WASHINGTON -- A Democratic senator has asked the Obama administration to immediately bar Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin from re-entering the U.S., based on a previously unenforced 1996 law.

Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, who as a congressman in 1996 authored an amendment that excludes from reentry into the U.S. citizens who renounced their citizenship for tax purposes, sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano on Thursday, asking her to enforce the law -- for the first time -- by barring Saverin.

"By all accounts Mr. Saverin has renounced his U.S. citizenship for the purposes of avoiding taxes despite taking advantage of the multiple opportunities afforded to him by the United States," Reed wrote. A Homeland Security spokesman couldn't be reached for comment after the close of business Thursday.

Saverin renounced his U.S. citizenship and moved to Singapore in September. Reed's letter comes on the eve of Facebook's initial public stock offering that is expected to value Saverin's share of the company at around $4 billion. Saverin's switch to Singaporean citizenship, which came to light two weeks ago, could save him hundreds of millions in taxes if his Facebook stock increases in value after the company sells stock to the public.

Earlier on Thursday, two Democrats proposed legislation that would hit Saverin with heavy taxes and bar him from reentering the U.S.

But Reed's plan doesn't call for a congressional action -- just an executive decision.

Reed wrote in his letter that the secretary of Homeland Security now has the power that was once only vested in the attorney general to determine who should fall under the 1996 statute.

And just like Homeland Security can bar aliens involved in terrorism or drug trafficking, Reed wrote, "I urge a similar and vigorous treatment for the exclusion of expatriates that have renounced their citizenship in order to avoid taxes."

Saverin issued a statement Thursday, insisting he was grateful to the U.S. and still intends to pay plenty of taxes.

"I am obligated to and will pay hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes to the United States government," Saverin said. "It is unfortunate that my personal choice has led to a public debate, based not on the facts, but entirely on speculation and misinformation."

Hackers managed to seize the reins of a Tea Party PAC's website this week, replacing existing material with a variety of offensive messages, before it appeared to be taken offline altogether.

According to TechEye.net, users of the popular 4chan community gained access to administrator privileges for the website of the Independence Hall Tea Party PAC at some point on Thursday after guessing the website's password, which was reportedly "p9ssw0rd."

TechEye reports that the website at one point "flashed a vertical row of animated gifs of an animal appearing to rub its genitals, before redirecting to a Facebook user called 'Dillon Tilly.'" According to the New Times Broward-Palm Beach, the hackers also posted racist and anti-semitic messages, as well as child pornography for a period of time.

Beyond the digital vandalism, TechEye also notes that hackers had obtained and released a full list of the PAC's private donors.

At the time of publishing, the website appeared to be down entirely.

Independence Hall Tea Party PAC is a small organization covering Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania that has endorsed GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney. It's unlikely to be a huge financial help for the Republican frontrunner, however, considering it has only raised around $300 in the 2012 election cycle.

PAC President Don Adams tells the New Times that he's now planning legal action.

"I really don't know if I want to make a comment about it," Adams said. "We're an all-volunteer organization, and our goal is to try to limit government, lower taxes and promote free enterprise. And if that's such an awful thing, there's obviously something wrong."

Click over to the New Times Broward-Palm Beach for screenshots of the various stages of hacker havoc, most of which are not safe for work.

An anonymous former high-school classmate of Mitt Romney's told ABC News on Thursday that many fellow students have "really negative memories" of the Republican presidential candidate, and that his behavior during those years was "like
'Lord of the Flies.'"

The interview came on the heels of a Washington Post report that detailed Romney's behavior as a student at the Cranbrook School, a prestigious institution in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. In the article's most explosive revelation, multiple classmates of Romney's recall how he led a group of students that forcibly cut the hair of John Lauber, a student who was thought to be gay.

Romney countered the allegations quickly, making a surprise appearance on Fox host Brian Kilmeade's radio show Thursday morning.

"They talk about the fact that I played a lot of pranks in high school," he said. "And they describe some that you just say to yourself, back in high school I just did some dumb things, and if anybody was hurt by that or offended by it, obviously I apologize."

“I participated in a lot of hijinks and pranks during high school, and some might have gone too far, and for that, I apologize," he added.

Earlier in the interview, Romney said that during his high-school days -- the mid 1960s -- a student's sexual orientation "was the furthest thing from my mind."

Romney's advisers are hoping for backup on those words. http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/05/romney-friend-stu-white-says-campaign-wants-him-to-counter-prank-accusations/" target="_hplink">ABC News reports that his campaign has approached some of the candidate's Cranbrook friends to counter the sometimes harsh image put forth in the Washington Post article.

PHOENIX -- Allies of an ousted Arizona state senator known nationally for his rigid stance on U.S.-Mexico border policy appeared defeated Thursday after trying to pass legislation that would have repaid the author of the state's hardline immigration law for expenses related to fighting the voter effort that removed him from office.

Critics said it would be outrageous to reimburse Russell Pearce, the suburban Phoenix Republican who had been one of Arizona's most powerful politicians.

Democratic Sen. Linda Lopez said she had received more than 150 emails critical of the proposal, "and they're still coming in. People don't know it's not going anywhere."

Supporters turned to the state constitution, saying it required them to act on Pearce's behalf.

A Pearce backer, Sen. Steve Smith, said the bill was not advanced "because people like him, to give him money," but rather because "we have to do it."

Pearce did not return calls from The Associated Press seeking comment.

He stepped into the national spotlight by spearheading the effort to pass the immigration enforcement law known as SB1070, which is under review by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The 2010 law contained provisions that led to protests from civil rights groups and boycotts of the state, including a requirement that police, while enforcing other laws, question a person's immigration status based on suspicion and a requirement that all immigrants obtain or carry registration papers.

