corbin, the current deputy director of the submission processing, wage and investment division, will take over her duties, according to an internal IRS memo obtained by Fox News. Lerner, the official who first acknowledged the controversial IRS practice earlier this month, asserted her innocence at a House hearing on Wednesday. She then refused to testify, citing her Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination. The move angered many who say she should have been forced to answer why the tax agency targeted conservative groups applying for tax exempt status. Republican leaders of that committee, though, now say she waived that right by giving a statement and want to haul her back to testify. (Fox News)

Boy Scouts vote to allow openly gay youths, maintain ban on gay adult leaders

2013-05-24T11:48:00Z

The Boy Scouts of America on Thursday ended its ban on openly gay youths but maintained a prohibition on gay adult leaders, a decision framed as a compromise but one that could lead to litigation and thousands of defections from one of America’s largest youth organizations. The immediate impact of the policy change, endorsed by more than 60 percent of the organization’s 1,400 voting members, is likely to vary widely. Mormon officials on Thursday night said the church would stay involved with Scouting “based on our mutual interest in helping boys and young men understand and live their duty to God and develop upright moral behavior.” Bishop Paul Loverde, the leader of the Catholic Diocese of Arlington, issued a statement saying the vote would likely force the diocese to reconsider sponsoring troops in about 50 of its parishes, while the Rev. William Byrne, secretary for pastoral ministry of the Archdiocese of Washington, said the new policy is not in conflict with Catholic teaching.

The vote of the century-old group symbolizes just how quickly many Americans’ views on homosexuality are changing. Just last summer the Scouts reaffirmed its desire to keep out openly gay boys and gay adult volunteers, a policy the Supreme Court upheld in 2000. But escalating pressure from families and major donors in the past year forced the Scouts to act. The vote by the Boy Scouts of America’s National Council, meeting in Grapevine, Tex., removes “the restriction denying membership to youth on the basis of sexual orientation alone,” the Boy Scouts of America said in a statement. “The Boy Scouts of America will not sacrifice its mission, or the youth served by the movement, by allowing the organization to be consumed by a single, divisive, and unresolved societal issue,” the statement said. “While people have different opinions about this policy, we can all agree that kids are better off when they are in Scouting.” The new policy goes into effect Jan. 1. (Washington Post)

Republicans Blast Obama Over Call To Repeal 9/11 Law on Military Force

2013-05-24T11:43:00Z

President Obama drew sharp criticism from Republican senators Thursday for urging the repeal of the 2001 law that effectively authorized the war on terror. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., claimed the president was assuming Al Qaeda is "on the run," calling that mindset "really incredible." The president addressed the law, known as the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF), toward the end of an hour-long speech largely devoted to explaining and defending his administration's lethal drone program. He even referenced the fact that America is at war in defending the legality of the drone strikes. But Obama made clear that his ultimate goal is to update, and then repeal, the use of force law, saying he wants to fight terrorism without keeping the country on a "perpetual war-time footing." "The AUMF is now nearly twelve years old. The Afghan War is coming to an end. Core Al Qaeda is a shell of its former self," Obama said. "Unless we discipline our thinking our definitions, our actions, we may be drawn into more wars we don't need to fight, or continue to grant presidents unbound powers more suited for traditional armed conflicts between nation states.

"So I look forward to engaging Congress and the American people in efforts to refine, and ultimately repeal, the AUMF's mandate. And I will not sign laws designed to expand this mandate further," he said. "Our systematic effort to dismantle terrorist organizations must continue. But this war, like all wars, must end. That's what history advises. That's what our democracy demands." The resolution was passed by Congress three days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. It authorized the military and president to use all necessary force to go after those responsible, and prevent future acts of terror. It remains in effect. Obama will find support in Congress for revising and updating the law. Before the president's speech, Republican Sen. Bob Corker, top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the original law is "increasingly unrelated to current terrorist threats." (Fox News)

Bridge collapses in Washington state leaving cars and people in the water

2013-05-24T11:36:00Z

Three people were rescued from a river after a bridge along Interstate-5 in Washington State collapsed on Thursday evening, plunging cars into the water below, according to Washington State Patrol. Looking at specific areas of the bridge, the substructure (piers, abutments, footings, piles, etc.) was described as in satisfactory condition, with the superstructure (beams, girders, stringers, trusses, cables, pins, hangers, etc.) in somewhat worse condition, listed as fair, according to the inspection data online from the Federal Highway Administration. "Fair" meant that all primary structural elements were sound but may have minor defects. The extent of the injuries for the three is unclear, but all were evaluated on scene and were transported to area hospitals, according to Marcus Deyerin of the Washington Incident Management Team. Authorities say they have no reason to believe any others are still in the river. Two vehicles were submerged in the Skagit River when the bridge fell around 7 p.m. local time (10 p.m. EDT), and traffic has been closed in both directions.

A witnesses told KING5 that an oversized truck hit the upper right side of the bridge before the collapse, though it wasn't clear if that caused the span to give way. This I-5 bridge over the Skagit River at Mount Vernon was described by the Washington State Department of Transportation, after an inspection in August 2010, as "somewhat better than minimum adequacy to tolerate being left in place as is." State inspection reports submitted to the Federal Highway Administration were reviewed by NBC News. That overall evaluation of the structural condition on the bridge corresponds to a score of 5 on a scale from 0 (worst) to 9 (best). The 1,112-foot steel truss bridge was built in 1955, and was carrying an average daily traffic of 71,000 vehicles. The bridge was of a "fracture critical" design, as are 18,000 bridges nationwide, meaning it could collapse if even one part failed. Even after the bridge collapse that killed 13 people in Minneapolis in 2007, a haphazard system of inspections continued, with federal authorities choosing not to require re-inspection of all the fracture-critical bridges. (NBC News)

atrabilious

2013-05-24T04:31:00Z

[aah-truh-BILL-ee-us] Melancholy, gloomy

The Rumble: The Sequel!

2013-05-23T22:45:00Z

Bill and Jon Stewart reunite, this time going head-to-head on the IRS scandal, and Muslim profiling. Bill even admits he may have been too soft on President Obama...

Go: Video Center

Judge Napolitano's Column: Tyranny Around the Corner

2013-05-23T19:05:00Z

A few weeks ago, President Obama advised graduates at Ohio State University that they need not listen to voices warning about tyranny around the corner, because we have self-government in America. He argued that self-government is in and of itself an adequate safeguard against tyranny, because voters can be counted upon to elect democrats (lowercase "d") not tyrants. His argument defies logic and 20th-century history. It reveals an ignorance of the tyranny of the majority, which believes it can write any law, regulate any behavior, alter any procedure and tax any event so long as it can get away with it.
        History has shown that the majority will not permit any higher law or logic or value -- like fidelity to the natural law, a belief in the primacy of the individual or an acceptance of the supremacy of the Constitution -- that prevents it from doing as it wishes.
        Under Obama's watch, the majority has, by active vote or refusal to interfere, killed hundreds of innocents -- including three Americans -- by drone, permitted federal agents to write their own search warrants, bombed Libya into tribal lawlessness without a declaration of war so that a mob there killed our ambassador with impunity, attempted to force the Roman Catholic Church to purchase insurance policies that cover artificial birth control, euthanasia and abortion, ordered your doctor to ask you whether you own guns, used the IRS to intimidate outspoken conservatives, seized the telephone records of newspaper reporters without lawful authority and in violation of court rules, and obtained a search warrant against one of my Fox colleagues by misrepresenting his true status to a federal judge.
        James Rosen, my colleague and friend, is a professional journalist. He covers the State Department for Fox News. In order to do his job, he has cultivated sources in the State Department -- folks willing to speak from time to time off the record.
        One of Rosen's sources apparently was a former employee of a federal contractor who was on detail to the State Department, Stephen Jin-Woo Kim. Kim is an expert in arms control and national defense whose lawyers have stated that his job was to explain byzantine government behavior so we all can understand it. When he was indicted for communicating top secret and sensitive information, presumably to Rosen, his lawyers replied by stating that the information he discussed was already in the public domain, and thus it wasn't secret.
        Prior to securing Kim's indictment, the Department of Justice obtained a search warrant for Google's records of Rosen's personal emails by telling a federal judge that Rosen had committed the crime of conspiracy by undue flattery of Kim and appealing to Kim's vanity until Kim told Rosen what he wanted to hear. In a word, that is rubbish. And the FBI agent who claimed that asking a source for information and the federal judge who found that the flattering questions alone constituted criminal behavior were gravely in error.
        Reporters are protected in their craft by the First Amendment, and the Supreme Court has ruled that they can ask whatever questions they wish without fear of prosecution. If Kim revealed classified information to Rosen -- a charge Kim vigorously denies -- that is Kim's crime, not Rosen's. The Supreme Court ruled in the Pentagon Papers case that it is not a crime for a journalist to seek secrets, to receive them, to possess them and to publish them so long as they affect a matter of material public interest.
        The government's behavior here is very troubling. Government lawyers and FBI agents are charged with knowing the law. They must have known that Rosen committed no crime, and they no doubt never intended to charge him, and they never have. They materially misled the judge, who saw the phrase "probable cause" of criminal activity (taken from the Fourth Amendment) in their affidavit in support of the search warrant they sought, and he signed. The judge should have seen this for the ruse it was. It is inconceivable that a person could conspire to commit a crime (release of classified information) that is impossible for that person to commit, particularly with a Supreme Court case directly on point.
        This misuse of the search warrant mechanism by misrepresentation of the status of the target continues the radicalization of federal criminal procedure now typical of this Department of Justice. It has claimed that it can release military weapons to foreign criminal gangs just to see where the weapons end up, and that its agents cannot be prosecuted for harm caused by those who received the weapons. It has held that the serious consideration given in the White House by high-ranking government officials to the identity of persons the president wants to kill somehow is a constitutional substitute for due process and thus enables the president to use drones to kill people uncharged with federal crimes. It has extended the public safety exception to the Miranda rule from the few seconds at the scene of the crime spent securing the prisoner, where the Supreme Court has said it resides, to more than 72 hours.
        And now this.
        The reason we have the due process safeguards imposed upon the government by the Constitution is to keep tyranny from lurking anywhere here, much less around the corner. Due process is the intentionally created obstacle to government procedural shortcuts, which, if disregarded, will invite tyranny to knock at the front door and sneak in through the back. Justice Felix Frankfurter warned of this 70 years ago when he wrote, "The history of liberty has largely been the history of the observance of procedural safeguards." That was true then, and it is true now.
        Do you expect the Department of Justice to cut constitutional corners against you?

Bill's Weekly Column: Assessing Blame

2013-05-23T17:14:00Z

This week, Bill got a lesson from his nine-year-old son in assessing blame that highlights why kids today are so different than kids from the '50s.

Go: Bill's latest column

Dirty, couch-bound, unkempt, and unevolved: It's Samsung's new view of men.

2013-05-23T14:58:00Z

A new ad for Samsung televisions portrays men as dirty slobs, just a half step up from cavemen -- and it has the more evolved members of the male species crying foul. “That's probably one of the most vile adverts I've ever seen,” wrote one outraged user on a Reddit forum dedicated to men’s rights. “This isn't the normal IV drip of laughing at men; this is simply mainlining outright contempt.” “Are they trying to alienate their primary consumer base?” another person asked. The advertisement, released May 14, touts the company’s Evolution Kit, a plug in module that upgrades the software in the television without necessitating the purchase of a brand new set. The advertisement shows the average man as a caveman, aping a television program he is watching; his disgusted wife contemplates plugging the module into him instead. “Hilarity” ensues, the ad firm must have thought. Viewers of the ad disagree, jumping online solely to voice their displeasure. “I saw this as a commercial and came here just to dislike [it],” one person wrote Wednesday on YouTube, where Samsung posted the clip. (Fox News)

Obama prom photo revealed

2013-05-23T14:57:00Z

Even future presidents go to prom, as seen in newly released pictures of President Barack Obama before his 1979 event. TIME magazine on Thursday published photos of Obama, then 17, with his date and another couple before their senior prom in Hawaii. Obama was sporting a white suit jacket; his date Megan Hughes wore a light blue gown. Also pictured is Obama’s classmate Kelli Allman, who offered up the pictures, and her date Greg Orme. “You are extremely sweet and foxy, I don’t know why Greg would want to spend any time with me at all!” Obama wrote in Allman’s yearbook in a note that is also included in the TIME piece. “You really deserve better than clowns like us; you even laugh at my jokes!” (Politico)

Vote on Gay Scouts Comes at Emotional Moment

2013-05-23T14:56:00Z

The Boy Scouts of America's national leadership will vote Thursday whether to allow openly gay Scouts in its ranks, a critical and emotionally charged moment for one of the nation's oldest youth organizations and its millions of members. About 1,400 voting members of BSA's national council are to cast ballots Thursday on a resolution that would end a policy that allows youth Scouts to be excluded based only on sexual orientation. The ban on gay adult leaders would remain in place. The vote is taking place at a resort in Grapevine, Texas, not far from BSA's headquarters, during the national council's three-day annual meeting. While the meeting was closed to the public, it was closely watched by supporters and opponents of a change. Both sides on Wednesday made a final effort to explain their positions. Gay-rights supporters and others who want the policy changed held a summit at a nearby resort, while opponents held signs on the street next to the entrance and a rally nearby. The results are expected to be announced shortly after 5 p.m. CDT Thursday. (AP)

Some business owners resist providing employees with contraceptive coverage

2013-05-23T14:54:00Z

Religiously devout business owners are waging a broad rebellion against providing their employees with contraceptive coverage, bringing dozens of lawsuits that seem certain to land the issue before the Supreme Court. The company owners say their religious beliefs take precedence over a new federal requirement, contained in President Obama’s Affordable Care Act, that they give employees insurance that covers contraceptives. The legal battle took an important step forward Wednesday when an appeals court here heard arguments in two cases brought by business owners who are Catholic. Another challenge is scheduled to be heard Thursday by an appeals court in Denver, and two other courts are set to hear similar cases over the next two weeks. There are 60 cases filed nationwide objecting to the impending mandate, which requires employers to provide no-cost coverage of all contraceptives approved by the Food and Drug Administration. The challenges are split almost equally between those brought by corporations and by nonprofit entities with a religious affiliation or moral objection to contraception.

So far, it is the objections from religious-affiliated nonprofit corporations and institutions that have drawn the most attention. Groups such as Catholic bishops have accused the Obama administration of waging war on religious groups by insisting on the contraceptive mandate. But those cases are mostly in legal limbo as the administration works on regulations that might provide a compromise. Further along in the legal process are the suits filed by businesses with religious owners. These enterprises are involved in profit-making activities that have nothing to do with faith. The companies, among other things, make wooden cabinets, run a national chain of arts and crafts stores and supply salad greens to local Panera restaurants. Their challenges offer a complex set of issues — religious freedom, equality for women workers, whether a company rather than a person is protected in its exercise of religion — that already are dividing lower courts. (Washington Post)

American Workers' Health Care Costs Increase Again

2013-05-23T14:54:00Z

The family health care tab shows no sign of shrinking. On average, according to the latest Milliman Medical Index (MMI), a family of four covered through a typical employer health plan will pay out $9,144 this year in premiums and out-of-pocket expenses. That's up about 6.5 percent over 2012, though not as much as the prior year's increase of 7.2 percent. The 2013 rise translates into slightly more than $45 a month in higher monthly premiums and out-of-pocket expenses. A significant reason for the jump, based on today's figures from Milliman, a health care consultancy, is that employees are shouldering a greater share of the cost of health insurance. Families are paying 8.4 percent more than last year toward insurance premiums, while employers are paying 6.1 percent more. Between 2010 and now, employees have seen yearly increases of 8 percent to 9 percent in their average monthly premium; increases in the employer contribution have averaged less than 7 percent. Private-industry wages, by contrast, have risen less than 2 percent in the last year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Families with coverage like the one built into Milliman's assumptions will pay an average of $5,544 in monthly premiums through payroll deductions and $3,600 out of pocket for doctor visits, medications and other medical bills. (US News)

Jury in Jodi Arias Trial Resumes Deliberations

2013-05-23T14:53:00Z

Jurors in Jodi Arias' murder trial resume deliberations Thursday after they were unable to reach a unanimous verdict on whether she should be sentenced to life in prison or death for killing her one-time boyfriend, prompting the judge to instruct them to keep trying. The panel reported its impasse Wednesday after only about two and a half hours of deliberations. Judge Sherry Stephens told jurors to try to identify areas of agreement and disagreement as they work toward a decision. The jury then continued deliberating until late afternoon, when it adjourned for the day without a decision. Under Arizona law, a hung jury in the death penalty phase of a trial requires a new jury to be seated to decide the punishment. If the second jury cannot reach a unanimous decision, the judge would then sentence Arias to spend her entire life in prison or be eligible for release after 25 years. In the event of a hung jury in the Arias trial, the case could drag on for several more months, said former Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley. (AP)

Training Ground: Western radicals could be learning terrorism skills in Syrian conflict

2013-05-23T14:53:00Z

Americans and Europeans have been joining al Qaeda-affiliated groups in Syria in increasing numbers, causing concern that these Western radicals could attempt to carry out terrorist attack on the United States upon returning home, experts told Congress Wednesday. “Syria is becoming a training ground for foreign fighters,” Seth Jones, a former U.S. Special Operations liaison, told lawmakers during a House Homeland Security Committee hearing. “Syria is attracting a cadre of foreign fighters who could return home with the ability and intention” to commit terrorism in America and Europe, said Jones, currently a counterterrorism expert for RAND, a think-tank that provides analysis to the U.S. Armed Forces. “An increasing number of [Western] fighters have travelled to Syria … to fight against the Assad regime.” Terror organizations connected to al Qaeda have become a central presence in Syria as its years-long civil war spiral out of control, the experts told lawmakers. The al Qaeda-backed group Jabhat al-Nusra (JN), for instance, has already become more popular among rebels than the Free Syrian Army, which the United States and other Western nations have attempted to bolster. Al-Nusra is now turning Syria into a massive jihadi training camp, giving Western radicals the know-how to commit terrorist attacks on the United States and Europe once they return home, according to Jones and other experts who testified. (Free Beacon)

Ruemmler met one-on-one with radical-left Treasury lawyer long before April

2013-05-23T14:50:00Z

Although White House Chief Counsel Kathryn Ruemmler claims to have learned about the IRS audit scandal only last month, she had three unprecedented one-on-one meetings last year with the Treasury Department’s chief lawyer, who has known about the inspector general’s investigation of the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of conservative nonprofits since at least June 2012. The Treasury lawyer in turn has a long history of extreme left-wing agitation. Christopher J. Meade, Treasury Chief Counsel, met with Ruemmler on September 27th, December 11th, and December 13th, 2012, according to White House Visitor Records requests. The two had never met one-on-one prior to these meetings. Meade was one of the first members of President Barack Obama’s administration to find out about the IRS investigation in June 2012, when he became the Treasury Department’s acting general counsel. The two also met with fifteen other people on July 2nd, 2012 and with fifteen other people on July 17th.

The unusual timing of the meetings suggest that Ruemmler and potentially other White House members may have known of the IRS Inspector General Report months earlier than has been reported. Meade himself is a long-time left-wing activist whose history of agitation goes back to his Ivy League days. As a Princeton undergraduate, Meade, along with two other students, was arrested in February 1990 for disorderly conduct after disrupting Vice President Dan Quayle’s speech to Congressional Republicans. “Protestors shouted ‘Stop the killing’ and ‘There’s women’s blood on your hands, Dan,’” wrote The Daily Princetonian on February 28, 1990. “They were taken out of the hall by Secret Service agents as they continued their heckling.” Meade was charged with “attempting to disrupt a lawful meeting (and to) interfere and obstruct Vice President Quayle (by addressing) him in unreasonably and offensively abusive language,” according to the school paper. He was also punished by the university.

Meade was particularly anti-Republican. “Give me any issue, and I’ll tell you why we’re protesting the Bush administration’s policy on it,” Meade told the Daily Princetonian, citing Quayle’s favoring of “hardline military spending” and U.S. intervention in Central America and Panama. “Another one is someone so dumb being the vice president,” Meade said, repeating a then-popular jibe about Quayle. The arrest was the culmination of a long period of left-wing agitation at Princeton. In April 1989, Meade led a class boycott against Princeton University after having planned a sit-in of the Dean of Students office that resulted in a letter of reprimand. “It just seems by doing things the nice way, no one listens,” he told the Daily Princetonian in April 1989. “This will get the administration’s ear.” Meade also led the left-wing campus group, Urban Action, which according to Meade had as its “primary purpose” “mobiliz[ing] students to get involved in issues of homelessness, gentrification, poverty, and racism.” (Daily Caller)

Colorado governor grants indefinite stay of execution to mass murderer

2013-05-23T14:50:00Z

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper tried to find middle ground in a clemency petition for convicted mass murderer Nathan Dunlap Wednesday, sealing neither his life nor his death, but settling instead on a temporary stay of execution. Hickenlooper made clear the stay would remain in effect as long as he is the governor. Arapahoe County District Attorney George Brauchler, whose office sought Dunlap’s execution, said Hickenlooper’s decision “does not feel like an act of courage and it sure isn’t leadership.”

“I’m confused. I’m frustrated,” Brauchler told reporters after Hickenlooper made his announcement at the state capitol building in Denver. “Disappointed isn’t strong enough.”

“The governor shrugged,” Brauchler added, also saying he would have been happier if Hickenlooper had made a definitive decision. Instead, Brauchler charged that Hickenlooper has merely punted to future governors. Dunlap was convicted of killing four employees at a Chuck E. Cheese’s restaurant in 1993 and attempting to kill a fifth who survived the shooting attack. Dunlap, 19 at the time, had been recently fired from the restaurant. In the words of Eva Wilson, an assistant district attorney who prosecuted the case 17 years ago, he did it for revenge and for fame. His legal appeals exhausted, Dunlap was scheduled for execution in August. Had the state killing been carried out, it would have been in the first in Colorado since 1997 and only the second since 1967. In emotional comments, Hickenlooper said he struggled with the decision but ultimately decided that a temporary stay — which can be allowed to stand or be revoked by a future governor — satisfied his unease with the death penalty and still respected the rule of law and the work of the courts and jurors who sentenced Dunlap to die. (Daily Caller)

Did Lois Lerner Botch Fifth Amendment Rights?

2013-05-23T14:48:00Z

After a key agency IRS official today invoked her Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate herself during congressional testimony, Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa said he will review legal precedent in order to determine whether Lois Lerner, the director of Exempt Organizations at the IRS, could be held in contempt of Congress. Although Lerner, who’s at the center of the controversy, refused to answer questions from members of the committee, she read a brief statement into the record declaring her innocence. Furthermore, at the request of Issa, Lerner authenticated a document containing her written answers for the inspector general’s investigation of the matter. Those actions prompted members of the committee to question whether Lerner effectively waived her right to invoke the Fifth Amendment.

“She just testified. She just waived her Fifth Amendment right to privilege,” Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., a former federal prosecutor, said. “You don’t get to tell your side of the story and then not be subjected to cross-examination. That’s not the way it works.” Although Issa dismissed Lerner, at the end of the hearing he announced that the committee would recess rather than adjourn while he determines whether Lerner should be recalled before the panel. “Ms. Lerner may have waived her Fifth Amendment rights by addressing core issues in her opening statement and the authentication afterwards,” Issa, R-Calif., said as he brought the hearing to a close. “Although I excused Ms. Lerner subject to a recall, I am looking into the possibility of recalling her and insisting that she answer questions in light of a waiver.” (ABC News)

On IRS issue, senior White House aides were focused on shielding Obama

2013-05-23T14:35:00Z

As soon as White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler heard about an upcoming inspector general’s report on the Internal Revenue Service, she knew she had a problem. The notice Ruemmler saw on April 24 gave her a thumbnail sketch of a disturbing finding: that the IRS had improperly targeted tea party and other conservative groups. She shared the news with White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough and other senior White House aides, who all recognized the danger of the findings. But they agreed that it would be best not to share it with President Obama until the independent audit was completed and made public, in part to protect him from even the appearance of trying to influence an investigation. This account of how the White House tried to deal with the IRS inquiry — based on documents, public statements and interviews with multiple senior officials, including one directly involved in the discussions — shows how carefully Obama’s top aides were trying to shield him from any second-term scandal that might swamp his agenda or, worse, jeopardize his presidency.

The episode also offers a glimpse into the workings of Obama’s insular West Wing, which has struggled to cope in recent weeks with the IRS scandal, the continued fallout from last year’s deadly attack in Benghazi, Libya, and the Justice Department’s tracking of journalists as part of leak investigations. But Ruemmler and McDonough’s careful plan for the IRS was upended on May 10, when Lois Lerner, a senior official at the agency, broke the news by admitting that the IRS had given extra scrutiny to conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status. Senior White House officials were stunned to see the IRS trying to get ahead of its own story — and in doing so, creating a monstrous communications disaster for an administration that appeared not to know what its agencies were up to. Ruemmler views her mission strictly as advising Obama on the law and protecting executive branch prerogatives, colleagues and friends said. “She’s a lawyer’s lawyer,” said Neal Katyal, acting solicitor general in Obama’s first term and a close friend. “She can go with you toe to toe on footnotes and Supreme Court opinions or she can get into the intricacies of protecting the president against a Capitol Hill investigation.” Yet Ruemmler’s lawyerly focus sometimes conflicts with political imperatives. The absence of such dominant first-term personalities as former adviser David Axelrod and former chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, who could bridge those differences, has left the White House scrambling to contain its public damage. (Washington Post)

Woman says she tried to "talk down" suspects in London slaying

2013-05-23T14:33:00Z

Both suspects remained at the scene after the soldier was killed, and one woman stepped forward in an attempt to talk the two men down. "My instinct said to just talk to him, and he looked like a normal guy," explained mother and a scout leader Ingrid Loyau Kennet. "He wasn't drunk, he was not high on drugs, he looked like just a normal guy pissed off with the fact that women -- Muslim women and children -- are dying in their own country by the hand of white men." Loyau Kennet said she asked the man why he had done it. "He said he's a British soldier, he's killed people, he killed Muslim people in Muslim countries and have nothing to do here. And I said okay, so what would you like? And I tried to talk about what he felt, and he said all the bombs dropping and killing blindly, women, children, all Muslims." She told Britain's ITV that she tried to talk the suspects out of confronting the police and asked one of the men to hand over his knife. The suspects did not flee the scene, but instead stayed and engaged with Loyau Kennet, allowing bystanders to capture them on cell phone cameras. When police did arrive, the men charged forward and police opened fire. (CBS News)

Bloodied London Attacker Speaks After Beheading: 'You People Will Never Be Safe'

2013-05-23T14:30:00Z

KILLER: By Allah, we swear by the almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you until you leave us alone. (EDIT) many, many ayah throughout the Koran [referring to religious verses] that we must fight them as they fight us. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. I apologize that women had to witness this today but in our lands women have to see the same. You people will never be safe. Remove your governments, they don’t care about you. You think David Cameron is going to get caught in the street when we start busting our guns? You think politicians are going to die? No, it’s going to be the average guy, like you

U.S. acknowledges killing of four U.S. citizens in counterterrorism operations

2013-05-23T13:58:00Z

The Obama administration acknowledged Wednesday that it has killed four Americans in overseas counterterrorism operations since 2009, the first time it has publicly taken responsibility for the deaths. Although the acknowledgment, contained in a letter from Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to Congress, does not say how the four were killed, three are known to have died in CIA drone strikes in Yemen in 2011: Anwar al-Awlaki, his 16-year-old son and Samir Khan. The fourth — Jude Kennan Mohammad, a Florida native indicted in North Carolina in 2009 — was killed in Pakistan, where the CIA has operated a drone campaign against terrorism suspects for nearly a decade. His death was previously unreported. Holder’s letter came the day before President Obama is due to deliver a major speech designed to fulfill a promise in his State of the Union address in January to make elements of his controversial counterterrorism policies more transparent and accountable to Congress and the American public. Obama is also under pressure to explain how he intends to make even modest progress on other priorities that were centerpieces of a pledge he made at the beginning of his first term. At the top of that list is closing the Guantanamo Bay prison, where 103 of the 166 detainees still in custody are on a hunger strike. The administration is planning to restart the transfer of the detainees, 86 of whom have been cleared to leave. A White House official said without elaboration that Obama “will announce a number of specific steps to advance” his goal of closing the facility. (Washington Post)

London Attack: Man Hacked to Death Was a British Soldier

2013-05-23T13:58:00Z

British authorities are debating whether to raise the country's threat level one day after a British soldier was hacked to death by suspects shouting jihadist slogans in southeast London. Britain's top leaders held an emergency meeting today in the equivalent of the White House Situation Room, deciding whether they believe Wednesday's assault near an army barracks could lead to more attacks. The soldier's family has asked that his identity not be released. Counterterrorism police searched a home in northeast England, according to police in Lincolnshire, and officers were seen meticulously searching a parking garage and a lawn in Woolwich, where the attack took place. They also continue to interview the two suspects, who are in the hospital under arrest after they were both shot by armed police. It's unclear whether they are cooperating with authorities. One of the alleged attackers was a British Christian who converted to Islam, according to Anjem Choudary, the former leader of the group Al Muhajiroun, a banned Islamist Organization.

Choudary told ABC News that the killer's name is Michael Adebolajo, who converted to Islam in 2003 and changed his name to Mujahid, meaning one who wages jihad. Choudary said Adebolajo was never a member of Al Muhajiroun but knew him because he attended the group's rallies from about 2005 to 2011. (ABC News)

Drones, Guantanamo part of broad Obama counterterrorism speech

2013-05-23T13:54:00Z

President Obama on Thursday will deliver a major speech on his counterterrorism policies, addressing everything from drone strikes and the status of the prison at Guantanamo Bay, to continuing efforts to fight al Qaeda and the legal framework for the continuing "war on terror." In the substantive speech to be delivered at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C., Mr. Obama will announce plans to restart transfers of Guantanamo Bay prisoners to third countries. Before their transfer, the prisoners would have to be cleared for release, and the U.S. would have to be satisfied that an oversight and monitoring program is in place. The president will lift the prohibition on potential transfers to Yemen, but Congress may attempt to block this move. Broadly speaking, Mr. Obama is delivering this speech because he "is very concerned about the need to put an architecture in place that governs counterterrorism policy for now and into the future," White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Tuesday. "The President will provide the American people with an update on how the threat of terrorism has changed substantially since 9/11, as Al Qaeda's core in Afghanistan and Pakistan has been decimated, and new threats have emerged from al Qaeda affiliates, localized extremist groups, and homegrown terrorists," added a White House official in a written statement. (CBS News)

Bill O'Reilly: The IRS scandal getting even more intense

2013-05-23T12:07:32Z

By Bill O'Reilly

Today, the woman in charge of the IRS Department of Tax Exempt Organizations refused to testify in front of the House Oversight Committee.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LOIS LERNER: I have not done anything wrong. I have not broken any laws. I have not violated any IRS rules or regulations. And I have not provided false information.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: All right. Now Ms. Lerner still on the job, if you can believe it. She should be suspended immediately. Yes, she has the right to remain silent. But she does not have a right to hold a job that has paid her about $750,000 bucks over the last four years. Hey, lady, that's taxpayer money. You owe us the truth not the Fifth.

Lerner knows she is in big trouble. It's possible she was clueless about the IRS abuses, but not probable. Many believe she will be charged with a crime which is why her lawyers have clamped her up.

Another guy in major trouble former IRS Director Douglas Shulman who was Lerner's boss.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JIM JORDAN: Are you sure you didn't talk to anyone at the White House about this issue, Mr. Shulman?

DOUGLAS SHULMAN, FORMER IRS COMMISSIONER: About singling out conservative groups for special scrutiny?

REP. JIM JORDAN: Well, that's what we are talking about, isn't it.

SHULMAN: I'm absolutely sure I did not talk to anyone --

REP. JIM JORDAN: 118 visits it didn't come up in a casual conversation after 132 members of Congress contacted you about it? Are you sure you didn't bring it up with anybody at the White House?

SHULMAN: Not to my memory.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There might be many reasons you would be at the White House. What would be some of the reasons why you might be at the White House?

SHULMAN: The Easter egg roll with my kids.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: That's a wise guy answer, totally inappropriate to the subject at hand. As you heard Shulman visited the White House 118 times. 118 times! A red flag for sure.

Now, here is how bad the IRS scandal is getting. Even devoted liberal Democrat Elijah Cummings is disgusted.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ELIJAH CUMMINGS (D), MARYLAND: I believe that there was gross incompetence and mismanagement in how the IRS determined which organizations qualified for tax exempt status.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: Over at the White House briefing room, the message remained consistent.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: The President said he was outraged last week by the IRS scandal. Is he outraged then that Lois Lerner is taking the Fifth since you said he wants answers. Is he outraged that she is taking the Fifth?

JAY CARNEY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I can't speak to any individual's decision about how they will approach congressional hearings. What I can tell you is that the President will not be deterred in the effort to find what happened here and who is responsible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: See I would have lunged at Mr. Carney and I would have been dragged away by the Secret Service because that wasn't the question. Here is the question that Ed Henry asked; Is the President outraged that Lois Lerner took the Fifth? Yes or no? Carney can speak to that. He just will not. Our tax dollars at work, again.

President Obama must know his image has taken a hit. A new Fox News poll asks do you feel the government is out of control? A whopping 68 percent said yes; 26 percent don't think so.

Another question is Barack Obama honest and trustworthy? 49 percent yes? 48 percent no.

If the IRS scandal continues and the White House continues to dodge that untrustworthy number will surely rise.

And that's "The Memo."

- You can catch Bill O'Reilly's "Talking Points Memo" weeknights at 8 and 11 p.m. ET on the Fox News Channel and any time on foxnews.com/oreilly. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com.

Transcript Date:

Wed, 05/22/2013

Transcript Show Name:

O'Reilly Factor

Transcript Talent Byline:

Bill O'Reilly

dowsabel

2013-05-23T04:30:00Z

[DOWZ-uh-bell] Sweetheart

Stossel's Column: Sublet My People Go

2013-05-23T01:04:00Z

My kids moved out! I have two empty rooms in my apartment. Maybe I can rent them? A tourist visiting New York City could have a different experience, and save hotel money. I'd make money. Wouldn't it be great?
        No, says the government of my state.
        New York recently passed a law making it very difficult for people to offer short-term rentals via popular websites like Airbnb and Roomorama, which connect room-owners and room-renters. I could be fined $25,000 if I rent to tourists through those services.
        New York State Sen. Liz Krueger defended the law.
        "Tenants all over the city are begging their legislators for help. They were being harassed by strangers in the middle of night entering their building, moving into the apartments next door ... violating the fire code, the safety code, and harassing people, sometimes very aggressively, out of the buildings"
        Please. Of course some renters behave badly. But they can be dealt with by building owners. There's no need for authoritarian governments to ban consenting adults from renting to each other.
        Krueger says that despite these services' rapid growth, their customers are unhappy -- and that despite the online customer-satisfaction reviews and ratings that enable everyone to compare thousands of different offerings, and blacklist renters and homeowners who behave badly, customers are being duped.
        "They think they're signing up for a hotel room. They pay through a credit card. They walk into a situation that is not safe, not clean."
        This is how politicians think.
        Jia En Teo, co-founder of Roomorama, has a different explanation for why businesses like hers are attacked by politicians: "Short-term rentals have been growing in popularity ... that has posed competition to hotels."
        At age 26, Teo left a job at Bloomberg media to start Roomorama. She understood business -- but didn't have political pull. Big hotel chains and their unions do. They have lobbyists who pressure legislators. The Hotel Association of New York says people who use sites like Roomorama risk their safety.
        But despite such fearmongering, Roomorama hasn't been squashed. It now operates in 5,000 cities around the world. Tourists get to use empty apartments and pay less. They get a novel experience. Property owners make money. Win-win!
        But Roomorama threatens the status quo. Hotels and hotel unions don't like it. Regulators who issue permits to hotels don't like it. So the established businesses, the insiders, work with friendly politicians to craft rules that crush the newcomers.
        Economists call that process "regulatory capture." It happened even during the New Deal. FDR railed against "the money interests" and pushed through regulations controlling what businesses could do, including establishing a minimum wage, maximum hours, agreed-upon production levels and minimum prices for each industry, to eliminate "cutthroat competition." Working at night was forbidden. Government enforcers made surprise inspections and could seize control of businesses on the spot.
        It turned out that most of those regulations were shaped by big business itself, because the established businesses didn't want competition, and both business and regulators like predictability.
        Even when regulators mean well -- when they worry about safety or whether customers get basic services -- regulations are based on the old, familiar ways of doing things, simply because regulators don't know anything else. That's great for old, familiar firms -- but bad for the innovative startup that wants to try something different. And bad for consumers who might have benefitted.
        The new idea might be a bad one, but if it is, it will die on its own. Market competition will kill it.
        But the new idea might be the next Microsoft. Or Roomorama. Or Lyft, a ride-sharing app that helps people find cars without having to use (heavily regulated) local taxi cartels. Like a Roomorama for cars, Lyft lets most any car owner give people rides. It, too, faces regulatory opposition.
        Regulators always say they must protect the "little guy." But it's the little guys who are most hurt by these rules.
        Something can always go wrong -- with businesses new or old. But unless we allow innovators and their customers to try new things, we'll be stuck in the past.
        Then the fat cats win, not the little guy.

Petraeus's role in drafting Benghazi talking points raises questions

2013-05-23T00:52:00Z

Blue

Chicago-style politics on full display in IRS and other Obama scandals

2013-05-23T00:47:00Z

Yellow

Obama's day: IRS and music

2013-05-23T00:45:00Z

Green

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

2013-05-23T00:37:00Z

This will be my last No Spin News until Tuesday, and I’ll miss you guys! I’m taking a little time off here, I just finished Killing Jesus, and that combined with The Factor and other stuff I have to do, I am in a coma here. First time in my life I’m really not feeling – I have a lot of energy just as a normal thing; I have good DNA in that regard. I’m not a sit around kind of guy, but boy oh boy, last month or so with the allergies and all of that – my body is betraying me. Although, I did throw a half hour of batting practice the other day to the urchins. And the guys, the fathers that are younger than me, they can’t do that. They can’t throw that batting practice, because you’ve got to throw the ball with a pretty good clip and you’ve got to get it over and know what you are doing there. And you can’t be afraid, the kids will hit the ball and they will hit it back to you and you’ve got to be able to get it. Anyway, bragging. That’s okay.

This IRS thing, it is going to be big. I am sensing it now. It is going to be big, and the president better get a handle on it. I am not going to make any accusations because I have no proof of anything, but I’ll tell you what – he is not handling it well so far, as I told Beckel. He is not handling it well – those guys better wise up fast because in this climate, it is hard to come back if the folks don’t trust you. And it is about half and half now. You saw the new Fox News poll. The president’s got to get a handle on it.

Benghazi is a little bit of a different story. We haven’t been able to develop any kind of timeline there. Maybe it will happen, but it takes insiders to come out. The IRS, that is easier for the reporters to get into, and then the snooping business. It’s Holder, Holder again in the middle of the storm. I don’t think Holder survives this – prediction just for you guys, I am not going to say it on the air. Just for you guys. I don’t think he survives. I think that Holder is going to go down on the snooping business. Now, President Obama, as I said, you just can’t keep running Jay Carney out there saying, “well, we are going to get to the bottom of it.” That is going to get old fast, and I do believe that, throughout the summer, just as in Watergate, we are going to have more and more. Drip, drip, drip because this was happening, ladies and gentlemen. This isn’t one or two guys, this is a campaign. And it is interesting. The campaign is based upon, well, they all want tax exemptions, but they are political organizations – and there is some truth to that! But when you look at the left, Media Matters? Media Matters is tax exempt! Move On? Come on! You can’t be doing that. If you are going to let those far-left fanatics slide, you can’t be looking at the Tea Party. I think that this is big, and we are really right in step with it, so I am very happy about our coverage so far. I am not going to make any mistakes and I am not going to speculate and I am not going to do what some of the other commentators do.

I heard a guy the other day, I am not going to tell you who he is because I don’t want to get into a match, but he gave the worst information. I checked it all out, it was all wrong. I am sitting there going, how did they get away with this? He is an anti-Obama guy, this guy. But everything he said wasn’t true! So I’m not going to do that, I never do that.

Finally, I want to thank all of you who have bought Keep It Pithy, it debuts at number 10 on the bestseller list on Sunday, and the second week’s sales are stronger than the first, so we are in really good shape with that book, and we really appreciate you guys supporting it. It is a lot of fun, that book. And I resisted doing it for years, but it is a lot of fun. It makes a good Father’s Day gift, and you’ll like it too, even if you’re not dad or granddad.

The Latest Backstage Conversation

2013-05-22T22:56:00Z

Bill answers questions from Premium Members about the Obama administration's various scandals, the NHL, reverse mortgages, and more.

Go: This week's Backstage Conversation

Anthony Weiner Announces Candidacy for Mayor in Video

2013-05-22T14:25:00Z

Anthony D. Weiner, once a rising star of New York politics whose career cratered over revelations of his sexually explicit life online, announced an improbable bid on Wednesday for the job he has long coveted: mayor. After a rocky re-emergence into public life over the past few weeks, marked by circuslike scenes of tabloid photographers chasing him onto the subway, Mr. Weiner opted to declare his candidacy from the safe remove of a video. The two-minute video, which was posted online without any accompanying announcement from Mr. Weiner’s campaign, is a slickly produced argument for the candidacy of Mr. Weiner, a former congressman. In the video, he briefly, and obliquely, acknowledges wrongdoing, but focuses his time on asserting that he has the experience and determination to help New York deal with issues of unaffordability, education and public safety. “Look, I made some big mistakes, and I know I let a lot of people down,” he says. “But I’ve also learned some tough lessons.” His candidacy, fueled by a $5 million war chest and a determination to resurrect his public standing, promises to immediately disrupt a wide-open Democratic primary race populated by several lesser-known candidates. (NY Times)

Woman in UK claims she is too pretty to work

2013-05-22T14:23:00Z

Beauty is usually seen as a blessing. But for some, it would seem, it can be a curse. Laura Fernee says her good looks are so powerful they are ruining her life - and have forced her to quit her job. The 33-year-old science graduate says her slim figure and pretty face attracted unwanted attention from her male colleagues. She also claims she has been ostracized by other women in the workplace who are jealous of her beauty. Miss Fernee now lives off her wealthy parents after quitting her job in scientific research two years ago. She said her appearance meant she was constantly harassed and bullied, and has decided work 'just isn't for her'.

'I'm not lazy and I'm no bimbo. The truth is my good looks have caused massive problems for me when it comes to employment, so I've made the decision that employment just isn't for me at the moment. It's not my fault. I can't help the way I look." Male colleagues were only interested in me for how I looked. I wanted them to recognize my achievements and my professionalism but all they saw was my face and body.' She said men left 'romantic gifts' on her desk and she was 'constantly asked out', which she found 'sleazy'. 'Even when I was in a laboratory in scrubs with no make-up they still came on to me because of my natural attractiveness. There was nothing I could do to stop it,' she added. (Daily Mail)

Oklahoma tornado packed more energy than atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima

2013-05-22T14:14:00Z

It really was as if a bomb went off. The tornado that leveled Moore, Okla., on Monday contained more energy than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, five separate meteorologists have found. Using real-time measurements, the meteorologists contacted by the Associated Press calculated the energy released during the tornado's 40-plus minutes on the ground and concluded that it ranged from eight to more than 600 times the power of the Hiroshima bomb. After surveying the full-scale damage to homes, shopping centers, and schools, the National Weather Service upgraded the storm to a top-of-the-scale EF-5 tornado with winds estimated between 200 and 210 mph. The 17-mile swath of destruction left by the 1.3-mile-wide twister stunned residents, many of whom were still struggling to come to terms with their memories of the storm. (NY Daily News)

Oklahoma Tornado: 2 Devastated Elementary Schools Had No Safe Rooms

2013-05-22T14:11:00Z

There are reinforced tornado shelters in more than 100 schools across Oklahoma, excluding the two that were devastated by a Tornado earlier this week in Moore, Okla., an emergency-management official said. As authorities search the rubble in Moore for possible survivors and bodies, among the unanswered questions is how everyone at Briarwood Elementary School survived while several students died at Plaza Towers Elementary School. Both schools were destroyed when an EF-5 twister with winds of at least 200 mph killed 24 people Monday and injured hundreds more. Some people believe those at Briarwood were more fortunate because of the school's construction. Each grade at Briarwood is organized into four pods with a few classrooms in each pod. An opening to the outside runs through the center of the pods. Teachers said that when the walls and ceilings collapsed, they crawled through that open area and children were passed over the rubble. Plaza Towers Elementary is more of a traditional school building with a long line of classrooms, all under one single roof. When the school collapsed, the roof and walls piled on top of one another, making it difficult for people to crawl to an outside space. Both schools had practiced tornado drills but neither had a safe room, which could have potentially saved lives. (ABC News)

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Senate panel approves sweeping immigration reform bill

2013-05-22T14:05:00Z

A Senate committee approved a sweeping immigration reform bill Tuesday that would provide a path to citizenship for up to 11 million illegal immigrants, setting the stage for the full Senate to consider the landmark legislation next month. After five days of debate over dozens of amendments, the Judiciary Committee voted 13 to 5 in support of the bill, with three Republicans joining the committee’s 10 Democrats. The legislation emerged with its core provisions largely intact, including new visa programs for high-tech and low-skilled workers and new investments in strengthening border control. President Obama, who has made immigration reform his top second-term priority, issued a statement praising the committee for approving a bill that is “largely consistent” with the principles he had outlined. “None of the committee members got everything they wanted, and neither did I,” Obama said, “but in the end, we all owe it to the American people to get the best possible result over the finish line.” The comprehensive bill is now headed to the full Senate, where Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) urged fellow Republicans on Tuesday not to block the bill from a floor vote. The Congressional Budget Office will take two weeks to issue an assessment of the fiscal cost of the bill, so Democratic aides said the floor debate could begin around June 10. The final Judiciary Committee vote represented a victory for the bipartisan group — four Democrats and four Republicans — that negotiated the 850-page comprehensive bill over several months.

Four of the bipartisan group members who are on the Judiciary Committee banded together to fight off the most serious challenges to the core provisions of the bill, including a last-minute attempt by Leahy to add protections for same-sex couples. In an emotional debate, Sens. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) said they wanted to support Leahy’s amendment, but that they would not because Republican members of the bipartisan group, including Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), said they would drop support if the provision were added to the legislation. Leahy ultimately withdrew the amendment “with a heavy heart,” amid near silence in the packed Senate hearing room. Rubio, who is not on the Judiciary Committee, issued a statement after the committee approved the bill praising their work but adding that “work still remains to be done.”

The legislation already would raise the annual limit of high-tech visas, known as H-1B, from 65,000 to as many as 180,000, but Hatch had lobbied to eliminate other restrictions on U.S. companies seeking to hire engineers and programmers from abroad. The compromise amendment lifts the requirement that companies first offer tech jobs to Americans for all firms except those that depend on foreigners for more than 15 percent of their workforce and relaxes the formula for determining the annual number of foreign high-tech workers. The high-tech amendments are perhaps the most substantial changes to the immigration bill over five days of hearings on dozens of proposed changes. Hatch warned he could still drop his support in the full Senate if other concerns aren’t met. “I’ve got to get those or we’ll never pass this bill,” he said. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka called Hatch’s amendments “unambiguous attacks on American workers” and he vowed to press for changes during the full Senate debate. (Washington Post)

Accused Fort Hood Shooter Paid $278,000 While Awaiting Trial

2013-05-22T14:03:00Z

The Department of Defense confirms to NBC 5 Investigates that accused Fort Hood shooter Major Nidal Hasan has now been paid more than $278,000 since the Nov. 5, 2009 shooting that left 13 dead 32 injured. The Army said under the Military Code of Justice, Hasan’s salary cannot be suspended unless he is proven guilty. If Hasan had been a civilian defense department employee, NBC 5 (Dallas) Investigates has learned, the Army could have suspended his pay after just seven days. Personnel rules for most civilian government workers allow for "indefinite suspensions" in cases "when the agency has reasonable cause to believe that the employee has committed a crime for which a sentence of imprisonment may be imposed." Meanwhile, more than three years later soldiers wounded in the mass shooting are fighting to receive the same pay and medical benefits given to those wounded in combat.

Retired Army Spc. Logan Burnett, a reservist who, in 2009, was soon to be deployed to Iraq, was shot three times when a gunman opened fire inside the Army Deployment Center. “I honestly thought I was going to die in that building,” said Burnett. “Just blood everywhere and then the thought of -- that's my blood everywhere.” Burnett nearly died. He's had more than a dozen surgeries since the shooting, and says post-traumatic stress still keeps him up at night. Burnett is now fighting a new battle; only this one is against the U.S. Army. The Army has not classified the wounds of the Ft. Hood victims as “combat related” and declines to label the shooting a “terrorist attack.” The “combat related” designation is an important one, for without it Burnett and other shooting victims are not given combat-related pay, they are not eligible for Purple Heart retirement or medical benefits given to other soldiers wounded either at war or during the Sept. 11, 2001 attack on the Pentagon. As a result, Burnett, his wife Torey, and the families of other Fort Hood victims miss out on thousands of dollars of potential benefits and pay every year. (NBC – Dallas)

Top IRS official to invoke 5th Amendment, decline to testify at House hearing

2013-05-22T14:00:00Z

Lois Lerner, the director of the IRS division that singled out conservative groups, is expected to invoke the Fifth Amendment Wednesday when she appears before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Fox News has learned. That means Lerner, head of the exempt organizations division, probably won’t answer any questions on what she knew about IRS agents going after Tea Party-related groups. That also means she probably won’t say why she sat on the information for so long before it became public. Lerner’s attorney William Taylor III asked committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., in a letter if she could skip Wednesday’s hearing since she would be pleading the Fifth. Taylor argued in the letter that forcing Lerner to appear “would have no purpose other than to embarrass or burden her.”

Late Tuesday, the House oversight committee released a statement saying Lerner was still under subpoena and would be required to appear in the morning. “Chairman Issa remains hopeful that she will ultimately decide to testify tomorrow about her knowledge of outrageous IRS targeting of Americans for the political beliefs,” committee spokesman Ali Ahmad said in a statement. Other former or outgoing IRS officials have already testified, and will continue to give their testimony on Wednesday. But Lerner, who is the official who first acknowledged the IRS program, has faced significant scrutiny. Since the Department of Justice has launched a criminal investigation into the IRS scandal and the House committee indicated it would question Lerner about why she provided incomplete information to the committee at least four times last year, Taylor wrote that his client would be invoking her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. The House committee is also scheduled to hear from Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Neal Wolin, among others, as the search for someone who will claim responsibility continues. (Fox News)

Ben Stein: From the Obama Ministry of Truth

2013-05-22T13:58:00Z

From The American Spectator:

…we are supposed to believe that a massive assault by the IRS on a popular uprising called the Tea Party was known to the higher ups at the IRS, at the Justice Department, and at the White House. But Mr. Obama, much too pure and innocent to be told about mistakes in his administration, was too busy bathing the feet of the poor and tending to lepers to be told that his administration was engaged in an Orwellian attack on free speech. Now, you see if you fail to believe that, you are the worst thing that you can be in today’s world. You are a racist. You can be a homosexual. In fact, that’s a good thing. You can be a pornographer. In fact, you’re supposed to be a pornographer. You can kiss the butts of terrorists. That’s called leading from behind and abandoning American “exceptionalism,” a really wicked idea that America is exceptionally great. You can be all of these things. But no matter what, you cannot be a racist against blacks. (You can be a racist against whites.)

But if you criticize Mr Obama, you are a racist. Thus, quod erat demonstrandum, Mr. Obama cannot be criticized. So, he did not for a moment know that his IRS was tormenting the political movement that laid him low in 2010. And, if you doubt it, you’re a Klansman. Let’s see what else we are supposed to believe... Who would have ever dreamed things could go so wrong? And if Mr. Obama can never be held accountable because his father was a Kenyan, when does this ever stop?

Washington Post Analysis: In AP, Rosen investigations, government makes criminals of reporters

2013-05-22T13:57:00Z

Dana Milbank:

There are various reasons you might not care about the Obama administration’s spying on journalist James Rosen and labeling him a “co-conspirator and/or aider and abettor” in an espionage case. Liberals may not be particularly bothered because the targeted journalist works for Fox News. Conservatives may not be concerned because of their antipathy toward the news media generally. And the general public certainly doesn’t have much patience for journalists’ whining. But here’s why you should care — and why this case, along with the administration’s broad snooping into Associated Press phone records, is more serious than the other supposed Obama administration scandals regarding Benghazi and the Internal Revenue Service. The Rosen affair is as flagrant an assault on civil liberties as anything done by George W. Bush’s administration, and it uses technology to silence critics in a way Richard Nixon could only have dreamed of.

To treat a reporter as a criminal for doing his job — seeking out information the government doesn’t want made public — deprives Americans of the First Amendment freedom on which all other constitutional rights are based. Guns? Privacy? Due process? Equal protection? If you can’t speak out, you can’t defend those rights, either. Beyond that, the administration’s actions shatter the president’s credibility and discourage allies who would otherwise defend the administration against bogus accusations such as those involving the Benghazi “talking points.” If the administration is spying on reporters and accusing them of criminality just for asking questions — well, who knows what else this crowd is capable of doing?

When Rosen and I covered the Bush White House together a decade ago, I knew him as a scrappy reporter who had a fascination with Watergate trivia. He later wrote a sympathetic biography of John Mitchell, Nixon’s disgraced attorney general. Now he’s learning just how abusive a Justice Department can be, from an administration that has launched more leak prosecutions than all previous administrations combined.

Justice Department targeted FNC's James Rosen's parents as well

2013-05-22T13:56:00Z

On Tuesday’s “Special Report” on the Fox News Channel, host Bret Baier revealed that the intrusions into James Rosen’s privacy went beyond Rosen himself and also involved his parents. Baier laid out the specifics of Rosen’s situation during the panel segment, first reported by The Washington Post earlier this week. “The U.S. attorney’s office in D.C. said because of this case — it’s an open case — active prosecution, they’re limited in what they can share,” Baier said. “The government exhausted, they said, ‘All reasonable non-media alternatives for collecting this evidence before seeking court approval for a search warrant based on the investigation and all the facts known to date. No other individuals, including the reporter, have been charged since Mr. Kim was indicted nearly three years ago.’ We can report that James Rosen, to his knowledge, was never contacted by anyone in the administration.” Baier revealed that in addition to Rosen having his own phone records seized, the federal government had also seized Rosen’s parents’ phone records. “You know, I just want to point out one more thing,” Baier said. “You know, we said the different numbers. We have the documents now, and the seized toll records also relate to James’ parents’ home in Staten Island.” (Daily Caller)

DOJ seized phone records of numbers tied to Fox News lines, documents show

2013-05-22T13:54:00Z

Newly uncovered court documents show the Justice Department seized phone records associated with several Fox News lines as part of a leak investigation -- a revelation that comes as the White House Correspondents' Association spoke out against the administration's monitoring of reporters. Documents filed in October 2011 appear to show exchanges that match the specific locations of Fox News' White House, Pentagon, State Department and other operations. The last four digits of each of the phone numbers listed are redacted in the government filing so it is impossible to know the full numbers. The information was included in a long list of phone numbers, email addresses and other details that prosecutors shared with defense attorneys shortly after the alleged leaker was indicted. Asked about the documents, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told Fox News he "can't comment on an ongoing criminal investigation." Meanwhile, the Correspondents' Association spoke out on incidents involving two news organizations. The Justice Department secretly obtained two months of phone records from the Associated Press and obtained a search warrant for the personal emails of Fox News' James Rosen. The information about the phone records was uncovered Tuesday. In the latter case, an FBI agent also claimed in an affidavit that Rosen was possibly a criminal "co-conspirator." Though no charges were brought against Rosen, the White House Correspondents' Association said no journalist should even face that threat for doing their jobs. (Fox News)

Advisers Urged Obama Early On To Release Comprehensive Benghazi Timeline

2013-05-22T13:51:00Z

The White House Counsel’s office advised senior Obama officials to keep quiet about the attack in Benghazi during the weeks preceding last year’s November presidential election, according to two administration sources. BuzzFeed has learned that key members of President Obama’s national security team, including deputy national security advisor Ben Rhodes, pushed to release a comprehensive timeline of events documenting the attack that would also synthesize the views of the various government agencies into one report. The CIA also wanted the White House to put out such a timeline, according to sources with knowledge of the situation. Those plans were quashed, however, when the White House Counsel’s office, which is led by Kathryn Ruemmler, advised the officials to not release any information to the public out of fear it could be used against them in any subsequent investigations and other legal complications.

The White House told BuzzFeed any suggestion that Ruemmler shot down the release of the Benghazi timeline was “off base” — but an official said the White House would not comment “on leaks out of purported internal deliberations.” BuzzFeed’s sources said the legal advice proved frustrating for a number of officials in the president’s orbit, who felt they would have better served to put to rest controversy that has lasted nine months. “It was aggravating,” one administration official said. “It comes back to Kathryn Ruemmler, Kathyrn Ruemmler, Kathryn Ruemmler. I hate to say it, as it sounds like piling on, but it’s on her doorstep too.” Ruemmler has also come under fire this week for not making the president and others aware of the IRS investigation.

Sharyl Attkisson's computers compromised

2013-05-22T13:51:00Z

Sharyl Attkisson, the Emmy-award winning CBS News investigative reporter, says that her personal and work computers have been compromised and are under investigation."I can confirm that an intrusion of my computers has been under some investigation on my end for some months but I'm not prepared to make an allegation against a specific entity today as I've been patient and methodical about this matter," Attkisson told POLITICO on Tuesday. "I need to check with my attorney and CBS to get their recommendations on info we make public." In an earlier interview with WPHT Philadelphia, Attkisson said that though she did not know the full details of the intrustion, "there could be some relationship between these things and what's happened to James [Rosen]," the Fox News reporter who became the subject of a Justice Dept. investigation after reporting on CIA intelligence about North Korea in 2009.

