Jerome R. Corsi's Blog, page 342
December 25, 2013
Obamacare's 'gay' redistribution agenda
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first article in the series on the Obama administration’s campaign to enroll lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender citizens in Obamacare, which force private insurers to cover the high-risk population by distributing the burden to other citizens and away from government.
NEW YORK – The Obama administration’s emphasis on enrolling the LGBT community in Obamacare strongly suggests it has an unspoken agenda of shifting to healthy citizens the extraordinary financial burden of providing services to the unique demographic, which is afflicted disproportionately by AIDS and other health issues.
“The Affordable Care Act has the potential to transform the lives of countless LGBT people and improve the health and well-being of our community – for generations to come,” proclaims the White House Blog in a Dec. 17 posting.
The White House Blog posting noted that since taking office, President Obama and his administration “have taken significant steps to advance equality for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community.”
“You’ve probably heard of many of these accomplishments: repealing ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ prohibiting anti-LGBT discrimination in hospitals and in housing, promoting international LGBT human rights, standing up against DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act) and then implementing the Supreme Court’s decision in United States v. Windsor.
The post concludes by emphasizing the steps being taken by the Obama White House to work with the LGBT community to raise Obamacare awareness:
“That’s why we have been working closely with organizations like Out2Enroll, CenterLink, the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association, PFLAG, the Equality Federation, and the Gay and Lesbian Victory Institute over the last few months to raise awareness of the Affordable Care Act. And we’ve also been working with LGBT community centers, Pride organizations, philanthropic foundations, LGBT health centers, and HIV/AIDS service providers to empower local LGBT communities with the information and resources they need to get access to quality, affordable health care.”
An infogram in the blog post lists the “Top 5 Affordable Care Act Benefits for the LGBT Community”:
Plans purchased through the Marketplace can’t discriminate based on sexual orientation or gender identity;
You can’t be charged a higher premium just because you’re lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender;
No denial of coverage because of pre-existing conditions like HIV/AIDS, cancer, or mental health diagnoses;
Legally married same-sex couples are treated equally for same-sex couples are treated equally for financial assistance when purchasing coverage in the Health Insurance Marketplace, regardless of where they live;
No more lifetime limits on coverage for people with chronic diseases like HIV/AIDS.
In effect, by eliminating health underwriting, Obamacare has transformed health insurance for the LGBT into a “guaranteed-issue,” even if the applicant has HIV/AIDS.
Under Obamacare, all health insurance providers must accept any applicant who applies and is willing to pay. The insurers are prohibited from asking applicants about their “gender identity” or sexual orientation.
The message appears to be at the center of the White House public relations campaign to encourage the LGBT community to purchase health insurance through an Obamacare health-insurance exchange.
The Obamacare exchange is designed to eliminate the ability to pay as the last possible barrier to obtaining health insurance by providing low-income applicants with subsidies and/or access to Medicare/Medicaid.
The White House, therefore, has configured Obamacare so that the only reason an LBGT person would not obtain some form of health insurance coverage is because the person simply does not want to have health care or otherwise refuses to apply.
White House endorses ‘Out2Enroll’
WND reported a private LGBT advocacy group group, “Out2Enroll,” funded by the Center for American Progress, the Sellers Dorsey Foundation, and the Federal Agencies Project, has produced a video that spoofs LGBT lifestyles in an effort to promote Obamacare enrollment.
Out2Enroll launched operations Sept. 12 with a briefing at the White House that featured remarks from Senior Advisor to the President Valerie Jarrett, Secretary of Health and Human Services head Kathleen Sebelius and various LGBT health experts.
In a separate posting on the White House website Sept. 17 under the banner “President Obama and the LGBT Community,” Sebelius explained the importance of the LGBT community to the success of Obamacare.
“All of this is good news for the LGBT community, particularly when we consider that one in three lower income LGBT adults in our country do not have health insurance,” Sebelius said. “Starting October 1, they are going to have the opportunity to sign-up for quality, affordable coverage through the new Health Insurance Marketplace for coverage beginning as early as January 1, 2014.”
Sebelius said “most of these Americans are not yet aware of their new options.”
“You don’t have to be an expert to figure out what we need to do to get the word out. It’s outreach. It’s education. It’s communication,” she said.
Sebelius recounted the Sept. 12 event in which she joined with Jarrett and nearly 200 LGBT community leaders and allies from across the country for a briefing on Obamacare and the LGBT community.
“The purpose of this briefing was to equip community leaders with the tools, information, and resources they need to get involved and help local LGBT communities get access to quality, affordable health care,” she said.
A 21-minute YouTube video shows presentations by Jarrett and Sebelius at the Sept. 12 event.
Jarrett made clear in her presentation that the White House considers advancing the LGBT agenda with Obamacare a moral imperative. She equated discrimination against the LGBT community to discrimination against women that Supreme Court rulings have addressed.
Sebelius said that 19 days before the official Oct. 1 implementation date for Obamacare, HHS was determined to move forward with Obamacare regardless of any problems or barriers.
She reminded those attending the briefing that Obamacare is “a law that is going to happen in spite of the efforts of some of our friends on the Hill who continue to debate this issue as if it were a political debate.”
She went on to add that Obamacare is “what I like to call ‘a law,’ a law that was passed, signed, upheld by the Supreme Court, and the president got re-elected.”
To reinforce the point a third time, she said, “This is a law and people are entitled to these benefits.”
Sebelius echoed Jarrett’s statement that the LGBT community was entitled to constitutional protection for gender identity and sexual-practice differences.
“The journey isn’t complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like everyone else under the law,” Sebelius said, “and that is a critical framing statement. And [President Obama] has made it very clear that belief needs to be enacted throughout he administration.”
‘Requiring insurers to cover’
Another White House posting, cross-posted on the HHS website, lists “four major ways” the Affordable Care Act helps the LGBT community:
Protecting our right to access quality, affordable health insurance. Starting in 2014, the health care law prevents insurers from denying us coverage or charging us a higher premium because of a pre-existing condition or because we are LGBT.
Removing lifetime dollar limits on coverage. That means that people with chronic diseases, like HIV/AIDS, cancer and mental health concerns, can get the care we need. And starting in 2014, all annual limits will be illegal, too.
Promoting wellness by requiring insurers to cover preventive care at no additional cost. LGBT adults and teens can get screened by a health professional for HIV and depression without paying co-pays or deductibles. Other preventive services, like cervical cancer screening for sexually active women, obesity counseling for people at risk, and well-woman visits are also covered at no extra cost.
Helping more LGBT Americans find affordable health insurance. Starting Oct. 1, 2013, all Americans without insurance and those looking for better options will have a new place to shop for plans, the Health Insurance Marketplace, and may qualify for lower costs on monthly premiums.