Pearce's recall in November, forced by a petition drive, was the first for an Arizona lawmaker.

His allies led the push to have the Legislature reimburse him for the nearly $262,000 his campaign spent in fighting the effort.

A particular point of irritation for opponents was that a fundraising effort covered Pearce's expenses.

The Arizona Constitution says officials who are subjects of recall elections can have their expenses paid by the state. However, there's no law that would allow that to happen.

The legislation proposed by a small group of Pearce supporters on a special joint legislative committee would have added such a law.

The bill was pulled from consideration in the Senate on Thursday with Majority Leader Andy Biggs, a Pearce ally, saying it lacked enough votes to pass. Republicans who make up two-thirds of the Senate were split on the issue, and Democrats were united in opposition.

Rep. John Kavanagh, a Republican who co-sponsored SB1070, said Pearce told him Thursday that he favored the legislation but that he wouldn't seek reimbursement.

Pearce said he wanted the bill pulled because his situation was a distraction, Kavanagh told the House during a brief floor speech Thursday evening.

The Financial Times reported that many industry professionals were resigned to the idea that there would be no criminal charges in the matter of massive misuse of so-called segregated customer funds by MF Global. According to the article, MF Global's Trustee, James Giddens, is trying to sell the story that sloppy bookkeeping in chaotic final hours prior to the firm's bankruptcy was the problem. You see, according to Giddens, it was unintentional. Former MF Global customers are not buying that story. This is the computer age, and any adequate control system can more than keep up. Moreover, MF Global's officers attested that the firm's internal controls were adequate. At the very minimum it seems they should face a Sarbanes-Oxley lawsuit, and it looks as if there's even more to it than that.

Behavior that Giddens is trying to pass off as sloppy bookkeeping is fraud's identical twin and a serious violation of U.S. rules. Early estimates of $600 million of impermissibly transferred customer money later climbed to $1.2 billion.

President Obama's Campaign Appears to Embrace Jon Corzine, a Top Bundler

Up until now, President Obama's campaign has given the appearance of an endorsement of Jon Corzine, the former CEO of MF Global, a former New Jersey governor, a former New Jersey U.S. senator and major campaign contribution bundler for President Obama. At least this is the interpretation of many who viewed the list (as of April 30, 2012) of President Obama's money raisers through the first quarter of 2012. With no clarification or footnote, Jon Corzine is shown as having raised more than $500 thousand in the roster of 2012 Volunteer Fundraisers. The re-election campaign has not disclosed the exact number. I requested further information from the campaign and received this response:

"Corzine's money was returned but the money he raised a year ago was not and thus it qualifies him to be on the bundler list. He is not part of the campaign any longer, this [Obama for America and Obama Victory Fund 2012 Volunteer Fundraisers] list is cumulative."

That may be. The campaign responded it told the press this in January, and the press has forgotten. Really? It told the press in January and now the campaign is blaming the press for its interpretation of a list released in April titled "2012 Volunteer Fundraisers." If the campaign wants to eliminate ambiguity, it can put it's assertion that Corzine "is not a part of the campaign any longer" on the list in writing for all to see. But that would make it clear it is distancing itself from Corzine. It seems to me that President Obama's campaign is trying to have it both ways: deniability as it gives the appearance of support for Jon Corzine. Both President Obama and Vice President Biden have publicly praised Corzine during Corzine's previous campaigns:

Vice President Biden Praising Jon Corzine

As a mere freshman senator, Jon Corzine became the chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) in 2004. Senator Debbie Stabenow (D. Mich.) was the vice-chairman of the DSCC while Corzine was chairman. The DSCC raised money for the campaign of a hopeful who would become Senator Barack Obama (D., IL).

Jon Corzine, Chair of 2004 DSCC, Senator Debbie Stabenow, Vice Chair

Farmers' money (along with other customers' money) was impermissibly transferred from MF Global. Senator Stabenow is the Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman who lobbed soft-ball questions at Corzine during hearings. If you don't look for fraud, you don't find it. She kept asking "where is the money?" but that is what the investigation is supposed to uncover. Corzine claimed he didn't know. If Senator Stabenow wanted to ask a sensible question to pin down Corzine and get to the bottom of matters, it would have gone something like this: "To the best of your recollection, to which financial institutions was money of any kind transferred from MF Global the week before the bankruptcy? Can't remember? Then please name one."

For example, it later came out that Corzine knew of a $175 million transfer to JPMorgan and still later it was revealed that the source of funds was "segregated" customer accounts. This gives the appearance that the Agricultural Committee hearing was cheesy theater instead of a genuine attempt to hold Corzine accountable under Sarbanes-Oxley rules and the rules of the entities that regulated MF Global.

[After Stabenow's shameful performance, she can be thankful that her Republican opponent this election cycle is Pete Hoekstra, who approved a bizarre campaign ad that helped tank his lower poll numbers even further. Are these two the best people Michigan can find to run for that senate seat?]

Yet another Democratic Member of Congress asked tough questions in the matter of MF Global and was accused by other Democratic Members of not being a "good Democrat." But the accusers have a warped definition. Their definition of a so-called good Democrat is at odds with the definition of a good American.