On Sunday, The Washington Post reported that the Justice Dept. had searched Rosen's personal e-mails and tracked his visits to the State Dept. The court affadavit described Rosen as “at the very least, either as an aider, abettor and/or co-conspirator" of his government source, presumably because he had solicited classified information from that source -- an argument that has been heavily criticized by other journalists. Attkisson told WPHT that irregular activity on her computer was first identified in Feb. 2011, when she was reporting on the Fast and Furious gun-walking scandal and on the Obama administration's green energy spending, which she said "the administration was very sensitive about." Attkisson has also been a persistent investigator of the events surrounding last year's attack in Benghazi, and its aftermath. (Politico)

Man with ties to Boston bombing suspects shot during FBI questioning

2013-05-22T13:47:00Z

A 27-year-old Orlando, Fla., man was shot and killed during a gunfight with the FBI overnight after being questioned in the Boston Marathon bombing, according to numerous reports today. The FBI in Tampa confirmed to the Herald this morning that a suspect has been shot in Orlando by an agent "conducting official duties" and they expect to release more information later today. A friend of the slain man said the suspect was approached by federal agents in relation to the April 15 Boston bombing because he was a mixed martial arts fighter who may have known bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev, Orlando TV station WESH is reporting. Tsarnaev -- killed in a wild shootout with police just after midnight April 19 -- was an MMA fighter before he quit and turned to terror. The FBI has also questioned a friend of Tsarnaev's in New Hampshire last week.

The FBI in Tampa told the Herald this morning they are investigating the fatal shooting in Orlando now, according to FBI Special Agent Dave Couvertier. "We are currently responding to a shooting incident involving an FBI special agent. The incident occurred in Orlando Florida," Couvertier said via email. "The agent encountered the suspect while conducting official duties. The suspect is deceased. We do not have any further details at this time. We expect to have more information later this morning."

FBI ID'S BENGHAZI SUSPECTS... BUT NO ARRESTS YET

2013-05-22T13:44:00Z

The U.S. has identified five men who might be responsible for the attack on the diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, last year, and has enough evidence to justify seizing them by military force as suspected terrorists, officials say. But there isn't enough proof to try them in a U.S. civilian court as the Obama administration prefers. The men remain at large while the FBI gathers evidence. But the investigation has been slowed by the reduced U.S. intelligence presence in the region since the Sept. 11, 2012, attacks, and by the limited ability to assist by Libya's post-revolutionary law enforcement and intelligence agencies, which are still in their infancy since the overthrow of dictator Col. Moammar Gadhafi. The decision not to seize the men militarily underscores the White House aim to move away from hunting terrorists as enemy combatants and holding them at the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The preference is toward a process in which most are apprehended and tried by the countries where they are living or arrested by the U.S. with the host country's cooperation and tried in the U.S. criminal justice system. Using military force to detain the men might also harm fledgling relations with Libya and other post-Arab-Spring governments with whom the U.S. is trying to build partnerships to hunt al-Qaida as the organization expands throughout the region. (AP)

Bill O'Reilly: Going Bulworth on all the controversies in Washington

2013-05-22T12:11:08Z

By Bill O'Reilly

According to an article in the "New York Times" President Obama has told confidants that he would like to "go Bulworth." That is a reference to a 1998 Warren Beatty movie where the one-time matinee idol plays Senator Jay Belington Bulworth, who was a complete phony. Toward the end of the film the Senator has an epiphany and decides to tell the truth.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you can't get health insurance, fire insurance, life insurance, why haven't you come out with Senate Bill 27 twice?

BULWORTH: Well, you haven't really contributed any money to my campaign, have you?

You got any idea how much these insurance companies come up with? They pretty much depend on me to get a bill like that and bottle it up in my committee during an election and in that way we can kill it when you are not looking.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: Now, I as an American citizen want President Obama to go "Bulworth" and to actually tell us what he thinks, especially about the controversies in Benghazi, with the IRS, and the Justice Department snooping around reporters. But so far the President is doing a great imitation of the late actor John Banner.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BANNER, ACTOR: Oh I see nothing. I was not here. I did not even get up this morning. I see nothing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: Now here's how bad lack of information really is. When Chris Wallace asked where the President was the night Ambassador Stevens was killed in Benghazi, he didn't get very far.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS WALLACE, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Do you not know whether he was in the situation...

DAN PFEIFFER, WHITE HOUSE SENIOR ADVISER: I don't remember what room the President was in on that night. And that's a largely irrelevant fact.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: No, it's not. Americans want to know where the Commander- in-Chief was while his Ambassador and three other Americans were being killed. That is a valid question.

Today, former IRS Chief Doug Shulman testified before the Senate but predictably he doesn't know anything about targeting conservatives.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How did this happen?

DOUG SHULMAN, FORMER IRS COMMISSIONER: Mr. Chairman, I can't say -- I can't say that I know that answer. I have now had the benefit of reading the report. And that's, you know, the full accounting of facts that I have at this point and so I -- I don't think can I answer that question.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: Ok, I don't know. Nobody, nobody can answer any questions. Do you sense a pattern here? If you are a fair-minded person, the Obama administration is becoming a frustrating experience, is it not? Just tell us what happened, Mr. President. Stop dancing around. We don't need a replay of Watergate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOB WOODWARD, ASSOCIATE EDITOR, WASHINGTON POST: This is not Watergate but there are some people in the administration who have acted as if they want to be Nixonian. And that's a very big problem.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: Yes, it's a big problem. So Mr. President again, let's go Bulworth tell us the truth.

And that's "The Memo."

— You can catch Bill O'Reilly's "Talking Points Memo" weeknights at 8 and 11 p.m. ET on the Fox News Channel and any time on foxnews.com/oreilly. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com.

Transcript Date:

Tue, 05/21/2013

Transcript Show Name:

O'Reilly Factor

Transcript Talent Byline:

Bill O'Reilly

pernicious

2013-05-22T04:29:00Z

[purr-NIH-shus] Harmful, injurious

Democratic Senator uses Okla. tornado for anti-GOP rant over global warming

2013-05-21T14:41:00Z

While many Americans were tuned into news coverage of the massive damage from tornadoes ravaging the state of Oklahoma, Rhode Island Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse took to the Senate floor to rail against his Republican colleagues for denying the theory of anthropogenic global warming. Whitehouse spent 15 minutes chastising GOP senators and justified his remarks by alluding to states that seek federal assistance in the wake of natural disasters. “So, you may have a question for me,” Whitehouse said. “Why do you care? Why do you, Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat of Rhode Island, care if we Republicans run off the climate cliff like a bunch of proverbial lemmings and disgrace ourselves? I’ll tell you why. We’re stuck in this together. We are stuck in this together. When cyclones tear up Oklahoma and hurricanes swamp Alabama and wildfires scorch Texas, you come to us, the rest of the country, for billions of dollars to recover. And the damage that your polluters and deniers are doing doesn’t just hit Oklahoma and Alabama and Texas. It hits Rhode Island with floods and storms. It hits Oregon with acidified seas, it hits Montana with dying forests. So, like it or not, we’re in this together.”

Whitehouse went on to condemn the current Republican position on global warming, citing economic, environmental and diplomatic damages. “You drag America with you to your fate,” he continued. “So, I want this future: I want a Republican Party that has returned to its senses and is strong and a worthy adversary in a strong America that has done right by its people and the world. That’s what I want. I don’t want this future. I don’t want a Republican Party disgraced, that let its extremists run off the cliff, and an America suffering from grave economic and environmental and diplomatic damage because we failed, because we didn’t wake up and do our duty to our people, and because we didn’t lead the world. I do not want that future. But that’s where we’re headed. So I will keep reaching out and calling out, ever hopeful that you will wake up before it is too late.” (Daily Caller)

Daily Show co-creator: Oklahoma tornado 'ordered to only target conservatives'

2013-05-21T14:38:00Z

With a massive tornado devastating the Oklahoma City area Daily Show co-creator Lizz Winstead took to Twitter to claim that the tornado was targeted at conservatives. “This tornado is in Oklahoma so clearly it has been ordered to only target conservatives,” Winstead tweeted in an apparent attempt at humor, trying to apply the Internal Revenue Service targeting of conservatives to the tornado bearing down on Oklahoma. When she received push-back on Twitter she responded “If Its not OK to YOU for me to combine news stories to point out hypocrisy AND Im not making fun of victims u shld Unfollow.” Winstead eventually went on to apologize for her joke. “Made a political joke, Twas before devastation revealed. In hindsight, had I understood, I would have refrained. Beyond sorry. ‪#LetMeHaveIt,” she tweeted. (Daily Caller)

The Pope and the Devil: Is Francis an Exorcist?

2013-05-21T14:37:00Z

Is Pope Francis an exorcist? The question has been swirling ever since Francis laid his hands Sunday on the head of a young man after celebrating Mass in St. Peter's Square. The young man heaved deeply a half-dozen times, convulsed and shook, and then slumped in his wheelchair as Francis prayed over him. The television station of the Italian bishops' conference said it had surveyed exorcists, who agreed that Francis either performed an exorcism or a prayer to free the man from the devil. The Vatican was more cautious Tuesday, saying Francis "didn't intend to perform any exorcism. But as he often does for the sick or suffering, he simply intended to pray for someone." Fueling the speculation is Francis' obsession with the devil, a frequent subject of his homilies. (AP)

Angry mob in Denver attacks man thought to be sexual predator

2013-05-21T14:36:00Z

Residents angry that police had not warned them about sex assaults of children took matters into their own hands, chasing down a man they thought was the attacker, pelting him with rocks and leaving him with a bloody face in Colorado, authorities said Monday. Pueblo police later released the man because of lack of evidence, The Pueblo Chieftain reported. Neighborhood residents were looking for a man suspected of two separate sexual acts when they got word that a man matching the description had been spotted, said Alex Pacheco, one of the pursuers. The group confronted the man and he ran. Pursuers surrounded him and punched him in the face, police Capt. Tom Rummel said. Arriving officers shoved the man into a police car and whisked him to the station for questioning. He was not seriously injured. "The primary officer on the scene said get him out of here," Rummel said. Pacheco told the newspaper that residents were canvassing the area looking for the man who committed the sex crimes during the past few months. One incident involved the sexual assault of a girl in her home. In the other, authorities said a man with the same description exposed himself to another child.

Police said the mob grew to about a half-dozen people as residents learned of the chase and joined in. "We went through the right channels in contacting the police but there hasn't been much response," Pacheco said. "We can't wait around any longer without doing something. These are children that this man is after and we can't let any more children get hurt by him." Rummel said police had notified the media and posted warnings on social media about the attacks, but authorities are not required by law to notify residents because no one had been arrested. Rummel said police only had a vague description of the suspect because he wore a bandanna over his face. The 54-year-old man accosted by the mob did not want to file charges against his pursuers, the chief said. "He said folks were reacting to a bad situation and he told the officer, `I don't want to go that route,"' Rummel said. "He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time." The name of the man was not released because no charges were filed. He agreed to give investigators a DNA sample so he could be ruled out as a suspect. (AP)

Judge denies Jodi Arias lawyers' request to withdraw from case

2013-05-21T14:33:00Z

The penalty phase of the Jodi Arias murder trial wrapped up for the day Monday after an unexpected series of legal arguments in which her defense lawyers asked for a mistrial and to withdraw from the case -- both of which were rejected by the judge. The trial is scheduled to continue Tuesday at 12:30 p.m. ET with Arias speaking directly to the jury, but without cross-examination. Jurors will find out then if she tells them the same thing she told a local reporter: She'd rather be executed than spend her life in prison.

Defense attorneys told the judge Monday they would call no witnesses after a key witness refused to take the stand because of death threats. They argued the attention the case has received has made it impossible for Arias to receive a fair trial. Defense lawyer Kirk Nurmi alleged the prosecutor has fanned the flames with incendiary attacks on witnesses, stirring up outrage among the public. He noted an earlier defense expert witness also received death threats. "This cannot be a modern day version ... of witch trials," Nurmi said. After Judge Sherry Stephens denied their mistrial request, Nurmi and defense lawyer Jennifer Willmott asked to withdraw. The judge promptly rejected that request, too. It was the second time in the past week that the defense has asked to step down. (Fox News)

IRS targeted conservative college interns

2013-05-21T14:32:00Z

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) demanded information about conservative groups’ college-aged interns, prompting outrage from one of the country’s top conservative activist organizations and leading one former intern to wonder whether his family’s pizza parlor would be endangered. The IRS requested, in an audit, the names of the conservative Leadership Institute’s 2008 interns, as well as specific information about their internship work and where the interns were employed in 2012, according to a document request the IRS sent to the Leadership Institute, dated February 14, 2012. The IRS requested:

“Copies of applications for internships and summer programs; to include: lists of those selected for internships and students in 2008.
– In regards to such internships, please provide information regarding where the interns physically worked and how the placement was arranged.
– After completing internships and courses, where were the students and interns employed?”

The Arlington, Virginia-based Leadership Institute is a conservative activist training organization founded in 1979 by Virginia Republican National Committeeman Morton C. Blackwell, the youngest elected delegate to the 1964 Republican convention that nominated Barry Goldwater. The institute was audited in 2011. As The Daily Caller has reported, at least two different IRS offices made a concerted effort to obtain the group’s training materials. The Leadership Institute’s audit, which was conducted by the IRS’ Baltimore office and which ended with no determination of wrongdoing but cost the conservative group $50,000 in legal fees, only covered the year 2008, leading employees to speculate that the IRS’ primary interest was figuring out how the group operates during a presidential election year. (Daily Caller)

Politico: The White House's shifting IRS account

2013-05-21T14:31:00Z

The White House on Monday once again added to the list of people who knew about the IRS investigation into its targeting of conservative groups — saying White House chief of staff Denis McDonough had been informed about a month ago. Press secretary Jay Carney said again that no one had told President Barack Obama ahead of the first news reports: not his top aide McDonough, nor his chief counsel Kathy Ruemmler, nor anyone from the Treasury Department. Monday’s revelation amounts to the fifth iteration of the Obama administration’s account of events, after initially saying that the White House had first learned of the controversy from the press. Republicans said they were on the lookout for the next installment in the White House’s ever-shifting narrative. Here’s how the White House account has evolved:

Friday, May 10: IRS official Lois Lerner disclosed at an American Bar Association conference that the agency had targeted non-profit applications from groups with tea party language in their name. That afternoon, Carney said he didn’t know when the White House first became aware of the investigation. “I don’t have an answer to that specifically,” Carney said. “I know that when the IG began investigating it, that it’s been investigating it for however long the IRS has said, but I don’t have a specific answer to that.” Outside the White House, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said that he’d first learned of the details of the investigation from news reports.
Monday, May 13: Obama, during his press conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron, said he first learned about the IRS story from the press. “I first learned about it from the same news reports that I think most people learned about this,” Obama said. “I think it was on Friday.” Later in the day, Carney told reporters aboard Air Force One that White House counsel Kathy Ruemmler’s office was told “in the week of April 22” that an inspector general’s report was coming “involving the office in Cincinnati.” “But that’s all they were informed as a normal sort of heads up,” Carney said. “And we have never — we don’t have access to, nor should we, the IG’s report or any draft versions of it.”
Tuesday, May 14: The inspector general’s report was released, and Obama released a statement directing Treasury Secretary Jack Lew to “hold those responsible for these failures accountable.”
Wednesday, May 15: Acting IRS Commissioner Steven Miller resigned at Obama’s request.
Thursday, May 16: Obama, during his press conference with Turkey’s prime minister, repeated that he’d been unaware of the inspector general’s report before learning about it via press reports. “I can assure you that I certainly did not know anything about the IG report before the IG report had been leaked through the press,” Obama said. “Typically, the IG reports are not supposed to be widely distributed or shared. They tend to be a process that everybody is trying to protect the integrity of.”
Friday, May 17: Lew, during an interview with Bloomberg News, revealed he’d actually first learned of the inspector general’s investigation in March, adding that he hadn’t been aware of the details of the report until May 10.
Monday, May 20: A senior White House official confirmed to POLITICO that Treasury Department staffers told White House Counsel Kathryn Ruemmler the inspector general report was nearing completion during the week of April 22. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney originally acknowledged that the counsel’s office had been told of the investigation during a press briefing last Monday. But Carney didn’t explicitly say Ruemmler had learned that conservative groups were targeted and how they were singled out.

Later, during the White House briefing, Carney told reporters that some staff in the counsel’s office were told of the report — and others nearing completion — a week earlier, on April 16. Ruemmler did inform chief of staff Denis McDonough’s office of the investigation, Carney said, and other senior staff were also told of the report. Carney wouldn’t say who those other staffers were, but did say there were communications between White House and Treasury Department staff ahead of the first news reports of the IRS investigation 10 days ago.

Did Obama and IRS Union Boss Talk Tea Party? WH Won't Say

2013-05-21T14:30:00Z

The head of the National Treasury Employee Union (NTEU), which represents employees of the Internal Revenue Service, met with President Barack Obama in the White House one day before the manager of the IRS’s “Technical Unit” suggested establishing a “Sensitive Case Report” for the tax-exempt status applications of Tea Party groups, according to data from the official White House visitor log and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. The White House visitor log shows that NTEU President Colleen Kelley met with Obama--“POTUS,” President of the United States--on March 31, 2010. The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration report on the IRS's targeting of the tax-exempt applications of Tea Party groups for heightened scrutiny includes a "Comprehensive Timeline of Events" that outlines the IRS actions in this matter over the course of more than two years. The fourth item in this timeline says that on “April 1-2, 2010,” the "new Acting Manager, Technical Unit, suggested the need for a Sensitive Case Report on the Tea Party cases. The Determinations Unit Program Manager agreed.” In a May 20 article, The American Spectator’s Jeffrey Lord first noted the chronological proximity of Obama's meeting with the NTEU's Collins (based on the White House log) and the action by the manager of the IRS's Technical Unit, based on the IG report. (CNS News)

Ex-IRS chief heads to Hill as Carney says White House senior staff told of probe findings

2013-05-21T14:28:00Z

Lawmakers will get their first opportunity to question the man who ran the IRS when agents were improperly targeting tea party groups Tuesday, as the timeline for when senior White House officials knew about the scandal seems to be shifting. The lawmakers are expected to ask former IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman why he didn't tell Congress that agents had been singling out conservative political groups for additional scrutiny when they applied for tax-exempt status -- even after he was briefed on the matter. Shulman, who was appointed by President George W. Bush, left the IRS in November when his five-year term ended. He is testifying before the Senate Finance Committee, which has launched a bipartisan investigation into the matter. The hearing comes after White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Monday that the president’s counsel was told on April 24 about the preliminary findings of an IRS audit that showed tax officials unfairly targeted Tea Party groups applying for tax-exempt status. Carney had previously said that White House counsel did not have any details about the IRS probe and was given a generic heads up that one was being conducted. Senior legal counsel Kathryn Ruemmler was told about the audit on April 24, Carney said Monday. She then told Denis McDonough, Obama’s chief of staff and other senior officials about the investigation. “It was the judgment of counsel this is not a matter she should convey to the president,” Carney said. “Her opinion that this is not the kind of thing that requires notification to the president.”

“No one in this building intervened in an independent investigation or anything that could be seen that way,” he said, adding that the misconduct had stopped in 2012, “almost a year before we knew about it.” Carney also said while Ruemmler knew the subject of the investigation and potential findings, they were not given a draft of the report and understood details could change. Ahead of the hearing, the committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, the ranking Republican, sent a letter to the IRS Monday, asking for an explanation. The letter included 41 separate requests for information. They gave the IRS until May 31 to respond. The two senators said the IRS had not been forthcoming about the issue in the past. (Fox News)

Incredbile Time Lapse Footage of the Tornado

2013-05-21T14:26:00Z

Action News 5 - Memphis, Tennessee

At least 51 people, including 20 children, dead after massive twister strikes near Oklahoma City

2013-05-21T14:21:00Z

A massive tornado at least a half mile-wide with 200 mph winds churned through Oklahoma City's suburbs Monday afternoon, killing at least 51 people, including at least 20 children, and destroying an elementary school with a direct blow as children and teachers huddled inside. Amy Elliott, a spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Medical Examiner's Office, said early Tuesday that 51 people were confirmed dead, at least twenty of them children. She said officials could see as many as 40 additional fatalities. The storm decimated scores of buildings in Moore, a community of 41,000 people about 10 miles south of Oklahoma City. Block after block lay in ruins. Homes were crushed into piles of broken wood. Cars and trucks were left crumpled on the roadside. More than 120 people were being treated at hospitals, including about 50 children.

Search and rescue crews were looking for anyone who may be trapped in the rubble. Many land lines to stricken areas were down, and cell phone networks were congested. The storm was so massive that it will take time to establish communications between rescuers and state officials, Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin said. Fallin deployed 80 National Guard members to assist with rescue operations and activated extra highway patrol officers. She also spoke with President Obama, who declared a major disaster and ordered federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts. Families anxiously waited at nearby churches to hear if their loved ones had survived. A man with a megaphone stood Monday evening near St. Andrews United Methodist Church and called out the names of surviving children. Parents waited nearby, hoping to hear their sons' and daughters' names.

While some parents and children hugged each other as they reunited, others were left to wait, fearing the worst as the night dragged on. Crews continued their desperate search-and-rescue effort throughout the night at Plaza Towers Elementary, where the storm had ripped off the school's roof, knocked down walls and turned the playground into a mass of twisted plastic and metal as students and teachers huddled in hallways and bathrooms. Children from the school were among the dead, but several students were pulled out alive earlier Monday from under a collapsed wall and other heaps of mangled debris. Rescue workers passed the survivors down a human chain of parents and neighborhood volunteers. Parents carried children in their arms to a triage center in the parking lot. Some of the students looked dazed while others appeared terrified. (Fox News)

US News | Weird News | More ABC News Videos

Intelligence Briefing: Understanding Pena Nieto's Approach to the Cartels

2013-05-21T14:00:00Z

We flew into Lisbon and immediately rented a car to drive to the edge of the Earth and the beginning of the world. This edge has a name: Cabo de Sao Vicente. A small cape jutting into the Atlantic Ocean, it is the bitter end of Europe. Beyond this point, the world was once unknown to Europeans, becoming a realm inhabited by legends of sea monsters and fantastic civilizations. Cabo de Sao Vicente still makes you feel these fantasies are more than realistic. Even on a bright sunny day, the sea is forbidding and the wind howls at you, while on a gloomy day you peer into the abyss.

Just 3 miles west of Cabo de Sao Vicente at the base of the Ponta de Sagres lies Sagres, a pleasant little town of small villas and apartments. For the most part, these are summer homes, many owned by Germans and British, judging from the flags flying. It was here in 1410 that Prince Henry the Navigator founded a school for navigators. If Cabo de Sao Vicente is where the Earth ended for the Europeans, Ponta de Sagres became the place where the world began.

The Making of the Modern World

Prince Henry was the second son of Portuguese King John I. As a member of the royal class, he had the means to finance his ambitions. Those who attended his school included Vasco da Gama, who made the first voyage from Europe to India, and Magellan, whose expedition first circumnavigated the globe. Columbus was once shipwrecked and rescued off the coast, subsequently learning many of his later nautical skills in Portugal. This school gave rise to the most extraordinary alumni association imaginable.

How prosaic business opportunities generate the most risky and grandiose undertakings has come to interest me. This school arose with the specific goal of training sailors to go farther and farther south along the African coast in search of a sea route to India. The Portuguese sought this route to cut out the middleman in the spice trade. Spices were wealth in Europe; they preserved and seasoned food, and were considered medicinal and even aphrodisiacs. But they were fiendishly expensive, since they came to Europe via the Silk Road through Muslim-controlled territory, with each merchant along the way increasing their price.

Henry didn't just train seamen, he also financed explorations. During the 15th century, year after year, ships went out. Many, even most, never returned, but all of them pushed just a bit further south. Each voyage produced logs that Henry collected, collated, studied and relied on when planning future expeditions.

The more I learn more about Henry, the more his program reminds me of NASA and of Tom Wolfe's classic, The Right Stuff, about America's space program. Like NASA, each mission built on the last, trying out new methods in an incremental fashion. Henry didn't try to shoot to the moon, as they say. He was no Columbus, risking everything for glory, but rather a methodical engineer, pushing the limits a little at a time and collecting data.

His school has long since disappeared along with his palace. Only a single round marker on the ground remains, perhaps 30 feet wide, segmented in equidistant lines emanating outward to a circle. There is speculation that this is a sundial or a wind gauge of some sort. It could also be nothing; scholars never find an object that isn't filled with meaning, oftentimes religious. Of course, the physical remains of his school don't mean much. History was made here.

It was the place where Europe discovered the world, not only in the physical sense, but also in the direct encounters over time with the myriad cultures that made up the world. Europe wasn't kind to the world it discovered. But over time it did force each culture to become aware of all the others; after centuries, a Mongol student might learn about the Aztecs. Instead of a number of isolated worlds, each believing itself to be the center of the Earth, each new discovery fed the concept of a single world.

The Buccaneering Spirit

On this cape, early in the 15th century, well before Columbus sailed, Henry planned Europe's assault on the world. In the process, he laid the foundation of the modern world and modern Europe. Standing on the cliffs overlooking the Atlantic, even on this cheerful day, it is possible to imagine the courage it took to sail into probable death. I can't help but think of the voyages of astronauts and cosmonauts, one part dispassionate engineering and science, one part pure hubris.

The Americans and Russians, not the Europeans, undertook space programs. Europe got in late and never launched a manned flight. There are those who say that we can explore space with unmanned rockets. That may be true, but we cannot own space, we cannot claim it that way. If Henry created his school solely for knowledge, then perhaps sending messages in a bottle and waiting for a reply would have done that. But Henry, the prince who became a monk, also acted for wealth, God's glory and to claim his place in history.

Today, we have entered a phase of history where the buccaneering spirit has left us. The desire for knowledge has separated itself from the hunger we have for wealth and glory. Glory is not big today, cool is. Cool does not challenge the gates of heaven, it accepts what is and conforms to it. This is a passing phase, however. Humans will return to space to own it, discover unknown wealth and bring glory.

The Wright brothers made bicycles, in those days not cool and certainly not glorious. Their heirs "touched the face of God," as John Gillespie Magee put it in his poem High Flight. Like Kipling, scholars do not regard Magee as a serious poet. Perhaps they are right, but he still captured something lesser poets of the inner neuroses failed to capture: a way to speak of glory.

Out in West Texas and other desolate places, private companies -- privateers -- are reinventing the space program. They are searching for what Henry sought -- namely, wealth and glory. Like the pioneers of flight or Columbus, they might be a little mad, much too hungry and filled with hubris. But like Henry's explorers, they will take a government program and transform the world while making themselves and their country rich.

These are extreme thoughts, but Sagres makes you wild if you let it. What was done here staggers the imagination and causes me to hunger for more. Certainly, European imperialism brought misery to the world. But the world was making itself miserable before, and has since: One group of people has always been stealing land from other groups in a constant flow of history. What culture did not live on land stolen from another culture, either annihilated or absorbed? Ours has always been a brutal world. And the Europe Henry founded did not merely oppress and exploit, although it surely did those things. It also left as its legacy something extraordinary: a world that knew itself and all of its parts.

The European Legacy

It is odd to be thinking of Europe's legacy while sitting here in Portugal. Only the dead leave legacies, and Europe is not dead. Yet something in it has died. The swagger and confidence of a great civilization is simply not there, at least not on the European peninsula. Instead, there is caution and fear. You get the sense in Europe -- and here I think of conversations I had on previous trips in the last year or so -- of a fear that any decisive action will tear the place apart. Eastern Europeans are wondering what happened to the European Union and NATO, their twin guarantees of never having to worry about anything again. Western Europeans are worrying about how to return to the smug satisfaction of a prosperity that has disappeared.

There is a great deal of discussion about Europe's economic crisis and finding a way to return to the lost promise of the European Union. But what was that promise? It was a promise of comfort and security and what they called "soft power," which is power without taking risks or making anyone dislike you. The European search for comfort and safety is not trivial, not after the horrors of the 20th century. The British and French have given up empires, Russia has given up communism, Germany and Italy have given up fascism and racism. The world is better off without these things. But what follows, what is left?

I am not talking here of the economic crisis that is gripping Europe, leaving Portugal with 17 percent unemployment and Spain with 26 percent. These are agonizing realities for those living through them. But Europeans have lived through more and worse. Instead, I am speaking of a crisis in the European soul, the death of hubris and of risk-taking. Yes, these resulted in the Europeans trying to convert the world to Christianity and commerce, in Russia trying to create a new man and in Germany becoming willing to annihilate what it thought of as inferior men. The Europeans are content to put all that behind them. Their great search for the holy grail is now reduced to finding a way to resume the comforts of the unexceptional. There is something to be said for the unexceptional life. But it cannot be all there is.

Looking out a window at the cape on which Henry's school was built, it is difficult to connect today's Europe with his. His was poorer, more diseased, more unjust than this one. Life was harder and bleaker than we can imagine. As someone closer to the harder and bleaker side of Europe than to its glories, I can understand not wanting Europe to go there again. But there is no one without guilt, especially those who carefully catalogue the guilt of others. It is also impossible to imagine a truly human life without the hunger hidden inside the princely monk Henry.

We humans are caught between the hunger for glory and the price you pay and the crimes you commit in pursuing it. To me, the tension between the hunger for ordinary comforts and the need for transcendence seems to lie at the heart of the human condition. Europe has chosen comfort, and now has lost it. It sought transcendence and tore itself apart. The latter might have been Henry's legacy, but ah, to have gone to his school with da Gama and Magellan.

Obama administration targets Fox News reporter in 'chilling' echo of AP probe

2013-05-21T00:00:00Z

Green

Obama Has Rarely Or Never Praised Whistleblowers

2013-05-20T23:57:00Z

Yellow

Monday, May 20, 2013

2013-05-20T23:57:00Z

We are almost into summer, and this scandal watch – pretty intense. We are not expecting anything new, until more whistleblowers emerge. And they may, obviously, but I think the odds are they will – because once the heat starts coming down on certain people, they trade information, that is the way it goes. Now you do have the problem of a very liberal administration not really wanting any of this stuff to come out, but it inevitably does. I want to know if I am overdoing it, as Premium Members you need to tell me if I am overdoing the coverage on this.

I am trying to find new angles – I am not going to be repetitive. There is a report today on Talk Radio that 500 conservative organizations were denied tax-exempt status, while zero liberal ones were denied. So I heard that and went, wow, let’s check that out. It’s not true.

The Inspector General for Tax Administration says 108 tax-exempts were approved, and in that, there are a number of conservative groups. Zero had been denied, but there were people who just couldn’t close. Now I do not think there is any question that conservative groups were targeted. Liberal groups, we don’t know. Most of them get the tax-exempt status. But I think you’ve got to be careful about throwing stats out like that, because once the reportage is discredited, the folks who matter in the middle (not that committed folks don’t matter, they do – but your mind is made up), but the folks in the middle that can really make or break an administration, they are really looking for a lot of different things. They are not ideological folks, and if they hear stuff that is not true, like there is a persecution going underway, they turn. So, my job is to keep it factual, keep it real, and keep it new. And I think we’ve got a good lineup the next four days – I’ll be off on Friday, but the next few days we’ve got some really good stories coming up about all these things in Washington.

NYC Mayor Bloomberg has urged mediocre high school students to consider becoming what?

2013-05-20T18:51:00Z

This week's O'Quiz has arrived! See if you can beat last week's 6.55 average.

Go: This week's O'Quiz

UPDATE: ACLU backs students in San Diego 'twerking' video

2013-05-20T14:41:00Z

The American Civil Liberties Union is urging a San Diego-area high school principal to reconsider harsh punishments given to 31 students for making an on-campus video featuring suggestive "twerking" dance moves. ACLU legal director David Loy wrote in a letter Thursday that Scripps Ranch High School Principal Ann Menna's suspensions were unjustified and excessive. The students, mostly girls, were suspended from school earlier this month after the rump-shaking video was posted online. School officials called the video deeply offensive with implications for lewd conduct and sexual harassment. Loy says the principal is wrongly interpreting the state's sexual harassment code to justify the suspension. The ACLU is not representing any of the students legally, though some have retained lawyers. A late message left at the school was not immediately returned. (Mercury-News)

Pelosi: GOP 'Makes So Much' of Scandals Because Obama Is

2013-05-20T14:19:00Z

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday that Republicans are using scandals coming out of the White House to undermine President Barack Obama out of "fear," because he is “such a great president.” At her press conference: (CNS News)

“They make so much of these issues, because this president is such a great president. He’s a visionary—you’ve heard me say this so many times.This is a great president. He’s a visionary. He has a knowledge of our country, concerns of the American people that give him judgment as to what plan we should have to go forward to strengthen the middle class. And he has an eloquence to convey that message. They fear that, and so any issue that comes up, they will try to exploit. And some of them are legitimate issues, but they should not dominate everything. And so what I think is that they have used talking points on Benghazi. They will use the IRS. They will use the AP. They will use these as, again, subterfuges, evasions of what the American people want us to do here.”

Bob Schieffer:

2013-05-20T14:12:00Z

BOB SCHIEFFER: When the burglars broke into Democratic Headquarters at the Watergate, a lot of us back then found it hard to believe. Why would anyone break into a political headquarters? What did they hope to find? Bumper stickers? Yard signs? Nobody is dumb enough to pull a stunt like that. But they were! I admit I had about the same reaction when I first heard the IRS had gone after the tea party last year. The tea party? Surely no one could be dumb enough to think you could get away with that in an election year. But they were! So, welcome to dumb and dumber.

It did take awhile for the news to get to some quarters. We've heard that the President said he didn't find out about it until last week. Last week! Which qualified him for Washington's fastest-growing club: the longer and longer list of officials who suddenly don't know much about a lot of unpleasant things, from Benghazi to the Associated Press investigation. At this point, spare me the talking points and the excuses. No matter whether Republicans or Democrats are doing this kind of thing, this stuff is not just wrong, it's really stupid, and it will take more than firing a few temps and low-level bureaucrats to fix it. The president won re-election with a smart political team, but the election is over. Maybe he should look now for people of substance who know about other things who could help him govern.

NYC lawmakers furious over 'ghetto tour' by Bronx bus company

2013-05-20T14:07:00Z

Tourists are crowding onto a Bronx bus tour that promises “a ride through a real New York City ‘GHETTO’ ” — and local politicians are furious. Three times a week, Real Bronx Tours takes riders — mainly white Europeans and Australians — on a trip that includes stops at food-pantry lines and a “pickpocket” park. Last week, on the first stop of the $45 tour, guide Lynn Battaglia, from Pittsburgh, pointed out a housing project. She then mocked the Grand Concourse, modeled after a Parisian boulevard. “Do you feel like we’re on the Champs-Elysées?” she teased a couple from Paris. As the bus idled across from historic St. Ann’s Episcopalian Church, Battaglia launched into a description of the crime, poverty and violence that plagued the South Bronx during the 1970s recession. As she spoke, a line of two dozen poor people — including one man visibly agitated by the onlookers — waited for handouts from the church pantry. (NY Post)

OJ Simpson close to freedom? His lawyers think so

2013-05-20T13:59:00Z

The latest high-stakes court hearing for O.J. Simpson in the glitzy capital of big gambles has come to a close with the former football star's defense team feeling confident that their client is closer to getting out of prison. The last time Simpson was in a Las Vegas courtroom, he was convicted of kidnapping and armed robbery. Now, with a new team of attorneys on his side, he has mounted a cool, methodical case that his former lead lawyer botched the 2008 trial so badly that a new one should be granted. "He has a very good chance now," said Ozzie Fumo, one of the attorneys who represented Simpson. "I don't think the state was able to counter any of our issues." Simpson's lawyers presented evidence that showed Miami-based attorney Yale Galanter shared responsibility for the ill-conceived plan for the NFL Hall of Famer and former Hollywood star to take back personal items and mementos from two sports collectible dealers in a Vegas hotel room. They also built a case that he deliberately sabotaged Simpson's chances for acquittal and appeal to protect himself and his own self-interests. When the weeklong hearing ended Friday there seemed to be little doubt that major mistakes were made when Simpson was sentenced to nine to 33 years in prison on 12 criminal counts. The real question is whether enough was done to meet the high standard needed for District Court Judge Linda Marie Bell to free Simpson from state prison and grant him a new trial. (AP)

Pipe dream: Skip college, become a plumber, NYC Mayor Bloomberg says

2013-05-20T13:57:00Z

The heck with Harvard, says New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Most high school grads should learn a trade . . . like plumbing. Bloomberg -- he of the no-oversized sodas -- is now reportedly dispensing career advice via his weekly radio show. “The people who are going to have the biggest problem are college graduates who aren’t rocket scientists, if you will, not at the top of their class,” Bloomberg said Friday, according to the New York Daily News. “Compare a plumber to going to Harvard College — being a plumber, actually for the average person, probably would be a better deal,” he reportedly said. “You don’t spend ... four years spending $40,000, $50,000 in tuition without earning income.” Bloomberg made the remark in response to a question on his weekly radio show appearance, according to a spokesman contacted by FoxNews.com, although a transcript of the remarks was not immediately available. The mayor added that another benefit to learning a trade, like plumbing, is that it’s hard to outsource, or computerize “It’s hard to farm that out,” he reportedly said, “and it’s hard to automate that.”

The mayor seemed to bookend those remarks the following day with an address to the graduating class of Ohio’s Kenyon College. “I know that today’s job market is not easy,” he reportedly told those assembled for his address speech, “...today, if I interview a recent college grad who tells me he or she spent the summer curing cancer, bringing peace to the Middle East, and writing the Great American Novel – I’m impressed. “But I’m more likely to hire the person who spent his or her summer working days, nights, and weekends for an auto-body shop or a construction company in order to pay tuition or help with family bills.” (Fox News)

Florida girl, 18, arrested and expelled after relationship with 15-year-old female classmate - faces 15 years in prison

2013-05-20T13:56:00Z

An 18-year-old Florida student’s senior year has become a nightmare — all because she was in a same-sex relationship with a 15-year-old, her family says. Kaitlyn Hunt was arrested Feb. 16 for having a physical relationship with a younger classmate, who was her girlfriend at the time, mom Kelley Hunt Smith wrote on Facebook. Under Florida law, Hunt could see up to 15 years in prison and must register as a sex offender. A plea deal, however, remains on the table that would give Hunt two years' house arrest and one year of probation, her family said. “Does my daughter deserve to lose her life for 15 years, or 3 years, or to have no life, because of one choice she made in high school, absolutely not!!” Hunt Smith wrote Friday, adding, “This is a mother’s nightmare.”

The distraught mom and her family has launched an online campaign asking supporters to petition the State Attorney’s office in Indian River County and have them reconsider the charges. “The (assistant) state attorney, Brian Workman needs to use taxpayers money to prosecute REAL criminals, not a high school student who has never been in trouble a day in her young life, all because she had a mutual consenting relationship with someone who has bigoted parents,” wrote Hunt Smith, who didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment Sunday. Hunt’s uncle, Andrew Gay, told the Daily News that the girls were in the same social circle at Sebastian River High School and played together on the basketball team. (NY Daily News)

Ralph Peters: The Arab collapse - Middle East a vulture's feast

2013-05-20T13:55:00Z

In the NY Post:

The Arab Spring has unleashed the Arab Collapse. Everybody still standing in the region is picking the flesh of the helpless. The Islamist cancer proved more virulent than Arabs themselves expected, while dying regimes behave with unrestrained ruthlessness. And our diplomats still think everyone can be cajoled into harmony. We’re witnessing a titanic event, the crack-up of a long-tottering civilization. Arab societies grew so corrupt and stagnant that violent upheaval became inevitable. That’s what we’re seeing in Syria and Iraq — two names, one struggle — and will find elsewhere tomorrow. We can’t stop it, we can’t fix it, and we don’t understand it. But we canstay out of it…

We had our chance to extend the peace and keep both Iran and Wahhabi crazies at bay after we defeated Iraq’s insurgencies. But a new American president, elevating politics over strategy, walked away from Baghdad, handing Iraq to Iran. Now it’s too late. If George W. Bush helped trigger the Arab Spring, Barack Obama made this Arab Winter inevitable. We must not be lured into the current fighting — centered, for now, on Syria — by cries of humanitarian necessity. The local powers could step in to stop the killing. But they won’t. Once again, they want us to pay the bill. (It’s time for the Saudis, especially, to give their own blood.) We’ve paid enough. Rhetoric and red lines notwithstanding, we need to back off from Syria, if for no other reason than a strategist’s golden rule: If you don’t understand what a fight’s about, stay out.

Jihad experts decry White House terror training guidelines

2013-05-20T13:54:00Z

Experts on Islam and terrorism are decrying the Department of Homeland Security’s recently revealed anti-terrorism training guidelines, which pressure cops to ignore Islamic beliefs when investigating terror crimes. The Boston bombings demonstrated the impact of such training, Andrew McCarthy, a former New York prosecutor, told The Daily Caller. “The Boston Marathon was bombed by a jihadist who had been investigated by the FBI … [and was confirmed in 2011 to be] an Islamist, which would have been hard not to do since he does not appear to have made any secret of it,” said McCarthy, who persuaded a New York jury in 1995 to convict “Blind Sheikh” Omar Abdel-Rahman for his use of Islamic teaching to spur jihad attacks, including the 1993 attack against the Twin Towers. But before the bombing, “the FBI closed its file [on Tamerlan Tsarnaev] because it found this did not constitute ‘derogatory information,’” McCarthy said.

McCarthy and other security experts, and even members of the American Islamic community, indicate that a culture of excessive concern for the sensibilities of Muslims supremacists is preventing law enforcement agencies from pursuing jihadists. The 2011 guidelines unveiled Thursday by The Daily Caller are part of this pattern of deferring to Islamist chauvinism. (Related: Homeland Security guidelines advise deference to pro-Shariah Muslim supremacists) Under the federal guidelines, “agents are admonished to discount the possibility that an Islamist’s constitutionally protected abhorrence of the United States might possibly lead to violence,” McCarthy told TheDC. Even if FBI officials had learned about Tsarnaev’s 2012 trip to a part of southern Russia that is embroiled in a jihadi war, they would not have restarted their 2011 investigation, a government official told the Washington Post in April. “The FBI investigation into the individual in question had been closed six months prior to his departure from the United States and more than a year before his return. …Since there was no derogatory information, there was no reason to suggest that additional action was warranted,” the official said in April. (Daily Caller)

More than 85,000 veterans treated last year over alleged military sex abuse, report says

2013-05-20T13:54:00Z

More than 85,000 veterans were treated last year for injuries or illness stemming from sexual abuse in the military, and 4,000 sought disability benefits, underscoring the staggering long-term impact of a crisis that has roiled the Pentagon and been condemned by President Barack Obama as ""shameful and disgraceful." A Department of Veterans Affairs accounting released in response to inquiries from The Associated Press shows a heavy financial and emotional cost involving vets from Iraq, Afghanistan and even back to Vietnam, and lasting long after a victim leaves the service. Sexual assault or repeated sexual harassment can trigger a variety of health problems, primarily post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. While women are more likely to be victims, men made up nearly 40 percent of the patients the VA treated last year for conditions connected to what it calls "military sexual trauma." (AP)

Lawmakers to investigate EPA FOIA scandal

2013-05-20T13:51:00Z

Republican lawmakers are launching an investigation into claims that the Environmental Protection Agency, while giving preferential treatment to environmental groups, made it harder for conservative groups to obtain government records. “According to documents obtained by the Committees, EPA readily granted FOIA fee waivers for environmental allies, effectively subsidizing them, while denying fee waivers and making the FOIA process more difficult for states and conservative groups,” wrote Republican lawmakers, including Rep. Darrell Issa and Sens. David Vitter, Chuck Grassley and Jim Inhofe in a letter to the EPA. Citing a report by The Daily Caller News Foundation, Republicans are asking the EPA to hand over all Freedom of Information Act fee waiver requests, responses to requests, and FOIA officer training materials since the beginning of the Obama administration. Lawmakers are also asking for all communications regarding FOIA fee waiver requests or appeals under the Obama administration. The free-market Competitive Enterprise Institute obtained documents showing that since January 2012, the EPA granted fee waivers for 75 out of 82 FOIA requests from major environmental groups and only denied seven of them, giving green groups a 92 percent success rate. At the same time, the EPA rejected or ignored 21 out of 26 fee waiver requests from conservative groups.

Deadly Twisters Slam Midwest, Plains

2013-05-20T13:51:00Z

At least one person has been killed and 21 injured in Oklahoma as a severe storm system generated several tornadoes Sunday in Kansas, Oklahoma and Iowa, leveling neighborhoods and sending frightened residents scurrying for shelter. The tornadoes, high winds and hail across the Midwest were part of a massive, northeastward-moving storm system that stretched from Texas to Minnesota. Victims and emergency responders might not get much of reprieve as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Storm Prediction Center was forecasting similar weather for Monday over much of the same area. At least four separate twisters touched down in central Oklahoma late Sunday afternoon, including one near the town of Shawnee, 35 miles southeast of Oklahoma City, that laid waste to much of a mobile home park. Oklahoma state Rep. Justin Wood confirmed to Fox News Sunday that at least one person had been killed in the town. Authorities tell the Associated Press the 79-year-old man's body was found in an open area of the neighborhood.

A storm spotter told the National Weather Service that the tornado "scoured" the landscape in the park and an area along Interstate 40. The highway has been closed because of overturned tractor-trailers that now litter the road. Across the state, 21 people were injured, not including those who suffered bumps and bruises and chose not to visit a hospital, said Keli Cain, a spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management. Gov. Mary Fallin declared an emergency for 16 Oklahoma counties that suffered from severe storms and flooding during the weekend. A tornado grazed the Oklahoma City suburb of Edmond Sunday afternoon, dropping hail as large as grapefruit and damaging roofs and structures before heading east. Aerial flyovers in Wellston, northeast of Oklahoma City, showed significant property damage. Dozen of counties in Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois and Missouri were placed under tornado watches and warnings that were in effect through late Sunday. In Kansas, an "violent and extremely dangerous tornado" was spotted in the southwest side of Wichita near the Mid-Continent Airport, according to the National Weather Service. (Fox News)

Obama's Counsel Was Told of IRS Audit Findings Weeks Ago

2013-05-20T13:47:00Z

The White House's chief lawyer learned weeks ago that an audit of the Internal Revenue Service likely would show that agency employees inappropriately targeted conservative groups, a senior White House official said Sunday. That disclosure has prompted a debate over whether the president should have been notified at that time. In the week of April 22, the Office of the White House Counsel and its head, Kathryn Ruemmler, were told by Treasury Department attorneys that an inspector general's report was nearing completion, the White House official said. In that conversation, Ms. Ruemmler learned that "a small number of line IRS employees had improperly scrutinized certain…organizations by using words like 'tea party' and 'patriot,' " the official said. President Barack Obama said last week he learned about the controversy at the same time as the public, on May 10, when an IRS official revealed it to a conference of lawyers. The president's statement drew criticism, focusing attention on his management style and whether he has kept himself sufficiently informed about the agencies under his authority.

Others, including veterans of previous scandals, said the counsel—whose role is to advise the president on all legal matters concerning his job and the White House—was right to avoid telling Mr. Obama about the audit's early findings. Doing so could have caused a new storm by creating the appearance of meddling in an independent investigation that hadn't yet concluded, former officials said. The White House, which declined to make Ms. Ruemmler available for comment Sunday, wouldn't say whether she shared the information with anyone else in the senior administration staff. The new detail doesn't help answer some fundamental questions about the IRS scandal, including how it began and who, if anyone, in the administration was aware of the severity of the inspector general's probe before last November's presidential election. Instead, it focuses attention on the White House's handling of the matter, which has blown up into the kind of crisis that could persist. (WSJ)

Bill O'Reilly: Grilling the IRS

2013-05-20T11:59:38Z

By Bill O'Reilly

Today the House Ways and Means Committee questioning fired IRS Commissioner Steve Miller, one of his deputies J. Russell George this because the IRS has admitted it unfairly targeted conservative groups for years.

Yet the boss, Miller, says he doesn't know much about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MILLER: I'm going to take exception to the content of targeting because that's a loaded term the listing was done --

REP. KEVIN BRADY (R), TEXAS: This is not a listing, you created a "be on the lookout" list.

MILLER: Yes.

BRADY: That's not a centralized government mandated or directed listing. You had a "be on the lookout" list that you acknowledge. Who is responsible for targeting these individuals?

MILLER: So, I don't -- I don't have names for you, Mr. Brady. And I'm willing to try to find that out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: Well since his last day, I think it's today. You know, come on. So let's see, in Benghazi, the Obama administration is going to find out nothing would happen and bring the terrorists to justice. And now in the IRS scandal, they are willing to find out. You sense a theme here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Attorney General Holder also announced a criminal investigation of what happened. Between those investigations, I think we're going to be able to figure out exactly what happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: He'll be able to figure it out. Now, I'm mocking this because it's so ridiculous. The Inspector General discovered the IRS targeting conservative groups months ago. Surely Mr. Miller and the White House both knew the IRS was being investigated. Yet now, not before, now everybody wants to find out who did what. This is why many Americans don't trust their government.

"Talking Points" doesn't know who directed IRS agents to target and I'll use that word, conservative groups and individuals. But surely Miller knows much more than he is saying. And that brings us to what happens next. Miller could be indicted. That's possible. The FBI is investigating. But only, only when IRS people from the inside start to blow the whistle will the scandal be defined. Until that happens it's all speculation.

What's not speculation is the chaos we are seeing in Washington right now. That's damaging the nation. And the President is rightfully taking massive heat. And that's "The Memo."

— You can catch Bill O'Reilly's "Talking Points Memo" weeknights at 8 and 11 p.m. ET on the Fox News Channel and any time on foxnews.com/oreilly. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com.

Transcript Date:

Fri, 05/17/2013

Transcript Show Name:

O'Reilly Factor

Transcript Talent Byline:

Bill O'Reilly

jejune

2013-05-18T04:24:00Z

[juh-JUNE] Uninteresting, dull, insipid

L.A. Schools: We Won't Suspend Kids for Mouthing Off Anymore

2013-05-17T23:30:00Z

Blue

Treasury Knew of I.R.S. Inquiry in 2012, Official Says

2013-05-17T23:29:00Z

Teal

Frank VanderSloot: 'I'm not the only' major Mitt Romney donor audited

2013-05-17T23:27:00Z

Yellow

Friday, May 17, 2013

2013-05-17T23:27:00Z

This VanderSloot story that we led with – I assume that all you guys saw the show, and I know there are some who missed it, and they just come in for the No Spin News on the net, but boy that is a major story and I think we are going to see him on Capitol Hill, because that is what it is all about. These guys targeting these people, and there is no doubt he is the target. So they can say whatever t hey want to say, the IRS, but you just don’t pick this guy out of nowhere. They went after him, and it cost him $80 grand. Now, for him, he can afford it, but a lot of people could not. That is what I have to get involved with, I have to protect the folks. So, I thought it was an extremely important story, you are not going to see it anywhere else but on The Factor, and that defines this whole IRS situation. There it is.

Otherwise, it will be an interesting week next week. The Sunday shows will have all the spinners out there. We don’t really care much about them, but I think the president and his men are going to meet over the weekend, pretty intensely, and try to figure out how to get on top of this thing, because it is spiraling out of control, and if there are more people that come forth, that is the key. If nobody else comes forth, whistleblowers, then the stories will wane a little bit, because you can’t keep saying the same thing. You’ve got to advance stuff, and nobody knows whether that is going to happen or not. It is tough to go up against the President of the United States. You’ve got to have a lot of courage to do that.

The education thing, I am telling you – this is really an untold epidemic of children in public schools just basically doing what they want to do. If it is violence, they are going to do violence, and the system has basically surrendered to the children. So, you read Lord of the Flies by Golding if you really want to know how bad this thing is. I don’t know anybody right now in Los Angeles; I got a lot of friends out there, who sends their kids to public school. And a lot of these people are liberal; they are just not going to do it. That is how out of control it is. And the system is basically saying you know what? We don’t know what to do, we are afraid of the kids, so we are going to surrender. That’s it.

New crossword: Tale of Three Scandals

2013-05-17T23:00:00Z

Think you know a lot about the various problems affecting the Obama administration? This week's puzzle will test your knowledge. Play online or print it out for the road.

Go: O'Reilly crossword

Pat Robertson tells wife of cheating husband to be grateful for marriage

2013-05-17T14:39:00Z

Pat Robertson has many opinions on subjects including homosexuality, politics and the coming of the Mark of the Beast, but it was the famous televangelist's opinion on marriage that took center stage during Wednesday's episode of his daily television program, "The 700 Club." Responding to a question from a viewer, Robertson said that married men "have a tendency to wander" and it is the spurned wife's job to focus on the positive and make sure the home is so enticing, he doesn't want to stray. "I've been trying to forgive my husband for cheating on me," the viewer writes. "We have gone to counseling, but I just can't seem to forgive, nor can I trust. How do you let go of the anger? How do you trust again?" While Robertson's co-host hedged on the question, calling forgiveness "difficult" and spousal infidelity "one of the ultimate betrayals," Robertson got right to the point. "Here's the secret," the famous evangelical said. "Stop talking the cheating. He cheated on you, well, he's a man." The wife needs to focus on the reasons she married her spouse, he continued. "Does he provide a home for you to live in," Robertson said. 'Does he provide food for you to eat? Does he provide clothes for you to wear? Is he nice to the children... Is he handsome?" (Huffington Post)

GOP Rep. Gohmert: AP Scandal Shows Obama A "Tyrannical Despot"

2013-05-17T14:37:00Z

Capitol Hill press conference:

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX): But I want to go back to this question here about why were you seeking legal status? Have you heard what has happened? You have a government that is forcing people to get a legal status in order to just come up here and have their voices heard. And then wants they force you into this funnel of having to have legal status then they use that to intimidate and abuse to prevent opposite views from being heard. This is a government run a mug. If the AP story has taught anything it should be, to the media, that when there is a tyrannical despot, the media will be one of the early victims - you will be used as helpful savants for awhile, and then when you're no longer needed, you will be pressured and put out of business as well."

Bea Arthur topless painting fetches $1.9M in NYC!

2013-05-17T14:36:00Z

A painting of actress Bea Arthur topless has sold for $1.9 million at a New York City auction. The painting is by artist John Currin and is titled "Bea Arthur Naked." It sold at Christie's auction of postwar and contemporary art on Wednesday. It had been expected to bring in between $1.8 million and $2.5 million. Christie's hasn't said who bought it. The 1991 oil painting depicts the late television actress nude from the waist up. Christie's said Thursday the image was based on a photograph of her with her clothes on. Arthur gained fame for her Emmy Award-winning roles in "Maude" and "The Golden Girls" in the 1970s and '80s. She died of cancer in 2009 at age 86. (AP)

President Obama makes U.S. Marine break military rules by holding an umbrella while in uniform?

2013-05-17T14:35:00Z

Even though he is the commander in chief, there are some orders that even President Obama cannot give - as he found out today, much to the chagrin of a put-upon U.S. Marine. Hosting Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Rose Garden today, the president requested a standing Marine to open an umbrella and protect his head from the light rain that was falling. However, according to Marine Corps regulations, not even the President of the United States can request a Marine to carry an umbrella without the express permission of the Commandant of the Marine Corps. The Marine Corp Manual, which is the bible for all soldiers serving, specifically states that a soldier's uniform dress code does not allow the carrying of an umbrella and 'no officer or official shall issue instructions which conflict with, alter, or amend any provision without the approval of the Commandant of the Marine Corps.' Indeed, male Marines are informed never to carry an umbrella from the earliest phases of training. Regulation MCO P1020.34F of the Marine Corps Uniform Regulations chapter 3, rules out any use or carrying of an umbrella while a Marine is in uniform. However, female Marines 'may carry an all-black, plain standard or collapsible umbrella at their option during inclement weather with the service and dress uniforms. It will be carried in the left hand so that the hand salute can be properly rendered.' (Daily Mail)

Refinery woes cause nationwide gas price spike

2013-05-17T14:15:00Z

It's been a roller coaster year for gas prices, which began the year averaging $3.29 a gallon, then zoomed to $3.78 in February before dropping to $3.50 last month. Current average price: $3.60. Troubles at several oil refineries are driving gasoline prices sharply higher in the Midwest, and the regional shortages are expected to boost pump prices nationwide. While the USA may be dripping in new found crude oil deposits and early May supplies were at their highest levels since the early 1930s, issues at a handful of refineries that turn crude into gasoline and diesel fuel underscore how kinks in the supply chain can cause quick surges in what consumers pay at the pump. Gas prices in Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma and Wisconsin have spiked up to 27 cents a gallon the past week alone. Behind the rise: outages and extended maintenance has curbed output at refineries in Joliet, Ill., Whiting, Ind; Tulsa, Okla, and Eldorado, Kansas. Nationally, prices average $3.60 a gallon after beginning 2013 at $3.29. Some industry observers thought this year's prices had peaked at $3.78 in February after sliding to $3.50 April 29. But the Midwest's refinery issues are now expected to keep propel prices for several weeks, perhaps to $3.85 a gallon nationwide. (USA Today)

House votes to repeal Obamacare for 37th time

2013-05-17T14:13:00Z

The House of Representatives voted again to repeal President Obama’s health-care law Thursday afternoon, marking the 37th time that the GOP-led House has tried to undo all or part of the legislation. The vote was 229 to 195, with two Democrats joining Republicans in voting for repeal. The Democrats were Mike McIntyre (N.C.) and Jim Matheson (Utah). Previous repeal votes had attracted as many as five Democrats. This vote does not put the Affordable Care Act in jeopardy. Thursday’s repeal bill will probably meet the same fate as five others that would have eliminated the entire health-care law: It will die in the Democrat-led Senate. (Washington Post)

U.S. lost track of two with known or suspected terror ties

2013-05-17T14:12:00Z

The U.S. Marshals Service lost track of two former participants in the federal Witness Security Program "identified as known or suspected terrorists," according to the public summary of an interim Justice Department Inspector General's report obtained by CNN. The Marshals Service has concluded that "one individual was and the other individual was believed to be residing outside of the United States," according to the summary. A Justice Department official said in response to follow up questions about the matter by reporters on Thursday that the pair had left the program years ago and had been accounted for. It was not clear when or for how long the Marshals Service lost track of them. The report notes that while in the middle of an audit of the witness program, the inspector general notified the Justice Department of national security vulnerabilities. The agency watchdog "developed the interim report to help ensure that the Justice Department promptly and sufficiently addressed the deficiencies we found."

