April 11, 2013
Nearly 50 meetings in a nine-month period.
Attorney General Eric Holder began his tenure by calling Americans cowards regarding racial issues. Newly released documents reveal that Holder’s schedule shows a preoccupation with racial issues: he spends an inordinate amount of time meeting with race-centered organizations.
FULL STORY>>
Thursday, April 11, 2013
New Jersey spent $18,047 per pupil in public schools last year
April 11, 2013
New Jersey districts spent an average of $18,047 per pupil in 2011-12, up 4 percent from the year before, the state said Wednesday.
MORE>>
New Jersey districts spent an average of $18,047 per pupil in 2011-12, up 4 percent from the year before, the state said Wednesday.
MORE>>
ObamaFAIL: 3 million Californians could receive health insurance subsidies
April 11, 2013
Some Republicans still cling to the hope that they'll be able to repeal Obamacare someday, but a report released Wednesday by Families USA shows why it may be even harder for them to do so after Jan. 1.
The report estimates that nearly 3 million Californians could be eligible for generous insurance subsidies under the 2010 healthcare reform law, starting next year. Anyone with an income between one and four times the federal poverty line -- in other words, between $23,550 and $94,200 for a family of four -- could receive a tax credit that reduces monthly premiums dramatically.
Keep reading>>
 |
| This is a draft copy of the proposed 21-page application form for insurance from Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program or subsidized private policies offered through a federally run insurance exchange. |
The report estimates that nearly 3 million Californians could be eligible for generous insurance subsidies under the 2010 healthcare reform law, starting next year. Anyone with an income between one and four times the federal poverty line -- in other words, between $23,550 and $94,200 for a family of four -- could receive a tax credit that reduces monthly premiums dramatically.
Keep reading>>
The Apple Never Fall Far From The Tree: Daughter of Obama's former pastor charged with fraud
April 11, 2013
(Reuters) - The daughter of President Barack Obama's controversial former pastor was indicted on Wednesday on charges of money laundering and lying to federal authorities, a Justice Department spokeswoman said.
Jeri L. Wright, 47, the daughter of Jeremiah Wright, was accused of participating in a fraud scheme led by a former suburban police chief and the chief's husband that involved a $1.25 million state grant, according to the Attorney's office for the Central District of Illinois in Springfield.
Wright, of the Chicago suburb of Hazel Crest, was charged with two counts of money laundering, two counts of making false statements to federal officers, and seven counts of giving false testimony to a grand jury.
The state grant was for a not-for-profit work and education program called We Are Our Brother's Keeper, owned by Regina Evans, former police chief of Country Club Hills, and her husband, Ronald W. Evans, Jr.
According to the indictment, Wright, a close friend of the couple, received three checks in 2009 worth about $28,000 that were supposed to be for work related to the grant. About $20,000 of that was allegedly deposited back into accounts controlled by the Evanses.
Jeremiah Wright was the Chicago pastor whose inflammatory church sermons, which often condemned U.S. attitudes on race, poverty, the Iraq War and other issues, became a focus during the 2008 presidential campaign.
Obama quieted the controversy with a speech putting the quotes in the context of race relations.
The money laundering count Jeri Wright faces carries a maximum penalty of up to 20 years in prison, while the other charges carry penalties of up to five years in prison.
Jeri Wright could not be reached for comment. Prosecutor's office spokeswoman Sharon Paul did not know if she had yet retained a lawyer.
(Reporting by Mary Wisniewski; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Bill Trott)
(Reuters) - The daughter of President Barack Obama's controversial former pastor was indicted on Wednesday on charges of money laundering and lying to federal authorities, a Justice Department spokeswoman said.
Jeri L. Wright, 47, the daughter of Jeremiah Wright, was accused of participating in a fraud scheme led by a former suburban police chief and the chief's husband that involved a $1.25 million state grant, according to the Attorney's office for the Central District of Illinois in Springfield.
Wright, of the Chicago suburb of Hazel Crest, was charged with two counts of money laundering, two counts of making false statements to federal officers, and seven counts of giving false testimony to a grand jury.
The state grant was for a not-for-profit work and education program called We Are Our Brother's Keeper, owned by Regina Evans, former police chief of Country Club Hills, and her husband, Ronald W. Evans, Jr.
According to the indictment, Wright, a close friend of the couple, received three checks in 2009 worth about $28,000 that were supposed to be for work related to the grant. About $20,000 of that was allegedly deposited back into accounts controlled by the Evanses.