HHS introduced a graphic on June 26 during “Gay Pride Month” to market Obamacare to the LGBT community:
HHS stressed that by “protecting consumers, promoting prevention, and expanding access, HHS and the Affordable Care Act are now leading the way to greater equality, security, and wellness for LGBT Americans – one more reason this is a Pride Month to celebrate!”
December 24, 2013
Healthcare.gov can't verify Obama's identity
NEW YORK – The White House appears to have dropped a bombshell when it explained to the press why White House staff in Washington enrolled President Obama in Obamacare instead of Obama himself.
Officials said it was because HealthCare.gov could not verify Obama’s identity.
Here is what Ed Henry, Fox News White House correspondent, reported on air:
“Somebody who’s not waiting in line to enroll is the president of the United States. We learned today from the White House. Initially, they said he signed up for what they called a bronze plan, paying about four hundred dollars a month in premiums. But, then they came back to us and said – ‘Well, wait. He didn’t actually enroll. They said his staff did it and that’s because of his unique circumstance obviously, as commander-in-chief, that his personal information is not in various government databases, so Healthcare.gov could not actually verify his identity, oddly enough. So, he had to do it in person this weekend, so he was signing up for the D.C. exchange, but his staff did it.”
A CBS report in Washington, likewise, explained White House staff had to go to an “in-person” Obamacare site to sign up Obama for coverage.
The Fox News report, noted by the Gateway Pundit, set off a round of speculation on the Internet.
What information was so sensitive for Obama that it had to be excluded from government databases?
Clearly, the information was not his Social Security Number or his birth records, because the White House has claimed to have made public both.
On May 5, 2010, WND published a report documenting that WND researchers were able to find, through an ordinary search of the Social Security database online, the Social Security Number Obama has been using.
In the same article, WND also reported Obama was using a Social Security Number set aside by the Social Security Administration for applicants with addresses in Connecticut. Public records, meanwhile, provide no evidence Obama ever had an address in the state.
On April 27, 2011, the White House released a form the White House claimed was Obama’s long-form birth certificate, making public Obama’s date and place of birth.
The White House also releases annually on a timely basis the income tax returns for Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, with the Social Security Numbers missing. Yet for the purpose of filing the IRS return, there appears to be no exception allowing the president or the vice president to omit their Social Security Numbers.
The Healthcare.gov website says the only information required for applying for health-care coverage on the government exchange is a Social Security Number, employer and income verification, and the policy numbers of any current health-insurance plans.
Source: HealthCare.gov
As indicated above, WND reported after Obama took the oath of office that the Social Security Number he currently is using could be found through a public search on the Social Security website.
None of the other information required, as seen on the above Healthcare.gov “Marketplace Application Checklist,” appears to be information that would be included in a government database for any U.S. citizen prior to applying for health insurance.
While the policy numbers of existing health-insurance plans covering members of the household would be protected for all citizens under various state and federal privacy statutes, the information does not appear to reach the threshold where national-security concerns would require keeping the information secret for the commander in chief under a national-security classification.
E-Verify ‘flagged’ Obama SSN
On Sept. 12, 2011, WND reported the Social Security Number being used by Obama did not pass a check with E-Verify, the electronic system the U.S. Citizenship and Immigrations Services of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security created to verify whether or not prospective employees have the required authorization to work legally in the United States.
In that article, WND published the “Self-Check” page from E-Verify that clearly listed a “Notice of Mismatch with Social Security Administration (SSA) Records.”
As seen below, Obama’s Social Security Number produced a mismatch that warranted a visit to the Social Security Administration to investigate the discrepancy.
E-Verify notification of “mismatch” in Obama Social Security number self check
The checked reason for the mismatch notice was: “SSA record does not verify. Other reason. SSA found a discrepancy in the record.”
The graphic below shows a Social Security Administration website page that indicates the response “SSA record does not verify, other reason” is to be interpreted as “Special indicator present,” with the reference to three E-Verify sections.
Social Security page explaining response "SSA record does not verify, other reason."
Further research revealed that the SSA adds “Special Indicator codes” to identify Social Security numbers that individuals obtained fraudulently.
According to an audit report authored by the Office of the Inspector General, Social Security Administration, titled “Effectiveness of Special Indicator Codes on the Social Security Administrations Numident File,” dated August 2008, there were nine special indicator codes as of November 2008:
False Identity
Noncitizen Not in Status
Multiple SSNs with Different Identities
Scrambled Earnings with New SSN Assigned
SSN Obtained Using Fraudulent Documentation
SSN Assignment Based on Harassment/Abuse/Life Endangerment
Fictitious Identity
Fraud – OIG Investigated
Fraud SSN Misuse
WND obtained a copy of an affidavit from Linda Jordan, a private citizen who entered Obama’s Social Security Number into the “Self Check” section of the E-Verify website and found it to be flagged as likely being fraudulent.
“Eight of the Special Indicators have to do with fraud of some kind,” Jordan said. “It looks to me like the SSN Obama is using has been flagged with a Special Indicator suggesting fraud.”
WND’s request for comment in September 2011 to the media office of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigrations Services of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security went unanswered.
Whose Social Security Number is Obama using?
As seen below, U.S. Air Force Col. Gregory Hollister, retired, obtained from the Social Security Administration verification that the Social Security Number currently being used by Obama is a number that was never issued to him.
SSA verification that the Obama's Social Security number (redacted above) was not issued to Obama
Yet, WND has independently verified that Obama is using the Social Security Number in question.
As seen below, WND confirmed in an article published Feb. 2, 2011, that Obama’s Social Security Number links to Obama in the online records maintained by the Selective Service system. Inserting Obama’s Social Security Number into the online Selective Service search engine produces a valid Selective Service Number identified with Obama.
Selective Service online search engine links Obama's Social Security Number to his Selective Service Number
On Nov. 30, 2010, WND reported that the Social Security Administration has decided to randomize all future Social Security Numbers issued, beginning on or about June 25, 2011, in a move that will eliminate state-specific assignment of the Social Security Numbers.
Why couldn't Healthcare.gov validate Obama's identity?
NEW YORK – The White House appears to have dropped a bombshell when it explained to the press why White House staff in Washington enrolled President Obama in Obamacare instead of Obama himself.
Officials said it was because HealthCare.gov could not verify Obama’s identity.
