(CNSNews.com) – If speculation about President Obama’s likely nominees to head the departments of State and Defense proves correct, the next four years could see a renewed focus on his early drive to engage with hostile and repressive regimes.
The UN Wants to Tax Us, Too
While President Obama and Speaker John Boehner are wrestling with whether or not they will agree to raise taxes, United Nations delegates partying in Doha, Qatar are planning to impose a new kind of tax on Americans. UN conferees have been discussing how they can start a global tax that would hit Americans hard.
State Dept. Report: Jihadist Leaders of Obama-Backed Libyan Rebellion Fought Against U.S. in Iraq
The special Accountability Review Board that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton set up to investigate the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, says that among the leaders of the 2011 Libyan revolution that President Barack Obama backed with U.S. military force—but without congressional authorization—were Benghazi-based jihadists who had fought against the United States in Iraq.
The report describes post-revoluationary Benghazi as a “a lawless town … in reality run by a diverse group of local Islamist militias” that had a long history of violent antagonism toward the United States.
DEFIANT: State Officials See Massive Influx Of Gun Applicants After Shooting…
The day after the shooting in Connecticut a lot of people in Colorado tried to buy a gun.
The Colorado Bureau of Investigation says it received 4,154 requests for background checks from potential buyers on Saturday.
FOREIGN HOLDINGS OF US DEBT HIT RECORD $5.5 TRILLION…
WASHINGTON (AP) — Foreign ownership of U.S. Treasury securities rose to a record level in October, a sign that overseas investors remain confident in U.S. debt despite a potential budget crisis.
Total foreign holdings of U.S. Treasurys rose to $5.48 trillion in October, the Treasury Department said Monday. That was up 0.1 percent from September. Still, the increase of $6 billion was the weakest since total holdings fell in December 2011.
Feinstein Introducing Gun Ban; Durbin Holding Hearings
(CNSNews.con) – Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) says she will introduce a gun-control bill on the first day of the next Congress: “It will ban the sale, the transfer, the importation and the possession – not retroactively, but prospectively –” of “assault weapons” as well as high-capacity magazines.
And Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said he will hold a hearing in two weeks on “this constitutional question,” a reference to the Second Amendment. “That’s the starting point,” he said.
US snubs UN Internet-control plan…
An attempt to establish global oversight of the internet has collapsed after many Western countries said a compromise plan gave too much power to United Nations and other officials.
Delegates from the US, Britain and other countries took to the floor at a UN conference in Dubai to reject a treaty governing international phone calls and data traffic.
U.N. makes middle-of-the-night move to gain control of Internet…
In the middle of the night at a U.N. conference in Dubai, the presiding chairman of the International Telecommunication Union conference surveyed the assembled countries to see whether there was interest in having greater involvement in the U.N. governing the Internet. A majority of countries gave their approval.
With a sufficient majority supporting the U.N. becoming more active in controlling the Internet, the chairman put forth a resolution. The chairman, though, insisted the survey “was not a vote.”
PUMP DELUXE: Federal Reserve to spend $45B month to buy bonds…
WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve sent its clearest signal to date Wednesday that it will keep interest rates super-low to boost the U.S. economy even after the job market has improved significantly.
The Fed says it plans to keep its key short-term rate near zero until the unemployment rate reaches 6.5 percent or less — as long as expected inflation is tame. Unemployment is now 7.7 percent.
Russia backs down on proposals to regulate the Internet…
DUBAI (Reuters) – A Russia-led coalition on Monday withdrew a proposal to give governments new powers over the Internet, a plan opposed by Western countries in talks on a new global telecom treaty.
Negotiations on the treaty mark the most sustained effort so far by governments from around the world to agree on how – or whether – to regulate cyberspace.