Jeremiah Wright was the Chicago pastor whose inflammatory church sermons, which often condemned U.S. attitudes on race, poverty, the Iraq War and other issues, became a focus during the 2008 presidential campaign.
Obama quieted the controversy with a speech putting the quotes in the context of race relations.
The money laundering count Jeri Wright faces carries a maximum penalty of up to 20 years in prison, while the other charges carry penalties of up to five years in prison.
Jeri Wright could not be reached for comment. Prosecutor's office spokeswoman Sharon Paul did not know if she had yet retained a lawyer.
(Reporting by Mary Wisniewski; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Bill Trott)
Obama’s ‘Lying Problem’ about Firearms
April 11, 2013
Almost from the moment he walked into the Oval Office, Barack Obama has had a serious lying problem when it comes to firearms.
The 44th president has a near pathological predilection for using defective, invalid, and flat-out dishonest statistics in his quest to restrict the 2nd Amendment rights of American citizens, a fact first pointed out here at PJ Media in the summer of 2009.
At that time, the president, then-Secretary of State of State Hillary Clinton, and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder were heavily invested in promoting the deceptive theory that the supermajority of firearms being used by Mexican drug cartels were being purchased at gun stores in the United States and shipped over the border. The facts, however, didn’t come close to supporting the administration’s preposterous claim.
The automatic weapons being used by cartel gunmen and recovered at crime scenes — selective-fire AK-pattern assault rifles, M16 and M4 selective-fire assault rifles, hand grenades, 40mm grenade launchers, and more than a few heavy machine guns — are heavily regulated in the United States, and have been since the National Firearms Act was passed in 1934.
FULL STORY>>
Almost from the moment he walked into the Oval Office, Barack Obama has had a serious lying problem when it comes to firearms.
The 44th president has a near pathological predilection for using defective, invalid, and flat-out dishonest statistics in his quest to restrict the 2nd Amendment rights of American citizens, a fact first pointed out here at PJ Media in the summer of 2009.
At that time, the president, then-Secretary of State of State Hillary Clinton, and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder were heavily invested in promoting the deceptive theory that the supermajority of firearms being used by Mexican drug cartels were being purchased at gun stores in the United States and shipped over the border. The facts, however, didn’t come close to supporting the administration’s preposterous claim.
The automatic weapons being used by cartel gunmen and recovered at crime scenes — selective-fire AK-pattern assault rifles, M16 and M4 selective-fire assault rifles, hand grenades, 40mm grenade launchers, and more than a few heavy machine guns — are heavily regulated in the United States, and have been since the National Firearms Act was passed in 1934.
FULL STORY>>
Minority contractors ‘game the system,’ find havens in D.C. homes
April 11, 2011
You wouldn’t know it from the curb, but a three-bedroom Colonial on Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue in Southeast houses 12 businesses, all set up to receive contracts from Washington, D.C., under minority-contracting rules. READ MORE>>
You wouldn’t know it from the curb, but a three-bedroom Colonial on Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue in Southeast houses 12 businesses, all set up to receive contracts from Washington, D.C., under minority-contracting rules. READ MORE>>
Gun permit suspended over medication
April 11, 2013
AMHERST, N.Y. - The NYS SAFE Act is billed as a necessary law to protect the public and keep guns out of the hands of the wrong people.
But Hamburg attorney Jim Tresmond says his client was notified by letter that his gun permit was suspended upon the recommendation of State Police, who learned the man was previously on anti-anxiety medication.
Read the FULL STORY>>
Gun permit suspended over medication
AMHERST, N.Y. - The NYS SAFE Act is billed as a necessary law to protect the public and keep guns out of the hands of the wrong people.
But Hamburg attorney Jim Tresmond says his client was notified by letter that his gun permit was suspended upon the recommendation of State Police, who learned the man was previously on anti-anxiety medication.
Read the FULL STORY>>
A Background Check We Can All Support
April 11, 2013
BELLEVUE, WA – “If politicians want universal background checks, we should start with them,” said Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.
He pointed to recent political scandals in the New York Legislature, which just passed a new restrictive gun control law, where a state senator and state assemblyman were arrested last week, as “one small example.”
Keep Reading>>
He pointed to recent political scandals in the New York Legislature, which just passed a new restrictive gun control law, where a state senator and state assemblyman were arrested last week, as “one small example.”
