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.

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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

$10 billion UN-linked climate change fund wants immunity from prosecution

The Green Climate Fund, (GCF) a United Nations-affiliated piggy-bank  intended to finance climate change projects around the world, is determined to win sweeping U.N.-style immunities from prosecutions for its global operations--even though  the U.S., its biggest contributor, opposes the idea, and the U.N. itself says its own diplomatic immunities can’t cover the outfit.
The immunities issue could well spark even deeper opposition from Republican lawmakers in next year’s Congress to the Obama Administration’s aggressive climate change policies--which include a recent $3 billion pledge to the Fund.  
“We would definitely be opposed to any extension of immunity to the Fund,” said a senior aide to Republican Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma, who will chair the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works starting in January.
“What do they need protection from?” he asked. “In essence, they are doing business development projects. If you look at the way millions of people do transactions across national borders, they do it without immunity and very successfully.”
Apparently undeterred, fund officials told Fox News that they are now trying to hammer out “bilateral agreement templates” that could be laboriously negotiated with each country where it operates—a total that could eventually reach the great majority of  the U.N.’s 193 members.
The Fund has already negotiated one agreement of immunity—with its new host country, South Korea, as a condition of moving its headquarters there last year.
CLICK HERE FOR THE SOUTH KOREA AGREEMENT
If the GCF succeeds in its broader negotiations, not only billions but eventually trillions of dollars in climate funding activities could fall outside the scope of criminal and civilian legal actions, as well as outside examination, as the Fund, which currently holds $10 billion in funding and pledges, expands its ambitions.
The shield would cover all documentation as well as the words and actions of officials and consultants involved in the activity documentation—even after they move on to other jobs. As a tasty side-benefit, the “privileges” attached to such “privileges and immunities,” as they are known in diplomatic parlance, mean that employees get their salaries tax-free.
Just why the GCF needs the sweeping protections is not exactly clear. In response to questions from Fox News, Michel Smitall, a Fund spokesman, provided mostly opaque answers.
“Privileges and immunities are intended to facilitate GCF activities in countries in which it operates and the GCF’s ability to use contributions by donor countries in an effective and efficient manner that serves the objectives agreed by its member countries,” he said.
Smitall added that it is “premature” to give out any information on the specific scope of  privileges and immunities, because these “would be negotiated bilaterally with countries in which the GCF operates.”
The immunities, however, “are expected to cover a range of issues,” he said,  “such as protecting GCF staff members acting in their official capacity and facilitating their official travel and protecting taxpayer dollars contributed by donor countries.”
The GCF, he added, “functions in a transparent manner, with strong oversight by its [24-member] Board. To the extent that there are civil or criminal actions against the GCF, we would work closely with the authorities of the relevant country.”
Smitall’s statements, of reassurance however, did not cover the prospect that in many developing countries, those same national authorities may well be direct or indirect partners in the activities the Fund is financing, or the fact that national authorities in many of the developing countries where the Fund hopes to operate are spectacularly corrupt.
The assurances apparently have also failed to win over Obama Administration officials (the U.S. is a GCF Board member). "The Green Climate Fund is an independent institution wiht an independent Board and Secretariat, which is by design separate from the United Nations," a U.S. Treasury official told Fox News.