Here is what Ed Henry, Fox News White House correspondent, reported on air:
“Somebody who’s not waiting in line to enroll is the president of the United States. We learned today from the White House. Initially, they said he signed up for what they called a bronze plan, paying about four hundred dollars a month in premiums. But, then they came back to us and said – ‘Well, wait. He didn’t actually enroll. They said his staff did it and that’s because of his unique circumstance obviously, as commander-in-chief, that his personal information is not in various government databases, so Healthcare.gov could not actually verify his identity, oddly enough. So, he had to do it in person this weekend, so he was signing up for the D.C. exchange, but his staff did it.”
A CBS report in Washington, likewise, explained White House staff had to go to an “in-person” Obamacare site to sign up Obama for coverage.
The Fox News report, noted by the Gateway Pundit, set off a round of speculation on the Internet.
What information was so sensitive for Obama that it had to be excluded from government databases?
Clearly, the information was not his Social Security Number or his birth records, because the White House has claimed to have made public both.
On May 5, 2010, WND published a report documenting that WND researchers were able to find, through an ordinary search of the Social Security database online, the Social Security Number Obama has been using.
In the same article, WND also reported Obama was using a Social Security Number set aside by the Social Security Administration for applicants with addresses in Connecticut. Public records, meanwhile, provide no evidence Obama ever had an address in the state.
On April 27, 2011, the White House released a form the White House claimed was Obama’s long-form birth certificate, making public Obama’s date and place of birth.
The White House also releases annually on a timely basis the income tax returns for Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, with the Social Security Numbers missing. Yet for the purpose of filing the IRS return, there appears to be no exception allowing the president or the vice president to omit their Social Security Numbers.
The Healthcare.gov website says the only information required for applying for health-care coverage on the government exchange is a Social Security Number, employer and income verification, and the policy numbers of any current health-insurance plans.
Source: HealthCare.gov
As indicated above, WND reported after Obama took the oath of office that the Social Security Number he currently is using could be found through a public search on the Social Security website.
None of the other information required, as seen on the above Healthcare.gov “Marketplace Application Checklist,” appears to be information that would be included in a government database for any U.S. citizen prior to applying for health insurance.
While the policy numbers of existing health-insurance plans covering members of the household would be protected for all citizens under various state and federal privacy statutes, the information does not appear to reach the threshold where national-security concerns would require keeping the information secret for the commander in chief under a national-security classification.
E-Verify ‘flagged’ Obama SSN
On Sept. 12, 2011, WND reported the Social Security Number being used by Obama did not pass a check with E-Verify, the electronic system the U.S. Citizenship and Immigrations Services of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security created to verify whether or not prospective employees have the required authorization to work legally in the United States.
In that article, WND published the “Self-Check” page from E-Verify that clearly listed a “Notice of Mismatch with Social Security Administration (SSA) Records.”
As seen below, Obama’s Social Security Number produced a mismatch that warranted a visit to the Social Security Administration to investigate the discrepancy.
E-Verify notification of “mismatch” in Obama Social Security number self check
The checked reason for the mismatch notice was: “SSA record does not verify. Other reason. SSA found a discrepancy in the record.”
The graphic below shows a Social Security Administration website page that indicates the response “SSA record does not verify, other reason” is to be interpreted as “Special indicator present,” with the reference to three E-Verify sections.
Social Security page explaining response "SSA record does not verify, other reason."
Further research revealed that the SSA adds “Special Indicator codes” to identify Social Security numbers that individuals obtained fraudulently.
According to an audit report authored by the Office of the Inspector General, Social Security Administration, titled “Effectiveness of Special Indicator Codes on the Social Security Administrations Numident File,” dated August 2008, there were nine special indicator codes as of November 2008:
False Identity
Noncitizen Not in Status
Multiple SSNs with Different Identities
Scrambled Earnings with New SSN Assigned
SSN Obtained Using Fraudulent Documentation
SSN Assignment Based on Harassment/Abuse/Life Endangerment
Fictitious Identity
Fraud – OIG Investigated
Fraud SSN Misuse
WND obtained a copy of an affidavit from Linda Jordan, a private citizen who entered Obama’s Social Security Number into the “Self Check” section of the E-Verify website and found it to be flagged as likely being fraudulent.
“Eight of the Special Indicators have to do with fraud of some kind,” Jordan said. “It looks to me like the SSN Obama is using has been flagged with a Special Indicator suggesting fraud.”
WND’s request for comment in September 2011 to the media office of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigrations Services of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security went unanswered.
Whose Social Security Number is Obama using?
As seen below, U.S. Air Force Col. Gregory Hollister, retired, obtained from the Social Security Administration verification that the Social Security Number currently being used by Obama is a number that was never issued to him.
SSA verification that the Obama's Social Security number (redacted above) was not issued to Obama
Yet, WND has independently verified that Obama is using the Social Security Number in question.
As seen below, WND confirmed in an article published Feb. 2, 2011, that Obama’s Social Security Number links to Obama in the online records maintained by the Selective Service system. Inserting Obama’s Social Security Number into the online Selective Service search engine produces a valid Selective Service Number identified with Obama.
Selective Service online search engine links Obama's Social Security Number to his Selective Service Number
On Nov. 30, 2010, WND reported that the Social Security Administration has decided to randomize all future Social Security Numbers issued, beginning on or about June 25, 2011, in a move that will eliminate state-specific assignment of the Social Security Numbers.
December 20, 2013
Obama brother disputes 'Dreams' autobiography
Mark Ndesandjo
Yet another Barack Obama relative has surfaced to cause the president grief over the credibility of the story he recounted in his autobiography, “Dreams from My Father,” a bestseller that helped propel him to the presidency in 2008.
WND reported Dec. 5 that the White House reversed its previous denial that Obama had met his Kenyan-born uncle, Omar Onyango Obama, an illegal immigrant to the U.S. who appeared recently in court after facing deportation for about 40 years.
Now, Obama’s Kenyan half-brother by his father’s third wife has surfaced with the coming publication of an autobiographical book claiming the president has misrepresented his past.
In an Associated Press interview this week from his home in China, Mark Obama Ndesandjo, 48, has stirred controversy two months before the self-publication on Feb. 28, 2014, of his book “Cultures: My Odyssey of Self-Discovery.”
The AP asked Ndesandjo to describe his relationship with his famous half-brother.
“Right now it’s cold and I think that part of the reason is based on my writing,” Ndesandjo said. “My writing has alienated some people in my family.
Even though, as the AP pointed out, Ndesandjo felt his relationship with his half-brother in the White House was distant, he said he hoped “that my brother and I can really hug each other after he’s president and we can be a family again.”
Like Barack Obama, Ndesandjo is half-white, born to a white Jewish woman the Kenyan met in Massachusetts while studying at Harvard. Barack Obama is the son of the Kenyan and his second wife, Stanley Ann Dunham, a white student he met while studying at the University of Hawaii.