Keep Reading>>
I wonder what they killed him with? Gunman holding firefighters killed; 4 hostages OK
April 11, 2013
Suwanee, Ga - An armed man who was having financial problems held four firefighters for hours in a suburban Atlanta home, demanding his cable and power be turned back on, before being shot dead when SWAT members stormed the house, authorities said Wednesday. The hostages had cuts and bruises from explosions that officers set off to distract the gunman before moving in, but they will be fine, a fire official said.
FULL STORY>>
FULL STORY>>
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Warning: You Are About to Read a "Forbidden" Column
April 10, 2013
Get ready for the last straw.
First, though, I’d like to suggest that anyone reading this column in a local newspaper or news site pat the editor on the back for publishing what in our neo-medieval world of fear amounts to a “forbidden” column.
Yup, I am about to say something about the Great Barack Obama Identity/Eligibility Scandal again. I know that this is one rich and urgent topic that doesn’t see the light of day in certain so-called news outlets – and I say that from the experience of watching my own syndicated columns fail to appear when covering news of the White House press conference where the president’s long-form birth certificate was unveiled, news of courtroom proceedings in various states on Obama’s ballot eligibility and news of Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s investigators presenting evidence that the online Obama birth certificate is a forgery (and much more).
So be it. This was, as noted, the last straw.
I refer to something radio host Sean Hannity said on his show this week. He was speaking in rebuttal to a Democrat arguing that racism was a problem among conservatives. As evidence, the Democrat brought up the “birther issue” – the label used to encapsulate any topic related to Obama’s identity documents and constitutional eligibility. Erroneously, it is a label that narrowly connotes, and derisively so, only the belief that President Obama wasn’t born in the United States.
In fact, the whereabouts of Obama’s nativity is in no way the main bone of “birther” contention, despite the blinkered focus on it by the enforcers of silence. Of far greater concern to me, for starters, is the purportedly original documentation President Obama belatedly provided the American people to attest to his identity.
I refer to the electronic image of a long-form 1961 Hawaiian birth certificate posted at the White House website. After studying various evidence and demonstrations (which I’ve written about in previous “forbidden” columns), I’ve concluded that this online image is in all probability a forgery.
So has Sheriff Arpaio’s Cold Case Posse out in Maricopa County, Ariz. So, too, has the Israel Science and Technology website, a national database and directory of science- and technology-related sites in Israel established by Benjamin Netanyahu’s former science adviser, molecular biologist Israel Hanukoglu, Ph.D.
If these investigations are correct, we are looking at the greatest fraud in modern history as put over by the flimflam administration and enabled by armies of accessories practically everywhere else.
There is a second issue to consider that also has nothing to do with what is commonly meant by the “birther” issue. Having weighed the arguments, it seems to me that by virtue of having a British subject for a father, Barack Obama Jr. is constitutionally ineligible to be president of the United States, no matter where he was born.
With a British father, Obama cannot meet the constitutional requirement of having been “natural born,” which is a different and more restrictive category than “native born.” Similarly ineligible, I would add, are Republican Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and, alas, Ted Cruz of Texas, both of whom have parents who were not citizens when they were born.
So, getting back to the Obama case, tell me where the “racism” is in these concerns. Where is it? Identity theft per se is hardly a pathology of black America. Meanwhile, British paternity, even if it does, in Obama’s case, come via Africa, is the very disqualifier the founders had in mind on crafting the “natural born” criterion more than two centuries ago to guard against a president with divided loyalties. Where is the racism in trying to address these weighty matters of the Constitution, law and state?
Nowhere. “Racism” is simply a buzzword to further stymie the already strangled “birther” issue.
So how did Hannity reply to the argument that conservatives were “racist” due to broaching the “birther” argument?
He challenged his interlocutor: “Name three prominent conservatives who were advancing the birther issue.”
With this reply, Hannity accepted the charge that the whole subject is “racist,” and the argument that this “racist” subject is also baseless. It was the last straw.
Which means what exactly? Nothing. Hannity is right. Aside from Alan Keyes, a former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. and a Republican candidate for the Senate and the presidency, no prominent Republican – from John McCain to Mitt Romney to John Boehner to Ron Paul – and no prominent conservative, from William Bennett to Sarah Palin to Rudy Giuliani, ever faced or raised the issue.
Similarly, no think tank, no committee in Congress, no judicial body, no civic group and no mainstream media organization has advanced any responsible inquiry into these troubling questions. And forget about the Electoral College.