After its audit, the inspector general's office reported that "the department did not definitively know how many known or suspected terrorists were admitted" into the witness program," among other "significant issues concerning national security." As of March 2013, the Justice Department was reviewing more than 18,000 program case files to determine whether more known or suspected terrorists have been admitted, the summary notes. As such, the number of terrorists lost or unaccounted for "may not be complete and may continue to evolve." The summary said that although the Marshals Service was giving known or suspected terrorists who participated in the witness program and their dependents new names and identity documents, the Justice Department "was not authorizing the disclosure to a federal center that operates a terrorist watch list that helps provide information to the Transportation Security Administration's "no-fly" database.

Homeland Security guidelines advise deference to pro-sharia Muslim supremacists

2013-05-17T14:11:00Z

The Department of Homeland Security, which under Secretary Janet Napolitano has shown a keen interest in monitoring and warning about outspoken conservatives, takes a very different approach in monitoring political Islamists, according to a 2011 memo on protecting the free speech rights of pro-sharia Muslim supremacists. In a checklist obtained by The Daily Caller entitled “Countering Violent Extremism Dos and Don’ts” the DHS’s Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties notifies local and national law enforcement officials that it is Obama administration policy to consider specifically Islamic criticism of the American system of government legitimate. This policy stands in stark contrast to the DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis’s 2009 memo “Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment” [pdf], which warned of the dangers posed by pro-life advocates, critics of same-sex marriage and groups concerned with abiding by the U.S. Constitution, among others.

The advice of the Dos and Don’ts list is far more conciliatory. “Don’t use training that equates radical thought, religious expression, freedom to protest, or other constitutionally-protected activity, including disliking the U.S. government without being violent,” the manual’s authors write in a section on training being “sensitive to constitutional values.” The manual, which was produced by an inter-agency working group from DHS and the National Counterterrorism Center, advises, “Trainers who equate the desire for Sharia law with criminal activity violate basic tenets of the First Amendment.” The checklist also advised against using moderate Muslim “trainers who are self-professed ‘Muslim reformers’” because they “may further an interest group agenda instead of delivering generally accepted, unbiased information.” The Homeland Security document also seems to discount evidence unearthed by the Justice Department about the aims of some mainstream Muslim organizations, warning law enforcement not to rely on “unsubstantiated theories” and “conspiracies,” such as the belief that “many mainstream Muslim organizations have terrorist ties” or are “fronts for Islamic political organizations whose true desire is to establish Sharia law in America.” (Daily Caller)

GALLUP: Americans' Attention to IRS, Benghazi Stories Below Average

2013-05-17T14:02:00Z

Slim majorities of Americans are very or somewhat closely following the situations involving the Internal Revenue Service (54%) and the congressional hearings on the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, and its aftermath (53%) -- comparatively low based on historical measures of other news stories over the last two decades.

Most Agree That Both IRS and Benghazi Deserve Further Investigation
Most Americans agree that both of these situations are serious enough to warrant continuing investigation, with little difference in views of the two -- 74% for the IRS matter and 69% for Benghazi.

Second court invalidates Obama appointments to labor board

2013-05-17T13:59:00Z

A national labor board which has long been accused of making union-friendly decisions was dealt another blow Thursday, after a second federal appeals court found President Obama exceeded his power when he bypassed the Senate to appoint its members. The ruling by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia once again threatened to upend the National Labor Relations Board's decisions. And it has the potential to stall the board entirely, as well as challenge other federal agencies that have similar appointees. For now, the Obama administration has tried to disregard the court decisions -- it has already appealed a similar ruling, from a Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., to the Supreme Court. In the 2-1 decision from the Philadelphia court, judges said Obama had no constitutional authority to install attorney Craig Becker to the labor board in 2010 while the Senate was adjourned for two weeks. This is what's known as a recess appointment. But the court said that under the Constitution recess appointments can be made only between sessions of the Senate, not any time the Senate is away on a break. "If the Senate refused to confirm a president's nominees, then the president could circumvent the Senate's constitutional role simply by waiting until senators go home for the evening," Judge D. Brooks Smith wrote in a 102-page decision. (Fox News)

Sen. Vitter: EPA FOIA scandal 'no different than the IRS disaster'

2013-05-17T13:58:00Z

A Republican senator says allegations that the Environmental Protection Agency has made it more difficult for conservative groups to obtain information is no different from the burgeoning scandal at the IRS. Shortly after the IRS admitted to targeting conservative groups, it was reported that the EPA has routinely denied fee waiver requests from conservative groups seeking government records, while at the same time, approving such requests to environmental groups. “We know the Obama EPA has completely mismanaged FOIA, but granting fee waivers for their friends in the far-left environmental community, while simultaneously blocking conservative leaning groups from gaining access to information; is really no different than the IRS disaster,” Louisiana Republican Sen. David Vitter told the Daily Caller News Foundation in an emailed statement.

The free-market Competitive Enterprise Institute revealed that since January 2012 the EPA granted fee waivers for 75 out of 82 Freedom of Information Act requests sent by major environmental groups and only denied seven of them — a 92 percent success rate for green groups. However, the agency rejected or ignored 21 out of 26 fee waiver requests from conservative groups — an 81 percent rejection rate. “Their practice is to take care of their friends and impose ridiculous obstacles to deny problematic parties’ requests for information,” said CEI senior fellow Chris Horner. When a fee waiver is denied, it generally stops the FOIA request as many groups don’t have the resources to pay the fees associated to get the FOIA. In advance of EPA nominee Gina McCarthy’s hearing Senate Republicans, led by Vitter, sent her five requests on transparency in the EPA. In one request, Republicans asked the EPA general counsel to issue new guidelines to ensure that all EPA business is done on official government email accounts. (Daily Caller)

Flashback: Schumer, Franken urged IRS to target tea party in 2012

2013-05-17T13:55:00Z

Long before the Internal Revenue Service revealed it had improperly targeted conservative 501(c)(4) groups, a group of Democratic senators led by New York Sen. Chuck Schumer urged the IRS to do just that. The IRS’s admission last Friday that it had singled out tea party and other groups for extra audits and delays has raised concerns that President Barack Obama’s administration quietly attempted to stymy opponents through intimidation. But many prominent Democrats — including Montana Sen. Max Baucus, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State and the New York Times editorial board — had been publicly calling for tighter restrictions on 501(c)(4) groups affiliated with the tea party and conservatives. Last year, Schumer, along with Democratic Sens. Michael Bennet, Sheldon Whitehouse, Jeff Merkley, Tom Udall, Jeanne Shaheen and Al Franken, penned a letter calling on the agency to cap the amount of the political spending by groups masquerading as “social welfare organizations.” A press release from Schumer’s office dated March 12, 2012 laid out the terms of the letter: The senators said the lack of clarity in the IRS rules has allowed political groups to improperly claim 501(c)4 status and may even be allowing donors to these groups to wrongly claim tax deductions for their contributions.

The senators promised legislation if the IRS failed to act to fix these problems. “We urge the IRS to take these steps immediately to prevent abuse of the tax code by political groups focused on federal election activities. But if the IRS is unable to issue administrative guidance in this area then we plan to introduce legislation to accomplish these important changes,” the senators wrote. The letter cited a March 7, 2012 New York Times article by Jonathan Weisman that suggested donations to groups like American Crossroads and Priorities USA could be tax deductible, which was a primary concern of those senators at the time. A number of those senators participated in a press conference about their efforts on March 21, 2012, and Franken spoke out about what he called lack of oversight of 501(c)(4) status.“I think that there hasn’t been enforcement by the FEC and the IRS, and so there are entities that are taking a 501(c)4 status, and under that they’re supposed to have more than half of their activity be non-political,” Franken said. (Daily Caller)

Outgoing IRS chief faces hearing after 'stunning' revelation on another scandal-tied official

2013-05-17T13:45:00Z

The outgoing commissioner of the IRS is in the hot seat Friday, scheduled to testify for the first time on his agency's scandalous practice of targeting conservative groups -- after it was revealed that another potentially implicated official is now in charge of an ObamaCare unit. Steven Miller, the acting commissioner who was ousted by the administration earlier this week, will testify before the House Ways and Means Committee Friday morning. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are sure to have plenty of questions for Miller, as they search for who was responsible for the program. Outrage mounted after lawmakers learned that the IRS official who led the tax-exempt organizations unit when the targeting took place -- Sarah Hall Ingram -- has since moved over to the IRS office responsible for ObamaCare. "Stunning. Just stunning," Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said after learning of the move.

The acknowledgement comes after the administration announced that Ingram's successor Joseph Grant -- who had only been on the job a few days -- would be retiring. The agency released a memo Thursday night that may give insight into Miller's talking points at the Friday hearing, although it was written by Grant. In the memo, Grant acknowledged "errors" but said the program was started to deal with an influx of applications, as well as allegations that some of the groups were engaged in political activity that would be "impermissible" under the tax-exempt status they were seeking. The agency also directed those seeking a possible preview to Miller's testimony to a frequently asked questions page on their website. Also scheduled to testify is J. Russell George -- the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration -- and the man whose report released this week exposed the IRS practice that led to Miller's ouster (though Miller was apparently planning to leave the agency anyway).

President Obama, meanwhile, maintained Thursday that he didn't know about the investigation into the IRS program until it was made public. The ObamaCare official now drawing scrutiny had been serving as commissioner of the office responsible for tax-exempt organizations from 2009 to 2012 -- the division included the group that targeted Tea Partiers -- and has since left to serve as director of the IRS' Affordable Care Act division. That unit is responsible for enforcing parts of the health care law, including the fines associated with the so-called individual mandate -- the requirement to buy health insurance. (Fox News)

Bill O'Reilly: The President of the United States under Siege

2013-05-17T13:18:08Z

By Bill O'Reilly

The President of the United States under Siege: that is the subject of this evening's "Talking Points" memo.

The Obama administration has trouble on three fronts as you may know: the IRS illegally investigating conservatives; the assassination of Libyan Ambassador Christopher Stevens still not defined after eight months; and the Justice Department secretly obtaining the phone records of some journalists.

Today, the President met with the Turkish Prime Minister who looked a little confused and then answered questions about the three controversies. We begin with the IRS deal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: I'm outraged by this in part because, look, I'm a public figure. If a future administration is starting to use the tax laws to favor one party over another or one political view over another, obviously we are all vulnerable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: Ok. Mr. Obama fired the IRS acting director last night and replaced him today with another bureaucrat. But there is deep suspicion in some circles that the liberal Obama administration created an atmosphere where far left zealots in the IRS were basically unsupervised. They could do what they want.

That's a hard charge to prove but, there is no question that Mr. Obama's administration is ideological. Thus, suspicions run deep.

Today, Mr. Obama pledged a big IRS clean-up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: We will be putting in new leadership that will be able to make sure that following up on the IG audit, that we gather up all the facts that he we hold accountable those who have taken these outrageous actions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: Of course, the President had to say that. What's he going to say? I'm not going to do anything. I'm not going to fix it. I don't care. He had to say that. But again, there is suspicion because after eight months the Benghazi deal still has not been fixed. And today the President fell back on an old canard.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: I'm calling on Congress to work with us to support and fully fund our budget requests to improve the security of our embassies around the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: And you may remember that Senator Barbara Boxer and some other Democrats blamed Benghazi on the fact that Republicans want to cut spending. The "Washington Post" looked at that charge and found it completely bogus. The security screw up in Libya was solely the fault of bad management in Washington.

Why Mr. Obama would want to revisit the spending deal is a mystery tonight.

The President is on more solid ground, I should say, when he speaks about the Associated Press controversy. There are about 20 phone lines secretly scrutinized by the Justice Department. Not tapped. All right they just got the phone line records. And why did they do that? Here is what Mr. Obama said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: When we express concern about leaks at a time when I've still got 60,000 plus troops in Afghanistan and I have still got a whole bunch of intelligence officers around the world who are in risky situations in outposts that in some cases are as dangerous as the outpost in Benghazi, that part of my job is to make sure that we're protecting what they do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: But "Talking Points" believes that's a legitimate concern; that the war on terror, covert operations have to be protected to some extent. If the press prints everything, some of our people will die.

But there is always the abuse of power question. Did the Justice Department go too far with the Associated Press? We won't get an answer from the Attorney General. He says he doesn't know anything about it. He has recused himself.

The assistant attorney general still has not been forced by President Obama to say what he knows and therein lies the problem. The President should be a problem solver. He has the authority to make his people talk. Get them out there. Stand next to them.

If there is a legitimate reason to pull the phone records of reporters, then, in a general sense tell us what that reason is the story is over. If there is a legitimate reason not to provided added security in Libya, tell us the reason.

On the IRS front, please explain why the IRS director lied to the country in November and how that department could get so out of control. It's a sad fact of life that politics almost always intrudes on leadership.

Instead of really solving problems President Obama and most every other modern president tries to deflect them. Mr. Obama did that again today when he put a happy face on the A.P. matter saying there should be new laws that protect reporters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: To the extent that this case has prompted renewed interest about how do we strike that balance properly and I think now is the time for us to go ahead and revisit that legislation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: See what I mean? So the President now wants more protections for reporters, even as his administration rifles through their phone records. This is great. You know.

All right. This has been a tough week for the Obama administration and things will get even tougher if more whistleblowers emerge. Big mistakes were made on many fronts. In order to salvage his credibility Mr. Obama must be very aggressive in explaining to the American public exactly what happened and why it happened. And so far he hasn't done it.

And that's the memo.

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— You can catch Bill O'Reilly's "Talking Points Memo" weeknights at 8 and 11 p.m. ET on the Fox News Channel and any time on foxnews.com/oreilly. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com.

Transcript Date:

Thu, 05/16/2013

Transcript Show Name:

Oreilly

Transcript Talent Byline:

Bill O'Reilly

peevish

2013-05-17T04:24:00Z

[PEE-vish] Ill-tempered, easily irritated

Bill's Weekly Column: What Happened, Mr. President?

2013-05-17T01:41:00Z

"Not a great week for the Obama folks, as the scandal du jour tour has firmly taken hold. Every day it seems another federal agency is exposed as either intimidating, snooping, covering up, or going to Vegas on the taxpayer dime..."

Go: Bill's latest column

Bernie's Column: When Is a Scandal Not A Scandal?

2013-05-17T01:35:00Z

I don’t like reading the New York Times in the morning because I’m always afraid my head will explode and that would make it difficult to go through the rest of the day. My aforementioned head almost did explode when I read this headline on page one:

I.R.S. Focus on Conservatives

Gives G.O.P. an Issue to Seize On

Get it? The real story isn’t that the IRS abused its considerable power by giving special scrutiny to groups with the name “Tea Party” or “Patriot” in their title … or that they actually went far beyond those keywords and took aim at groups seeking to “make America a better place to live” or those who would “criticize how the country is being run.” No, the real story is that this gives Republican an issue to seize on.

Aren’t Democrats interested in seizing on this despicable behavior by one of the most powerful agencies of the federal government? The New York Times, I’m guessing, never thought about that.

Here’s the problem, as succinctly summarized on Hot Air:

“If it’s a scandal involving Republicans, the story is the scandal. If it’s a scandal involving Democrats, the story — or at least a significant part of it — is whether and how Republicans will ‘politicize’ the scandal for their advantage.

Bingo!

It’s the same with Benghazi. Liberal journalists are more concerned with how Republicans will use the apparent cover-up to hurt Hillary Clinton’s chances in 2016 than they are with finding out what really went wrong and who tried to mislead the American people about it.

Here’s Exhibit A, a headline in the Los Angeles Times: ““Partisan politics dominates House Benghazi hearing” … as if this is Washington politics as usual and we’re not going to learn anything from the witnesses who swore to tell the truth.

Too many Washington journalists see everything through a prism of politics. Benghazi isn’t about the death of four Americans … it’s about the future of Hillary Clinton. The IRS scandal isn’t about the abusive use of federal government power … it’s about how the GOP will use it to score political points.

But even if you play by these rules, why isn’t the story on page one of the New York Times about how Democrats in the Obama administration may have been going after conservative groups … for political gain?

Why isn’t the Benghazi story framed in a way that questions Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama’s political spin? Is she trying to stay out of trouble precisely because she wants to run for president? Was Mr. Obama more concerned about winning re-election, running in part on the phony premise that he had al-Qaeda on the run, than he was in admitting early on that al-Qaeda was responsible for the attack in Benghazi? Is he now more concerned about his reputation than … well, than anything else?

There has been a subtle shift in how Mr. Obama’s most loyal base, the so-called mainstream media, are treating him. When ABC News revealed the emails about Benghazi and their many re-writes to scrub any reference to terrorism (instead blaming a dopey video for the attacks) that gave mainstream journalists permission to question the president in a way they hadn’t before. If Fox came up with those emails the mainstream media response would have been a giant yawn.

There may be a new, less adoring relationship between the slobbering media and their hero, the president – especially after it came out that his justice department got a secret court order to go through phone records of journalists at the Associated Press. Now that's something they can really get worked up over. Benghazi? Who cares! IRS? Big deal. But when you go after journalists, they'll turn that into Watergate, the sequel.

But if there is a new tougher relationship between the press and the president, I’m guessing it won’t last long.

Kirstie Alley Slams Abercrombie and Fitch

2013-05-16T16:34:00Z

Add Kirstie Alley to the list of Abercrombie & Fitch critics who take exception to the company's refusal to carry clothing in larger sizes. The Former "Cheers" actress and "Dancing With the Stars" competitor slammed the store Tuesday, telling "Entertainment Tonight" she would "never buy anything from Abercrombie." The popular casual-clothing retailer is under fire for filling its shelves with products for the smallest of customers. Protestors gathered outside the retailer's Michigan Avenue store in Chicago Monday, outraged about the store's not carrying clothes in a size 14, the size worn by the average U.S. woman. Plus-size shoppers now make up 67 percent of U.S. consumers. "It's body discrimination, and it's bullying and it encourages bullying," Cali Lindstrom, a former Abercrombie & Fitch customer, told ABC News.

The backlash is growing online on Twitter and Facebook, and several petitions on Change.org urge people not to shop at Abercrombie & Fitch until the New Albany, Ohio-based retailer starts carrying larger sizes. One YouTube user started a "Fitch the Homeless Campaign," asking customers to rebrand the popular retailer by giving their Abercrombie & Fitch clothes to the homeless. An ABC News report last week revealed that the trendy retailer carries mostly double-zero and extra-small sizes inside its New York City flagship store. There was no clothing for women in sizes larger than a 10, and salespeople at the store confirmed that Abercrombie doesn't carry XL or XXL sizes for women. (ABC News)

Anthony Weiner hires campaign manager

2013-05-16T16:33:00Z

Anthony Weiner’s new campaign manager for his nascent mayoral bid is a recent Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee adviser who spent four months working on a failed Staten Island congressional race last year, two sources familiar with the hire told POLITICO. Danny Kedem, who worked on Mark Murphy’s congressional run in New York’s 11th District last year, has been brought on as Weiner’s campaign manager for a race he is likely to announce next week, according to multiple sources. Kedem’s resume includes a handful of other congressional runs and mayoral races, as well as field organizing work on Hillary Clinton’s presidential run. Weiner has also brought on a press secretary and is filling other roles, after a disjointed rollout that followed his New York Times Magazine profile and interview. The sources said Weiner or his surrogates had reached out to a number of potential press hires with experience in high-pressure races or in New York City, and a number of them passed on interviewing for a job. Weiner did not respond to an email for comment. Kedem couldn’t be reached. (Politico)

15 killed, including 6 Americans, after car bomb hits US convoy in Afghanistan

2013-05-16T16:30:00Z

A suicide car bombing tore through a U.S. convoy during rush hour in the Afghan capital on Thursday, killing at least 15 people, including six U.S. military advisers and two children, officials said. U.S. soldiers rushed to the scene to help, including some wearing only T-shirts or shorts under their body armor. An Islamic militant group claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was carried out by a new suicide unit formed in response to reports that the U.S. plans to keep permanent bases and troops in Afghanistan even after the 2014 deadline for the end of the foreign combat mission. Hezb-e-Islami said its fighters had stalked the Americans for a week to learn their routine before striking.

It was the deadliest attack to rock the Afghan capital in more than two months and followed a series of other attacks against Americans that has made May the deadliest month for international forces this year. U.S.-led forces are increasingly leaving the fighting to their Afghan counterparts and focusing more on training mission in a bid to prepare the government forces to take over their own security after the international combat mission ends by the end of 2014. The explosion was powerful enough to rattle buildings on the other side of the city, and left body parts scattered on the street. Cmdr. Bill Speaks, a spokesman for the U.S. Defense Secretary, confirmed that two American soldiers were killed, while international security company DynCorp International said four of its American civilian contractors were among the dead. DynCorp International said its employees were working with U.S. forces training the Afghan military when the blast occurred. (AP)

LA schools ban suspensions for 'willful defiance'

2013-05-16T16:29:00Z

The Los Angeles Unified School District has become the first in California to ban suspensions of students for willful defiance. The school board said in a statement Tuesday that it had banned the practice by a 5-2 vote. The vote requires Superintendent John Deasy, who supported the move, to devise an outline for putting the plan into practice within the next four months. Previously, students could be suspended for not coming to class prepared, refusing to remove a hat, cursing at a teacher or other acts deemed defiant. The Los Angeles Times reported earlier that willful defiance accounted for nearly half of all statewide suspensions in the 2011-2012 school year and black students were disproportionately affected. Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a bill last year that would've barred such suspensions. (Fresno Bee)

Schieffer: "Is anybody home?"

2013-05-16T15:54:00Z

“It’s very, very disturbing what we’re seeing here,” Bob Schieffer tells Charlie Rose and Norah O’Donnell on CBS This Morning, but he’s not talking about the scandals — at least not directly. Instead, Schieffer describes the lack of confidence induced by plausibility run amok, where no one in executive positions knows anything except what they read in the newspaper. ”Somebody’s got to grab hold of this thing,” Schieffer says, and even the steps taken by Barack Obama yesterday are far more than a day late and a dollar short: (Hot Air)

SCHIEFFER: Some people are saying 'Are we back to the Nixon administration? This is what they did in the Nixon administration.' This is not the Nixon administration where you had burglars and people talking about blowing up the Brookings Institution. This is more of a case of, is anybody home? I mean, just all of a sudden, well, you have this thing over at the Justice Department. They're over there getting all these phone records of all the reporters, 'the attorney general, well, he didn't know anything about it.' You get to the IRS, they don't seem to know anything about the tea party thing. You come to the White House, they don't know anything about Benghazi. I mean, somebody has got to grab hold of this thing. You know, it's, it's very, very disturbing what we're seeing here."

In Wake of Scandal, Obama Fires IRS Boss - Who Was Leaving Anyway

2013-05-16T15:37:00Z

President Obama announced Wednesday that acting IRS Commissioner Steven Miller would resign in the wake of the agency scandal in which conservative groups were targeted -- though Miller was apparently set to step down anyway. An official close to Miller told Fox News, shortly after Obama's brief announcement, that the IRS chief was "set to resign the position of acting commission as of early June." He was planning to leave the IRS entirely a "couple of months later, regardless of the current controversy," the source said. These details were not mentioned by the president as he announced Wednesday evening Miller was resigning. Obama spoke following a meeting with Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew and other top department officials in which they reviewed a highly critical inspector general’s report on the practice. The report concluded poor management allowed agents to improperly target Tea Party and other groups for more than 18 months, starting in 2010. Obama said Lew asked for the resignation and Miller agreed, after being on the job since November 2012. “Americans have a right to be angry about it, and I’m angry about it,” Obama said from the White House. The president is expected to name a new acting commissioner later this week. Republicans, who along with Democrats have slammed the IRS for the practice, welcomed the resignation Wednesday but made clear they would continue to investigate and press for accountability. (Fox News)

Director of IRS Tax-Exempt Determinations Office Is Obama Donor

2013-05-16T15:33:00Z

The director of the Office of Rulings and Agreements, which oversees the determinations of tax-exempt organizations, is a donor to Barack Obama. Holly Paz donated $2,000 to Obama’s 2008 campaign, according to Open Secrets, which maintains a database of individual political donations. An inspector general’s report released yesterday concluded that the IRS improperly targeted Tea Party and other conservative groups for undue scrutiny, and Paz heads the office in which the wrongdoing is said to have occurred. National Review Online reported earlier today that agency officials are currently copying the hard drives of every employee on Paz’s watch. That data will be made available to investigators working on a second IG investigation focusing on the potential criminal activity individual agency employees. The House Oversight Committee is requesting that Paz and four other employees be made available for transcribed interviews starting next week. Data from the Center for Responsive Politics indicate that Paz’s donations are consistent with broader trends at the IRS, where agency employees donated overwhelming to President Obama in both the 2012 and 2008 presidential Elections. (National Review)

IRS official Lerner speedily approved exemption for Obama brother's 'charity'

2013-05-16T15:18:00Z

Lois Lerner, the senior IRS official at the center of the decision to target tea party groups for burdensome tax scrutiny, signed paperwork granting tax-exempt status to the Barack H. Obama Foundation, a shady charity headed by the president’s half-brother that operated illegally for years. According to the organization’s filings, Lerner approved the foundation’s tax status within a month of filing, an unprecedented timeline that stands in stark contrast to conservative organizations that have been waiting for more than three years, in some cases, for approval. Lerner also appears to have broken with the norms of tax-exemption approval by granting retroactive tax-exempt status to Malik Obama’s organization. The National Legal and Policy Center filed an official complaint with the IRS in May 2011 asking why the foundation was being allowed to solicit tax-deductible contributions when it had not even applied for an IRS determination. In a New York Post article dated May 8, 2011, an officer of the foundation admitted, “We haven’t been able to find someone with the expertise” to apply for tax-exempt status. Nevertheless, a month later, the Barack H. Obama Foundation had flown through the grueling application process. Lerner granted the organization a 501(c) determination and even gave it a retroactive tax exemption dating back to December 2008. (Daily Caller)

IRS Told Pro-Life Group Not to Picket Planned Parenthood

2013-05-16T15:16:00Z

The Internal Revenue Service allegedly told an Iowa pro-life group they had to sign documents promising not to protest or picket Planned Parenthood and they told a Texas pro-life organization they had to promote abortion, according to documents obtained by Fox News. “The IRS was concerned about advocacy,” said Sally Wagenmaker, special counsel to the Thomas More Society. “The (agent) said picketing and protesting is not allowed.” She said the IRS’s role “should only be to determine whether organizations fit the section 501(c)(3) test for ‘charitable, religious, or educational’ qualification, not to inquire about the content of prayers, protests, and petitions.” It’s high time that the IRS be called to account for its workers’ potential to trample on our constitutional rights, through such ostensibly innocuous means,” Wagenmaker said – hinting that this may only be the tip of the iceberg of IRS abuses. An IRS spokesman said they would look into the cases.

Wagenmaker was representing Coalition for Life of Iowa and Christian Voices For Life of Fort Bend County, Texas. Both groups were seeking tax exempt status. Their requests were eventually granted but only after they sought legal help from the Thomas More Society. In 2009 the Coalition for Life received correspondence from the IRS raising questions about their prayer activity – specifically outside Planned Parenthood clinics. “You then asked … to have all Coalition Board members sign a statement that the coalition will not ‘picket’ or ‘protest’ outside of Planned Parenthood or similar organizations and will not ‘organize’ others to do so,” Wagenmaker wrote in a letter to an IRS representative known only as “Ms. Richards.” Wagenmaker said the IRS’s demand was clearly a violation of the pro-life group’s constitutional rights. “It really concerned me there would seem to be this protection of Planned Parenthood,” Wagenmaker told Fox News. “They had revenues of $55 million and the Coalition is just a group of volunteers.” (Fox News Radio)

Conclusion on Email Release: It's in the eye of the beholder

2013-05-16T14:03:00Z

Like looking at one of the silly paintings at the Museum of Modern Art, apparently you can interpret these emails any number of ways. Here are some of the headlines:

Fox News.com: “BENGHAZI EMAILS: State Dept. Tried to Dodge Criticism, Docs Show”

ABC News.com: “Emails: Benghazi Talking Points Changed at State Dept.'s Request”

AP: “White House releases Benghazi emails; Petraeus email objected to final Benghazi talking points”

Politico: “State fretted over Benghazi talking points”

Washington Post: “Benghazi e-mails released by White House”

NY Times: “E-Mails Show Jostling Over Benghazi 'Talking Points'”

CBS News.com: “WH releases e-mails showing changes to Benghazi talking points - Release reveals significant CIA hand in removing references to al Qaeda from talking points”

LA Times: “Mistaken Benghazi claim came from CIA, emails show”

Judge Napolitano's Column: Storm Clouds Gathering

2013-05-16T14:00:00Z

Government is bad for personal freedom. That argument is premised upon the truism that everything government does interferes with freedom because it either prohibits or compels. Everything it owns it has taken from others. Much of what it says is divorced from the truth. President Obama, like President George W. Bush, has argued that his first job is to keep America safe, and if he impairs personal freedom in the process, that is a small price to pay for safety. Many of my colleagues in the media on the left and right have bought this argument, notwithstanding its fallacies.
        Until now.
        This past week, we learned that the IRS has targeted for additional scrutiny the tax exemption applications of groups with whose messages it disagrees. We also learned that the Department of Justice obtained the personal telephone records of hundreds of reporters and editors employed by the Associated Press without a search warrant issued by a judge. And during this past week we learned that the White House, the Department of State and the CIA all engaged in a conspiracy of disinformation so that the official version of events of what caused the murders of four Americans at our consulate in Benghazi, Libya, would not impair Obama's re-election campaign in 2012.
        The common threads in all of this government secrecy and lying are a general rejection of government's moral obligation to tell the truth, a disturbing yet brazen willingness to evade and avoid the restrictions the Constitution has deliberately built around government, and a glib admission that the government can do as it pleases so long as it can politically get away with it.
        The Constitution's Equal Protection Clause requires that the government treat all similarly situated entities in a similar manner. The Constitution's First Amendment prohibits the government from using the speech and expressive activities of persons in America as a basis for the disparate treatment of them.
        Thus, on its face -- that is, on the basis of what the IRS has admitted and without any further investigation -- we have violations of these constitutional principles. If the IRS were to examine the applications for tax exemption of Media Matters with the same level of scrutiny as it does with Tea Party Patriots, it would not run afoul of these principles. But Congress has given the IRS broad latitude to scrutinize the behavior of the taxpayers it chooses to scrutinize, and the IRS has (SET ITAL) given itself (END ITAL) authority to probe, prod and plunder wherever it wishes. I say "given itself," because the IRS has rule-making power, which when overlooked by Congress (as is almost always the case) actually serves to enhance IRS powers beyond what Congress permits.
        Short of criminal behavior such as bribery or conspiracy, the IRS employees who have singled out applications for tax exempt status for more scrutiny based on anticipated political expression are subject to removal from office, but they cannot be prosecuted or sued. Here again, Congress is to blame, as both Republicans and Democrats have used and abused the IRS to their advantage, and neither party inwardly wants laws that will prevent it from doing so in the future. Is this what you expect of our tax collectors?
        The First Amendment also assures the right of professional journalists to seek and protect their sources, and it gives them immunity from government prosecution or retribution for truthfully publishing matters of material public interest, even when it involves information stolen from the government. The Supreme Court taught us this in the Pentagon Papers case.
        Moreover, the Fourth Amendment requires that if the government wants private information about who stole its secrets, it needs a search warrant from a judge. But the Patriot Act, which was celebrated by some in the media whose telephone records have since been seized, permits federal agents to write their own search warrants when they seek records from a third party like a telephone company and can claim that pursuit of terrorists is at stake. The Patriot Act makes a mockery of the Fourth Amendment, and the government knows that. When the government chills free speech, we all suffer. Thomas Jefferson preferred newspapers without government to government without newspapers. Whose personal records will the government authorize itself to seize next?
        The lesson of Benghazi is that we had no lawful right to interfere in the domestic affairs of the Libyan government. It was unlawful for Obama to bomb Col. Gadhafi without a congressional declaration of war. The organized assault on our consulate was the unintended consequence of us using force to infuse American-style democracy on a people whose culture is unable and unwilling to accept it.
        But the president's people were terrified that the murder of our ambassador to Libya during the 2012 presidential campaign might impair Obama's re-election chances. So they and he tried to rewrite history, and the more they and he lied the more they and he needed to lie to cover up their original lies. Would you retain an employee who lied to you about the deaths of innocents and lied more to cover up the original lies?
        Now, back to Bush and Obama and the president's job. According to the Constitution, the president's first job obligation is to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution. According to the Constitution, that means preserving Americans' freedom first and safety second. Freedom is our natural state and is the ultimate natural right. Safety is a need that we ourselves can provide when unimpeded by the government. If the president keeps us safe but not free, he is not doing his job. Do you know anyone who feels freer or even any safer because the government trampled personal freedoms and so far has gotten away with it?

Boston Bomber: We did it to avenge Muslims

2013-05-16T13:46:00Z

Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev left claiming responsibility for the April 13 attack on the Boston Marathon, reports CBS News senior correspondent John Miller. Sources tell Miller that Tsarnaev wrote the note in the boat he was hiding in as police pursued him, and as he bled from gunshot wounds sustained in an earlier shootout between police and his older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev. The note, scrawled with a pen on the interior wall of the cabin, said the bombings were retribution for U.S. military action in Afghanistan and Iraq, and called the Boston victims collateral damage in the same way Muslims have been in the American-led wars. "When you attack one Muslim, you attack all Muslims," the note added. Dzhokar said he didn't mourn older brother Tamerlan, the other suspect in the bombings, writing that by that point, Tamerlan was a martyr in paradise -- and that he expected to join him there. Miller's sources say the wall the note was written on was riddled with bullet holes from shots fired into the boat. The shots were fired after Dzhokhar came up through the tarp covering the boat amid police fears that he had another bomb. (CBS News)

White House releases Benghazi emails; Petraeus email objected to final Benghazi talking points

2013-05-16T13:41:00Z

Then CIA-Director David Petraeus objected to the final talking points that U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice used five days after the deadly assault on a U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, because he wanted to see more detail publicly released, including a warning issued from the CIA about plans for a break-in at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, a newly released email shows. Under pressure in the investigation that continues eight months after the attacks, the White House on Wednesday released 99 pages of emails and a single page of hand-written notes made by Petraeus’ deputy, Mike Morell, after a meeting at the White House the day before Rice’s appearance. On that page, Morell scratched out from the CIA’s early drafts of talking points mentions of al-Qaida, the experience of fighters in Libya, Islamic extremists and a warning to the Cairo embassy on the eve of the attacks of calls for a demonstration and break-in by jihadists. “No mention of the cable to Cairo, either?” Petraeus wrote after receiving Morell’s edited version, developed after an intense back-and-forth among Obama administration officials. “Frankly, I’d just as soon not use this, then.”

A senior U.S. intelligence official told reporters Wednesday that Morell made the changes to the talking points because of his own concerns that they could prejudge an FBI investigation into who was responsible for the Sept. 11, 2012, attack that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. The official said Morell also didn’t think it was fair to disclose the CIA’s advance warning without giving the State Department a chance to explain how it responded. The official spoke on a condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about the emails on the record. Petraeus declined to be interviewed. Critics have highlighted an email by then-State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland that expressed concern that any mention of prior warnings or the involvement of al-Qaida would give congressional Republicans ammunition to attack the administration in the weeks before the presidential election. Fighting terror was one of President Barack Obama’s re-election strong points. That email was among those released by the White House, sent by Nuland on Sept. 14 at 7:39 p.m. to officials in the White House, State Department and CIA. “I have serious concerns about all the parts highlighted below, and arming members of Congress to start making assertions to the media that we ourselves are not making because we don’t want to prejudice the investigation,” she wrote. (AP)

Washington Post Analysis: Eric Holder seems proud of how little he knows

2013-05-16T13:21:00Z

As the nation’s top law enforcement official, Eric Holder is privy to all kinds of sensitive information. But he seems to be proud of how little he knows.

Why didn’t his Justice Department inform the Associated Press, as the law requires, before pawing through reporters’ phone records? “I do not know,” the attorney general told the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday afternoon, “why that was or was not done. I simply don’t have a factual basis to answer that question.”
Why didn’t the DOJ seek the AP’s cooperation, as the law also requires, before issuing subpoenas? “I don’t know what happened there,” Holder replied. “I was recused from the case.”
Why, asked the committee’s chairman, Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), was the whole matter handled in a manner that appears “contrary to the law and standard procedure”? “I don’t have a factual basis to answer the questions that you have asked, because I was recused,” the attorney general said.

On and on Holder went: “I don’t know. I don’t know. . . . I would not want to reveal what I know. . . . I don’t know why that didn’t happen. . . . I know nothing, so I’m not in a position really to answer.”

Holder seemed to regard this ignorance as a shield protecting him and the Justice Department from all criticism of the Obama administration’s assault on press freedoms. But his claim that his “recusal” from the case exempted him from all discussion of the matter didn’t fly with Republicans or Democrats on the committee, who justifiably saw his recusal as more of an abdication…

Didn’t the deputy attorney general who approved the subpoenas have the same potential conflict of interest that Holder claimed? “I don’t know.”
When did Holder recuse himself? “I’m not sure.”
How much time was spent exploring alternatives to the subpoenas? “I don’t know, because, as I said, I recused myself.”

But when the Justice Department undermines the Constitution, recusal is no excuse.

O.J. Simpson Cheerfully Takes the Stand in Bid For New Trial

2013-05-16T13:10:00Z

More than four years after he choked back tears at his sentencing, O.J. Simpson addressed a Las Vegas court today sounding cheerful and confident in his bid to a win a new trial. He bantered with bailiffs during breaks, making them laugh, and chuckled at himself at times during testimony when discussing his drinking at the time. Simpson, 65, was called to the stand on the third day of the hearing, much of which has focused on claims his former attorney, Yale Galanter, gave him bad legal advice in the 2008 armed robbery and kidnapping trial that led to his conviction. The football legend, who never testified in his 1995 murder trial, often called the "trial of the century," or in the 2008 trial when he was convicted, took the stand for his first time today. The once-strapping athlete was weighed down by shackles as he talked about the hours leading up to the Sept. 13, 2007 sports memorabilia robbery that sent him to prison for nine-to-33 years. When asked about the memorabilia he went to retrieve that day, Simpson said he wanted it back because it belonged to him and his children. "It was my stuff," Simpson said. "I followed what I thought was the law. I didn't break into the room. I didn't beat up anyone. I didn't try to muscle anyone." (ABC News)

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At Least 6 Dead After Tornadoes Rip Through North Texas

2013-05-16T13:07:00Z

At least six people were killed and dozens more injured after tornadoes ripped through parts of North Texas destroying homes, officials said. More than 100 homes suffered damage in the Rancho Brazos subdivision near Granbury, Texas, where the six people were killed, Hood County Sheriff Roger Deeds said. The death toll could climb because parts of the subdivision are "heavily damaged" or "completely destroyed" after three tornadoes ripped through the area around 8 p.m. local time Wednesday, he said. Deeds said officials were trying to account for 14 people, but it was not clear if they were missing or were away from the area when the storms swept through. Many of the homes in the subdivision were built by Habitat for Humanity, Deeds said. Lake Granbury Medical Center received 48 patients, who were treated for lacerations, fractures and contusions, hospital spokeswoman Dixie Lee Hedgecock said. Some have already been treated and released while others were moved to hospitals in Fort Worth. Granbury, a town of about 8,000 people, is 40 miles southwest of Fort Worth. More than 100 residents have been bused to makeshift shelters at local churches where the Red Cross is providing supplies and resources. Rescue crews in Granbury continued to dig through the rubble of destroyed homes and buildings searching for survivors. (ABC News)

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Bill O'Reilly: The Obama administration going south fast

2013-05-16T12:12:49Z

By Bill O'Reilly

Headline right now, the IRS scandal could be worse than Benghazi as the President fires IRS Chief Steven Miller. At this point Mr. Obama had to do that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT OBAMA: I'll do everything in my power to make sure nothing like this happens again. By holding the responsible parties accountable, by putting in place new checks and new safeguards and going forward by making sure that the law's applied as it should be in a fair and impartial way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: The IRS of course admitting it targeted conservatives. But listen to this, just hours earlier than what the President just said, Jay Carney was saying that the White House can't really explain how the IRS corruption happened because the FBI is investigating.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAY CARNEY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I cannot obviously comment on the investigation that the Attorney General announced the other day. What I can say is that the President believes that the conduct reported in the IG's review is inappropriate. It is wrong. And there needs to be consequences for that conduct.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: All right. So Miller gets thrown out. But how many times are those guys going to use that ruse? That's what they said in Benghazi. An investigation is going to sort it all out. The terrorists would be brought to justice. And nothing happens.

So can we get details about the IRS admittedly abusing its power because there is an investigation we can't know generally how that happened? Come on. The agency admits targeting conservatives so please give us some indication of how that can possibly happen. It doesn't hinder the FBI.

All this chaos is putting an enormous amount of pressure on the executive branch as the President is not going to get anything done until he himself addresses the scandals in detail. Again, telling us how these things happened.

In order to guide the White House along, here are some questions that President Obama should answer at tomorrow's press conference. Question one, it's crucial. Who decided that Ambassador Susan Rice should go on five Sunday talk shows? As you know I'm a simple man with a simple question who decided to send her out there.

Here is a follow-up. E-mails released today prove that CIA Deputy Director Mike Morell signed off on Ambassador Rice's talking points even though they were proven wrong. Why hasn't Mr. Morell been ordered by you, Mr. President to explain himself? It's been eight months, when his boss David Petraeus is on record as being uncomfortable with blaming the attack on a video. And why hasn't Morell been fired like Miller?

Second question. U.S. had armed teams in Libya on the night Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed by terrorists. Why didn't those teams help the Ambassador? Very specifically, why didn't they help?

Next question. When exactly Mr. President, were you convinced the Benghazi attack was generated by organized terrorists and not by a spontaneous mob? Two weeks after the attack on 9/11, you were still referencing an anti-Muslim video when you were just told days after the attack by your own national security people that al-Qaeda was most likely linked to the killing of the Ambassador.

Finally, why was it necessary to seize phone records from the Associated Press? Why? Again a simple question.

And that's "The Memo."

— You can catch Bill O'Reilly's "Talking Points Memo" weeknights at 8 and 11 p.m. ET on the Fox News Channel and any time on foxnews.com/oreilly. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com.

Transcript Date:

Wed, 05/15/2013

Transcript Show Name:

O'Reilly Factor

Transcript Talent Byline:

Bill O'Reilly

fulminate

2013-05-16T04:21:00Z

[FULL-muh-nate] Protest vehemently

Ratings: The Scoreboard - Monday, May 13

2013-05-15T23:06:00Z

Purple

Benghazi, IRS, AP scandals -- will buck ever stop with Obama?

2013-05-15T23:04:00Z

Orange

Management Flaws at I.R.S. Cited in Tea Party Scrutiny

2013-05-15T23:03:00Z

Yellow

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

2013-05-15T22:54:00Z

This is really an interesting month. I was whining last month about no news, nothing happening – remember that? Now it is scandal du jour. And I don’t know what I would have done had I been in the White House briefing room today when Jay Carney says he can’t comment anymore because of the FBI investigation into the IRS and into the Associated Press. Can’t comment – that is so dishonest. They can comment anyway they want to comment. The only thing a president can’t do is prejudice an investigation, but he certainly can say,” we’ve removed so-and-so and so-and-so from the IRS, we believe that there was an abuse, and we are going to take the following steps independent of the FBI. If they find criminal wrongdoing, that is fine. Okay, but to say you are not going to be able to say anything or answer any questions is blatantly dishonest – and they do it all the time! It is what they did on Benghazi. It is what I pointed out in the Talking Points Memo.

It is now starting to really sink in, I think, to most honest Americans that the president is really in over his head – and I said this a long time ago, on the economy. He simply doesn’t know how to manage the economy, and so he farms it out. I believe that this is what this is – mismanagement. He hires zealots, we all know he puts zealots in positions of power, people who agree with him – and who are even more left wing than him! It is hard to believe, but there are. And then, when they do crazy things, I don’t know! Come on. So, that is what is happening here – and it is not going to go away. See, this is not one of those hit and run type incidents, as much as Jay Carney is going to dodge, it is not going to go away.

The IRS thing is going to be bigger than Benghazi, because Americans don’t like the IRS. There is emotion built in to that. And that will get people’s attention more than t his assassination over in a foreign country. Now, I am not saying it should, I am just saying that is the reality.

So, what we are doing on The Factor is we are giving you very precise analysis of what is happening. And that of course angers zealots on the right. I have had people saying, well you are apologizing for Obama – those of you who watch the show know that is absolutely false. I am not apologizing for anybody, I am telling you what is true and what is not true.

Do I think the Associated Press situation is going to become a major scandal? No, I don’t. I don’t. I think that the government had the authority to do what it did, that the president should explain the urgency of the story, and why they had to do it – that should absolutely be explained. But there doesn’t seem, to me, to be any misuse of power. The AP loves President Obama. It was a national security play, not a political play. There was no First Amendment deal. It was not trying to silence somebody; it was trying to find out who is talking about anti-terror classified information, which is important to me. So, I don’t see that – but I do see the IRS and Benghazi, and there is other stuff bubbling up too.

So, very very fascinating week. We will continue our coverage. On Monday our ratings were out of sight. We are murdering everybody, because people know when they come to The Factor, you will get the truth. Not ideology on either side – you will get the truth. That is what I am in business to do, and I am glad you appreciate it.

Are there any communists in our government?

2013-05-15T19:47:00Z

Bill answers questions from Premium Members about abortion and gun control, and ponders communism in our government in the latest Backstage Conversation.

Go: This week's Backstage Conversation

Stossel's Column: True Grit

2013-05-15T19:27:00Z

Are you a real man (or woman)? Do you have "grit"?
        Compare yourself to the man on the $20 bill: Andrew Jackson, our seventh president.
        During the Revolutionary War, Jackson volunteered to fight. He was just 13 years old at the time. The British captured him and made him a servant for British officers. When one ordered Jackson to clean his boots, Jackson refused, and the officer slashed Jackson's hand with a sword. When Jackson became president, he showed off the scar.
        Jackson had grit.
        Do your kids have that much grit today? I doubt it. Parents now try to protect kids from all danger. In New York City, some won't let teenagers go to school by themselves.
        Lenore Skenazy, author of "Free-Range Kids," thinks that's absurd.
        "Free-range kids are kids we believe in," she told me. "They can do things on their own."
        Once she allowed her own 9-year-old to ride the subway alone. After she wrote about that, she was labeled "World's Worst Mom." Really. Google "world's worst mom." Skenazy's name comes up.
        "Free-Range Kids" promotes events like "Take Our Children to the Park and Leave Them There Day." Skenazy says leaving kids in the park without adult supervision teaches them grit. Kids get used to bugs, rocks and a lack of constant supervision. They become leaders by discovering how to organize their own lives without parents bossing them around.
        And they are not likely to be kidnapped. The horror of what happened to the three women in Cleveland makes all of us more frightened of sexual assaults and other threats. Skenazy says that today's parents are so frightened that only 6 percent allow young kids to play outside unsupervised. But the risk of harm is small, and we put our kids at greater risk, says Skenazy, if we don't allow them the freedom to learn from their own mistakes -- to acquire grit.
        It shouldn't surprise me that parents want to shelter their kids from all risk. The parents themselves live in a society where risk is less and less acceptable. We expect regulations to protect us from accidents. We expect police to protect us from every imaginable criminal threat. We demand welfare, unemployment insurance and bailouts to protect every level of society from economic risk. When something goes wrong, we sue.
        It wasn't always like this.
        Our country's founders left relatively safe places to tough it out in the wilderness, to turn what a character in a John Wayne movie called "empty land used for nothin'" into ranches and farms. Doing that required long days spent hunting, plowing, fighting off enemies, digging in through cold winters, sometimes starving, losing children, losing wives and husbands -- it took grit to create American civilization.
        Grit requires delaying gratification, wanting something bigger than yourself.
        As John Wayne's character himself put it in "The Big Trail": "We're building a nation. We've got to suffer. No great trail was ever blazed without hardship. That's life."
        Grit is the stuff of life. Greatness is often achieved only after repeated failure.
        Cartoonist Charles Schulz had every cartoon he submitted to his high school yearbook rejected. "Peanuts" later became one of the most successful cartoons of all time.
        Thomas Edison's teachers told his mom he was "too stupid to learn." Edison went on to accumulate 1,000 U.S. patents. His success with the light bulb followed 1,000 unsuccessful attempts. That's grit.
        It's great that we live in a wealthy country -- one with a welfare state so big that we now worry about poor people getting fat. But what makes most people happy is not comfort. It's earned success, success you struggle for.
        The opposite of earned success, says psychologist Martin Seligman, is "learned helplessness." In lab experiments, when good things occurred that weren't earned, like nickels coming out of slot machines, it did not increase people's happiness. It produced helplessness. People gave up, became passive.
        That passivity (and America's welfare state) is a threat to our future. Everyone goes through pain and loss. We face obstacles. It's the struggle to overcome obstacles that matters.
        That's the stuff of life -- and the route to happiness and prosperity.

NAACP Chair Emeritus: 'Legitimate' For IRS To Target 'Admittedly Racist' Tea Party: 'Taliban Wing' Of Politics

2013-05-15T13:19:00Z

Julian Bond, chairman emeritus of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, joined anchor Thomas Roberts on MSNBC on Tuesday where he said that he did not believe the federal government was complicit in any wrongdoing given the news that the Internal Revenue Service singled out conservative groups for added scrutiny. He said that it is right of the government to look into the Tea Party, which he called “overtly racist” and the “Taliban wing of American politics.” Bond made these comments after noting that his group was illegitimately targeted by the IRS in 2004. Bond said that his group was singled out by the IRS in 2004 after he delivered a political speech critical of President George W. Bush. Though his organization was later cleared, Bond said that his group was “unfairly targeted.” However, Bond said that there are no parallels between that case and the charge that the IRS devoted undue scrutiny to conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status. (Mediaite)

JULIAN BOND: “I think it’s entirely legitimate to look at the tea party. I mean, here are a group of people who are admittedly racist, who are overtly political, who’ve tried as best they can to harm President Obama in every way they can. I don’t think there are correct parallels between these incidents. It was wrong for the IRS to behave in this heavy-handed manner. They didn’t explain it well before or now what they’re doing and why they’re doing it. But there are no parallels between these two."

Columnist: Abercombie and Fitch's 'fat policy' is a good thing

2013-05-15T13:15:00Z

Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries has raised eyebrows by allegedly saying that his popular clothing brand, essentially, does not cater to fat people. Speaking with Business Insider, Robin Lewis, co-author of The New Rules of Retail, claimed that Jeffries "doesn't want larger people shopping in his store." (Hollywood Gossip) Jasmyne Cannick reacts in her column:

What retailer Abercrombie and Fitch is doing with its “fat policy” is what I wish the person behind the counter at McDonald’s would do to me whenever I show up and ask for a No. 3—tell me no, you’re too fat. Now while I don’t subscribe to the idea that skinny equates to beauty, the reality of the situation with Abercrombie and Fitch is that they have every right to not want fat people wearing their brand of clothing—and fat people who dig Abercrombie and Fitch’s style of clothing, have every right to lose the weight, walk into their store, and buy their clothes. Protesting Abercrombie and Fitch is sending the message to children, teens, and adults that it’s okay to be fat and if people don’t accept you being fat and make clothes to accommodate your fatness that they are somehow bad.

As one of the 35.7 percent of U.S. adults who are considered obese, at 5’6” and 195 pounds, I could easily join the chorus of those upset over the retailer’s exclusion of anyone bigger than a size large, but the energy I’d invest would be better spent on taking a hike, playing a set of tennis, or hitting the gym. Unlike your gender or race, being overweight is a choice that people make. A choice identical to the one that millions of Americans make everyday when they light up a cigarette knowing (now) that it’s likely to lead to cancer. Obesity is likely to lead to diabetes, heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and yes—your inability to shop at Abercombie and Fitch. The blame could be pointed at proliferation of fast food restaurants in urban inner-city neighborhoods where the cost of buying groceries is so high that it’s cheaper to get a bucket of friend chicken. We could attribute it to the lack of parks and affordable gyms or how obesity and diabetes are passed down in generations of families like great-great-grandma’s recipe for macaroni and cheese. But the reality is that while those are all contributing influences, they are not the determining factor in one’s being overweight—we are.

House Panel Set to OK Cut in Food Stamps

2013-05-15T13:14:00Z

The House Agriculture Committee is set to consider small cuts to the $80 billion-a-year food stamp program in an effort to appease conservatives who say the food aid has become too expensive. The cuts are part of a massive five-year farm bill that costs almost $100 billion annually and would set policy for farm subsidies, rural programs and the food aid. The House panel will consider the bill Wednesday, one day after the Senate Agriculture Committee approved its version. The House bill would cut about $2.5 billion a year to the food stamp program, now known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. The Senate approved much smaller cuts to the program, amounting to about $400 million a year. (AP)

'Days Of Our Lives' Actor Arrested For Selling Cocaine

2013-05-15T13:14:00Z

Like sands through the hourglass, the days of our lives involve a former soap opera actor jailed for selling cocaine out of his home. Dylan Patton, the 20-year-old former Days of our Lives actor, allegedly assumed the role of a real-life drug dealer and was busted Tuesday. TMZ reports that L.A. County Sheriff's deputies were tipped off that Patton was peddling the powder and sent an undercover cop to his Agoura Hills home. After the cop made a purchase, deputies obtained a search warrant and raided his home this morning. About 1.5 ounces of coke was seized from his house, according to City News Service. Patton was arrested, and his bail has been set at $30,000. Having also starred in Cold Case and That's So Raven, Patton is best known for his role on the long-running soap as Will Horton between 2009 and 2010.

CBO sees brighter economy with budget deficit to plunge to $642 billion this year, but wait until 2015...

2013-05-15T13:13:00Z

The budget deals of the past two years and a recovering economy are rapidly mopping up the tide of red ink that swept over Washington after the 2007 recession. After four years of budget deficits in excess of $1 trillion, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office forecast Tuesday that this year’s deficit will plummet to $642 billion, or 4 percent of the nation’s total economic output. That’s $200 billion lower than the CBO forecast in February. Analysts attributed the sunnier outlook to higher-than-expected tax revenue and about $95 billion in higher payments from mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which are profiting from a recovering housing market. The forecast puts the nation on track for its smallest deficit since 2008, before the recession hit in full force. And the CBO predicts that the gap between revenue and spending will continue to shrink through 2015, when it will fall to just over 2 percent of the economy — well within the bounds of what economists consider to be economically sustainable. After 2015, the CBO forecasts that deficits will gradually begin rising again as the baby-boom generation taps into Social Security and Medicare. Although borrowing will stabilize, the national debt will remain at historically high levels, the CBO said, stuck above 70 percent of the economy throughout the next decade. That’s higher than at any time in U.S. history other than World War II. In the past 40 years, the national debt has averaged about 39 percent of gross domestic product.

Rush Limbaugh: "I Live Rent-Free" In Obama's Head

2013-05-15T13:10:00Z

(H/T to Real Clear Politics)

RUSH LIMBAUGH: Now, let me tell you what he's doing, folks. He is essentially begging any Republican to denounce me. He is fixated on me. He simply cannot get me off his mind. I live rent free in his head. And he is using me as his convenient excuse for not being able to get anything done. He really thinks the Republicans would work with him if it weren't for me. So he's telling these Hollywood people -- and you gotta understand, they're sitting there and they're very sympathetic, and they love Obama, and they want Obama to succeed. I'm the guy who said "I hope he fails."

Obama Tells Harvey Weinstein, Justin Timberlake to Blame Rush Limbaugh

2013-05-15T13:09:00Z

President Obama told donors like Jessica Biel, Justin Timberlake, and Tommy Hilfiger that Washington gridlock is pretty much Rush Limbaugh's fault on Monday evening at a fundraiser at Harvey Weinstein's house in New York's Greenwich Village. Obama admitted that his theory — that after the 2012 election, the Republican "fever" would break, and they'd decide to co-sign some of his agenda — was wrong. "My thinking was when we beat them in 2012 that might break the fever, and it’s not quite broken yet," Obama said, according to the White House pool report. This is because of a certain corpulent radio host. "I genuinely believe there are Republicans out there who would like to work with us but they’re fearful of their base and they’re concerned about what Rush Limbaugh might say about them. And as a consequence we get the kind of gridlock that makes people cynical about government."

