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MADRID (Reuters) - Ten Spanish priests were charged with child sexual abuse on Tuesday, in a case brought after Pope Francis telephoned the victim to offer the Church's apology, court documents showed. The victim, now 24, wrote to the pope to say he had been molested when he was an altar boy. The pope called the man in August to apologize, Spanish news site Religion Digital reported in November, a report later confirmed by the pope himself.

DENVER (CBS4) – A nationwide cellphone company distributing phones and cellphone plans in Denver as part of a massive government program says it is “outraged by the unacceptable actions” uncovered by a CBS4 undercover investigation. The response from Total Call Mobile comes nearly three months after an undercover CBS4 investigation revealed multiple examples of fraud and cheating in the phone distribution program. The Lifeline program is aimed at providing free cellphone service to the poor and needy. It handed out more than 13 million free cellphone plans in the first six months of 2014. In Colorado, the program handed out...

Just days after the Obama White House accused House Speaker John Boehner of “breaking protocol” by inviting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address a joint session of Congress, a team of up to five Obama campaign operatives has reportedly arrived in Israel to lead a campaign to defeat the Israeli Prime Minister in upcoming national elections scheduled for March 17. The anti-Netanyahu, left wing Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports a group called “One Voice,” reportedly funded by American donors, is paying for the Obama campaign team. That group is reportedly being lead by Obama’s 2012 field director Jeremy Bird. As...

Get angry, New York. ...“We simply want people in high office to stop violating the law. People elected to make laws should not be breaking them.” ...“Money often seems to be at the core of the problem.” ...“We had a case against City Councilman Dan Halloran, which you may remember,” Bharara said, referring to the Queens Republican convicted last July in a $200,000 bribery scheme. “After allegedly receiving a $7,500 cash bribe, he says to the cooperating witness on tape, ‘Money is what greases the wheels. Good, bad or indifferent. That’s politics. That’s politics. It’s all about how much, and...

Albany is terrified and in disarray after Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s arrest, with lawmakers and insiders fearing he’ll turn on them to save himself. “People are scratching their heads and saying, ‘What did I say the last time I spoke to Shelly?’ ” one veteran Albany lobbyist told The Post on Friday. After Silver’s arrest Thursday, US Attorney Preet Bharara hinted at more to come, telling the public to “stay tuned.” Now legislators are questioning why Silver’s closest Democratic colleagues, including Assembly Majority Leader Joseph Morelle, have pledged support for him instead of calling for his resignation. “They want Shelly to...

Fox News Channel contributor Brit Hume shared the news that Facebook had disabled his account in a Twitter post Thursday, adding only that he was informed the action was due to “using a false identity.” Though he sought a response from the social media site responsible, his post also prompted others to weigh in with possible reasons for the block.

Friday, January 23, 2015 | 2:45 am EST Grant NBC News Launches Website For Black People… Good Idea? By: Grant (Breaking911 Newsroom) January 22, 2015 | 10:06 PM Ahhh, yes. The day has come, where black folks and white folks don’t have to read news from the same website. NBC news has a new website and social media accounts geared towards the African-American community. According to a letter from the editor: “NBCBLK covers stories by, for and about the black community. Our product is meant to elevate America’s conversation about black identity, politics, and culture. We share positive, solution-based journalism...

According to the most recent information available, Steve Rattner's net worth is at least $188 million. So perhaps it's not surprising that the hedge fund partner and former Obama car czar, who flies his own private jet, doesn't deem $100G+ per year to be a "full-time" salary. On today's Morning Joe, commenting on the arrest of Dem NYS Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver on bribery charges, Rattner claimed that "they don't pay these guys full-time salaries. They pay them, I think, $112,000 a year." In fact, as Speaker, Silver was pulling down $121,000. The median annual income in the US during...

The head of the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records said he plans on being at work Friday morning despite having his security pass taken away and being fired by Gov. Tom Wolf. Erik Arneson, who was appointed as executive director by Gov. Tom Corbett, was met by an attorney from the Pennsylvania Department of Community & Economic Development on Thursday. Arneson said his security pass, office key and state-provided vehicle was taken from him. But that's not going to stop him from being in his office Friday morning. "[Wolf] doesn't have the authority to do it," Arneson said. "It's an...

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who bent state government to his will for more than 20 years as one of New York's most powerful and canny politicians, was arrested Thursday on charges of taking nearly $4 million in payoffs and kickbacks. The 70-year-old Democrat was taken into custody by the FBI on federal conspiracy and bribery charges that carry up to 100 years in prison and could cost him his political seat. He was released on $200,000 bail.