We’re supposed to pretend the questions don’t exist, that the dodgy doc floating on the White House website is the real deal – and I haven’t even mentioned other discrepancies in the Obama narrative. Silence, the conventional wisdom tells us, combats racism.
What chance does any free society in such deep denial have to continue? Not much. How tragic and frightening to realize that this same denial is evidence that our attachment to freedom and the Constitution vanished long ago.
Diana West is the author of American Betrayal: The Secret Assault on Our Nation's Character (St. Martin's Presss 2013), and The Death of the Grown-Up: How America's Arrested Development Is Bringing Down Western Civilization (St. Martin's Press 2007). Her weekly newspaper column is syndicated by Universal Uclick, and West also serves as Washington Correspondent for the European weekly newspaper Dispatch International. West is one of 19 co-authors (including Frank Gaffney, Andrew C. McCarthy and James Woolsey) ofShariah:The Threat to America, a 2010 publication of the Center for Security Policy,
Source: Right Side News
Get ready for the last straw.
First, though, I’d like to suggest that anyone reading this column in a local newspaper or news site pat the editor on the back for publishing what in our neo-medieval world of fear amounts to a “forbidden” column.
 |
| The Untouchable, Dare You if You Can |
So be it. This was, as noted, the last straw.
I refer to something radio host Sean Hannity said on his show this week. He was speaking in rebuttal to a Democrat arguing that racism was a problem among conservatives. As evidence, the Democrat brought up the “birther issue” – the label used to encapsulate any topic related to Obama’s identity documents and constitutional eligibility. Erroneously, it is a label that narrowly connotes, and derisively so, only the belief that President Obama wasn’t born in the United States.
In fact, the whereabouts of Obama’s nativity is in no way the main bone of “birther” contention, despite the blinkered focus on it by the enforcers of silence. Of far greater concern to me, for starters, is the purportedly original documentation President Obama belatedly provided the American people to attest to his identity.
I refer to the electronic image of a long-form 1961 Hawaiian birth certificate posted at the White House website. After studying various evidence and demonstrations (which I’ve written about in previous “forbidden” columns), I’ve concluded that this online image is in all probability a forgery.
So has Sheriff Arpaio’s Cold Case Posse out in Maricopa County, Ariz. So, too, has the Israel Science and Technology website, a national database and directory of science- and technology-related sites in Israel established by Benjamin Netanyahu’s former science adviser, molecular biologist Israel Hanukoglu, Ph.D.
If these investigations are correct, we are looking at the greatest fraud in modern history as put over by the flimflam administration and enabled by armies of accessories practically everywhere else.
There is a second issue to consider that also has nothing to do with what is commonly meant by the “birther” issue. Having weighed the arguments, it seems to me that by virtue of having a British subject for a father, Barack Obama Jr. is constitutionally ineligible to be president of the United States, no matter where he was born.
With a British father, Obama cannot meet the constitutional requirement of having been “natural born,” which is a different and more restrictive category than “native born.” Similarly ineligible, I would add, are Republican Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and, alas, Ted Cruz of Texas, both of whom have parents who were not citizens when they were born.
So, getting back to the Obama case, tell me where the “racism” is in these concerns. Where is it? Identity theft per se is hardly a pathology of black America. Meanwhile, British paternity, even if it does, in Obama’s case, come via Africa, is the very disqualifier the founders had in mind on crafting the “natural born” criterion more than two centuries ago to guard against a president with divided loyalties. Where is the racism in trying to address these weighty matters of the Constitution, law and state?
Nowhere. “Racism” is simply a buzzword to further stymie the already strangled “birther” issue.
So how did Hannity reply to the argument that conservatives were “racist” due to broaching the “birther” argument?
He challenged his interlocutor: “Name three prominent conservatives who were advancing the birther issue.”
With this reply, Hannity accepted the charge that the whole subject is “racist,” and the argument that this “racist” subject is also baseless. It was the last straw.
Which means what exactly? Nothing. Hannity is right. Aside from Alan Keyes, a former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. and a Republican candidate for the Senate and the presidency, no prominent Republican – from John McCain to Mitt Romney to John Boehner to Ron Paul – and no prominent conservative, from William Bennett to Sarah Palin to Rudy Giuliani, ever faced or raised the issue.
Similarly, no think tank, no committee in Congress, no judicial body, no civic group and no mainstream media organization has advanced any responsible inquiry into these troubling questions. And forget about the Electoral College.