The AP reported Ndesandjo’s conflict with his half-brother traced back to their first encounter, in 1988, when Barack Obama was in Kenya tracing his family roots.
“Barack thought I was too white, and I thought he was too black,” Ndesandjo said, recalling the two did not see eye-to-eye from the time they first met.
Ndesandjo said racial tensions, in particular, seemed to separate the two.
“He was an American searching for his African roots. I was a Kenyan,” Ndesandjo said. “I’m an American, but I was living in Kenya, searching for my white roots.”
Ndesandjo said there were a number of factual errors in “Dreams from My Father,” especially regarding quotes attributed to Ndesandjo’s mother.
Ndesandjo said he hopes to set the record straight in his 500-page book.
“It’s a correction. A lot of the stuff that Barack wrote is wrong in that book, and I can understand that, because to me for him the book was a tool for fashioning an identity, and he was using composites,” Ndesandjo told the AP. “I wanted to bring it up because first of all I wanted the record to be straight. I wanted to tell my own story, not let people tell it for me.”
The Telegraph in London reported in 2009 that in an earlier semi-autobiographical novel, “Nairobi to Shenzhen,” Ndesandjo wrote that his father was abusive to him and to his mother.
“My father beat me. He beat my mother. You just do not do that. I remember in my house, I would hear the screams. I would hear my mum’s pain. As a child, I could not protect her,” Ndesandjo told the Telegraph, breaking into tears.
“I could not remember any good things about my father. My skin had turned hard emotionally for so many years.”
The Telegraph reported in 2009 that Obama “refers to Ndesandjo simply as ‘my brother’ and says he was the only uncontested heir after their Kenyan father died in a car crash in 1982.”
The statement appears to be a reference to “Dreams,” where Obama writes: “Unlike my mum, Ruth has all the documents needed to prove who Mark’s father was.”
Obama, however, has published a copy of a purported Hawaiian birth certificate on the White House website that indicates Barack Obama Sr. was his father. A short-form version that circulated online at the time the Telegraph article was published also listed Obama Sr. as the father.
The Chinese Speakers Bureau, where Ndesandjo is registered, says that in his upcoming book, Ndesandjo “gives a thoughtful overview of his early life, and corrects the image and facts U.S. president Barack Obama has published earlier.”
In a brief bio published on the Chinese Speakers Bureau site, Ndesandjo is listed as “an American” who is a nine-year resident of Shenzhen, China.
Largely educated in the U.S., Ndesandjo holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in physics from Brown University and a Masters degree from Stanford, as well as an Emory MBA.
“He consults worldwide, using over 15 years of international marketing and branding experience gained as a senior manager at ATT, Lucent, Nortel and other companies,” the Chinese Speakers Bureau notes. “He is an HSK L7 (advanced) Mandarin speaker and writer, and an avid brush calligrapher.”
On a website created for the publication of Ndesandjo’s forthcoming book, he discusses his work giving piano lessons to orphans in and around Shenzhen.
Ndesandjo also has issued three CDs of his piano music.
He has created the Mark Obama Foundation Ltd. with the goal of fostering cultural exchanges between Asia, Africa and the U.S., with an emphasis on helping young people appreciate art.
In the complicated Obama family history, Ndesandjo was the eldest of two sons born in Kenya to Barack Obama’s father and Ruth Beatrice Baker of Massachusetts, a 1958 graduate of Simmons College in Boston with a degree in business.
Ruth Baker, who is commonly named as “Ruth Nidesand” in most Obama biographical accounts, met Barack Obama Sr. when he attended Harvard University after attending the University of Hawaii. She followed Barack Obama Sr. back to Africa. The two were married in Kenya in a civil ceremony Dec. 24, 1964.
After Baker divorced Barack Obama Sr., she and her two sons took on the surname of their stepfather, Ndesandjo.
WND columnist Jack Cashill, in his 2011 book “Deconstructing Obama: The Life, Loves, and Letters of America’s First Postmodern President,” and in a series of WND articles, has argued not only that much of Barack Obama’s autobiography is fictional but also that it was written by Weather Underground radical Bill Ayers.
December 19, 2013
Obamacare jumps the shark with 'gay' Christmas
NEW YORK – In an effort to woo a demographic the White House considers key to the success of Obamacare, a campaign called Out2Enroll has produced a video commercial that will test the sensibilities of many Americans who might otherwise be tolerant of the homosexual-rights movement.
While the Christmas-themed ad sponsored by major left-wing groups may be “gay” in every sense of the word, its aim is serious, as the White House is aware that a disproportionate number of homosexual Americans are uninsured and qualify for premium subsidies under Obamacare.
Out2Enroll launched Sept. 12 with a Washington-issued statement and a briefing at the White House that featured remarks from senior presidential adviser Valerie Jarrett, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius and various LGBT health experts from around the country.
‘Get Enrolled’
The Out2Enroll video, “Get Enrolled,” tagged as a “Full Frontal Freedom Production,” features semi-nude, muscled young men adorned in Santa Claus hats and reindeer antlers sucking peppermint sticks while prancing about and embracing one another as they decorate a Christmas tree and set out holiday stockings.
Featured in the video is an unnamed young woman who sings about the virtues of the Affordable Care Act to the tune of “Let it Snow.”
The publisher of the lyrics, ThePunditPress.com, said the song promotes Obamacare enrollment with lines such as: “Pre-existing conditions won’t stop ‘em. New plans are better; cant’ top ‘em. Whether Bronze, Silver or Gold. Get Enrolled. Get Enrolled. Get Enrolled.”
An ad on the Out2Enroll website says: “Cindy Lou Can Love Who She Wants and She Can Access Preventive Care.”
Another ad features a young man identified as Chris Adames, “a Marine Corps veteran who knows the importance of quality healthcare.” The ad explains Adames sustained combat injuries that are being treated by the Veterans Administration.
“He’s thrilled to volunteer with Out2Enroll to help get the word out about the importance of enrolling in health insurance,” the website notes.
The ad reads: “Rudolph Just Caught the Flu: Avoid the Red Nose. Get Covered at Out2Enroll.org”
LGBT community key to Obamacare success
The LGBT community, one of Obama’s staunchest supporters, is a key group the White House must enroll before the Dec. 31 deadline if Obamacare enrollment is to succeed
“A disproportionate number of LGBT Americans are uninsured and qualify for federal premium subsidies, which is one reason both outside groups and the administration are intensifying their efforts this week to sign them up under the law,” wrote Juliet Eilperin in the Washington Post on Tuesday. “There are several reasons for this disparity, including the fact that same-sex partners often don’t qualify as family members for employer-based insurance plans and individuals sometimes lose coverage when they are fired based on their sexual orientation.”