In June 2012, Obama had predicted that being a lame duck would actually be a perk. He told donors: "I believe that if we're successful in this election, when we're successful in this election, that the fever may break, because there's a tradition in the Republican Party of more common sense than that,... My hope, my expectation, is that after the election, now that it turns out that the goal of beating Obama doesn't make much sense because I'm not running again, that we can start getting some cooperation again." And if Republicans refuse to cooperate? Well, unlike the president, they do face reelection. Obama suggested he would crush them in the midterms. "If there are folks who are more interested in winning elections than they are thinking about the next generation then I want to make sure there are consequences to that." (AP)

NEWS ANCHOR: IRS TARGETED ME AFTER OBAMA INTERVIEW

2013-05-15T13:03:00Z

In a startling Facebook post published Monday night, KMOV news anchor Larry Connors claims that after he interviewed President Obama in April of 2012, "the IRS started hammering me."

Shortly after I did my April 2012 interview with President Obama, my wife, friends and some viewers suggested that I might need to watch out for the IRS. I don't accept "conspiracy theories", but I do know that almost immediately after the interview, the IRS started hammering me. At the time, I dismissed the "co-incidence", but now, I have concerns ... after revelations about the IRS targeting various groups and their members.

Connors' April interview, as he points out in his post, garnered a lot of national attention when he asked the President some tough questions; the kind the national media never would. After suggesting the President might be "out of touch," Connors asked how appropriate it is for the First Family to be enjoying luxury vacations at taxpayer expense in the heart of a nationwide recession. Connors wrote that after he pursued this line of questioning, "The President's face clearly showed his anger; afterwards, his staff which had been so polite ... suddenly went cold." Connor says that with these new revelations about the IRS targeting Tea Party groups that he now has to ask himself if "the IRS put a target on me." (Breitbart)

Video purports to show Syrian rebel cutting out and eating opponent's heart

2013-05-15T13:01:00Z

A graphic video allegedly showing a Syrian rebel cutting open a pro-government fighter’s chest and biting into one of his internal organs sparked outrage Tuesday, reviving concerns about the makeup of opposition forces even as the United States warned that it is ready to bolster its support for them. During a visit to Stockholm, Secretary of State John F. Kerry said it would be a “gross miscalculation” by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to back out of peace talks brokered by Washington and Moscow, saying without elaboration that such a move would prompt additional aid for rebel forces. Kerry’s warning came despite the concerns raised by the video, which stands out even among the daily streams of gruesome images that emerge from the conflict. In it, a man identified as a rebel commander bends over a body and cuts open the chest with a knife before standing to face the camera with an organ in each hand. “I swear to God, we will eat your hearts and your livers, you soldiers of Bashar the dog,” he declares, before lifting the flesh to his mouth and biting it, to shouts of “God is great!”

The chilling scene points to the increasingly sectarian nature of the Syrian conflict, which has been marked by revenge killings along religious lines, and highlights the challenges complicating efforts to assist fractured opposition military groups. British Prime Minister David Cameron said during a visit to Washington on Monday that his government would double its military support to Syrian rebels, but the Obama administration has remained cautious. The rebel in the video was widely identified as Khaled al-Hamad, nicknamed Abu Sakkar, a commander of the Omar al-Farouq Brigade; that force is a more militant offshoot of the Farouq Brigades, a prominent armed faction formed in the central city of Homs. In an interview with Time magazine, Abu Sakkar said he had no regrets, explaining that his men had discovered a video clip on the soldier’s cellphone of a woman and her two daughters naked. “He was humiliating them, and sticking a stick here and there,” he said. The New York-based Human Rights Watch said a longer version of the video that has not been publicly circulated includes a slur against Alawites, the minority Shiite sect to which Assad belongs. (Washington Post)

Benghazi Review Board Chair Asks Issa For Chance To Testify

2013-05-15T13:00:00Z

Former Ambassador Thomas Pickering on Tuesday defended the investigative board he led looking into last year's attack on the U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, saying he wanted the opportunity to clear up "unfounded" criticisms leveled against it during last week's Congressional hearings. In a letter to Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), Pickering asked that he and the Accountability Review Board's vice chair, Adm. Michael Mullen, be allowed to answer some who "called into question the integrity of the Board and its work" at last week's hearing of Issa's House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. "At the May 9 public hearing and in subsequent media appearances, some have called into question the integrity of the [Accountability Review] Board and its work," Pickering wrote. "It is therefore important that we be afforded the opportunity to appear at a public hearing before the Committee and answer directly the questions regarding the Board's procedures, findings and recommendations." (NPR)

Convicted Pennsylvania abortion doctor gets life in prison

2013-05-15T12:57:00Z

An abortion doctor convicted of killing three babies born alive at his rogue clinic dodged a possible death sentence on Tuesday in a hasty post-verdict deal with prosecutors. Dr. Kermit Gosnell waived his right to appeal in exchange for a sentence of life without parole. Gosnell, 72, was convicted Monday of first-degree murder in a case that became a flashpoint in the nation's abortion debate. Former clinic employees testified that Gosnell routinely performed illegal abortions past Pennsylvania's 24-week limit, that he delivered babies who were still moving, whimpering or breathing, and that he and his assistants dispatched the newborns by "snipping" their spines, as he referred to it. Prosecutors had been seeking the death penalty because Gosnell killed more than one person and his victims were especially vulnerable given their age. But Gosnell's own advanced age had made it unlikely he would ever be executed before his appeals ran out. Gosnell's lawyer, Jack McMahon, said his client accepts the verdict and isn't sorry he went to trial. He said Gosnell gave up a somewhat better deal early on but wanted to air the issues in court and is satisfied that he did so. (AP)

Lawyer: Tsarnaev's Widow to Cooperate

2013-05-15T12:55:00Z

A new criminal defense lawyer for the widow of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev says his client will continue to cooperate with investigators but says he plans to keep quiet about the details of her case publicly because that could hurt the investigation. New York lawyer Joshua Dratel, who has represented several terrorism suspects, joined Katherine Russell's legal team last week. He joins two Rhode Island-based lawyers who typically focus on civil cases. Russell hasn't been charged with any wrongdoing, but she is under intense scrutiny by the FBI as it investigates the deadly April 15 bombing, which killed three people and injured more than 260. Authorities say the attack was carried out by her husband and his brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Dratel told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he joined Russell's legal team because Russell needed someone who could navigate the criminal justice system and to protect her interests.He said she had spoken with investigators and planned to keep cooperating. "I don't see that changing in the foreseeable future," he said. "There's no inconsistency between that and her interests at this point." (AP)

Politico Details Level of IRS Harassment

2013-05-15T12:53:00Z

The Internal Revenue Service asked tea party groups to see donor rolls. It asked for printouts of Facebook posts. And it asked what books people were reading. A POLITICO review of documents from 11 tea party and conservative groups that the IRS scrutinized in 2012 shows the agency wanted to know everything — in some cases, it even seemed curious what members were thinking. The review included interviews with groups or their representatives from Hawaii, New Mexico, Ohio, Texas and elsewhere. The long-awaited Treasury Department inspector general report released Tuesday says the agency itself decided some of its questions to conservative groups were way over the line — especially the one about donors. The report shows that top IRS officials put a stop to some of the questions in early 2012, including the ones that asked tea party groups who their donors were, what issues were important to them and whether their top officers ever planned to run for office. And they told the investigators they planned to destroy the donor lists that had already been sent in. But interviews with members of the groups paint a more dramatic picture than the bland language of the report, which just says the IRS “requested irrelevant (unnecessary) information because of a lack of managerial review, at all levels, of questions before they were sent to organizations seeking tax-exempt status.”

“They were asking for a U-Haul truck’s worth of information,” said Toby Marie Walker, the president of the Waco Tea Party. Some groups even gave up in the face of the IRS questions. Several of the groups were asked for résumés of top officers and descriptions of interviews with the media. One group was asked to provide “minutes of all board meetings since your creation.” Some of the letters asked for copies of the groups’ Web pages, blog posts and social media postings — making some tea party members worry they’d be punished for their tweets or Facebook comments by their followers. And each letter had a stern warning about “penalties of perjury” — which became intimidating for groups that were being asked about future activities, like future donations or endorsements. In one instance, the American Patriots Against Government Excess was asked to provide summaries or copies of all material passed out at meetings. The group had been reading “The 5000 Year Leap” by Cleon Skousen and the U.S. Constitution. The group’s president, Marion Bower, sent a copy of both to the IRS. “I don’t have time to write a book report for them,” she said.

Holder faces tough House questioning, after defending AP records probe

2013-05-15T12:51:00Z

Attorney General Eric Holder will likely face aggressive questioning at a hearing by the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee Wednesday amid the outcry over the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at The Associated Press and other scandals within the Obama administration. The panel's chairman, Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., tells the Associated Press the committee members are planning on asking Holder "pointed" questions about the decision to obtain two months' worth of telephone records of as many as 20 of the wire service's reporters and editors. "Congress and the American people expect answers and accountability," Goodlatte said. Goodlatte says the committee will also ask Holder about the targeting of conservative groups by the Internal Revenue Service, which is now the focus of an investigation by the Justice Department.

Holder said Tuesday that his deputy "ultimately authorized the subpoena" to secretly obtain the records, and that he had recused himself early on in the related investigation into leaks of sensitive information that "put the American people at risk." Word that Deputy Attorney General James Cole is directing the FBI probe came as the White House expressed confidence in Holder and the department following revelations that it had seized the phone records in an effort to find out who leaked confidential information to it. Republicans pointed to the incident in renewing calls for Holder's resignation. Holder said Tuesday that the leak in question, which the AP has suggested involved a foiled terror attack originating in Yemen, was "very, very serious," but declined to elaborate. He said it was among the most serious he'd seen in his career and that it "required very aggressive action." (Fox News)

New Scandal? EPA waives fee requests for friendly groups, denies conservative groups

2013-05-15T12:46:00Z

Conservative groups seeking information from the Environmental Protection Agency have been routinely hindered by fees normally waived for media and watchdog groups, while fees for more than 90 percent of requests from green groups were waived, according to requests reviewed by the Competitive Enterprise Institute. CEI reviewed Freedom of Information Act requests sent between January 2012 and this spring from several environmental groups friendly to the EPA’s mission, and several conservative groups, to see how equally the agency applies its fee waiver policy for media and watchdog groups. Government agencies are supposed to waive fees for groups disseminating information for public benefit. “This is as clear an example of disparate treatment as the IRS’ hurdles selectively imposed upon groups with names ominously reflecting an interest in, say, a less intrusive or biased federal government,” said CEI fellow Chris Horner.

For 92 percent of requests from green groups, the EPA cooperated by waiving fees for the information. Those requests came from the Natural Resources Defense Council, EarthJustice, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, The Waterkeeper Alliance, Greenpeace, Southern Environmental Law Center and the Center for Biological Diversity. Of the requests that were denied, the EPA said the group either didn’t respond to requests for justification of a waiver, or didn’t express intent to disseminate the information to the general public, according to documents obtained by The Washington Examiner. CEI, on the other hand, had its requests denied 93 percent of the time. One request was denied because CEI failed to express its intent to disseminate the information to the general public. The rest were denied because the agency said CEI “failed to demonstrate that the release of the information requested significantly increases the public understanding of government operations or activities.” Similarly, requests from conservative groups Judicial Watch and National Center for Public Policy Research were approved half the time, and all requests from Franklin Center and the Institute for Energy Research were denied. (Washington Examiner)

Michael Graham: It's time for the DC press to take the "Walk of Shame"

2013-05-15T12:45:00Z

From his Boston Herald column:

If Woodward and Bernstein had covered Watergate the same way the D.C. press corps have covered Benghazi, Nixon would have served three terms. But after years of Chicago-style, bare-knuckle Obama politics, the press is suddenly crying “Nixon lives!” As recently as Monday, the media were in Obama defense mode, despite the revelations of blatant lies about Benghazi and revelations of Nixonian IRS assaults on Obama’s enemies. What happened? The press just caught Obama spying on them…

Regular Americans simply expressing their political opinions and organizing to oppose a sitting president have spent the entire Obama presidency getting kicked around by the likes of you: “Extremists!” “Racists!” “Haters!” All excuses for you so-called “journalists” not to do your job of gathering the facts and reporting the news. Now Barack Milhous Obama is caught bullying you, and I’m supposed to be outraged? No way. Hey, you spent five years givin’ it up for Obama, climbing into bed with the White House and putting partisanship ahead of journalism. Now, my media friends, it’s time for you to find your shoes, fix your makeup, and take the “Walk of Shame.”

D.C. turns on Obama

2013-05-15T12:43:00Z

The town is turning on President Obama — and this is very bad news for this White House. Republicans have waited five years for the moment to put the screws to Obama — and they have one-third of all congressional committees on the case now. Establishment Democrats, never big fans of this president to begin with, are starting to speak out. And reporters are tripping over themselves to condemn lies, bullying and shadiness in the Obama administration. Buy-in from all three D.C. stakeholders is an essential ingredient for a good old-fashioned Washington pile-on — so get ready for bad stories and public scolding to pile up. Obama’s aloof mien and holier-than-thou rhetoric have left him with little reservoir of good will, even among Democrats. And the press, after years of being accused of being soft on Obama while being berated by West Wing aides on matters big and small, now has every incentive to be as ruthless as can be. This White House’s instinctive petulance, arrogance and defensiveness have all worked to isolate Obama at a time when he most needs a support system. “It feel like they don’t know what they’re here to do,” a former senior Obama administration official said. “When there’s no narrative, stuff like this consumes you.”…

This is a dangerous — albeit familiar — place for a second-term president. Once the dogs are released, they bark, they bite and it takes a very long time to calm them down. Bill Clinton got hit early and often, and George W. Bush never really recovered from it. No doubt, the hysteria cools. But, once you hit this point, it takes time, often lots of it. The long-term danger is that the political system and the public start to view the president, his motives and ideas through a more skeptical lens. The short-term danger is the press races for new details, new scandals, new expressions of indignity with each passing day. Read Tuesday morning editorial pages of every paper for a taste of things to come. Or watch a rerun of Tuesday’s “Morning Joe,” in which reporters made it sound like Obama is a latter-day Richard Nixon.

Bill O'Reilly: Analyzing the sideshow

2013-05-15T12:03:07Z

By Bill O'Reilly

With President Obama calling the Benghazi controversy a sideshow yesterday, it's instructive to look at public opinion on the issue right now. According to the new Pew Research poll 56 percent of Americans not really following the Benghazi story -- something "Talking Points put forth last week; 44 percent are interested; 37 percent believe the Obama administration has been honest about Benghazi; 40 percent say they have been dishonest; 23 percent don't know.

This week two more stories broke that cast doubt about whether the Obama administration is running the country honestly. The IRS has admitted it targeted some conservative groups for scrutiny. And the Justice Department secretly looked at the phone records of some reporters who work for the Associated Press.

Today Attorney General Holder said that decision was made by Deputy Attorney General James Kohl who is working with the FBI to find out who is leaking classified information about anti-terror operations to reporters.

Now, this morning, I went on "Fox & Friends" and "Good Morning America" to promote my new book "Keep it Pithy." I found two very different situations. On GMA my pal George Stephanopoulos is not convinced Benghazi is a big deal. I dissented.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: Starting with Ambassador Rice, who told her to say it? You explain it, Mr. President.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Hasn't he done it, isn't that exactly what he did yesterday?

O'REILLY: No he hasn't done it, George, unless you were on vacation. He hasn't done it, all right? He needs to do it. Who did it? Do you know who told Rice to do it?

STEPHANOPOULOS: We know where the talking points came from.

O'REILLY: Do you know who told Rice to go out and mislead everybody?

STEPHANOPOULOS: I don't think she was told to go out and mislead everybody. She was given talking points.

O'REILLY: By whom.

STEPHANOPOULOS: The White House has said time and time again we're prepared by the CIA with editing from the State Department --

(CROSSTALK)

O'REILLY: Who gave her and handed her these talking points that turned out to be bogus? Who? We need to know the name.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: When we find that out, the name, the Benghazi story will begin to crystallize but we don't know.

On the other side, Ms. Laura Ingraham already convinced the AP story is big. I say not yet.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: The AP thing isn't a scandal that was a...

STEVE DOOCY: But AP feels it is.

O'REILLY: Well who cares what they feel?

INGRAHAM: The AP thing is --

O'REILLY: They haven't had an accurate article on their reports. No it's not, it's absolutely not. The Justice Department went through legal terms to get the phone records. They didn't --

DOOCY: Well we don't know for sure what they did exactly.

O'REILLY: Ok so that's not a scandal.

INGRAHAM: I'm not willing -- let me just jump in here.

O'REILLY: Oh wait, Laura.

INGRAHAM: The idea -- the idea that we're giving the administration the benefit of the doubt.

O'REILLY: I'm not giving anybody the benefit of anything. I am saying fact.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: Now, the reason President Obama can get away with saying all of his troubles are caused by political attacks is that some on the right go way beyond established facts, in fact they are giving him cover. The heavy odds are that the President did not directly order the IRS to pound conservative groups. If he did that, that's an impeachable offense but evidence must come forth.

And we the press need to investigate it and we will. I will. Same thing with the AP. If there was an abuse of power, facts must back that up.

Benghazi is different. There are facts and they point to misleading the American public for political gain. There is no getting around Rice's testimony or the shoddy security in Libya. That story Benghazi, that's huge.

Down the road, the IRS and the AP stories might become nightmares for President Obama, but again that has not yet been established.

And that's "The Memo."

- You can catch Bill O'Reilly's "Talking Points Memo" weeknights at 8 and 11 p.m. ET on the Fox News Channel and any time on foxnews.com/oreilly. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com.

Transcript Date:

Tue, 05/14/2013

Transcript Show Name:

O'Reilly Factor

Transcript Talent Byline:

Bill O'Reilly

louche

2013-05-15T04:17:00Z

[LOUSCHE] Disreputable, decadent

Obama Tries to Put Benghazi Back on the Fringe

2013-05-14T22:22:00Z

Purple

Jay Carney On DOJ's AP Records Scandal: 'Wholly Inappropriate' To Comment

2013-05-14T22:21:00Z

Green

Carney Says White House Not Involved in IRS Targeting Groups

2013-05-14T22:20:00Z

Yellow

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

2013-05-14T22:20:00Z

We had a really good show tonight I thought. There is a lot of stuff going in, and I think we covered it pretty responsibly. We had a lot of opinion that was pretty sharp. I don’t mind when people disagree with me. I get a little frustrated when the point is overwhelming. It’s not that you don understand, you got it, it’s that you don’t want to understand it, that people who attack – not just President Obama but anybody that they dislike, in a way that not credible, help their enemy. They bolster their enemy’s position: “oh, poor poor me, look at Fox News, they just want to hurt me, they don’t care about the facts. ”Well, there are a few people here at Fox News who don’t like President Obama, and they are Republican people or conservative people, and they feel that the president is doing a bad job , and hurting the country – and they certainly have a right to their opinion. But that is not the dominant theme among our reporters and correspondents, and I have to represent them as being a hallmark, and the flagship show on the network. I can’t go out there and start to jump up and down and say stuff is a scandal, and this or that, or the president directed the IRS audits. I mean, I can’t do that, so I think you guys understand. If you don’t, you don’t. What can I tell you?

But I will tell you this – we do an h0onest program here, and sometimes that is not easy. Sometimes you’ve got to take a lot of flack for doing that. I am not going to draw a comparison to me and Jesus, but one of the themes in Killing Jesus is that, there was a lot of stuff going on in Judea at the time, political stuff, politics. And nobody was telling the truth about it except him, the Nazarene. And boy, oh boy, did that come down on him. It wasn’t really about religion, it was about politics, and that is the theme of Killing Jesus – and I think you will find it mesmerizing, as I did when researching and writing it. When you tell the truth, or try to get the truth, you are going to torque people off, and they are going to get mad. They want you to tell them what they want to hear, and a lot of people do that. I don’t.

But, I can’t whine about it because we have been number one for almost 14 years now, and we continue to dominate every way, so there are enough Americans who respect what we do that those who don’t, well, too bad.

Other stories floating around – there really, outside of politics, isn’t anything, because legislation is stalled on almost every front. You don’t have the immigration deal come to the floor yet, the Obamacare thing is still just chaotic, you don’t know what is going to happen. So it’s all the Obama administration having problem after problem after problem. That in itself is a story! And we are going to continue that theme this week.

Geopolitical Journey: Europe, the Glorious and the Banal

2013-05-14T17:24:00Z

The Making of the Modern World

The Buccaneering Spirit

The European Legacy

Woman kicked off JFK-bound flight for belting out 'I will always love you' in midair concert

2013-05-14T14:18:00Z

She may have loved her fellow fliers but they certainly didn't love her back! An American Airlines jet headed to Kennedy Airport from LA was forced to make an emergency landing in Kansas City after a woman refused to stop belting out Whitney Houston's "I will always love you." The woman's off-key rendition of the ditty's famous chorus, captured forever on a passenger's cellphone video, is heard as police escort her off the flight. A female airline staffer can be heard in the video pleading with passengers not to take photos. "The woman was being disruptive and was removed from the plane for interfering with the flight crew," airport spokesman Joe McBride told WCTV Friday. "There was a federal air marshal on the aircraft, who subdued the woman and put her in cuffs and removed her from the plane." The woman, who claimed she was a diabetic, was not charged but the airline refused to allow her back on a flight. (NY Post)

Chuck Todd On IRS Scandal: "Has More Legs Politically In 2014 Than Benghazi"

2013-05-14T14:17:00Z

On Morning Joe:

Andrea Mitchell: IRS scandal 'one of the most outrageous excesses I've seen in all my years of journalism'

2013-05-14T14:16:00Z

On Morning Joe this morning, MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell delivered a strong reaction to the news that the IRS targeted Tea Party groups beginning in 2011, calling it “one of the most outrageous excesses I’ve seen in all my years in journalism.” (Washington Examiner)

Angelina Jolie Reveals She Had Double Mastectomy to Prevent Breast Cancer

2013-05-14T14:14:00Z

Angelina Jolie has always been outspoken about issues that matter to her, and now, for the first time, she's revealing a very personal one: her decision to undergo a preventive double mastectomy after discovering she carries the BRCA1 gene, which increases the risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer. "My doctors estimated that I had an 87 percent risk of breast cancer and a 50 percent risk of ovarian cancer, although the risk is different in each woman," she writes today in a New York Times op-ed. "Once I knew that this was my reality, I decided to be proactive and to minimize the risk as much as I could." Jolie, 37, lost her mother in 2007 to ovarian cancer, and she explains in the article that her six children with partner Brad Pitt contributed to her decision to have the surgery--and now, she's speaking out about it to educate other women in her situation about their options. (ABC News)

US News | Syria News | More ABC News Videos

Father of boy arrested in sister's death says he wants to see evidence

2013-05-14T14:10:00Z

The father of a 12-year-old boy accused of fatally stabbing his 8-year-old sister had planned on addressing the media, but sheriff's officials said a news conference set for Tuesday was canceled. Barney Fowler told The Associated Press that he will believe his son is innocent until he sees evidence that proves otherwise, and that the family was backing the boy after a crime that terrified this Central California foothill community."Until they have the proper evidence to show it's my son, we're standing behind him," Fowler said. "If they have the evidence, well that's another story. We're an honest family." Fowler had said he planned to address the media Tuesday at the sheriff's substation in Valley Springs, but sheriff's officials said in a brief statement late Monday that the news conference was canceled. No reason was given for the cancellation, and a sheriff's spokesman did not return calls from the AP. The boy told investigators on April 27 that he encountered a random attacker in the family home while his father was attending a Little League game. He described the man as tall with long gray hair.

The boy said the man fled on foot and he found his sister, Leila Fowler, bleeding. Leila's death set off an intense manhunt in the rural community where some residents had moved to escape big city crime. The Calaveras County Sheriff's Office spent more than 2,000 man-hours amassing evidence and searching door-to-door. Residents of the rural community began locking their doors and calling authorities when they thought they saw men who fit the description. They also held fundraisers for the Fowler family and turned out by the thousands for a candlelight vigil in Leila's honor. "We're thankful to the community and all they've done for my daughter," Barney Fowler said. He echoed comments made earlier Monday by his son, Justin Fowler, 19, who told the AP the family was in shock and extremely sad about the boy's arrest. "We're just in a fog," Justin Fowler said. Rumors began spreading last week around town that the 12-year-old was a suspect. The AP is withholding his name because he is a juvenile. (AP)

Lion Tacos Cause UpROAR For Mexican Restaurant

2013-05-14T14:10:00Z

The king of the jungle has ended up in a tortilla in a Tampa, Fla., Mexican restaurant – and it’s causing an upROAR! Taco Fusion is known for selling exotic meat tacos at market prices – the fillings have included kangaroo, bison and shark meat tacos. But the addition of lion meat to their menu has led to bomb threats and even physical altercations. "[People have been] coming into the establishment and throwing punches," the restaurant's manager Brad Barnett told "Good Morning America." "They say they are going to bomb us, burn us down, blow us up." Lions are not on the endangered species list, although they are on the vulnerable list one step below endangered. It is not illegal to sell or consume lion meat. Following the controversy, the restaurant decided to pull the item from the menu. “We listened to everyone and decided to no longer carry lion. The lion meat is sold out and we do not plan to carry it again. Thank you all for your feedback,” said a post on their website last week. But it appears the eatery had a change of lion heart.

Restaurant manager Bayardo Alvarez told Fox News Latino that the restaurant started selling lion tacos again. A cook at the restaurant said employees were surprised by the outrage and – no matter how exotic the meat – the restaurant had never received any complaints before. Though they expected anger after they began selling shark meat tacos, most customers did not seem to mind. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, told Fox News Latino they were not amused by Taco Fusion’s marketing gimmick. “Most lion meat served in restaurants comes from old zoo and circus lions who are shot in fenced compounds by cowards who want a trophy on the wall, so that’s what anyone who buys a lion burger is likely supporting,” PETA wrote in an e-mail. They added, “As with other carcasses that this restaurant has sold as burgers or tacos, there are no inspection standards to fall back on, and one wonders why any human being finds it interesting to add to the number of animals who lose their lives for nothing more than a fleeting taste.” (Fox News Latino)

Russia spy agency claims CIA agent arrested for trying to recruit Russian agent in Moscow

2013-05-14T14:09:00Z

Russia's security services claimed Tuesday to have arrested a CIA agent posing as an employee of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow for allegedly trying to recruit a Russian secret service agent to work for the U.S. The Federal Security Service (FSB) announced that it had detained a man identified as Ryan Christopher Fogle on the evening of May 13 or early the next morning for attempting to recruit a Russian agent. The U.S. Embassy would not comment on the reports when contacted Tuesday morning by CBS News. Russian news agency RIA Novosti quoted a statement from the FSB as saying Fogle was arrested while trying to recruit a member of the Russian security services, and he had on his person, "special technical devices, written instructions for the Russian citizen being recruited, a large sum of cash and means of changing his appearance." After being arrested and processed by Russian security services, the man was handed back to the U.S. diplomatic mission in Moscow.

Obama administration gives wind farms a pass on eagle deaths, prosecutes oil companies

2013-05-14T14:06:00Z

The Obama administration has never fined or prosecuted a wind farm for killing eagles and other protected bird species, shielding the industry from liability and helping keep the scope of the deaths secret, an Associated Press investigation has found. More than 573,000 birds are killed by the country's wind farms each year, including 83,000 hunting birds such as hawks, falcons and eagles, according to an estimate published in March in the peer-reviewed Wildlife Society Bulletin. Each death is federal crime, a charge that the Obama administration has used to prosecute oil companies when birds drown in their waste pits, and power companies when birds are electrocuted by their power lines. No wind energy company has been prosecuted, even those that repeatedly flout the law. Wind power, a pollution-free energy intended to ease global warming, is a cornerstone of President Barack Obama's energy plan. His administration has championed a $1 billion-a-year tax break to the industry that has nearly doubled the amount of wind power in his first term.

The large death toll at wind farms shows how the renewable energy rush comes with its own environmental consequences, trade-offs the Obama administration is willing to make in the name of cleaner energy. "It is the rationale that we have to get off of carbon, we have to get off of fossil fuels, that allows them to justify this," said Tom Dougherty, a long-time environmentalist who worked for nearly 20 years for the National Wildlife Federation in the West, until his retirement in 2008. "But at what cost? In this case, the cost is too high." Documents and emails obtained by The Associated Press offer glimpses of the problem: 14 deaths at seven facilities in California, five each in New Mexico and Oregon, one in Washington state and another in Nevada, where an eagle was found with a hole in its neck, exposing the bone.

One of the deadliest places in the country for golden eagles is Wyoming, where federal officials said wind farms had killed more than four dozen golden eagles since 2009, predominantly in the southeastern part of the state. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose the figures. Getting precise figures is impossible because many companies aren't required to disclose how many birds they kill. And when they do, experts say, the data can be unreliable. When companies voluntarily report deaths, the Obama administration in many cases refuses to make the information public, saying it belongs to the energy companies or that revealing it would expose trade secrets or implicate ongoing enforcement investigations. Nearly all the birds being killed are protected under federal environmental laws, which prosecutors have used to generate tens of millions of dollars in fines and settlements from businesses, including oil and gas companies, over the past five years. (AP)

New Orleans police identify suspect in Mother's Day parade shooting

2013-05-14T13:25:00Z

New Orleans police and federal authorities were searching early Tuesday for a young man who is suspected of opening fire at a Mother's Day parade in New Orleans, wounding 19. Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas identified the suspect late Monday as Akein Scott, 19, of New Orleans. Referring to blurry surveillance camera images of the mass shooting, Serpas said police have "multiple identifications of Akein Scott as the shooter" seen in the film. Serpas said officers would be searching all night and into Tuesday for Scott, whom he called "no stranger to the criminal justice system." He urged the teen, who has previous arrests on firearms and drug charges, to give himself up. "We would like to remind the community and Akein Scott that the time has come for him to turn himself in," Serpas said at a news conference outside police headquarters. A photo of Scott hung from a podium in front of the police chief. "We know more about you than you think we know," he said. Serpas said it was too early to say whether he was the only shooter. (AP)

Washington Post: Obama's claim he called Benghazi an 'act of terrorism' deserves four Pinocchios

2013-05-14T13:24:00Z

During the campaign, the president could just get away with claiming he said “act of terror,” since he did use those words — though not in the way he often claimed. It seemed like a bit of after-the-fact spin, but those were his actual words — to the surprise of Mitt Romney in the debate. But the president’s claim that he said “act of terrorism” is taking revisionist history too far, given that he repeatedly refused to commit to that phrase when asked directly by reporters in the weeks after the attack. He appears to have gone out of his way to avoid saying it was a terrorist attack, so he has little standing to make that claim now. Indeed, the initial unedited talking points did not call it an act of terrorism. Instead of pretending the right words were uttered, it would be far better to acknowledge that he was echoing what the intelligence community believed at the time--and that the administration’s phrasing could have been clearer and more forthright from the start.

Poll: 40 percent say administration has been dishonest about Benghazi

2013-05-14T13:23:00Z

Two in five Americans say the Obama Administration has been dishonest about the deaths of four Americans in Benghazi, Libya, according to a new Pew Research Center poll. The poll shows 40 percent say the administration has been dishonest, while 37 percent say it has been honest. Another 23 percent say they don’t know. Not surprisingly, many who are unhappy are Republicans, 70 percent of whom say the administration has been dishonest. But even among independents, 48 percent say the administration has been dishonest, while 30 percent say it has been honest. But it’s not just Obama who is getting dinged by the American people. In the same poll, 36 percent said Republicans have gone too far in their hearings on the matter, while 34 percent say the Republicans have handled the matter appropriately. Independents are evenly split. Opinions are pretty malleable at this point though; 56 percent say they are not following the issue closely or at all. (Washington Post)

Lawyers: Targeting of conservatives more vast than just Cincinnati, also involved DC office

2013-05-14T13:22:00Z

Lawyers representing Tea Party groups are disputing the Internal Revenue Service’s claim that the discrimination against Tea Party and conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status was initiated by low-level employees at an IRS office in Cincinnati. According to the lawyers, the practice was more vast and included IRS officials in Washington, D.C. David French, senior counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), which represents 27 Tea Party groups, told The Daily Caller that the IRS’ Cincinnati office was not the only unit targeting Tea Party and conservative groups for increased scrutiny. “We’ve dealt with two offices in California, the one in Cincinnati of course, and one in Washington, D.C. So when that story came out on Friday, we knew instantaneously it was false, because we had personal dealings with four different IRS offices from coast to coast and that was in connection with our representing 27 Tea Party groups and conservative groups in 19 states,“ French said, adding that the two California offices were located in Laguna Niguel and El Monte. “We knew from the beginning that this was not just a low-level Cincinnati employee operation,” French said. Cleta Mitchell, a lawyer with Foley & Lardner LLP who represents conservative groups, echoed French’s concerns and experience. “That’s a cover-up,” she told TheDC of the IRS’ claim Friday that the practice was initiated by the Cincinnati unit of the IRS. Mitchell also said there were offices in Washington and California that gave her clients issues. (Dailly Caller)

Top IRS official didn't reveal tea party targeting

2013-05-14T13:21:00Z

Congress was not told tea party groups were being inappropriately targeted by the Internal Revenue Service, even after acting agency Chief Steven Miller had been briefed on the matter. Miller was first informed on May, 3, 2012, that applications for tax-exempt status by tea party groups were inappropriately singled out for extra scrutiny, the IRS said Monday. At least twice after the briefing, Miller wrote letters to members of Congress to explain the process of reviewing applications for tax-exempt status without disclosing that tea party groups had been targeted. On July 25, 2012, Miller testified before the House Ways and Means oversight subcommittee, but again did not mention the additional scrutiny — despite being asked about it. At the hearing, Rep. Kenny Marchant, R-Texas, told Miller that some politically active tax-exempt groups in his district had complained about being harassed. Marchant did not explicitly ask if tea party groups were being targeted. But he did ask how applications were handled. Miller responded, "We did group those organizations together to ensure consistency, to ensure quality. We continue to work those cases," according to a transcript on the committee's website. (AP)

Holder needs to explain DOJ's spying on journalists, says civil liberties groups

2013-05-14T13:20:00Z

Civil liberties groups are demanding answers from Attorney General Eric Holder after the Justice Department came under fire when the Associated Press revealed Monday that the executive branch department seized two months of reporter-and-editor phone records in April and May 2012. The Justice Department’s spying on reporters is being called the latest in the Obama administration’s war on leaks. “The media’s purpose is to keep the public informed and it should be free to do so without the threat of unwarranted surveillance,” Laura W. Murphy, director of the American Civil Liberties Union Washington Legislative Office, said in a statement Monday. “The Attorney General must explain the Justice Department’s actions to the public so that we can make sure this kind of press intimidation does not happen again,” said Murphy. Nate Cardozo of the digital-rights organization Electronic Frontier Foundation said to the Huffington Post that the DOJ’s spying was a “clear violation of the law.” (Daily Caller)

Obama's Justice Dep't. Slammed for 'Massive and Unprecedented Intrusion' Into AP Newsgathering

2013-05-14T13:18:00Z

Lawmakers from both parties sharply questioned the Justice Department late Monday over its reported effort to secretly obtain two months of phone records from Associated Press journalists, with House Speaker John Boehner’s office saying “they better have a damned good explanation.” The AP disclosed the department’s actions Monday afternoon, revealing that the news service had recently learned the department obtained records listing outgoing calls for the work and personal phone numbers of AP reporters and various AP offices. In all, the government seized the records for more than 20 separate telephone lines assigned to AP and its journalists in April and May of 2012. Concern about what the AP’s top executive called an “unprecedented intrusion” quickly spanned party lines. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, a Democrat, said he’s “very troubled” by the allegations. “The burden is always on the government when they go after private information -- especially information regarding the press or its confidential sources. I want to know more about this case, but on the face of it, I am concerned that the government may not have met that burden,” Leahy said in a statement.

The AP also reported that the Justice Department got records for the main AP number in the House of Representatives press gallery. One congressional source told Fox News this allegation in particular “is not sitting too well” with congressional leadership. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., said he plans to ask Attorney General Eric Holder “pointed questions” on the issue at a hearing Wednesday. Boehner spokesman Michael Steel also had pointed words for the administration. “The First Amendment is first for a reason. If the Obama administration is going after reporters’ phone records, they better have a damned good explanation,” he said. The allegations come on the heels of a pair of major controversies for the Obama administration. Fresh testimony and newly released documents last week raised questions about whether top administration officials deliberately distorted the details of the Benghazi attack as they first began providing details to the public last September. Then the IRS acknowledged Friday that it singled out conservative groups like the Tea Party for additional scrutiny as it screened applications for tax-exempt status. (Fox News)

IRS sent unpublished info on conservative groups to investigative news outfit

2013-05-14T13:14:00Z

ProPublica on Monday reported that the same IRS division that targeted conservative groups for special scrutiny during the 2012 election cycle provided the investigative-reporting organization with confidential applications for tax-exempt status. That revelation contradicts previous statements from the agency and may represent a violation of federal guidelines. Lois G. Lerner, who heads the IRS sector that reviews tax-exemption applications, told a congressional oversight committee in April 2012 that IRS code prohibited the agency from providing information about groups that had not yet been approved. Reps. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) had asked Lerner in March 2012 to provide a list of all organizations that the IRS had subjected to special scrutiny. Lerner replied that she could not legally reveal information about groups that were not approved and that identifying targeted applicants that were already approved would require additional work, specifically a “manual review of each file.” She did not identify any of the organizations. Below is an excerpt of Lerner’s response:

“Section 6104(a) of the Code permits public disclosure of an application for recognition of tax exempt status and supporting materials only after the organization has been recognized as exempt. Consequently, we cannot provide a list of organizations that have received [additional scrutiny] from the IRS, until those applications have been approved.”

ProPublica reported that the Lerner’s division released “nine pending confidential applications of conservatives groups” in response to a request from the investigative-reporting organization for the applications of 67 nonprofits in November 2012. Lerner apologized on Friday for actions her sector took to single out conservative groups for special scrutiny when they applied for tax-exempt status. Documents from an inspector general’s report due for release this week show that the IRS also targeted groups with names containing the phrases “tea party” or “patriot,” in addition to 9/12 Project — founded by conservative political commentator Glenn Beck — and organizations that criticized the government or aimed to educate people about the Constitution. IRS officials in Washington and at least two other offices were involved with investigating the groups, making clear that the effort reached well beyond the branch in Cincinnati that was initially blamed, according to a report in Tuesday’s Washington Post. IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman testified on the targeting issue before a House Ways and Means subcommittee in March 2012, adamantly denying that the IRS singled out groups for special scrutiny. “There’s absolutely no targeting,” he said. “This is the kind of back and forth that happens to people [who apply for tax-exempt status.]” Shulman’s testimony came nearly 10 months after Lerner instructed her division to change its search criteria. (Washington Post)

Bill O'Reilly: Truth and the federal government

2013-05-14T12:46:17Z

By Bill O'Reilly

Now we have yet another story that indicates the federal government is not telling the truth on important matters. On March 22, 2012 the head of the IRS, Douglas Shulman denied his agency was targeting conservatives in an unfair way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOUGLAS SHULMAN, FORMER COMMISSIONER IRS: We pride ourselves on being a non-political, nonpartisan organization. What's been happening has been the normal back and forth that happens with the IRS. There is absolutely no targeting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: Well, now, we know that's not true. Mr. Shulman was misleading everyone. Did he do it on purpose? The FBI should find out because that is illegal. On Friday, the IRS apologized for targeting conservative political groups making it more difficult for them to achieve tax exempt status. Shulman left the IRS in November. And the agency now blames targeting on, quote, "Low level employees".

And then there is the continuing controversy over Benghazi. Today President Obama said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The whole issue of this... of talking points, frankly, throughout this process has been a side show. What we have been very clear about throughout was that immediately after this event happened we were not clear who exactly had carried it out, how it had been -- how it had occurred, what the motivations were.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: The President believes that he and his administration did nothing wrong by telling the world that an anti-Islamic video might have caused the terror attack in Benghazi. But there was at the time strong evidence the video had nothing to do with the attack. The White House, the State Department, both knew that.

So who exactly told Ambassador Rice to deflect the real evidence by raising the video? Who exactly did that? Americans can differ about the importance of these stories. And the liberal press certainly has been reluctant to cover Benghazi. But now that seems to be changing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM BROKAW, MSNBC NEWS: You cannot explain away Susan Rice's performance on those Sunday talk shows in which she said it was not a terrorist attack. It grew out of a domestic demonstration of some kind. She completely underplayed it and rewrote the script with the help of someone we -- I think we deserve to know who that is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: Well, thank you Tom Brokaw. Of course, we deserve to know who that is if we want an honest federal government. Are we all getting this? President Obama, Hillary Clinton and others defend themselves by pointing to an investigation run by Admiral Mike Mullen and former Ambassador Thomas Pickering which told the world the Benghazi chaos was, again, generated by lower level individuals.

Mullen and Pickering were appointed by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to do the investigation. But they didn't even ask her relevant questions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCHIEFFER: Let me understand what you're saying.

THOMAS PICKERING FORMER UNITED STATES AMBASSADOR: Sure.

SCHIEFFER: You had Secretary Clinton but you didn't ask her any questions and why not?

PICKERING: Because, in fact, we knew where the responsibility rested. She had already stated on a number of occasions she accepted as a result of her job the full responsibility.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: Are you kidding me? The Ambassador simply didn't do his job and he knows it. He is now hiding under his desk having received our invitation to explain. Mr. Pickering has to know that anyone who really wanted to know the truth about Benghazi would have asked Mrs. Clinton a series of specific questions about the terror attack. Anyone would have done that, but he didn't.

So now we have three major incidents that reflect badly on the federal government; the IRS deal, the assassination of the American ambassador in Benghazi and the failure to own up to what happened there. Again, honesty in Washington mandatory, mandatory if we are going to have a truly free country. And that is not a side-show, Mr. President.

And that's "The Memo."

- You can catch Bill O'Reilly's "Talking Points Memo" weeknights at 8 and 11 p.m. ET on the Fox News Channel and any time on foxnews.com/oreilly. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com.

Transcript Date:

Mon, 05/13/2013

Transcript Show Name:

O'Reilly Factor

Transcript Talent Byline:

Bill O'Reilly

misanthrope

2013-05-14T04:46:00Z

[MISS-un-thrope] Someone who generally dislikes humanity

Doctor Kermit Gosnell found guilty of murdering infants in late-term abortions

2013-05-14T00:19:00Z

Purple

Obama calls Benghazi controversy a 'sideshow'

2013-05-14T00:18:00Z

Yellow

Monday, May 13, 2013

2013-05-14T00:17:00Z

There is a lot of stuff swirling around here. A lot of people who do not like President Obama are getting a little bit too excited. This stuff takes a long time to unfold, but the good news for those of you who do not like the president, is that now the media is engaged. They have to pay attention, so they are actively looking for stories, where they were not. The network news, I wouldn’t say the New York Times – but I would not put it past the New York Times and the Washington Post – particularly the Washington Post – to start to dig in and find what happened here. As I said, it is a pretty simple question – who told Rice to go out and say what she said? Who was that? See, that is where you start. And that shouldn’t be hard information to get. And it matters! The president says it’s a sideshow, it doesn’t matter. To him, it doesn’t matter! To him, it is like, okay, they hate me so they are going to find any way to get me out. That is his point of view.

I am not in a position to really... it disturbs me that Hillary Clinton is not more forthcoming. That disturbs me. I think that basically, you have a situation where it was politically driven, and it was all about the election. That is why they did what they did, and now they are stuck. Now they have to keep saying it doesn’t matter, this is not important - because they can’t admit that they didn’t want to tell the truth because of the election. They can’t admit that. So, it is the press’ duty to get it, Congress as well. Get Ambassador Rice in there; let’s ask her some questions. And then, eventually, Hillary Clinton comes down and has to answer serious questions, not like last time where they had no idea what they were doing.

So, we are on it. And boy, this Baltimore story is something. And Gosnell got what he deserved. You are looking at the face of evil there, but he is through.

Last week's hearings on Benghazi were held before which House committee?

2013-05-13T19:30:00Z

This week's O'Quiz has arrived! See if you can beat last week's 5.55 average.

Go: This week's O'Quiz

OJ hoping for new trial in return to Vegas court

2013-05-13T14:06:00Z

It's been more than four years since O.J. Simpson was handcuffed in a Las Vegas courtroom and hauled off to prison for nine to 33 years. On Monday, the former football hero returns to Clark County District Court in blue prison clothes while his attorneys try to convince a judge that his trial lawyer, Yale Galanter, shouldn't have been handling Simpson's case at all. They say Galanter was a witness before the crime and could have testified in Simpson's defense. Simpson was convicted of armed robbery in a 2007 hotel room confrontation with two sports memorabilia dealers he thought had personal belongings he lost following his acquittal in 1995 in the slaying of his ex-wife and her friend. Simpson is due to testify later this week. (AP)

Police arrest 12-year-old boy for killing sister in San Francisco

2013-05-13T14:04:00Z

In a chase that has attracted enormous media attention across the United Satates, a 12-year-old boy on Sunday was arrested in Los Angeles for murdering his eight-year-old sister Leila Fowler at their home in Valley Springs in the southeast of San Francisco late last month. On April 27, Fowler’s brother, whose identity was not revealed, told police that he saw an armed intruder running fleeing their house after his sister was being stabble while the two were alone at home on the fateful day. The brothers statements prompted authorities to start a door-to-door manhunt, which covered the girl’s school bus route from the elementary school to her home. However, the sheriff’s office on Saturday said that they redirected their focus on the brother himself and charged him with homicide after the arrest. Talking to reporters at a news conference, Sheriff Gary Kuntz said, “We have put over 2,000 hours in this investigation to provide Leila Fowler’s family answers to her death.” The police did not disclose any further details, only said, that the investigation was still “ongoing.” Per state law, children below 14 years can be tried as an adult. If convicted for homicide, the boy could be released by age 25. (Gant Daily)

Detroit EM Kevyn Orr: City clearly insolvent, long-term debt at $15 billion

2013-05-13T14:03:00Z

Simply put, Detroit is in severe financial turmoil. That is pretty much the overall summary of a 41-page report from state-appointed Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr. “The City of Detroit continues to incur expenditures in excess of revenues despite cost reductions and proceeds from long term debt issuances. In other words, Detroit spends more than it takes in – it is clearly insolvent on a cash flow basis,” reads the report to the state Department of Treasury that was posted online Sunday by the Detroit Free Press. According to the report, which is mandated by the state after an emergency manager’s first 45 days in office, if it weren’t for payment deferrals for city obligations and borrowing money, the city would be out of cash. Costs plaguing the city include General Fund debt of $1.1 billion; enterprise fund debt of $6 billion; retiree medical costs currently estimated at approximately $5.7 billion as of June 30, 2012; and a handful of other pension-related and benefit costs. Pension-related costs and other post-employment benefit obligations make up about $7.5 billion of the city’s at least $15 billion long-term debt. (MLive)

Health insurance tax 'scares the daylights' out of some small-business owners

2013-05-13T14:02:00Z

Many small-business owners worry that a new tax on insurance providers in the health-care law will mean higher premiums for them, undermining the law’s capacity to lower their health-care costs. Starting next year, the federal government will charge a new fee on health insurance firms based on the plans they sell to individuals and companies, known as the fully insured market. Meanwhile, the provision exempts health-insurance plans that are set up and operated by businesses themselves (the self-insured market). Revenue from the tax will help pay for the health-care overhaul, which is expected to extend coverage to millions of uninsured or underinsured Americans. However, because most large corporations self-insure their workforce, experts warn that insurance companies will pass the costs directly to small businesses. The vast majority purchase coverage in the fully insured market. “Insurers have confirmed back to me that the tax will be passed down to consumers, and the direct impact will be staggering,” Ryan Thorn, owner of a small insurance planning firm near Salt Lake City, told lawmakers during a congressional hearing Thursday. “It disproportionately hits individuals and small-business owners, the people who have been hurt most by these challenging times.” During his testimony, Thorn read letters from his small-business clients about the likely impact of the new health insurance tax. One wrote that the tax “scares the daylights out of us,” while another warned that it would likely “hasten the decision to move away from providing group coverage for our employees.” (Washington Post)

Lamar Alexander slams Sebelius over Iran-Contra-style health care scandal

2013-05-13T14:01:00Z

Tennessee Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander says Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius may be involved in an Iran-Contra-style health care scandal and he wants Congress to investigate it. The Washington Post reported Friday that Sebelius is asking private companies involved in health care to contribute funds to Enroll America, a nonprofit that is working to help implement the Affordable Care Act by enrolling the uninsured and educating Americans on the new law. Congress has turned down requests from the Obama administration for additional funds to help implement the ACA. Alexander, the ranking member on the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, called for an investigation into Sebelius’ actions Saturday, saying it “may be illegal, should cease immediately and should be fully investigated by Congress.” “Such private fundraising circumvents the constitutional requirement that only Congress may appropriate funds. If the secretary or others in her department are closely coordinating the activities of Enroll America, which is headed by a former White House aide, then those actions may be in violation of the Anti-Deficiency Act,” he said. (Daily Caller)

Brokaw: 'You Cannot Explain Away Susan Rice's Performance on Those Sunday Talk Shows'

2013-05-13T13:59:00Z

MSNBC contributor Tom Brokaw piled on the Obama Administration over Susan Rice’s Sunday talk show appearances following the Benghazi terror attack Monday on “Morning Joe.” Brokaw said there is a legitimate debate as to whether the Benghazi diplomatic mission was adequately protected or whether there was an appropriate military response, but given recent reports that clearly illustrate the Obama Administration was aware Benghazi was a terror attack ”you cannot explain away Susan Rice’s performance on those Sunday talk shows”: (Free Beacon)

Republicans call for depositions in Benghazi probe, amid revelation Clinton barely interviewed

2013-05-13T13:55:00Z

Congressional Republicans on Sunday pressed their investigation into the Benghazi attacks, suggesting depositions for high-ranking officials and more whistle-blowers testifying amid further questions about why then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was not thoroughly interviewed about the issue. Rep. Mike Rogers, chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, told “Fox News Sunday” that more potential and self-proclaimed “whistle-blowers” might come forward after three of them – career State Department foreign service employees – testified last week before the House Oversight and Government Affairs Committee. “We have had people come forward because of the (hearing) and say we would also like to talk," the Michigan Republican told “Fox News Sunday.” "I do think we're going to see more whistle-blowers. Certainly my committee has been contacted; I think other committees as well." Rogers’ remarks came as Thomas Pickering, the former U.S. ambassador who helped write a report on security at a U.S. outpost in Benghazi, Libya, defended his assessment but absolved Clinton. "We knew where the responsibility rested," Pickering told CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “They've tried to point a finger at people more senior than where we found the decisions were made.”

Pickering said he and retired Adm. Mike Mullen had to work within the legal scope of the investigation and that they “knew and understood” Clinton’s role based upon “talking to other people at meetings.” Four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, were killed in the Sept. 11, 2012, attacks on the U.S. outpost. Congressional Republicans have since led efforts to learn whether the Obama administration provided adequate security and if the explanation of events was altered as part of a possible political cover-up. Among the lingering questions are whether Clinton was involved in changing a CIA memo about how the attacks started and was she at least partially responsible for the apparent lack of adequate security. The Accountability and Review Board, led by Pickering and Mullen, did not question Clinton at length about the attacks but concluded the decisions about the consulate were made well below the secretary's level. (Fox News)

Search for suspects after 19 injured in shooting at New Orleans Mother's Day parade

2013-05-13T13:54:00Z

New Orleans police are searching for as many as three gunmen after 19 people, including two children, were injured in a shooting at a Mother's Day parade. Police say they saw three suspects running from the scene, but no arrests had been made as of early Monday. Grainy surveillance video released by New Orleans police shows a crowd suddenly scattering in all directions, with some falling to the ground. They appear to be running from a man who turns and runs out of the picture. The person is wearing a white T-shirt and dark pants. The image isn't clear, but authorities hope someone will recognize him and notify investigators. At least three of the victims were seriously wounded. Of the rest, many were grazed and authorities said that overall most wounds were not life threatening. No deaths were reported. The victims included 10 men, seven women, a boy and a girl. The children, both 10 years old, were grazed and in good condition. Police said at least two people were in surgery Sunday night. The shooting — described by the FBI as a flare-up of street violence — shattered the festive mood surrounding the parade that drew hundreds of people to the 7th Ward neighborhood of modest row houses not far from the French Quarter. Cell phone video taken in the aftermath of the shooting shows victims lying on the ground, blood on the pavement and others bending over to comfort them. (Fox News)

Boston bombers' mosque recommended men beat their wives

2013-05-13T13:53:00Z

The Islamic Society of Boston, the mosque attended by Boston Marathon bombing suspects Tamerlan and Dzhokar Tsarnaev, posted an article on its website in September 2004 that advocated for the beating of women as a last resort to force them to behave. The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based mosque posted an English translation of Saudi cleric Sheikh Muhammed Salih Al-Munajid’s 1997 work, “The Muslim Home: 40 Recommendations in Light of the Quran and Sunnah,” which the mosque headlined, “40 Recommendations for the Muslim Home.”

“Hinting at punishment is an effective means of discipline, so the reason for hanging up a whip or stick in the house was explained in another report, where the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: ‘Hang up the whip where the members of the household can see it, for this is more effective in disciplining them,’” the article states. “Seeing the means of punishment hanging up will make those who have bad intentions refrain from indulging in bad behaviour, lest they get a taste of the punishment. It will motivate them to behave themselves and be good mannered,” it says. “Hitting is not the way to discipline; it is not to be resorted to, except when all other means are exhausted, or when it is needed to force someone to do obligatory acts of obedience, as Allah says (interpretation of the meaning): ‘… As to those women on whose part you fear ill-conduct, admonish them (first), (next), refuse to share their beds, (and last) beat them (lightly, if it is useful),’” it goes on. The author of the work, Sheikh Muhammed Salih Al-Munajid, said on religious program that “Jewish websites” can justifiably be hacked by Muslims as part of the “war against (Jews).” “As for hacking and sabotaging Jewish websites – this is a special case that requires a special answer,” he said, according to a transcript posted on the Internet in 2011. (Daily Caller)

State records show Boston Bombers quick to grab EBT cash

2013-05-13T13:51:00Z

A mountain of new welfare records shows numerous EBT card cash withdrawals made by the Tsarnaev family, but so far there is no information about how terrorist Tamerlan Tsarnaev and others may have spent the money. The EBT receipts were handed over by the state to the House Post Audit and Oversight Committee as part of its probe into the Russian family’s $100,000-plus taxpayer-financed life in the Bay State. The committee met yesterday behind closed doors to review Medicaid and welfare awards. The EBT records are now part of thousands of pages of documents listing the government assistance doled out to the Cambridge clan from 2002 to November of 2012. The purchases show specific stores, but not the items bought. But further details could be available to investigators.

The legislative committee is also asking for records from the Cambridge Housing Authority on Section 8 assistance given to the Tsarnaevs, who lived in an apartment on Norfolk Street. The committee’s request for financial aid records from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth — where marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, was a sophomore flunking some classes and owing a reported $20,000 — was rejected, the Herald learned. Federal officials have forbidden the school from releasing any records publicly. Rafi Ron, a former top Israeli security official and past consultant to Logan International Airport, said the welfare cash could have been enough money to help the Tsarnaev brothers build their pressure-cooker bombs that killed three and injured more than 260 at the finish line of the Boston Marathon on April 15. (Boston Herald)

George Will: IRS Actions Against Conservatives An Impeachable Offense

2013-05-13T13:47:00Z

This Week, May 12, 2013:

WILL: But they said a) it was inadvertent, just some odd underlings out in Cincinnati and who did this. And there was no political motive whatever involved. Now the question is, how stupid do they think we are? Just imagine, Donna Brazile, if the George W. Bush administration had IRS underlings, out in Cincinnati of course, saying, we're going to target groups with the word "progressive" in their title. We would have all hell breaking loose.

May I read you something from an ancient document?

RADDATZ: Yes you may. I would be surprised if you didn't.

WILL: This is the 40th anniversary of the Watergate summer here in Washington. "He has through his subordinates and agents endeavored to cause in violation of the constitutional rights of citizens, income tax audits or other income tax investigations to be initiated or conducted in a discriminatory manner." Section 1, Article 2, the Impeachment Articles of Richard Nixon.

IRS targeted groups that criticized the government, IG report says

2013-05-13T13:43:00Z

Senior Internal Revenue Service officials knew agents were targeting tea party groups as early as 2011, according to a draft of an inspector general's report obtained by The Associated Press that seemingly contradicts public statements by the IRS commissioner. The IRS apologized Friday for what it acknowledged was "inappropriate" targeting of conservative political groups during the 2012 election to see if they were violating their tax-exempt status. The agency blamed low-level employees, saying no high-level officials were aware. But on June 29, 2011, Lois G. Lerner, who heads the IRS division that oversees tax-exempt organizations, learned at a meeting that groups were being targeted, according to the watchdog's report. At the meeting, she was told that groups with "Tea Party," ''Patriot" or "9/12 Project" in their names were being flagged for additional and often burdensome scrutiny, the report says.

The Treasury Department's inspector general for tax administration is expected to release the results of a nearly yearlong investigation in the coming week. The AP obtained part of the draft report, which has been shared with congressional aides. Among the other revelations, on Aug. 4, 2011, staffers in the IRS' Rulings and Agreements office "held a meeting with chief counsel so that everyone would have the latest information on the issue." On Jan, 25, 2012, the criteria for flagging suspect groups was changed to, "political action type organizations involved in limiting/expanding Government, educating on the Constitution and Bill of Rights, social economic reform/movement," the report says. While this was happening, several committees in Congress were writing numerous letters IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman to express concern because tea party groups were complaining of IRS harassment. In Shulman's responses, he did not acknowledge targeting of tea party groups. At a congressional hearing March 22, 2012, Shulman was adamant in his denials. "There's absolutely no targeting. This is the kind of back and forth that happens to people" who apply for tax-exempt status, Shulman said at the House Ways and Means subcommittee hearing. The portion of the draft report reviewed by the AP does not say whether Shulman or anyone else in the Obama administration outside the IRS was informed of the targeting. It is standard procedure for agency heads to consult with staff before responding to congressional inquiries, but it is unclear how much information Shulman sought. (AP)

Bill O'Reilly: The Benghazi story heats up

2013-05-13T11:52:48Z

By Bill O'Reilly

If there is one guy you would not want to be today, it was White House spokesman Jay Carney. The press grilling him over charges that the White House altered the initial CIA reporting of the Benghazi terror attack to downplay the organized terrorism angle playing up the spontaneous anti- American demonstration angle.