We’re supposed to pretend the questions don’t exist, that the dodgy doc floating on the White House website is the real deal – and I haven’t even mentioned other discrepancies in the Obama narrative. Silence, the conventional wisdom tells us, combats racism.
What chance does any free society in such deep denial have to continue? Not much. How tragic and frightening to realize that this same denial is evidence that our attachment to freedom and the Constitution vanished long ago.
Diana West is the author of American Betrayal: The Secret Assault on Our Nation's Character (St. Martin's Presss 2013), and The Death of the Grown-Up: How America's Arrested Development Is Bringing Down Western Civilization (St. Martin's Press 2007). Her weekly newspaper column is syndicated by Universal Uclick, and West also serves as Washington Correspondent for the European weekly newspaper Dispatch International. West is one of 19 co-authors (including Frank Gaffney, Andrew C. McCarthy and James Woolsey) ofShariah:The Threat to America, a 2010 publication of the Center for Security Policy,
Source: Right Side News
FLASHBACK: Food Stamp Growth 75X Greater than Job Creation
April 10, 2013
What's changed?
With the latest jobs report, it is now the case that "Under Obama, Food Stamp Growth [Is] 75 Times Greater Than Job Creation," according to statistics compiled by the Republican side of the Senate Budget Committee. "For Every Person Added to Jobs Rolls Since January 2009, 75 People Added To Food Stamp Rolls."
Here's a chart detailing the growth:
Since January 2009, as the chart shows, a net of 194,000 new jobs have been created. During that same time, 14.7 million have been added to the food stamp rolls.
Link>>
What's changed?
With the latest jobs report, it is now the case that "Under Obama, Food Stamp Growth [Is] 75 Times Greater Than Job Creation," according to statistics compiled by the Republican side of the Senate Budget Committee. "For Every Person Added to Jobs Rolls Since January 2009, 75 People Added To Food Stamp Rolls."
Here's a chart detailing the growth:
Since January 2009, as the chart shows, a net of 194,000 new jobs have been created. During that same time, 14.7 million have been added to the food stamp rolls.
Link>>
Sequester Effects: The Obama's Stay Home
April 10, 2013
Obama enjoys 'sequester soul concert' at White House amid massive budget cuts and government worker furloughs
Obama hosts Memphis Soul concert in the East Room of the White House
Concert featured special appearances by Queen Latifah, Justin Timberlake, Cyndi Lauper and Booker T. Jones
Keep Reading>>
Obama enjoys 'sequester soul concert' at White House amid massive budget cuts and government worker furloughs
Obama hosts Memphis Soul concert in the East Room of the White House
Concert featured special appearances by Queen Latifah, Justin Timberlake, Cyndi Lauper and Booker T. Jones
Keep Reading>>
King Obama Issues More Sequester Punishment: Justin Timberlake Concerts For Me… But No Blue Angels For Thee
April 10, 2013
Justin Timberlake concerts for King Obama… but no Blue Angels for Americans…
FULL STORY>>
Justin Timberlake concerts for King Obama… but no Blue Angels for Americans…
FULL STORY>>
WATCH: Bill Clinton 'joins' Twitter - with help from Stephen Colbert
April 10, 2013
Welcome to the 21st century President Clinton!
The chief executive who guided America on to the Information Superhighway revealed he didn’t have a Twitter page — until comedian Stephen Colbert got a handle on this low-tech travesty.
Read it all>>
The chief executive who guided America on to the Information Superhighway revealed he didn’t have a Twitter page — until comedian Stephen Colbert got a handle on this low-tech travesty.
Read it all>>
Manchin, Toomey Prepare to Unveil Gun Deal
April 10, 2013
A bipartisan group of Senate negotiators signaled Tuesday night that it has reached a deal in principle on expanding background checks to include more gun sales, in what was widely seen as the major sticking point on the biggest gun control legislation to reach the floor since 1994.
READ MORE>>
READ MORE>>
Why isn't human nature ever considered when it comes to gun laws?
April 10, 2013
Downplayed in this national debate and in efforts by the Obama administration to get Congress to pass "tougher" federal gun restrictions is a conversation about human nature, including better laws that allow for involuntary commitment or mandatory treatment of the mentally ill and tougher sentencing for criminals. But if laws alone were effective in regulating criminal behavior, prisons would be empty...
Continue reading>>
Downplayed in this national debate and in efforts by the Obama administration to get Congress to pass "tougher" federal gun restrictions is a conversation about human nature, including better laws that allow for involuntary commitment or mandatory treatment of the mentally ill and tougher sentencing for criminals. But if laws alone were effective in regulating criminal behavior, prisons would be empty...