Treasury officials did not answer, however,  other emailed Fox News questions about whether other countries supported the U.S. position, and about U.S. views on the GCF's new country-by-country approach.
The British government, which has recently given $1.2 billion to the GCF through its Department for International Development (DFID), is staying close-mouthed about the immunities issue.  “The GCF Board will be deliberating the issue of privileges and immunities in 2015 and UK will engage in those discussions,” a DFID spokeswoman told Fox News.
The GFC’s determined pursuit of immunity highlights the broad zone of legal ambiguity that is proliferating in the era of international action against climate change, led by organizations operating under the aegis of the United Nations without being explicitly part of it.
The GFC, for example, is a by-product of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, or UNFCCC, which is the legal home of the Kyoto Protocol and the forum for hammering out a successor treaty that is now expected to be unveiled at a climate summit in Paris late next year.
Despite its name, the UNFCCCC is also not an organ of the U.N. that automatically gets and passes on  the same kind of sweeping immunities as direct U.N. subsidiaries, or that are granted by international agreement to major development banks.  That position was underlined in an opinion from the U.N. Office of Legal Affairs in 2006.
The GCF, in turn,  is a child of the UNFCCC—via a 2011 decision of UNFCCC parties--with its standing just as fuzzy—a situation that it has been trying to change since at least 2012. 
The effort to get that status shifted into a higher gear in November 2013, when the Fund’s Board sought another legal opinion from the U.N.’s Office of Legal Affairs on  whether it could obtain a “link” between its own status and that of the U.N., along “hybrid” lines derived from U.N. subsidiary organs.
The answer came back to the GCF board at a meeting this May—No.
CLICK HERE FOR THE BOARD’S QUERY AND REPLY
The Board apparently did not want to accept that answer.  A single sentence in a Board report at an October, 20144 meeting in Barbados notes that “a mission to
New York in August also helped prepare the UN Climate Summit and explore how the Fund may acquire privileges and immunities,” presumably with the same people who already  had replied in the negative.
(Questioned by Fox News about the August mission, GCF spokesman Smitall replied more circumspectly that “GCF Secretariat staff, including its general counsel, met with U.N. staff to engage in technical discussions to better understand the scope of U.N. immunities and the possibilities of U.N. linkage, given that the GCF is not a U.N. body.”)
While the rewards of  immunities are still something that GCF does not wish to discuss in detail, the potential risks they pose—to other people—have been raised by  critics who looked at disasters where U.N. immunities played an important role—such as Haiti.
U.N. peacekeepers from Nepal are almost universally believed to have introduced cholera in October 2010  to the earthquake shattered nation that had not seen the disease in a century. About 700,000 cases and 8, 560 deaths have been reported since then.
After denying U.N. involvement in the epidemic for many months, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon invoked U.N. diplomatic immunities in rejecting lawsuits brought against the world organization by relatives of the victims. Lawsuits in U.S. courts are still ongoing, but the State Department has supported the U.N.’s blanket immunity status.
“As we are seeing in the wake of the Haiti cholera epidemic, once we have agreed on privileges and immunities to any mission, they offer an extreme amount of protection to activities that could affect populations badly,” notes Brett Schaefer, an expert on the U.N. at the conservative Heritage Foundation in Washington. ‘’They should be awarded only in circumstances where they are truly necessary and critical to the mission or fulfillment of the mandate of the organization.”
“That is not the case,” he added, “with the GCF"—a position that the Fund is working as hard as it can to overcome.

