Protesters flood New York City streets despite mayor's call for moratorium

Mayor Bill de Blasioand and ex-lesbian Wife Chirlane McCray.

Hundreds of protesters took to the streets of New York City Tuesday night, defying a call by Mayor Bill de Blasio for a moratorium on demonstrations until two NYPD officers killed Saturday could be laid to rest. 
The New York Post reported that over a thousand activists marched through one of midtown Manhattan's most prominent shopping districts two nights before Christmas. The march began at 5th and 59th Street and headed south to 53rd Street before turning north. Marchers told the paper they planned to end with a protest at a precinct in East Harlem. 
Some of the activists turned their fury on de Blasio, who was elected mayor last year on a platform of reforming the city's police force, including ending the controversial so-called "stop and frisk" tactic.
"The mayor says stop that, we say [expletive] that!" yelled activists, while jumping in place.
"We're protesting tonight, because the mayor specifically said not to," 25-year-old Tarik Grand, of Brooklyn told the Post. "They asked for a moment of silence for the cops, but not for [Eric] Garner."
Garner died this past July after apparently being placed in a chokehold by NYPD officers on State Island during a confrontation over his selling of so-called "loosies," or untaxed cigarettes. A grand jury's decision to not indict the officer has sparked ongoing protests. 
The tension surrounding the nationwide debate over police tactics and conduct, as well as recent high profile shootings of unarmed black men, was heightened by Saturday's murder of Officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos as they sat in their patrol car in Brooklyn. The killer, 28-year-old Ismaaiyl Brinsley, had previously shot and wounded his ex-girlfriend at her home outside Baltimore, then made threatening posts online, including a vow to put "wings on pigs". After shooting the officers, Brinsley ran into a subway station and committed suicide.
De Blasio, who called for a pause in the protests Monday, faces a widening rift with members a grieving police force who accuse him of creating a climate of mistrust that contributed to the killings of the officers. The mayor's request was summarily rejected by activist groups, one of which called it an attempt to "chill the expression of free speech rights."
New York Police Commissioner William Bratton, speaking Tuesday in Rhode Island, said it was "unfortunate" that some protests continued despite the mayor's plea.
Many of Tuesday's marchers directed inflammatory chants toward police officers, such as "How do you spell murderers? N-Y-P-D!" Another chant went "NYPD, KKK, how many kids did you kill today?"
"Personally, I feel it was horrible what happened to the police officers," Rutgers University student Frangy Pozo (see photo below) told the Post. "We’re not saying we're against them. [But] just because they died shouldn’t slow us down."
Also Tuesday, city landmarks including the Empire State Building and the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree dimmed their lights from 9 p.m. to 9:05 p.m. Tuesday to honor the slain officers.
The mayor and his wife quietly visited the site of the shooting on Tuesday morning, spending several minutes there. De Blasio folded his hands before him and stood with his head bowed. His wife placed flowers among dozens of tributes.
Later, de Blasio observed a moment of silence at 2:47 p.m., the time the officers were shot.

 Frangy Pozo

Jeb 2016 Cartoon

Hey, ill-tempered atheist, hands off the baby Jesus, step away from the manger

My atheist readers should prepare to have their egg nog curdled because I’m about to reveal something that’s politically incorrect.
I believe that Jesus is the reason for the season and that makes me about as politically incorrect as they come – especially among our nation’s ill-tempered atheists.
I made that revelation in my upcoming Fox News Radio special, “The Todd Starnes All-American Christmas” set to air on Christmas Eve. 

I believe that Jesus is the reason for the season and that makes me about as politically incorrect as they come – especially among our nation’s ill-tempered atheists.

I’ve often wondered why folks like the Freedom From Religion Foundation get their Christmas stockings in a twist at the mere mention of the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes.
Maybe all they got for Christmas one year was a package of underwear and a can of Aunt Edna’s fruit cake?
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What’s even more bizarre is how they get so worked up over something they don’t even believe is real. I’m no psychologist – but I’m sure there’s a clinical term for such a condition.
Nevertheless, the atheists have sworn some sort of oath to push Christmas celebrations underground. “Away with the Manger” seems to be their battle cry.
Their modus operandi has traditionally been to target small towns and bully City Hall and the public school system. They mail nasty letters and threaten them with lawsuits.
Sarah Palin talked about the assault on Christmas during my upcoming Fox Radio Christmas special.  
“There are crazy things going on in society,” she said. “They are trying to take Christ out of Christmas.”
And unfortunately, many Americans are letting the atheists do just that.
“Today unfortunately, they feel they have to be so politically correct – that the joy of Christmas is diminishing,” she said.
Gov. Palin is correct. Many of communities have thrown in the towel. The excuses vary from town to town – but most folks worry about spending tax dollars on lengthy court battles. So instead of standing up for their constitutional rights, they shove the Baby Jesus into storage and take down their “Merry Christmas” signs.
The atheists have been allowed to wage their yuletide warfare for the most part without so much as a fight. But that’s not the case this year. This year, the town folks are fighting back and they are ready to deck somebody’s halls and jingle somebody’s bells.
One of my new heroes is Terry Calhoun. He’s the mayor of Rainbow City, Alabama. The FFRF sent him a terse letter demanding that the town remove its Nativity. 
Mayor Calhoun told the Wisconsin atheists to go back to where they came from.
“As long as I am mayor, I’m going to do what I think is right and I’m not moving that manger scene,” he told television station KTRK.
The FFRF also tried to bully a fire station in Utica, New York. It was a strategic error.
The firefighters posted a holiday sign outside Fire Station 4 declaring “Happy Birthday Jesus. We Love You.”
An FFRF lawyer fired off a letter complaining about out it’s “bad policy” for a government agency to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Syracuse.com reported the FFRF fretted that the message excluded – among other people – Muslims. 
Well, there’s a good reason for that. We aren’t celebrating the birthday of Mohammed on December 25.
Fire Chief Russell Brooks decided to stand his ground. He told television station WKTV that the firefighters erected the sign after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
“9/11 brought a lot of the guys closer to God, and they just wanted to show their faith in Jesus,” Brooks said. “They had no idea a controversy would arise.”
The FFRF bunch nearly had a win in Piedmont, Alabama after they demanded the town drop the “Keep Christ in Christmas” theme for the annual holiday parade.
The town complied – but with a slight caveat. They allowed all the parade entrants to post the theme on their floats and trucks and tractors. On the night of the parade, virtually every parade float was promoting the reason for the season.
The FFRF should know better than to mess with folks in Alabama. They don’t take too kindly to out-of-town atheists trying to stir up trouble.
So let not your heart be troubled, my friends. The atheists are on the losing side of this battle.
Sarah Palin told me during our Christmas special that it’s not too late to return to the true meaning of Christmas.
“We can get that back and work together to put the joy back into Christmas – by putting Christ back into Christmas,” she said.
So let me reaffirm what I shared with our audience in the “Todd Starnes All-American Christmas” – Jesus is the reason for the season.  
And that, my friends, is what Christmas is all about.

