Roland S. Martin's Blog, page 704

Sarah Palin's Debt Ceiling Advice: 'Reload With Reality' (VIDEO)

Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com Source: Rebecca Stewart / CNN Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin had sharp words for both President Obama and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell late Wednesday as she criticized their handling of the looming debt ceiling deadline. "It's absolutely nonsensical the lack of planning that our leaders are exercising and showing their constituents coming out of D.C. right now," she said. The 2008 GOP nominee for vice president pulled no punches in an appearance on [...]

300 Somali Children Left For Dead In Drought

Source: AP / MSNBC Dabaab, Kenya — Trying to escape starvation and East Africa's unforgiving drought, hundreds of Somali children have been left for dead on the long, dusty journey to the world's largest refugee camp. UNICEF on Thursday called the drought and refugee crisis "the most severe humanitarian emergency in the world." The international Red Cross signaled "great alarm" this week at the nutritional state of Somali children. Thousands of Somalis are walking days and sometimes weeks to reach [...]

LOOK: Serena Williams At The ESPY Awards

Source: The Huffington Post Serena Williams walks on stage to make a presentation at the 2011 ESPY Awards in Los Angeles, California, July 13, 2011.

FBI Investigation: News Corp. Reportedly Targeted Over 9/11 Victims In Hacking Scandal

Source: Tom Hays / AP / The Huffington Post NEW YORK — The FBI has opened an investigation into allegations that media mogul Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. sought to hack into the phones of Sept. 11 victims, a law enforcement official said Thursday. The decision to investigate was made after U.S. Rep. Peter King and several other members of Congress wrote FBI Director Robert Mueller demanding an investigation, said the official, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of [...]

Hackers Break Into Pentagon Computers, Steal 24,000 Files

Source: Aliyah Shahid / New York Daily News Foreign hackers broke into the Pentagon computer system this spring and stole 24,000 files – one of the biggest cyber-attacks ever on the U.S. military, according to a Department of Defense official. William Lynn, the deputy secretary of defense, acknowledged the brazen theft during a speech on Thursday while detailing a plan to strengthen the country's cyber-security. Lynn would not disclose what kind of files were stolen or what country was behind the attack, which took place [...]

Report: Unauthorized Phone Charges Cost Americans $2 Billion A Year

Source: Carol Cratty / CNN Washington -  A key Senate chairman says Congress needs to pass legislation to protect customers from unauthorized third-party charges on their phone bills because the telephone industry has failed to prevent the practice. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-West Virginia, said a one-year study by the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee shows about $2 billion a year in "mystery fees" show up on the landline phone bills of Americans, a problem known as cramming. In a Wednesday hearing, Rockefeller [...]

Source: President Obama Says He'll Risk Job For Debt Deal (VIDEO)

Source: AP / CBS News Washington – Amid new warnings and fresh signs of strain, President Obama and congressional leaders are entering a perilous debt-limit endgame. The president, declaring "enough is enough," is demanding that budget negotiators find common ground by week's end even as the Senate's top Republican gained followers for his own last-ditch scheme to avoid a government default. The continuing impasse was unsettling Wall Street, which up to now had performed as if an increase in the [...]

Should Parents Lose Custody Of Obese Kids? (VIDEO)

Source: Dan Harris / ABC News Harvard University child obesity expert Dr. David Ludwig's recent claim that some parents should lose custody of their severely obese children has sparked outrage among families and professionals across the country. The national outcry led one family to share how their personal experience with the matter, they argue, damaged their lives. Ludwig, an obesity expert at Children's Hospital Boston and associate professor at the Harvard School of Public Health, shared his divisive idea in an [...]

Aide: President Obama "Abruptly" Exits Tense Budget Talks

Source: Joshua Norman / CBS News As negotiations continue over raising the nation's debt ceiling to avoid any potential default on America's fiscal obligations, the daily meetings at the White House on the subject have been getting more tense, people familiar with the negotiations tell CBS News. Wednesday's meeting was the most tense meeting of the week, a GOP aide told CBS News. In fact, the president ended the meeting by abruptly leaving the room. A White House official, however, [...]

Debt Ceiling Debate: Moody's Puts U.S. On Review For Downgrade

Source: ABC News Moody's said it would put the United States on review for downgrade if there is not substantial progress on a debt deal by mid-July. They did just that this afternoon. "Moody's considers the probability of a default on interest payments to be low but no longer to be de minimis," reads the a press release from the credit rating agency. "An actual default, regardless of duration, would fundamentally alter Moody's assessment of the timeliness of future payments, [...]