Several 'high-value' ISIS leaders killed in Iraq, Pentagon officials say

U.S. airstrikes have killed several top Islamic State leaders in Iraq in recent weeks, limiting the terrorist army's ability to fight Iraqi and Kurdish forces, Pentagon officials said. 
Three top Islamic State leaders were killed in recent weeks, including multiple senior and mid-level leaders, said Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby. One of the leaders killed was Haji Mutazz, a deputy to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the terror group, officials said.
"We believe that the loss of these key leaders degrades ISIL's ability to command and control current operations against Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), including Kurdish and other local forces in Iraq," Kirby said. "While we do not discuss the intelligence and targeting details of our operations, it is important to note that leadership, command and control nodes, facilities, and equipment are always part of our targeting calculus."
Earlier, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey told The Wall Street Journal those killed included key players in the jihadist army that has carved out a vast swath of territory in Iraq and Syria.
“It is disruptive to their planning and command and control,” Dempsey told the Journal. “These are high-value targets, senior leadership.”
U.S. strikes also killed Abd al Basit, the head of Islamic State’s military operations in Iraq, between Dec. 3 and Dec. 9.  Officials told the Journal that a November strike killed midlevel commander Radwin Talib, ISIS' wali, or governor, in Mosul, Iraq.

Fox News Poll: Two-thirds say the government is broken

Uncle Sam’s performance doesn’t stink as much this year, according to the latest Fox News poll.
While most American voters say the federal government is “broken” -- they’re more charitable this year than last.
Click here for the poll results.
About two-thirds -- 65 percent -- still say it’s broken, but that’s down from a high of 71 percent in December 2013.  Some 58 percent of voters felt that way in December 2010, the first time the question was asked. 
The new poll, released Thursday, shows 29 percent say the government is working “just okay.”  Only five percent of voters describe it as working “pretty well.” 
The improved ratings come from across the political spectrum, as the number saying Washington is busted is down among Democrats (-6 points), Republicans (-7) and independents (-8). 
Still, over half of Democrats feel the government’s broken (53 percent), as do most independents (70 percent) and Republicans (74 percent).
And 82 percent of those who consider themselves part of the Tea Party movement feel that way. 
Most groups share the view that the government is broken.  Majorities of men (64 percent) and women (66 percent) say so, as do voters under age 35 (56 percent) and ages 65 and over (62 percent). 
Sixty percent of those in households with annual income under $50,000 think the government is broken.  That increases to 73 percent among the $100,000 and over income group. 
The Fox News poll is based on landline and cell phone interviews with 1,043 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide and was conducted under the joint direction of Anderson Robbins Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R) from December 7-9, 2014. The full poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.

Panel finds Secret Service leadership lacking

WASHINGTON –  An independent panel appointed to investigate the Secret Service after a series of security breaches around the White House released a report Thursday that said the agency tasked with protecting the president of the United States is “starved for leadership.”
An external review of the agency also said the next director in charge should be an outside hire and not picked from the insular agency. It also recommended a higher fence around the White House.
Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson had appointed a panel to review presidential security and the Secret Service after a man jumped the White House fence, made it past guards.
Johnson called the Secret Service report “astute, thorough and fair” and said he’s work to make sure the changes recommended were implemented. He said while the agency offers the “best protection service in the world,” it was in need of some change.
Many of the proposed changes have been recommended before, including some that date to the Warren Commission Report, which detailed the government investigation into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Johnson said Thursday the recommendations can't fall by the wayside this time.
The panelists were former Obama administration Associate Attorney General Tom Perrelli; former Deputy Attorney General Mark Filip, who served during Bush's term; Danielle Gray, a former assistant to the president for President Barack Obama; and Joe Hagin, deputy chief of staff for operations during the Bush administration.
This was the second critical report of the agency and its operations in as many months following the Sept. 19 incident, in which a Texas Army veteran armed with a small knife was able to climb over a White House fence and run deep into the executive mansion before being subdued. In November, an internal review concluded that training, poor staffing and a series of missteps contributed to the breach.
Among the mistakes made were that officers had believed that thick shrubbery would stop the intruder from making into the building.
Julia Pierson was forced to resign as director a day after testifying about the White House breach. Retired Secret Service Agent Joseph Clancy has been acting director since shortly after Pierson's ouster.
The independent panel also concluded that training and lack of staffing was also a serious problem for presidential security. The panel recommended hiring at least 85 agents and 200 uniformed officers. They also recommended that uniformed officers should spend at least 10 percent of their time training. Current staffing levels only allowed for about 25 minutes of training in 2013, the panel said.
The panel also suggested replacing the 7 1/2-foot fence around the 18-acre White House complex, although they declined "to say precisely what the optimal new fence should look like."
The panel made more than recommendations, though many of those directly related to security were deemed classified and not included in the summary.

Evidence in Sony hack attack suggests possible involvement by Iran, China or Russia, intel source says