De Blasio: Sheldon Silver is a ‘man of integrity’ By Michael Gartland Mayor de Blasio said Thursday that he knows Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver to be a “man of integrity” and rejected calls for him to step down from his leadership post while facing corruption charges. “Although the charges announced today certainly are very serious I want to note that I’ve always known Shelly Silver to be a man of integrity and he certainly has due process rights and I think it’s important that we let the judicial process play out,” the mayor said at City Hall.

The speaker of the New York State Assembly, Sheldon Silver, was arrested on federal corruption charges on Thursday and accused of using the power of his office for more than a decade to secure millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks and then covering up his schemes, according to court documents. Mr. Silver, a Democrat from the Lower East Side of Manhattan who has served as speaker for more than two decades, is accused of a range of corrupt dealings that capitalized on his official position. They include using his position to obtain corrupt payments misrepresented as referral fees from...

The NHS is ‘not fit for the future’ and unless it undergoes radical change it may be forced to abandon free healthcare for all, in the future, the service's top doctor has warned. Medical director of NHS England Professor Sir Bruce Keogh said the NHS must become far less reliant on hospitals and needed a ‘complete transformation’ of the way it operates. Sir Bruce told the Guardian: ‘If the NHS continues to function as it does now, it’s going to really struggle to cope because the model of delivery and service that we have at the moment is not fit...

Though it violates both state and federal law, Massachusetts spent tens of millions of dollars to give illegal immigrants medical care—including prescription drugs, physical therapy and dental services—through its taxpayer-funded healthcare program for low-income individuals. Tax-paying residents of the Bay State should be outraged, to say the least. The information comes straight out of a scathing report that contains the findings of an investigation conducted by Massachusetts State Auditor Suzanne Bump. It reveals that questionable or prohibited medical claims totaling $35,137,347 were reimbursed by the state’s Medicaid agency known as MassHealth. A chunk of it went to non-emergency services for...

The Attorney General told a House subcommittee they’re considering “gun-tracking bracelets” as a “common sense” way to reduce gun violence.

The US Postal Service plans to sell 56 buildings — so it can lease space more expensively — and the real estate company of the California senator’s husband, Richard Blum, is set to pocket about $1 billion in commissions. Blum’s company, CBRE, was selected in March 2011 as the sole real estate agent on sales expected to fetch $19 billion.

The Environmental Protection Agency, on the heels of the controversy at the IRS over missing emails, is facing a probe of its own over whether it improperly scrubbed text messages. The EPA inspector general's office announced this week it is launching an audit into the agency's policies for keeping text messages. The audit was prompted by a complaint from Republicans on the House science committee, worried the EPA may have "deleted thousands of text messages" that should have been preserved. Jennifer Kaplan, spokeswoman for the EPA inspector general's office, confirmed the complaint prompted the audit. "Our auditors were persuaded that...

Colorado’s state congress is taking another stab at banning red light cameras at intersections, according to the Denver Post today. The measure is the second one of its type in as many years, with last year’s attempt failing to gain traction. Red light cameras have been proven time and time again to be not only ineffective at making intersections safer, but have actually been demonstrated to increase the number of accidents in many places where they are used. However, they are huge revenue raisers for many states and municipalities. Opposition to the measure comes from misguided types that are unaware...

The Republican party’s conservative base has a major problem. In assessing the 2014 midterm elections, a tidal wave in which the base propelled the GOP to substantial majorities in both houses of Congress, conservatives are in full agreement with President Obama and completely at odds with Republican leadership. The president boldly declared that, while he was not on the ballot, his policies were. He could not have been more right. GOP leadership boldly declares that the election was a case of voters trusting Republicans with an opportunity to “prove we can govern” — to demonstrate that GOP lawmakers can work...

Another gun seller says his firearms business was forced to shut down its bank account as a result of the government’s secretive initiative known as Operation Choke Point. This time, he’s offering audio recordings to prove it. Mike Schuetz is a former state employee who worked as a probation and parole officer for eight years in Hawkins, Wis. After working for the state, he told Breitbart News that he decided to open a private investigation business and operate a gun store on the side. His store, Hawkins Guns LLC, sells both firearms and ammunition. To manage his finances, Schuetz set...