A Classic Situation for Fraud

Terrence Duffy, executive chairman of the CME Group, testified to Congress on December 13, 2011 that a draft report showing a more than $900 million shortfall in required segregation was withheld from regulators. MF Global employees later claimed this was due to an "accounting error," but auditors found no such so-called accounting error. Later, MF Global admitted the shortfall was real and that so-called segregated customer funds had been impermissibly transferred. Lawyers notified Duffy by phone and email that a senior MF Global employee indicated Corzine was aware of "loans" of money from segregated account to MF Global's European affiliate and that at all times the people doing the transfers were under the authority of MF Global management. Duffy's testimony on these matters begins at 17:24 on this C-Span clip:

An Apparent Indication of Intent

Former MF Global Chief Executive Officer Jon Corzine has told lawmakers he "never intended" to break any rules and did not give instructions to misuse customer funds. But Corzine was in charge, rules were thoroughly broken, regulators claim MF Global employees lied to them, and an estimated $1.2 billion in customers' money was impermissibly transferred. Duffy testified that his lawyers informed him that MF Global employees making transfers were under the authority of MF Global management. Moreover, former customers now question Corzine's testimony that he "never intended" to break the rules.

Eagle-eyed customers spotted information in MF Global's crisis plan, the so-called "break the glass document," that suggests intent. This has given wronged customers renewed hope that criminal charges will be filed.

Beginning in January 2011, MF Global worked on a crisis plan, a document called "Stress Scenario Analysis--Downgrade Potential Impact on MF Global." MF Global worried that it wouldn't have enough cash and liquid assets of its own to meet calls for collateral (margin calls), among other things, in the event of a ratings downgrade. The document poses a critical question:

"How quickly do we want to send cash back to clients, what is the message if we do not send immediately..." P. 11

Well, now. Isn't that something? In the days before MF Global's collapse, that's exactly what happened. Customers' money that MF global didn't immediately send back was impermissibly transferred from so-called segregated accounts to MF Global's accounts and then on to MF Global's creditors. The following is a review of events the week of the bankruptcy from an earlier post.

Wednesday, Oct 26, and Thursday, Oct 27, 2011: "Substantial Deficit" in Customer Accounts

Christine Serwinski, MF Global's chief financial officer for North America, testified in a March 28, 2012 congressional hearing that she was told on October 27 of a "substantial deficit" in customers' accounts for October 26, the previous day. She was on vacation when she was informed of the shortfall and claims she was told the shortfall was only in the "cushion" that MF Global had in customer accounts. She claimed the deficit didn't violate rules -- which is implausible given other events of that week (see MF Global's check kiting below). Obviously there was a huge problem at MF Global and this would have gone to the top of the house, to CEO Jon Corzine, in a firm that had any sort of reasonable corporate governance. Serwinski further testified that on October 30, she was told of a nearly $1 billion deficit in customer funds. Regulators weren't told of deficits until October 30. The firm collapsed into bankruptcy on October 31. ("MF Global exec cites early worry on risk to funds," AP, March 27, 2012.)

Thursday October 27: MF Global Breaks Custom of Wire Transfers and Writes Rubber Checks Instead

Jon Corzine claims he didn't know about improper transfers of customer funds and of shortfalls in customer accounts until October 30, yet on Thursday, October 27, four days before the bankruptcy and again on Friday, October 28, three days before its bankruptcy, dozens of MF Global customers asked for wire transfers when they closed accounts, and they didn't get them. Instead, MF Global wrote paper checks and sent the checks via snail mail. The checks bounced, since customers received them after MF Global declared bankruptcy on Monday, October 31. ("Clients Raise Questions About MF Global Checks," NY Times Dealbook, April 1, 2012, by Azam Ahmed and Ben Protess, and "MF Global and the Rubber Check," by Matthew Goldstein, Reuters, November 5, 2011.)

October 28: Edith O'Brien writes of Corzine's "Direct Instructions" to transfer $200 million

By now every officer of MF Global should have been on red alert that MF Global was short of cash and was at risk of using customer funds to meet its daily needs, and this is prohibited.

On the morning of Oct. 28, three days before MF Global's bankruptcy, JPMorgan contacted MF Global about an overdraft in London. A Congressional memo circulated March 23, 2012, quoted an email from Vinay Mahajan, MF Global's global treasurer. Vinay wrote JPMorgan was "holding up vital business in the U.S." and called for funding "A.S.A.P." Bloomberg News reported that on October 28, Edith O'Brien, an assistant treasurer for New York-based MF Global, wrote an email saying that a $200 million transfer of funds was "Per JC's direct instructions." It turns out that part of that money was customer money, and the transfer was impermissible. ("MF Global's Corzine Ordered Funds Moved to JPMorgan, Memo Says," by Phil Mattingly and Silla Brush, Bloomberg News, March 23, 2012.)

October 28's Smoking Gun: JPMorgan Doesn't Buy Corzine's Story

Jon Corzine testified before the Senate Agriculture Committee in December: "I never gave any instructions to misuse customer money, never intended to give any instructions or authority to misuse customer funds, and I find it very hard to understand how anyone could misconstrue what I've said as a way to misuse customer money." But that isn't the standard to which Corzine is held. If investigators can show he knew of the risk that customer money might be included in the $200 million transfer he ordered, Corzine faces potential legal liability. ("MF Global's Corzine May be Liable if Customer Risk Known," By Linda Sandler and Phil Mattingly, Bloomberg News, Mar 25, 2012.)

Money went from a U.S. customer account to a U.S. MF Global account, and then it was transferred to a UK account. Even those who wish to claim Corzine slipped through a dubious loophole in the UK are out of luck. The original impermissible transfer of money occurred from a U.S. customer account to a U.S. based MF Global account. In my opinion, Corzine knew or should have known there was a strong probability that customer funds would be transferred. As it happens, they were.

On October 28, JPMorgan didn't buy Corzine's story, either. Having been a risk manager myself, I believe Barry Zubrow, JPMorgan's chief risk officer, did exactly the right thing. He called Jon Corzine to get him to verify that the funds belonged to MF Global and that none of the money was customer money. Zubrow, an outsider, was well aware of the possibility that customer funds had been transferred. It's implausible that Corzine wasn't aware of the potential impermissible transfer of customer funds when he gave the authority to make the transfer. By doing its job, JPMorgan removed Corzine's ability to credibly deny knowledge of the potential problem.

