By Rand Paul
Obama acts as though we no longer have a Constitution

The Pentagon is moving to fix cybersecurity vulnerabilities on the Navy's new Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), after computer systems that control the $440 million USS Freedom were hacked by a "red team" of network penetration testers

Strong earnings across a range of U.S. industries pushed the stock market higher Tuesday.The stock market briefly dropped, then recovered, after the Associated Press' Twitter account was hacked and a fake tweet about an attack on the White House was posted.

The U.S. Air Force version of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter has shortcomings that will get pilots shot down in combat, according to a leaked Pentagon report evaluating combat testing testing of the plane.

The Pentagon's top brass are second-guessing the F-35 Lightning — the most expensive weapons system in history — as spending cuts tighten the military's budget and a new report says F-35 pilots can't see that well out of the cockpit.

Uncle Sam is looking for ways to sharpen his watchful gaze. In the name of fighting terrorism, federal agencies can have a hard time distinguishing the line between legitimate surveillance and unlawful spying.

The Pentagon announced Friday it has reached an agreement with Lockheed Martin to purchase 22 more F-35 "Lightning II" Joint Strike Fighters.
The number of people seeking U.S. unemployment aid remained elevated for a second straight week because Superstorm Sandy forced many people to seek temporary benefits.

Republican lawmakers are pushing back on guidance from the White House saying that the federal government will reimburse defense companies' liability or litigation costs for not issuing legally mandated layoff warnings to employees this year as deep spending cuts loom, with the companies maintaining postelection they are comfortable with the advice and have no plans to issue the notices this year.

As the presidential election of 2012 draws near, the polls in Virginia are very close. Virginia's 13 electoral votes may determine who will be our new president. Mitt Romney seems to have a slight lead, but clearly, the messages of the two major candidates in the last week of the campaign will determine the winner.
Never in my worst dreams could I imagine that the day would come when an American president would stand up and urge companies to break federal law -- and then, amazingly, tell them under his personal authority that the taxpayers would pay their penalties ("McCain: Obama acting beyond authority," Web, Wednesday). That's exactly what President Obama has done. Worst of all, it has been for political reasons during an election season.

Lockheed Martin on Monday backed down from its summertime threat to issue layoff warnings to employees just before the November election, saying the Obama administration has given assurances that it won't immediately kill any major defense contracts when automatic spending cuts go into effect in January.
As a Georgia Tech graduate, I honestly believe Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal hit the nail on the head when he described the economic implications that Obamacare will have on the state I used to call home ("Georgia's budget can't take Obamacare," Commentary, Friday).

Senate Democrats rejected a Republican effort to force defense contractors to send out notices of possible job layoffs four days before the election, calling the move politically driven and purely speculative based on looming spending cuts.

President Obama's administration doesn't see the need for defense contractors to warn employees about possible layoffs from across-the-board budget cuts, but in 2007, then-Sen. Barack Obama railed against employers failing to notify workers who were in danger of losing their jobs.

Republicans on Tuesday accused the White House of trying to "intimidate" defense companies into keeping silent about major job losses if automatic military spending cuts take effect early next year, after the administration said Monday that it would be "inappropriate" for employers to warn workers of layoffs.