Image from frontpage magazine. The current AG in Pennsylvania is Kathleen Kane.  She was elected in 2012, and is an avid disarmist.   She has gone so far as to say that she will not defend the recently passed gun reform bill from a lawsuit filed by PA cities.  The law targeted cities  that violate Pennsylvania gun law and citizens second amendment rights. She has been under investigation for leaking information from a Grand Jury in order to undercut a probe into corruption involving the head of the NAACP in Philadelphia.  From post-gazette.com: The investigation involved alleged financial improprieties of...

Protesters gathered outside the Clinton Foundation in New York City to complain about "missing money" from the Haiti recovery effort from the 2010 earthquake: "New Yorkers with roots in Haiti say the picture [of the Haiti recovery] isn't so rosy," said the NY1 anchor. The protesters claimed that the $10 billion meant to help rebuild Haiti did little to help the country after the devastating quake. And that much of the money went to non-Haitian companies. "[I]n Harlem, people raised their voices to call attention to the missing money," said the local New York City reporter. "This protest outside the...

The National Labor Relations Board is expected in the coming weeks to weigh in on several high-profile labor cases with major implications on workforce and union issues, ranging from college football players to fast food restaurants. Business are bracing for a flurry of action from a labor board they’ve accused of taking on an activist, pro-union agenda. "We’ve seen the board become very active and aggressive under the Obama administration,” said Beth Milito, senior executive counsel for the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB). One of the most closely watched cases on the labor board’s agenda involves a bid by...

WASHINGTON — The F.B.I. and Justice Department prosecutors have recommended bringing felony charges against retired Gen. David H. Petraeus for providing classified information to his former mistress while he was director of the C.I.A., officials said, leaving Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to decide whether to seek an indictment that could send the pre-eminent military officer of his generation to prison. The Justice Department investigation stems from an affair Mr. Petraeus had with Paula Broadwell, an Army Reserve officer who was writing his biography, and focuses on whether he gave her access to his C.I.A. email account and other...

A grand jury has recommended criminal charges against Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane. The grand jury found that she leaked secret grand jury information to a newspaper in an effort to smear political enemies. PJ Media has been covering Kane’s refusal to prosecute Pennsylvania Democrats who took bribes in order to oppose photo voter identification legislation in Pennsylvania. Philly News : For about six months, Special Prosecutor Thomas E. Carluccio has been directing the grand jury as it has heard testimony from numerous witnesses, including Kane and many of her top aides, to determine how details of a long-ago investigation...

Being in the Texas Legislature is not intended to be a lucrative career. Legislators receive part-time pay. They are only in session six months every two years. It is, for all intents and purposes, a volunteer position for those wishing to serve the public. Last week, we released an exhaustive report covering the loans relating to the campaigns and PACs of every Texas Legislator. Despite a tepid and defensive response from the Texas Ethics Commission (TEC) regarding our figures and call for an audit, we delved further into the campaign finances of the Legislature. This time we took a closer...

A longtime Catholic school priest at a renowned New York City school has admitted to sexually abusing minors in the 1970s and 1980s, and local prosecutors are now investigating, authorities say. Father Robert Harrison, a priest who taught for 26 years and coached basketball for more than 20 years at the all-boys Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx, has been removed from the school and is barred from any sort of ministry as church and law enforcement officials investigate.

During the last Congress, I led the fight in the House to pass conservative bills that offered real solutions to the challenges we face as a nation. Now we have a Republican Senate to join us in this endeavor. Conservatives have a real opportunity here to affect change in Washington. But in order to do so we must now be united in the fight against Barack Obama and his failed policies. When we met as a conference on November 13th, Republicans nominated John Boehner as their candidate for Speaker of the House. No one ran against him for the position...

“This is the way I think Putin operates, and operated even in St. Petersburg. Putin is not formally speaking Mafia…he was never “made,” using this American phrase. What he did was to make illegal activity legal, which is a far more useful thing. So he…because he was…in charge of all the registrations of foreigners coming into Russia, into St. Petersburg, and all of the export licenses going abroad, you didn’t have to run the risk of illegally exporting if Putin would sign the documents for you. He could open the border going and coming for money for goods for raw...

Police report says Epstein had okayed deal in underage sex probe JULY 27--Billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, now ensnared in a sleazy Palm Beach teenage sex/massage scandal, agreed earlier this year to plead guilty to an aggravated assault charge, serve five years probation, undergo "psychiatric/sexual evaluation," and have no unsupervised visits with minors, according to a police report. The details of the Epstein plea agreement--which was never finalized--are contained in an 87-page Palm Beach Police Department incident report, an excerpt of which you'll find below. According to an account by Detective Joseph Recarey, prosecutor Lana Belohlavek related to him the terms of...