October 28: JPMorgan Asked for Written Assurances and Didn't Get Them

According to the New York Times, Jon S. Corzine, the former chief executive of MF Global, was told during the brokerage firm's final day of business that a crucial transfer of $175 million came from the firm's own money, not from a customer account, according to an internal email. The email, sent by an executive in MF Global's Chicago office, showed that the company had transferred $175 million to replenish an overdrawn account at JPMorgan Chase in London. The transfer, the email said, was a 'House Wire,' meaning that it came from the firm's own money. The email, sent at 2:20 p.m. on Oct. 28 to Mr. Corzine and two of his assistants in New York, says the transfer came from a 'nonseg' account, industry speak for a noncustomer account. ("E-Mail to Corzine Said Transfer Was Not Customer Money," by Ben Protess and Asam Ahmed, NY Times Dealbook, March 25, 2012)

The problem with the NY Times report is that the email never said that the original source of funds wasn't from a customer account, and a 'house wire' just means an internal transfer of funds. The email only verifies that the money was eventually transferred from a 'nonseg' account. It doesn't rule out that money was transferred from a customer account to an MF Global account, which as it happens -- and the NY Times later reports within the same story -- it was.

The New York Times bolloxed up the title of this story, and even within the story it acknowledges: "But it is unclear whether someone at the commodities brokerage firm told Mr. Corzine the origins of the money during a phone call or in person."

To be clear, the email in no way exonerates Jon Corzine and it in no way proves that he was unaware that the original source of funds was from a customer account and that the transfer included customer money. The email only suggests that the eventual transfer to the UK was from a U.S.-based MF Global account. But MF Global was short of funds, and the money that seemingly magically appeared in its 'nonseg' account was first transferred from a customer account.

According to his December Congressional testimony, Jon Corzine said he spoke with Ms. O'Brien, who confirmed that the transfer was proper. "I had explicit statements that we were using proper funds, both orally and in writing, to the best of my knowledge." But "proper funds," could just mean funds from a 'nonseg' account that gave the appearance of being proper. Corzine knew or should have known that MF Global's U.S. account only had funds because customer money from a U.S. account had been transferred into it. Ms. O'Brien has asked for, but not yet been granted, immunity. Last week she invoked her Fifth Amendment rights at a Congressional hearing.

As for JPMorgan, it asked Jon Corzine for a signed letter stating that the transfer was legitimate. He reportedly responded: "Send me the letter and we'll have our people look at it." It was disingenuous of Jon Corzine to pass JPMorgan's letter to Edith O'Brien to sign given that it asked for a sign-off that all "past, present and future" transfers complied with the law. Ms. O'Brien would have been asked to take responsibility for all transfers without having the authority over them. Jon Corzine had the broad authority to sign the letter, but by passing it on, he effectively stalled.

JPMorgan sent additional versions of this letter in response to MF Global's requests for revisions, but JPMorgan never received a signed letter back.

On October 31, 2011, MF Global Admitted to Impermissible Transfers

MF Global's officers admitted to federal regulators that before the collapse the firm diverted cash from customers' accounts that were supposed to be segregated:

MF Global Holdings LTD... violated requirements that it keep clients' collateral separate from its own accounts... Craig Donohue, CME Group's chief executive officer, said on a conference call with analysts today that MF Global isn't in compliance with the rules of the exchange and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

("MF Global Probe May Involve Hundreds of Millions in Funds," Bloomberg News, November 1, 2011, by Silia Brush and Matthew Leising.)

Yet on November 1, Kenneth Ziman, a lawyer for MF Global, relayed information from MF Global to U.S. Bankruptcy judge Martin Glenn in Manhattan: "To the best knowledge of management, there is no shortfall." If that sounded like a cover-up, it was:

According to a U.S. official, MF Global admitted to federal regulators early Monday [October 31, 2011] that money was missing from customer accounts. MF Global acknowledged a shortfall in a phone call amid mounting questions from regulators as they went through the firm's books.

("MF Global's Collapse Draws FBI Interest," by Devlin Barrett, Scott Patterson, and Mike Spector, Wall Street Journal, November 2, 2011.)

The initial bankruptcy estimate was a shortfall of around $600 million. As of Monday November 21, MF Global's liquidating trustee believed the shortfall may be as much as $1.2 billion and later estimates put the shortfall of customer money at $1.6 billion.

MF Global Debacle Damages a Key Global Market

Even if all of the money is eventually clawed back and recovered, this remains an impermissible act. Moreover, full recovery -- even if it is possible -- is not the same as restitution. People have been denied access to their money, and businesses and reputations have been tarnished.

The futures market is a globally connected market and it is a key mechanism for farmers, metals miners, and metals fabricators (among others) to hedge their risk. Confidence in the futures market has been shaken. No one knows if their money is safe, but what is more disturbing is the appearance of crony capitalism once again giving favored treatment, lax regulation, and absent oversight to a crony capitalist that abused all of these perks to blow up a large financial firm and damage a key global market.

So far, no one has been held accountable.

Endnote: Jane Wollman Rusoff interviewed me for Research Magazine's May cover story, "Finding the Culprits of the Crisis," about the deep monetary connections of Wall Street and Washington and the corrosive effect it has had on the economy and the Republic.

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) shot back at House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on Thursday, claiming that Pelosi's move to connect a GOP student loan plan to the so-called Republican war on women was "pathetic."

"She wants to continue this fiction that every Democrat messenger is trying to put forward, which is there's a war on women,” Bachmann told Fox Business Network’s Neil Cavuto. “There is no war on women. There's never been a war on women."