Continue reading>>
Bahrain Becomes First Arab Country to Blacklist Hizbullah
April 10, 2013
Bahrain became the first Arab country to blacklist Hizbullah as a terrorist organization, citing its training of radical Shiite groups.
Bahrain on Tuesday became the first Arab country to blacklist Hizbullah as a terrorist organization, the Al Arabiya network reports. The move came a week after the Bahraini parliament voted to label the group a terrorist organization.
Read the FULL STORY>>
Bahrain became the first Arab country to blacklist Hizbullah as a terrorist organization, citing its training of radical Shiite groups.
Read the FULL STORY>>
North Korea closes China border to tourists
April 10, 2013
The biggest border crossing between North Korea and China has been closed to tourist groups, a Chinese official says, as nuclear tensions mounted, but business travel was allowed to continue.
"Travel agencies are not allowed to take tourist groups to go there, since the North Korean government is now asking foreign people to leave," the official at the Dandong Border Office said.
"As far as I know, business people can enter and leave North Korea freely," added the official, who declined to give his name, without making clear which country had ordered the move.
MORE>>
The biggest border crossing between North Korea and China has been closed to tourist groups, a Chinese official says, as nuclear tensions mounted, but business travel was allowed to continue.
"Travel agencies are not allowed to take tourist groups to go there, since the North Korean government is now asking foreign people to leave," the official at the Dandong Border Office said.
"As far as I know, business people can enter and leave North Korea freely," added the official, who declined to give his name, without making clear which country had ordered the move.
MORE>>
North Korean army 'split' over Kim Jong-un
April 10, 2013
North Korea's army was deeply split over whether to accept the command of Kim Jong-un, a former officer has revealed, giving a possible clue to the tensions lying behind the young leader's calls to war.
"The further north you go (in North Korea), the more you hear rumours of dissension and divisions over who is or who would have been a better leader,"
Keep Reading
North Korea's army was deeply split over whether to accept the command of Kim Jong-un, a former officer has revealed, giving a possible clue to the tensions lying behind the young leader's calls to war.
Keep Reading
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
CA Proposes Law to Force Insurance to Cover Asshole Babies
April 9, 2013
The state of California is reportedly considering legislation that would force group insurance policies to provide infertility treatment for gay and lesbian couples.
FULL STORY>>
 |
| Fred and Wilma |
FULL STORY>>
‘Gang of Eight’ to Oppose Any Amendments to Their 1,500-Page Amnesty Bill
April 9, 2013
Just when you thought the Senate push for amnesty couldn’t get any more shameful…it sets a fresh low
All the members of the “Gang of Eight” pushing so-called ‘immigration reform’ in the U.S. Senate will band together to block any efforts by other senators to offer amendments to their legislation once it is introduced, the Washington Post reported on Sunday.
In addition, the Post’s David Nakamura reported that the forthcoming immigration bill “is expected to be around 1,500 pages long“, and that the Gang of Eight “is trying to strike a deal in which all the members agree to oppose any amendments to the core provisions, even if they might agree with the amendments, people familiar with the talks said.”
“The group is concerned that if one provision is amended, the entire bill will fall apart because the deal is predicated on a comprehensive plan composed of carefully negotiated pieces,” Nakamura wrote.
So no public hearings, no amendments, and no transparency on a massive bill – another bill we have to “pass so we can find out what’s in it”. Sound familiar?
Continue reading...
All the members of the “Gang of Eight” pushing so-called ‘immigration reform’ in the U.S. Senate will band together to block any efforts by other senators to offer amendments to their legislation once it is introduced, the Washington Post reported on Sunday.
In addition, the Post’s David Nakamura reported that the forthcoming immigration bill “is expected to be around 1,500 pages long“, and that the Gang of Eight “is trying to strike a deal in which all the members agree to oppose any amendments to the core provisions, even if they might agree with the amendments, people familiar with the talks said.”
“The group is concerned that if one provision is amended, the entire bill will fall apart because the deal is predicated on a comprehensive plan composed of carefully negotiated pieces,” Nakamura wrote.
So no public hearings, no amendments, and no transparency on a massive bill – another bill we have to “pass so we can find out what’s in it”. Sound familiar?
Continue reading...