On Wednesday, the White House produced an infographic to encourage the LGBT community to enroll in Obamacare by listing “The Top 5 Affordable Care Act Benefits for the LGBT Community.”
The Out2Enroll website stresses that insurers operating under Obamacare can no longer discriminate against the LGBT community.
“Being transgender is no longer a preexisting condition – and insurance companies cannot refuse to sell you a plan or charge you more based on your gender identity,” the Out2Enroll website advises.
“If you are a transgender person, you have the right to expect that your plan will cover the services you need as long as those services are covered for other people on your plan. These services may include preventive screenings such as mammograms, Pap tests and prostate exams; hormone therapy; and mental health services. Depending on your plan, these services may also include surgical procedures related to gender transition.”
Foundations behind Out2Enroll
Out2Enroll is a joint project funded by the Center for American Progress, the Sellers Dorsey Foundation and the Federal Agencies Project.
Former Clinton White House chief-of-staff John Podesta, who recently joined the Obama White House staff to serve as a consultant to President Obama for a year, founded the Washington-based Center for American Progress to function as a leading progressive think-tank proposing left-leaning public policy and legislative efforts.
As WND reported, Podesta made news after joining the Obama White House when he compared House GOP members to the infamous People’s Temple cult led by Jim Jones in Jonestown, Guyana.
The Sellers Dorsey Foundation is a Philadelphia-based 501(c)3 organization dedicated to improving the health of the LGBT community through public education efforts and grant giving.
Martin D. Sellers, the founder and chairman of Sellers Dorsey, previously worked for the Philadelphia Department of Public Welfare and for the Pennsylvania State Appropriations Committee.
“Martin is perhaps best known for his role as an advisor to Governor Mitt Romney in the design, financing, and negotiation of Governor Romney’s universal health plan in Massachusetts,” Sellers’ bio on the Sellers Dorsey website reads.
Seller’s partner, Brian J. Dorsey, was an independent public relations consultant who served as communications director for two Pennsylvania statewide health-care organizations before he joined with Sellers to create Sellers Dorsey.
The Federal Agencies Project is an elusive group behind the launch of Out2Enroll, described in a Sept. 12 statement as “dedicated to making federal agency policies and practices more responsive to the rights and needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities.”
The Center for American Progress statement identifies the Trimpa Group as a partner in the Federal Agencies Project. The Trimpa Group, with offices in Washington, D.C., and in Denver, is identified on the group’s website as engaged in “progressive consulting, philanthropic and political investment advising and government relations.”
December 18, 2013
NSA slayer: White House behind CNN 'hit piece'
NEW YORK – When CNN preceded an interview with legal activist Larry Klayman last night with an unflattering profile and then removed him from the screen when the dialogue got heated, powers much higher than the cable news network were wielding influence, charges Klayman.
“What CNN did to me yesterday was a hit piece orchestrated against me by the Obama White House with the direct involvement of the Democratic National Committee in an attempt to discredit me and to turn the public against Judge Leon’s court decision that the NSA is violating Fourth Amendment rights,” Klayman told WND in a telephone interview.
“This was a Clinton thing as much as it was an Obama thing,” he said.
Klayman won a landmark restraining order Monday against the National Security Agency’s telephone surveillance. He alleged in a WND interview that after he filed the case that he was put under surveillance by the NSA. In an interview yesterday following the decision, he told WND the misdeeds of Richard Nixon, who resigned in disgrace, pale in comparison to the misdeeds of President Obama, who “has broken into the homes of 300 million Americans.”
Klayman has praised the courage of Judge Richard Leon of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, who ruled Monday that the NSA’s regular collection of virtually all phone records is almost certainly unconstitutional.
Get the autobiography of the man who brought the NSA to its knees
His case, on behalf of a Verizon Wireless customer, was launched after the extent of government spying on Americans was unveiled by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, who said the court’s decision made him feel justified in releasing classified documents. Named in the case are the NSA, Department of Justice and several U.S. officials, including President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder.
The complaint alleges the government, with the participation of private telephone companies, has been conducting “a secret and illegal government scheme to intercept and analyze vast quantities of domestic telephonic communications.”
Lights out
Last night, Klayman’s appearance on CNN with host Don Lemon and legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin was preceded by a profile that quoted a former George W. Bush staffer saying Klayman’s lawsuits were about “fighting for himself and his own, in my opinion, delusions of grandeur.”
Klayman opened the conversation accusing Lemon of being a “big supporter of Obama,” charging “you have favored him in every respect.”
“You have to try to do a hit piece to diminish a very important decision,” Klayman said.
The attorney told WND Wednesday he believes the DNC “used Lemon as a shill.”
“Obama and the Clintons know this was a key decision, and they don’t want us to have any oxygen,” he said. “The DNC wants to cut me down to size.”
He said what the Obama administration has done with the NSA “is perhaps the worst violation of constitutional rights in America history.”
Klayman compared Lemon’s decision to remove him from the screen in the middle of an interview to former MSNBC host Martin Bashir’s slur of Gov. Sarah Palin, which got Bashir fired.
“What Lemon did was classless and sleazy,” Klayman said.
“Lemon is a well-known ultra-leftist African-American political activist who pursues a LGBT sexual agenda,” he said.
Klayman asserted CNN should fire Lemon, just as MSNBC fired Bashir.
“The entire segment with me yesterday was structured as a hit piece, designed to bring in CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin whose job was to call me a lunatic even though he appeared not to have read Judge Leon’s decision,” Klayman said.
Klayman objected to the Obama administration’s claim that the NSA only collects “metadata” on U.S. telephone conversations and does not record the identity of the parties on the call or listen to the content of the call.
“The NSA is listening to us right now,” Klayman charged. “The Obama administration is lying about the extent to which the NSA monitors on a continuous basis the ongoing telephone conversations of countless numbers of Americans.”
Klayman said he was considering filing a defamation lawsuit against CNN, alleging the network had conspired to ruin his reputation with an interview set up to ambush him on air and marginalize him and his ongoing litigation against the NSA.
Klayman is a WND columnist and founder of the political-watchdog organizations Judicial Watch and FreedomWatch.
Record Dow on news Fed will keep buying debt
NEW YORK – The stock market rallied on Wednesday afternoon, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing at a new all-time high of 16167.97, registering a gain of 292.71 points.
The spike followed a decision by the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee to continue buying U.S. government debt at the rate of $75 billion a month, compared to the $85 billion a month maintained throughout this year.
