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First official acknowledgment that the Benghazi attacks last year involve at least two suspects who are members of “Al-Qaeda core”, which is based in Pakistan and led by Ayman al-Zawahiri. ... reports of recorded phone conversations that took place between then Egyptian president Mohammed Mursi and al-Qaeda number one, Ayman al-Zawahiri, who sits at the top of “Al-Qaeda core”. These conversations reportedly include discussions about releasing al-Qaeda terrorists into Egypt, to form terrorist camps. These camps were formed in the Sinai and along Egypt’s border with Libya. These developments may constitute the strongest evidence yet that the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood,...

House Republicans will receive a briefing from Health and Human Services officials about the glitch-filled Obamacare website after being excluded from a meeting in which Democrats were given details about the troubled launch. “It’s not clear why Republicans were excluded in the first place, but we look forward to getting answers to how the administration botched this enormous use of taxpayer dollars so badly,” said Brendan Buck, a spokesman for Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. Gary Cohen, who handles insurance oversight for HHS, briefed House Democrats earlier Wednesday. Buck said he would announce details of the Republican meeting when they become...

Mike Hash, who directs the Office of Health reform at the Department of Health and Human Services, will brief House Democrats Wednesday about implementation of the Affordable Care Act. The closed-door session, which will start at 8:50 a.m., marks the first time the administration will have briefed members of Congress on the online enrollment system since its troubled rollout on Oct. 1.

".....In two of those cases, State Department officials said, the contract employees, who worked for Stanley Inc., a company based in Arlington, Va., that does computer work for the government, were fired. In one case, the employee was reprimanded and continues to be employed by the Analysis Corporation of McLean, Va. Mr. McCormack said Mr. McCain’s passport file was breached by the same employee who was reprimanded for breaching Mr. Obama’s file. "

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — After she made her First Communion as a little girl, Jennifer Haselberger was distraught to learn the Catholic church had no saint Jennifer, and she had no saint to call her own. So her mom opened up a book and pointed to Joan of Arc. "There. That's yours," she said. Years later, Haselberger is in a fight of her own after going public with claims that archdiocese leaders in St. Paul mishandled allegations of clergy sexual misconduct. Turns out, Haselberger may have borrowed a little bravery from the headstrong French heroine she has long admired....

Sebilius is an interview this evening claims Obama didn't know about Obamacare debacle until after October 1st rollout.

President Barack Obama didn't know about the problems with the Affordable Care Act's website -- despite complaints from insurance companies and the site's crashing during a test run -- until days into its now well-documented abysmal launch, the nation's health chief told CNN on Tuesday. In an exclusive interview with CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius admitted Tuesday that there is significant concern in her department and the White House over the technical debacle surrounding the Obamacare website's rollout. The site was supposed to make it simple for people to search and sign-up for new...

Media Matters founder and Hillary Clinton ally David Brock has co-authored a 90-page e-book called “The Benghazi Hoax,” a tome intended as a counterweight of sorts to criticisms of the former Secretary of State and President Barack Obama over the 2012 attacks in Libya. Brock previewed the book in an interview with POLITICO last week in the liberal group’s Washington offices. He described it as an important and necessary resource on the Benghazi attacks that left four Americans dead last Sept. 11 — and which some congressional Republicans have shown continued interest in probing. Brock insisted the book is not...

Bob Lewis, the Associated Press political reporter who last week published an erroneous report about Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe, has been temporarily suspended, POLITICO has learned.Lewis, a highly respected veteran on the Richmond political scene, will no longer cover the race between McAuliffe and Ken Cuccinelli, and may be suspended through the election. His last story on the race was published Oct. 14.Lewis did not respond to a request for comment regarding the suspension. The Associated Press declined to comment on personnel matters.On Oct. 9, Lewis published an exclusive report for the AP alleging that McAuliffe had lied to...

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will not testify at a congressional hearing Thursday into breakdowns in the rollout of the federal Affordable Care Act, drawing more heat from House Republicans. An HHS official confirmed Saturday that the secretary would not attend, citing a conflict in her schedule. "We are in close communication with the committee and have expressed our desire to be responsive to their request,” the official said.