GOP report: Top IRS official considered admitting targeting before 2012 election -- but didn’t

A top IRS official considered going public with the agency’s targeting of conservative groups at a hearing just months before the 2012 presidential election but ultimately decided against revealing the bombshell news, according to a new report from a GOP-led House committee.
Then-Deputy Commissioner Steven Miller wrote in an email in June 2012, about a month before a House Ways and Means subcommittee hearing, that he was weighing whether to testify to “put a stake” in the “c4” issue -- apparently a reference to allegations about politics playing a role in the agency’s denial of tax-exempt, 501(c)(4) status to conservative-leaning groups.
“I am beginning to wonder whether I should do [the hearing] and affirmatively use it to put a stake in politics and c4,” Miller told his chief of staff, Nikole Flax, in a June 2012 email obtained by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
Miller ultimately testified at the July 25 hearing but never revealed his knowledge of the misconduct.
“Because he did not, he did a great disservice to the American taxpayers,” the House oversight committee report states.
The detail is one of many findings and allegations in the 226-page Republican-authored report, obtained by Fox News in advance of its release on Tuesday. The report highlights numerous examples of what House Republicans say is agency officials misleading congressional investigators and trying to slow their investigations.
Miller testified before Congress on at least six occasions as deputy commissioner and later as acting commissioner, from May 2012 until May 2013, when he was forced to resign.
During a final hearing, Miller apologized for the agency’s “poor service” but maintained the targeting was not motivated by politics.
The report states: “Though Miller was never asked as directly as [Commissioner Doug] Shulman about the targeting … Miller likewise never told Congress about the IRS misconduct. Miller’s multiple missed opportunities to tell Congress about the targeting continued the IRS’s pattern of failing to inform Congress.”
Now-retired IRS official Lois Lerner, in charge of the agency’s tax-exempt division during the 2010-2012 targeting, eventually revealed the scandal at an American Bar Association event in May 2013 -- roughly six months after President Obama won re-election and just days before an inspector general report on the allegations was scheduled for release.
“They used names like Tea Party or Patriots and they selected cases simply because the applications had those names in the title,” she said at the time. “That was wrong, that was absolutely incorrect, insensitive and inappropriate.”
Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the House oversight committee, on Monday accused the authors of the GOP-generated report of taking information out of context and selectively releasing information.
“It is revealing that the Republicans -- yet again -- are leaking cherry-picked excerpts of documents to support their preconceived political narrative without allowing committee members to even see their conclusions or vote on them first,” he said in a statement. “By leaking information to reporters on condition that they not disclose it to Democrats, Republicans are intentionally bypassing the normal congressional vetting process designed to distinguish fact from fiction.”
The report follows a recent congressional budget agreement for fiscal 2015 that cuts IRS funding to roughly fiscal 2000 levels, which agency officials argue will make oversight and other jobs even more difficult.
Other conclusions in the report, including several already made public, are that the Obama administration appears so far to have done an incomplete investigation and at times has been uncooperative.
“Only a month after Attorney General (Eric) Holder announced the administration’s investigation, then-FBI Director Robert Mueller was unable to answer basic questions about the status,” the report states. “Even as recently as July 2014, after the IRS informed Congress that it had destroyed two years of Lerner’s e-mails, the FBI continued its refusal to provide any information about its investigation.”
In addition, the Justice Department at one point was willing to pursue criminal prosecutions against the tax-exempt groups, based on information obtained by the IRS, according to documents obtained by House GOP investigators.
And the IRS failed to provide sufficient internal oversight, the report concludes.
“Congress created administrative oversight entities within the Executive Branch to ensure the IRS carries out its mission efficiently and responsibly,” the report states. “These entities -- specifically, the IRS Oversight Board and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration -- exist to ensure that IRS misconduct does not occur and, if it does, to identify and address it immediately. In the case of the IRS’s targeting of conservative tax-exempt applicants, these administrative oversight entities failed in their missions.”

North Korean websites back online after widespread Internet outage

Prominent North Korean websites were back online Tuesday after an hours-long shutdown that led to speculation by some researchers and web watchers that the country's Internet connections could be under cyberattack.
South Korean officials told the Associated Press that Internet access to the North's official Korean Central News Agency and the Rodong Sinmun newspaper were working normally Tuesday after being inaccessible earlier. Those sites are the main channels for official North Korea news, with servers located abroad.
The outage came less than a week after the U.S. vowed an unspecified response to a massive hacking attack against Sony Pictures Entertainment over the release of the comedy film "The Interview." The plot of the comedy centers on the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, leading to widespread speculation that the country was responsible for the attack. Late last week, the FBI publicly blamed North Korea in the incident, though Pyongyang has denied involvement.
The White House and the State Department on Monday declined to say whether the U.S. government had any role in North Korea's Internet problems.
"We have no new information to share regarding North Korea today," White House National Security Council spokesperson Bernadette Meehan told Fox News. "If in fact North Korea’s Internet has gone down, we’d refer you to that government for comment."
North Korean diplomat Kim Song, asked Monday about the Internet attack, told The Associated Press: "I have no information."
North Korea is one of the least connected countries in the world. Few North Koreans have access to computers, and even those who do are typically able to connect only to a domestic intranet that works with its own browsers, search engine and email programs, according to South Korea's Unification Ministry. Though North Korea is equipped for broadband Internet, only a small, approved segment of the population has any access to the World Wide Web. More than a million people, however, are now using mobile phones in North Korea. The network covers most major cities but users cannot call outside the country or receive calls from outside.
Doug Madory, the director of Internet analysis at New Hampshire-based Dyn Research, a company that studies Internet connectivity, said the problems were discovered over the weekend and grew progressively worse to the point that "North Korea's totally down."
"They have left the global Internet and they are gone until they come back," he said.
He said one benign explanation for the problem was that a router may have suffered a software glitch, though a cyberattack involving North Korea's Internet service was also a possibility.
Routing instabilities are not uncommon, but this particular outage had gone on for hours and was getting worse instead of better, Madory said.
"This doesn't fit that profile," of an ordinary routing problem, he said. "This shows something getting progressively worse over time."
Another Internet technology service, Arbor Networks, which protects companies against hacker attacks, said its monitoring detected denial-of-service attacks aimed at North Korea's infrastructure starting Saturday and persisting Monday. Such attacks transmit so much spurious data traffic to Internet equipment that it becomes overwhelmed, until the attacks stop or the spurious traffic can be filtered and discarded to allow normal connections to resume.
President Obama said Friday that the U.S. government expected to respond "proportionately" to the hacking of Sony, which he described as an expensive act of "cyber vandalism" that he blamed on North Korea. Obama did not say how the U.S. might respond.
"We aren't going to discuss, you know, publicly operational details about the possible response options or comment on those kind of reports in anyway except to say that as we implement our responses, some will be seen, some may not be seen," State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said last week.