Obama plans to talk manufacturing in Detroit ahead of auto show By Khalil AlHajal | kalhajal@mlive.com January 05, 2015 at 1:48 PM DETROIT, MI -- President Barack Obama is scheduled to speak in Michigan on Wednesday and is expected talk about manufacturing jobs, according to the Associated Press. The visit will come days ahead of the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, which begins with press previews Jan. 12. The president is expected to highlight manufacturing jobs and his decision to bail out the auto industry in a Detroit-area visit before heading to Phoenix the next day to focus...

In the latest of many scandals involving U.S. aid for Afghan social issues, tens of millions of American taxpayer dollars have been wasted on programs to supposedly assist women in the Islamic country escape repression yet we have no idea if it’s made a difference because there’s no accountability or follow up. During a two-year period from 2011 to 2013 the U.S. blew $64.8 million on 652 projects, programs and initiatives to support Afghan women though details of how the money was spent and the effectiveness of the costly experiments aren’t available, according to a federal audit. The cash flowed...

Judicial Watch on the Case: Three Lawsuits over Terrorist Release Photos Show Bloody Consequences of Fast and Furious Corruption Obama Continues to Fly High at Taxpayer Expense District of Corruption Documentary Movie Now Available on iTunes Judicial Watch on the Case: Three Lawsuits over Terrorist Release According to the Obama administration, the five Guantanamo terrorists they traded for Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl are “no longer a threat to U.S. national security.” That’s what now former Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel concluded when he signed the document setting them free. But we’re not so sure. We’d like to know what...

George P. Bush took office as state land commissioner in a low-key ceremony at the Texas Capitol on Friday. - I don't yet know a whole lot about George P. Bush, but he seems (far) more electable than his father. Jeb should stand aside, and let his son take the lead.

Funeral services for former Gov. Mario Cuomo are being planned for Tuesday at the Saint Ignatius Loyola Church on Park Avenue in Manhattan, a church official told the Daily News.

A federal appeals court has refused to reconsider a decision allowing residents of Kansas and Arizona to register to vote using a federal form without providing proof of their U.S. citizenship.

With a 10 point lead in the most recent polls, Jeb Bush has apparently decided that 2016 is his year. He has now resigned from all corporate boards, clearing the way for his run for the GOP presidential nomination in 2016. Washington Post: Former Florida governor Jeb Bush, moving closer to a possible presidential run, has resigned all of his corporate and nonprofit board memberships, including with his own education foundation, his office said late Wednesday night. He also resigned as a paid adviser to a for-profit education company that sells online courses to public university students in exchange...

Inside the infamous Ferrari crash that brought down Ling Jihua Staff Reporter 2015-01-01 13:29 (GMT+8) More stunning details have been revealed about the infamous Ferrari crash that killed the only son of fallen senior Chinese official Ling Jihua and sent his once promising political career into a tailspin. Ling, best known as the "political fixer" of former president Hu Jintao, has been placed under a probe for unspecified "serious discipline violations, according to a statement from the Central Inspection for Discipline Inspection, the country's top anti-graft watchdog. The 58-year-old once appeared destined for a seat on the Communist Party's elite...

Including transportation and security, total cost for the July fundraiser totaled $896,277.80 in taxpayer expenses (Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today it has obtained records from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security revealing that expenditures for security provided to President Obama on his fundraising visit to Denver, Colorado on July 8 and 9, 2014, cost taxpayers a total of $200,383.70. The documents came in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed on October 16, 2014 ( Judicial Watch v. United States Secret Service (No. 1:14-cv-01732)). Previous documents released by Judicial Watch from theUnited States Air Force...

The holidays will be a little merrier for about 200 appointees of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and other constitutional officers: They are getting raises ranging from three percent to 12 percent at an annual cost of $1.4 million. The raises were announced by Ben Barnes, who oversees the budget as the secretary of policy and management. His salary jumps by 12 percent, from $186,999 to $209,439. All the raises take effect on Dec. 26. For Barnes and most of the other top officials, including the governor's chief of staff, Mark Ojakian, the raises are the first since joining the Malloy...