Carney denied any and all wrongdoing by the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARNEY: On the substantive issues of what happened in Benghazi and at that time what the intelligence community thought it knew, that was reflected in the talking points that were used again that weekend by Ambassador Rice and by others including Members of Congress.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: Now when asked if the White House would release the e-mail correspondents between it and the CIA, Carney said no.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARNEY: Internal deliberations are generally protected, it's generally protected information that is not something that is regularly shared with Congress.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: Now, Mr. Carney gave long rambling answers to the questions but he was clear. The White House did nothing wrong, Ambassador Rice did nothing wrong and the whole controversy is being generated by Republicans for political reasons. And that's his story and as they say he is sticking to it.

But ABC News is reporting that there were 12 different versions of talking points on Benghazi. And the final version put out to the public eliminated references to al Qaeda and affiliate terrorist organizations. Mr. Carney said that the White House involvement in those revisions was very minor. Plying the State Department under Hillary Clinton was the primary editing force.

The state says, "They didn't want to highlight al Qaeda involvement because it might impede the investigation" -- a fairly incredible assertion. What Jay Carney attempted to do today was to convince the world that there was initial confusion about who attacked the American Ambassador and killed him and that the White House was acting responsibly in avoiding placing direct blame.

The fact remains that Ambassador Rice did place blame for the attack on the anti-Islamic video released in the USA, that was her primary focus. So summing up, no admission of wrongdoing by the Obama administration, charges that the Benghazi controversy is politically motivated and no release of e-mails that might clarify the situation; the White House saying some Congress people have seen them and that's all that's necessary.

And that's "The Memo."

- You can catch Bill O'Reilly's "Talking Points Memo" weeknights at 8 and 11 p.m. ET on the Fox News Channel and any time on foxnews.com/oreilly. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com.

Transcript Date:

Fri, 05/10/2013

Transcript Show Name:

O'Reilly Factor

Transcript Talent Byline:

Bill O'Reilly

noddy

2013-05-11T06:30:00Z

[NAH-dee] A foolish person, a nincompoop

Emails reveal a flurry of changes to Benghazi talking points

2013-05-11T01:11:00Z

Blue

Could Benghazi impact Hillary Clinton in 2016?

2013-05-11T01:10:00Z

Purple

Carney: 'We Did Not Hide' Role of Terrorism in Benghazi Talking Points

2013-05-11T01:08:00Z

Yellow

Friday, May 10, 2013

2013-05-11T01:08:00Z

BillO’Reilly.com premium members, welcome to the No Spin News for May 10, 2013. I don’t have a lot to tell you about because we told you about it today on the Factor. I think we had a pretty good program for you. Benghazi is heating up. It’s getting to be a cliffhanger now. How’s it going to turn out? When Geraldo turns you know there’s something going on. It’s just a matter of who in the White House was the driving force? Hillary Clinton was the driving force in the State Department. There’s no doubt in my mind and that’s going to hurt her in her run for president in 2016. Republicans are going to seize on that but who in the White House was driving that? Probably not the president because he’s not engaged at that level on many issues and I don’t believe he was on that. But I’s got to be somebody close to him. Somebody trying to protect him. It’s not fair for me to speculate. But surely President Obama knew what was happening. There’s a lot of Watergate comparisons just as far as structure is concerned. Totally different story but the structure is the same. Nixon had a couple of big aides - Ehrlichman and Haldeman who ran interference for him. they were doing things they said were at his behest but he denied it. When it all falls apart they all start to scramble. So I would find out I think who was doctoring the emails and who was in charge of all that. So once you get that, once you find out who was the editor of the emails, going back and forth between the CIA and White House, then the whole thing will unravel. That’s the key piece. SO we’re working o0n it. We hope you have a great weekend and we’ll talk to you again on Monday.

'Serious intellectual & mental problems': Another USC prof caught on video slamming Bush, berating conservatives

2013-05-10T14:42:00Z

A second professor at the University of Southern California (USC) has been caught on video using his political science class as a platform for bashing conservatives. In the video, Political Science Professor Richard Dekmejian claims former President George W. Bush suffered from mental instability and stupidity during his time in office. Bush was bound by “serious intellectual and mental problems,” he said before going on to claim Bush must have been “stupid or lying” to initiate Operation Iraqi Freedom for the reason of promoting democracy. Dekmejian also alleges Bush dodged the draft when he was a young man because he was busy “getting drunk and high” and was “lazy for the first several months when he came into the presidency until 9/11.” In the 20-minute secret recording, captured by student Tyler Talgo, during the Fall 2012 semester, Dekmejian also leveled a number of derogatory comments against members of the Bush administration, alleging both Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice “lied” to the American people during their service.

“You have to use that term [lying] people,” he reflected. “Don’t use that term mislead.” In his class, Dekmejian additionally appeared to accuse some Christians of salivating over violence in the Middle East. “The right wing evangelical community... these are the people who get happy on television every time there is a conflict in the Middle East,” he said. “They think that the book of revelation tells them that the messiah...the Christian messiah, Jesus is going to come...all we need is a war in the Middle East involving Israel and the Arabs.” Dekmejian did, however, praise former President Jimmy Carter (D) for his service during and after his presidency. “He’s still going around doing good things by the way, Carter,” he said. “That Carter, very respectable.” Last month, USC was hurled into the national headlines after a video recording showed another political science professor verbally assaulting Republicans. (Campus Reform)

Government Office Under Fire For Using Tax Dollars On Bizarre Video Mocking Asians: 'Beauliful, Beauliful'

2013-05-10T14:37:00Z

CBS Los Angeles has dug up a controversial video in which a white man puts on a kimono and paints his face white like a geisha, speaking in an exaggerated stereotype of a Japanese accent. The kicker: it was funded and produced by the city. The City of Los Angeles Department of Public Works apparently spends $48,000 per year on a program called “L.A. CityWorks,” which airs on the city-owned channel. The controversial short, which some have called “racist” and “insensitive,” was part of this city-funded initiative. The video, shot at a Japanese Garden in Los Angeles, depicts the cross-dressing “geisha” man speaking in a mock Japanese accent. “The Japanese water park is a beauliful, beauliful site,” he said with a bizarre misappropriation of the stereotypical Asian mispronunciation of “R” sounds as “L.” The actor leads two interested men on with a coy, flirty attitude, before ultimately fulfilling the video’s purpose: explaining how the Japanese Garden uses recycled water.

CBS spoke with Greg Kimura, the head of LA’s Japanese American National Museum, who cringed upon viewing the video, calling it “just awful,” “offensive” and “embarrassing to even watch.” “It brings back all the worst stereotypes,” he continued. “The accents, the whiteface. I’m embarrassed for everybody who is involved in this. If there’s a remedy to this, it would be something like an apology and taking it down immediately.” After the investigative reporter brought the video to the city’s attention, it was immediately yanked from YouTube. The department’s spokeswoman Cora Jackson-Fossett told CBS: “We apologize profusely that we missed the mark totally. We made a mistake. We’re extremely sorry. It was an attempt at humor that failed.” (Mediaite)

Teacher on leave after student viral video rant

2013-05-10T14:18:00Z

A Duncanville, TX High School teacher has been placed on leave with pay after a video taken in her classroom went viral. Social studies teacher Julie Phung is not seen in the cell phone video, which appears to have been shot by another student and starts as sophomore Jeff Bliss is leaving the room. As the 18 year old Bliss stands from his desk, he begins to tell the teacher how to do her job. "If you would just get up and teach them instead of handing them a freakin' packet, yo. It's kids in here that don't learn like that. They need to learn face to face." For 90 seconds he rants about Phung's teaching style, telling her she needs to take her job "serious" and criticizing Phung is heard telling Bliss to "get out," "please leave" and that he is "wasting her time." Bliss who dropped out of school at one time, stands by the claims he made in the video. "This teacher is not looking to truly give us the education we're looking for," he said. "As a student, if we see a teacher slacking, not putting forth the effort, we should call them out." Bliss thinks the current education system is failing its students and needs serious change.

The video of Bliss' rant went viral within hours of being posted. "The average video on YouTube gets 8-10 views in a 24 hour period," said social media expert Chris Kraft, with Addison-based Splash Media. "This video got 127,000 views in 18 hours. That's seven thousand times the normal rate." Less than 24 hours after it was first posted online, the video had been seen about 450,000 times by people all over the country. According to Kraft, initial social media sentiment favored the student at a rate of 6 to 1, but by Thursday afternoon that ratio had dropped to 2 to 1. Kraft suspects support has grown for the teacher as more adults have joined the conversation, but says the video is captivating audiences of all ages because it touches on a topic kids and adults can relate to: the state of the education system in this country. I think what really resonated was his speech. He's passionate about it," said Kraft. (CBS- Dallas)

The RNC Benghazi Attack Ad that Never Ran

2013-05-10T14:11:00Z

It was the Benghazi attack ad the Republican National Committee created but never aired. ABC News has obtained an ad the RNC made last fall and approved to air in the final weeks of the presidential campaign. The ad begins with a replay of Hillary Clinton’s famous “3 a.m. phone call” commercial from the 2008 campaign and then cuts to video of the burning U.S. consulate in Benghazi Libya. Over the images of the attack–in which four Americans were killed–words appear on the screen: “The Call Came … On September 12, 2012.” As the screen goes black, the words continue: “Security Requests Denied. Four Americans Dead. And an Administration whose story is still changing. The Call Came.” (ABC News)

School Cancels Graduation Over Prayer Controversy

2013-05-10T14:07:00Z

An Arkansas school district decided to cancel sixth grade graduation ceremonies after an out-of-state organization threatened to sue the school over a student-led graduation prayer, disappointing parents and students. Tommy Knight, the superintendent of the Riverside School District in Lake City, confirmed to Fox News that graduation services at East and West Elementary schools had been cancelled. The controversy was over prayer, he said. “Those campuses for the last several years had discussed whether we should continue with sixth grade graduation or not. The controversy arose out of this one. When it came to my attention, the board and I decided to go ahead and discontinue sixth grade graduations.” The school district had received a letter from the Freedom From Religion Foundation warning them that a student-led prayer during the ceremonies was a violation of the U.S. Constitution. Kelly Adams was one of many parents who attended a school board meeting on Monday when the decision was made.

10,962,532: U.S. Disability Beneficiaries Exceed Population of Greece

2013-05-10T14:06:00Z

The total number of people in the United States now receiving federal disability benefits hit a record 10,962,532 million in April, which exceeds the 10,815,197 people who live in the nation of Greece. According to newly released data from the Social Security Administration, the record 10,962,532 total disability beneficiaries in April, included a record 8,865,586 disabled workers (up from 8,853,614 in March), 1,936,236 children of disabled workers, and 160,710 spouses of disabled workers. According to its latest census, Greece had only 10,815,197 residents. April was the 195th straight month that the number of American workers collecting federal disability payments increased. The last time the number of Americans collecting disability decreased was in January 1997. That month the number of workers taking disability dropped by 249 people—from 4,385,623 in December 1996 to 4,385,374 in January 1997. As the overall number of American workers collecting disability has increased, the ratio of full-time workers to disability-collecting workers has decreased. In December 1968, 1,295,428 American workers collected disability and, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 65,630,000 worked full-time. Thus, there were about 51 full-time workers for each worker collecting disability. In April 2013, with a record 8,865,586 American workers collecting disability and 116,053,000 working full-time, there were only 13 Americans working full-time for each worker on disability. (CNS News)

Guns, gays and grass: Colorado wraps up historic legislative session

2013-05-10T14:05:00Z

The Democratic agenda for the legislative session, which ended for the year on Wednesday, reads like a list of topics you’re not supposed to discuss at dinner with future in-laws. It included gun control, civil unions, legal marijuana, restrictions on oil and gas drilling, expansion of Medicaid, changes to election laws, a steep increase in renewable energy requirements for energy providers and new rights for illegal immigrants and their children — including in-state college tuition and drivers licenses. They floated ideas that would have banned assault weapons, concealed carry permits on college campuses and the death penalty, but those issues didn’t make it as far as the rest. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a session in my life with so many big issues,” said Mark Radtke, a lobbyist with the Colorado Municipal League. The only things Democrats didn’t have much time for, said Republican House Minority Leader Rep. Mark Waller, were jobs and the economy. (Daily Caller)

Sex offender's sentence too long, Maine supreme court rules again

2013-05-10T14:02:00Z

For the second time, a convicted sex offender from Blue Hill has had his sentence vacated by the state supreme court. In a 4-3 decision, the high court ruled on May 7 that Theodore S. Stanislaw’s sentence of 27 years behind bars is “disproportionate to other sentences for similar crimes.” The court vacated the sentence and remanded the case to Hancock County Superior Court for resentencing. Stanislaw, a former music teacher, was accused of sexually molesting five girls between the ages of 10 and 14, all of whom he taught or knew through their parents, between 2004 and 2008. He has a prior conviction in New York state from 1982, when he was 24 years old, for sexually molesting a girl who was younger than 11. Stanislaw, now 54, served five years of probation for the New York offense. In January 2010, he pleaded guilty in Hancock County Superior Court to nine criminal charges including unlawful sexual contact, assault and unlawful sexual touching.

At the time, Stanislaw was sentenced by Superior Court Justice Kevin Cuddy to serve 28 years behind bars with two more suspended, but that sentence subsequently was overturned by the Law Court on the grounds that Cuddy had erred in applying Maine’s mandated three-step sentencing analysis and by not articulating why Stanislaw was given a sentence near the maximum allowed. Cuddy, instructed by the court to resentence Stanislaw, later ordered the former music teacher to serve 27 years behind bars instead. The new overall sentence, which included multiple consecutive prison terms, also included one additional year that was suspended and four years of probation. Stanislaw appealed the sentence again, arguing that Cuddy again misapplied the sentencing analysis, that the judge should not have applied consecutive prison terms and that 27 total years in prison was excessive. In its decision this week, the supreme court indicated that the unsuspended 27-year portion of Stanislaw’s sentence — the time he would have to spend behind bars — was closer to the length of incarceration that had been ordered for other defendants who were found guilty of killing or trying to kill other people. In terms of other sex crimes, the decision indicated, “Stanislaw’s unsuspended prison term is longer, sometimes significantly so, than those imposed in many gross sexual assault cases.” (Bangor Daily News)

President Obama: Mr. Fix-it no longer

2013-05-10T14:01:00Z

Americans have lost confidence in President Obama’s ability to get things done, according to a Pew Research Center poll released Wednesday. But after public fights to avoid sequester budget cuts and pass new gun-control laws have stalled, Obama has also garnered some sympathy — two-thirds say he fights hard for his policies, and twice as many blame Republicans leaders in Congress than Obama for a lack of compromise in Washington. Just 49 percent of the public says Obama is “able to get things done,” down from 57 percent in January and closer to his levels of confidence in 2012. But the vast majority of Americans, 67 percent, believe Obama is fighting hard for his policies, a quality that has been questioned in the wake of legislative setbacks. (Washington Post)

Boston police chief says feds never shared warnings about marathon bomber

2013-05-10T13:59:00Z

Boston and Massachusetts law enforcement officials confirmed Thursday that federal agents left them in the dark on the growing warning signs about Tamerlan Tsarnaev in the run-up to the Boston Marathon bombing. Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis, in testimony on Capitol Hill, said his officers on a joint terrorism task force were never told about an explicit warning from the Russian government or about Tsarnaev's travel to the Chechnya region last year. Davis said he would have liked to have known about that activity, and that it "absolutely" would have merited a second look at Tsarnaev. Davis and Massachusetts homeland security official Kurt Schwartz testified that their officers were not looped in on Tsarnaev until after the bombing. "At no time prior to the bombings did any member of the Massachusetts State Police or the fusion center have any information or knowledge about the Tsarnaev brothers," Schwartz said.

Current and former lawmakers at the committee hearing Thursday expressed disbelief at the lack of information-sharing. "The idea that the feds have this information and it's not shared with the state and locals defies why we create the Department of Homeland Security in the first place," said Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. Former Sen. Joseph Lieberman, a witness at Thursday's hearing, called the failure to tell Boston police about the brothers "a serious and aggravating omission."

"This may be one of the most significant and painful takeaway lessons," he said. Officials continue to question what warning signs were missed about the Tsarnaev brothers. Attention has been drawn to a 2011 warning from the Russian government to the FBI about Tamerlan Tsarnaev. The FBI has revealed it was told Tsarnaev was a "follower of radical Islam" and was preparing to travel overseas. The FBI says it interviewed Tsarnaev and found no evidence of terrorist involvement. Tsarnaev ended up traveling to Russia for six months in early 2012. Even in the federal government, information may not have traveled across all relevant agencies. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has said the government's internal system "pinged" when Tsarnaev left the country in 2012, though a Republican senator has said the FBI claimed they were not aware of that trip. (Fox News)

Long before he was charged, Ariel Castro was accuser in sexual assault case

2013-05-10T13:58:00Z

Nearly a decade before being charged with kidnapping, raping and torturing three Cleveland women, Ariel Castro was himself the accuser in a sexual assault case involving his daughters. The accusations, which resulted in the conviction of his ex-wife’s second husband, now offer a new window into Castro’s tangled family relationships. The case against Fernando Colon also raises questions about whether FBI agents squandered an opportunity to question Castro about the disappearance of two of the women in the months after their abductions. Castro made the accusations against Colon, 39, in July 2004, shortly after 14-year-old Georgina “Gina” DeJesus vanished on her way home from the west Cleveland middle school she attended. Colon, the husband of Ariel Castro’s ex-common-law wife, Grimilda “Nilda” Figueroa, says he told two FBI agents nine years ago to investigate Castro in connection with the disappearances of Amanda Berry and DeJesus, but that the agents seemed uninterested in his tip. Castro has now been charged with four counts of kidnapping and three counts of rape for allegedly abducting DeJesus, Berry and Michelle Knight, and was arraigned on Thursday. When DeJesus, a seventh-grader, disappeared on April 2, 2004, the FBI had reason to question Fernando Colon. Colon, was the stepfather of 13-year-old Arlene Castro, Ariel Castro’s daughter, who was DeJesus’ self-described best friend and had been with her right before she vanished. He also was the last adult known to have seen DeJesus before her disappearance. (NBC News)

Ohio man's ex-relatives say he beat them, kept mannequin in home

2013-05-10T13:56:00Z

The man accused of holding three women captive for a decade in his Cleveland home terrorized the mother of his children, frequently beating her, playing twisted psychological games and locking her indoors in the years before their relationship disintegrated, her relatives say. Several relatives of Grimilda Figueroa, who left Ariel Castro years ago and died after a long illness last year, painted a nightmarish portrait of Castro's family life as authorities made public horrifying details of the abuse endured by the imprisoned women. In interviews with The Associated Press on Thursday, the relatives described Castro as a "monster" who abused his wife and locked his family inside their own home. Their views were at odds with those of some of Castro's family and a neighbor, who knew the former school bus driver only as a happy and respectful man. Figueroa's relatives said Castro savagely beat her, pushing her down a flight of stairs, breaking her nose and dislocating her shoulder, among other injuries. Her sister, Elida Caraballo, said Castro once shoved Figueroa into a cardboard box and closed the flaps over her head. "He told her, `You stay there until I tell you to get out,"' said Caraballo, who cried as she recounted her late sister's torment. "That's when I got scared and I ran downstairs to get my parents."

Prosecutors said Thursday they may seek the death penalty against Castro as police charged that he impregnated one of his captives at least five times and made her miscarry by starving her and punching her in the belly. The allegations were contained in a police report that also said another one of the women, Amanda Berry, was forced to give birth in a plastic kiddie pool. Cuyahoga County prosecutor Timothy McGinty said his office will decide whether to bring aggravated murder charges, punishable by death, in connection with the pregnancies that were terminated by force. McGinty said Castro will be charged for every act of sexual violence, assault and other crimes committed against the women, suggesting the counts could number in the hundreds, if not thousands. (AP)

ABC News: Benghazi Talking Points Underwent 12 Revisions, Scrubbed of Terror Reference

2013-05-10T13:50:00Z

When it became clear last fall that the CIA’s now discredited Benghazi talking points were flawed, the White House said repeatedly the documents were put together almost entirely by the intelligence community, but White House documents reviewed by Congress suggest a different story. ABC News has obtained 12 different versions of the talking points that show they were extensively edited as they evolved from the drafts first written entirely by the CIA to the final version distributed to Congress and to U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice before she appeared on five talk shows the Sunday after that attack. White House emails reviewed by ABC News suggest the edits were made with extensive input from the State Department. The edits included requests from the State Department that references to the Al Qaeda-affiliated group Ansar al-Sharia be deleted as well references to CIA warnings about terrorist threats in Benghazi in the months preceding the attack. That would appear to directly contradict what White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said about the talking points in November. “Those talking points originated from the intelligence community. They reflect the IC’s best assessments of what they thought had happened,” Carney told reporters at the White House press briefing on November 28, 2012. “The White House and the State Department have made clear that the single adjustment that was made to those talking points by either of those two institutions were changing the word ‘consulate’ to ‘diplomatic facility’ because ‘consulate’ was inaccurate.”

Summaries of White House and State Department emails — some of which were first published by Stephen Hayes of the Weekly Standard — show that the State Department had extensive input into the editing of the talking points. State Department spokesman Victoria Nuland raised specific objections to this paragraph drafted by the CIA in its earlier versions of the talking points:

“The Agency has produced numerous pieces on the threat of extremists linked to al-Qa’ida in Benghazi and eastern Libya. These noted that, since April, there have been at least five other attacks against foreign interests in Benghazi by unidentified assailants, including the June attack against the British Ambassador’s convoy. We cannot rule out the individuals has previously surveilled the U.S. facilities, also contributing to the efficacy of the attacks.”

In an email to officials at the White House and the intelligence agencies, State Department spokesman Victoria Nuland took issue with including that information because it “could be abused by members [of Congress] to beat up the State Department for not paying attention to warnings, so why would we want to feed that either? Concerned …” The paragraph was entirely deleted. Like the final version used by Ambassador Rice on the Sunday shows, the CIA’s first drafts said the attack appeared to have been “spontaneously inspired by the protests at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo” but the CIA version went on to say, “That being said, we do know that Islamic extremists with ties to al-Qa’ida participated in the attack.” The draft went on to specifically name the al Qaeda-affiliated group named Ansar al-Sharia. Once again, Nuland objected to naming the terrorist groups because “we don’t want to prejudice the investigation.”

In response, an NSC staffer coordinating the review of the talking points wrote back to Nuland, “The FBI did not have major concerns with the points and offered only a couple minor suggestions.” After the talking points were edited slightly to address Nuland’s concerns, she responded that changes did not go far enough. “These changes don’t resolve all of my issues or those of my buildings leadership,” Nuland wrote. In an email dated 9/14/12 at 9:34 p.m. — three days after the attack and two days before Ambassador Rice appeared on the Sunday shows – Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes wrote an email saying the State Department’s concerns needed to be addressed. “We must make sure that the talking points reflect all agency equities, including those of the State Department, and we don’t want to undermine the FBI investigation. We thus will work through the talking points tomorrow morning at the Deputies Committee meeting.” After that meeting, which took place Saturday morning at the White House, the CIA drafted the final version of the talking points – deleting all references to al Qaeda and to the security warnings in Benghazi prior to the attack.

Bill O'Reilly: Does Benghazi really matter?

2013-05-10T12:01:35Z

By Bill O'Reilly

Many on the left are echoing Hillary Clinton's assertion that it doesn't really matter who screwed up security and reportage in Benghazi, Libya.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON: The fact is we had four dead Americans.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I understand.

CLINTON: Was it because of a protest or was it because of guys out for a walk one night who decided they would go kill some Americans? What difference at this point does it make?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: Mrs. Clinton went on to say the important thing is that the killers be brought to justice and that kind of terror attack never happen again. But there is no question that the hearings yesterday were embarrassing for the Obama administration and for Hillary Clinton.

But immediately, the left-wing spin found its way into the media.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JON STEWART, HOST, "THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART": And why Benghazi is generally emerged as a rallying cry for the President's opponents. When during the Bush administration, there were 54 attacks on diplomatic targets that killed 13 Americans. Yet, garnered only three hearings on embassy security total. And zero outrage on Fox.

So why is this attack so different for Republicans?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: Well, here is the answer. Mr. Stewart referring to a study by the University of Maryland that pinpointed terror attacks from January of 2001 to December of 2008. But when you study the study, you find that many of the cited attacks occurred in Iraq during the war. And none of the attacks were at the level of Benghazi. Not even close.

It should also be noted that Jon Stewart apparently got his information from the far left web site Media Matters and "The Daily Kos."

But let's get back to the matter at hand. The most riveting testimony yesterday was delivered by Gregory Hicks second in command in Libya under the slain ambassador Christopher Stevens. Mr. Hicks described in vivid detail how he tried to get help for the Americans under siege in Benghazi but was not able to secure cooperation in Washington.

After showing his displeasure with that, Gregory Hicks was demoted by Hillary Clinton. And that is unacceptable. Honest government is the corner stone of our democracy. There is no question, no question the State Department screwed up in Libya and Mr. Hicks, by all indications, told the truth. And he was punished for doing that? Disgraceful.

Today Speaker of the House John Boehner said Congress would continue its investigation and Hillary Clinton certainly needs to come back to testify. Mrs. Clinton is up to her eyeballs in this.

Of course, that has political implications for the Democratic Party because she may very well run for president in 2016. The bottom line, Americans need to know the truth about what happened in Benghazi, why our government misled the world, and why they did not respond with more urgency on the day of the attack. We all need to know that.

And that's "The Memo."

- You can catch Bill O'Reilly's "Talking Points Memo" weeknights at 8 and 11 p.m. ET on the Fox News Channel and any time on foxnews.com/oreilly. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com.

Transcript Date:

Thu, 05/09/2013

Transcript Show Name:

O'Reilly Factor

Transcript Talent Byline:

Bill O'Reilly

insulse

2013-05-10T04:14:00Z

[in-SULSE] Insipid, stupid

Cable News Ratings

2013-05-10T01:17:00Z

Purple

Senators clash over border security proposals in immigration bill

2013-05-10T01:16:00Z

Green

Bernie's Website

2013-05-10T01:15:00Z

Yellow

Thursday, May 9, 2013

2013-05-10T01:14:00Z

BillO'Reilly.com premium members, welcome to the No Spin News for May 9^th, Thursday, 2013. I’m looking over some research material here and there was an atrocious article as Bernard Goldberg pointed out in the Associated Press which said there was no big deal about the Benghazi hearings, nothing new. Well there was plenty new and that’s where we are in the country today. The Associated Press goes out to all the small newspapers and some large ones as well and they just reprint it. And so people look around and think “No big deal, no big deal”. The AP is a dishonest news service. We’ve been having problems with them for years. They get their facts wrong, they have a bunch of people running it that are committed left wing people that aren’t interested in telling the truth and they spin everything. There’s a difference between someone like me who is an analyst and a hard news presentation. But the Associated Press – they’re pretty much done. And the other wire service, the UPI is out of business I believe and then there’s Reuters and they’re even worse. They’re even more left-wing.

On the immigration bill, I’m not quite sure how it’s going to come to form. You know, they’re whacking it around now trying to shape it up. Surely if they have the gay stuff in there, that’s not going to pass. They’re going to have to be very selective on the controversial things they put in there but I believe there is on the Republicans side there is some urgency in getting that done and telling the world “Look we’re not anti-Hispanic or whatever. We’re fair minded people”. So I think Marco Rubio’s on the right track. I can’t say for sure that it’s going to pass but I think it’s going to have a very good chance.

Other than that, we had a very good week ratings wide. Five million people watched The Factor last night which is astounding for a news program up against all the singing and dancing and shenanigans they put on. We’re happy. I think people trust us now. They’re getting more and more confident that we’re telling them the truth and certainly the other news agencies are not. Thanks for being premium members. Talk to you again tomorrow.

Bill's Weekly Column: Freedom Under Fire

2013-05-09T21:20:00Z

"Although kidnapping by strangers is rare in the USA, the shocking media accounts of stories like Cleveland make a deep public impression..."

Go: Bill's latest column

Judge Napolitano's Column: Why We Should Mistrust the Government

2013-05-09T19:02:00Z

It should come as no surprise that President Obama told Ohio State students at graduation ceremonies last week that they should not question authority and they should reject the calls of those who do. He argued that "our brave, creative, unique experiment in self-rule" has been so successful that trusting the government is the same as trusting ourselves; hence, challenging the government is the same as challenging ourselves. And he blasted those who incessantly warn of government tyranny.

Yet, mistrust of government is as old as America itself. America was born out of mistrust of government. The revolution that was fought in the 1770s and 1780s was actually won in the minds of colonists in the mid-1760s when the British imposed the Stamp Act and used writs of assistance to enforce it. The Stamp Act required all persons in the colonies to have government-sold stamps on all documents in their possession, and writs of assistance permitted search warrants written by British troops in which they authorized themselves to enter private homes ostensibly to look for the stamps.

These two pieces of legislation were so unpopular here that Parliament actually rescinded the Stamp Act, and the king's ministers reduced the use of soldier-written search warrants. But the searches for the stamps turned the tide of colonial opinion irreversibly against the king.

The same king also prosecuted his political adversaries in Great Britain and here for what he called "seditious libel" -- basically, criticizing the government. Often that criticism spread and led to civil disobedience, so the British sought to punish it at its source. The prosecutions were so unpopular here, and so contrary to the spirit of what would become the Declaration of Independence, that when the British went home and the Framers wrote the Constitution and the Bill of Rights was added, the First Amendment assured that the new government could not punish speech.

Yet barely 10 years into "our brave, creative, unique experiment in self-rule," in the infamous Alien and Sedition Acts, Congress at the instigation of President John Adams criminalized free speech that was critical of the new government.

How did it come about that members of the same generation -- in some cases the very same human beings -- that declared in the First Amendment that "Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech" in fact enacted laws that did just that?

As morally wrong, as violative of the natural law, as unconstitutional as these laws were, they were not historical incongruities. Thomas Jefferson -- who opposed and condemned the acts (he was Adams' vice president at the time) -- warned that it is the nature of government over time to increase and of liberty to decrease. And that's why we should not trust government. In the same era, James Madison himself agreed when he wrote, "All men having power should be distrusted to a certain degree."

The Alien and Sedition Acts were but the beginning of a long train of government abuses visited upon people in America as a consequence of the "experiment in self-rule." I am not quoting Obama's Ohio State speech to nitpick, but rather to establish a base line for my argument that he rejects core principles and historical lessons and, most troubling, the natural law itself when he opines that government should be trusted (SET ITAL) because (END ITAL) it has gained power via self-rule.

Self-rule alone is hardly a basis for governmental legitimacy, unless it is accompanied by fidelity to the natural law and to the rule of law. The rule of law here means fidelity to the Constitution, that all laws are just and apply to everyone, so no one is excused from obeying the laws and no one is excluded from their protections. Yet, self-rule here has been unjust and has brought us the tyranny of the majority. And that tyranny has brought us slavery, unjust wars, Jim Crow laws, domestic concentration camps in wartime, slaughter of babies in the womb, domestic spying without search warrants, torture and death by drones -- just to name a few.

The reason Obama likes government and the reason it is "a dangerous fire," as George Washington warned, and the reason I have been warning against government tyranny in my public work is all the same: The government rejects the natural law because it is an obstacle to its control over us. The natural law is divinely embedded in our souls. It is manifested by the universal yearning for freedom and justice. It consists of areas of human behavior -- thought, expression, religion, self-defense, travel, acquisition and use of property, privacy, for example -- in which our behavior is subject only to the exercise of our free will and not the permission of our neighbors or regulation by the government. The natural law, properly understood, is a restraint on the government.

Yet, government in America -- whether it consists of Congress protecting the slave trade, or John Adams or Abraham Lincoln or Woodrow Wilson prosecuting political speech, or FDR incarcerating Japanese-Americans, or George W. Bush promising immunity for torturers and domestic warrantless spies, or Obama killing whomever he chooses with drones -- has never hesitated to reject the natural law. All of these violations of the natural law were approved by the majority when undertaken. The government's persistent and systematic rejection of the natural law is alone sufficient to mistrust government and reject Obama's Ohio State advice.

The government that has come about by self-rule derives its powers from the consent of the governed. Because the tyranny of the majority can be as dangerous to freedom as the tyranny of a madman, all use of governmental power should be challenged and questioned. Government is essentially the negation of liberty. If we fail to challenge government at every turn, there will be no liberty remaining for us to defend when the government tries to negate it.

Bernie's Column: Jodi Arias, Cable TV, and a Nation Fascinated by Shiny Objects

2013-05-09T18:51:00Z

There are times, not many thankfully, when I get depressed, brought down by the sorry evidence that we live in a country fixated on shiny objects. This is one of those times.

A jury in Phoenix has found Jodi Arias guilty of first-degree murder. That’s not what gets me down. What I find so depressing is our collective fascination with trivia, with anything that we can follow without having to actually think.

No one ever heard of Jodi Arias until cable TV made her famous. No one ever heard of the boyfriend she killed, you know, what’s his name. The Arias murder trial tells us nothing about anything bigger than Jodi Arias. She wasn’t famous like O.J. Simpson before she was arrested. This wasn’t Bill Clinton’s impeachment trial. Those trials had implications. The Arias trial had none.

When it became known that the jury had reached a verdict, cable news went wall-to-wall with Jodi Arias. It would be 90 minutes before the verdict was announced in court, so anchors and pundits spent the time saying nothing – nothing that mattered anyway. But this is a small point. Saying nothing about Jodi Arias gets you more viewers than saying something about the national debt.

But you can’t blame cable TV news, not entirely anyway, because television is a business that gives the people what they want. And if they want Jodi, TV executives will give them Jodi for hours on end. Hell, if she had been found not guilty they might have even given her a show.

In Phoenix, hundreds of locals dropped whatever they were doing when they heard the verdict would soon be coming down and raced to the courthouse so they could be close by when the verdict, which had no effect on them or their families, was read out loud inside the courtroom.

Why the interest? Sex. That’s it. The trial was filled with tidbits about the sex life of Ms. Arias and the boyfriend she killed by stabbing him 27 times and cutting his throat. Sorry, I’m wrong — it was about more than sex. It was about sex and violence. Of course if Jodi Arias weighed 350 pounds and had crooked teeth, we wouldn’t be nearly as interested (which is another way of saying we wouldn’t be interested at all, and neither would cable TV).

The Arias verdict came down on the same day the House held hearings to determine what really happened last September 11 in Benghazi and to try to find out why four Americans were killed at the U.S. consulate there. Did then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who will likely run for president in 2016, make big mistakes that led to their deaths? Hey, who cares about insignificant crap like that?

Mike Huckabee, the Fox News host, said that the Benghazi hearings would lead to the downfall of Barack Obama, that when the facts came out Mr. Obama would not be able to finish his presidency. That is nothing but wishful thinking masquerading as political analysis. Americans don’t care about Benghazi. Not all Americans, of course, just most Americans.

But they care about Jodi Arias because shallow people like shiny objects. That’s why they love to follow car chases on TV, even when the culprit is only some doofus who stole a piece of gum from a 7-11. The chase can go on for hours. They’ll keep watching. Car chases are more interesting than real news any day.

So is the life and death drama of a woman who dressed up like the librarian in glasses who lets her hair down and goes wild on New Year’s Eve. The national debt is a crisis that may some day take us all down. But until then, we can have a grand old time following shiny objects.

Boston Herald Columnist: Hey Cambridge, Tsarnaev's all yours!

2013-05-09T14:10:00Z

Writing in the Boston Herald:

The protesters at the Worcester funeral home are right: Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s body doesn’t belong there. He should be buried among his own people, back in the land he called home and among the people whose values he shared. That’s why I say, “Send him back to Cambridge!” As I write, a good Samaritan in Worcester is trying to find a burial plot for the dead Boston bomber, and I hope he has succeeded. Sorry, my talk radio friends, but when I hear that a terrorist is taking a dirt nap, I don’t protest, I celebrate.

I have no interest in the juvenile “wrap him in bacon and drop him in a shark tank” posturing. Let’s leave the desecration of corpses to the Islamist barbarians. We’re civilized Americans. We gave proper burials to Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy and one day — if the Obama administration ever stops playing politics with his case — we will do so for Khalid Sheik Mohammed. We can do the same for this son of Cambridge. Besides, his Uncle Ruslan Tsarni is right: “He grew up here and for the last 10 years he decided to be in Cambridge ... his home country is Cambridge, Massachusetts.”

Cambridge is where Tamerlan Tsarnaev attended mosque. Cambridge is where he attended high school — a school where liberal teachers enthusiastically push the notion of evil American imperialism. Just a week after little Martin Richard died at the Boston Marathon finish line, professor Balakrishnan Rajagopal wrote that the bombing was a foreseeable consequence of America’s actions: “The failure by America to acknowledge its crimes and mistakes leads to increasing resentment and eventually rage. We get blowback,” Rajagopal wrote on the Huffington Post website. Where does this professor of law and development teach? The Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Last time I checked, MIT’s mailing address was “Cambridge, Mass. 02139.”

Cambridge is where Boy Scouts collecting donations for soldiers overseas were once chased away from polling places. It’s where former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami — one of the founders of the terrorist group Hezbollah — was invited to speak by Harvard University on the eve of the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. In Cambridge, Tamerlan Tsarnaev spent the past 10 years waking up to the sounds of “No War For Oil” marches in the streets, and drifted off to sleep amid the soothing chants of “Bush lied, people died.” Can you think of a better place for his eternal rest? No, I’m not saying Cambridge caused Tsarnaev to turn terrorist. I’m simply noting that, if you’re someone who sees American history as “genocide: brutally and purposefully waged by our rulers in the name of progress” (to quote the late Cambridge hero Howard Zinn), it’s the town for you! Now the city manager won’t bury one of their own?

GOP lawmakers: Obama admin planned years in advance to weaken welfare reform

2013-05-09T14:07:00Z

The Obama administration was planning to weaken the welfare work requirements as far back as 2009, GOP lawmakers charge. An internal Department of Health and Human Service (HHS) memo from 2009 released Tuesday by Senate Finance Committee ranking member Orrin Hatch and House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp explores the legal justifications to allow the HHS secretary to waive work and other requirements for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) that were part of the 1996 welfare reform law. Last summer the Obama administration issued an Information Memorandum allowing states apply to waive the TANF work requirement. At the time, the administration said this was due to requests from some states for more flexibility and was meant as a way to test strategies “to improve employment outcomes for needy families.”

Republicans, including then-presidential candidate Mitt Romney, charged that the action “gut” the 1996 welfare reform. According to Hatch and Camp, the memo shows that the Obama administration was looking to find ways to get around the work requirement years in advance of receiving requests from states. “I’ve been more than a little skeptical of the Obama administration’s argument that they were purely responding to the needs of the states when they unilaterally chose to undermine welfare work requirements, and this memo confirms my skepticism, “ Hatch said in a statement. “From the first year the Obama administration took power, it was trying to find any legal and policy justification to permit the weakening of welfare reforms that demand work in exchange for government benefits.” They used states’ desire for flexibility as a stalking horse to justify this massive executive branch power grab,” he added. “This sets a very dangerous precedent and it’s time the administration admit that this was their goal all along.” (Daily Caller)

Judge rules in favor of cheerleaders' religious banners

2013-05-09T14:03:00Z

A Texas court judge ruled today that the signs displayed by high school cheerleaders quoting biblical verses were "constitutionally permissible," and that the Kountze High School cheerleaders could continue to display them at the school's football games. In his ruling, State District Judge Steve Thomas said that no law "prohibits cheerleaders from using religious-themed banners at school sporting events. "The evidence in this case confirms that religion messages expressed on run-through banners have not created, and will not create, an establishment of religion in the Kountze community." The ruling ended a controversial chapter in the small community of Kountze, about 95 miles northeast of Houston. "We're excited, relieved, and glad it's over with," Coti Matthews, mother of one of the cheerleaders, told ABC News.com today.

"We're very thrilled that the judge ruled in our favor that girls will be able to use banners with Scripture during next season's football season," Attorney David Starnes, who represented the squad in court, told ABCNews.com today. The high school cheerleaders had sued the Kountze Independent School District after after they were told they could no longer display the banners with religious messages over arguments that it violated the First Amendment. "The response was, this was student led, student initiated, so therefore it was private student speech," Starnes said. Thomas Brandt, the lead attorney representing the school district, told ABCNews.com, "The school district is in the middle of this debate. They reject both of the extremes. We adopt a middle. ... We think based on the evidence, that after studying the issue, our community was perceiving the ban as hostility toward religion." (ABC News)

Boston bomb suspect said widow Katherine Russell not involved: official

2013-05-09T14:01:00Z

Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev told authorities that his sister-in-law, Katherine Russell, played no role in the April 15 blasts, a federal law enforcement official said. Russell has been under scrutiny since her husband Tamerlan Tsarnaev and his younger brother were accused of planning and carrying out the bombing that killed three people and wounded more than 200. Authorities are still investigating whether Russell had any involvement. Russell's lawyers said in a statement that she "plans to continue to meet with investigators, part of a series of meetings over many hours where she has answered questions." (NBC News)

Republican congressman: "Right now Jodi Arias is regretting not killing an ambassador or Philadelphia infant"

2013-05-09T14:01:00Z

Republican Rep. Steve Stockman of Texas offered a withering critique of the modern American media on Twitter Wednesday, shortly before Arizona woman Jodi Arias was found guilty of first-degree murder in the stabbing and shooting death of her onetime boyfriend. “Right now Jodi Arias is regretting not killing an ambassador or Philadelphia infant,” Stockman tweeted shortly prior to the announcement of the verdict. Stockman also re-tweeted approximately one dozen tweets criticizing the media’s coverage of the Arias verdict rather than the Benghazi hearings, the trial Philadelphia abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, and other issues. “Gosnell murdered infants in Philly &no media coverage. We r distracted by sensationalism steered by media,” according to one tweet that Stockman retweeted. “Hey #MSM, with #Jodiarias coming to an end, how about reporting bigger cases, like #gosnell,” tweeted another. “When the Arias verdict is announced at 4:30PM ET, you can forget about the #MSM talking about anything else,” tweeted another. (Daily Caller)

Boston Suspect's Widow Hires Criminal Lawyer

2013-05-09T13:57:00Z

As the quest to find a resting place for the body of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev drags on, his widow continues to face questions from federal authorities and has hired a criminal lawyer with experience defending terrorism cases. Katherine Russell added New York lawyer Joshua Dratel to her legal team, her attorney Amato DeLuca said Wednesday. Dratel has represented a number of terrorism suspects in federal courts and military commissions, including Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detainee David Hicks, who attended an al-Qaida-linked training camp in Afghanistan. Dratel's "unique, specialized experience" will help ensure that Russell "can assist in the ongoing investigation in the most constructive way possible," DeLuca said in a written statement. He said Russell, who has not been charged with any crime, will continue to meet with investigators as "part of a series of meetings over many hours where she has answered questions." Providence-based DeLuca and Miriam Weizenbaum have been representing Russell, who is from Rhode Island. They specialize in civil cases such as personal injury law. An FBI spokeswoman wouldn't comment when asked Wednesday whether Russell is cooperating. DeLuca has said Russell had no reason to suspect her husband and his brother in the deadly April 15 bombing. (AP)

Arizona jury to weigh death penalty in Jodi Arias murder case

2013-05-09T13:54:00Z

Jodi Arias, convicted of first-degree murder, will face an Arizona jury on Thursday tasked with determining if she deserves the death penalty for the brutal slaying of an ex-boyfriend in a sensational case that attracted national media attention. Arias was found guilty on Wednesday of murdering 30-year-old Travis Alexander, whose body was found in the shower of his Phoenix valley home in June 2008. He had been shot in the face, stabbed 27 times and his throat had been slashed. Arias, 32, had tried unsuccessfully to convince the jury during the four-month trial that she had acted in self-defense after Alexander attacked her because she had dropped his camera while taking photographs of him in the shower. In a television interview moments after the verdict, Arias indicated that she preferred a death sentence to life in prison, and the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office said she was subsequently placed on suicide watch. "The worst outcome for me would be natural life, I would much rather die sooner than later," Arias, speaking slowly and calmly, said in an interview with Fox affiliate KSAZ. "I said years ago I'd rather get death than life and that still is true today. I believe death is the ultimate freedom, so I'd rather just have my freedom as soon as I can get it," she said. (Reuters)

Jodie Arias Post-Verdict Interview: 'I Would Rather Die Sooner Than Later"

2013-05-09T13:54:00Z

20 minutes after the jury announced a verdict of first degree murder, Jodie Arias talked about the decision in an interview with FOX 10 News in Phoenix:

ARIAS: The worst outcome for me would be natural life, I would rather die sooner rather than later. Longevity runs in my family and I don’t want to spend the rest of my natural life in one place. I am pretty healthy, I don’t smoke, and I would probably live a long time. So that’s not something I’m looking forward to. I said years ago I’d rather get death than life and that still is true today. I believe death is the ultimate freedom, so I’d rather just have my freedom as soon as I can get it.

FBI previously investigated stepfather of Ariel Castro's children in DeJesus and Berry cases

2013-05-09T13:53:00Z

When FBI agents questioned Fernando Colon in 2004 about the recent disappearance of 14-year-old Gina DeJesus, Colon pointed agents toward Ariel Castro as a possible suspect, Colon recalled this week. Colon, who at the time was living with Castro's ex-wife, said he told the agents that Castro's two daughters knew DeJesus and Amanda Berry, who had gone missing from the same area on Cleveland's West Side a year earlier. "Nobody wanted to believe me about this guy," Colon said in an interview with The Plain Dealer. "Maybe the FBI didn't feel there was enough evidence to focus on him." But FBI Special Agent Stephen Anthony disputed Colon's recollections Wednesday, telling reporters at a news conference that his agency had "scrubbed" extensive records of the case and saw no mention of Colon referring to Castro. Anthony said the agency had "no reason to believe" Colon made the statement.

NYC Considering Allowing Non-Citizens To Vote

2013-05-09T13:53:00Z

New York City could soon become the first major city in the country to give non-citizens the right to vote. The proposal, which would allow certain non-citizens to vote in local elections, appears to have a veto-proof majority in the New York City Council — enough to overcome opposition by Mayor Michael Bloomberg. As hearings on the proposal get underway Thursday, supporters are optimistic it will become law by the end of the year and believe it will have an impact beyond the five boroughs. “It’s going to be huge and just imagine the implications that are involved here,” Councilman Daniel Dromm, one of the co-sponsors of the legislation along with Councilwoman Gale Brewer, told TPM Wednesday.

Currently, citizenship is a requirement for voters throughout New York state. This legislation, “Voting By Non-Citizen Residents,” would allow immigrants who are “lawfully present in the United States” and have lived in New York for “six months or longer” on the date of a given election to vote provided they meet all the other current requirements for voter registration in New York State. This means they must “not be in prison or on parole for a felony conviction” and “not be declared mentally incompetent by a court.” For their first time voting, they must also provide identification including; “copy of a valid photo ID, current utility bill, bank statement, paycheck, government check, or some other government document that shows your name or address.” Identification requirements would not remain after their initial vote. The bill only affects local races and calls for the registration forms provided to these “municipal voters” to specify that they “are not qualified to vote in state or federal elections.” (TPM)

'I am a sexual predator and I need help': Ariel Castro's 'confession' letter

2013-05-09T13:52:00Z

A letter purportedly written by Cleveland kidnapping suspect Ariel Castro has been revealed in which he admits that he is a sexual predator who 'needs help.' Castro owned the home in which three women - Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight - were held captive for about 10 years before they escaped on Monday. Castro's home on Seymour Avenue is now a crime scene, with investigators carrying out numerous pieces of evidence - including ropes and chains. Among the items collected was reportedly a letter, in which Castro allegedly confesses to his crimes and writes about his desire to kill himself 'and give all the money I saved to my victims.' 19 Action News reporter Scott Taylor says he received a copy of the letter, which he claims was written in 2004 and found by police inside Castro's house. Taylor posted excerpts of the letter on his Twitter page late Wednesday night, including a confession that he was 'a sexual predator' and 'I need help.' In one, Taylor says that Castro didn't know why he kept looking for another victim, because 'I already had 2 in my possession.' n another, Castro allegedly wrote that he was surprised how young his daughter's best friend Gina DeJesus was - because he 'thought she was much older.' One other excerpt revealed by Taylor even appears to blame his victims for their predicament, saying: 'They are here against their will because they made a mistake of getting in a car with a total stranger.' (Daily Mail)

Cleveland Kidnap Suspect's Bond Set at $8M

2013-05-09T13:50:00Z

Ariel Castro, the Cleveland man accused of abducting three young women and keeping them as sex slaves in his home for a decade, appeared in court today charged with rape and kidnapping. Castro was charged with four charges of kidnap, one for each women and the 6-year-old child whom one of his alleged victims delivered while in captivity. He was charged with three counts of rape. Bail was set at $2 million per case, for a total of $8 million. Castro is an unemployed, former school bus driver. Castro, who is on suicide watch, did not enter a plea or speak. Unshaven and wearing a dark-blue prison jumpsuit, he kept his head down through the proceedings and signed documents with shackled hands. "The situation has turned," assistant prosecutor Brian Murphy told the court. "Castro is the captive in captivity." Castro likely will face additional charges after a grand jury hearing. (ABC News)

Initial police report: Castro tempted women with rides, then abducted, beat and raped them

2013-05-09T13:47:00Z

Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight each began their hellish captivity the same way – by accepting a simple offer of a ride home. The initial report written by police about nearly a decade of physical and emotional abuse endured by the women reveals how each of them were abducted. Ariel Castro, 52, now charged with kidnapping and raping the three women, offered each of them rides on separate occasions to lure them to his Seymour Avenue home. A Cleveland police source with access to the report filed by the first responding officers said Castro tempted Berry, who was last seen wearing a Burger King uniform, with a ride to her home. Castro told Berry that he had a son who worked at Burger King, the source said, adding that when Berry entered Castro's vehicle, the accused abductor took her straight to his home.

The report confirms what Berry's family told police after she went missing in 2003 -- Berry had called to say she was catching a ride home after her shift. DeJesus, who was a friend of Castro's daughter, told police that Castro offered to give her a ride in 2004 to see his daughter at the Seymour Avenue home, the source revealed, adding that Castro also offered Knight a ride when she was abducted in 2002.
Also revealed in the report is that Berry's 6-year-old daughter was born in a small inflatable swimming pool during the time the three women were held in captivity, the source said. The initial report says Castro forced Knight to deliver Berry's baby. He threatened to kill Knight if the baby did not survive the birth, the source said. The women were chained in the basement during the first years of their captivity, the report reveals, but were eventually allowed to live unchained upstairs, behind secured doors.
The source also provided details on how DeJesus and Knight were found after Berry escaped the home and placed a frantic 9-1-1 call. The first two officers to arrive at Castro's home crawled into the house through the front storm-door, With guns drawn, officers searched upstairs, where they walked a hallway and called out that they were with Cleveland police. That is when one of the officers saw a pair of eyes peeking through a slightly-opened bedroom door, the source said. The eyes belonged to Knight, who fled the room and leapt into the arms of one of the officers and repeatedly said "you saved me." The officer choked back tears, the source said, and soon DeJesus entered the hall from another room. (Plain-Dealer)

Miscarriages: It also became clear that Berry's pregnancy with her daughter was not an isolated incident, according to Cleveland City Councilman Brian Cummins, who based his information on a police report from the initial investigation and briefing by police department sources. Cummins said one of the three women - he did not know who - had suffered at least five miscarriages that Castro is accused of having intentionally caused by starving her for weeks and beating her in the abdomen. (Chicago Tribune)

Bill O'Reilly: The Benghazi hearings in Washington today

2013-05-09T12:28:56Z

By Bill O'Reilly

There is no question, no question at all that the USA did not protect its Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and three other Americans who were murdered by terrorists in Benghazi last September 11th.

So today, the House Oversight Committee tried to find out exactly who screwed up and why. At least some of the Congress people did. A few committee members used their time to protect the Obama administration, people like Carolyn Maloney and Eleanor Norton did that.

There are three major areas of concern for those who want to know the truth. First, why did the White House not deploy a rapid security team when all hell broke loose in Benghazi? State Department official Mark Thompson, a counter terrorism expert testified this way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THOMPSON: I alerted my leadership, indicating that we needed to go forward and consider the deployment of the foreign emergency support team. I wanted that considered, I -- I notified the White House of my idea. They indicated that meetings had already taken place that evening that had taken (inaudible) out of the menu of options.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: Thompson went on to say he was not told why the emergency support team was not deployed. The next area of concern is why Ambassador Susan Rice mislead the world shortly after the murders when she said a provocative anti-Muslim video could have ignited a spontaneous attack on the Americans.

The second in command in Libya, State Department official Gregory Hicks took on that question.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOWDY: When Ambassador Stevens talked to you, perhaps minutes before he died, as a dying declaration, what precisely did he say to you?

HICKS: He said, "Greg, we're under attack."

GOWDY: Did he mention one word about a protest or a demonstration?

HICKS: No, sir, he did not.

GOWDY: So fast forward, Mr. Hicks, to the Sunday talk shows and Ambassador Susan Rice, she blamed this attack on a video. In fact, she did it five different times. What was your reaction to that?

HICKS: I was stunned. My jaw dropped. And I was embarrassed.

GOWDY: Did she talk to you before she went on the five Sunday talk shows?

HICKS: No, sir.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: Mr. Hicks was in Tripoli during the attacks and says he felt powerless to help the Ambassador.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HICKS: I asked the Defense Attache who had been talking with AfriCom and with the Joint Staff. Is anything coming, will they be sending us any help? Is there something out there? And he answered that, the nearest help was in Aviano. The nearest where there were fighter planes. He said that it will take two to three hours for them to get on site but that there also were no tankers available for them to refuel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: Aviano was in Italy where America has an Air Base.

The third and perhaps the most important question going forward was President Obama and/or Hillary Clinton at fault in the Benghazi debacle?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. DARRELL ISSA (R-CA), CHAIRMAN, HOUSE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE: Mr. Hicks, 2:00 in the morning, Secretary of State calls you personally, not a common call.

HICKS: No, sir.

ISSA: Did she ask you about the cause of the attack? Did she ask -- ask about videos? Did she ask about anything at all that would have allowed you to answer the question of how Benghazi came to be attacked as far as you know?

HICKS: I don't recall that being part of the conversation.

ISSA: So she wasn't interested in the cause of the attack and this was the only time you talked directly to the Secretary where you could have told her or not told her about the cause of the attack?

HICKS: It was -- yes. That was the only time when I could have.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: Now, because of Ambassador Rice's subsequent testimony and the allegation that Secretary Clinton did not aggressively seek the truth about the attack becomes important. The witnesses today were compelling but they are not at the level where they could level direct charges against the President or even Secretary Clinton.

Also Mr. Obama was barely mentioned in the Q and A. His role remains largely undefined and is likely to stay that way. It's very difficult to pin down the President of the United States without subpoena powers. And those are not likely to be granted in this investigation unless more evidence surfaces.

So we, the people, are left with the facts. U.S. government did not protect its people in Libya the way it should have. It was not forthcoming about who launched the attack. And it has not brought the killers to justice. The Benghazi incident is a tragic embarrassment to this country and speaks to the failure of leadership in the State Department and in the White House. At the level in the White House? I'm not sure. But certainly the White House was involved.

There is no way Ambassador Susan Rice should have been allowed to mislead the world. If you don't know Ambassador, don't say anything. If you are not sure, keep quiet. The simple truth is that the Republicans want to know the whole story because it embarrasses the Democrats. And the Democrats don't want to know the whole story because it helps the Republicans. But the folks should know what happened there, especially the families of the murdered Americans. I believe there will be more to come on the Benghazi chaos.

And that's "The Memo."

- You can catch Bill O'Reilly's "Talking Points Memo" weeknights at 8 and 11 p.m. ET on the Fox News Channel and any time on foxnews.com/oreilly. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com.

Transcript Date:

Wed, 05/08/2013

Transcript Show Name:

O'Reilly Factor

Transcript Talent Byline:

Bill O'Reilly

pettifog

2013-05-09T04:12:00Z

[PEH-tee-fahg] Argue over unimportant matters

Stossel's Column: Live Free or Move

2013-05-08T18:16:00Z

Forty-three million Americans moved from one state to another between 1995 and 2010 -- about one-seventh of Americans.

It's good that we can move! Moving provides one of the few limits on the megalomania of state bureaucrats.

Americans have moved away from high-taxed, heavily regulated states to lower-taxed, less-regulated states. Most don't think of it as a political decision. They just go where opportunities are, and that usually means where there's less government.

They're leaving my state, New York, in droves. California, despite its great weather, also lost people, and wealth. Other biggest losers were Illinois, New Jersey and Ohio.

Travis Brown, author of "Money Walks," tracked the movements using IRS data. On my TV show, he revealed that Florida was the state that gained the most: "You're seeing a massive amount of people and their income coming in: $86 billion."

Arizona and Texas also gained, which made me wonder if Americans just move to states where it's warm. "No," said Darcy Olsen, president of Arizona's Goldwater Institute. "Weather explains just 5 percent of the migration ... the Census Bureau asks, and they say, 'to find a job.'"