NYC protesters say they won't stop demonstrations despite de Blasio's wishes

Activist groups in New York City have rejected a call by Mayor Bill de Blasio to hold off on any new demonstrations until after the funerals of two NYPD officers who were ambushed and murdered Saturday in Brooklyn. 
The killings have aggravated tensions between police, City Hall, and protesters who have staged regular demonstrations since a Staten Island grand jury refused to indict an officer earlier this month in connection with the death of 43-year-old Eric Garner. Amateur video appeared to show the officer putting Garner in a chokehold while questioning him over the sale of untaxed cigarettes. 
"We are in a very difficult moment. Our focus has to be on these families," de Blasio said Monday at police headquarters. "I think it's a time for everyone to put aside political debates, put aside protests, put aside all of the things that we will talk about in all due time."
However, the Rev. Al Sharpton told Reuters late Monday that de Blasio's request was too "ill-defined" to heed. 
"Is a vigil a protest? Is a rally?" Sharpton asked. 
Another group, The Answer Coalition, said it would go ahead with a long-planned march Tuesday evening, and denounced the mayor for what it called an "outrageous" attempt to chill free speech. The New York Post reported that a few dozen protesters staged a "die-in" at Grand Central Terminal before marching toward Times Square. 
"We will not let recent tragic moments derail this movement," one protester shouted. "This is the revolution and we will not be repressed."
De Blasio's relations with the city's police unions have tumbled to an extraordinary new low following Saturday's shooting, which the gunman claimed was retaliation for the deaths of Garner and Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.
In a display of defiance, dozens of police officers turned their backs to de Blasio at the hospital where the officers died Saturday night, and Patrolman's Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch said the mayor had "blood on his hands" for enabling the protesters.
Late Monday, de Blasio and New York Police Commissioner William Bratton held a joint press conference at which Bratton claimed to have spoken with leadership of all the police unions, and claimed they have agreed on "standing down" until after the funerals of the officers.
The funeral for one of the officers, Rafael Ramos, is scheduled for Saturday. Arrangements for the funeral of his partner, Wenjian Liu, are pending the arrival of relatives from China. 
Despite Bratton's apparent efforts at conciliation, the murders of Ramos and Liu has blown open a rift with the police force unlikely to heal soon. some pundits say the level of animosity between the unions and de Blasio had reached a critical point and the officers were even more inflamed than when thousands of officers stormed City Hall and stopped traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge in 1992 to protest Mayor David Dinkins' efforts to create a civilian oversight board.

Former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani accused de Blasio late Monday of fueling an "atmosphere of hate" toward officers.

"I don't put the blood of these police officers on the mayor's doorstep," Giuliani told Fox News. "I lost police officers, Bloomberg lost police officers. What I do hold him responsible for is letting those demonstrations get out of control. ... He's guilty of creating an atmosphere of police hatred in certain communities."   

Chickenwood Cartoon

Satanic Temple, Christian state senator mount dueling displays outside Michigan Capitol

LANSING, Mich. –  Christians and Satanists put up competing displays Sunday on the Michigan Capitol grounds as Christmas week got underway.
The Detroit chapter of the Satanic Temple set up its "Snaketivity Scene" featuring a snake offering a book called "Revolt of the Angels" as a gift. The snake is wrapped around the Satanic cross on the 3-feet-by-3-feet display. Capitol rules require that displays have to be taken down each night.
In a videotaped interview with the Lansing State Journal, Satanic Temple spokeswoman Jex Blackmore said her group doesn't worship Satan but does promote individuality, compassion and views that differ from Christian and conservative beliefs.
Blackmore said that the "holiday season is a time of year that is celebrated in many different ways."
"Having our government endorse one singular viewpoint or method of celebrating the season is problematic when we have a diverse community of people in Michigan," she said.
Word of the Satanic Temple's plans led state Sen. Rick Jones, a Grand Ledge Republican, to erect a Nativity scene on Friday featuring baby Jesus, Joseph and Mary. He put it back up Sunday morning.
Jones said he was happy to "represent the light and not the darkness."
"They could have put theirs up in July or April or sometime. They didn't need to put it up in the Christmas season," Jones said. "That's OK. We're going to ignore them. I'm not afraid of the snake people. I'm sure that Jesus Christ is not afraid."
Blackmore told MLive.com her group is "really pleased to be part of what is perhaps a new holiday tradition at the Capitol."
Martin Diller, a 28-year-old who served two tours in Iraq with the Michigan National Guard and one in Afghanistan, visited the Capitol grounds after attending Mass at St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in East Lansing. He said he wanted to see how the constitutional rights issue played itself out.
"A few of my friends in the military, we like to see the First Amendment in use," Diller said. "We all went overseas, we fought for it, it's kind of interesting to see it in action."

In 2016, Republicans will be fighting to hold Senate majority

Senate majority in hand, ascendant Republicans are set to challenge President Obama and the Democrats on Capitol Hill come January. But a much tougher election map two years from now could force the GOP right back into the minority.
In November 2016, Republicans will defend 24 seats, Democrats 10. Seven of the GOP seats are in states that President Barack Obama won with 50 percent or more of the vote in 2012.
It's a stark reversal from this past November, when Democrats were the ones contending with a brutal map, including candidates running in seven states Obama had lost. Democrats were crushed on Election Day, losing nine seats and their Senate majority.
It will be a tough climb for Democrats to make up those losses, and there's no guarantee they will. But coming off November's trouncing, Democrats sound eager about their chances in states such as Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Illinois, while Republicans are preparing more to defend past victories than try to score new ones.
"There's no doubt about it, it's going to be a bigger challenge than 2014," said Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, among the Republicans at the top of the Democrats' pickoff list. "But I think we have a really good opportunity here in the next couple years. We will reach out to the other side. I think Americans, Wisconsonites, will find out that we're not the party of `no.' "
Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii, one of the Democrats likely to be safely re-elected in 2016, said his party already is eyeing a path to retake control of the Senate. Democrats would have to gain a net of four seats if there's a Democrat in the White House -- because the vice president can cast tie-breaking votes in the Senate -- or five if the GOP wins the presidency.
"Picking up four or five seats is no small task, but we are certainly in a position to do so," Schatz said. "The electorate is going to be different and I think Democratic elected officials and candidates and most importantly voters are going to be excited for a presidential race, and we're excited to play offense."
Democrats faced strong headwinds on numerous fronts in November: Obama's low approval ratings, a scandal involving Department of Veterans Affairs' hospitals, the Ebola outbreak, the rise of Islamic State extremists. Compounding everything was the painfully slow economic recovery.
It's too soon to say what new issues may arise in the next two years or how strong the economy will be. But presidential elections can favor Democratic congressional candidates by increasing turnout of young and minority voters, and Democrats will not have to spend time distancing themselves from an unpopular incumbent.
Operatives in both parties are looking at many of the states Obama won in 2012, plus a few others, as the most contested places in 2016 where Democrats could try to defeat Republicans. In addition to Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Illinois, the list includes New Hampshire, Ohio, North Carolina and Florida.
Democrats are concerned mainly about defending seats in Colorado and Nevada, where Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid faces what could be a bruising re-election fight if he seeks a sixth term.
Some analysts and Republican strategists say that as tough as the map looks for the GOP, there are some factors in the GOP's favor. Republicans have strong incumbents in Democrat-friendly states, such as Kelly Ayotte in New Hampshire, Rob Portman in Ohio, and Marco Rubio in Florida, if he runs for re-election rather than the presidency.
The GOP's strong showing in November gave them breathing room with a 54-seat majority, making it that much harder for Democrats to make up the difference. States such as New Hampshire or Illinois may be easier for Republicans to defend than strongly GOP-leaning Arkansas, Louisiana and others were for the Democrats this year.
"In the face of what can seem to be a very steep climb for the Republicans you really have to look at each individual race and ask yourself about the vulnerability of each of those candidates," said Ross Baker, a political science professor at Rutgers University. "These Republicans are pretty skillful politicians. I don't see Kelly Ayotte as a particularly easy mark for the Democrats."
Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., who will lead the National Republican Senatorial Committee through 2016, acknowledged a "difficult map." But, he added, "You take them one by one and I feel very, very good about it."
"The main thing that helps our candidates is, state by state, the fact that they've tended to business, they've been diligent legislators and taken care of the home folks," Wicker said.
Republicans' fortunes may depend in part on how the newly GOP-controlled Senate functions and whether incoming Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky can advance legislation or gets hamstrung by the tea party faction in his caucus led by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, another potential White House candidate.
"The key question is will the Republicans want to work with us or will the tea party pull them too far over," said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