Wall Street had been concerned the Fed might “taper off” to a much larger extent buying U.S. government debt – known as “quantitative easing,” triggering fears that the stock market could drop precipitously.
Investors’ indicated a reduction in quantitative easing by only $10 billion a month was insignificant. The Federal Reserve will continue pumping $75 billion a month for the foreseeable future into U.S. government debt, including the U.S. Treasury debt the Obama administration issues to finance the federal budget deficits, which have been about $1 trillion since 2009.
The favorable market reaction to the Fed’s decision Wednesday takes immediate pressure off retirement savings.
WND has reported IRA and 401(k) retirement savings invested in the stock market could take a nosedive should the Federal Reserve decide to end or cut back QE to only a fraction of the current level.
However, should the Fed continue to buy U.S. debt at the rate of $75 billion a month throughout 2014, the Federal Reserve risks adding $900 billion of federal government debt on the Fed’s liability sheet.
Will the Fed ever quit buying U.S. debt?
“The Fed will never end QE for good,” Marc Faber, editor of the well-known Gloom, Boom & Doom report on Wall Street said on CNBC Tuesday. “They will continue because these programs, once they’re introduced, usually keep going.”
Faber warned the Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing is creating a stock market bubble that will inevitably burst.
“The economic recovery, or so-called recovery, by June of next year, will be in the fifth year of the recovery,” Faber said. “So at some stage the economy will weaken again, and at that point, the Fed will argue, ‘Well, we haven’t done enough, we have to do more.’”
Faber warned that the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee’s decision Wednesday would not be true tapering, but a largely meaningless, one-time move that would eventually be reversed, with QE restored to previous levels once the economy worsens, as he expects it will.
“The Federal Reserve – all of them – could be sitting on a barrel of dynamite, and then pouring gasoline on top of it, and then light a cigar with matches, throw the match into the gasoline, and then not notice that there is any danger,” Faber said. “That is the state of mind of the professors at the Fed, who never worked a single [day] in business.”
Faber suggested that the Fed was addicted to quantitative easing.
“They may do some cosmetic adjustments, but in my view, within a few years, the asset purchases will be substantially higher than they are today,” Faber said.
Bernanke packs Fed balance sheet with U.S. debt
As WND reported in January, Fed chairman Ben Bernanke is known among professional economists as “Helicopter Ben,” for his tendency to hover over developing financial crises only long enough to hurl seemingly endless dollars on the problem.
In December 2012, Bernanke reached a new milestone, doubling the magnitude of U.S. debt since the day he became chairman in 2006.
U.S. national debt skyrocketed from $8.183 trillion on Feb. 1, 2006, to $16.366 billion on Dec. 12, 2012.
On Dec. 12, 2012, the Fed officially announced the launch of Quantitative Easing 4, amounting to a fourth annual round in which it would buy U.S. debt, including both U.S. Treasuries and Mortgage Backed Securities Bonds commonly issued by investment firms and commercial banks.
The Fed announced it would enter 2013 with a plan to purchase $45 billion a month of U.S. Treasury securities and $40 billion a month of mortgage-backed securities. It was part of a continuing Fed plan to depress long-term interest rates and encourage, borrowing, spending and investing, the Wall Street Journal reported.
In the December 2012 announcement, the Fed set specific targets, declaring an intention to keep short-term interest rates near zero into 2015, or until unemployment fell to 6.5 percent and as long as inflation forecasts remain near the Fed’s 3 percent target.
“The key point here is that the Fed is now actively running both monetary and fiscal policy, because it will now be in the business of funding nearly 100 percent of all the new government deficit spending in 2013,” concluded Chris Martenson of Peak Prosperity. “And it is pumping a bit more than $1 trillion of hot, thin-air money into the economy as it does so.”
In December, the Federal Reserve revealed that its holdings of U.S. government debt had increased to an all-time record high of nearly $2.2 trillion.
By comparison, when Obama was inaugurated in 2009, the Fed owned a mere $475 billion in U.S. government debt.
The Fed’s holdings of U.S. government debt have increased nearly 500 percent since Obama took office.
The U.S. Senate is expected to confirm Janet Yellen to replace Bernanke as head of the Fed, despite the continuing attempt by Republicans to slow the confirmation of Obama administration appointees after Senate Majority leader Harry Reid employed the “nuclear option,” ending the requirement for a “supermajority” of 60 votes to force a vote on Obama administration nominee confirmations.
After Wednesday’s Federal Reserve Open Market Committee’s decision, Yellen, currently vice chairwoman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, is expected to continue “tapering down” QE, but only to the extent of the $10 billion a month cutback announced in Bernanke’s last FOMC meeting Wednesday.
December 17, 2013
NSA slayer goes on Obama impeachment hunt
Larry Klayman
NEW YORK – Fresh from winning a restraining order against the National Security Agency’s telephone surveillance, attorney Larry Klayman declared that the misdeeds of Richard Nixon, who resigned in disgrace, pale in comparison to President Obama’s.
“In Watergate, Richard Nixon faced impeachment for breaking into the offices of the chairman of the Democratic National Party,” Klayman told WND in an interview.
“Obama has broken into the homes of 300 million Americans.”
WND asked Klayman if he was calling for the impeachment of Obama.
“Yes,” Klayman responded. “The NSA and the Obama administration are engaging in criminal behavior, and both are lying.”
He called it the “most outrageous violation of constitutional rights in American history.”
Get the autobiography of the man who brought the NSA to its knees
Klayman is a WND columnist and founder of the political-watchdog organizations Judicial Watch and FreedomWatch.
His case, on behalf of a Verizon Wireless customer, was launched after the extent of government spying on Americans was unveiled by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, who said the court’s decision made him feel justified in releasing classified documents.
Named in the case are the NSA, Department of Justice and several U.S. officials, including President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder.
Klayman alleged in a WND interview Monday that after he filed the case, he was put under surveillance by the NSA.
The complaint alleges the government, with the participation of private telephone companies, has been conducting “a secret and illegal government scheme to intercept and analyze vast quantities of domestic telephonic communications.”
Klayman dismissed Obama administration arguments that the NSA is collecting only “metadata” and not recording for analysis the content of ordinary citizens’ conversation unless there is suspicion of criminal activity that might violate the Patriot Act or other national security legislation.
“The NSA takes interest in countless Americans, even boyfriends and girlfriends of NSA employees, as we now know,” he argued.
“If you end up being a person of interest to the NSA or the Department of Justice, the NSA recording of telephone conversations permits the NSA to know everything about you, even whether or not your wife is pregnant, just by the number of times she calls her doctor and the pattern of her health-care-related telephone conversations.”
Klayman charged that Obama’s criminal violations in the NSA case are more egregious than Nixon’s violations of law in Watergate.