On Thursday, Pelosi lambasted the recently announced Republican bill, which would keep student loan rates at their current levels by pulling money from a public health fund included in President Barack Obama's health care law. Democrats had originally proposed covering the estimated $6 billion cost by closing a tax loophole that lets certain wealthy people avoid paying Medicare taxes, but Republicans countered by targeting what House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) called an Obamacare "slush fund."

"He's calling it a slush fund," Pelosi said of Boehner's proposal during a press conference. "Well, it may be a slush fund to him, but it's survival to women. It's survival to women. That just goes to show you what a luxury he thinks it is to have good health. We do not agree."

Bachmann went on to attack Pelosi's strategy in her interview, accidentally referring to her as the "Speaker of the House" and accusing Democrats of perpetuating a "political fiction" in order to cater to women voters.

The House passed the GOP's student loan proposal on Friday by a vote of 215 to 195. The White House has threatened to veto the bill.

By Rob Taylor

KABUL, April 27 (Reuters) - Hackers have for the third time in less than a year crippled the main website of the Afghan Taliban, with a Taliban spokesman on Friday blaming Western intelligence agencies amid an intensifying cyber war with the insurgents.

The unidentified hackers broke into the Taliban's El Emara website twice on Thursday, replacing usual insurgent victory messages with images of executions and support for the Afghan government and security forces in English, Arabic and Pashto.

Some of the photographs showed women being shot in the head or hanged by former Taliban executioners, while another showed two women in head-to-toe burkas being beaten.

"Violence is wrong in all its forms, especially the encouragement by the Taliban of cowardly betrayal and the senseless murder of innocent civilians," a screenshot from Afghan Pajhwok News showed the message as saying in English.

"The Afghan Security Forces are accountable to Allah and the Afghan people, and seek to restore peace as the foreigners leave the land," it said.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Reuters that the website was hacked around 12:30 am on Thursday and fixed in three hours, before being breached again at midday and put out of commission again. It was still being repaired on Friday

"It was hacked again by enemies and foreign intelligence services," Zabihullah said. "The enemy tries to push its propaganda. The enemy is worried by what gets published in our webpage. It's confusing for them, so they try to react."

A NATO spokesman declined comment on the claim.

The Taliban have in recent months waged an intensifying information war with NATO forces in the country, distributing anti-government messages on mobile phone networks and using Twitter to claim largely improbable successes as most foreign combat troops look to leave the country by 2014.

A day rarely passes without a Taliban spokesman using Twitter to claim the destruction of numerous NATO armoured vehicles and the deaths of scores of Western or Afghan security forces, with NATO quickly countering in its own Twitter feeds.

The Taliban also employ a sophisticated network of spokesmen to distribute messages and even have their own mobile radio broadcast service, which frequently moves location to avoid the threat of retaliatory airstrikes by NATO warplanes.

Unknown hackers brought down the main Taliban website earlier this month, when El Emara's English language page was replaced temporarily with images of Taliban atrocities and photographs of roadside bombs, according to the Long War Journal website, which tracks progress in the war, now dragging into its eleventh year.

Another cyber attack took place on June 20 last year, when false messages were distributed about the death of the Taliban's one-eyed leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, from both the website and the phones of Taliban spokesman.

Thursday's hacking attack came as a man wearing an Afghan security forces uniform shot and killed a U.S. soldier in the country's south, in the latest incident of so-called green-on-blue killings by local police and soldiers of Western mentors.

Three soldiers were killed by an improvised bomb in the east, where NATO recently launched one of the last large offensives of the war to try to clear insurgent strongholds near the Pakistan border and around Kabul. (Additional reporting by Mirwais Harooni; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke responded to Fox News pundit Monica Crowley's tweet on Thursday, saying she was disturbed by the conservative commentator's "blatant homophobia."

“I’m not going to let this kind of thing get to me personally,” Fluke said during an appearance on MSNBC's "The Ed Show." “What really bothers me about it [is] the blatant homophobia in the comment, and the idea that that is an acceptable thing to say publicly.”

Crowley caused a stir on Thursday when she responded to the news of Fluke getting engaged to her longtime boyfriend by tweeting, "To a man?"

During the MSNBC interview, Fluke said she was most disturbed that Crowley intended the tweet as an insulting joke.

“I don’t want an apology from anyone personally,” Fluke said. “I think it is possible she owes an apology to the LGBTQ community, because I am not offended to be asked whether or not I’m with a woman. It’s not offensive to me to be gay, but it was clearly meant as an insult.”

Fluke came into the national spotlight in February after conservative radio personality Rush Limbaugh called her a "slut" after she publicly advocated for birth control coverage. While Limbaugh apologized for his initial comments following massive backlash, this week he again attacked Fluke for "coordinating" with Obama to "scare students about the interest rates on their loans."

Fluke dismissed Limbaugh's latest insult, telling Lawrence O'Donnell that Limbaugh has become "confused by his own propaganda."

Watch Fluke's full interview on MSNBC:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Noam Scheiber, TNR
Though it was obvious to almost no one at the time, Thursday, April 5, may have certified a momentous change in contemporary politics. It was that day when Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Reince Priebus was quoted saying that the Republican "war on women," a favorite liberal talking point, was a creation of Democrats and the media"”no more reality-based than a Republican "war on caterpillars." It probably wasn't the most outlandish comment a GOP operative uttered that hour. 

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- The judge overseeing John Edwards' criminal trial has canceled a hearing on whether to quash a subpoena issued to a former speech writer for the two-time presidential candidate.

The hearing was scheduled for Friday.

Edwards' lawyers are seeking an extensive list of documents from Wendy Button, a 2008 campaign staffer expected to testify.

U.S. District Court Judge Catherine C. Eagles said Wednesday another judge would have to decide the issue because her husband is a former law partner of one of the lawyers representing Button, presenting a potential conflict.