Yankees foundation reportedly will pay for education of murdered NYPD cop's kids

A foundation founded by late New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner reportedly will cover the education costs for the sons of one of the two NYPD officers murdered in a daylight ambush Saturday afternoon.
The New York Daily News reported that the Yankee Silver Shield Foundation will pay for the education of Officer Rafael Ramos' 13-year-old son Jaden and another son who is in college. 
Ramos, 40, and his partner, Officer Wenjian Liu, were killed as they sat in their squad car in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn. The gunman, 28-year-old Ismaaiyl Brinsley, killed himself a short time later in a Brooklyn subway station.
Later Saturday, Jaden Ramos paid tribute to him in a Facebook post.
"Today I had to say bye to my father. He was their [sic] for me everyday of my life," the post read. "He was the best father I could ask for. It's horrible that someone gets shot dead just for being a police officer. Everyone says they hate cops but they are the people that they call for help. I will always love you and I will never forget you. RIP Dad."
Ramos' aunt, Lucy Ramos, told reporters Sunday afternoon that, "I hope and pray that we can reflect on this tragic loss of lives that has occurred so that we can move forward and find an amicable patch to a peaceful coexistence."
The officer's cousin, Ronnie Gonzalez, told The Wall Street Journal that Ramos was "a God-loving man" who was devoted to his wife and sons. 
"I wish I could be half the man my cousin was," Gonzalez said. "He was sweet. He didn’t deserve ... to die."
Steinbrenner, who died in 2010, started the Silver Shield foundation in 1982 after seeing TV news coverage of the funeral of an NYPD officer killed in the line of duty. The officer was survived by his wife and four young children. 
"George could not forget the image of the children." foundation co-founder James E. Fuchs said in a statement on the organization's website. He was concerned about their education and who would help with the cost."
The foundation provides for the education of children of New York City firefighters and police officers, as well as New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut state troopers and Port Authority employees who die in the line of duty. It has also helped 700 children who lost a parent in the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks.

North Korea issues new threat against US over hacking claims as Obama weighs action

North Korea issued a new threat against the United States late Sunday and accused President Barack Obama of "recklessly" spreading rumors that Pyongyang is behind last month's devastating cyberattack on Sony Pictures.
The long statement from the powerful National Defense Commission warned of strikes against the White House, Pentagon and "the whole U.S. mainland, that cesspool of terrorism."
Such rhetoric is routine from North Korea's massive propaganda machine during times of high tension with Washington. But the statement also underscores Pyongyang's sensitivity at a movie whose plot focuses on the assassination of its leader Kim Jong Un, who is the beneficiary of a decades-long cult of personality built around his family dynasty.
The North Korean statement offered no details of a possible response, but warned that the country's 1.2 million-member army is ready to use all types of warfare against the U.S.
"Our toughest counteraction will be boldly taken against the White House, the Pentagon and the whole U.S. mainland ... by far surpassing the 'symmetric counteraction' declared by Obama," said the commission's Policy Department in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.
The latest threat came hours after President Obama confirmed that he was considering returning North Korea to the State Department's list of state sponsors of terrorism. Obama, who previously promised in his year-end press conference on Friday to respond "proportionately" to the attack, has termed the breach as an act of "cybervandalism that was very costly, very expensive" as opposed to an act of war.
"We're going to review those through a process that's already in place," Obama told CNN's "State of the Union" in an interview broadcast Sunday. "I'll wait to review what the findings are." 
North Korea spent two decades on the list until the Bush administration removed it in 2008 during nuclear negotiations. Only Iran, Sudan, Syria and Cuba remain on the list, which triggers sanctions that limit U.S. aid, defense exports and certain financial transactions.
But adding North Korea back could be difficult. To meet the criteria, the State Department must determine that a country has repeatedly supported acts of international terrorism, a definition that traditionally has referred to violent, physical attacks rather than hacking.
Obama's other options, which include sanctions targeting high-level North Korean officials and retaliatory cyberattacks, are limited. The U.S. already has trade penalties in place and there is no appetite for military action.
Also Sunday, Sony lawyer David Boies told NBC's "Meet The Press" that the studio would distribute "The Interview," a comedy starring Seth Rogen and James Franco as bumbling journalists tapped by the CIA to assassinate Kim Jong Un. Sony scrapped a planned Christmas Day release of the film after receiving terror threats targeting movie theaters from the hackers, who refer to themselves as the Guardians of Peace. 
"What Sony has been trying to do is to get the picture out to the public," while protecting the rights of company employers and moviegoers, Boies said. He added that theaters "quite understandably" decided not to show the film as scheduled because of the threats. "You can't release a movie unless you have a distribution channel," he said.
In the CNN interview, Obama renewed his criticism of Sony's decision to shelve "The Interview," despite the company's insistence that its hand was forced by the theaters' refusal to show it.
Obama suggested he might have been able to help address the problem if given the chance. "You know, had they talked to me directly about this decision, I might have called the movie theater chains and distributors and asked them what that story was," he said.
Sony's CEO has disputed that the company never reached out, saying he spoke to a senior White House adviser about the situation before Sony announced the decision. White House officials said Sony did discuss cybersecurity with the federal government, but that the White House was never consulted on the decision not to distribute the film.
"I think we've got to recognize that this is not a Sony security problem," Boies said. "This is a national security problem."

Mayor De Blasio Cartoon

Authorities say cop killer wanted retaliation for Michael Brown, Eric Garner deaths