“Nixon did not have Obama’s NSA,” Klayman said. “Both Nixon and Obama lied repeatedly to the American public after they got caught, but Nixon did not have Obama’s technology.”
Klayman also praised the courage of Judge Richard Leon of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, who ordered injunctive relief in the case, staying the order only long enough to permit the government a timely appeal.
“Very few people have the guts to take on the NSA,” Klayman said. “Judge Leon knows the NSA can get into the communications of federal judges. That’s the level of intimidation the NSA is capable of handing out. Judge Leon is an American hero for his willingness to take on the NSA and the Obama administration.”
Klayman explained to WND that he is preparing to return to Leon to begin discovery proceedings in the next phase of the court case. His aim is to take depositions from top NSA administrators and Obama administration officials and to obtain relevant government documents.
Klayman noted that in November, when Leon dismissed the Obama Justice Department’s request to delay the proceedings after a status conference, he clearly intended to proceed quickly.
“I don’t think Judge Leon is prepared to put up with efforts by the Obama administration to drag this case out,” Klayman said.
In response to a request by DOJ attorney James J. Gilligan for more time, Leon showed no patience.
“We work 24/7 around this courthouse, my friend,” Leon explained to Gilligan. “Twenty-four/seven. I don’t want to hear anything about vacations, weddings, days off. Forget about it. This is a case at the pinnacle of public national interest, pinnacle. All hands 24/7. No excuses.”
When Gilligan argued the court would be better served if the government had a chance to fully prepare arguments, Leon pointed out that the case had been filed four months earlier.
“You have had, not you personally, the Department of Justice, the NSA and the allied government agencies that have an interest in this, have had four months to think through its position,” Leon responded. “That’s a lot of time, Mr. Gilligan. I am sad to say I don’t believe or assume that they worked seven days a week for four months. I wish it were true, but I am sure it isn’t.”
Leon was not sympathetic to the government’s suggestion the case turned on classified information.
“I don’t know to what extent the government’s position is going to be based on classified information,” Leon explained. “I have no idea, but obviously if it is going to be in whole or in part based on classified information, then we have to start figuring out people getting clearances.”
In granting Klayman an order for an injunction against the NSA, Leon indicated a stay pending appeal was appropriate because of the national security interests the government was asserting in the case.
At the same time, Leon ordered the government to act quickly in appealing his decision and to be prepared to obey the injunction immediately should the government lose the appeal.
“However, in light of the significant national security interests at stake in this case and the novelty of the constitutional issues, I will stay my order pending appeal,” Leon wrote in his decision.
“In doing so, I hereby give the government fair notice that should my ruling be upheld, this ruling will go into effect forthwith,” he said. “Accordingly, I fully expect that during the appellate process, which will consume at least the next six months, the government will take whatever steps necessary to prepare itself to comply with this order when, and if, it is upheld. Suffice it to say, requesting further time to comply with this order months from now will not be well received and could result in collateral sanctions.”
Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.
Limbaugh sees Obama tie in pope's 'gay' award
NEW YORK – After a virtual back-and-forth over the pope’s criticism of the free-market system, talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh kept an eye on the Roman Catholic pontiff on his show Tuesday, comparing the decision by the “gay” magazine the Advocate to name Francis its “Person of the Year” to President Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize award in 2009.
At the start of his nationally syndicated broadcast Tuesday, Limbaugh conjectured that the magazine was trying to persuade the pope to embrace the LGBT agenda, much as Obama received the peace award without accomplishing anything.
“They hope they can induce the pope to move even further away from the church’s doctrine,” Limbaugh said.
“That’s what’s going on. ‘Hey, pope, you know what? You’re not such a bad guy after all. You don’t like Limbaugh, and you don’t like capitalism. You’re getting close to us, buddy. So Time magazine can name you ‘Person of the Year’ for your anti-capitalist rant. Well, we’re going – it’s sort of like Obama getting the Nobel Peace Prize before he’s done anything,” Limbaugh said.
“This is the militant gay rights community giving the pope their ‘Person of the Year’ award sort of on the come, hoping that the pope moves in their direction.”
The cover of the current Advocate magazine features Francis with a “NO H8” stamped on his cheek, and his famous utterance placed in quotation marks: “If someone is gay and seeks the Lord with good will, who am I to judge.”
He made the comment in an impromptu news conference aboard the papal airplane returning from Rio de Janeiro to Rome on July 29, after attending the World Youth Day week in Brazil.
“No H8” is a reference to the NOH8 campaign opposing the passage of Proposition 8 in California, which amended the state Constitution to ban same-sex marriage.
The Advocate noted Francis is the leader of 1.2 billion Roman Catholics worldwide.
“Like it or not, what he says makes a difference. Sure, we all know Catholics who fudge on the religion’s rules about morality,” the magazine noted. “There’s a lot of disagreement, about the role of women, about contraception, and more. But none of that should lead us to underestimate any pope’s capacity for persuading hearts and minds in opening to LGBT people, and not only in the U.S. but globally.”
Comparing Francis to President Obama as an influencer, the Advocate story said: “The remaining holdouts for LGBT acceptance in religion, the ones who block progress in the work left to do, will more likely be persuaded by a figure they know. In the same way that President Obama transformed politics with his evolution on LGBT civil rights, a change from the pope could have a lasting effect on religion.”
Catholics defend Francis
Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, was quick to respond to The Advocate’s “Person of the Year” award, pointing out the pope’s comments regarding homosexuality are consistent with the teachings of the Catholic Catechism.
“The Catechism also says that Scripture ‘presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity.’ The pope, when he was the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, spoke against gay marriage, saying such an arrangement threatens the ‘survival of the family,’ causing children to be ‘discriminated’ against,” Donohue said in a statement Tuesday.
“The gay community is bent on conflating sexual orientation with sexuality. This is false,” Donohue continued. ”There is nothing in Catholic doctrine that condemns homosexuals any more than it condemns heterosexuals: it condemns such acts as fornication, homosexuality and adultery.”
In a related article, the Advocate listed nine Catholics “who need to listen to the Pope,” one of whom was Bill Donohue.
“Bill Donohue, the president of the Catholic League, has been vocal against reproductive rights and LGBT rights for years,” the magazine said..
“Even after Pope Francis’ pledge to confront and eradicate pedophilia in the church, Donohue still takes the simplistic, homophobic view that priests who molest children are gay. ‘Less than 5 percent of the priests involved in molestation are pedophiles,’ he said after pope said he doesn’t judge gay priests. ‘I will never stop telling the truth. And the pope never said we should either. I am against gay bashing.’”