WASHINGTON –  The U.S. investigation into the recent hacking attack at Sony Pictures Entertainment has turned up evidence that does not point to North Korea as the "sole entity" in the case, but rather, raises the possibility that Iran, China or Russia may have been involved, an intelligence source told Fox News on Thursday.
Earlier Thursday, Fox News confirmed that the FBI is pointing a digital finger at North Korea for the attack.
The source pointed to the sophistication of malware “modules or packets” that destroyed the Sony systems -- on a level that has not been seen from North Korea in the past -- but has been seen from Iran, China and Russia.
There is no evidence of a forced entry into the Sony systems, pointing to an insider threat or stolen credentials. And the first emails sent to Sony, described as blackmail or extortion, included demands unrelated to the movie.
The malware had two destructive threads, the source said: it overwrites data and it interrupts execution processes, such as a computer's start-up functions. After the initial attack, the FBI warned the industry that the malware can be so destructive that the data is not recoverable or it is too costly a process to retrieve. The intelligence source added that the forensic evidence suggests that the final stage of the attack was launched outside North Korea's borders -- creating some plausible deniability.
“Given the destructive efforts or effects of this attack, we're treating this as a national security matter, and as such, members of the president's national security team have been in regular meetings regarding this attack,” State Department Spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
Also, Fox News has learned that U.S. security firms were first notified Monday by the U.S. government that they planned to publicly blame North Korea, which is inconsistent with past practice, as the U.S. government often has chosen to work behind the scenes in similar instances.
The White House declined earlier Thursday to directly blame North Korea for the attack, though Press Secretary Josh Earnest referred to the incident as a "serious national security matter."
The case is "being treated as seriously as you'd expect," Earnest told reporters at an afternoon briefing. He added that the White House would allow the investigation to move forward before speculating about a response.
"There is evidence to indicate that we have seen destructive activity with malicious intent that was initiated by a sophisticated actor," Earnest said. "And it is being treated by those investigative agencies both at the FBI and the Department of Justice as seriously as you would expect."
The North Korean link came shortly after Sony canceled plans for its Dec. 25 release of “The Interview,” a comedy about the fictional assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.  Getting Sony to pull the release of the movie had been one of the hackers’ public demands.
Officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the attack originated outside North Korea, but believe the individuals behind it were acting on orders from the North Korean government.
While the U.S. government is unlikely to issue formal charges against North Korea or its leadership, a formal announcement of North Korea’s involvement is likely to come Thursday.
The Sony hack attack is “deeply worrying” to the intelligence community because it is believed to be the first time destructive malware has targeted a U.S. firm, according to the Fox News source, who added that the cyber assault is seen as “retribution” for “The Interview.”
Fox News is told that the malware used in the Sony hack attack has two destructive threads: it overwrites data and it interrupts execution processes, such as a computer's start-up functions. The FBI warns that the malware can be so destructive that the data is not recoverable or it is too costly a process to retrieve.
It is not clear how long the malware needs to be in the system before it brings on an almost complete paralysis. In the case of Sony, support functions -- including emails --were knocked off-line, seen as a distraction while the more destructive attack was launching.
This week North Korea’s state-run media KCNA endorsed the Sony hacking, saying it was done by “sympathizers.” Andrei Lankov, an expert on North Korea who writes a column for The Korea Times, says this is as close to an endorsement as possible.
Another expert noted “ambiguity of attribution and guerilla-warfare approach” are the tactics of North Korea. The expert concluded it will be seen that America is vulnerable to blackmail and North Korea will try it again.
Fox News has also been told, however, there was “zero” chance there would have been any actual attacks on theaters.”
"Sony was stupid to make a movie about killing Kim Jung-un," Lankov said, "but it was even more stupid to cave in to pressure."
A Steve Carell "paranoid" thriller "that was to be set in North Korea" also has been scrapped, sources say. The project from director Gore Verbinski and writer Steve Conrad wasn't yet titled, though industry outlets said the working title was "Pyongyang," which is the North Korean capital.
"Sad day for creative expression," Carell tweeted Wednesday evening, adding "#fear eats the soul" as a hashtag.
In an interview with ABC News aired Wednesday, President Obama encouraged Americans to go to the movies.
The Sony hacking saga took a sinister turn on Tuesday when hackers sent a message threatening to target theaters showing “The Interview” in a 9/11-type attack.
Sony then told theaters they will not be penalized should they choose not to show it.
A representative for the FBI Los Angeles Field Office told FOX411 that the bureau is “aware of the recent threats and continues to work collaboratively with our partners to investigate.”
Security experts told Fox that in the wake of the Sydney siege and the release of the CIA enhanced interrogation report last week, it was crucial the threat be taken seriously by authorities.
“This threatening statement obviously has some foundation and may be linked to current global hostilities toward the West and predominantly the U.S.,” said Lee Oughton, global security and risk management expert. “We are still unaware how deep the hackers were able to penetrate into the Sony systems. Only time will tell how much information they were able to ascertain and what price Sony will pay in the international market.”
Actors James Franco and Seth Rogen already canceled all media appearances promoting their film.