The gunman who ambushed and murdered two NYPD officers as they sat in their squad car Saturday afternoon in Brooklyn vowed to kill police in a number of social media posts that vowed retaliation for the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, authorities said. 
Ismaaiyl Brinsley, 28, wrote on his Instagram account: "I'm putting wings on pigs today. They take 1 of ours, let's take 2 of theirs," hours before the killings, two city officials with direct knowledge of the case confirmed for The Associated Press. He used the hashtags Shootthepolice RIPErivGardner (sic) RIPMikeBrown. The post also included an image of a silver handgun and the message, "This may be my final post. The post had more than 200 likes but also had many others admonishing his statements.
Police said Brinsley, who was black, approached the passenger window of a marked police car at approximately 2:45 p.m. local time and opened fire, striking Officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu in the head. The officers -- one Hispanic, one Asian -- were on special patrol doing crime reduction work in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn.
"They were, quite simply, assassinated -- targeted for their uniform," said Police Commissioner Bill Bratton during a news conference at Woodhull Medical Center, where the officers were pronounced dead Saturday evening. 
"Our city is in mourning. Our hearts are heavy," said Mayor Bill de Blasio, who spoke softly with moist eyes. "It is an attack on all of us."
Scores of officers in uniform lined up three rows deep at the hospital driveway. The line stretched into the street. Officers raised their hands in a silent salute as two ambulances bore away the slain officers' bodies. The mayor ordered flags at half-staff.
Brinsley fled to to a nearby subway station, where he shot himself in the head as a subway train door full of people closed. A silver handgun was recovered at the scene, Bratton said. The New York Post reported that the recovered gun matches the one in the Instagram picture. 
A second Instagram post dated just after the shooting showed the same camouflage pants and distinctive blue sneakers worn by the gunman as his body was carried from the scene on a stretcher.
Late Saturday, authorities in Baltimore County, Md. said that Brimsley had shot and wounded his ex-girlfriend at an apartment complex in Owings Mills early in the morning before traveling to New York. County police told The Baltimore Sun that the unidentified woman was in serious condition, but was expected to survive. 
The Washington Post reported that authorities in Maryland became aware of the threatening Instagram posts by Brimsley at around 1:30 p.m. local time. They were able to trace the posts and Brimsley's phone to a location in Brooklyn and contacted the NYPD's 70th Precinct to alert them that he was in the area. At the same time, authorities faxed a "Wanted" poster to the NYPD with more information about Brimsley. Around the time of the shooting, another message with the same information was sent to New York's "real-time crime center."
"The tragedy here was that just as the warning was coming in, the murder was occurring," Bratton said Saturday evening. 
Brinsley had a history of arrests in Georgia for robbery, disorderly conduct and carrying a concealed weapon. Bratton said his last-known address was in Georgia, but he had some ties to Brooklyn.
Ramos was married with a 13-year-old son and had another in college, police and a friend told the Associated Press. He had been on the job since 2012 and was a school safety officer. Liu had been on the job for seven years and got married two months ago.
Rosie Orengo, a friend of Ramos, said he was heavily involved in their church and encouraged others in their marriages.
"He was an amazing man. He was the best father and husband and friend," she said. "Our peace is knowing that he's OK, and we'll see him in heaven."
The shooting comes at a time when police in New York and nationwide have been criticized by some over the circumstances surrounding the death of Garner, who was stopped by police for selling loose, untaxed cigarettes. Amateur video captured an officer wrapping his arm around Garner's neck in what some have described as a chokehold and wrestling him to the ground. Garner was heard saying, "I can't breathe" and later died.
Demonstrators around the country have held protests since a grand jury decided on Dec. 3 not to indict the officer involved in Garner's death, a decision that closely followed a Missouri grand jury's decision not to indict Officer Darren Wilson in the fatal shooting of Brown, 18.
Several New York officers were assaulted during demonstrations, including one event that drew thousands to the Brooklyn Bridge and at which two lieutenants were attacked.
"I have spoken to the Garner family and we are outraged by the early reports of the police killed in Brooklyn today," civil rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton said in a statement. "Any use of the names of Eric Garner and Michael Brown, in connection with any violence or killing of police, is reprehensible and against the pursuit of justice in both cases."
The president of the police officers union, Patrick Lynch, and De Blasio have been locked in a public battle over treatment of officers following the decision not to indict the officer in Garner's death. Just days ago, Lynch suggested police officers sign a petition that demanded the mayor not attend their funerals should they die on the job. De Blasio was also criticized for not speaking out about the two lieutenants who were assaulted in the protest at the Brooklyn Bridge.
"Had Mayor Bill de Blasio been forceful from the onset when the two lieutenants were attacked, one has to question as to whether this murderous psycho would have been compelled to target our heroic brother and sister in New York's Finest," Jon Adler, National President of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association told Fox News in a statement.
 "That blood on the hands starts at the steps of City Hall, in the office of the mayor," Lynch said late Saturday. "After the funerals, those responsible will be called on the carpet and held accountable."
The last shooting death of an NYPD officer came in December 2011, when 22-year veteran Peter Figoski responded to a report of a break-in at a Brooklyn apartment. He was shot in the face and killed by one of the suspects hiding in a side room when officers arrived. The triggerman, Lamont Pride, was convicted of murder and sentenced in 2013 to 45 years to life in prison.

EPA coal ash standards setback for environmental groups

NASHVILLE, Tenn. –  Six years ago, there was a massive spill of coal ash sludge in Tennessee. Three years later, tons of coal ash swept into Lake Michigan. Last February, there was another spill and gray sludge spewed into the Dan River in North Carolina.
With each disaster, environmentalists sounded alarms and called for the byproduct of burning coal to be treated as hazardous waste. On Friday, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released the first standards for the coal-burning waste, but they were hardly what environmental groups were hoping for.
The EPA ruled that the ash can be treated like regular garbage, meaning regulating the stuff will be left up to states and watchful citizens.
"We had to go to court to force EPA to issue this first-ever coal ash rule, and unfortunately, we will be back in court to force coal plants to clean up their ash dumps and start disposing of their toxic waste safely," said EarthJustice attorney Lisa Evans.
Added Scott Slesinger of the Natural Resources Defense Council: "Unlike the majority of environmental standards — which are backstopped by federal enforcement — this rule all but leaves people who live near coal ash dumps to fend for themselves."
The coal industry supported the less strict classification, arguing that the ash wasn't dangerous, and that a hazardous label would hinder the ash recycling market. About 40 percent of coal ash is reused, in products such as cement.
In Tennessee, the spill happened when a containment dike burst at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Kingston Fossil Plant, releasing more than 5 million cubic yards of ash from a storage pond. The sludge flowed into a river and spoiled hundreds of acres in a riverside community 35 miles west of Knoxville.
A couple of dozen families used to live on a peninsula near the plant, but now the sole resident is Tommy Charles and his wife.
Charles said on the night of the rupture, he was awakened by a phone call from a friend who was checking on them.
He took a flashlight and went outside. "I didn't know what I was seeing," he said Friday. "It was just a mess of goo."
The Tennessee Valley Authority is spending $1.2 billion to clean up the mess. Since the December 2008 disaster, the EPA has documented 132 cases in which coal-fired power plant waste damaged rivers, streams and lakes, and 123 where it has tainted underground water sources, in many cases legally.
The EPA said the steps they were taking would protect communities from the risks associated with coal ash waste sites and hold the companies operating them accountable.
"It does what we hoped to accomplish ... in a very aggressive but reasonable and pragmatic way," EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said.
The rules will increase monitoring for leaks and control blowing dust, and require companies to make testing results public. They also set standards for closing waste sites, and require those that are structurally deficient or tainting waterways to close.
The new rules apply to closed coal ash ponds at sites where utilities still have active operations, such as the Duke Energy plant in Eden, North Carolina, where the sudden collapse of a drainage pipe triggered a massive spill in February that coated 70 miles of the Dan River in gray sludge. Duke was operating a new natural gas plant on the property at the time of the spill, and no longer creating coal waste.
Prior to the spill, tests showed it was among 32 unlined pits being operated by the company in the state and tainting groundwater in violation of state standards. The new rule requires new waste pits to be lined.
The regulations do not cover sites at shuttered power plants. And in some cases, they would allow existing landfills that do not meet the new standards to continue to operate.
State officials were still interpreting the new rules.
Tony Hatton, Kentucky's solid waste division director, said it's still unclear how long states have to draft their own plans following the EPA guidelines. He said utilities in Kentucky have been moving away from "wet-handling" of the ash in recent years, where the waste is stored in ponds and instead dumping it in dry landfills.
With a dry landfill "you're less likely to get into compliance problems from a groundwater perspective and it's a lot more protective of groundwater," Hatton said.
Coal ash has been piling up in ponds and landfill sites at power plants for years, an unintended consequence of the EPA's push to scrub air pollutants from smokestacks.
In volume, it ranks only behind household trash in quantity, and it is expected to grow as the EPA controls pollutants like heat-trapping carbon dioxide and mercury and other toxic air pollutants from the nation's coal fleet. On the upside, a switch from coal to natural gas-fired power plants in recent years has generated less ash.