People move where jobs are, and the states gaining the most -- which also include North Carolina and Nevada -- follow what she calls "the magic formula. Lower taxes and good labor policy, which means, to a business, being free to hire and fire the people you want. (In) the most successful states you see both -- no income tax or low taxes coupled with right-to-work laws."

The states that lost the most people and money were New York, California, Illinois, New Jersey and Ohio.

This competition between states makes it possible for states to learn from each other's successes.

T.W. Shannon, speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives, told me that he's learned. His state, where the economy had long been sluggish, finally figured out they could spur growth with tax cuts.

"We are moving to reduce our state income tax rate. ... Every time we have done it in the past, we have seen increased revenues and growth." Shannon adds, "Capital won't flow to a hostile environment."

No, it won't. You'd think politicians would figure that out. But they rarely do. Brown's income data shows that capital flows to (SET ITAL) friendly (END ITAL) environments: "States like (Texas, without a state income tax) gained $146 billion, whereas the reverse, the states with the highest among personal income-tax rates, lost over $120 billion."

The owners of the basketball team the Houston Rockets give prospective players pamphlets that detail how many Rolex watches and Bentleys they could buy just from tax money they'd save if they move to Texas.

This data doesn't stop a prominent pundit in my state, The New York Times' Paul Krugman, from writing that the Texas economic miracle is "a myth" because Texas still has high poverty rates, a high high-school dropout rate and a low percentage of people with health insurance.

Behind this clash is the larger disagreement about how to handle the economy -- promote growth by shrinking government or boost public services for the poor. The state-by-state contrast keeps getting sharper. Crudely put, blue states keep getting bluer, and red states keep getting redder. Krugman looks at Texas and sees policies -- and Republican politicians -- he doesn't like.

But people don't just vote at the ballot box or by their choice of newspaper subscriptions. They vote with their feet. And by that measure, the state that publishes Krugman's columns -- New York -- and the state where he's a college professor -- New Jersey -- are losing big-time.

Ironically, one reason Texas continues to have problems with poverty, despite its population growth, is that people don't just move between states. They also move from other countries in search of opportunity. For about a million people, that meant moving across the border from Mexico to Texas. They start low on the economic ladder but do tend to move upward over time.

For some reason, politicians most sympathetic to those immigrants are clueless about why U.S. citizens move from state to state.

Let people live where they can be free, and get rich.

Check Out The Latest Backstage Conversation

2013-05-08T16:08:00Z

Bill answers questions from Premium Members about the mainstream media, North Korea, polygamy, and more in the latest Backstage Conversation.

Go: This week's Backstage Conversation

Viewer Mail for Wednesday, May 8

2013-05-08T13:51:00Z

LETTER OF THE DAY!

“In a heartbeat, I would advocate chipping my grandchildren with a GPS tracking device in the unlikely event they should ever be kidnapped. After all, we chip our pets in case they get lost.”

Deb Cochran

Leesport, PA

BENGHAZI INVESTIGATION

Hearings today before the House Oversight Committee looked into why Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans who were murdered in Libya last September were not better protected by our government.

“The same Democrats who politicized and used personal attacks against their political opponents are now screaming foul about the Benghazi hearings. Do they not realize this whole crisis could have been avoided if the Obama administration had simply been truthful when it happened?”

Mark Zimmerman

Hutchinson, KS

“House Democrats who don’t want the truth about Benghazi to come out are not working for the good of this country or its citizenry. I believe their actions border on treason.”

Becky Sprinkle

Meyersville, TX

“The affair at Benghazi is a white wash. In spite of efforts by well-intentioned hearings on the matter, it is a cover-up that will never see the light of day.”

Jesse Salazar, Sr.

Aurora, CO

“This inquiry is not being done to help Republicans or hurt the Democrats; it’s being done to establish what went on that night and who is responsible for the deaths of four Americans.”

Stan Hess

Palmdale, CA

“If Obama can’t be impeached for his dereliction of duty and subsequent cover-up of Benghazi for political gain, what could he be impeached for? It seems he could throw live babies out Air Force One’s window and escape accountability.”

Scott Clark

Irvine, CA

“Obama was informed and made the political decision to do nothing and deliberately mislead the public to sway the election.”

Laurence Cohn

Huntington Beach, CA

“You just stated that Republicans want the facts to be revealed regarding Benghazi to embarrass Democrats. You are wrong – they want the truth because Americans died!”

Kathy Benson

Rehoboth Beach, DE

“Why are you giving President Obama a pass? He went out for weeks blaming the attack on a video. Either he was lied to by his people or he participated in this fraud.”

Dean Johnson

Cedar Rapids, IA

“It seems pretty clear that Mr. Obama was nowhere to be found on the night of the Benghazi attack. Given that he is commander-in-chief, one wonders what happens to military who abandon their post.”

Paula Doss

Roanoke, VA

“Ever wonder why one president lies about a dumb political burglary and has to resign, but Obama has lied since he got into office beyond the Benghazi mess and nothing is done?”

Gene Siburn

Stony Point, NY

“It shouldn’t make any difference whether this was a terrorist attack or a response to an anti-Muslim video. The issue for me is that the President and Secretary of State should have sent help to try and protect American lives.”

Richard Kannarr

Calgary, Canada

PROTECTING KIDS

While kidnappings like the horrific ones in Cleveland are relatively rare in America, they have impacted the way American children live. Gone are the days when kids play outdoors. Have evil people destroyed our freedom?

“It’s ironic that we are dismayed at this wickedness in our communities where children no longer go out and play and students attack their teachers. This is a direct result of removing religious influence from both our schools and our communities.”

Don Westerhoff

Bradenton, FL

“What should we do about evil in America? Harsher punishment! Forget life in prison – people like Tsarnaev and Ariel Castro should be subject to public execution.”

Christie Boils

Little Rock, AR

“Can’t the brothers of the kidnapper in Cleveland be charged with aiding and abetting? They had to be aware and didn’t report it or stop it, but facilitated his continuous imprisonment of these women.”

Marion Mandeville

Hays, KS

“I think all the Castro brothers knew what was going on. If I was a jury, I would sentence them to life in solitary confinement without any human contact like the animals they are.”

Nancy Picciano

Placentia, CA

“My heart is broken and thoughts disturbed by the horrendous kidnappings in Cleveland. I want to do more than just express my grief in words. I hope a foundation is set up to support the victims.”

Gayle Schutte

Chaffee, NY

“The number of child molestations and kidnappings has gone down 50% in the U.S. since 1990. Yet the news reporting of such incidents has gone up 675%. This is the reason kids don’t play outdoors.”

Barry Rotz

Cranberry Township, PA

'SEA MONSTER' THAT WASHED ASHORE IN NEW ZEALAND FINALLY IDENTIFIED

2013-05-08T13:37:00Z

The ghastly-looking carcass that recently washed ashore in New Zealand had people speculating that it was some sort of “sea monster” or prehistoric beast. However, as it turns out, it’s just a killer whale. Because of its state of significant decay, the whale resembled something scarier than a common sea mammal. Its head was massive and its teeth were large and sharp, but the rest of the creature was unrecognizable. Video of the “strange marine creature” discovery on Pukehina Beach in the Bay of Plenty was uploaded to YouTube. (TheBlaze)

Huckabee Predicts Benghazi Will Be Obama's Watergate: 'This President Will Not Fill Out His Full Term'

2013-05-08T13:33:00Z

From his radio show on Monday:

HUCKABEE: I believe that before it’s all over, this president will not fill out his full term. I know that puts me on a limb, but this is not minor. It wasn’t minor when Richard Nixon lied to the American people and worked within those in his administration to cover up what really happened in Watergate. But, I remind you, as bad as Watergate was — because it broke the trust between the president and the people — no one died. This is more serious because four Americans did in fact die.

Cleveland hero Charles Ramsey's interview goes viral with autotune treatment

2013-05-08T13:30:00Z

Charles Ramsey, the Cleveland man who helped rescue three women that were missing for nearly a decade Monday night, has become an overnight Internet sensation. His animated interview with local news went viral within hours of the woman being found. Dozens of auto-tune remixes, processed vocals with a beat, of his TV news interview and his 911 call have been uploaded to YouTube. The trend of auto-tuning news stories became popular in 2010 when The Gregory Brothers , creators of Auto-Tune the News, made the "Bed Intruder Song." The song features Antoine Dodson, who was interviewed by a news reporter about the alleged attempted rape of his sister. As of today, the "Bed Intruder Song" has been viewed over 114 million times since it was uploaded on July 30, 2010. YouTube listed the song as the most popular video of 2010. On Tuesday, Ramsey became a trending topic on Twitter and is now known as the man who was just finishing his McDonald's meal when he heard screams coming from next door. Even the McDonald Corporation took notice. McDonald's responded to Ramsey via Twitter with a tweet from @McDonaldsCorp . It read "We salute the courage of Ohio kidnap victims & respect their privacy. Way to go Charles Ramsey- we'll be in touch." (ABC - Cleveland)

Website reportedly pits Washington state high school students in 'hotness tournament'

2013-05-08T13:27:00Z

It’s May Madness at a high school in Washington state. That’s the name of an online tournament where boys at Issaquah High School pit their female classmates against each and vote on which is the sexiest. Girls are encouraged to “look their finest” at the suburban Seattle school while voting is underway, King5.com reports. “This kind of thing is sexualizing us girls like we're some sort of trophy,” sophomore Devon Keller told the station. The student-led tournament imitates a contest held by a local sports radio station that ranks models and celebrities. It’s been held for at least five years and school officials have been unable to do away it because the contest isn’t held on school grounds.

“Almost every teenage girl has self-esteem issues,” student Tristan Robinson said. “And doing something like that is absolutely ridiculous.” District spokeswoman Sarah Niegowski said the contest “doesn't feel good” to anyone. The tournament was briefly shut down last year when parents went to authorities, who threatened organizers with arrest due to vulgar and profane comment under other people’s identities, a crime in Washington state. But the access to the website has become more difficult this year, King5.com reports. “These are pretty smart folks behind this,” Niegowski said. “They know their First Amendment rights. They're very quiet about who it is and the group behind it.” School officials say police are monitoring the site, but some students think the damage may already be done. (Fox News)

Rick Perry: Supporting Scouts' Gay Ban Just Like Opposing Slavery

2013-05-08T13:26:00Z

Republican Texas Gov. Rick Perry is at it again. While speaking on the Family Research Council's Stand With Scouts Sunday program, he injected slavery into a discussion about the Boy Scouts' ban on gays, The Advocate reports. He said that Americans must resist "flavor of the month" pro-gay views and called on proponents to exhibit "principled leadership." Perry argued that Civil War-era Texas Gov. Sam Houston did it in 1861 when he withstood calls for secession over slavery. "[Houston] made a powerful decision that cost him his governorship," Perry said, according to the Huffington Post. "He was against slavery, and he stood up and passionately said, 'Texas does not need to leave the Union over this issue of slavery.' But that's the type of principled leadership, that's the type of courage that I hope people across the country [will show] on this issue of Scouts and keeping the Boy Scouts the organization that it is today." (Washington Post)

Senate immigration bill elicits a flood of amendments

2013-05-08T13:23:00Z

Lawmakers filed a blizzard of potential amendments to a bipartisan Senate immigration bill Tuesday, setting the stage for weeks of intensive debate over how to reshape the nation’s border-control laws. About two-thirds of the 301 proposals came from Senate Republicans, including measures to grant Congress more authority over security along the border with Mexico, to require illegal immigrants to provide DNA samples before gaining legal status and to reduce the number of undocumented workers who would be eligible to pursue citizenship. The amendments reflected the desires of many GOP lawmakers, who say that they will support only a comprehensive overhaul that puts a higher priority on law enforcement along the border and in the workplace. The Senate Judiciary Committee will begin considering the amendments Thursday, and the fate of the 844-page bill will be tested by a process that is likely to stretch through several days of hearings in coming weeks. Immigration advocates fear that an extended amendment process will derail the legislation by breaking apart a fragile, bipartisan coalition of eight senators that negotiated the package over several months. (Washington Post)

Ex-South Carolina governor Sanford beats Colbert Busch in special House election

2013-05-08T13:23:00Z

The conservative electorate of South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District voted Tuesday to resurrect the political career of disgraced former governor Mark Sanford (R) by returning him to his former House seat. Sanford’s special-election race against Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch, 58, a businesswoman and first-time candidate, took twists nearly right up to the last moments. But in the end, he cruised to an easy victory, winning 54 percent of the vote to Colbert Busch’s 45 percent. “Some guy came up to me the other day, and he said, ‘You look a lot like Lazarus,’ ” Sanford said in his victory speech here.

“I am an imperfect man, saved by God’s grace, and one who has a conviction of the importance of doing something about spending in Washington, D.C.,” he added. “I am going to try to be the best congressman I could have ever been.” In addition to holding views that aligned perfectly with the district, Sanford, 52, simply proved to be the more adept politician. Colbert Busch, the sister of comedian Stephen Colbert, had run a campaign in the cautious style of an incumbent — surrounded by handlers, holding comparatively few public events, agreeing to only one debate and offering few specifics on issues. Sanford, on the other hand, ran the scrappy race of a challenger, even though most voters in this district had seen his name on five previous ballots. The contrast was evident right up to Election Day. Sanford packed his schedule with 11 appearances, dashing to spots that included a grocery store, an auto parts dealer, a farmers market, a bakery and half a dozen restaurants. Colbert Busch made just one — to vote — before heading to her election night party. Her aides said she was making telephone calls to get out the vote. (Washington Post)

A Baltimore jail scandal aided by union politics

2013-05-08T13:22:00Z

Charles Lane, Editorial Writer for The Washington Post:

Even by the standards of America’s troubled jails and prisons, the scandal at the Baltimore City Detention Center is appalling. A gang known as the Black Guerrilla Family took over the center, trafficking in drugs, cellphones and sexual favors with the connivance of at least 13guards, several of whom are bearing a gang boss’s children, according to a federal indictment. Among the many lessons from this sorry situation is one that experience elsewhere has already taught many times: Good governance is not necessarily consistent with the demands of government unions, in this case the union representing Maryland’s correctional officers. God-awful as it is, the mess at the center was not exactly unprecedented. Between April 2009 and August 2010, the Baltimore City Paper published 14 articles detailing gang-related corruption at state correctional institutions. And it was during this time that Maryland’s branch of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) lobbied for legislation known as the “Correctional Officers Bill of Rights” (COBR).

Advertised as much-needed procedural protection against unfair accusations of brutality, COBR established elaborate rules — including a guaranteed appeal hearing in front of a three-member board of fellow officers — for correctional officers suspected of wrongdoing. The bill says that prison managers can’t even “threaten” prosecution, transfer, dismissal or disciplinary action during questioning. It passed the House of Delegates unanimously and the Senate 44 to 2. Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) signed it into law on May 4, 2010. In the union’s view, prison administrators had “pulled the trigger too quickly” on discipline in the past, as AFSCME spokesman Jeff Pittman put it.

But according to an FBI special agent’s affidavit attached to the Baltimore indictment, COBR has all but disarmed managers at the Baltimore jail. Discipline “has proven to be very difficult,” the agent wrote, and “the internal review process set up by COBR is ineffective as a deterrent to [correctional officers] smuggling contraband or getting sexually involved with BGF gang members.” These consequences may have been unintended, but they were hardly unforeseeable. Shortly before COBR was passed in 2010, the City Paper asked the bill’s chief sponsor, state Sen. Donald Munson, how it might affect the department’s efforts to purge gang-connected correctional officers. “I’ve never thought of this measure in this context,” Munson replied. “My guess is that the correctional officers who are going to be judges are going to be very hard on those cases,” he added. “If it doesn’t work, we’ll fix it in the future.”

GALLUP: Americans Give Guns, Immigration Reform Low Priority

2013-05-08T13:21:00Z

Americans put reforming immigration and reducing gun violence -- the focus of much of the attention on Capitol Hill in recent weeks -- at the bottom of a list of 12 priorities for Congress and the president to address. Americans instead say leaders in Washington should give highest priority to jobs and the economy, followed by making government work more efficiently and improving the quality of education.

Report: Sharp drop in gun violence, but most killings still involve firearms

2013-05-08T13:20:00Z

Gun violence has dropped dramatically nationwide over the past two decades, but nearly three-quarters of all homicides are still committed with a firearm, the Justice Department said in a report released Tuesday. The report, by the department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics, painted an encouraging picture of long-term trends at a time of divisive political debate over guns and legislation to regulate them. Firearms-related homicides declined 39 percent between 1993 and 2011, the report said, while nonfatal firearms crimes fell 69 percent during that period. Yet the document also made clear that when people are killed, it is still most likely to be with a gun. In 2011, as in the past two decades, about 70 percent of all homicides were committed with a firearm, and the majority of those firearms were handguns.

Less than 1 percent of state prison inmates who possessed a gun when they committed their offense obtained the firearm at a gun show, the report said. Gun shows were central to the measure recently rejected in the Senate: It would have extended the current background-check requirement for firearms purchases from covering only sales at licensed dealerships to any sale that takes place at a gun show or was advertised in print or online.
About 40 percent of state prison inmates obtained their firearms from illegal sources such as theft or through a drug deal, the report said, while 37 percent got their guns from a family member or friend. Those findings are based on data from 2004.

Overall, the Justice Department report said, firearm-related homicides dropped from 18,253 homicides in 1993 to 11,101 in 2011, while nonfatal firearm crimes declined from 1.5 million in 1993 to 467,300 in 2011. The drop extended to schools: Homicides at schools declined from an average of 29 per year in the 1990s to an average of 20 per year in the 2000s. Although the rate of firearms homicides for African Americans declined by 51 percent over the past two decades, that rate was still 14.6 per 100,000 people in 2010 — compared to 1.9 for whites. In 2010, the South had the highest rate of firearms homicides nationwide at 4.4 per 100,000 people, the report said. That compared to 3.4 in the Midwest, 3.0 in the West, and 2.8 in the Northeast. (Washington Post)

Republicans look to show 'cover-up' as whistle-blowers give Benghazi testimony

2013-05-08T13:19:00Z

Republican lawmakers hounding the Obama administration for months over unanswered questions on the Benghazi attack will have their moment, on Wednesday, to demonstrate whether the internal response amounted to a cover-up -- as whistle-blowers give long-awaited testimony expected to challenge the White House's version of events. Two of the whistle-blowers' opening statements were obtained by Fox News, and in the statements they defend their credibility in testifying about what happened last Sept. 11 in Libya. "I am a career public servant," Greg Hicks' statement reads. "Until the aftermath of Benghazi, I loved every day of my job." He was deputy chief of mission in Libya and became top U.S. diplomat in the country after Ambassador Chris Stevens was killed in the terror attack. The other statement, by Mark Thompson of the State Department Counterterrorism Bureau, is mostly biographical. Testimony also is due Wednesday from Eric Nordstrom, a diplomatic security officer who was formerly the regional security officer in Libya.

The administration has parried Republican allegations lately by arguing that the attack is old news, that the State Department already has investigated it and that Republicans are engaged in a political witch hunt. But a series of carefully timed leaks on the whistle-blowers' testimony indicates House Republicans could have the goods to at least merit a second look at the administration narrative. "The question is, where's the accountability for lying to the American people?" Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, told Fox News. "The American people were lied to." (Fox News)

Suspect in Ohio helped neighbors look for missing

2013-05-08T13:18:00Z

In the years after his friend's daughter vanished while walking home from school, Ariel Castro handed out fliers with the 14-year-old's photo and performed music at a fundraiser held in her honor. When neighbors gathered for a candlelight vigil just a year ago to remember the girl, Castro was there too, comforting the girl's mother. Castro, just like everyone else in the tight-knit, mostly Puerto Rican neighborhood, seemed shaken by the 2004 disappearance of Gina DeJesus and another teenager who went missing the year before. Now he and his brothers are in custody after a frantic 911 call led police to his run-down house, where authorities say DeJesus and two other women missing for about a decade were held captive. No charges have been filed against the men, but they could appear in court as early as Wednesday morning. (AP)

One of abducted Cleveland girls was chained to the wall by abductor 'like some kind of trophy' in kidnap house

2013-05-08T13:16:00Z

At least one of the girls held captive in a Cleveland house for a decade was chained to the wall 'like some kind of trophy', it was revealed today. A police source told a local news station that what they found in the house confirms that the victims endured a decade of torture at the hands of the brothers. All three women spent years chained by the waist and neck, mostly kept separated in bedrooms, the attic and a brick basement that was more of a dark dungeon, the source said. Windows and doors of the house were boarded up and the back yard - where the girls were reportedly forced to walk on all fours on leashes like dogs - was covered with an eight-foot-tall fence made out of chicken wire and blue tarpaulin. Local police sources revealed last night that suspected kidnapper Ariel Castro would use a sick game to 'train' the three girls not to run away by pretending to leave the house, only to beat them if they tried to run free. This is said to be just one of the manipulative tactics he used to keep the three young women in his house for up to ten years, in addition to frequent beatings and chains hanging from the ceiling. Neighbors said that Ariel Castro used to be seen very often at the property but in recent years had only been there a few times a week, to the extent that it was thought the property was vacant and that he was using it as an investment. Meanwhile, Cleveland police allege, the three girls remained trapped inside, meaning they could have had to wait for days at a time to eat. The back windows of the house are either boarded up or have the curtains drawn and even the large garage style building in the back garden has its windows covered.(Daily Mail)

Focus of women's disappearance shifts attention to Castro brothers

2013-05-08T13:10:00Z

The brothers accused of holding three women captive for a decade or more grew up around their father's car lot off West 25th Street surrounded by a large family. They were smart, funny and loved classic cars. Two, however, appeared to drink heavily, while the other battered his former wife and threatened to kill her and their children, according to friends, family and court records. Two brothers had long since stopped working, while the other was fired in November after 22 years as a Cleveland schools bus driver. A day after authorities arrested Ariel, Onil and Pedro Castro in the kidnappings of Gina DeJesus, Michelle Knight and Amanda Berry, a troubling portrait is emerging of the men. The men, reared in a strict family, have been accused in one of the most heinous crimes in the city's history.

The three women had been in a home owned by Ariel Castro, 52, on Seymour Avenue. Police arrested him at his home Monday night. Hours later, officers waited in unmarked cars outside a home on Kinkel Avenue, where other brothers lived. When Onil and Pedro Castro drove up, officers arrested them, neighbors said. Cleveland Police Chief Michael McGrath said he thinks the three women were tied up and held at the home on Seymour Avenue since they were in their teens or early 20s. A 6-year-old also was found in the home, and Cleveland police deputy chief Ed Tomba said Tuesday that the girl is Berry's daughter. Berry disappeared at age 16 on April 21, 2003, when she called her sister to say she was getting a ride home from her job at a Burger King. DeJesus went missing at age 14 on her way home from school about a year later. They were found just a few miles from where they had gone missing. Knight was 21 when she disappeared in 2002.

Safety Director Martin Flask said police got call at 5:52 from Berry and that police arrived just more than two minutes later. At 5:58 p.m., police realized they had located Berry and DeJesus. Moments later they also had Knight. The women appeared to be in good health and were taken to MetroHealth Medical Center to be evaluated and reunited with relatives. They were released from the hospital on Tuesday morning.

Nelson Roman, a lifelong friend of the brothers aid Pedro Castro, 54, was a straight-A student at old Lincoln High School. Roman said he would not have graduated from Lincoln High in 1976 without Pedro's help. But Pedro dropped out of school in his junior year when he became involved with alcohol. Roman said Pedro had worked a punch press machine in a factory, but he stopped working because he drank so heavily. He was getting Social Security benefits in recent years.
Roman said Onil Castro, 50, was much quieter than his brother Pedro. He also drank heavily. Roman said he has been receiving workers' compensation the past five years. He had made his living doing odd jobs; he was very versatile and a handyman until he got hurt working as a laborer.
Neither was married, Roman said.
Court records indicate Ariel Castro fought with his former wife, Grimilda Figueroa, over the custody of their children. Figueroa twice suffered a broken nose, as well as broken ribs, a knocked-out tooth, a blood clot on the brain and two dislocated shoulders, according to a 2005filing in Cuyahoga County Domestic Relations Court. In the filing, her attorney requested that a judge "keep (Castro) from threatening to kill (Figueroa)." Attorney Robert Ferreri said Figueroa "has full custody with no visitation for (Castro). Nevertheless, (Castro) frequently abducts daughters and keeps them from their mother." Figueroa died last year. Ferreri could not be reached. Any record of charges being filed could not be located.

Police contact
Police had been to the house twice, once in 2000, another time in 2004, officials said.

In March 2000, Ariel Castro reported to police there was a fight in the street. No reports of an arrest were made.
In January 2004, police went to the address after Castro, either intentionally or accidentally, left a child on a Cleveland school bus, but were unsuccessful in making contact with anyone in the home. An investigation found no criminal intent by Castro, Flask said.
According to several reports neighbors saw terrifying and dehumanizing events: Naked women on dog leashes, crawling in the dirt. A lady clutching an infant and pounding on a window for help. Yet neighbors said the gut-wrenching reports couldn’t persuade the Cleveland cops to go inside the rundown house — where three women kidnapped between 2002 and 2004 were held hostage by the vile homeowner, officials said. Police banged on the door of the two-story home three times between 2004 and 2011, but never followed up or uncovered the continuing nightmare on Seymour Ave., according to neighbors and authorities. (NY Daily News)

The brothers were from a family of nine siblings. Their father, Pedro, had a car lot off West 25th. He died in 2004. In his will, the nine children divided more than $250,000 in assets, and they were given cars, according to Cuyahoga County Probate Court records. "They never drove junk," Roman said. (Plain-Dealer)

Bill O'Reilly: What the bizarre kidnapping case in Ohio says about America

2013-05-08T12:02:20Z

By Bill O'Reilly

Yesterday, police in Cleveland received a 911 call.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

BERRY: Help me. I'm Amanda Berry.

DISPATCHER: You need police, fire or ambulance.

BERRY: I need police, I need them now before he gets back.

DISPATCHER: All right. We're sending them. Ok?

BERRY: Ok. I mean like --

DISPATCHER: Who's the guy you're trying -- who's the guy who went out?

BERRY: His name is Ariel Castro.

DISPATCHER: All right. How old is he?

BERRY: He was like 52.

DISPATCHER: All right and --

BERRY: I'm Amanda Berry. I've been on the news for the last 10 years.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

O'REILLY: Now that call led police to a small home where they discovered the caller, 27-year-old Amanda Berry as well as two other women, 23-year-old Gina DeJesus and 32-year-old Michelle Knight. They were all kidnapped about 10 years ago allegedly by three brothers. Ms. Berry has a six-year-old child who was also removed from the house.

The man mentioned in the 911 call Ariel Castro owned the home and is a former school bus driver. Castro was arrested for domestic violence in 1993 but not indicted. Castro's two brothers Pedro and Onil are also involved in the abduction according to police.

The story is amazing because the kidnapped girls were held captive in the middle of a dense neighborhood.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHARLES RAMSEY, DISCOVERED MISSING WOMAN, AMANDA BERRY: I have been here a year. You see where I'm coming right. I barbecued with this dude. We eat ribs and whatnot and listen to salsa music. You see where I'm coming from?

REPORTER: And you had no indication that there's anything going on.

RAMSEY: Hey, bro, not a clue that that girl was in that house or anybody else was in there against their will. Because how he is -- he just comes out to his backyard, plays with the dogs, tinkers with his cars and motorcycles and goes back in the house. So he's somebody that you look and you look away because he is not doing nothing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: Now the wider implications these kinds of kidnappings are rare and the FBI says that in 2012, just 411 Americans were abducted by a stranger. But the impact of children and young people disappearing is enormous on the public psyche. The Elizabeth Smart case in Utah comes to mind.

Chances are when you were a child your parents let you go out to play unsupervised. Mine did. I was out of the house for hours, especially in the summer.

But today American children are constantly under supervision with play dates and organized activities almost all the time. Rarely are children away from their homes on their own. Even most teenagers are not afforded that freedom.

American parents are simply frightened. They believe children are at risk in public. That, of course, is a shame because playing on your own develops creativity, independence and social problem solving skills.

The big mystery in Ohio is this. How could three women be held against their will in a suburb for all that time? Early indications are they were brutalized and complete explanations of what happened will soon be forthcoming. Obviously the crime is heinous and will reinforce the perception that although America is a free country, we are also a dangerous nation. The reality is that kidnapping is ultra-rare but there are some very bad people walking the streets of the USA. The crime in Ohio is just another cautionary tale.

And that's "The Memo."

- You can catch Bill O'Reilly's "Talking Points Memo" weeknights at 8 and 11 p.m. ET on the Fox News Channel and any time on foxnews.com/oreilly. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com.

Transcript Date:

Tue, 05/07/2013

Transcript Show Name:

O'Reilly Factor

Transcript Talent Byline:

Bill O'Reilly

laconic

2013-05-08T04:20:00Z

[luh-KAH-nick] Terse, concise, using very few words

What to Expect at Wednesday's Benghazi Hearing

2013-05-08T01:19:00Z

Blue

Tamerlan Tsarnaev Won't Be Allowed to be Buried in Cambridge

2013-05-08T01:18:00Z

Purple

First 8 Days: 'Gay' Jason Collins 2,381 News Stories; Gosnell Abortion-Murder Trial 115 Stories - 1,970% Difference in Coverage

2013-05-08T01:17:00Z

Green

Cleveland Kidnapping Suspect Ariel Castro Hid a Dark Side, His Uncle Says

2013-05-08T01:15:00Z

Yellow

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

2013-05-08T01:14:00Z

Hey Bill O’Reilly.com premium members welcome to the No Spin News for the 7^th of May. Big story out of Cleveland today, a tabloid story no doubt about it. It’s horrible and I think there’s going to be way more to this story. I think there’s going to be murder charges and all of that. That’s just the way it’s going it looks to me. You know you have these people – I’d say roughly ten percent of the American population is dangerous…absolutely dangerous. That’s a lot of folks – 30 million people. They’ll do anything. Some of them are restrained by the law but many of them are not so when you have that many people spread out over 50 states you have to watch your butt. The Whole culture has changed as far as kids are concerned and how they’re raised. The stats are not that big as I pointed out but the fear of child molestation – that’s more hanis and more available than kidnapping. Kidnapping has been restrained by the federal penalties. Which are draconian so these three guys will never see the light of day again. They’re done. Good. Get them off the street. But there are millions of others who would do the same thing or have done it. So that’s just the way it is in every country in the world. Human beings are all over the place. I’m very mistrustful after seeing so much in my lifetime. You’ve got to prove yourself to me. It’s not that I’m aggressively mistrustful of people, it’s just that I watch closely. I watch how they behave, I watch what they say, I watch their mannerisms, I watch how they speak – much more so than I did 20 years ago. And it’s self protection, protection of my family. I watch because there have been so many things I’ve seen in my life that you just have to be very vigilant.

There’s another story that’s very interesting. The basketball player Jason Collins told the world he was gay. No big deal it got a tremendous amount of news coverage. 2,400 news stories on Jason Collins. The Gosnell trial about killing babies in Philly – 115 national stories. Two thousand percent difference in coverage. Jason Collins saying he’s gay to this monster in Philadelphia whom is going to be found guilty. I don’t think they’ll kill him but he’s done too. Anyway, we have that in play and that shows you where the press is. They don’t want to touch the abortion thing because they like abortion. They’re politically correct and think it’s tied into women’s health and all that but it’s not. It’s not tied into that. It’s an option and you know reproductive right and the Roe V Wade decision was made on privacy. Privacy? I don’t know. I just get it across how callous we’re getting as a nation.

They still can’t get this guy buried – Tamerlan – up in Boston. No one is going to bury him so now they’re raising money to send him back to Russia. That’s really an amazing thing. No funeral home, no cemetery will give access to this terrorist. Very interesting statement. I’m happy it’s happening. We need to send some stern warnings. You kill 8 year old boys? You don’t get anything.

Tomorrow will be a big day on the Benghazi front. We’ll be front and center with it. Thanks for being premium members. We’ll talk to you again tomorrow.

Geopolitical Journey: Nostalgia for NATO

2013-05-07T23:49:00Z

Several years ago, I wrote a series of articles on a journey in Europe. It was intended both to be personal and to go beyond recent events or the abstract considerations of geopolitics. This week I begin another journey that will take me from Portugal to Singapore, and I thought that I would try my hand again at reflecting on the significance of my travels.

As I prepare for my journey, I am drawn to a central question regarding the U.S.-European relationship, or what remains of it. Having been in Europe at a time when that relationship meant everything to both sides, and to the world, this trip forces me to think about NATO. I have been asked to make several speeches about U.S.-European relations during my upcoming trip. It is hard to know where to start. The past was built around NATO, so thinking about NATO's past might help me put things in perspective.

On a personal level, my relationship with Europe always passes through the prism of NATO. Born in Hungary, I recall my parents sitting in the kitchen in 1956, when the Soviets came in to crush the revolution. On the same night as my sister's wedding in New York, we listened on the radio to a report on Soviet tanks attacking a street just a block from where we lived in Budapest. I was 7 at the time. The talk turned to the Americans and NATO and what they would do. NATO was the redeemer who disappoints not because he cannot act but because he will not. My family's underlying faith in the power of American alliances was forged in World War II and couldn't be shaken. NATO was the sword of Gideon, albeit lacking in focus and clarity at times.

I had a more personal relationship with NATO. In the 1970s, I played an embarrassingly unimportant role in developing early computerized war games. The games were meant to evaluate strategies on NATO's central front: Germany. At that time, the line dividing Germany was the fault line of the planet. If the world were to end in a nuclear holocaust, it would end there. The place that people thought it would all start was called the Fulda Gap, a not-too-hilly area in the south, where a rapid attack could take Frankfurt and also strike at the heart of U.S. forces. The Germans speak of a watch on the Rhine. For my generation, or at least those millions who served in the armies of NATO, it was Fulda.

In the course of designing war games, I spent some time at SHAPE Technical Center in The Hague. SHAPE stands for Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe. The name itself is a reminder of the origins of NATO, deep in World War II and the alliance that defeated the Germans. It was commanded by SACEUR -- Supreme Allied Commander Europe -- who was always an American. Over time, the name became increasingly anachronistic, as SACEUR stopped resembling U.S. Gen. Dwight Eisenhower and started resembling the chair of a fractious church board, where people showed up for the snacks more than to make decisions.

To me, in the 1970s, SHAPE and SACEUR were acronyms that recalled D-Day and were built around the word "supreme." I was young and in awe, with a sense of history and pride in participating in it. Why I should be proud to participate in what might lead to total catastrophe for humanity seems odd in retrospect, but there is little in any of our lives that does not seem odd in retrospect. However, I was proud that I got to go into a building designated as SHAPE's technical center. I felt at the center of history. History, of course, is deceptive.

Games and Reality

It was never clear to me what those above us (whom we called "EBR," echelons beyond reality) did with the games that were built and played, or with the results, but I believe I learned a great deal about the war that was going to be fought. What cut short my career as a war gamer was my growing realization of the triviality of what we were doing and that the intelligence that we were building the games from was inherently deficient. Moreover, the commanders weren't all that interested in what we doing. And there was the fact that I was genuinely enjoying and actually looking forward to a war that would test our theories. When the pieces on a map represent human beings and their loss means nothing to you, it is time to leave.

The war gaming was not the problem; properly done, as I hope it is by now, it can aid in victory and save lives. But then, knowing the men (women came later) who would stand and fight at Fulda if the time came, I felt I had been given a frivolous job. There was one thing I got from that job, however: I came into contact with troops from all the armies that might be called to fight. I had a profound sense that they were not just my colleagues but also my comrades. Some didn't like Americans, and others didn't like me, but this is no different than any organization. We were peering into the future, with our fates bound together.

The U.S. and Soviet Views of NATO

The United States believed that the Soviet conquest of Western Europe would integrate Soviet resources and European technology. This same fear led the Americans and Europeans to fight Germany in two wars from two very different perspectives. For my European colleagues, it meant the devastation of their countries, even if NATO won the war. The Dutch, for example, had lived under occupation and even preferred devastation over capitulation. For me, it was an abstract exercise, both in the strange mathematics of the war games and in the more distant consequences of defeat for my country. At the same time, there was a shared sense of urgency that formed the foundation of our relationship: War might come at any moment, and we must consider every possible move by the Soviets, and we must propose solutions.

The Americans were always haunted by Pearl Harbor. This is why 9/11 was such a blow. The historical recollection of the attack out of nowhere was always close. Doctrine said that we would have 30 days' warning of a Soviet attack. I had no idea where this doctrine came from, and I suspected that it came from the fact that we needed 30 days' warning to get ready. The Europeans did not fear the unexpected attack; rather, they dreaded the expected attack for which preparations had not been made. World War II haunted them differently. They were riveted on the fact that they knew what was coming and failed to prepare. The Americans and Europeans were united by paranoia, but their paranoia differed. For the Americans, staying out of alliances and not acting soon enough was what caused the war. The United States was committed to never repeating that mistake. NATO was one of many alliances. The Americans love alliances.

It is interesting to recognize now what the Soviets were afraid of. When World War II came to them, they had no allies. Their one ally, Germany, was the one that betrayed them. The Soviets were both taken by surprise and fought alone until the Americans and British chose to help them. The Soviets had played complex diplomacy with traditional alliances, and when it failed the Soviet Union committed itself to never again depending on others. It had the Warsaw Pact because the West had NATO, but it did not depend on its allies. The Americans threw themselves into alliances as if an alliance solved all problems. The Soviets, however, acted as if allies were the most dangerous things of all.

In the end, when we look back on it, war was much less likely than we felt. The West was not going to invade the East. On the defensive, the Soviets would have annihilated our much smaller force. And, truth be told, no one had the slightest interest in conquering Eastern Europe or the Soviet Union.

As for the Soviets, on paper they were an overwhelming force, but paper is a bad place to think about war. The Soviets did not want a nuclear exchange, and in their view the United States was itching to have one. They knew if they moved westward there would be an exchange. Plus, it turned out, the Soviets would have a great deal of trouble keeping their tanks fueled as they moved to the west. They had a plan for laying plastic pipes from their fuel depots and rolling them out as the tanks advanced. The problem was that the pipes never worked very well, and their fuel depots were slated for annihilation by airstrikes, possibly the day before the war began officially.

All of this is past and I recollect it with a combination of pride -- not for what I did, which was little, but for simply being there -- and chagrin about how little we understood the enemy. Both sides were ready for war. Both sides were expecting actions that the other side had no intentions of undertaking. But all of the plans that we created were, in the end, irrelevant. The only way to win the game -- as the movie War Games said -- was not to play it. Not surprisingly, the leaders -- Eisenhower and Khrushchev, Nixon and Brezhnev, Reagan and Gorbachev -- knew it better than the experts. It has always struck me as the world's great fortune that the two great superpowers were the United States and the Soviet Union, who managed the Cold War with meticulous care in retrospect. Imagine the European diplomats of 1914 or 1938 armed with nuclear weapons. It is easy to believe they would not have been as cautious.

NATO's Legacy and Disarray

What NATO provided that was priceless, and the unexpected byproduct of all of this, was a comradeship and unity of purpose on both sides of the North Atlantic. Even the French, who withdrew from NATO's military command under Charles de Gaulle, remained unofficially part of it. There was little question but that if "the balloon went up" -- the enemy took action -- the French would be there, arguing over who would command whom but fighting as hard as the Underground did before D-Day. But through NATO, I got to know Germans at a time when knowing Germans was not easy for me because of what my family went through during the war. I was forced to distinguish Germany from Franz who could play the ukulele.

I had a son in 1976. When I went to Europe, I met an Italian and we became friends. We would talk about what we would tell our families to do if the balloon went up. The conversation -- strange and perhaps pathological as it was -- bound us together. It was not war, it was not peace, but it was a place in the mind where the preparation for war and the anxiety that it generated created strange forms, such as plans for the movement of children in order to avoid a nuclear holocaust.

NATO, far more than a model United Nations or a Fulbright, allowed ordinary Americans and Europeans to know each other and understand that with linked fates, they were comrades in arms. After World War II, that was a profound lesson. Millions of draftees experienced that and took the lesson home.

The end of the Cold War is no great loss, although my youth went with it. Losing the unity of purpose that the Cold War gave Western Europe and the United States is of enormous consequence. For a while, after 1991, the two sides went on as if the alliance could exist even without an enemy. However, NATO started to fragment when it lost its enemy. The passion for a mission gave NATO meaning, and the passion was drained. The alliance continued to fragment when the United States decided to invade Iraq for the second time. The vast majority of countries in NATO supported the invasion -- a forgotten fact -- but France and Germany did not. This damaged the United States' relations with Europe, particularly with the French, who have a way of getting under the skins of Americans while appearing oblivious to it. But the greater damage was within Europe -- the division between those who wanted to maintain close relations with the United States, even if they thought the Iraq War was a bad idea, and those who wanted Europe to have its own voice, distinct from the Americans'.

The 2008 global financial contagion did not divide the Americans and Europeans nearly as much as it divided Europe. The relationship between European countries -- less among leaders than among publics -- has become poisonous. Something terrible has happened to Europe, and each country is holding someone else responsible. As many countries are blaming Germany as Germany is blaming for the crisis.

There can be no trans-Atlantic alliance when one side is in profound disagreement with itself over many things and the other side has no desire to be drawn into the dispute. Nor can there be a military alliance where there is no understanding of the mission, the enemy or obligations. NATO was successful during the Cold War because the enemy was clear, there was consensus over what to do in each particular circumstance and participation was a given. An alliance that does not know its mission, has no meaningful plans for what problems it faces and stages come-as-you-are parties in Libya or Mali, where invitations are sent out and no one RSVPs, cannot be considered an alliance. The committees meet and staffs of defense ministers prepare for conferences -- all of the niceties of an alliance remain. SACEUR is still an American, the Science and Technology Committee produces papers, but in the end, the commonality of purpose is gone.

My European colleagues and I were young, serious and dedicated. These are all dangerous things because we lacked historical perspective (but then, so did many of our elders). What we had together, however, was invaluable: a moment in history, possibly the last, when the West stood shoulder to shoulder in defense of liberal democracy and against tyranny. Still, I look back on the Soviets and then look at al Qaeda and I miss the Soviets. I understood them in a way I can never understand al Qaeda.

So I will be asked to speak about U.S-European relations. I will have to tell the Europeans two things. The first is that there is no American relationship with Europe because Europe is no longer an idea but a continent made up of states with diverse interests. There are U.S.-French relations and U.S.-Russian relations and so on. The second thing I will tell them is that there can be no confederation without a common foreign and defense policy. You can have different tax rates, but if when one goes to war they don't all go to war, they are just nations cooperating as they see fit.

I remember the camaraderie of young enlisted Americans and Europeans, and the solidarity of planning teams. This was the glue that held Europe together. It was not just the commanders and politicians, but the men who would have to cover each other's movement that created the foundations of NATO's solidarity. My recollections are undoubtedly colored with sentimentality, but I do not think I've done the idea an injustice. NATO bound Europe together because it made the nations into comrades. They were able to face Armageddon together. Europe without NATO's solidarity has difficulty figuring out a tax policy. In the end, Europe lost more when NATO fell into disuse than it imagined.

I don't know that NATO can exist without a Cold War. Probably not. What is gone is gone. But I know my nostalgia for Europe is not just for my youth; it is for a time when Western civilization was united. I doubt we will see that again.

East Coast to be Overrun By Billions of Cicadas

2013-05-07T13:57:00Z

Any day now, billions of cicadas with bulging red eyes will crawl out of the earth after 17 years underground and overrun the East Coast. They will arrive in such numbers that people from North Carolina to Connecticut will be outnumbered roughly 600-to-1. Maybe more. But ominous as that sounds - along with scientists' horror-movie name for the infestation, Brood II - they're harmless. These insects won't hurt you or other animals. At worst, they might damage a few saplings or young shrubs. Mostly they will blanket certain pockets of the region, though lots of people won't ever see them. "It's not like these hordes of cicadas suck blood or zombify people," says May Berenbaum, a University of Illinois entomologist. They're looking for just one thing: sex. And they've been waiting quite a long time. Since 1996, this group of 1-inch bugs, in wingless nymph form, has been a few feet underground, sucking on tree roots and biding their time. They will emerge only when the ground temperature reaches precisely 64 degrees. After a few weeks up in the trees, they will die and their offspring will go underground, not to return until 2030. "It's just an amazing accomplishment," Berenbaum says. "How can anyone not be impressed?" (AP)

McDonald's Is Most Visited Business in America

2013-05-07T13:56:00Z

Just how popular are the golden arches? So popular that nearly half of US consumers visited them last month, according to a new study spotted by theConsumerist. The study, from the new Placed Insights service, sought to determine which businesses Americans visit most. Fast food dominates the list, but McDonald's is in a class of its own, with 49% visiting in March. Here's the top 10:

McDonald's (49%)
Walmart (38.8%)
Subway (37.8%)
Burger King (24.3%)
Starbucks (23.9%)
Wendy's (22.8%)
Walgreens (22.7%)
CVS (18.9%)
Taco Bell (18.2%)
Target (14.2%)

There were some other surprises further down the list as well, like GameStop coming in at No. 12 with 12.8%, or RadioShack (No. 14, 12.1%) trouncing Best Buy (No. 35). And check out Dollar Tree; the unassuming discount store is No. 18, with just more than one in 10 Americans visiting last month. The data comes from Placed's mobile users on an opt-in basis, explains the Kelsey Group, which describes it as "comScore for the offline world." The data came from 70,000 volunteers. (Newser)

Bombing suspect's family urged to settle on burial

2013-05-07T13:54:00Z

Governor Deval Patrick on Monday urged the family of Tamerlan Tsarnaev to resolve the emotional question of where to bury the Boston Marathon bombing suspect, whose body lay washed and shrouded in a Worcester funeral home beset by protests. “This isn’t a state or a federal issue; it’s the family’s issue,” Patrick told reporters in New Bedford. “And the family has some options. I assume they will make a decision soon. I hope they do.” The search for a burial plot has brought rejections from several cemeteries in multiple states and prompted a plea for federal help to settle the matter. Even the Tsarnaev family has offered conflicting solutions: His mother wants the body returned to Russia, according to the Worcester funeral director, while his uncle in Maryland has insisted Tsarnaev be buried in Cambridge, which has refused. (Boston Globe)

South Carolina teacher who stomped US flag gets $85G payment

2013-05-07T13:54:00Z

A South Carolina high school teacher removed from the classroom when he stomped on an American flag while discussing freedom is being paid $85,000 to avoid a legal challenge. The State newspaper obtained documents under the Freedom of Information Act that show Chapin High School teacher Scott Compton is being paid the settlement by Lexington-Richland District 5, in addition to his salary through June 7. Compton resigned as part of the settlement after criticism about his actions last December. The documents also show that the school district will pay attorney fees of nearly $32,000 for Compton. The payments were not disclosed when Compton's resignation was announced March 27. A school spokesman said Compton's lawyers had indicated they would file a complaint in federal court about school officials who sought his dismissal. (AP)

Hollywood couple steps up campaign to free Pakistani doc who helped get bin Laden

2013-05-07T13:53:00Z

he California activist behind a campaign to free a Pakistani doctor who helped hunt down Usama bin Laden has put the issue before the men and women who risk their own lives and freedom fighting for America. An advertisement in Military Times magazine, which goes out to some 275,000 homes, asks if service members would rather be “captured and tortured” or “rescued and set free.” The ad directs readers to the magazine’s website, where they can cast their vote and watch a clip of Secretary of State John Kerry discuss the plight of Dr. Shakil Afridi, who has been imprisoned in Pakistan for more than two years for helping locate the world’s most wanted man and paving the way for the Navy SEALs raid that killed him. The ad is the latest phase in the “Free Afridi” campaign by health care executive Robert Lorsch and his actress wife Kira Reed Lorsch, who both took up the cause earlier this year just before the Academy Awards, where “Zero Dark Thirty,” a movie about the SEAL raid, was up for several Oscars. The pair has so far spent $70,000 of their own money trying to raise awareness about Afridi’s plight.

The Lorsches say the poll, posted on www.freeafridi.com, is aimed at sending a message to the White House and State Department to address the plight of the doctor and moral dilemma of leaving him behind. Afridi was convicted by a tribal court in North West Pakistan on May 23, 2012, on a charge of colluding with terrorists, though it is widely acknowledged he is being punished for his ruse in the CIA-led Bin Laden operation. To positively identify bin Laden’s presence, Afridi set up a Hepatitis B vaccination program and collected DNA samples to verify the Al Qaeda leader and his family’s were living at a compound in Abbottabad, 80 miles from the capital, Islamabad. He was sentenced to 33-years in jail, of which he has nearly completed a year, and has been subjected to severe interrogation tactics at Pakistan Intelligence Agency’s prison. (Fox News)

Lauryn Hill gets 3 months for failing to pay taxes - blames slavery

2013-05-07T13:51:00Z

Grammy-winning singer Lauryn Hill stood in federal court Monday and compared her experience in the music business to the slavery her ancestors endured before a judge sentenced her to three months in prison for failing to pay about $1 million in taxes over the past decade. "I am a child of former slaves who had a system imposed on them," Hill said before U.S. Magistrate Madeline Cox Arleo. "I had an economic system imposed on me." Hill, who started singing with the Fugees as a teenager in the 1990s before releasing her multiplatinum 1998 album "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill," pleaded guilty last year to failing to pay taxes on more than $1.8 million earned from 2005 to 2007. Monday's sentencing also took into account unpaid state and federal taxes in 2008 and 2009 that brought the total earnings to about $2.3 million. Despite having paid more than $900,000 in the past several days, Hill still owes interest and penalties, the U.S. attorney's office said. (AP)

Air Force staffer who led sexual assault prevention unit charged with groping

2013-05-07T13:50:00Z

A top-level staffer for the Air Force’s Sexual Assault Prevention team was charged early Sunday morning with misdemeanor sexual battery, police in northern Virginia say. The person arrested has been identified as Jeffrey Krusinski, 41, of Arlington. Krusinski was the prevention team’s chief of staff for the past two months and was removed from the post Monday pending the outcome of an investigation, Air Force officials say. Police say Krusinski was intoxicated when he approached a woman at about 12:35 a.m. in a parking lot and “grabbed her breasts and buttocks.” He was arrested, charged and held on a $5,000 unsecured bond. The woman is said to have fought off Krusinski and then called police. The two apparently didn't know each other. The incident occurred in the 500 block of South 23rd Street, just across the Potomac River from Washington and a few miles from the Pentagon. An arraignment is scheduled for Thursday.

The incident is the latest in a series of sexual assault cases allegedly involving Air Force personnel. Earlier this year, a lieutenant general overturned a sexual assault conviction for fighter pilot Lt. Col. James Wilkerson, who was convicted a year earlier of aggravated sexual assault and sentenced to a year in jail. In addition, roughly a dozen training instructors at Joint Base San Antonio-Lockland, in Texas, have been convicted of misconduct with trainees, including cases of sexual assault. Krusinski served in Afghanistan and attended the U.S. Air Force Academy, where he played baseball, according to the publication Stars and Stripes magazine. (Fox News)

Christie reveals secret stomach surgery to lose weight

2013-05-07T13:48:00Z

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie secretly underwent lap-band stomach surgery to aggressively slim down for the sake of his wife and kids, he revealed to The NY Post last night. The Garden State governor agreed to the operation at the urging of family and friends after turning 50 last September. He told The Post he was thinking of his four kids and how it was time to start improving his health when he decided to have the procedure. “I’ve struggled with this issue for 20 years,” he said. “For me, this is about turning 50 and looking at my children and wanting to be there for them.” He also insisted that, contrary to what observers may say, the effort to slim down was not motivated by thoughts of a presidential bid. “It’s so much more important than that,” he said. Christie checked in to a surgery center on Feb. 16. A source said he registered under a false name. The operation included placing a silicone tube around the top of his stomach, where it restricts the amount of food he can eat at one time and makes him feel fuller, faster. “A week or two ago, I went to a steakhouse and ordered a steak and ate about a third of it and I was full,” he said of his newly tamed appetite. He declined to say how much he lost, but sources said he has already shed nearly 40 pounds.

Hackers plan 'Day To Remember' with May 7 attacks on banks, government agencies

2013-05-07T13:47:00Z

A collective of hacker groups plans to attack the websites of major government agencies and banks on Tuesday to protest American foreign policy. For weeks, the groups, which include Anonymous, have used social media to publicize their planned operation, dubbed "#OpUSA." In a post on the file-sharing site Pastebin, one member of Anonymous laid out an ambitious list of targets, including the websites of the White House, the Defense Department, the FBI, Bank of America and Chase Bank. "Anonymous will make sure that this May 7th will be a day to remember," another post from Anonymous said, adding the planned attacks are meant as a response to "multiple war crimes" committed by the United States in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. In the past, however, Anonymous has hyped plans to launch coordinated attacks but ended up having little impact, security experts say. Last month, Anonymous launched #OpIsrael, which promised to "wipe Israel off the internet." That operation was "a total failure," Ronen Kenig, director of security solutions for Radware, told The Daily Beast last month. Tuesday's planned operation still has the U.S. government's attention. The Department of Homeland Security issued an alert last week warning about the event that "likely will result in limited disruptions and mostly consist of nuisance-level attacks against publicly accessible webpages." (Huffington Post)

First 8 Days: 'Gay' Jason Collins 2,381 News Stories; Gosnell Abortion-Murder Trial 115 Stories - 1,970% Difference in Coverage

2013-05-07T13:46:00Z

In the eight days since NBA player Jason Collins announced he was gay, the news media have covered the story in 2,381 places. But in the first eight days of the trial of Dr. Kermit Gosnell and his “House of Horrors” abortion business, the media covered the story in 115 places, meaning that Collins’ “gay” news received more than 1,970.4% more news coverage. In addition, a search of the news coverage of the Gosnell trial that started 49 days ago on Mar. 18, shows there have been 1,876 stories, which is still less than the 2,381 Collins stories over the last 8 days – a 27% difference in coverage, still in Collins’ favor. Jason Collins, who plays center for the Washington Wizards, announced he was a homosexual in a self-written article for the Sports Illustrated website on Apr. 29. Kermit Gosnell is charged with five counts of murder and 263 other criminal offenses related to his abortion business in Philadelphia; his trial started on Mar. 18 and the jury currently is still deliberating.

A general Nexis search of “All News” in English, for the first eight days in each case, shows the following: a search for “Jason Collins” and “gay” (between Apr. 19 and May 6) reveals 2,381 news stories; a search for “Kermit Gosnell” and “abortion” (between Mar. 18 and Mar. 24) pulls up 115 stories.

A Nexis "All News" search retrieves stories from newspapers, blogs, newswires, news transcripts, news, aggregate news sources, magazines, journals, newsletters and web-based publications. That means that in the first eight days of coverage, there were 2,266 more news stories about Jason Collins coming out of the closet as gay than news stories about Gosnell who, specifically, is charged with killing four babies born alive during abortions by snipping their spinal cords with surgical scissors. The fifth murder charge against Gosnell concerns a woman who died from an anesthesia-overdose. (CNS News)

Man Who Saved 3 Missing Cleveland Teens Talks About His Experience

2013-05-07T13:44:00Z

Cleveland resident Charles Ramsey is a hero today after discovering the home where three missing women had been held for nearly a decade. A reporter for Cleveland’s ABC affiliate caught up with Ramsey, who told the story of what happened after he heard screaming coming from his neighbor’s house. (Mediaite)

Transcript of missing woman Amanda Berry's 911 call after escaping alleged abductor

2013-05-07T13:41:00Z

Caller: Help me. I'm Amanda Berry.

Dispatcher: You need police, fire, ambulance?

Caller: I need police.

Dispatcher: OK, and what's going on there?

Caller: I've been kidnapped and I've been missing for 10 years, and I'm, I'm here, I'm free now...
Dispatcher: OK, stay there with those neighbors. Talk to police when they get there.

Caller: (Crying)

Dispatcher: OK, talk to police when they get there...
Dispatcher: We're going to send them as soon as we get a car open.

Caller: No, I need them now before he gets back.

Dispatcher: All right; we're sending them, OK?

Caller: OK, I mean, like ...

Dispatcher: Who's the guy you're trying -- who's the guy who went out?

Caller: Um, his name is Ariel Castro.

Daughter Found With 3 Women Missing for a Decade

2013-05-07T13:39:00Z

A child found in Cleveland with the three women who had been missing for a decade is the daughter of one of the women, police said. The women, who vanished in separate cases near their homes in Cleveland, were found Monday only miles from where they disappeared, and three brothers have been arrested in connection to the incident, according to police. Gina DeJesus, Amanda Berry, 27, and Michele Knight, 32, were released from Metro Health Medical Center this morning, a hospital spokeswoman said in a statement. "I've been kidnapped, and I've been missing for 10 years," Berry told a 911 operator after breaking free. "And I'm here. I'm free now." The child was also carried out of the home but the child's identity or age has not been released by police. The child is Berry's daughter, according toABC News affiliate WEWS-TV, quoting police. Police confirmed to WEWS that one of the men taken into custody is 52-year-old Ariel Castro. WEWS also reports a background check shows he owns the home where the three women were living.

Authorities believe Castro, who was once a city school bus driver, was keeping the women locked inside his modest two-story home, which he has owned since 1992, ABC News has learned. Police have not identified his brothers, who are ages 50 and 54, according to authorities. Chargers could come as early as today. Berry identified Ariel Castro by name in her 911 call. Neighbors said they heard cries for help coming from a house on Seymour Avenue around 6 p.m., and when they went to investigate, kicked open the door of the home to get the women out. Neighbor Charles Ramsey said that he was eating at McDonald's when he heard a girl screaming and begging for help. "I look and I see this girl and she's just going nuts on the door so, I'm like, 'What's your problem? If you're stuck, just open the door.' She said 'I can't, you got it locked,'" he said. Ramsey said that their attempt to pry the door open failed, so he and his neighbor kicked open the bottom. "Luckily … it was aluminum, it was cheap," he said, "And she climbed out with her daughter. ... She went to my house, we called 911."