In court documents filed Thursday, Eagles reversed course, canceling Friday's hearing and ordering the lawyers involved in the issue to file written briefs with the court.

Opening statements in Edwards' trial over campaign finance violations are scheduled for Monday.

Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) defended Ted Nugent on CNN Thursday morning, telling host Soledad O’Brien he doesn't believe Nugent has any ill will toward President Barack Obama, despite controversial remarks the rocker made this past week about the president.

“I think he was just expressing maybe his opinion about something, and of course everyone wants to sensationalize things, but let's leave it up to the Secret Service to interview him and get to the bottom of it. But I don’t think the Motor City Madman has any ill will toward the president of the United States of America,” West said.

During an interview at the National Rifle Association conference over the weekend, Nugent stated that “if Obama becomes the next president again, I will either be dead or in jail this time next year." He compared Obama and his administration to "coyotes" that needed to be shot and encouraging voters to "chop [Democrats'] heads off in November."

In her interview with West, O'Brien expressed concern at the seemingly violent intent of Nugent's remarks. “I think he has a lot of ill will toward [Obama], but I think that’s a separate question on whether or not he’s threatening violence, that’s kind of night and day,” O’Brien said. “No, I don’t think he likes him at all.”

But West attempted to put Nugent's comments into a different context.

"Well, there’s a lot of people who didn’t like President George W. Bush, and we didn’t have to cart them in front of the Secret Service, so let’s just let the people who are responsible for investigating take care of it,” he said.

Nugent's remarks drew the attention of the United States Secret Service, who are investigating his comments and have requested an interview with him this week to discuss the matter. Nugent has stated that he is looking forward to the upcoming meeting.

Mitt Romney's presidential campaign reiterated on Thursday that the candidate had never endorsed Arizona's contested immigration law, noting that he meant only that its employee status verification provision should be a model.

Earlier in the morning, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida said at a National Journal event that "no," Arizona's immigration law should not serve as a national model. "I believe that Arizona and states like Arizona had a constitutional right to do what they did," Rubio said.

"I do not believe that laws like Arizona should be a model for the country," Rubio added. "In essence, I don't believe Florida should have an Arizona law; I don't advocate that other states have an Arizona law."

The Romney campaign said that although the candidate declared during a February debate that Arizona was a "model" for the nation on immigration, it would be wrong to characterize his position as different from that of Rubio, who has endorsed his presidential bid.

Romney's comments were widely interpreted to mean he desired a nationwide law like Arizona's S.B. 1070, especially because he followed up by talking about his plans to end a federal suit against the state legislation.

But his exact words in the debate seem to point more to support for E-Verify, a system that requires employers to check on a potential hire's immigration status, than for S.B. 1070 as a whole. The Arizona law requires employers to use E-Verify.

"I think you see a model here in Arizona," Romney said. "They passed a law here that says that people who come here and try to find work, that the employer is required to look them up on E-Verify. This E-Verify system allows employers in Arizona to know who's here legally and who's not here legally. And as a result of E-Verify being put in place, the number of people in Arizona that are here illegally has dropped by some 14 percent."

Watch Romney deliver his remarks, below.

This isn't the first time the Romney campaign has drawn such a distinction. In March, Romney spokesman Ryan Williams told the Arizona Republic that the former Massachusetts governor was referring to the Arizona provision requiring E-Verify, not to all of S.B. 1070.

Last week President Barack Obama criticized Romney for calling Arizona a model and said its laws encouraged racial profiling.

"We now have a Republican nominee who said that the Arizona laws are a model for the country … and these are laws that potentially would allow someone to be stopped and picked up and asked where their citizenship papers are based on an assumption," Obama told Univision.

A federal lawsuit contests S.B. 1070 for, among other things, a controversial provision requiring police to inquire about immigration status during a routine stop if they have reasonable suspicion.

In a Wall Street Journal op-ed piece on Thursday, the veteran conservative journalist Fred Barnes offered Mitt Romney some advice for improving his campaign, including the sensible (and one might also say humane) suggestion that on immigration, the presumptive nominee "would be wise to move away from his harsh position in the primaries."

MOUNT KISCO, N.Y. -- The son of Sen. Robert Kennedy invoked his father's assassination Thursday in a case stemming from his attempt to take his newborn son from a hospital maternity ward.

Douglas Kennedy is charged with endangering the baby and physically harassing two nurses in the January incident.

After a mostly procedural court session, Kennedy said, "It is OK for a father to hold his son in his arms ... my father was taken away from me when I was a baby."

"The only thing I wanted to do that night was to be with my son and hold him in my arms," Kennedy said.

On Jan. 7, Kennedy tried to take his 2-day-old son from the maternity ward at Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco, about 30 miles from Manhattan. He said he wanted some fresh air for the baby, but nurses tried to stop him, citing hospital policy, and a tussle was recorded on hospital video. Security guards were summoned and the baby stayed in the hospital.

The hospital reported the incident to police and the state's Child Protective Services. Kennedy was arrested in February.

One nurse said Kennedy twisted her arm as she tried to keep him from leaving with the baby, and another said he kicked her.

Kennedy, 44, said Thursday "I was protecting my son from a complete stranger who tried to grab him from my arms."

Kennedy's wife, Molly, said "our lives have been turned upside down simply because my husband wanted to take a walk with our son."

Kennedy lawyer, Robert Gottlieb, called the prosecution "a disgrace." He said Kennedy had received a letter from a personal injury lawyer representing the two nurses.

"Certain individuals have taken advantage of a situation to line their pockets," Gottlieb said.