Wired: ATF is Building a Huge New Database So that It Won’t Track Gun Sales
April 9, 2013
You’re probably heard by now about the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms’ solicitation for a massive new database. It will essentially figure out everything there is to know about you, and your friends too. It’s potentially a massive invasion of privacy on a grand scale.
The folks at Wired tends to be leftists. Let’s take a look at how they’re reacting to what looks like a fabulous tool for an electronic police state....
You’re probably heard by now about the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms’ solicitation for a massive new database. It will essentially figure out everything there is to know about you, and your friends too. It’s potentially a massive invasion of privacy on a grand scale.
The folks at Wired tends to be leftists. Let’s take a look at how they’re reacting to what looks like a fabulous tool for an electronic police state....
Communism Witness on Gun Rights: You Don't Know Freedom Because You Never Lost It!
April 9, 2013
Kyle Becker
(IJ Review) - Gun control is serious business and those Democrats running around thumping their chests and boasting that an Assault Weapons Ban is “just the beginning,” better realize that millions of Americans are unamused.
In that vein, Communism survivor Manuel Martinez of Cuba called out Anti-Gun Committee Leader Floyd Prozansky during heated testimony on Friday. Mr. Martinez escaped Cuba’s Communist regime in 1954. His testimony included how citizens under Castro were first disarmed by gun legislation, and were later summarily executed. Mr. Martinez expounded:
“Malicious individuals, masquerading as Democrats,.. established … a dictatorial regime … in my nation called Communism, Socialism, Stalinism, Marxism, and whatever other named -ism you want to put on it. The reason why it was done was to take away the guns from the People.”
Many Americans know that if they turn in their guns to the Democrats, the progressives will run with breakneck speed towards some radical left-wing government.
It doesn’t matter what the intentions are of the politicians in charge or how benevolent they aim to be; when the government fears the people, there is liberty, and when the people fear the government, there is tyranny. Security in the minds of many is not tantamount to being disarmed and allowing the government or the police to provide for their protection.
Despite the active effort of the schools, the universities, and the media to whitewash the gruesome record of communism, millions aren’t ignorant of the historical record of peoples being disarmed by force. Not saying that is what gun control advocates have in mind, but you know, history.
Rights are recognized in the U.S. Constitution and its Bill of Rights for a reason. Americans understand that their rights have been incrementally whittled away under the premises of pragmatism and expedience for generations. If the American people are restricted from effective self-defense, many know that the government’s respect for their other rights will soon follow.
Kyle Becker
(IJ Review) - Gun control is serious business and those Democrats running around thumping their chests and boasting that an Assault Weapons Ban is “just the beginning,” better realize that millions of Americans are unamused.
In that vein, Communism survivor Manuel Martinez of Cuba called out Anti-Gun Committee Leader Floyd Prozansky during heated testimony on Friday. Mr. Martinez escaped Cuba’s Communist regime in 1954. His testimony included how citizens under Castro were first disarmed by gun legislation, and were later summarily executed. Mr. Martinez expounded:
“Malicious individuals, masquerading as Democrats,.. established … a dictatorial regime … in my nation called Communism, Socialism, Stalinism, Marxism, and whatever other named -ism you want to put on it. The reason why it was done was to take away the guns from the People.”
Many Americans know that if they turn in their guns to the Democrats, the progressives will run with breakneck speed towards some radical left-wing government.
It doesn’t matter what the intentions are of the politicians in charge or how benevolent they aim to be; when the government fears the people, there is liberty, and when the people fear the government, there is tyranny. Security in the minds of many is not tantamount to being disarmed and allowing the government or the police to provide for their protection.
Despite the active effort of the schools, the universities, and the media to whitewash the gruesome record of communism, millions aren’t ignorant of the historical record of peoples being disarmed by force. Not saying that is what gun control advocates have in mind, but you know, history.
Rights are recognized in the U.S. Constitution and its Bill of Rights for a reason. Americans understand that their rights have been incrementally whittled away under the premises of pragmatism and expedience for generations. If the American people are restricted from effective self-defense, many know that the government’s respect for their other rights will soon follow.
Shoot First 101: Border Patrol agent accused of excessive force
April 9, 2013
SAN DIEGO — For the first time in more than a decade, a U.S. Border Patrol agent will go on trial today on a charge of beating an unauthorized immigrant who was in custody after being caught trying to enter the United States..
FULL STORY>>
SAN DIEGO — For the first time in more than a decade, a U.S. Border Patrol agent will go on trial today on a charge of beating an unauthorized immigrant who was in custody after being caught trying to enter the United States..
