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Seen, Heard & Whispered: Birthright citizenship; Pulte and FISA; Ja Rule and Don Jr.'s club

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Articles by Stephen Dinan

** FILE ** Justin Bieber appears in court via video feed, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2014, in Miami. Bieber was released from jail Thursday following his arrest on charges of driving under the influence, driving with an expired license and resisting arrest. Police say they stopped the 19-year-old pop star while he was drag-racing down a Miami Beach street before dawn. (AP Photo/The Miami Herald, Walter Michot, Pool)

Deport Bieber petition nears success

The White House petition to deport Justin Bieber is more than halfway to success, surging beyond 60,000 signatures Tuesday morning and putting it well on pace to reach the 100,000 needed to earn an official response.

January 28, 2014
President Barack Obama works at his desk in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Monday, Jan. 27, 2014, ahead of Tuesday night's State of the Union speech. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

State of the Union: Few will tune in as Obama becomes lame duck

With the State of the Union proving ever less entrancing for viewers, the White House is desperate to turn the speech into a multiday event in an effort to bolster interest in Mr. Obama's policies, even if people don't tune in to hear his words.

January 27, 2014
**FILE** Pro-union demonstrators crowd the Rotunda of the Michigan Capitol in Lansing to chant against right-to-work legislation on Dec. 5, 2012. (Associated Press/Detroit News)

Labor union membership ticks up

Labor union membership rose slightly in 2013, according to new government statistics released Friday that showed at least a temporary reprieve in the long-term travails for the labor movement.

January 24, 2014
FILE - This Thursday, June 6, 2013, file photo, shows a sign outside the National Security Administration (NSA) campus in Fort Meade, Md. The National Security Agency has implanted software in nearly 100,000 computers around the world — but not in the United States — that allows the U.S. to conduct surveillance on those machines, The New York Times reported Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2014. ((AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

Privacy board rules NSA snooping illegal

The federal government violated the Patriot Act by stockpiling Americans' phone records and the phone companies are violating other federal laws by turning over the information, a federal privacy watchdog said Thursday, adding more hurdles for advocates who are trying to preserve the snooping program.

January 23, 2014
ASSOCIATED PRESS Ken Blackwell, former Ohio secretary of state, said a new conservative super PAC that seeks to fund state secretary of state candidates is proof that conservatives have learned their lessons. "I think it's a balancing act now, sort of balancing the scales," he said.

Conservative super PAC to fund secretary of state hopefuls

With voter-ID laws and other reforms taking center stage, a conservative group said Wednesday it is launching a new super PAC to fund state secretary of state candidates willing to go toe-to-toe with Democrats and defend more rigorous voter roll rules and stiffer election requirements.

January 22, 2014
**FILE** A man fills his gas tank Aug. 29, 2012, at a gas station in Lyndhurst, Ohio. (Associated Press)

As U.S. supply accelerates, gas prices stuck in neutral

America is in the midst of an energy boom has left the country floating in crude oil and natural gas — but consumers are seeing only modest returns at the gas pump, where analysts said the chief benefit has been stability, not cost-cutting.

January 21, 2014
**FILE** Rep. James Lankford, Oklahoma Republican, speaks during a town hall meeting in Del City, Okla., on July 2, 2013. (Associated Press)

Fight seen for Coburn’s Senate seat as Lankford jumps in

Rep. James Lankford said Monday he'll run to serve out the term of retiring Sen. Tom Coburn in Oklahoma, setting up what could be another brutal primary GOP battle involving outside conservative pressure groups and the party's establishment.

January 20, 2014
The lines for voting at Precinct 225 in Reston, Va. were already long when the polls opened at 6 a.m. for election day, Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2008. This precinct, located in Fairfax County, normally has about 3,500 registered voters. Here voters stand in lines designated by the first letter of their last name.

States seek right to ask new voters for proof of citizenship

States are vowing to go to the courts for permission to ask newly registered voters to show proof of citizenship after a federal commission ruled late Friday that it's up to the national government, not states, to decide what to include on registration forms.

January 19, 2014
In this Oct. 14, 2013, photo, the U.S. Capitol is seen as a partial government shutdown enters its third week, in Washington. As talks between Republican and Democratic leaders lumber on in Washington, the American public sees an economic crisis looming if Congress is unable to raise the country’s debt ceiling. But the people seem just as conflicted on the issue as their elected representatives. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

New federal ruling forbids states from checking voters’ citizenship

States are vowing to go to the courts for permission to ask newly registered voters to show proof of citizenship after a federal commission ruled late Friday that it's up to the national government, not states, to decide what to include on registration forms.

January 18, 2014

Republican leaders push bill to update Voting Rights Act

Key lawmakers announced a rewrite of the Voting Rights Act on Thursday, creating a test to judge which states are still so discriminatory that they need federal scrutiny of their voting decisions — moving to revive the iconic law just months after the Supreme Court declared part of it unconstitutional.

January 16, 2014
Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, is concerned about President Obama's announcement outlining his national security policies. "If the speech is anything like what is being reported, the president will go down in history for having retained and defended George W. Bush's surveillance programs," he said. (Associated Press)

ACLU bashes Obama on NSA surveillance

A leading civil liberties group lashed out Wednesday after reports suggested that President Obama won't make major changes to government surveillance programs after months of review and hand-wringing over revelations by former spy-agency contractor Edward Snowden.

January 15, 2014
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton congratulates President Barack Obama on the House vote to pass health care reform, prior to a meeting in the Situation Room of the White House, March 22, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

BENGHAZI WAS PREVENTABLE: Hillary Clinton cited for major security lapses

The 2012 terrorist assault on the U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, involved attackers from several major international terrorist networks, according to a Senate report that blames the intelligence community and the State Department — and Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens himself — for lapses.

January 15, 2014