A state investigation, including a visit to the Kennedy home in Chappaqua, found no evidence of child abuse by Kennedy. That conclusion does not directly affect the child endangerment charge, but Gottlieb has filed a motion to dismiss all charges.

Assistant District Attorney Amy Puerto said in court that the prosecution would fight the motion.

A small group of nurses from the state nurses union demonstrated outside court demanding that the harassment charge be upgraded from a misdemeanor to a felony.

Juliane Hatzel, a recovery room nurse at Westchester Medical Center, said "nurses get hurt all the time and there's usually nothing that comes of it."

Donna Hemmer, a nursing supervisor at the same hospital, said "I commend the nurses for putting the safety of the baby ahead of their own safety."

Kennedy is next due in Mount Kisco Town Court on June 14.

Kennedy, a reporter for Fox News, is the 10th of 11 children of Robert and Ethel Kennedy. His father was assassinated in 1968.

Vice President Joe Biden said Thursday the Republican Party's "war on women" is real and will "intensify" with appointments to the Supreme Court in the next presidential term.

"I think the war on women is real," Biden said in an interview with MSNBC's Ed Schultz. "And look, I tell you where it's going to intensify. The next president of the United States is going to get to name one and possibly two or more members of the Supreme Court."

Biden, interviewed during a visit to New Hampshire to promote President Barack Obama's proposed Buffett rule for the wealthy, defended the administration's jobs record. Presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney in the last two days has claimed the war on women's real antagonist is Obama, because of an economy that has taken a toll on female jobs.

When asked by Schultz about Romney's claim that 92 percent of people who lost jobs during Obama's presidency were female, Biden criticized Romney and his party for their attitudes toward women.

"This guy had -- these guys had the social policy on contraception that takes you back to the '50s," Biden said. "I mean, when asked the question, do you think this legislation passed mandating that your son and daughter doing the same work will have to get the exact same pay, the Lilly Ledbetter law, they couldn't answer."

Biden's Ledbetter reference was to a question HuffPost's Sam Stein asked during a Romney campaign phone conference Wednesday on whether Romney supported the equal pay act. Romney's campaign later confirmed the former Massachusetts governor wouldn't repeal the law if elected.

Biden also touched on the controversy surrounding Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen's comments that Ann Romney "never worked a day in her life." Biden said it was "an outrageous assertion" to criticize Ann Romney for not having a career outside of raising her family.

"My daughter happens to have a master’s degree," Biden said. "She’s a social worker. She’s getting married. If my daughter wants to be able to say, 'I’m staying home and raising my kids,' no one should question that."

Biden wouldn't predict whether women would vote overwhelmingly for Obama, as recent polls have suggested. But he said the president's record indicates how women may vote in November.

"Look at the record of who's promoted women’s health, who’s promoted women opportunity, who’s promoted the opportunity to have people in the Supreme Court that recognize that women are absolutely, thoroughly, totally equal in every way as men," Biden said.

He continued: "All I’m saying is I think the case that we can make, Barack’s policies are past our expectations. Our dreams for women, contrasted with the Republican agenda as it has been and continues to be, relative to women, I don’t think it’s a close call."

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- After years of investigation, denials and delays, jury selection was set to begin Thursday for the criminal trial of former presidential candidate John Edwards.

Edwards was expected inside a Greensboro, N.C., courtroom to face six criminal counts related to nearly $1 million in secret payments made by two campaign donors to help hide the married Democrat's pregnant mistress as he sought the White House in 2008.

The money flowed to Andrew Young, a former campaign aide who initially claimed the baby was his. Young is expected to be a key witness for the prosecution. The mistress, Rielle Hunter, may testify as part of Edwards' defense.

Following years of adamant public denials, Edwards acknowledged paternity of Hunter's daughter in 2010.

The trial is expected to last about six weeks.

A key issue will be whether Edwards knew about the payments made on his behalf by his national campaign finance chairman, the late Texas lawyer Fred Baron, and campaign donor Rachel "Bunny" Mellon, an heiress and socialite who is now 101 years old. Both had already given Edwards' campaign the maximum $2,300 individual contribution allowed by federal law.

Edwards denies having known about the money, which paid for private jets, luxury hotels and Hunter's medical care. Prosecutors will seek to prove he sought and directed the payments to cover up his affair, protect his public image as a "family man" and keep his presidential hopes viable.

If convicted, Edwards faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and as much as $1.5 million in fines.

___

Former Rep. Chris Lee (R-N.Y.), who abruptly stepped down last year after posting a shirtless photo on Craigslist, surprised a local food bank with the remainder of his campaign cash.

Make that really surprised.

Politico reported Thursday that Lee plans to donate the $14,041 left in his campaign account to the Food Bank of Western New York, but says the food bank hadn't heard about the gift until being asked for comment.

"We have not officially heard about this donation from former Rep. Chris Lee but we are extremely pleased to be the beneficiary of his generosity," Marylou Borowiak , president and chief executive officer of the Food Bank of Western New York, told Politico. "His donation will allow the Food Bank of WNY to distribute 77,148 meals to the less fortunate in the four counties it serves in western New York."

Arizona lawmakers are facing a backlash over a  proposal that could land people in jail for sending a nasty tweet or other  digital message – prompting efforts to change the bill already approved by both  chambers.

The so-called cyber bulling bill is being criticized  for being too broad, largely because it would prohibit a digital message that  would “annoy or offend.”

GOP state Rep. Ted Vogt, the bill’s primary sponsor,  said Thursday that state House and Senate lawmakers will meet within about a  week to attempt to improve the bill, following the storm of criticism from First  Amendment advocates and other free-speech supporters.

“The bill has been misrepresented in terms of scope  and prohibitive conduct,” he told Fox News. “It was never our intent to  interfere with broadcasters or any other public speech, but we will  clarify.”