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Berry came out of the home, carrying a child in her arms, which Ramsey identified as her daughter. Berry immediately called 911, asking police for help. "Hello police help me I'm Amanda Berry," she said in the call. "I've been kidnapped and I've been missing for 10 years and I'm here. I'm free now. ... I've been in the news for the last 10 years ... with Gina." Berry told arriving police officers that there were more women inside the home. Police, with their guns drawn, entered the house and returned with DeJesus and Knight. Ramsey said the women looked malnourished when they came out of the house. (ABC News)

Background: This saga began as three separate cases starting Aug. 23, 2002, when Knight, then in her 20s, was last seen leaving her cousin's house. Berry disappeared at age 16 April 21, 2003, the day before her 17th birthday. She had called her sister to say she was getting a ride home from her job at a Burger King, The Associated Press reported. Finally, on April 2, 2004, DeJesus, who was 14 at the time, disappeared on her way home from school. The cases have consumed the Cleveland community for years and gained national attention and were profiled on "The Montel Williams Show" and "The Oprah Winfrey Show." The missing persons posters have been a part of the community for a decade by families who refused to give up.

Special ops halted from responding to Benghazi attacks, U.S. diplomat says

2013-05-07T13:35:00Z

As the weakly protected U.S. diplomatic compound in eastern Libya came under attack the night of Sept. 11, 2012, the deputy head of the embassy in Tripoli 600 miles away sought in vain to get the Pentagon to scramble fighter jets over Benghazi in a show of force that he said might have averted a second attack on a nearby CIA complex. Hours later, according to excerpts of the account by the U.S. diplomat, Gregory Hicks, American officials in the Libyan capital sought permission to deploy four U.S. Special Operations troops to Benghazi aboard a Libyan military aircraft early the next morning. The troops were told to stand down. Defense Department officials have said they had no units that could have responded in time to counter the attack in Benghazi, but Republicans on Capitol Hill have questioned whether the Obama administration could have saved lives with a nimbler, more assertive response. They say that the reluctance to send the Special Operations troops may have, at the very least, deprived wounded Americans in Benghazi of first aid.

Congressional investigators released a partial transcript of Hicks’s testimony Monday ahead of a hearing Wednesday at which he is scheduled to appear. His remarks are the first public account from a U.S. official who was in Libya at the time of the attacks about the options that were weighed as militants mobbed the American diplomatic outpost and CIA station in Benghazi, killing U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other government employees. The new details are certain to reignite a debate over whether the Obama administration has been sufficiently forthcoming in its public accounting of the events and missteps that resulted in the first death of a U.S. ambassador in the line of duty in a generation. If Republicans in Congress succeed in portraying the administration’s response as feckless, the episode could dog any future political aspirations of Hillary Rodham Clinton, who was secretary of state when the attacks happened. After the attacks ended without planes being scrambled or special forces dispatched, the lieutenant colonel in Tripoli who commanded the Special Operations team told Hicks he was sorry that his men had been held back. “I’ve never been so embarrassed in my life that a State Department officer has bigger balls than someone in the military,” the officer told Hicks, according to the diplomat’s account. Hicks called that “a nice compliment.” (Washington Post)

Viewer Mail for Tuesday, May 7

2013-05-07T13:26:00Z

LETTER OF THE DAY!

“In regards to Benghazi, the President either lied to the American people for weeks, or his advisors and handlers lied to him for weeks and he made command decisions based on those lies.”

Alan Von Ah

Shawnee, KS

DANGEROUS NATION?

What does the discovery of three women, kidnapped and held hostage by a man in Cleveland for a decade, say about the state of personal security in this country?

“You are correct in her assertion that this crime will enhance the perception that America is a dangerous place. We are rapidly becoming a detached society and that has a cost.”

Dan Curtis

Mesa, AZ

“I’m the victim of a seven year kidnapping by my father at age 12. As with the Ohio neighborhood, my neighbors were oblivious that I was being held hostage in his home.”

Noelle Aipperspach

Kansas City, MO

“All it says about America is that there are some pedophiles and sick people in this country, as there are in every country throughout the world.”

Sassan Darian

Orange County, CA

“The kidnapping doesn’t say anything about a country of 300 million people, but it does say a lot about a dense, inner city neighborhood and the culture of suspicion decaying there.”

Duncan Harvey

Phoenix, AZ

PARTISAN WITCH HUNT?

Is the Benghazi investigation a controversy being unfairly drummed-up by Republicans, as some Democrats are suggesting?

“The reason Benghazi has not resonated with the American public is because ABC, CBS, and NBC have covered for the administration. Not everyone has access to cable, but everyone has access to the network news.”

Kevin Dunn

Ojai, CA

“If the mainstream media had focused on Benghazi like the focused on Watergate, the folks would not be so apathetic.”

Betty Strain

Oakhurts, CA

“I’m outraged by the lack of accountability when it concerns the deaths of four Americans on the watch of Obama and his cronies. Like many Americans, I knew something didn’t add up from the beginning.”

Lacey Barrett

Gulf Breeze, FL

“The Benghazi debacle is a battle for who writes history. Is it Obama and Clinton already caught in lies regarding the video and the perpetrators, or do we look for the truth?”

WR Jones

New Port Richey, FL

“Why is it when things go right like getting bin Laden, President Obama takes credit, but when things go wrong like Benghazi, it is the underlings’ fault?”

Ray Webber

Rancho Cordova, CA

FIREARM FUROR

The Factor recommends that all crimes committed with a gun be handled by federal authorities, with tough minimum sentences for any conviction. Fox Business guy John Stossel vehemently disagrees.

“I like the idea of all gun crimes being federal crimes, but Stossel is right – there is no punishment that could be harsh enough to stop crazy people like those in Newtown or Aurora.”

Gerry Martin

Rancho Cucamonga, CA

“Judicial discretion is a must. No system is perfect, but mandatory minimums on gun crimes would end up like schools’ zero tolerance policies where a kid gets suspended for pointing a pencil at his friend. The innocent will suffer more than the guilty.”

David Beville

Spartanburg, SC

“Stossel’s point was right on. An individual bent on murder and mayhem will not be deterred in the least by the threat of a mandatory one or two years for illegal gun possession.”

Mark Winters

Dublin, OH

“When it comes to understanding gun issues, your Long Island, East Coast influence is showing. I fear Stossel’s evaluation of your position as ignorant and arrogant may be right on-target.”

Rob Kornacki

Platte County, MO

“More gun laws will only create new criminals. The people who are determined to commit gun crimes won’t stop to check a law book before they act. Stop making me yell at my TV.”

Randy McLean

Evansville, IN

“Federalizing gun laws would have done absolutely nothing to prevent the mass killings we’ve seen this past year. You are no different than the elected officials who think we can do something to stop this.”

Rocco Pangallo

Grand Junction, CO

“I’m a retired police officer, and based on my experience, I agree with your idea of federalizing gun crimes, but I completely disagree with mandatory sentencing, as it would remove the judge’s ability to use discretion in sentencing, which is often needed.”

Jim Raue

Grand Rapids, MI

Bill O'Reilly: Could be a bad week for President Obama and Hillary Clinton

2013-05-07T12:13:11Z

By Bill O'Reilly

Three key witnesses are expected to testify on Wednesday about the murder of U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans in Benghazi, Libya on September 11th.

While many Americans have no idea what's going on, Factor viewers most like know that the Obama administration at first told the world the attack was a spontaneous anti-American action. Instead, it was a well-planned terrorist attack likely by al Qaeda agents.

So the testimony this week could be devastating to the Obama administration and to Hillary Clinton who ran the State Department at the time. The key question -- was there a cover up? Five days before Ambassador Stevens was murdered, President Obama spoke at the Democratic National Convention.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: We've blunted the Taliban's momentum in Afghanistan and in 2014 our longest war will be over.

A new tower rises above the New York skyline, al Qaeda is on the path to defeat and Osama bin Laden is dead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: Now part of President Obama's platform last fall was the assertion that on his watch terror agencies were badly damaged. But if organized terrorists did indeed kill Ambassador Stevens that claim would have been dubious. A few weeks after the Benghazi attack, Fox News analyst Charles Krauthammer said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER, FOX NEWS ANALYST: Of course, it affects the President because just a week earlier they had been proclaiming the death of bin Laden, of course, and by implication and often by statement at Charlotte over and over again how they had disseminated and removed the threat from al Qaeda. And this is a direct -- it was a direct takedown of that claim.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: Now, anti-Obama forces are looking forward, looking forward to the House Oversight Committee hearings because they want to put the State Department officials on the record. The anti-Obama folks want to do that.

But what about the regular folks -- what about the American people? Do they really care about the story? According to a recent Fox News poll 46 percent of registered voters believe the Obama administration is covering up what happened in Benghazi; 43 percent say they are not covering up anything. So we have a split.

We also have apathy. More and more it seems Americans would rather watch the Jodi Arias murder trial than pay attention to how the country is being run. If you don't believe me, go down to the mall tomorrow and casually ask some folks about what they think about Benghazi. Two words are likely to emerge? Blank looks.

The Obama administration and that includes Hillary Clinton made a calculation that the American people simply don't care about the Benghazi story. We will see how things play out this week.

And that's "The Memo."

- You can catch Bill O'Reilly's "Talking Points Memo" weeknights at 8 and 11 p.m. ET on the Fox News Channel and any time on foxnews.com/oreilly. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com.

Transcript Date:

Mon, 05/06/2013

Transcript Show Name:

O'Reilly Factor

Transcript Talent Byline:

Bill O'Reilly

sophistic

2013-05-07T05:01:00Z

[soh-FIST-ick] Seemingly plausible but actually fallacious

William Ayers says Weather Underground, Boston bombings not same

2013-05-07T00:26:00Z

Purple

How Gore Got Romney-Rich With $200 Million After Defeat by Bush

2013-05-07T00:25:00Z

Teal

Funeral home searches for place to bury Tamerlan Tsarnaev

2013-05-07T00:24:00Z

Green

Dramatic and damaging details on Benghazi attack expected during congressional showdownc

2013-05-07T00:22:00Z

Yellow

Monday, May 6, 2013

2013-05-07T00:21:00Z

Hey BillOReilly.com premium members, welcome to the No Spin News for Monday the 6^th of May. Big week for the anti-Obama forces. They think they may have a big story breaking on Wednesday when House Oversight Chairman Darell Issa, who is very anti-Obama, presides over a meeting on Benghazi. Look, everybody knows that this was mishandled. I don’t think there was any chance that the military could have saved Ambassador Stevens and the other three Americans. Doesn’t look like that could have happened but they didn’t tell the truth about it and now the truth is coming out that it was a well coordinated Al-Qaeda attack most likely and it’s an embarrassment but the Obama administration still believes that the folks are not going to care and that no matter how the anti-Obama forces drive the story, it’s not going to matter. I don’t know, I don’t know. Hillary Clinton, is she going to be tainted by this? A little bit but in two years when she starts to ramp up for her run, people will be reminded by her opposition but do they really care about Benghazi? Probably not. And I’m talking about the casual voters that aren’t as invested in one party or the other…one philosophy or another. The folks who just pay attention a few days before the election. Benghazi? I don’t think so. However, if somebody were to say at the meeting on Wednesday “well I told Hillary Clinton XYZ and she told my XYZ” then it gets to big but it’s going to have to bring that specificity to it.

Interesting story out of Cambridge, MA..nobody is going to bury this Tamerlan Tsarnaev. No one is going to bury the man. Nobody wants him, no funeral homes will handle home, no cemeteries will take him. Pretty interesting. So he’s floating around. His body is floating around and we’ll follow it for you. Not a huge story but an interesting one. This woman, his widow had Al-Qaeda stuff on her computer. Maybe he did it. Who knows?

And finally two other stories caught my eye. Al Gore is richer than Mitt Romney. He’s got $200 million. According to a Forbes Magazine report...I don’t know how they would know how much money he had but they say he’s got more money than Mitt Romney.

Bill Ayers, the Weather Underground guy says his terrorism in the 60s wasn’t anything like the Boston terrorism because he just blew up buildings. He says he’s against violence. He was trying to stop killing in Vietnam according to Ayers. Well I’m sure these terrorists would say they’re trying to stop killing in the Muslim World. Ayers is a traitor in my opinion. An unrepentant traitor. I think he should have been charged with treason instead of the bombing but he wasn’t . So now he’s running around, saying this stuff, lives in Chicago. There you go. Thanks for being premium members. See you tomorrow.

The O'Quiz: Test your news knowledge!

2013-05-06T18:09:00Z

This week's O'Quiz has arrived! See if you can beat last week's 6.72 average.

Go: This week's O'Quiz

Democrat who vowed to send Nikki Haley 'back to wherever the hell she came from' a major Obama fundraiser

2013-05-06T14:19:00Z

South Carolina Democratic Party chairman Dick Harpootlian, who said Friday that he intends to help send Indian-American Republican Gov. Nikki Haley “back to wherever the hell she came from,” was a major campaign bundler who raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for President Barack Obama, records reveal. Obama has yet to condemn Harpootlian’s statement, which a Haley spokesman called “the lowest common denominator.” Harpootlian made his remark at the South Carolina Democratic Party’s Jefferson-Jackson Dinner Friday, shortly before a speech by Vice President Joe Biden. Harpootlian introduced 2014 Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Vincent Sheehen with the controversial remark. “In about 18 months from now, hopefully he’ll have sent Nikki Haley back to wherever the hell she came from,” Harpootlian said as the crowd reportedly broke into cheers and applause. (Daily Caller)

Dick Harpootlian: At this time I’d like to introduce….now do I call him Senator or do I call him Governor Sheehan. What do I call him? (laughter). That’s what I thought. In about 18 months from now, hopefully he’ll have sent Nikki Haley back to wherever the hell she came from, and this country can move forward. Mark Sanford next week, Nikki Haley 18 months from now.

Dan Rather: Obama's Opponents 'Want to Cut His Heart Out and Throw His Liver to the Dogs'

2013-05-06T14:15:00Z

Dan Rather on Sunday once again made a comment about President Obama's opponents that some might find a bit over the top. Appearing on the syndicated Chris Matthews Show, Rather said, "These people politically want to cut his heart out and throw his liver to the dogs"

DAN RATHER: All of these things we’ve said about what the president could do, should do, might have, could have, but the central thing to keep in mind is his opponents - you talk about taking them out to dinner, making nice with them - these people politically want to cut his heart out and throw his liver to the dogs. That does make it very, very difficult to come on nice to them.

CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST: Yeah, it causes indigestion over dinner don’t you think?

KATTY KAY, BBC: Is that what they do in Texas Dan?

MATTHEWS: By the way, I’m with you Dan because I don’t know how much, I do think he doesn't enjoy the company of his fellow politicians. Excuse me, Mr. President, you’re one of them.

(Newsbusters)

'Iron Man 3' smashes into Hollywood record books

2013-05-06T14:10:00Z

'Iron Man 3' soars into the record books with a debut second only to last year's 'The Avengers.' Who says there's no "I" in team? Apparently, there's an "R-O-N" in there as well. Tony Stark broke from his team of Avengers this weekend to propel Iron Man 3 to the second-largest debut in Hollywood history, nabbing $175.3 million, according to studio estimates from box office tracking firm Hollywood.com. If estimates hold Monday, IM3 will be second only to The Avengers, which opened to $207 million last year. Analysts say that, in addition to securing its place in the record books, IM3 gave the box office a much-needed shot in the arm to begin the Hollywood summer, which runs from the first weekend in May to the Labor Day weekend and accounts for more than 40% of studios' business for the entire year. Internationally, the film has been a hit for weeks, and IM3's worldwide haul rose to $680.1 million. IMAX reported a record haul as well, collecting $16.5 million domestically and $13 million internationally. (USA Today)

Muslims Outraged By Card Depicting Muslim Girl Doll Terrorist

2013-05-06T14:09:00Z

A Muslim doll as a terrorist. That’s what’s on a birthday card that has upset the head of a local chapter of a civil rights group, reports WBBM’s Nancy Harty. The card reads “hope your birthday is a blow out” and features a picture of a doll wearing a hijab – the Muslim headscarf. Ahmed Rehab, Executive Director of the Chicago chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations, calls it moronic and says it feeds stereotypes. “The woman in Massachusetts just two weeks ago that was punched while walking her kids for no other reason than wearing a hijab on her head, was because someone thought that because she wears it, she is a terrorist,” said Rehab. Rehab says he has heard from plenty of people who are outraged by the card, a card that calls “stupid and moronic.” The card is made by a New Jersey company that has the slogan ‘dare to laugh’. (CBS – Chicago)

Investigators Clueless on Cause of Limo Fire That Killed Bride, 4 Friends

2013-05-06T14:04:00Z

Investigators hope that the four people who escaped a limousine fire, in which a newlywed and four other women died, will offer key information about what started the weekend blaze as they crossed a San Francisco-area bridge. Nine women were in the limo, along with a male driver, when it caught fire in the westbound lane of the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge late Saturday, California Highway Patrol said. The bride was identified as 31-year-old Neriza Fojas. Fojas, a registered nurse, was recently married in the United States and was planning a second ceremony in the Philippines next month. Fojas and her friends were on their way to the Crowne Plaza Hotel for her bridal shower, where her husband was waiting, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. The driver, who was not hurt, told investigators he was driving the women over the bridge when one of them complained of smoke inside the passenger compartment, San Mateo County Coroner Robert Foucrault said, according to The Associated Press. By the time the driver pulled over and exited the 1999 Lincoln Town car, the back of the limo was fully engulfed in flames. Four passengers escaped the blaze, with one squeezing thought the partition behind the driver. (ABC News)

US News | Entertainment News | More ABC News Videos

Gore Is Romney-Rich With $200 Million After Bush Defeat

2013-05-06T14:01:00Z

In 1999, Al Gore, then U.S. vice president and a Democratic candidate for president, sold $6,000 worth of cows. The former senator, who spent most of his working life in Congress, had a net worth of about $1.7 million and assets that included pasture rents from a family farm and royalties from a zinc mine, remnants of his rural roots in Carthage, Tennessee. Funds from the cattle sale went to three of his kids, according to federal disclosure forms filed as part of his presidential run. Fourteen years later, he made an estimated $100 million in a single month. In January, the Current TV network, which he helped to start in 2004, was sold to Qatari-owned Al Jazeera Satellite Network for about $500 million. After debt, he grossed an estimated $70 million for his 20 percent stake, according to people familiar with the transaction.

Two weeks later, Gore exercised options, at $7.48 a share, on 59,000 shares of Apple Inc. stock that he’d been granted for serving on the Cupertino, California-based company’s board since 2003. On paper, it was about a $30 million payday based on the company’s share price on the day he claimed the options. That’s a pretty good January for a guy who couldn’t yet call himself a multimillionaire when he briefly slipped from public life after his bitterly contested presidential election loss to George W. Bush in late 2000, based on 1999 and 2000 disclosure forms. Gore isn’t finished exercising his Apple stock grants. Those 59,000 are part of 101,358 Apple options and shares of restricted stock Gore has amassed, according to company filings, giving his total holdings a gross value of more than $45.6 million today. (Bloomberg)

Family of Utah Soccer Referee Who Died Holds Vigil

2013-05-06T14:00:00Z

The oldest daughter of the Utah soccer referee who died Saturday a week after a teenage player punched him in the head hopes to forgive the young man who did it — but not yet. "I will, but not today; it's too soon," said Johana Portillo, 26, speaking Sunday night at a vigil to honor her father, Ricardo Portillo. "He was a father, he was a friend, he was a grandfather; he left a whole family behind. They should think before they do something stupid." Police have accused a 17-year-old player in a recreational soccer league of punching Ricardo Portillo, 46, after he called a foul on him and issued him a yellow card. Portillo died Saturday night after a week in a coma. Nearly 100 family and friends gathered at a candlelight vigil Sunday night on the front lawn of the Salt Lake City home of Ricardo Portillo. Wearing white shirts and holding signs that read, "In loving memory of Ricky," family and friends stood around a table that had a picture of Portillo raising his arms in victory, with flowers and candles surrounding it. (AP)

Bill Ayers defends Weather Underground bombings

2013-05-06T13:58:00Z

Bill Ayers says people can’t equate the bombings that he and others in the Weather Underground did 40 or so years ago with the April 15 twin bombings in Boston that killed three people. Ayers, a keynote speaker at Saturday’s annual May 4 commemoration of the National Guard shootings at Kent State in 1970 that left four students dead, spoke briefly after giving his talk before an estimated 350 people on the university’s Commons. There is no relationship at all between what Weather Underground members did and the bombings that two brothers allegedly committed on April 15 in Massachusetts, Ayers said in response to a reporter’s question. No one died in the Weather Underground bombings. “How different is the shooting in Connecticut from shooting at a hunting range?” Ayers said. “Just because they use the same thing, there’s no relationship at all.”

Ayers, a retired professor of education at the University of Illinois-Chicago, co-founded the anti-Vietnam War Weather Underground group that bombed the U. S. Capitol, the Pentagon and other buildings in the late 1960s and into the early 1970s. The radical Weather Underground took its name from lyrics in a Bob Dylan song. The United States is the most violent country that has ever been created, Ayers said. U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., committed daily war crimes in Vietnam “and I get asked about violence when what I did was some destruction of property to issue a scream and cry against an illegal war in which 6,000 people a week are being killed,” Ayers said. “Six thousand a week being killed and I destroyed some property. Show me the equivalence. You should ask John McCain that question … I’m against violence.” “To conflate a group of fundamentalist people [in Boston] who are nihilistic in some way with a group of people who spent their lives trying to oppose the murder of 6,000 people a week … and still the killing went on. And still the killing went on. What would you have done?” Ayers said. “There’s no equivalence [with Boston]. Property damage. That’s what we did.” (Akron Beacon Journal)

Kirsten Powers: Abortion Rights Community Has Become the NRA of the Left

2013-05-06T13:56:00Z

In her Daily Beast column:

Abortion rights advocates have argued that there is nothing to see here. Move along. This is what illegal abortion looks like, they say. But Gosnell’s clinic was not illegal. It was a licensed medical facility. The state of his clinic was well known: there were repeated complaints to government officials and even the local Planned Parenthood. He wasn’t operating under the radar but in plain sight, and he received referrals from abortion clinics up and down the East Coast. Gosnell performed plenty of abortions within the 24-week limit in Pennsylvania and worked part time for a National Abortion Federation–accredited clinic in Delaware. The woman Gosnell is on trial for allegedly killing, Karnamaya Mongar, perished during a legal abortion while she was 19 weeks pregnant. Gosnell was not forced to operate in the dark because of anti–abortion rights regulations. It’s the opposite: he was able to flourish—pulling in $1.8 million a year—because multiple abortion rights administrations decided that to inspect his clinic might mean limiting access to abortion. It’s all in the grand jury report, if you don’t believe me. One of the bodies discovered in the raid of the clinic was of a 22-week-old baby with a surgical incision on the back of her neck, which penetrated the first and second vertebrae. The only thing that would make her death illegal would be if Gosnell failed to finish her off in her mother's womb. Does that statement make you uncomfortable? Good…

We live in a country where if a six-months-pregnant woman started downing shots of vodka in a bar or lit up a cigarette, people might want her arrested. But that same woman could walk into an abortion clinic, no questions asked, and be injected with a drug that would stop her baby’s heart. I’ll put my cards on the table: I think life begins at conception and would love to live in a world where no women ever felt she needed to get an abortion. However, I know enough people who are pro-abortion rights—indeed, I was one of them for most of my life—to know that reasonable and sincere people can disagree about when meaningful life begins. They also can disagree about how to weigh that moral uncertainty against a woman’s right to control her body—and her own life. I have only ever voted for Democrats, so overturning Roe v. Wade is not one of my priorities. I never want to return to the days of gruesome back-alley abortions…

Speaking as a liberal who endorses more government regulation of practically everything—banks, water, air, food, oil drilling, animal safety—I am eternally perplexed by the fury the abortion rights contingent displays at the suggestion that the government might have a serious role to play in the issue of abortion, especially later-term abortion. More and more, the abortion rights community has become the NRA of the left: unleashing their armies of supporters and lobbyists in opposition to regulations or restrictions that the majority of Americans support. In the same way the NRA believes background checks will lead to the government busting down your door to confiscate your guns, the abortion rights movement conjures a straight line from parental consent to a complete ban on abortion.

Such an attitude makes having an honest conversation about abortion almost impossible. That is just one of the many reasons I hate talking about it. Additionally, there is no upside in our media culture to challenging this sacred cow. More likely, there is a price to be paid, which is why so few people take it on. However, I cannot legitimately say I am a person who cherishes human rights—the animating issue of my life and a frequent topic of my writing—and remain silent about our country’s legally endorsing infanticide. I simply have to believe we are better than this.

U.N. official: There are strong suspicions Syrian rebels used sarin gas

2013-05-06T13:55:00Z

A U.N. official says there are strong suspicions that Syrian rebel forces have used the deadly nerve agent sarin gas in the country's civil war. Carla Del Ponte told an Italian-Swiss TV station that the findings come after interviews with doctors and Syrian victims now in neighboring countries. Del Ponte, the commissioner of the U.N. Independent International Commission of Inquiry for Syria, said the notion isn't surprising, given the infiltration of foreign fighters into the Syrian opposition. But rebel Free Syrian Army spokesman Louay Almokdad said rebels don't even have unconventional weapons, nor do they want any. "In any case, we don't have the mechanism to launch these kinds of weapons, which would need missiles that can carry chemical warheads, and we in the FSA do not possess these kind of capabilities," Almokdad said. (CNN)

Israel bolsters defenses after strikes against Syria

2013-05-06T13:52:00Z

Israel is fortifying its northern defenses following two airstrikes within Syria targeting weapons allegedly being shipped to the militant group Hezbollah - strikes that have raised tension in the region and which one Syrian official described as tantamount to a "declaration of war." The Israelis still aren't admitting they did it and how, but no one doubts they did. The condemnation so far has been more ritual than emphatic, perhaps because of the targets. The massive explosions that rocked the Syrian capital destroyed shipments of missiles bound for Israel's arch enemy Hezbollah, according to unnamed Israeli officials. The Israelis claim the consignment included Iranian-made Fateh 110 missiles, capable of delivering half-ton warheads deep into Israeli territory with pinpoint accuracy. The Syrian government called the attacks a "flagrant violation of international law" that has made the Middle East "more dangerous" and characterized the strikes as proof of Israeli links to rebel groups fighting to overthrow the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. Syria's Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al-Mekdad told CNN that the strikes were an "act of war." But the rhetoric has been muted overall, though the airstrikes have raised concerns about a regional conflict and Israel has deployed several of its "Iron Dome" anti-missile defense batteries to the north to guard against any possible retaliation from Hezbollah. (CBS News)

Cambridge won't bury Marathon bombing suspect

2013-05-06T13:51:00Z

Cambridge officials on Sunday said they would not allow the body of Tamerlan Tsarnaev to be buried in the city’s cemetery, the latest chapter in a complicated saga to determine who is responsible for burying the body of the accused Boston Marathon bomber. Ruslan Tsarni, Tsarnaev’s uncle, on Sunday said he believed his nephew should be buried in Cambridge, despite calls from protesters to send his body overseas. “He lived in America. He grew up here and for the last 10 years he decided to be in Cambridge, therefore any contemplation that the body should be taken to a home country. . . . his home country is Cambridge, Mass.,” Tsarni said. “Tamerlan Tsarnaev has no other place to be buried.’’ Tsarnaev, along with his younger brother, Dzhokhar, is believed to have planted two bombs near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing three and injuring more than 260. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is being held in a federal detention center at Fort Devens.

Since Friday, Tsarnaev’s body has been at Graham Putnam & Mahoney Funeral Parlors in Worcester. After a handful of local cemeteries rejected requests to bury Tsarnaev, Peter Stefan, director of the funeral home, said he believed that the city of Cambridge was legally obligated to bury Tsarnaev at the municipal cemetery. But City Manager Robert W. Healy issued a statement Sunday urging the family not to apply for a Cambridge burial permit. Healy said he is responsible for maintaining peace in the city, which could be disturbed by such a burial. “The difficult and stressful efforts of the residents of the city of Cambridge to return to a peaceful life would be adversely impacted by the turmoil, protests, and widespread media presence at such an interment,” Healy said in his statement. “The Federal Bureau of Investigation has had the lead jurisdiction, and now, other appropriate federal agencies should take the lead in the burial of this individual,” he wrote. Stefan — who said he has been turned away by four private cemeteries, including two in Boston, that have special sections for Muslim burials — agreed. (Boston Globe)

Investigators return to Boston bombing suspect's apartment

2013-05-06T13:50:00Z

The investigation into the Boston Marathon bombings focused Sunday on the home of the older suspect, who died in a shootout, and on his widow as well. Federal agents again searched the Cambridge apartment of bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev. There was no comment on what brought them back. Sources have told CBS News that small amounts of bomb residue have already been found inside, appearing to corroborate the story that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has given investigators. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has admitted the bombs were made in his brother's apartment. Tamerlan's 24-year-old widow Katherine Russell shared the small apartment with her husband and their three-year-old daughter. The focus on Russell is intensifying. A search of her laptop found al Qaeda's online magazine "Inspire," which offers bomb-making instructions. Investigators would like to know whether Russell or her husband was accessing that material. (CBS News)

Clinton sought end-run around counterterrorism bureau on night of Benghazi attack, witness will say

2013-05-06T13:48:00Z

On the night of Sept. 11, as the Obama administration scrambled to respond to the Benghazi terror attacks, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and a key aide effectively tried to cut the department's own counterterrorism bureau out of the chain of reporting and decision-making, according to a "whistle-blower" witness from that bureau who will soon testify to the charge before Congress, Fox News has learned. That witness is Mark I. Thompson, a former Marine and now the deputy coordinator for operations in the agency’s counterterrorism bureau. Sources tell Fox News Thompson will level the allegation against Clinton during testimony on Wednesday before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, chaired by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif.

Fox News has also learned that another official from the counterterrorism bureau -- independently of Thompson -- voiced the same complaint about Clinton and Under Secretary for Management Patrick Kennedy to trusted national security colleagues back in October. Extremists linked to Al Qaeda stormed the American consulate and a nearby annex on Sept. 11, in a heavily armed and well-coordinated eight-hour assault that killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens, and three other Americans. Thompson considers himself a whistle-blower whose account was suppressed by the official investigative panel that Clinton convened to review the episode, the Accountability Review Board (ARB). Thompson's lawyer, Joseph diGenova, a former U.S. attorney, has further alleged that his client has been subjected to threats and intimidation by as-yet-unnamed superiors at State, in advance of his cooperation with Congress. Sources close to the congressional investigation who have been briefed on what Thompson will testify tell Fox News the veteran counterterrorism official concluded on Sept. 11 that Clinton and Kennedy tried to cut the counterterrorism bureau out of the loop as they and other Obama administration officials weighed how to respond to -- and characterize -- the Benghazi attacks. "You should have seen what (Clinton) tried to do to us that night," the second official in State's counterterrorism bureau told colleagues back in October. Those comments would appear to be corroborated by Thompson's forthcoming testimony. (Fox News)

Benghazi witness: We knew it was a terrorist attack 'from the get go'

2013-05-06T13:41:00Z

A top State Department official scheduled to give congressional testimony this week on the fatal attacks on the U.S. outpost in Benghazi, Libya, says he knew immediately they were terror strikes, not a protest turned violent, according to interview transcripts released Sunday. “I thought it was a terrorist attack from the get go,” says Greg Hicks, a 22-year foreign service diplomat who was the number two U.S. official in Libya at the time of the Sept. 11, 2012, attacks. “I think everybody in the mission thought it was a terrorist attack from the beginning.” Hicks is one of two self-described State Department “whistle-blowers” scheduled to testify Wednesday before the Republican-led House Oversight and Government Affairs Committee. The other is Mark Thompson, a former Marine and now the deputy coordinator for operations in the agency’s Counterterrorism Bureau. The third witness, Eric Nordstrom, an agency diplomatic security officer who was the regional security officer in Libya, has already testified before Congress.

Their testimony also comes amid recent concerns that the State Department is perhaps intimidating officials who know about the attacks and want to testify. Hicks is highly critical of the Obama administration’s explanation in the immediate aftermath of the attacks -- that the strikes were sparked by earlier protests in Egypt over an anti-Islamic video. The attacks killed U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans. “For there to have been a demonstration on Chris Stevens' front door and him not to have reported it is unbelievable,” says Hicks, according to the transcript provided by the committee. “And secondly, if he had reported it, he would have been out the back door within minutes of any demonstration appearing anywhere near that facility. And there was a back gate to the facility, and, you know, it worked. … Chris' last report, if you want to say his final report, is, "Greg, we are under attack." He also expresses frustration about why U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice appeared on all the major Sunday talk shows five days after the attacks and said they were sparked by protest and not premeditated, as Libya President Magarief was saying otherwise. “I reported an attack on the consulate,” Hicks says in the transcripts. “It's jaw dropping that to me how that came to be. … I was personally known to one of Ambassador Rice's staff members. And, you know, we're six hours ahead of Washington. Even on Sunday morning I could have been called.” The transcripts were released by House oversight committee Chairman Darrell Issa during an interview on CBS' "Face the Nation." (Fox News)

Viewer Mail for Monday, May 6

2013-05-06T13:03:00Z

LETTER OF THE DAY!

“I believe your statement that the public is not interested in Benghazi is way off. Ask any of us connected to the military in any way and you will find that we are not only interested, we are disgusted.”

Christina Fusco

Sopchoppy, FL

WAS THERE A COVER-UP?

Three key witnesses are expected to testify about the murder of four Americans in Benghazi in September. When the Obama administration first told the world this was an anti-American action, were they trying to hide the fact that it was really a terror attack?

“Our nation functions by rule of law, regardless of the interests of the American people. Please stop claiming because the people don’t care, the Benghazi cover-up is diminished.”

Frank Castro

Colorado Springs, CO

“How could anyone want to look the other way? As Americans, we should always want the truth and should accept nothing less.”

Steve Hanson

Omaha, NE

“The administration spent more effort developing their talking points to explain the Benghazi attack than on saving Ambassador Stevens.”

Cyndi Tolsma

Camp Hill, PA

“It is apparent the Obama administration purposefully lied to Americans in order to win the 2012 election. This is corrupt and the President should be impeached.”

Pamela Rocco

Haymarket, VA

“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize Benghazi was a complete cover-up by the Obama administration and Hillary Clinton, nor does it take one to realize they’ll get away with it.”

Cecelia Romesberg

Johnstown, PA

“The reason the public doesn’t care about Benghazi is because the press is largely covering it up. They don’t want their golden boy to be held accountable.”

Karen Shepherd

Kirkland, WA

“This affair is probably a combination of calumny, ineptitude, and an amateurish response to a serious breach of security.”

Jim Murphy

Germantown, TN

“Even a blind person can see how the Obama administration manipulated the facts about Benghazi. I’m disgusted that most Americans don’t care about the truth, nor do they want to hold those responsible who might have authorized an intervention during this attack.”

John Kurz

Killeen, TX

“Benghazi has been beat to death and the American voters don’t care much about four dead Americans. They’re more tuned into an NBA player coming out of the closet.”

Lou Frederico

Chandler, AZ

“Benghazi is the only spot on Hillary Clinton’s record? Are Vince Foster, Travel-gate, FBI File-gate, Whitewater, and China-gate just bumps in the road?”

Paul Epley

Surigao, Philippines

“Fox News needs to stick with the Benghazi story like the Washington Post stuck with Watergate. Keep banging the drum and eventually the truth will come out.”

Jennifer Logan

Stamford, CT

“I’m one American who does care about the Benghazi cover-up, but you are right to suggest most people don’t care. If they did, we would not have the liars we now have elected to high office.”

Mike King

Puklaski, VA

“The 43% who don’t believe there was a Benghazi cover-up are the same 43% who drink the Kool-Aid and simply don’t care what our government does.”

Steve Smith

Holley, NY

“The Benghazi investigation is solely an attempt to try to bring Hillary down, as she is unbeatable in 2016. It simply won’t work.”

Sassan Darian

Orange County, CA

“Americans would rather watch the Jodi Arias trial because they are aware of it. The liberal media has kept Benghazi under wraps. If you haven’t been watching Fox News, you don’t even know about the story.”

Bob Sherman

Daytona Beach, FL

“The American people don’t care about Benghazi because the news media hasn’t made a big deal out of it. Benghazi could be Obama’s Watergate if only the media would cover it like they did Nixon’s scandal.”

Barry VanTrees

Indianapolis, IN

REDNECK DAY

When an Arizona high school declared May 1^st “Redneck Day,” controversy erupted among students and parents.

“According to several historical documents, the term ‘redneck’ was first used to describe coal miners trying to unionize. They showed their solidarity by wearing a red kerchief around their necks.”

Michael Janik

Chandler, AZ

“I’m 69-years-old and I’ve never associated the Confederate Flag with anything racial – it just means being a rebel. I remember it being painted on the roof of the General Lee in the Dukes of Hazard without controversy.”

Jim Cardinal

Philadelphia, PA

“As Jeff Foxworthy once explained, being a redneck is the glorious absence of sophistication.”

Peter Wurzbach

Coppell, TX

“The term ‘redneck’ came from white farmers getting a red neck from being out in the sun farming. It was a derogatory term used by northerners or non-farmers to define rural and less refined southerners.”

Harold Billings

Greensboro, NC

“You’re a former history teacher. You should know the term originated in the earliest days of the 20^th century when union members wrapped red bandanas around their necks to recruit additional members. ‘Redneck’ has since been given a bad rap.”

Michael Hambright

Overland Park, KS

Laura Ingraham: Immigration reform and the Boston bombing

2013-05-06T12:37:54Z

By Laura Ingraham

If you've heard members of the "Gang of Eight" push comprehensive immigration reform, well, you have heard them repeat this tired line; "We must do something because the system is broken."

But to say the system is broken is really to remove responsibility from politicians who refuse to enforce the current laws and also the individuals who willfully break them.

In Mexico yesterday the president, off-teleprompter by the way, said we shouldn't be bogged down on border issues. Bogged down on border issues? Does it sound like someone serious about enforcement?

By the way, CBS News reported this week that illegal crossings in one border area have nearly tripled since January. That means promise of amnesty is a huge magnet. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani told me last week on radio that enforcement provisions in the proposed bill will not work, especially since Homeland Security Chief Janet Napolitano can waive most of the requirements.

Now suddenly Marco Rubio has gone from saying that the bill contains the toughest border controls ever to it might not pass the Senate if it's not strengthened.

Meantime, immigration and custom enforcement announced today that effective immediately it will track student visa holders to make sure they are actually enrolled in school. Of course, they were shamed in to doing this because of the revelations that two of the Boston bombers pals violated student visa requirements. It's pathetic.

By the way, remember the national security entry/exit registration system that was supposed to give extra scrutiny for visa holders from countries with terror ties? Well, in 2011, team Obama ditched it. So the system is not broken, but the politicians sure are.

And that's "The Memo."

— You can catch "Talking Points Memo" weeknights at 8 and 11 p.m. ET on the Fox News Channel and any time on foxnews.com/oreilly. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com.

Transcript Date:

Fri, 05/03/2013

Transcript Show Name:

O'Reilly Factor

Transcript Talent Byline:

Laura Ingraham

New crossword: Indelible Ad Icons

2013-05-03T21:37:00Z

This week's puzzle is filled with some of Madison Avenue's most memorable past and present pitchmen (and women, of course.) Play online or print it out for the road.

Go: O'Reilly crossword

Learn More about the Trackchair

2013-05-03T20:55:00Z

Bill is making it his mission to get help for our wounded warriors. Head to ActionTrackChair.com to learn more about the chairs he wants to procure for those who have lost limbs in the war on terror.

Judge Napolitano's Column: More Holes in the Fourth Amendment

2013-05-03T18:33:00Z

Here they go again. The Obama administration has asked its allies in Congress to introduce legislation that would permit the feds to continue their march through the Fourth Amendment when it comes to obtaining private information about all of us.
        The Fourth Amendment, which guarantees the right to be left alone, was written largely in response to legislation Parliament enacted in the colonial era that permitted British soldiers to write their own search warrants and then use those warrants as a legal basis to enter private homes. The ostensible purpose of doing that was to search through the colonists' papers looking for stamps, which the Stamp Act required the colonists to affix to all documents in their possession. The laws that permitted the soldier-written search warrants and the Stamp Act were the British government's fatal political mistakes, which arguably caused a major shift in colonial opinion toward secession from Britain 10 years before the bloody part of the Revolution began.
        After the Founders won the Revolution, the Framers wrote the Constitution in large measure to assure that the new government in America would not and could not do to Americans what the king had done to the colonists. Hence the Fourth Amendment's requirement that only judges issue search warrants and only after the governmental agency seeking the warrants presents evidence under oath of probable cause of crime. Regrettably, that was weakened after 9/11 with the enactment of the Patriot Act.
        The Patriot Act -- written in defiance of the Constitution and in ignorance of our history -- permits federal agents to write their own search warrants, just as the king and Parliament had permitted British soldiers to do. Those agent-written search warrants are intended to be limited to the search for evidence of terror plots and are theoretically limited to the seizure of physical records in the custody of third parties, like lawyers, doctors, hospitals, billing clerks, telephone and Internet carriers, and even the Post Office. (Did you know that federal agents can see your mail and your legal and medical records without permission from a judge?) This abominable piece of legislation sacrificed freedom for safety and enhanced neither.
        Now the feds want even more personal liberty sacrificed -- this time to make it easier for them to collect digital information.
        The Obama administration wants legislation enacted that will punish Internet service providers who fail to cooperate with FBI requests and court orders. The FBI has revealed that its agents often "lack the time" to obtain search warrants, and so they have gotten into the bad habit of asking Internet service providers to let them in without warrants.
        This was notoriously done in the Bush-era, during which the feds promised immunity to telephone service providers that enabled the feds to spy on their customers. That spying was criminal and gave rise to civil causes of action for damages, as well, until Congress changed the law retroactively and granted the promised immunity after the Bush administration spying was exposed.
        Some telephone providers declined the government requests then, and some Internet providers decline these requests today. Hence, the proposed legislation would punish those providers who protect the privacy of their customers by telling the FBI to go home.
        The second category of punishment sought by the administration is for Internet service providers as to which the FBI has obtained a warrant. A search warrant typically authorizes the government to enter private premises and look for the specific items designated in the warrant. But it does not require the custodian of those specific items to find them for the government. This proposed legislation would change all that.
        The government has subtly revealed that when it comes to digital data it often does not know what it is looking for, and its agents lack the skills to hook into the Internet providers' systems. This raises another set of questions, likely to escape members of Congress as they examine this latest assault on the Fourth Amendment.
        The Framers were very careful when they wrote the Fourth Amendment, as it imposes the most explicit requirements on the government found anywhere in the Constitution. It requires that all search warrants "particularly describ(e) the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized." So, if the government follows the Constitution, it cannot seek what it is unable to identify, and it cannot compel the custodian of whatever records it is seeking to do its work for it.
        Until now.
        If enacted, the proposed legislation will punish those Internet service providers that fail to share secrets with the feds. The Obama administration hopes the legislation, if enacted, will enable the feds to set up a system that will let them tap into Internet service providers' data directly from FBI offices, without having to serve the warrant or visit the Internet providers' premises.
        What a temptation for abuse that will become. It will compel data sharing between the government and Internet service providers that will eviscerate what little remains of personal email privacy. It will profoundly violate the Fourth Amendment by turning employees of Internet service providers into de facto unpaid federal agents. And it will punish all those who decline to go along with this with crippling fines that double every day.
        Wasn't the Constitution written to keep the government off the backs of the people? Does the government work for us, or do we work for the government?

UPDATE: Website offers $2,600 for New Hampshire man's dreadlocked banana, report says

2013-05-03T14:24:00Z

After learning that a New Hampshire man lost his life savings at a carnival in hopes of winning an Xbox, a satire website offered to buy the large stuffed banana the man received as a consolation gift for the same amount of money the man lost, WBZ reports. Henry Gribbohm, 30, of New Hampshire, told WBZ-TV that he ended up losing $2,600 playing Tubs of Fun at a Fiesta Shows' carnival. The next day, he said he complained to a person running the game and was given $600 and a large stuffed banana with dreadlocks. Gribbohm later filed a report with the Manchester Police Department claiming that the game was rigged. The department told the station that it is investigating the matter. Tubs of Fun is notoriously challenging. Gribbohm told the station that he practiced and thought he had a knack for it. But once the game began, the balls started popping out of the water. His only explanation: "It's not possible that it wasn't rigged." CollegeHumor.com caught wind of the story, and announced it would buy the dreadlocked banana for the $2,600. “For every Facebook 'Like' this post gets, we'll put 10 cents toward the cost of Henry's stuffed banana, and if we get to 26,000 Likes, we'll offer to buy Henry's banana for $2,600. If this post gets over 30,000 Likes, we'll offer to buy Henry's banana AND pay for the Xbox Kinect that he was originally trying to win,” the post said. (Fox News)

Man dies in tragic ponytail stunt

2013-05-03T14:23:00Z

Sailendra Nath Roy, 48, was performing the feat on the Teesta river in West Bengal when he suffered a heart attack. Hundreds of spectators watched his last moments in horror. In March 2011, Mr Roy was named a Guinness World Record holder for travelling the farthest distance on a zip wire using hair. He worked as a driver for the police. Mr. Roy was trying to cross the Coronation Bridge over the Teesta river near Siliguri town suspended from a zip wire 600ft (180m) long at a height of 70ft (20m). A large number of people had gathered on the bridge to watch the feat. Witnesses said that Mr. Roy appeared to make no progress after covering about 300ft (90m). "He was desperately trying to move forward. He was trying to scream out some instruction. But no one could follow what he was saying. After struggling for 30 minutes he became still," said Balai Sutradhar, a photographer, who was covering the stunt. Police said he was hanging for nearly 45 minutes before he was brought down. Doctors at the hospital said he had suffered a "massive heart attack". Mr. Roy had arrived at the riverside on Sunday morning and set up the zip wire from the bridge with help from friends. He was wearing a life jacket, but there were no doctors or emergency services on the spot. Police said that Mr. Roy had not got permission to do the stunt. (BBC)

How the Internet is boosting marriage rates

2013-05-03T14:22:00Z

Yes, the Internet. In fact, the study notes, marriage rates are between 13 percent and 30 percent higher than they’d be without the advent of broadband technology. The basic intuition here is that stuff like online dating makes it easier for people to find potential partners — or, as University of Montreal economist Andriana Bellou puts it, the Internet “has the potential to reduce search frictions.” That’s not utterly implausible. Researchers have already noted that the Internet allows us to find jobs and homes more easily. Why not spouses? To test this out, Bellou exploits the fact that broadband arrived in the United States unevenly during the 1990s and 2000s. And she compares the rates of adoption trends with Current Population Survey data on marriage rates for Americans aged 21-30. What she found was that “marriage rates grew on average more in states with greater increases in broadband penetration.” The data is awfully messy, but there does seem to be a correlation (Washington Post)

Teen mom's photo banned from NC high school yearbook

2013-05-03T14:19:00Z

The picture of a Wheatmore High School senior holding her son has been banned from the school yearbook. Last summer, the school invited seniors to include a prop in their senior picture that represents an achievement or something that best represents them. Students say the invitation did not include rules or requirements. Students chose everything from baseballs, band instruments to family pets. Caitlin Tiller chose her son, Leelin. “He helped me get to where I am today,” said Tiller who is 17. “I wouldn’t be the person I am today without him.” Tiller says since the birth of her son in April of 2012, she’s worked harder in school and graduated early. She started college in January and works more than 30 hours a week at a part-time job all while also being teenage mom. Tiller says she gets a lot of support from her family and Leelin’s father. In April, just two days before the yearbook was to be printed, Tiller says school staff told her the picture was being pulled because it promoted teen pregnancy. Tiller says she believes the picture promotes responsibility and love. “He has helped me achieve my goal to graduate high school and go forward with my dreams,” she said. Randolph County School officials would not comment on exactly why the picture was pulled, except to say the yearbook should be all about the student not an extension of their family. “She took responsibility,” said Tiller’s mom Karen Morgan. “They should be proud that the students are willing to stay in school graduate and make something of themselves and not try and hide it.” (WGHP)

High school track team disqualified for making religious gesture

2013-05-03T14:18:00Z

Some people are outraged after a high school track team is disqualified from competing in state finals because one runner made a religious gesture. In just a few seconds the boys Columbus High School 4 X 100 relay team went from winning the regional meet, heading to state championships to having it all stripped away. How did the "W" so quickly become "DQ"? Well. when the anchor of the relay team crossed the finish line, he won the race, raised his finger to the sky and that gesture caused the winning regional's relay team to be disqualified. "It's a sad deal. I think it's a travesty. Those kids work hard," says K.C. Hayes. Hayes' son Derrick Hayes is the runner who won the race then pointed to God, turning a once in a lifetime opportunity into a huge heartbreak that will likely last his lifetime. "As a team they reached their goal and in an instant it was just gone, over something we think is a non-issue. I guess someone else thinks it is an issue. He just said dad I was pointing at the heavens" says K.C. Hayes.

A judge with the University Interscholastic League or UIL, which enforces the rules for high school athletics, was there at the meet in Kingsville and made the call to disqualify the four member relay team. "For those kids the work they put in, what are we teaching them? Ok you're going to sacrifice, work hard and do everything it takes and ok it's just ripped away," says Hayes. "It's a harsh consequence for what some people may deem a small gesture. The rule states no celebratory gestures including raising your arms," explains Columbus I.S.D. Superintendent Robert O'Connor. According to the UIL the relay team was disqualified for "unsporting conduct". The UIL also points out, it does not have a rule prohibiting religious expression. "You can do whatever you want to in terms of prayer, kneeling or whatever you want to once you get out of the competition area. You just can't do it in the competition area. It goes back to the taunting rule. I can't taunt my opponent," O'Connor explains. (Fox Houston)

Houston weather, traffic, news | FOX 26 | MyFoxHouston

TMZ: Lindsay Lohan -- Safe and Sound at Betty Ford ... For Now

2013-05-03T14:16:00Z

Lindsay Lohan is safely ensconced at The Betty Ford Center rehab facility in Rancho Mirage, CA, TMZ has learned. Sources familiar with the situation tell TMZ ... Lindsay checked in late Thursday night ... barely dodging a looming arrest warrant. Lindsay has re-hired Shawn Holley, who then negotiated with Santa Monica City Attorney Terry White to make the deal that Betty Ford was an acceptable rehab joint. It's ironic Lindsay is at Betty Ford -- you'll recall back in 2010 Lindsay got into an epic fight during her rehab stay with a staffer. The police were called and civil lawsuits were filed. TMZ was told prosecutors will back off their promise to seek an arrest warrant today ... although they still have to get the judge to sign off on Betty Ford, but it looks like that will just be a formality.

REESE WITHERSPOON ARREST DASH CAM VIDEO - Crazier Than You Thought!

2013-05-03T14:10:00Z

Reese Witherspoon wasn't kidding when she told GMA she was "saying all kinds of crazy things" ... and TMZ has obtained the entire, unbelievably entertaining dash cam video. The footage, obtained from law enforcement sources, shows the officer arresting Reese's husband Jim Toth for DUI in the early morning hours of April 19. Reese -- who since admitted she was hammered at the time -- decided to butt in during the arrest ... and the officer obviously wasn't having it and cartoonishly enforced the law with a vengeance. In fact, the cop warned Reese several times to sit down and be quiet so he could focus on Jim -- Witherspoon didn't exactly comply. Instead, Reese got in the officer's face ... and annoyed him to the point that he arrested her for disorderly conduct. Here are some of Reese's finest quotes during the incident:

Reese: "Do you know my name sir?"

Officer: "Don't need to know."

Reese "You don't NEED to know my name?"

Officer: "Not quite yet."

Reese: "YOU'RE ABOUT TO FIND OUT WHO I AM!"…

Reese: "I'm now being arrested and handcuffed??"

Reese: "I'm an American citizen ... I'm allowed to stand on American ground."

And the best line -- "I'm obstructing your justice?" After Reese's tirade, Jim actually told the cop, "I'm sorry, I had nothing to do with that!" During the arrest, Reese also told the cop she was pregnant and needed to pee. She later confessed on "GMA" that she panicked and said "crazy things" because her husband was being arrested.

Reese Witherspoon Arrest DASH CAM VIDEO -- Crazier Than You Thought - Watch More Celebrity Videos or Subscribe

Rubio: Islamic "Evil Exists, Evil Must Be Defeated

2013-05-03T14:06:00Z

Senator Marco Rubio delivered strong warnings to a group of Republicans in Port St. Lucie, Florida, about the country of Iran, the world leading state sponsor of terrorism. Rubio said that the country is only focused on becoming a “hegemonic power” in the Persian Gulf region. Rubio warns that if Iran is allowed to control the Persian Gulf, in particularly the Strait of Hormus, and the regions shipping lanes and oil production, that it would “bring the world to its knees.” Adding to that warning, Rubio says that Iran is “investing in missile technology and small fast boats for the sheer purpose of being able to inflict maximum pain on the US Navy in that region.”

Their intentions are clear. they want to become a hegemonic power in that region, not just at our expense, but at the expense of the world. There is only one nation on earth capable of stopping that from happening, and that’s the United States of America.- Senator Marco Rubio

In discussing the radical Islamic threat, the junior Senator from Florida all but said that the fight needed to be taken to the Islamist wherever they may be, or “one day they will find themselves here.”

This war against radical Islamic terrorism may last for the rest of our lifetimes and unfortunately, maybe even our children. There is still evil in the world, and evil must be defeated. The United States of America remains the only country on earth with the ability and the willingness to call evil for what it is, confront it, and defeat it. In the absence of American leadership there’s chaos.

(The Shark Tank)

'16 Dem poll: It's all Hill

2013-05-03T14:05:00Z

Hillary Rodham Clinton is dominating the Democratic field in a new presidential poll by a margin that could make her think twice about any planned retirement from politics. Clinton gets 65 percent of the vote when put against other Democrats in the latest Quinnipiac University poll. Vice President Joe Biden gets just 13 percent, followed by Gov. Cuomo at just 4 percent. Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, Virginia Sen. Mark Warner and Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick each polled 1 percent or less.“Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has a rock-solid hold on the hearts of Democratic voters at this point,” said pollster Peter A. Brown. Ron SachsHillary Clinton She also has the financial support of EMILY’s List, a group backing women pols. Sources told The Post’s Fredric Dicker this week that Cuomo won’t run if Clinton does. (NY Post)

South Carolina bill would make it a crime to implement ObamaCare

2013-05-03T14:03:00Z

The Supreme Court may have ruled ObamaCare is constitutional, but implementing the controversial federal law would become a crime in South Carolina if a bill passed by the state House becomes law. The bill, approved Wednesday by a vote of 65-39, declares President Obama's signature legislation "null and void." Whereas the law that Obama pushed and Congress passed is known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, South Carolina's law would be known as the Freedom of Health Care Protection Act. It would prohibit state officials and employees from "enforcing or attempting to enforce such unconstitutional laws" and "establish criminal penalties and civil liability" for those who engage in activities that aid the implementation of ObamaCare. The Supreme Court ruled last year that ObamaCare's underlying provision, requiring all Americans to obtain health insurance, is constitutional, though lawsuits still are pending that argue against certain parts of that mandate -- in particular, contraceptive coverage, which some Christian employers argue violates their religious beliefs. In South Carolina, the nullification bill would allow the state attorney general to take action against anyone causing harm by the implementation of ObamaCare. It proceeds to the state Senate for committee review, according to The Washington Times. (Fox News)

Media downplay Tsarnaev connection to Muslim student group

2013-05-03T14:01:00Z

Coverage of the Boston Marathon bombing has ignored admitted bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s connection to his college’s Muslim Student Association, a group that has close relations with both the Muslim Brotherhood and a local imam friendly with an al-Qaida operative. Although a student leader and the mainstream media have downplayed Tsarnaev’s ties to the the group, Tsarnaev associated frequently with the Muslim Student Association (MSA) at University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth. Several Muslim Student Association students have been brought up on terrorism charges. In April 2012, Muslim Student Association member Tarek Mehanna, who earned a doctorate at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy, was sentenced to 17 and a half years for conspiring to aid al-Qaida. Abu Mansoor Al-Amriki (a.k.a. Omar Hammani), a terrorist leader and former president of the University of South Alabama’s Muslim Students’ Association, was added to the FBI’s Most Wanted List in 2012. The Facebook page of the Muslim Student Association at University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth has over one hundred members and routinely advertises speeches and seminars taught by radical imams and the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR)’s Todd Gallinger, who visited the campus in the days after the Boston bombing.