Jeb Cartoon

New York Gov. Cuomo moves to ban fracking

New York officials on Wednesday moved forward with an effort to ban fracking across the state, citing excessive environmental and health concerns.
The move came during a Cabinet-level meeting in Albany, the state capital, in which Gov. Andrew Cuomo's environmental commissioner, Joe Martens, recommended a ban.
Cuomo, a Democrat, said he will defer to Martens and acting Health Commissioner Howard Zucker in making a final decision.
A ban would end the state's current six-month moratorium on fracking.
The process of fracking involves shooting a mix of pressurized water, sand and chemicals to split rock formations to release natural gas and so-called tight oil.
The widely used, deep-drilling process has resulted in a surge in domestic-energy production and has created millions of new jobs.
However, state and local governments are pushing for bans over the health and environmental concerns, including the potential for earthquakes and the contamination of natural water supplies.
New York sits atop the Marcellus shale formation, which stretches 600 miles along the Appalachian Basin and is rich in natural gas deposits.
Fracking supporters immediately expressed opposition to the state’s plan.
“Today’s action by Governor Cuomo shows that New York families, teachers, roads and good-paying jobs have lost out to political gamesmanship,” said Karen Moreau, of the New York Petroleum Council, an arm of the American Petroleum Institute, which represents some of the world's biggest energy companies.
Martens said the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation will put out a final impact study early next year that will suggest a ban on fracking, more formally known as high-volume hydraulic fracturing.
Martens said he would follow the report with an order prohibiting the process.
Zucker said he came to the decision that he didn’t want the state to proceed with fracking when he realized that he wouldn’t want his family to live near an extraction site.

Palestinians buck US, put UN resolution before Security Council demanding Israel withdraw from West Bank

Arab nations backed Palestinians Wednesday, putting a resolution before the UN Security Council Wednesday that would demand an Israeli pullout from the West Bank and East Jerusalem within two years in a bid that could complicate U.S. efforts to broker peace in the region.
The Arab Group at the UN endorsed by consensus the Palestinian resolution,  instructing Jordan, a temporary member, to submit it to the powerful panel. The sponsors of the resolution believe that the text is ready for a vote they hope will come as early as Thursday.
The measure, which presents the Arab and pro-Palestinian position, sets the parameters for an Israeli withdrawal beyond the pre-1967 borders, with East Jerusalem becoming its capital, and advance the process of a two-state solution.
The resolution is believed to be based on a French proposal, a rough draft of which Fox News has obtained. But it could not be determined what changes may be made before or during the Arab League session. The Palestinians are calling it the "ending the occupation" resolution.
Should the Security Council take up the measure, it could spark weeks or even months of debate, or be brought to a vote within 24 hours.
Arab leaders said they were pressing ahead with the maneuver in spite of opposition from the U.S., where U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has been working to find common ground between Palestinian and Israeli leaders. Although the resolution would likely have support from some European members of the council, the U.S. is likely to veto it, further complicating the peace process.
More than 700,000 Israeli settlers live in the so-called “occupied territories.” Although none live in Gaza, under the resolution believed to be in play Gaza would become an integral part of the Palestinian State.

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned the resolution would destabilize the region. (AP) (AP)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that the motion, if passed, would destabilize the region.
"Attempts of the Palestinians and of several European countries to force conditions on Israel will only lead to a deterioration in the regional situation and will endanger Israel," he warned in a statement.
The resolution also condemns violence against civilians and all acts of terrorism and promotes a sovereign, non-militarized Palestine, which would have full UN membership.