High School: Islamic vocabulary lesson part of Common Core standards

Parents in Farmville, North Carolina want to know why their children were given a Common Core vocabulary assignment in an English class that promoted the Prophet Muhammad and the Islamic faith.
“It really caught me off guard,” a Farmville Central High School student who was in the class told me. “If we are not allowed to talk about any other religions in school – how is this appropriate?”
The Islamic vocabulary worksheet was assigned to seniors.
“I was reading it and it caught me off guard,” the student told me. “I just looked at it and knew something was not right – so I emailed the pages to my mom.”

I asked the school district to provide me with a copy of vocabulary worksheets that promoted the Jewish, Hindu and Christian faiths. The school district did not reply.

“In the following exercises, you will have the opportunity to expand your vocabulary by reading about Muhammad and the Islamic word,” the worksheet read.
The lesson used words like astute, conducive, erratic, mosque, pastoral, and zenith in sentences about the Islamic faith.
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“The zenith of any Muslim’s life is a trip to Mecca,” one sentence read. For “erratic,” the lesson included this statement: “The responses to Muhammad’s teachings were at first erratic. Some people responded favorably, while other resisted his claim that ‘there is no God but Allah and Muhammad his Prophet.”
Another section required students to complete a sentence:
“There are such vast numbers of people who are anxious to spread the Muslim faith that it would be impossible to give a(n)___ amount.”
I spoke to one parent who asked not to be identified. She was extremely troubled by what her child was exposed to in the classroom.
“What if right after Pearl Harbor our educational system was talking about how great the Japanese emperor was?” the parent asked. “What if during the Cold War our educational system was telling students how wonderful Russia was?”
The parent said the material was classwork disguised as Islamic propaganda.
“It’s very shocking,” she said. “I just told my daughter to read it as if it’s fiction. It’s no different than another of fictional book you’ve read.”
A spokesman for Pitt County Schools defended the lesson  – noting that it came from a state-adopted supplemental workbook and met the “Common Core standards for English Language Arts.”
“The course is designed to accompany the world literature text, which emphasizes culture in literature,” the statement read.
The problem is it’s emphasizing a specific culture and religion – and the school district acknowledged there were concerns “related to the religious nature of sentences providing vocabulary words in context.”
“Our school system understands all concerns related to proselytizing, and there is no place for it in our instruction,” the statement goes on to say. “However, this particular lesson was one of many the students in this class have had and will have that expose them to the various religions and how they shape cultures throughout the world.”
I asked the school district to provide me with a copy of vocabulary worksheets that promoted the Jewish, Hindu and Christian faiths.
The school district did not reply.
I also asked for the past or future dates when the students would be given those vocabulary worksheets.
The school district has yet to reply.
The student I spoke with told me they have not had any other assignments dealing with religion – other than the one about Islam.
Why is that not surprising?
Based on its official statement, Pitt County Schools seems confident that the vocabulary lessons are in compliance with three Common Core standards related to literacy. If you want to look up those standards, reference CCSSELA-Literary L11-12.4.A, 12.4.D and 12.6.
Since the Common Core folks seem to be infatuated with sentence completion – let me try one out on them.
Use “Islamic” and “proselytizing” in the following sentence: Somebody got their ____ hand caught in the ____ cookie jar.
UPDATE: I asked the school district if there had been similar vocabulary assignments about Judaism, Christianity or other religions. I also asked for the exact dates of those assignments. Here’s the reply I received from the school district:
"The class recently finished reading Night by Elie Wiesel. As part of the study of this book, students were exposed to Judaism. I'm told that one of the next couple of lessons that will be taught in this class includes an examination of Psalm 23 as part of the lesson. Additionally, the workbook in question has another vocabulary lesson with words used in a passage about India's three great beliefs (Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism). Keep in mind that this workbook is just one of numerous resources used in the course. Students are exposed to various cultures, values, and beliefs through the reading of multiple types of literature, but teachers certainly aren't advocating for any of them.”
Notice how the school district dodged my question?

US reportedly asks China to help curb North Korea's cyberattack abilities

Another Fool of the Week.

The Obama administration has asked China for help with curbing North Korea's ability to launch cyberattacks like the one federal officials say crippled Sony Pictures, according to a published report. 
The New York Times reports that the White House requested help from Beijing in recent days, but the Chinese have not responded. However, a senior Obama administration official claimed to the Associated Press that the U.S. and China have shared information about the Sony attack. The official also says China agrees with the U.S. that destructive cyberattacks violate the norms of appropriate behavior in cyberspace.
The United States has previously attempted to use China as a channel for influencing North Korean policy, particularly on matters such as nuclear tests, weapons launches, and relations with South Korea. However, successes have been rare and fleeting. In the specific case of the hack on Sony Pictures, The Times reports that Chinese cooperation would be the key to blocking North Korea's cyberwarfare capabilites, since virtually all of the country's telecommunications run though Chinese operated networks. 
However, Washington and Beijing have their own cybersecurity issues to work through. This past May, the Justice Department indicted five hackers working on behalf of the Chinese military on charges of trying to steal sensitive data from American companies. The Chinese government denies any wrongdoing. 
U.S. officials blame North Korea for the Nov. 24 hacking, citing the tools used in the Sony attack and previous hacks linked to the North, and have vowed to respond. The break-in resulted in the disclosure of tens of thousands of confidential Sony emails and business files, and escalated to threats of terror attacks against U.S. movie theaters that caused Sony to cancel the Christmas Day release of "The Interview," a comedy about a plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
An editorial in the Global Times, a newspaper published by China's ruling Communist Party, said that any civilized country will oppose hacker attacks or terror threats, but it also condemned the movie. "The vicious mocking of Kim is only a result of senseless cultural arrogance," it said.
Meanwhile, The Times reports that U.S. officials are weighing what options to present to Obama that would constitute the "proportional response" to the Sony hacking that the president promised in his year-end press conference Friday. The paper reports that among the options being discussed are economic sanctions against high-ranking North Korean officials, similar to those levied against Russian officials close to that country's president, Vladimir Putin. 
Another option being discussed is a propaganda campaign designed to make use of the North's internal computer and radio systems to relay messages inside the country, along the lines of similar South Korean initiatives. The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that the U.S. is also considering returning North Korea to a list of countries deemed to be state sponsors of terrorism, which would also bring heft sanctions. 
One option that appears not to be a serious consideration at this point is a retaliatory cyberattack against North Korean military facilities or communications networks, with a senior official telling The Times that the U.S. does not want to risk escalating the situation and increasing the possibility of a retaliatory attack against a vulnerable U.S. target. 
"There are a lot of constraints on us," the official said, "because we live in a giant glass house."