In his statement Tuesday, Donohue defended himself.
“The Advocate also lists ‘9 Catholics Who Need to Listen to the Pope.’ Actually, most are organizations or communities. Three individuals are listed: Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Bishop Thomas Tobin, and me,” Donohue noted. “It takes exception to my statement, that ‘less than 5 percent of priests involved in molestation are pedophiles.’ I took that fact from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice study on the subject. To its credit, The Advocate quoted me as saying, ‘[I] am against gay bashing.’”
Donohue concluded by noting the media are reluctant to cover doctrinal statements Francis makes that contradict the politically correct left-leaning views of establishment elites.
“Recently, the media promoted the idea that the pope may appoint women cardinals,” Donohue commented. “Here is what the pope said last week. ‘Women in the Church must be valued, not clericalized. Whoever thinks of women as cardinals suffers a bit from clericalism.’ Predictably, the media are dead silent on the pope’s rejection of women cardinals. The spin is pure politics.”
The NOH8 campaign features a “photographic silent protest” created by photographer Adam Bouska and partner Jeff Parshley that has grown to nearly 33,000 faces since the program’s inception. Each photograph features the subject with duct tape over the mouth to signify being silenced by Proposition 8 and similar legislation worldwide. “NOH8” also is painted on one cheek in protest.
December 16, 2013
Stunning revelation from man who sued NSA
NEW YORK – The attorney who won a high-profile federal court fight Monday with the National Security Agency over its invasive telephone-call spy program says he was put under surveillance – and more – by the agency when he filed the case.
Larry Klayman, a WND commentary contributor and founder of Judicial Watch and, more recently, FreedomWatch, told WND that once his allegations that the federal government was violating the Constitution with its “watch-every-call” strategy hit the courts, he noticed problems with his email.
“People began receiving from me emails that I had never sent,” Klayman told WND, suggesting harassment in response to his work. “The government just wanted me to know they were watching me.”
Klayman filed the action on behalf of several plaintiffs, seeking first a preliminary injunction to prevent the federal government from damaging Americans further. U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon granted the injunction Monday but also issued a stay, anticipating an immediate appeal from the federal government.
Judge Leon wrote: “I cannot imagine a more ‘indiscriminate’ and ‘arbitrary invasion’ than this systematic and high-tech collection and retention of personal data on virtually every single citizen for purposes of querying it and analyzing it without judicial approval.”
The preliminary injunction does not require the judge to make a definitive ruling on the constitutionality of the NSA spy program, however, it lets both sides in the case know his leanings.
The Justice Department, in previous cases mostly before the specialized Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, argued that the information collected about the timing and length of calls, the numbers called and other details did not amount to a “search.”
Leon disagreed with that argument, because it was based on a three-decade-old precedent.
“The ubiquity of phones has dramatically altered the quantity of information that is now available and, more importantly, what that information can tell the government about people’s lives. I cannot possibly navigate these uncharted Fourth Amendment waters using as my North Star a case that predates the rise of cell phones.”
The case was launched after the extent of government spying on Americans was unveiled by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, who said the court’s decision made him feel justified in releasing classified documents about the program.
Klayman said the next step will be to obtain security clearances, so he can further investigate the government program as well as grill government officials about the secrets they obtained about hundreds of millions of Americans.
“The judge today let the government know there would be serious consequences if the NSA continues to violate the rights of 300 million Americans,” Klayman told WND. “This was just the first case, against Verizon. I have cases filed in federal court against all the telephone providers involved with the NSA in telephone surveillance in the USA.”
Klayman said the case is “potentially one of the biggest legal cases against the government ever.”
He also said he’ll seek a ruling turning the preliminary injunction into a permanent restraining order.
“The ruling by Judge Leon sets a very high bar if the government wants to continue NSA electronic surveillance of U.S. telephone conversations until the government has a chance to appeal,” Klayman said. “The judge made it clear that the NSA activities were suspect under the Fourth Amendment, would not be well received and could result in additional damages.”
Klayman brought the case on behalf of Charles Strange, the father of Michael Strange, a cryptologist technician for the NSA and a support personnel member of Navy SEAL Team 6.
Michael Strange was killed in Afghanistan when his helicopter was shot down in 2011.
Charles Strange, as a subscriber of Verizon Wireless, brought the case against the NSA, Department of Justice and several U.S. officials, including President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder.
The complaint alleges the government, with the participation of private telephone companies, has been conducting “a secret and illegal government scheme to intercept and analyze vast quantities of domestic telephonic communications.”
“The government, in its understandable zeal to protect our homeland, has crafted a counterterrorism program with respect to telephone metadata that strikes the balance based in large part on a 34-year-old Supreme Court precedent, the relevance of which has been eclipsed by technological advances and a cell phone-centric lifestyle heretofore inconceivable,” Judge Leon wrote.
Department of Justice officials said they are reviewing the court’s ruling.
Judge Leon admitted at an earlier hearing that his word probably would not be the last on the case against the NSA’s PRISM program, which the federal bureaucracy claims is essential to national security.
Damages in the billions of dollars are being sought.
Klayman said previously that Charles and Mary Anne Strange received emails from him that he never sent and even a text message from their dead son. Klayman suggested at the time that the NSA was communicating to him that it could do whatever it wants.
As WND reported, the administration claims the data collected is limited to records of phone calls and email and not the content of the transmissions. But Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., said he was “startled” to learn in a secret congressional briefing how NSA analysts can decide for themselves whether to access the content of a domestic phone call.
“If low-level personnel are using PRISM in this way, one can only imagine what high-level political appointees and supervisors are doing and are capable of doing on behalf of the Obama administration,” Klayman told WND.
Among the critics of NSA actions is Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., who authored the Patriot Act. He argues the law does not give the NSA authority to collect the phone records of all Americans and is sponsoring legislation to ban it.
Klayman said earlier it’s “unbelievable that the American people are now living a horror story like this.”
“Even George Orwell could not have envisioned this outrage, with hundreds of millions of Americans being spied on, and coerced into submission by a tyrannical government,” he said.
“If this had been 1776, our Founding Fathers, being considered subversives by King George III, would have never made it to Philadelphia to debate and sign the Declaration of Independence. Their communications would have been intercepted, and they would have been arrested and executed on the spot.”
Several other legal challenges to NSA spying also are pending, including a demand by the American Civil Liberties Union for the NSA to stop its phone-record collection.
The case is being heard in New York.
The Electronic Privacy Information Center also is pursuing action over the collection of phone records and has gone directly to the U.S. Supreme Court with its request for intervention.
Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.
Jerome R. Corsi's Blog
- Jerome R. Corsi's profile
- 74 followers