Congressional critics ready to block Obama push to normalize Cuban relations

The historic plan announced by President Obama on Wednesday to normalize relations with Cuba was met with heavy bipartisan resistance on Capitol Hill, raising questions of whether Congress will even consider easing a more than 50-year trade embargo against the communist state -- let alone end it.
Obama said the United States will cease what he called an “outdated approach” with Cuba, and take steps to normalize diplomatic relations -- including opening an embassy in Havana -- after American Alan Gross was released from the country following five years in prison as part of an agreement that also included the release of three Cubans jailed in the U.S.
Obama also called on Congress to have an "honest and serious debate" about lifting the trade embargo, which has been in place since 1962.
But Republicans, and even some Democrats, pushed back strongly, with some GOP heavy hitters calling Obama's plan “another concession to tyranny.”
“These changes will lead to legitimacy for a government that shamelessly continuously abuses human rights but it will not lead to assistance for those whose rights are being abused,” Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said Wednesday.
"It's absurd and it's part of a long record of coddling dictators and tyrants," Rubio told Fox News, claiming the administration is "constantly giving away unilateral concessions ... in exchange for nothing." Rubio called Obama the "worst negotiator" the U.S. has had as president "since at least Jimmy Carter." He also said Congress would not support lifting the embargo.
Incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell also criticized the administration’s plan to change the current U.S. relationship with Cuba. McConnell said he defers to Rubio on the matter.
Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., who, like Rubio, is a Cuban-American lawmaker, said this is a moment of "profound relief" for Gross and his family. But he voiced concerns that this constituted a "swap of convicted spies for an innocent American."
"President Obama's actions have vindicated the brutal behavior of the Cuban government," he said in a statement. "Trading Mr. Gross for three convicted criminals sets an extremely dangerous precedent. It invites dictatorial and rogue regimes to use Americans serving overseas as bargaining chips."
Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and John McCain, R-Ariz., said in a joint statement that the move damages American values.
"Unfortunately, we fear the most damaging chapter to America’s national security is still being written. We dread the day President Obama takes to the podium to announce a nuclear deal with the Iranian ayatollahs which does little, if anything, to deter their nuclear ambitions, placing our nation and our closest allies in even deeper peril,” the said in a joint written statement.
Other U.S. lawmakers hailed the agreement, and some even joined Gross on the plane ride to the U.S. -- Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.; Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.; and Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., were on that flight. 
U.S. officials said Pope Francis was personally engaged in the process as well and sent separate letters to Obama and Castro this summer urging them to restart relations.
Senior administration officials said Obama spoke with Cuban leader Raul Castro for more than 45 minutes on Tuesday, the first substantive presidential-level discussion between the U.S. and Cuba since 1961.
Obama also plans to take several executive actions, including expanding travel and economic ties to the island. According to a White House document, the U.S. government would raise remittance levels and authorize certain travel to Cuba, as well as start a review of Cuba's designation as a state sponsor of terrorism.
Obama also has formally directed the State Department to launch talks with Cuba to re-establish diplomatic relations, which were cut in 1961. The embassy in Havana would be opened "in the coming months," according to the White House.
Officials said the Cuban government was releasing 53 political prisoners. The announcement comes after Gross was freed, as part of an agreement that included the release of three Cubans jailed in the U.S. 
Gross landed in the U.S. shortly before noon on Wednesday.
A senior Obama administration official told Fox News that Gross left Cuba on a U.S. government plane Wednesday morning, and was "released on humanitarian grounds by the Cuban government at the request of the United States."
The three Cubans released are part of the so-called Cuban Five -- a group of men who were part of the "Wasp Network" sent by Cuba's then-President Fidel Castro to spy in South Florida. The men, who are hailed as heroes in Cuba, were convicted in 2001 in Miami on charges including conspiracy and failure to register as foreign agents in the U.S.
Two of the Cuban Five were previously released after finishing their sentences.
Cuba was also releasing a non-American intelligence "asset" along with Gross, according to a U.S. official. Administration officials claimed that Gross was not technically traded for the three Cubans, and that his release was humanitarian.
Obama administration officials had considered Gross' imprisonment an impediment to improving relations with Cuba, and the surprise deal was quickly making way for rapid changes in U.S. policy.
The president has taken some steps to ease U.S. restrictions on Cuba after Raul Castro took over as president in 2010 from his ailing brother. He has sought to ease travel and financial restrictions on Americans with family in Cuba, but had resisted calls to drop the embargo. Obama raised eyebrows when he shook hands with Raul Castro at Nelson Mandela's memorial service last year.
Gross was detained in December 2009 while working to set up Internet access as a subcontractor for the U.S. government's U.S. Agency for International Development, which does work promoting democracy in the communist country. It was his fifth trip to Cuba to work with Jewish communities on setting up Internet access that bypassed local censorship.