Fool of the Week: Stephen Colbert

He won us over with his parody of your typical talking head cable TV host. Stephen Colbert is a brand. A successful, popular brand.
He took shots at conservatives through parody and pun.
I loved his humor even though he took several personal shots at me.
He was that good.
Colbert will take over "The Late Show" from David Letterman in 9 months.
And the character that was "Colbert" will go away.
And the real Stephen will host that show.
So why would he give it all up?
Well, for the fame and the money of course!
That’s where you lost me Stephen.
A bigger name -- Jon Stewart -- is sticking around for now, after getting bigger offers than "The Late Show."
That’s commitment!
Stephen Colbert, for abandoning what made you a star, you've earned yourself "The Fool of the Week" title.

N. Korea Cartoon

Court brief: Rogue agency defied judges to carry out partisan probe of Wisconsin conservatives

Agents for the embattled state Government Accountability Board in Wisconsin continued a zealous campaign finance investigation into dozens of conservative groups even after judges who preside over the board voted to shut it down, according to a previously sealed brief made public Friday. 
The documents, from an updated complaint filed by conservative plaintiffs in a case against the GAB, appear to support claims that the campaign finance, ethics and election law regulator is a rogue agency. They also show that the GAB considered using the state's John Doe law to investigate key state conservatives and even national figures, including Fox News' Sean Hannity and WTMJ Milwaukee host Charlie Sykes. 
Wisconsin Reporter also obtained some of its information from previous court documents that were supposed to have been redacted. 
"What we have uncovered so far shows the Government Accountability Board, or at least its staff, being anything but 'accountable,'" said Eddie Greim, attorney for plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the GAB. "For example, the public has learned for the first time, over GAB's objections, that GAB set up a secret system of Gmail accounts for its staffers and the prosecutors who ran the John Doe. We also know that GAB hoped its 'illegal coordination' theory could even extend to allow it to subpoena media figures like Charlie Sykes and Sean Hannity." 
A spokesman for the agency did not immediately return a request for comment. 
Wisconsin's unique "John Doe" procedure is much like a grand jury investigation, without the benefit of a jury of peers. A judge vested with extraordinary powers to compel witnesses to testify presides over the probes.
Click for more from Watchdog.org.

Obama administration accused of political motives in push for new citizens

Nearly 20 years after reporters and congressional investigators caught the Clinton administration trying to register a million immigrants as new citizens and Democratic voters -- many without proper documents -- some Republicans fear the Obama administration is instituting a similar policy. 
The November memorandum issued by the White House and Department of Homeland Security on immigration does more than give a reprieve to millions of illegal immigrants. It also makes a push for legal immigrants to become citizens. It allows legal immigrants in the U.S. to, for the first time, pay their $680 naturalization fee by credit card. And the plan offers to waive the cost, based on income, for families earning up to $47,000 for a family of four. 
In the past, the government prohibited such partial waivers. The plan, dubbed "New Americans," will also include a comprehensive media campaign in major media markets in 10 states.
Critics worry this is part of an effort to register new Democratic voters and turn red states blue by the next election.
"The goal is to naturalize as many as they can with the idea of registering them to vote with the hope that they're going to vote Democratic as they did in 1996," said Republican strategist Randy Pullen. "They're using our money for political means for their 2016 path to victory in their minds."
But Ali Noorani, director of the National Immigration Forum, a Washington, D.C.- based policy organization, said the goal is to "bring them into the full fold of society, make sure they are assimilating, learning English, learning their civics and becoming U.S. citizens." He called that a positive. 
The administration argues immigrants are good for the economy, representing just 13 percent of the population, but 16 percent of the labor force and 28 percent of all new businesses. The White House Task Force on New Americans, according to the November document, will consist of almost a dozen Cabinet-level agencies. They will train and support other agencies and nonprofits to "improve long term integration and foster welcoming community climates." 
But the GOP sees something else behind the plan.
"They're cutting fees with the intent to spur naturalization on, but someone else is going to pay for this," Pullen said. "We're talking about millions of naturalization cases that will have to be handled. The vast majority in the next 18 months."
The plan will target 8-12 million legal immigrants living in states like New York, California, Florida, Illinois, Virginia and Arizona. In some states, the number of legal permanent residents eligible for citizenship far exceeds the margin of victory for candidates in the last election. About half the green-card holders are Hispanic, followed by Asians. In 2012, almost 70 percent of Hispanics voted Democratic. Among Asians, nearly 60 percent did so. 
"To have more people become citizens is good for our democracy and at the end of the day, whether a candidate is a Republican or a Democrat, they just have to make the best case possible to get that voter," Noorani said. "If Republican candidates, whether it's for president, Senate, House or city council, want Asian, Latino voters to come to them, they have to compete for them."
Indeed, George W. Bush won 44 percent of the Hispanic vote in 2004. But Republicans fear a repeat of 1996, when the Clinton administration tried to create a million new voters by Election Day, three times the normal amount. In the process, officials pushed the Immigration and Naturalization Agency beyond its capacity, illegally hiring some 900 volunteers without background checks, a violation of federal employment law. 
An inspector general's report found numerous memos showing the White House urged the INS to "approve, approve, approve" for political reasons, disregarding policies and protocols designed to keep out immigrants who did not qualify for citizenship.

Obama says Keystone pipeline mostly helps Canadian oil companies, not Americans

WASHINGTON –  President Obama on Friday downplayed the potential benefits of the Keystone pipeline, claiming it would not lower gas prices much for Americans -- but instead would boost Canadian oil companies.
Obama, who was speaking at a year-end news conference, said the controversial pipeline was not “a magic formula to what ails the U.S. economy” and added that it’s “hard to see on paper where exactly they’re getting that information from.” 
The president often downplays the economic benefits of the project, but appeared to be putting new emphasis Friday on claims that it would disproportionately help Canada. He said it would be “not even a nominal benefit for U.S. consumers.” 
A spokesman for developer TransCanada fired back in a statement late Friday, noting the project would support thousands of U.S. jobs and describing it as mutually beneficial. 
"The Keystone system is about helping our Canadian and American customers -- which includes leading U.S. oil producers and refiners -- get a safe, secure and reliable supply of crude oils they need to create products we all need -- gasoline, diesel, aviation fuels and many other products we use and consume here in North America," spokesman Shawn Howard said. "After being approved, Keystone XL will employ thousands of skilled American pipeline industry workers in the United States." 
He also said there are no plans to export this oil overseas. 
Obama spoke ahead of a new congressional session where majority Republicans are expected to push the pipeline as a first order of business. 
Earlier this week, incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the Keystone pipeline would be the first bill taken up in the new GOP-controlled Senate, setting up a potentially contentious showdown with the Obama administration as well as environmental activists who have championed against the pipeline.
The $8 billion oil pipeline would run from Canada’s oil sands to the Texas Gulf Coast. It has become a symbol of divisions over the country’s energy and environmental policy.
Republicans and other supporters say the project would create jobs and reduce U.S. reliance on oil from the Middle East.
The 1,179-mile project is proposed to go from Canada through Montana and South Dakota to Nebraska, where it would connect with existing pipelines to carry more than 800,000 barrels of crude oil a day to refineries along the Texas Gulf Coast. TransCanada filed its first permit application with the State Department in September 2008.
The Republican-led House has repeatedly passed legislation approving the pipeline. But the bills have died in the Democratic-controlled Senate. Last month, a bill fell one vote short of advancing in the Senate.
In a recent Fox News poll, nearly seven voters in 10 support building the Keystone XL Pipeline (68 percent). That included just over half of Democrats (53 percent), two-thirds of independents (69 percent) and almost all Republicans (85 percent). 
Overall support for the pipeline has held steady over the last couple years: it was 70 percent in 2013 and 67 percent in 2012, according to the Fox News poll.
When asked by a reporter on Friday if Congress would force his hand on the issue, Obama replied, “I’ll see what they do. Take that up in the new year.”