A task force created by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis to investigate clergy misconduct includes a psychologist who works on sex offender management, a computer forensics expert and a former St. Paul police sergeant. Members say their work will be independent of the archdiocese they're investigating. An MPR News investigation has revealed that several priests suspected of sexual misconduct were protected by the Twin Cities archdiocese.

An off-duty, undercover police detective was arrested as fallout from a burst of motorcyclist mayhem reached a new level, with investigators saying the off-duty officer was shown on video hitting and kicking an SUV before bikers attacked its driver. Wojciech Braszczok, who was off-duty when he joined a motorcycle rally that spiraled into violence, was expected to be arraigned Wednesday. He surrendered Tuesday to face riot and criminal mischief charges, New York Police Department spokesman John McCarthy said. There was no response to phone messages left with Braszczok's attorney, Phil Karasyk. He had previously said the 10-year NYPD veteran only...

Twin Cities Catholics reacted with surprise, disappointment and forgiveness Sunday morning after hearing parish leaders discuss reports that church officials may have covered up evidence that a Hugo priest kept child pornography on his computer. The latest controversy surfaced last week, when the second highest prelate in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis resigned amid contentions that he covered up evidence of child pornography found on a priest’s computer.

Mormon is allegedly a prophet-historian who was the native American believed by Mormons to have written the Book of Mormon – the main religious text of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormonism). Mormonism is a religion less than two centuries old, but in this short time it has managed to accrue a long list of embarrassments which the church leaders would prefer were kept silent. These embarrassments range from textual inaccuracies to scandals in the life of the founder, Joseph Smith. Of all religions, it’s difficult to believe this one has caught on given the long...

WASHINGTON — After a public backlash to government spying, President Barack Obama called for an independent group to review the vast surveillance programs that allow the collections of phone and email records. Now, weeks before the group’s first report is due, some lawmakers, technology organizations and civil liberties groups are concerned that the panel’s members are too close to the Obama administration and its mission too vague to provide a thorough scrubbing of the National Security Agency technologies that have guided intelligence gathering since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------snip---------------------------- The members of the review group are Richard Clarke,...

FULL TITLE - "DC Capitol SWAT Team That Was Ordered NOT To Neutralize Navy Yard Shooter STILL Not Debriefed, And PD Removes Leader Without Explanation" On Wednesday, BBC News reported the indefensible discovery that the D.C. Capitol Police’s SWAT team was ready to neutralize the Navy Yard mass shooting. But, the highly trained and heavily armed, elite tactical group was, instead, ordered to stand down and leave the scene. The Capitol Police promised a full investigation. Today, BBC News reported more disturbing information. No one has talked to the SWAT team members. Not even for the protocol debriefing. But, not...

Pat Smith, the mother of Foreign Service Officer Sean Smith who died in the September 11, 2012, attack on an American consulate in Benghazi, appeared before a congressional committee on Thursday investigating the government’s response to that attack. She insisted that she was repeatedly lied to by President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, National Security Advisor Susan Rice, and former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta who all immediately blamed the attack on the spontaneous demonstrations arising in response to a YouTube video. “I was told a few things and they were all lies,”...

Washington DC's Capitol Police have ordered a review into a BBC report that an armed police team was ordered not to respond to Monday's mass shooting. A tactical response team from the force was told by a supervisor to leave the scene instead of aiding municipal officers, police sources told the BBC. The Capitol Police sources suggest they could have saved lives had they been allowed to go in. Aaron Alexis, 34, killed 12 people at the Washington Navy Yard. In a statement on Wednesday, the US Capitol Police Board said the force's Chief Kim Dine had asked it to...

FBI Washington field office just confirmed gunman was NOT armed with AR15. Spokesperson says 1 shotgun and 2 pistols recovered— Pamela Brown (@PamelaBrownCNN) September 17, 2013

Breitbart is highlighting a book of an award-winning investigative journalist that turns the narrative surrounding the tragic death of a gay Wyoming man, whose murder gave the impetus for hate-crime legislation, on its head. The Book of Matt by Stephen Jimenez will be published this week and is already causing consternation among gay activists because it turns a homophobic hate crime into a spat between two meth-addled gay lovers. The story that we are most familiar with is that Shepard met a couple of men in a bar who offered him a ride home. They instead took him to a...