The bill is essentially an update to a roughly  30-year-old bill that prohibits phone harassment.

“Technology has moved beyond what it was in 1973,” Vogt said. “If you cannot call somebody and threaten them, then there should be  a law to make that illegal by other means.”

Right now the bill — which passed both chambers  with bipartisan support — would result in a misdemeanor charge that carries a  maximum $2,500 fine and six months in jail for anybody who uses a computer,  smartphone or similar device to send a message to “terrify, intimidate,  threaten, harass, annoy or offend.”

The outcry began last month with critics objecting  mostly to the bill’s failure to clearly define what would be considered annoying  or offensive.

While critics expressed no objection to the bill’s  intent to prohibit cyber “stalking” and “threats of physical harm,” they said a  fine or potential jail time for “lewd” or “profane” language is  overreaching.

Vogt said the lawmakers will address three aspects  of the bill: clarify that the cyber message is targeting a specific person or  group, clarify that the communication is unwanted or unsolicited and ensure the  bill doesn’t interfere with constitutionally protected speech or other  activities protected by law.

“The trouble with the law is it could apply to a  wide range of speech, which is why we suggested some changes,” said David  Horowitz, executive director of the Media Coalition in New York. “Lewd language  and profanity is certainly not appropriate, but it’s not illegal. It’s  encouraging that the lawmakers are taking a second look. We’ll see what comes  out of the meeting.”

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/04/05/arizona-lawmakers-rethink-wide-ranging-cyber-bully-bill/#ixzz1rGnFe74a

Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) has received a rare honor from the depths of space.

The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) named a supernova -- a massive exploding star more than eight times our Sun's mass and 7.4 billion light-years away -- after the senator on Thursday.

STScI also dedicated the Barbara A. Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes.

"I am proud to be the namesake of the archives at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which are the enduring legacy of Hubble and will allow us to peer even further into the origins of the universe after the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope," Mikulski, the Chairwoman of the Senate Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations Subcommittee, said in a statement.

Mikulski, Congress' longest-serving woman, is a longtime supporter of the Hubble space program -- which discovered Supernova Mikulski in January -- and also worked to secure an additional $530 million for the James Webb Space Telescope last year, The Hill reports. The Webb project is a large, infrared-optimized space telescope set to be housed at STScI's headquarters in Baltimore, Md.

"In celebration of Sen. Mikulski's career-long achievements, and particularly this year, becoming the longest-serving woman in U.S. Congressional history, we sought NASA's permission to established the Senator's permanent legacy to science by naming the optical and ultraviolet data archive housed here at the Institute in her honor," said STScI director Matt Mountain.

Click here for more on supernovae.

Health insurance premium hikes in nine states as high as 24 percent are "excessive" and should be blocked, the federal Department of Health and Human Services said Thursday. The agency will have to depend on states to take action, however, because the federal government lacks the authority.

The health care reform law enacted in 2010 requires health insurance companies to present premium hikes of 10 percent or more for federal review. Since the law took effect, the Department of Health and Human Services has reviewed and made public more than 180 rate-review proposals for health plans that cover 1.3 million individuals and small-business employees.

Big annual health insurance premiums became a heated issue during the congressional debate over health care reform in February 2010, just one month before the legislation passed, when a California subsidiary of the insurance giant WellPoint sought to raise rates on its 800,000 customers by as much as 39 percent. At the time, President Barack Obama said he was "very disturbed" by what WellPoint's Anthem Blue Cross proposed.

"It’s time for these companies to immediately rescind these unreasonable rate hikes, issue refunds to consumers or publicly explain their refusal to do so," Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a press release about Thursday's announcement. The agency didn't name the health insurance companies in its notice.

Congress gave Health and Human Services the power to force reviews of large premium increases but not the power to stop them. States, not the federal government, are in charge of rejecting premium hikes or allowing them to go ahead. Thirty states had their own rate-review rules in place prior to national health care reform and seven more have set up the process since the law provided $250 million in funding, according to the federal department. Agencies in 27 states, including California, New York and Oregon, have made insurers dial back premium hikes since 2010, the department says.

Today's announcement affects health insurance plans covering 43,000 people in Arizona, Idaho, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

The health insurance industry maintains that health plans base their premiums on the actual medical costs incurred by customers and the prices charged by doctors, hospitals, and other medical providers.

When in Puerto Rico, you sunbathe – even if you’re a presidential candidate. A photo posted by Buzzfeed shows a shirtless Rick Santorum lounging poolside during a break from campaigning in Puerto Rico on Thursday. Santorum was asked about it during a radio interview on...

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A pro-Kremlin documentary alleging Russians were paid to attend the biggest protests against Vladimir Putin's 12-year rule provoked an angry response from the opposition on Friday and the promise of more demonstrations over the weekend. The opposition said it would stage a rally outside Moscow's Ostankino television broadcast tower on Sunday to protest against the video aired on Thursday on the television station NTV, which is controlled by state-owned gas behemoth Gazprom. ...

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch authorities on Thursday warned thousands of women who had breast implants made by French company Poly Implant Prothese (PIP) before 2001 to consider removing them because they may leak silicone that could harm their health. The Health Ministry first raised concerns in 2010 about implants sold by the now defunct PIP. Based on new guidance from French authorities, it advised women to remove PIP implants inserted after 2001. On Thursday, it expanded the warning to include women who had implants earlier, advising them to seek medical assistance. ...

TOLEDO (Reuters) - In a presidential election that could feature two Harvard-trained candidates not known for their common touch, President Barack Obama's campaign deployed a new weapon on Thursday: Vice President Joe Biden. With a tough re-election fight looming in November, Obama campaign officials hope Biden's back-slapping demeanor and humble origins will help win the support of blue collar voters. ...