Sony defends decision to shelve release of 'The Interview,' saying studio 'had no choice'

Sony Pictures Entertainment defended its decision Friday to shelve the comedy film "The Interview" in the wake of a massive hacking attack and threats against movie theaters, saying it had "no choice" but to cancel the Dec. 25 release.
The statement was released hours after President Obama, speaking at an afternoon press conference, said he believed the studio "made a mistake" in not releasing the film, the plot of which centers on a fictional assassination attempt on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The film has ignited a debate about censorship, and the FBI has formally blamed North Korea for the cyberattack, which has included leaks of confidential data and unreleased movies, as well as threats against Sony employees.
"Let us be clear: the only decision that we have made with respect to release of the film was not to release it on Christmas Day in theaters, after the theater owners declined to show it," Sony said in its statement. "Without theaters, we could not release it in the theaters on Christmas Day. We had no choice."
Sony's statement, however, comes several days after the studio told theater owners it would be supportive of their individual decisions on whether or not to show the film after hackers sent a message that threatened "11th of September"-style attacks against venues showing the movie.
In a message emailed to various reporters on Tuesday, hackers who call themselves "Guardians of Peace" sent a warning to people planning to attend screenings of "The Interview," and even warned people who live near cinemas to leave home, according to a report from Variety.
“Warning ... We will clearly show it to you at the very time and places 'The Interview' be shown, including the premiere, how bitter fate those who seek fun in terror should be doomed to,” the message said. “Soon all the world will see what an awful movie Sony Pictures Entertainment has made. The world will be full of fear.”
The studio on Friday said that it still hopes to release the movie, albeit on a "different platform."
Also on Friday, Michael Lynton, Sony's chief executive and chairman, pushed back against Obama's remarks, insisting to CNN that the company has "not given in and we have not backed down,” and said Obama, the media and the public “are mistaken” about the situation.
On Friday, hackers sent a new email to Sony Pictures Entertainment, calling the studio’s decision to cancel the film’s release a “wise” one and warned the studio not to distribute the film “in any form.”
According to The Associated Press, a person close to the studio confirmed the email and said it was sent to several employees of the company from Guardians of Peace.
The FBI has said it has enough evidence to conclude that North Korea was behind the breach. On Friday, Obama vowed that the U.S. would "respond," to the attack, though he offered no details on what that response might entail.
He mocked the North Korean regime for launching an "all-out assault" over a satirical movie, but he also chided Sony for responding by shutting down the movie's release.
"I think they made a mistake," Obama said.
Obama said that if somebody can "intimidate" a company out of releasing a satirical movie, "imagine what they start doing when they see a documentary that they don't like or news reports that they don't like."

ISIS reportedly selling Christian artifacts, turning churches into torture chambers

The Islamic State is turning Christian churches in Iraq and Syria into dungeons and torture chambers after stripping them of priceless artifacts to sell on the black market, according to reports.
Ancient relics and even entire murals are being torn from the houses of worship and smuggled out through the same routes previously established for moving oil and weapons in and out of the so-called caliphate, a vast region the jihadist army has claimed as sovereign under Sharia law.
"ISIS has a stated goal to wipe out Christianity,” Jay Sekulow, of the American Center for Law and Justice and the author of "Rise of ISIS: A Threat We Can't Ignore," told FoxNews.com. “This why they are crucifying Christians -- including children -- destroying churches and selling artifacts. The fact is, this group will stop at nothing to raise funds for its terrorist mission.”
It’s not clear what items have been stolen, but the terrorist group has sought to destroy religious groups that don't embrace its twisted and violent interpretation of Islam, and has already blown up several revered Christian sites and monuments.

“In short, ISIS is composed of religiously motivated psychopaths."- Jay Sekulow, American Center for Law and Justice

Last July, ISIS militants used sledgehammers to destroy the tomb of Jonah in Mosul. Around the same time, they were destroying Sunni shrines and mosques in the northern province of Ninevah, including the Shia Saad bin Aqeel Husseiniya shrine in the city of Tal Afar and the al-Qubba Husseiniya, as well as Christian churches in Syria. The group follows a strict interpretation of the Sunni faith which is against idolatry of anything other than God. ISIS has also threatened to destroy the holy sight of Mecca in Saudi Arabia.
Christianity, like Judaism and Islam, have powerful historical ties to the region, and some of its most treasured sites and relics are in Iraq and Syria, according to experts. Their destruction or dispersal is tragic, said Shaul Gabbay, senior scholar at the University of Denver’s Josef Korbel School of International Studies.
“The Middle East is where the three monotheistic religions begun and anything that can inform us about the history and chronology of the development of religion is of unparalleled significance to the core identity of anyone who is Christian,” Gabbay told FoxNews.com. “This is where Abraham, the forefather of the three monotheistic religions, came from, where Moses led the Hebrews to the Promised Land and where Jesus Christ was born, walked, died and was resurrected.
“Anything physical part that exists from the past including more modern artifacts is of extreme value to Christianity both at the informative and educational level as well as the spiritual/faith level,” he said.

Related Image

A woman prays inside a damaged church in Maaloula, a Christian town in Syria. (REUTERS/Omar Sanadiki)

Experts believe Islamic State's trafficking in religious artifacts is both to make money and to culturally cleanse the region. The Islamic militants have converted churches in Qaraqosh and other Iraqi cities into torture chambers, according to the Sunday Times. One priest from the region, who gave his name as Abu Aasi from Mosul, told the newspaper earlier this month that prisoners were being held in the Bahnam Wa Sara and Al Kiama churches.
“These two churches are being used as prisons and for torture,” he said while in hiding. “Most inside are Christians and they are being forced to convert to Islam. Isis has been breaking all the crosses and statues of Mary.”
Christianity is believed to be practiced by just three percent of the population of Iraq. They lived in relative religious freedom while under Saddam Hussein's rule, but have faced persecution from Islamic State in the last two years. In particular, the Yazidi, a Kurdish Christian people, have been hounded and murdered by the extremist group, leaving many of them becoming refugees trying to escape the region.
“We know that ISIS considers several groups -- including Christians -- as 'infidels without human rights,'" Sekulow said. "ISIS jihadists commit violence against fellow Muslims in violation of Islamic law. They routinely commit war crimes and engage in torture in violation of international law; and they also kill and threaten Christian, Jewish, and other religious communities.”
“In short, ISIS is composed of religiously motivated psychopaths," he said.

Fake Cartoon