The man who turned on his father, a founder of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, and then spied against the organization for Israel won an immigration case Wednesday that will allow him to avoid deportation and stay in the United States.
Mosab Hassan Yousef received a favorable immigration court ruling in San Diego and can now seek political asylum. The ruling came after the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) abruptly withdrew its contention that Mr. Yousef should be kicked out of the country because of his ties to Hamas.
An immigration judge ruled that Mr. Yousef is eligible for asylum if he passes a routine background check. Government lawyer Kerri Calcador gave no explanation for the government’s change of heart, the Associated Press reported.
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Hamas founder’s son wins U.S. pro-asylum ruling
Former Justice Department lawyer accuses Holder of dropping Black Panther case for racial reasons
A former Justice Department attorney who quit his job to protest the Obama administration’s handling of the New Black Panther Party voter intimidation case is accusing Attorney General Eric Holder of dropping the charges for racially motivated reasons.
J. Christian Adams, now an attorney in Virginia and a conservative blogger, says he and the other Justice Department lawyers working on the case were ordered to dismiss it.
“I mean we were told, ‘Drop the charges against the New Black Panther Party,’” Adams told Fox News, adding that political appointees Loretta King, acting head of the civil rights division, and Steve Rosenbaum, an attorney with the division since 2003, ordered the dismissal.
Venezuela’s private retailers targeted as Hugo Chavez declares ‘economic war’
Cedeño’s alleged crime: selling beef for £4 a kilo, well above the regulated price of £2.58. He does not deny it – prices are marked on a white board behind the counter. “I’ve got to cover my costs. What business doesn’t? Yet eight officials came here to arrest me. It’s an abuse of power.”
Most economists attribute Venezuela’s soaring inflation to loose monetary policy, exchange controls, devaluation and anaemic domestic production, dynamics that show no sign of abating.
“The government has boxed itself in with a misguided policy mix of rampant spending and price and foreign exchange controls that has resulted in a growing output gap and galloping inflation,” said Patrick Esteruelas, of Eurasia Group political consultancy. He added that the government, unwilling to risk austerity measures in the run-up to September’s congressional elections, was deflecting blame. “It has found it highly convenient to persecute private food retailers.”
Venezuela’s authorities disagree. They say private firms are cheating customers with unjustified price rises that are driving 30% inflation, Latin America’s highest. Food prices are rising even faster, at 40%. According to Chávez, it is part of a plot by US-backed “fascist oligarchs” to destabilise his leftist experiment.
National debt soars to highest level since WWII
The federal debt will represent 62% of the nation’s economy by the end of this year, the highest percentage since just after World War II, according to a long-term budget outlook released today by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office.
Republicans, who have been talking a lot about the debt in recent months, pounced on the report. “The driver of this debt is spending,” said New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg, the top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee. “Our existing debt will be worsened by the president’s new health care entitlement programs…as well as an explosion in existing health care and retirement entitlement spending as the Baby Boomers retire.”
At the end of 2008, the debt equaled about 40 % of the nation’s annual economic output, according to the CBO.
Obama mocked commissions, then established four
President Obama’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform is meeting today as part of its efforts to craft recommendations by December on how best to address America’s red-ink problem.
Mr. Obama established the commission in February, saying debt and deficits can “hobble our economy” and “saddle every child in America with an intolerable burden.”
Yet the president’s decision to establish a commission to address a problem he described as potentially catastrophic seems odd in light of his earlier criticism of commissions in general. As Ari Shapiro noted on National Public Radio today, the president mocked the notion of commissions to address problems back when he was a candidate.
Al Gore sex investigation to be re-opened, say Portland police
An investigation into claims of sexual assault by former vice president Al Gore is to be re-opened, Portland police said Wednesday.
The move came after the massage therapist that accused Gore of mauling her in a hotel room in late 2006 was identified as Molly Hagerty.
In a statement Wednesday, police officials said: “The Portland Police Bureau has made the decision to re-open the case regarding the allegations brought forward against Mr. Al Gore.
“Consistent with our policy regarding open investigations, the Police Bureau will not be commenting on any additional specifics regarding this case at this time.”
Unbelievable: White House on Russian spies: It’s just “a law enforcement issue”
Gibbs said the president was briefed throughout the investigation, but he would not say whether Obama approved of the timing of the arrests.
FBI officials have reportedly said the timing of the arrests came from fear that one of the suspects would try to flee.
Gibbs said Obama had “no personal reaction” to the arrests, and he thought that law enforcement acted in “a timely manner.”
“This was a law enforcement issue, and law enforcement acted appropriately,” Gibbs said.
Kagan distorted documents on abortion
The documents involved date from the Clinton White House. They show Miss Kagan’s willingness to manipulate medical science to fit the Democratic party’s political agenda on the hot-button issue of abortion. As such, they reflect poorly on both the author and the president who nominated her to the Supreme Court.
There is no better example of this distortion of science than the language the United States Supreme Court cited in striking down Nebraska’s ban on partial-birth abortion in 2000. This language purported to come from a “select panel” of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), a supposedly nonpartisan physicians’ group. ACOG declared that the partial-birth-abortion procedure “may be the best or most appropriate procedure in a particular circumstance to save the life or preserve the health of a woman.” The Court relied on the ACOG statement as a key example of medical opinion supporting the abortion method.
SEIU leader under oath: Obama called to “recommend” Valerie Jarrett as his successor
“Tom, i want to talk to you with regard to the Senate seat,” Obama told him.
Balanoff said Obama said he had two criteria: someone who was good for the citizens of Illinois and could be elected in 2010.
Obama said he wasn’t publicly coming out in support of anyone but he believed Valerie Jarrett would fit the bill.
“I would much prefer she (remain in the White House) but she does want to be Senator and she does meet those two criteria,” Balanoff said Obama told him. “I said: ‘thank you, I’m going to reach out to Gov. Blagojevich.”
Balanoff then described a Nov. 6, 2008 meeting he had with Rod Blagojevich to recommend Valerie Jarrett for Barack Obama’s Senate seat.
Obama knew about Russian spies before meeting with Medvedev for burgers
Obama administration officials say the arrest of 11 people accused of being part of a Russian spy ring is a mere bump in the road to better relations with America’s former Cold War foe.
The White House and the State Department both downplayed the implications of the blockbuster investigation, which revealed an elaborate Russian intelligence plot to infiltrate the U.S. government. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Tuesday that President Obama had been briefed a “number of times” before the arrests and was “fully and appropriately informed” of the investigation.
He said Obama knew about it even before he took Russian President Dmitry Medvedev out to a Virginia burger joint last Thursday.