Turkey’s top judicial body has dismissed four judges who investigated corruption allegations against the inner circle of President Erdogan. The scandal dragged down four government ministers. The four prosecutors are accused of abusing their authority by leading the December 2013 corruption investigation that shook the government of then-Prime Minister Erdogan, and touched his inner circle. They were suspended on Tuesday by the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK). An investigation will determine whether they can continue in the profession. …

2014 has been a year of anniversaries. It was the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the First World War — a war which many at the time saw as madness, and predicted that it would be the harbinger of a Second World War a generation later. 2014 was also the 70th anniversary of the fateful landing at Normandy that marked the beginning of the end of World War II. 2014 was likewise the 60th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision that marked the beginning of the end of racial segregation, the 50th anniversary of...

Federal authorities are investigating substantial payments made to the State Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver, by a small law firm that seeks real estate tax reductions for commercial and residential properties in New York City, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Prosecutors from the United States attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York and agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation have found that the law firm, Goldberg & Iryami, P.C., has paid Mr. Silver the sums over roughly a decade, but that he did not list that income on his annual financial disclosure forms, as required,...

When Barack Obama was elected to be the 44th president of the United States, there were high hopes for what he could accomplish. A nation that had made it’s way past slavery, through a Civil War and beyond segregation was finally going to fully heal as Americans elected their first black president. Sadly, that promise and those dreams never came true. In fact, the opposite has happened. America’s race scars have been cut wide open, and the healing has been replaced with unnecessary and deceitful division. How? Obama’s decision to build a partnership with and lend credibility to one particular...

I am furious, in pain, and deeply offended by those who laud this betrayal of the Cuban people as a great moment in history. My family and native land were destroyed by the brutal Castro regime. In 1959, as an 8-year-old, I listened to mobs shout “paredon!” (to the firing squad!). I watched televised executions, and was terrified by the incessant pressure to agree with a bearded dictator’s ideals. I am now a professor of history and religion at Yale University….

Saying he has reformed his life, current and former law enforcement officials on Monday backed the proposed pardon of a man convicted of armed assault with attempt to murder for his part in a 1989 shooting that left a victim paralyzed. True-See Allah, formerly known as Troy Christopher Watson, was not the shooter, but he was convicted for participating in the shooting of Macarthur Williams, who was paralyzed. With an eye on a potential Boston City Council bid, he is seeking a pardon for the conviction as well as possession of marijuana and receiving a stolen motor vehicle.

Suggestions that police are biased and not doing their jobs properly -- made by some of the nation's top leaders -- create a dangerous climate for the men and women who serve and protect, says former U.S. Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.). "Why do we believe police need retraining or reorganization and reforming?" West asked. "The most important thing to understand is leaders establish climate, an atmosphere," West told Fox News's Greta Van Susteren Monday night. "And when you have people, such as the president, such as the attorney general, Eric Holder, and (New York) Mayor Bill de Blasio, and look...

A huge political scandal is slowly coming to light in Wisconsin, as information comes to light about the conduct of that state’s Government Accountability Board (GAB) as it persecuted supporters of Governor Scott Walker, who bravely took on the public employee unions of that state.  The outrageous tactics used included midnight SWAT team raids on Walker’s political supporters.  Ten days ago, I wrote about some of the potential law-breaking and document-alteration engaged in by the prosecutors.  But new evidence has just come to light. Yesterday, Judge Lee S. Dreyfus of the Waukesha County Court unsealed a trove of documents...

President’s Political Junkets Continue Unabated Who is On the Obama Enemies List? Judicial Watch Sues to Find Out. The President from ACORN President’s Political Junkets Continue Unabated It has become a tiresome, tedious – and costly – routine. Hollywood calls with a passel of cash, and President Obama comes running – at great expense to taxpayers – to fill up his political coffers. That’s what we discovered anew after obtaining records from the U.S. Department of the Air Force highlighting yet another Obama fundraising trip to Los Angeles and San Francisco, California. These documents came to us in response to...

McDonald’s and its franchisees illegally retaliated against employees for participating in union-related activities, the National Labor Relations Board’s top lawyer alleged Friday in a case with sweeping industry implications. NLRB general counsel Richard Griffin announced Friday he will issue 13 complaints involving 78 charges against franchises and McDonald’s USA, LLC. Though many of these alleged labor violations were committed by independent franchise owners, Griffin ruled earlier this year that McDonald’s can be held liable for those actions as a so-called joint employer, leaving the corporatrion — and potentially other franchisors — exposed to such claims. McDonald’s said the decision will...