Federal prosecutors in 2007 named CAIR as an “unindicted co-conspirator” in a criminal conspiracy to aid Hamas, and an FBI agent testified that the group was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Palestine Committee. Although that case ended in a mistrial, the FBI in January 2009 instructed all field offices to cut ties with CAIR. Still, CAIR continues to be the go-to group for Muslim Student Association groups. In keeping with that radicalism, U. Mass-Dartmouth’s MSA Facebook group’s members repeatedly advertise talks by radical imams like Suhaib Webb of the Islamic Society of Boston’s Roxbury center. Webb, a convert to Islam who leads the largest mosque in New England, regularly preaches in the Cambridge mosque the two brothers attended. Webb was an associate of Anwar Awlaki, an Al-Qaeda affiliated preacher killed in 2011 by a drone strike. Two days before the attacks of September 11, 2001, the two imams headlined a fundraiser [pdf] on behalf of Jamil al Amin (a.k.a. H. Rap Brown), who had murdered two police officers. Webb and Awlaki raised $100,000 to pay for Amin’s legal defense. (Daily Caller)

State Department's Benghazi review panel under investigation, Fox News confirms

2013-05-03T14:01:00Z

The State Department's Office of Inspector General is investigating the special internal panel that probed the Benghazi terror attack for the State Department, Fox News has confirmed. The IG's office is said by well-placed sources to be seeking to determine whether the Accountability Review Board, or ARB -- led by former U.N. Ambassador Thomas Pickering and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen -- failed to interview key witnesses who had asked to provide their accounts of the Benghazi attacks to the panel. The IG's office notified the department of the "special review" on March 28, according to Doug Welty, the congressional and public affairs officer of the IG's office. This disclosure marks a significant turn in the ongoing Benghazi case, as it calls into question the reliability of the blue-ribbon panel that then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton convened to review the entire matter. Until the report was concluded, she and all other senior Obama administration officials regularly refused to answer questions about what happened in Benghazi. Since the ARB report was issued in December -- finding that "systemic failures and leadership and management deficiencies at senior levels" well below Clinton were to blame for the "inadequate" security at Benghazi -- Clinton and other top officials have routinely referred questioners to the conclusions of the board report. Now the methodology and final product of the ARB are themselves coming under the scrutiny of the department's own top auditor. (Fox News)

Kazakh students drove BMW with license plate reading 'Terrorista #1'; fathers say it was just a gag

2013-05-03T13:59:00Z

The two Kazakh students arrested Wednesday in the Boston Marathon bombing investigation are not accused of being part of the plot to set off the bombs, but questions have arisen about the novelty license plate on the front of the BMW they drove, which bore the words “Terrorista #1.” Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev come off as fun-loving teens who did not realize what they were getting into when they allegedly disposed of a backpack and laptop belonging to Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who is accused of planting the bombs that killed three and injured more than 260. The three knew each other because they went to the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth together. The government of Kazakhstan emphasized today that the young men were not charged with any involvement in the bombings themselves. “We would like to emphasize that our citizens did not receive charges of involvement in the organization of Boston marathon bombings.

They were charged with destroying evidence,” the Kazakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement posted on its website. But the men’s arrests have forced both of their fathers to answer questions about the plate on the black BMW they drove around in. “Terrorista #1 doesn’t mean Osama bin Laden, doesn’t mean ‘terrorist.’ In their slang it’s means ‘happy-go-lucky, a leader of the pack, that sort of thing’ and not that they’re going to blow someone up,” Azamat’s father, Amir Ismagulov, said in a recent interview with a Kazakh television station. “They drove around in that car for four months and no one arrested them.” (Boston Globe)

First plan was to attack Boston on July 4, officials say

2013-05-03T13:58:00Z

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the surviving suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings, told federal investigators that he and his brother initially planned to detonate explosives at Boston’s vaunted July Fourth celebration on the Charles River Esplanade, according to two officials briefed on the interrogation. When the brothers built the bombs faster than they had anticipated, they drove around Boston and Cambridge sometime before Patriots Day casing police stations, with an alternative plan to launch an attack on law enforcement officers, one of the officials said. “They surveyed these police stations, multiple stations in Boston and one in Cambridge,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “They built the bombs so fast that they decided to move the whole plan up.” The fresh details from the FBI’s interrogation of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev further underscores the notion of an oddly haphazard plot, one that ultimately focused on the home stretch and finish line of the Boston Marathon, the city’s most iconic sporting event.

In other developments Thursday, the lawyer for a Kazakh national charged with trying to destroy evidence in the bombing case said that his client turned over Tsarnaev’s laptop computer to the FBI four days after the deadly explosions. The computer, which could hold key information about reasons and planning for the bombing, was handed to FBI agents during their first interview with Dias Kadyrbayev, according to his lawyer, Robert G. Stahl. Kadyrbayev, 19, was charged Wednesday with two other men with trying to destroy or cover up evidence linking Tsarnaev, their friend at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, to the April 15 bombing. Tsarnaev’s friends are not implicated in the actual bombing plot. According to authorities, Kadyrbayev told them he took the laptop and a backpack from Tsarnaev’s dorm room at UMass Dartmouth after seeing Tsarnaev in photos released by the FBI on April 18 during a desperate search for the bombing suspects. Kadyrbayev helped discard the backpack, which held an array of fireworks, in a dumpster outside the New Bedford apartment where he lived, authorities said. (Boston Globe)

Boston Marathon Bomb DNA Does Not Match Tamerlan Tsarnaev's Wife

2013-05-03T13:53:00Z

Female DNA and fingerprints found on a bomb fragment recovered from the Boston Marathon attacks do not match the widow of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, CBS News reported Friday. The FBI collected DNA and hair samples from Katherine Russell at her parents’ home in North Kingstown, Rhode Island Monday. The source of the genetic material on the pressure cooker bomb remains unknown. “That could end up being anybody – a store clerk, one of the victims of the bombings – and they may never know,” said CBS News senior correspondent John Miller. Russell is not a suspect and has not been charged with anything, but investigators still want to question her to find out what, if anything, she knew of her husband’s plans. (CBS – Boston)

Obama Backs 'Plan B' Pill for Teen Girls

2013-05-03T13:48:00Z

President Obama said on Thursday that he supports the Food and Drug Administration’s decision to allow the sale of the “Plan B” emergency contraception pill to women 15 years and older, a decision many women’s rights groups say doesn’t go far enough. “The rule that’s been put forward by the FDA, Secretary [of Health and Human Services Kathleen] Sebelius has reviewed, she’s comfortable with it, I’m comfortable with it,” Obama said at a press conference during a state visit to Mexico. “The current ruling… you could phrase it as they’re allowing contraceptives to be sold over the counter for 15 year olds and over. It has not resolved the question of girls younger than 15.”

“I’m very comfortable with the decision that is being made right now based on solid scientific evidence for girls 15 and older,” Obama added. Obama did not reiterate the position he took in 2011 which opposed the sale of emergency contraception to girls as young as 10. “I will say this, as the father of two daughters. I think it is important for us to make sure that we apply some common sense to various rules when it comes to over-the-counter medicine,” Obama said at the press conference back then. “And as I understand it, the reason Kathleen made this decision was she could not be confident that a 10-year-old or an 11-year-old going to a drugstore should be able—alongside bubble gum or batteries—be able to buy a medication that potentially, if not used properly, could end up having an adverse effect.” (ABC News)

Bill O'Reilly: More evidence the far left is out of control in America

2013-05-03T13:13:57Z

By Bill O'Reilly

Yesterday was May Day, where communists and socialists celebrate their belief that stealing private property is a good thing. Of course far-left would say that private property itself is evil that it should not exist. And that is what happens in countries like Cuba. The government controls all property.

The United States, however, was founded on a capitalistic system where Americans can pursue success in a free marketplace and then when they earn money they can buy what they want. That is called private property. But the far-left in America doesn't like that very much. And yesterday in Seattle, thousands of loons took to the streets.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Move back. (EXPLETIVE DELETED)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Metal pipes have been thrown from the crowd at cars and at officers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just a second ago someone went a pack of fireworks. And there was a cheer in the crowd.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Careful. Back up, back up.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The protesters are throwing water bottles at police and rocks.

(EXPLETIVE DELETED)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Move back. Move back.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is what some of these protesters want. They want to be arrested. They want it on TV.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: At least 17 people were arrested. Eight Seattle police officers injured -- another black mark for that beautiful city which is now controlled by left wing zealots.

It is not just Seattle that's a problem; most everywhere in the USA the far left is running wild. In Florida we saw a paid representative of Planned Parenthood testify that babies born alive should not be guaranteed life-saving health. And here in New York a professor who teaches at NYU wants to do away with the traditional family standard.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUDITH STACEY, NYU PROFESSOR: I say why should there be marriage at all. What should limit it to two and why should it be monogamous? Nothing in my view gives the state that particular interest. I'm not arguing for those other forms though I do in my book argue for the decriminalization of polygamy.

I would agree that we should get rid of the sexual family. There is no reason in the contemporary world to base our relationships necessarily on sex.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: Now add to that the legalization of marijuana in Washington State and Colorado. The punitive taxation some states are levying on the wealthy and the view that America is the villain throughout the world. And there you have the far left vision.

Twenty years ago that craziness would have been openly rejected by most Americans. But today, traditional forces are somewhat disorganized and many non-political Americans simply have no idea what's going on and don't really care. That leaves an open field for the loons who assaulted Seattle yesterday and, believe me, they are taking full advantage of it.

And that's "The Memo."

- You can catch Bill O'Reilly's "Talking Points Memo" weeknights at 8 and 11 p.m. ET on the Fox News Channel and any time on foxnews.com/oreilly. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com.

Transcript Date:

Thu, 05/02/2013

Transcript Show Name:

O'Reilly Factor

Transcript Talent Byline:

Bill O'Reilly

parsimonious

2013-05-03T04:28:00Z

[pahr-suh-MOAN-ee-us] Extremely frugal, cheap

Viewer Mail for Thursday, May 2

2013-05-03T03:17:00Z

LETTER OF THE DAY!

“Youngsters may be more sexually active than adults realize. What if they’re taking these morning-after pills two or three times a week? We don’t know what frequent use will do to them, and this is a dangerous way to find out.”

M.S. Haden

Houston, TX

MOB MENTALITY

Anarchists in Seattle took to the streets to protest capitalism. Democratic pundit James Carville appeared in the no spin zone to disassociate his party with these loons.

“You were wrong letting Carville get away with implying the Seattle thugs are anarchists. Anarchy suggests a far-right ideology with little or no government. Those loons were far-left, approaching Communist.”

Ed Groth

Beacon Falls, CT

“As a retired police officer, I can tell you these individuals are not left-wing loons. Unlike the protests of the 60s and 70s, a significant number of these people today are hard-core anarchists.”

Carl Caudill

Reno, NV

“As a native Seattleite, I have seen firsthand too many times these self-proclaimed anarchists causing massive disruption on Seattle streets. To call them far-left is giving them too much respect.”

Kyle Poague

Phoenix, AZ

“With Obama in power, the anarchists are emboldened, aided and abetted by the law-abiding Carvilles of this world. The liberal tone is dominating, which will lead to chaos.”

Richard Johnson

Springfield, MO

“Call them what you want, but the bottom line is that these protesters vote Democrat so that makes them Democrats. By calling them anything else, you are letting the Democratic Party off the hook.”

Kevin Dunn

Ojai, CA

“The Seattle police officers were not hurt in random acts of violence perpetrated by random criminals as Carville tried to spin it. They were harmed in the name of a far-left agenda.”

Tim Lazicki

Lombard, IL

“When you bring on a guy like James Carville to help define left-wing extremism, you’re looking for love in all the wrong places. Just because he’s not rioting in the streets doesn’t make him mainstream.”

Bruce Edmund

Roswell, GA

MILITARY PROSELYTIZING?

An organization called the Military Religious Freedom Foundation claims non-believers are being punished by military officers.

“If Mikey Weinstein gets his way, it will be a whole new don’t-ask-don’t-tell in the military – this time for Christianity.”

Geoff Roark

Tyler, TX

“Too bad there wasn’t more proselytizing when I was stationed in Germany while training to stop the Soviet Army moving into Western Europe. The troopers would have had fewer hangovers and social diseases.”

Keith Wilkening

Bloomington, MN

“I’m a Staff Sergeant in the U.S. Army, and I have never experienced any overzealous Christian proselytizing. If anything, being a Christian in the military today is an extreme challenge because you’re a minority.”

Justin Rose

Castle Rock, CO

“While Mr. Weinstein opposes Christian evangelism in the military, he believes it’s acceptable to impose his own atheistic religious views upon everyone else in the military.”

Joel Hunt

Lincoln, NE

“You let Mr. Weinstein off a bit easy. He has stated that chaplains in the military are guilty of treason. He needs to explain these comments.”

Corey Kunde

Madison, WI

“I’ve served 16 years in the U.S. Marine Corps and I’ve never been subjected to what Mr. Weinstein is talking about, nor have I ever heard of it being done to anyone else.”

George Thompson

Janesville, WI

“Why is it that when Christians have an opinion, they are evil, wrong, and intolerant, but when Mr. Weinstein has an opinion, he’s just right?”

Mary Loudon

Long Point, IL

“I’m a military officer with more than 20 years in service. I have had Muslims, homosexuals, atheists, and everyone under the sun work for me. Religious freedom is highly respected within the ranks.”

Candido Ortiz

Jacksonville, FL

NO AGE LIMIT

A federal judge has ruled that morning-after birth control pills should be available to females of any age without parental consent or a prescription.

“I’m a 21-year-old college student who still gets carded at Wal-Mart when I buy cough medicine. Teenagers being allowed morning-after pills without supervision is absurd.”

Tommy Mitch

Butler, PA

“By selling kids Plan B without parental supervision, we may as well be telling them it’s OK to have unprotected sex. Parents have a right to know what’s going on with their kids.”

Sara Blake

Jackson, TN

“When we allow young girls the morning-after pill in secret, we are not teaching them moral responsibility and accountability for their actions, and it destroys their integrity.”

Donna Bleiler

Salem, OR

“How can it be good for the developing body of a 15-year-old to have the morning-after pill? I fear these young girls will use it often.”

Susan Gallagher

Wallingford, CT

“As an OB/GYN, I’m concerned that having a safety net in the eyes of a child will discourage safe sex measures like condoms. Many of these children will have the false idea that they can always just use the morning-after pill.”

Mark Boles, M.D.

Dublin, GA

“Allowing children to obtain the morning-after pill is another example of adults teaching American children that consequences can be avoided.”

Tim Kleiner

Bentonville, AR

“Every psychologist will agree that people under the age of 15 are too young to handle the stresses of the adult world. It is necessary for parents to be included in this discussion.”

Bryan Szuch

Marion, OH

“If kids make a mistake regarding sex, they are not likely to talk to their parents immediately after it happens. If they have to talk to their parents in order to get the pill, they won’t take the proper measures to ensure against pregnancy.”

Kirk Morgan

Zanesville, OH

Prosecutor in Jodi Arias murder trial presents closing arguments

2013-05-03T01:14:00Z

Teal

Wednesday Night Rating Scoreboard

2013-05-03T01:12:00Z

Green

For wounded veterans, medical advances both improve life and offer new challenges

2013-05-03T01:09:00Z

Yellow

Thursday, May 2, 2013

2013-05-03T01:08:00Z

Very busy day here, we’ve got lots of stuff going on and I’ve had to spend a lot of time this week on these Track Chairs, as I told you in the Tip of the Day. We are trying to get thousands of these chairs for the amputees. The American military people who lost limbs fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, and we are making great progress. I will have a major announcement concerning President Obama and the other American presidents next week. I think it will be good news, we are working hard on it.

Here is some inside baseball. We covered most of the news today, so I don’t have to really give you that, but here is in some inside baseball on ratings - television news ratings, as far as cable news is concerned.

After the terror bombing in Boston, a lot of things changed in cable news. The Factor surged, not only during the bombing but we maintained that audience afterward. Last night, close to five million people watched The O’Reilly Factor, and that would put us, if we were an entertainment show, in the top 20. Close in the top 20. And we are beating outright a lot of the entertainment shows.

The Fox News Channel in general has done well after the bombing. CNN has improved a little bit on their 25-54 audience, but their general audience is down, interestingly enough. They gained some younger viewers in primetime and in the morning, but it is still a disaster. And I mean that with no rancor at all, I don’t have anything against CNN, but it is a disaster over there.

MSNBC is the most interesting story. That network got hammered during the bombing in Boston. Nobody watched them, because they are not a news agency. And they don’t really do news; all they do is left wing propaganda. They don’t have any news people on the roster, once in a while they will parade around an NBC correspondent, but they don’t do news. Since the bombing, those people have fallen apart. Collapsed. They were never highly rated, but they beat CNN, because they are both very low rated, but now CNN is beating MSNBC.

Interesting last night, because last night was a typical night, a typical television night – nothing extraordinary, American Idol, which is fading. But let’s see, overall audience last night – CNN won beat MSNBC during the day, MSNBC beat CNN at night but not by much. Fox News dominated all over the place, I mean it wasn’t even close.

This Arias trial has given Headline News some viewers, so they want to know whether this woman in Arizona is going get convicted. I understand the story, it is a cliffhanger. Nancy Grace and those people – they do it wall to wall, that’s all they do, just cover that. And there is an audience for that. Once that audience goes away, then Headline will go back to where it was, which was not very high.

So that is the ratings deal. Fox is very healthy, The Factor dominating. And we really appreciate you guys being the vanguard of The Factor movement.

Mountain Dew Pulls 'Racist' Ad Created by Hip-Hop Artist

2013-05-02T14:22:00Z

An ad for Mountain Dew created by the founder of hip-hop group Odd Future has been pulled after critics lambasted its violent undertones and one called it ”arguably the most racist commercial in history.” The video was created by Odd Future’s co-founder, Tyler Gregory Okonma, who is known by the stage name, Tyler, the Creator. PepsiCo, which owns Mountain Dew, said it was pulling the ad. “We apologize for this video and take full responsibility,” read a statement provided by a PepsiCo spokeswoman. “We have removed it from all Mountain Dew channels and Tyler is removing it from his channels as well.” The ad stars a character, Felicia the Goat, in a police lineup among members of Odd Future. Boyce Watkins, a finance professor from Syracuse University and social commentator, wrote a blog post about the ad, entitled, “Mountain Dew Releases Arguably the Most Racist Commercial in History.” “Of course, in the world of Mountain Dew, every single suspect is black,” wrote Watkins. In the video, a woman is trying to identify the suspect while being threatened by the goat, which tells her, according to Watkins, “I’m going to get out of here and do you up.” (ABC News)

Seattle May Day march escalates into chaos, confrontation, violence

2013-05-02T14:11:00Z

Police arrested more than a dozen people and used flash-bang grenades and pepper spray after apparent anarchists and May Day marchers converged in downtown Seattle, throwing pipes, fireworks and rocks, lighting flares and sparking confrontations with officers. Protesters met at Seattle Central Community College at the busy intersection of Broadway and Pine Street and then spilled into the street, blocking traffic. KIRO 7 Eyewitness News reporter Essex Porter said at first there appeared to be more spectators than participants and the gathering seemed to be more of a party than a rally. But as the crowd began to move, flares were lit and the crowd became noisy as it made its way toward downtown on Pike Street, flanked by police officers. Seattle police tweeted that someone in the crowd broke a window at Sun Liquor on East Pike Street and Belmont Avenue. People clad in black, with their faces covered, were seen in the mix. As the group of several hundred people moved north on Sixth Avenue after turning off of Pike Street, police said some in the group were throwing metal bars and water bottles at business' windows. A KIRO 7 News crew was surrounded by rowdy protesters. They spit and sprayed Silly String on KIRO 7 reporter David Ham and hit his photographer. Police said there was no permit for the rally, and no information about where they were headed, but their final destination was Westlake Plaza.

Duke hikes fees to provide sex-change surgery to students

2013-05-02T14:09:00Z

Duke University plans to raise its student fees in order pay for students' sex reassignment surgery. The private university, located in North Carolina, follows Brown and other universities in offering coverage for the controversial operation. Administrators say they will cover the cost of the reassignment surgery up to $50,000 that will be covered with a cause a 0.3 percent increase to overall student fees. LGBT advocates on campus immediately celebrated the university’s decision. “The addition of sexual reassignment surgery with a $50,000 cap makes Duke’s student health care plan one of the most, if not the most, transgender-inclusive plans in the country,” Sunny Frothingham, the outreach chair for Blue Devils United told the Duke Chronicle last week. The official plan is in-line with a Student Government Resolution passed last March that called upon the school to cover sex change operations. The school previously covered mental health care, hormone therapy and breast augmentation and reduction surgery to students who wished to change their gender. (Campus Reform)

RGIII Fumes over Calls for Redskins Name Change

2013-05-02T14:05:00Z

In the latest effort to get the Washington Redskins to change its name, D.C. council member David Grosso, along with co-sponsors, will introduce a non-binding resolution calling for the team to drop its current ”derogatory, racist name” in favor of the the name “Redtails,” the nickname of the Tuskegee Airmen. According to the Washington Post, the resolution states that “Washington’s name has been dishonored by association with the word ‘Redskins’” and that residents “should not tolerate commercial or other use” of a name that “dishonors any person’s race.” Grosso encourages the team to adopt the “Redtails” because it sounds similar to “Redskins” and would serve as a tribute to the Tuskegee Airmen; he added that “you can still keep the feather” in the logo.

Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III appeared to criticize the move on Twitter, writing, “In a land of freedom we are held hostage by the tyranny of political correctness.” Lawmakers have made several previous attempts to prompt the Redskins to change their name. Most recently, Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D., D.C.) introduced a bill in the House to void existing trademarks using the name “Redskins.” A panel of three federal judges recently heard arguments on whether the franchise’s trademark should be revoked because it is an offensive term. D.C.’s mayor has also said that there must be a discussion about a name change for the team should it want to move from its current Maryland stadium to a new one in the District. (National Review)

Sex-offender registries: Should kids be listed?

2013-05-02T14:02:00Z

Government authorities should end the practice of placing juveniles' names on publicly accessible sex-offender registries, Human Rights Watch says in a report warning of lasting and unwarranted harm to some youths. Some law enforcement officials and victims' rights advocates agree the current registry system is flawed and support steps to allow more discretion in juvenile offenders' cases. Offenses triggering inclusion on the registries can range widely — from rape to consensual sex between children to "sexting" of photos that depict nudity or sexual activity. "You've got to create a system that keeps the public safe but does not stigmatize a young person for the rest of their life," said Mai Fernandez, a former prosecutor who is executive director of the National Center for Victims of Crime. Human Rights Watch said its report, being released Wednesday, is the most comprehensive examination to date of the impact that registry laws have on juvenile sex offenders. "Of course anyone responsible for a sexual assault should be held accountable," says lawyer Nicole Pittman, the report's author. "But punishment should fit both the offense and the offender, and placing children who commit sex offenses on a public registry — often for life — can cause more harm than good."

The report says the laws, which require placing offenders' photographs and personal information on online registries, often make them targets for harassment and violence. In two cases cited in the report, youths were convicted of sex offenses at 12 and committed suicide at 17 due to what their mothers said was despair related to the registries. One of the boys, from Flint, Mich., killed himself even after being removed from the list. "Everyone in the community knew he was on the sex offender registry; it didn't matter to them that he was removed," his mother, identified only as Elizabeth M., was quoted as saying. "The damage was already done." (AP)

Winning over President Obama with ESPN

2013-05-02T14:02:00Z

President Barack Obama loves to watch sports – and the people who want to catch his eye know it. Companies and trade associations are doing something a little strange: they’re buying up airtime on ESPN. Media strategists tell POLITICO they offer up the all-sports network as an option to clients who want to get their issues in front of Obama and top White House officials, known as big sports fans and rabid ESPN watchers. “It’s certainly a tactic that’s talked about a lot,” said one media strategist, who had a client advertise on ESPN in hopes of reaching Obama during the climate change debate of his first term. “It was for exactly that reason.” The strategist said the ads can’t be so obvious that Obama knows he’s the intended audience. “It’s not just targeting Obama, but doing it in a way that is both interesting and will get the attention of the audience, but not so unusual that it will put the client in a bad position.” Companies and groups that have given the strategy a shot are cagy about discussing it openly. But there are plenty of examples of ads airing on ESPN in Washington that carry a political message. Case in point: Microsoft. The behemoth tech company took to Monday Night Football to bash Google as part of its so-called “Scroogled” campaign. The ad ran locally at least twice during the Washington Redskins and New York Giants game in December. Scroogle ads are also running on ESPN now in D.C. (Politico)

North Korea sentences American on charges he tried to topple government

2013-05-02T14:01:00Z

North Korea on Thursday sentenced a detained American to 15 years of “compulsory labor,” punishment for what Pyongyang describes as an attempt to overthrow its government. In a brief statement released by its state-run news agency, the North said the sentence for Kenneth Bae, a tour operator from Washington state, had been handed down by its Supreme Court on Tuesday. Bae’s punishment complicates the decision-making for Washington, which had been hoping to open talks with the North only if Pyongyang showed signs of curbing its weapons program. The North has detained six Americans since 2009, using them in some cases to leverage high-profile rescue trips from former presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton. (Washington Post)

Joanne Chesimard, fugitive who killed N.J. state trooper, to be added to terrorist list

2013-05-02T14:00:00Z

Joanne Chesimard, now living in Cuba as a fugitive after murdering a New Jersey state trooper, will be placed on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorist list — with the reward for her capture doubled — on Thursday, exactly 40 years after the death of Trooper Werner Foerster. Some of New Jersey’s top lawmen will gather at the FBI’s headquarters in Newark to announce that Chesimard is being added to the FBI terrorist list, a law enforcement official said. FBI Special Agent in Charge Aaron T. Ford, the new head of the FBI’s Newark Division, also is expected to announce that the reward for Chesimard’s capture is being doubled to $2 million, the official said. Chesimard, a black militant who has been living under the name of Assata Shakur in Cuba for more than 25 years, was convicted in 1977 of killing Foerster during a gun battle on the New Jersey Turnpike in 1973. Three gunmen posing as visitors broke her out of the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women in Clinton in 1979. Chesimard eluded capture and resurfaced in the mid-1980s in Cuba, where she has since lived under the protection of the Castro regime. (Bergen Record)

Police say liberal student activist threatened herself with rape in Facebook hoax, framed conservatives

2013-05-02T13:58:00Z

A well-known female liberal blogger and radio host at the University of Wyoming (UW) is being accused by police of fabricating a rape threat against herself to appear as if it came from a conservative. The obscene message directed at activist Meg Lanker-Simons was posted on a college “crush” Facebook page earlier this week and immediately ignited outrage from the college community. “I want to hate f**k Meg Lanker-Simons so hard. That chick that runs her liberal mouth all the time and doesn’t care who knows it,” it read. “I think its hot and it makes me angry. One night with me and shes gonna be a good Republican bitch,” the post reads, according to a screenshot. Before the post was removed, Lanker-Simons commented on it and on her own blog, calling it “disgusting, misogynistic, and apparently something the admins of this page think is a perfectly acceptable sentiment.” She also encouraged the poster to seek help at the UW Counseling service and ends with the advice: “Instead of focusing on how angry and turned on me ‘running my mouth’ makes you, perhaps you should listen instead. You might learn something.” But on Monday, The University of Wyoming Police Department issued a citation to Lanker-Simons for “interference” for “false statements she made to the UW Police Department,” according to a UW statement referred to by Laramie Boomerang Online.

"Subject admitted to making a controversial post on UW Crushes webpage and then lied about not doing it," according to the citation. The University of Wyoming also confirmed a statement that the police had “"obtained substantial evidence verifying that the offending Facebook post came from Lanker-Simons' computer, while the computer was in her possession.” According to a Facebook page that apparently belongs to Lanker-Simons she is a member of the University of Wyoming Gender & Women's Studies group as well as the school’s chapter of The Nonviolent Communist. Since police cited her, supporters have a constructed a Facebook page entitled “Meg Lanker-Simons is innocent.” “Meg Lanker-Simons is innocent we believe what she did was justified and deserves not to be held accountable for her accusations we stand behind you sister,” reads that page’s description. Lanker-Simons was in the news in 2010 when she was a plaintiff in a successful lawsuit against UW after it retracted its invitation to have Bill Ayers speak on campus. (Campus Reform)

Colorado University seeks more conservatives for intellectual diversity

2013-05-02T13:56:00Z

The University of Colorado hired a visiting conservative professor this year, but conservatives don’t want to stop there. Republicans on the University of Colorado Board of Regents pushed Tuesday for greater intellectual diversity on campus, starting with the hiring of professors and instructors in the humanities who hold right-of-center views. James Geddes, the Republican regent leading the charge, said the university could raise its national reputation by taking “an active approach” in diversifying its academic departments. “If we don’t do that, that’s a dead department. It’s dead,” said Mr. Geddes. “Nobody’s going to challenge anyone else, nobody’s going to debate, because they all think the same.” The hour long discussion marked something of a milestone in the decades-old national debate over intellectual diversity on campus. While conservatives have long griped about the suppression of right-of-center thought on campuses, major universities have been largely unwilling to wrestle publicly with the issue at the highest levels of leadership. “To take the discussion that far is something of an anomaly,” said William Casement, author of “Making College Right” (National Association of Scholars, 2013). (Washington Times)

Free condoms for your 12-year-old? California health council can help

2013-05-02T13:55:00Z

With just a few clicks of a mouse, kids as young as 12 can have free condoms delivered to their doors in California. And the program has now expanded to two new counties. News of the expansion comes as the federal government approves the "morning-after pill" without a prescription for girls as young as 15. And the development has garnered mixed reactions from Californians. "I would ask parents the question, 'Who should be making decisions for the best welfare of your child -- you as a parent, or the state, who has no direct connection, has no understanding, has no relationship with your child?'" San Diego-area pastor Chris Clark told CNN affiliate KSWB. But the alarming rates of sexually transmitted diseases among teens call for an immediate response, health officials say. The Condom Access Project has been around for a year. Late last month, it expanded to San Diego and Fresno counties, bringing the number of counties it serves to seven. As part of the project, anyone between 12 and 19 years old in the seven counties can confidentially request a pack of 10 condoms online, up to once a month. With each order, teens also receive personal lubricant to reduce breakage as well as educational information, said the California Family Health Council, which runs the project. (CNN)

Ralph Peters: I used to support the rebels. Now, it's too late. Radicals now rule the rebellion

2013-05-02T13:54:00Z

In The New York Post:

To borrow the climactic line from “Easy Rider,” “We blew it.” Or, to be fully accurate, President Obama blew an unprecedented chance to aid Syria’s then-moderate opposition back in 2011. We could have helped end the monstrous Assad regime, gaining good will and practical advantage in a hopeful new state. Now it’s too late. And Obama may be ready to act at last. The result could be disastrous. Strategy isn’t only about doing the right thing, but about doing the right thing at the right time. Doing what appears to be the “right thing” too late often makes things worse…

A brave freedom struggle morphed into a vicious pan-Arab and Iranian struggle over Syria’s future. This is now a regional war fought by proxies. On the insurgent side, moderates have been marginalized in the military sphere. If Assad falls, Sunni Islamist gunmen will rule. On the Baathist regime’s side, Iran is Assad’s key backer and Hezbollah supplies Shia thugs. Nor is the insurgency unified. Abhorring the Muslim Brotherhood, the Saudis back Wahhabi extremists. For their part, the Qataris and others back the Muslim Brotherhood, with quiet support from the non-Arab Turks. Now we’re reduced to choosing between devils: Do we aid an insurgency increasingly dominated by extremists and outright terrorists, or do we accept the continued rule of Baathist fascists buttressed by Shia fanatics?

Maybe it’s time to come to our senses and see that this isn’t our fight.

Obama prods liberals to give-and-take on Senate immigration bill

2013-05-02T13:53:00Z

President Obama is warning liberal supporters that their push to make changes in a comprehensive immigration bill could jeopardize the strategy of Senate leaders, who are aiming to win up to 70 votes for the measure. While much of Washington has focused on objections from Republicans, Obama and other Democrats have mounted a behind-the-scenes campaign in recent days aimed at mollifying advocates, who argue that an 844-page Senate bill excludes too many illegal immigrants and makes it too hard for the rest to become citizens. The efforts underscore the perilous path ahead for a comprehensive immigration deal, which is one of Obama’s top agenda items for his second term but faces mounting criticism from those on both the left and right. (Washington Post)

Original ricin suspect was held despite evidence pointing to another man

2013-05-02T13:52:00Z

After keeping Elvis impersonator Paul Kevin Curtis in jail for a week, interrogating him while he was chained to a chair and turning his house upside down, federal authorities had no confession or physical evidence tying him to the ricin-laced letters sent to President Obama and other public officials. Investigators already had another man in their sights and, according to an FBI affidavit, were collecting physical evidence against this second suspect. It was beginning to look as if Curtis had been framed. But instead of setting Curtis free, court records show, federal officials sought to keep him in custody. First, three days after the arrest, prosecutors asked for a psychiatric evaluation — a request usually made by defense lawyers. That could have extended his stay in federal prison by several months and allowed investigators to continue to question him. Then, after a judge denied the request, federal prosecutors filed a motion seeking to postpone a court hearing at which they would be required to reveal the evidence they had against Curtis. That was also turned down. “They wanted to keep Mr. Curtis in custody while they built a case,” said Hal Neilson, a former FBI agent who is Curtis’s attorney. “They knew early on he wasn’t the right guy, but they fought to hold on to him anyway.” The FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Oxford, Miss., did not respond to requests for interviews or to written questions. (Washington Post)

Obama administration plans to appeal Plan B ruling

2013-05-02T13:51:00Z

The Justice Department filed notice late Wednesday that it will challenge a federal court decision requiring the government to make emergency contraceptives available over the counter to women of all ages. The move came hours after the Food and Drug Administration approved over-the-counter sales of emergency contraceptives to women 15 and older. Previously, Plan B was available to teenagers younger than 17 only with a prescription. Older women had to request it from a pharmacist. The Obama administration also asked the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of New York to stay Judge Edward Korman’s early-April ruling, which is set to take effect Sunday.

The move came hours after the Food and Drug Administration approved over-the-counter sales of emergency contraceptives to women 15 and older. Previously, Plan B was available to teenagers younger than 17 only with a prescription. Older women had to request it from a pharmacist. The Obama administration also asked the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of New York to stay Judge Edward Korman’s early-April ruling, which is set to take effect Sunday.In federal court documents, the Justice Department argued that Korman overstepped his authority in ordering the FDA to make emergency contraceptives available to all women over the counter. “The Court’s Order interferes with and thereby undermines the regulatory procedures governing FDA’s drug approval process,” the Justice Department said. “A drug approval decision involves scientific judgments as to whether statutory and regulatory factors are met that warrant deference to those charged with the statutory responsibility to make those decisions.” The new legal challenge does not affect the FDA’s decision Tuesday to make Plan B available to females 15 and older. That decision became effective as soon as it was issued. (Washington Post)

UMass locks up students' records

2013-05-02T13:48:00Z

As UMass Dartmouth finds itself at the center of a terrorism investigation with four students jailed, school officials are refusing to release even basic information about the marathon-bombing-linked suspects — saying their privacy rights outweigh the public’s right to know. The surprise charges yesterday against ex-student Dias Kadyrbayev, suspended student Azamat Tazhayakov and former student Robel Phillipos — all campus pals accused of helping alleged bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev cover up the crime — ratcheted up the school’s unwitting connection to the deadly terrorist attack. The development also had administrators clamping down on details of the 19-year-olds’ transcripts and financial aid information, even as other public colleges have shared those facts freely. “We are prohibited from releasing such records by (the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act,)” UMass Dartmouth spokesman John Hoey said. “Our interpretation of the law indicates that that information is confidential.” Last night Chancellor Divina Grossman ordered a review of “all policies and procedures made relevant by recent events.” But no UMass official would comment on reports Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was still attending the college despite owing $20,000 in tuition and room and board and having failing grades. (Boston Herald)

Marathon bombing suspect texted 'LoL' when confronted by pal

2013-05-02T13:38:00Z

When the alleged Boston Marathon bomber was told by one of his friends that he resembled one of the suspects in the widely released surveillance video, he sent a chilling response: “Lol, you better not text me,” an affidavit unsealed Wednesday said. The brief interaction between bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and his friend Dias Kadyrbayev occurred three days after the April 15 bombing, the affidavit said. Kadyrbayev was among three others charged Wednesday for allegedly conspiring to get rid of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s incriminating backpack filled with gutted fireworks. He also texted Kadyrbayev to say, "Come to my room and take whatever you want," according to the affidavit. "Kadyrbayev knew when he saw the empty fireworks that Tsarnaev was involved in the marathon bombing," the affidavit reads. "Kadyrbayev decided to remove the backpack from the room in order to help his friend Tsarnaev avoid trouble."

The exchange came just a few hours before the Tsarnaev brothers would carjack a Chinese immigrant, murder an MIT police officer and engage in a wild shootout with police through the streets of Cambridge and Watertown, police say. Tamerlan Tsarnaev died April 19, after a shootout hours after authorities showed the brothers on surveillance video and named them as suspects. Documents based on interviews with the young men reveal Dzhokhar Tsarnaev allegedly dropped sinister hints before the attack, telling his friends a month before that he had learned how to make a bomb. However, it wasn’t until the FBI released a surveillance photo of the suspects that the friends realized Tsarnaev may have been involved. The FBI claims this prompted Dias Kadyrbayev and Azamat Tazhayakova both 19-year-old natives of Kazakhstan and friends of Tsarnaev at UMass-Dartmouth, to go to Tsarnaev's dorm and take a laptop, the backpack and some Vaseline that may have been used in making the deadly pressure cooker bombs that killed three and injured more than 200 at the race. Police believe the bombs were packed with shrapnel and gunpowder removed from fireworks.

Robel Phillipos, of Cambridge, Mass., also 19, was charged with willfully making materially false statements to federal law enforcement officials during a terrorism investigation. The affidavit filed in support of a complaint said Kadyrbayev was the one who carried out the disposal of the backpack after the three saw the fireworks that had been hollowed out and emptied of gunpowder. Although the three new suspects initially appear to have stonewalled authorities, Phillipos came clean in a fourth interview, conducted April 26. He confessed that the three took the backpack out of their friend's dorm room, according to the affidavit. Phillipos allegedly told investigators that the two others "started to freak out" after seeing Tsarnaev identified on television. (Fox News)

Bill O'Reilly: Three more arrests in the Boston terror bombing case

2013-05-02T13:32:18Z

By Bill O'Reilly

Last week we told you the Boston terror suspects had to have help. They couldn't have done what they did without training and money. The FBI is investigating that angle right now. They are over in Russia.

Today federal agents arrested three men in Massachusetts who allegedly helped Dzhokhar Tsarnaev after the bombing occurred; the feds believe they hid evidence. 20-year-old Azamat Tazhayakov and 19-year-old Dias Kadyrbayev both attended the University of Massachusetts with Dzhokhar. They are exchange students from Kazakhstan. Also arrested an American citizen 19-year-old Robel Phillipos, a University of Massachusetts student from Cambridge. We don't have his picture yet.

Now think about this, these guys knew their pal had been arrested for the terror bombing and decided to help him anyway... unbelievable. Reports are the men have confessed to the crime of aiding the accused terrorist by obstructing and lying to federal agents. Their lawyers say they are innocent but that's what all lawyers say.

And there is obviously a huge problem at the University of Massachusetts. What kind of students are they accepting anyway? Four bad seeds on campus? How many more?

"Talking Points" believes the wife of slain terrorist Tamerlan Tsarnaev may have some exposure here as well. Remember, authorities were searching for the bombers for days before their pictures were released. And even then did the wife Katherine Russell alert the feds? Did she do anything?

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a magnet for students from all over the world. That used to be a strength when I went to school there but now there is suspicion especially on the Muslim students. Each university and college in the Bay State is responsible for the students they accept. Commonwealth is responsible for the people it supports. As we reported last night the terrorists and their family received much taxpayer money along the way. Along with the ongoing criminal investigation, there should be a state investigation to what exactly is happening in the welfare and university precincts.

And that's "The Memo."

- You can catch Bill O'Reilly's "Talking Points Memo" weeknights at 8 and 11 p.m. ET on the Fox News Channel and any time on foxnews.com/oreilly. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com.

Transcript Date:

Wed, 05/01/2013

Transcript Show Name:

O'Reilly Factor

Transcript Talent Byline:

Bill O'Reilly

saturnine

2013-05-02T04:19:00Z

[SAH-turn-nine] Gloomy, moody, mysterious

Accused Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's friends hid damning evidence, feds say

2013-05-02T01:00:00Z

Yellow

Russians to US: Boston bombing suspect, mother discussed jihad in 2011

2013-05-02T00:59:00Z

Green

Accused Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's friends hid damning evidence, feds say

2013-05-02T00:58:00Z

Yellow

Accused Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's friends hid damning evidence, feds say

2013-05-02T00:57:00Z

Yellow

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

2013-05-02T00:29:00Z

I can’t spend a lot of time with you today because of this breaking story in Boston. We are trying to get as much information as we can. I suspect the wife has something to do with this, and it is frustrating because I am not up there, but… I’m not sure if the wife has been interviewed. She hasn’t been taken into custody, that is for sure, but it just strains credulity that this woman wouldn’t know anything.

And now with the three college kids helping Dzokhar – these are serious crimes! They were hunting for these guys for a while. Did the wife, as soon as she saw the husband’s picture; she had to know he was a terrorist, that they wanted to talk to him about that. Did she call them up? I don’t know. Anyway, we think there are a few more things and we also think that Tamerlan was trained in Chechnya somewhere, in that area.

The FBI is over there, hopefully they will get to the bottom of it. They are aggressive; obviously it’s a big story. I am running around, trying to get as much information as I can for you guys.

The Latest Backstage Conversation

2013-05-01T23:37:00Z

Bill talks Obama's latest press conference, Beck's Saudi national, and the Gosnell case in the latest Backstage Conversation for Premium Members.

Go: This week's Backstage Conversation

Viewer Mail for Wednesday, May 1

2013-05-01T23:06:00Z

LETTER OF THE DAY!

“The major media outlets have intentionally ignored perhaps the largest scandal in U.S. political history with this potential Benghazi cover-up. It makes Nixon’s Watergate and Clinton’s Lewinsky look minor in comparison.”

Dr. Wayne DeSarbo

Centre Hall, PA

TERROR ACCOMPLICES

Three students at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth have been arrested for helping Dzhokhar Tsarnaev after the Boston Marathon bombing.

“The three people indicted today for trying to cover up the Boston bomber’s involvement in the crime are not kids. They are 19-years-old and should have known better.”

Louis Carballo

Sugar Land, TX

“We have heroes in the military protecting the United States who are barely 18. Calling these accomplices kids is wrong – they are men, just like our servicemen.”

George Drennan

Canton, GA

“When people are old enough to serve their country, buy alcohol, and attend a school of higher learning, they are not kids.”

Bill Kemp

Lisle, NY

“Hearing that the family of the Boston bombers received aid from taxpayers is disconcerting. If they received aid for college, why can’t my kids?”

Jackie Borsum

“We need to step up and prevent the Boston bomber from having a team of attorneys at taxpayer expense. If he can’t afford one, he should get one public defender.”

SFC William Oakley (Ret.)

Tulsa, OK

“I don’t think our system of justice can effectively deal with terrorism. On the one hand, we send FBI agents to Russia to find out more about the bomber, but we also send a judge to the hospital to guarantee the bomber keeps his mouth shut.”

Lari Attai

Irvington, NY

“One hundred thousand dollars of our money to support the terrorist family is certainly a waste, but it will be chump change compared to what we the people will be giving the attorney to defend him. This case could take years.”

Mike Hatcher

Fort Worth, TX

SPENDING SCANDAL

The city of Philadelphia, $13 billion in debt, will now pay for sex change operations for city employees.

“After watching the segment on health care covering sex change operations, my husband admitted that he felt trapped in his bald head. Do you think we could get that one covered?”

Patricia & Lloyd Hershwitzky

Las Vegas, NV

“Kirsten Powers thinks the states should pay for sex change surgery because some people feel they are trapped in the wrong body? Well, I’m 68 and feel trapped in an old body. Will my cosmetic surgery be paid for?”

Bob Leary

Queenstown, MD

“I’m a millionaire living in a pauper’s body. Will they city of Philadelphia pay for my transition?”

Sean Lennon

Midlothian, VA

“I always thought Kirsten Powers was the most sensible liberal pundit on your show. That all changed last night when she defended the city of Philadelphia’s decision to require their city’s health plan to cover sex change operations.”

Gabriel Villarreal III

Zapata, TX

“If Philadelphia is doing sex changes for medical reasons, I’ll want to move there so I can get liposuction for my obesity. It’s a medical reason too.”

Ray Brewer

Nashville, NC

“The reckless spending will continue until we routinely ask ‘why is this a function of government?’ instead of expecting the government to be the first resort.”

Ed Grimes

Edgewood, KY

“Kirsten Powers was really amazing in her justification for the taxpayer-funded sex change operations in Philadelphia. She has now powered herself to seamlessly replace Alan Colmes on your show.”

Dr. Ashish Sachan

Guelph, Canada

ANCIENT HISTORY?

Jay Carney, the press secretary for the Obama administration, dodges questions about September’s Benghazi murders, saying it happened so long ago.

“I suspect the families of those killed in Benghazi don’t feel like it was a long time ago. It was truly insensitive for Obama’s Press Secretary Jay Carney to suggest otherwise.”

Fred Schwartz

Burlington, NJ

“Nobody died in Watergate. Four people died in Benghazi. The biggest difference is the mainstream media doesn’t care. The Democratic President gets a pass!”

Catherine Barrett

Englewood, FL

“Stop nibbling around the edges of the Benghazi investigation. It is not about a botched job; it’s about a cover-up by the Obama administration with the media turning a blind eye.”

Ruben Lovato

Petaluma, CA

“Mr. Carney says the Benghazi incident was a long time ago. Well, the 9/11 attacks of 2001 must be ancient history. Still, we continued to hunt bin Laden for all those years and took care of business.”

Lee Ambrosino

New Braunfels, TX

“It’s 3am…who do you want answering your Benghazi call?”

Howard Tuckey

Lisle, NY

“Is it possible that Mrs. Clinton didn’t know the full details of the Benghazi raid, as she testified? It was the most significant event to happen during her tenure.”

Steve Stephens

Allyn, WA

Stossel's Column: Train Wreck Ahead

2013-05-01T19:58:00Z

Most Americans -- even those who are legislators -- know very little about the details of President Obama's Affordable Care Act, so-called Obamacare. Next year, when it goes into effect, we will learn the hard way.

Many people lazily assume that the law will do roughly what it promises: give insurance to the uninsured and lower the cost of health care by limiting spending on dubious procedures.

Don't count on it.

Consider just the complexity: The act itself is more than 906 pages long, and again and again in those 906 pages are the words, "the Secretary shall promulgate regulations ..."

"Secretary" refers to Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius. Her minions have been busy. They've already added 20,000 pages of rules. They form a stack 7 feet high, and more are to come.

Our old health care system was already a bureaucratic and regulatory nightmare. It had 16,000 different codes for different ailments. Under our new, "improved" system, there will be more than a 100,000.

Government likes to think regulations can account for every possibility. Injured at a chicken coop? The code for that will be Y9272. Fall at an art gallery? That means you are a Y92250. There are three different codes for walking into a lamppost -- depending on how often you've walked into lampposts. This is supposed to give government a more precise way to reimburse doctors for treating people and alert us to surges in injuries that might inspire further regulation.

On Government-Planned World, this makes sense. But it will be no more successful than Soviet central planning.

Compare all that to a tiny part of American medicine that is still free-market: Lasik eye surgery.

Its quality has improved, while costs dropped 25 percent. Lasik (and cosmetic surgery) are specialties that provide a better consumer experience because they are a market. Patients pay directly, so doctors innovate constantly to please them. Lasik doctors even give patients their cellphone numbers.

President Obama didn't kill American free-market health care. It began dying during World War II, when government imposed wage and price controls. At first, companies said, "Great, stability!" But then they realized that they could not attract better workers without raises. So companies got around the rules, as companies do. They gave "benefits," like health insurance.

Government then distorted the market further by giving employer-based health insurance better tax treatment than coverage you buy yourself.

But employer-based insurance is nuts. Many workers feel locked into their jobs. Company insurance largely destroyed the health care free market, since employees rarely shop for the best service at the lowest price.

Now Obamacare may kill what's left of that market.

Maybe we will soon be like Canada, where some people wait years for treatment. A producer from my TV show went to a Canadian town where the town clerk pulls names out of a box and then phones people to say: "Congratulations! You get to see a doctor this month!"

But there is at least one area where Canada offers cutting-edge, life-saving technologies. Unfortunately, to get this care, you have to meow or bark. Veterinary care is still handled by the market. Providers innovate or go out of business.

Markets find ways to make things better and cheaper. Obamacare often forbids that. For example, it requires that every insurance policy cover preventive care and "breastfeeding support." It insists that mammograms and colonoscopies be provided without any deductible.

It's tempting to believe that such rules prevent illness and save money, but there is little evidence they will. Some people will undergo invasive procedures that shorten lives instead of extending them. Some of us want those tests; some don't. Government controlled medicine means we all get them and pay for them, regardless of whether we want them. Government control kills consumer choice.

Lucky Lasik and cosmetic surgery patients! Their treatments are better in part because government doesn't consider them important enough to subsidize and regulate. If only government would neglect the rest of health care! Then we'd have better service and better care at lower cost.

And we'd have choices.

Family to claim Boston bomb suspect's body, uncle says

2013-05-01T13:45:00Z

Relatives of the deceased Boston Marathon bombing suspect will claim his body now that his wife has agreed to release it, an uncle said Tuesday. Tamerlan Tsarnaev's body has been at the medical examiner's office in Massachusetts since he died after a gunfight with authorities more than a week ago. Amato DeLuca, the Rhode Island attorney for his widow, Katherine Russell, said in a statement Tuesday that his client had just learned that the medical examiner was ready to release Tsarnaev's body and that she wants it released to the Tsarnaev family. Police said Tsarnaev ran out of ammunition before his brother, 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, dragged his body under a vehicle while fleeing the scene. His cause of death has been determined but will not be made public until his remains are claimed. "Of course, family members will take possession of the body," uncle Ruslan Tsarni of Montgomery Village, Md., told The Associated Press on Tuesday night. "We'll do it. We will do it. A family is a family." He would not elaborate. Tsarnaev's parents are still in Russia, but he has other relatives on his side of the family in the U.S., including Tsarni. (AP)

Bishop Reacts to Half-Naked College Student Dressing Up as the Pope, Giving Out Condoms

2013-05-01T13:45:00Z

The Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh is asking Carnegie Mellon University to reprimand a female student who dressed as the pope — but naked from the waist down — to pass out condoms in an art parade. The student reportedly shaved her pubic hair into the shape of a cross while passing out the prophylactics. The university responded, saying, “We are continuing our review of the incident. If our community standards or laws were violated, we will take appropriate action.” Bishop David Zubik from the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh spoke to KDVA (CBS Pittsburgh)

ZUBIK: Obviously all of us when we’re growing up we do stupid things but to cross over the line in this instance shouldn’t happen with anybody. (EDIT) What I do want to have happen is for this person to learn an important lesson. That prejudice, bigotry, there’s no place for it.

Marco Rubio: Immigration Reform Proposal Can't Pass The House

2013-05-01T13:35:00Z

Sen. Marco Rubio acknowledged Tuesday on a conservative radio talk show that the Gang of Eight’s comprehensive immigration reform bill won’t likely pass the Republican-led House. The comments from Rubio, perhaps the most influential congressional Republican on immigration, illustrate the challenges facing the prospects for reform after months of private negotiations by a bipartisan coalition of senators produced a wide-ranging, 844-page bill. (Real Clear Politics)

RUBIO (R-FL): The bill that’s in place right now probably can’t pass the House so it will have to be adjusted, because people are very suspicious about the willingness of the government to enforce the laws now and the future given our experience with immigration in the past. That is a very legitimate suspicion, it’s one that I share, and if there’s anything we can do to make [the bill] even tighter, to improve, to ensure that the laws are enforced so that we don’t have this problem in the future that’s exactly what we should be working on.”

Extra Resources Sent To Troubled Oakland School After Fight

2013-05-01T13:33:00Z

The Oakland Unified School District is sending in extra resources to Alliance Academy after video surfaced of a fight between a substitute teacher and student. But some teachers told KPIX 5 the action may be too late. A parent gave KPIX 5 the video of the brawl, captured on a cellphone before Winter break. The video shows punching and kicking between the student and teacher, followed by the teacher picking up a desk, thrusting it at the child. The student involved in the video no longer attends the school. The middle school is one of the toughest in East Oakland, with 360 students ages 10-13. Police have visited the campus 13 times during the school year so far, and five students have been expelled. Out of a total of 13 teachers at Alliance this year, 10 are new. The turnover rate at the school is much higher than the district average of 14 percent. “This is a high-need school. And when I’m here, I feel like I owe them 150 percent every time I’m here,” said Kashmir Hyder, a second year teacher. “And as a result of that, I feel like I’ve burnt out. I treated this like a sprint, and not a marathon.” In fact, two of the three teachers interviewed by KPIX 5 will leave Oakland after the school year. The third teacher is on the fence.

The Oakland Unified School District said it is well aware of the problem. “You get in a cycle where you’re constantly placing new teachers, those teachers leave after a couple of years,” said district spokesperson Troy Flint. “And it creates a lack of stability at the school. And I think that is something that undermines academic progress to a certain extent.” The fight that was caught on video took place a few months ago. Meanwhile, the school is not denying a more recent event. A student told KPIX 5 that his classmates started what he called a “riot” in a classroom. “They destroyed the whole classroom. They broke the desk. They threw the computers on the floor,” Barajas recalled. He said he hid under a desk, when other students tossed desks and other items across the room. After media attention this week, the district sent in extra administrators to work with troubled students. But some teachers said the help has come too late.

Civilian Cargo Aircraft Crashes At Bagram Air Field In Afghanistan, 7 Dead

2013-05-01T13:29:00Z

The Dubai-bound Boeing 747-400 — operated by National Air Cargo — crashed just after takeoff Monday from Bagram Air Base around 11:20 a.m. local time, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a statement Tuesday. The accident site is within the perimeter of Bagram Air Base. The Taliban quickly claimed responsibility for downing the plane, but NATO said later the claims were false, and there was no sign of insurgent activity in the area at the time of the crash. The Afghanistan Ministry of Transportation and Commercial Aviation is leading the investigation. The NTSB is investigating the crash alongside the ministry. The team will be composed of three NTSB investigators, as well as representatives from the Federal Aviation Administration and Boeing, the NTSB said. The plane — owned by National Airlines, an Orlando, Florida-based subsidiary of National Air Cargo — was carrying vehicles and other cargo. (AP)

Alaska Man Fights Off Bear, Walks Away with Minor Injuries

2013-05-01T13:26:00Z

An Alaska man and his family are counting their blessings after walking away with minor injuries from a hands-on scuffle with a bear. “When the bear was headed towards us, we were like, ‘OK, it’s do or die now,’” Toby Burke, a wildlife biologist for Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, told ABC News. On Sunday afternoon, Burke, 48, along with his wife, Laura, and three children decided to go bird watching along the Alaskan Kasilof River Beach. The sun was out and the skies were clear, but the chilly 30-degree Alaskan air had the family bundled up in layers. While the two environmentalists were observing through telescopes, they noticed something a bit larger than the typical bird. “We saw the bear in the distance and we said, ‘Hey let’s not go down there. Let’s stay up here,’” Burke told ABC News. Burke wasn’t too worried. After all, he does live in bear country. The bear disappeared into the undulating dunes and Burke said he assumed it might have fed on a washed-up marine mammal. Burke and his family turned around and continued their hike through the dunes.

Moments later, they found they were very wrong about the bear’s intentions. “The bear is coming, it’s coming towards us!” yelled 11-year-old Grace Burke to her father. “We were raising our arms and made loud noises,” Laura Burke said. “That’s supposed to scare the bear away. Instead of running away, it came right towards us.” That’s when the bear bounded towards them and Toby Burke yelled to his wife, “Get behind me!” Laura Burke, with her 7-month old baby on her back, grabbed her two other children to get behind her husband. “When the bear came at my husband, my 8-year-old, Damien, wanted to run,” Laura Burke said. “I remember his dad said, ‘Don’t run. Stick together!’”Toby Burke grabbed the first thing in sight: his scope attached to a 6-foot-long tripod.

“I put the scope sideways into the bear’s mouth, keeping it away, and it swatted at the scope and severed it,” he said. The severed metal tripod left a sharp shaft, which Burke used to hit the bear in the face to scare it away. Yet it still didn’t seem to budge and smacked the tripod out of Burke’s hands. “It was just me between my family and the bear,” he said. “At that point, I made physical contact. All I could do was put my left arm up. Then its mouth clamped down on my forearm. So I remember hitting it in the face with my right arm.”

After several minutes of scuffling, the bear gave up and ran away, and Burke managed to walk away with minor bruises and scratches. “I definitely felt a crushing sensation when it clamped down on my arm,” he said. “Fortunately, because I had heavy layers of clothing on, I’m basically just really bruised up.” Once the bear had left, Laura Burke called Alaska State Troopers and Alaska Wildlife Troopers to notify them of the bear and warn others on the beach. “Upon arrival, an investigation revealed a female brown bear was acting erratically by attacking a vehicle, a telephone pole and then, eventually, attack a male walking on the beach,” said a news release by the Department of Public Safety. Two troopers were walking along the tree line when the bear came running out of the woods towards them and it was shot. The deceased bear was released to a local charity.

New Hampshire man no longer top banana after losing life savings on carnival game

2013-05-01T13:24:00Z

A New Hampshire man says he squandered his life savings playing a rigged carnival game in hopes of winning an Xbox game system. Henry Gribbohm, 30, of New Hampshire, told WBZ-TV that he ended up losing $2,600 playing Tubs of Fun at a Fiesta Shows' carnival. The next day, he said he complained to a person running the game and was given $600 and a large stuffed banana with dreadlocks. To some, a large stuffed banana may suffice, but Gribbohm later filed a report with the Manchester Police Department claiming that the game was rigged. The department told the station that it is investigating the matter. Tubs of Fun is notoriously challenging. Gribbohm told the station that he practiced and thought he had a knack for it. But once the game began the balls started popping out of the water. His only explanation: "It's not possible that it wasn't rigged." Like a down-on-his-luck Blackjack player, Gribbohm began making riskier bets to win back some money and told WBZ-TV that at one point he dropped $300 in a few minutes. He went home and got another $2,300, he told the station. The game is operated by an outside party and Fiesta told the station that it will also investigate Gribbohm’s allegations. (WBZ)