FULL STORY>>
How A Little Known Pro-Gun Lobby Is Derailing Bipartisan Attempts At Gun Control Legislation
April 9, 2013
A little known pro-gun lobby that’s well to the right of the National Rifle Association has complicated efforts to reach a solution on gun control legislation, top Democrats have said in recent days.
The Gun Owners of America has been around for decades, operating mostly in obscurity, dwarfed by the lobbying and fundraising prowess of the NRA. The group’s big gripe is that the NRA is too squishy and willing to compromise, and its recent efforts to scuttle gun control legislation appear to be scaring away Republicans amenable to background checks.
FULL STORY>>
The Gun Owners of America has been around for decades, operating mostly in obscurity, dwarfed by the lobbying and fundraising prowess of the NRA. The group’s big gripe is that the NRA is too squishy and willing to compromise, and its recent efforts to scuttle gun control legislation appear to be scaring away Republicans amenable to background checks.
FULL STORY>>
Rodong Sinmun Calls for Turning Country into Socialist Fairyland
April 9, 2013
Pyongyang, April 8 (KCNA) -- All officials, party members and other people should work hard with patriotic devotion to spruce up their cities, villages, parks and pleasure grounds and manage them well as required by the era of Songun, Rodong Sinmun Monday says in an editorial.
It goes on:
Pyongyang, April 8 (KCNA) -- All officials, party members and other people should work hard with patriotic devotion to spruce up their cities, villages, parks and pleasure grounds and manage them well as required by the era of Songun, Rodong Sinmun Monday says in an editorial.
It goes on:
Burger King diner defeats would-be robber by shooting him
April 9, 2013
A father who was trying to eat with his family at Burger King was able to defeat an armed robber by pulling his own weapon and shooting at him, Miami police said. READ MORE
Monday, April 8, 2013
Pork found in Ikea's moose lasagna
April 8, 2013
- STOCKHOLM — Ikea says it has withdrawn 17,000 portions of moose lasagna from its home furnishings stores in Europe after traces of pork were found in a batch tested in Belgium.
Ikea spokeswoman Tina Kardum said the product had only been on sale for a month when it was pulled off the shelves on March 22.
The company didn't announce the withdrawal publicly until Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet wrote about it Saturday.
Kardum said the company found out Friday that a follow-up test in Belgium confirmed the lasagna contained 1.6 percent pork.
“We have more information now. That's why we choose to inform now,” Kardum said.
Moose meat is common in Sweden though it's not typically used in lasagna.
Ikea has previously recalled meatballs and other meat products sold in its cafeterias and frozen foods sections after tests showed they contained traces of horsemeat.
The Swedish furniture giant is one of many European companies caught up in a scandal over mislabeled meat in frozen food products.
Ikea's withdrawn products came from a Swedish frozen foods maker, which in turn blamed the mislabeling on its meat suppliers.
source
- STOCKHOLM — Ikea says it has withdrawn 17,000 portions of moose lasagna from its home furnishings stores in Europe after traces of pork were found in a batch tested in Belgium.
Ikea spokeswoman Tina Kardum said the product had only been on sale for a month when it was pulled off the shelves on March 22.
The company didn't announce the withdrawal publicly until Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet wrote about it Saturday.
Kardum said the company found out Friday that a follow-up test in Belgium confirmed the lasagna contained 1.6 percent pork.
“We have more information now. That's why we choose to inform now,” Kardum said.
Moose meat is common in Sweden though it's not typically used in lasagna.
Ikea has previously recalled meatballs and other meat products sold in its cafeterias and frozen foods sections after tests showed they contained traces of horsemeat.
The Swedish furniture giant is one of many European companies caught up in a scandal over mislabeled meat in frozen food products.
Ikea's withdrawn products came from a Swedish frozen foods maker, which in turn blamed the mislabeling on its meat suppliers.
source
US arms control advocates must show they like guns
April 8, 2013
By ALEXANDRA OLSON
Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) -- Lobbying for gun control in the United States often means proving how much you like firearms.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, whose state recently passed some of the strictest gun control measures in the country, often reminds people he is a hunter. Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who founded a gun control advocacy group after surviving a gunshot wound to the head, says she and her husband keep two guns in a safe at home. Vice President Joe Biden boasts that he owns two shotguns. And the White House recently released a photo of President Barack Obama skeet shooting at the Camp David presidential retreat, trying to silence skeptics of his claim in an interview that he has actually shot a gun.
The message is obvious: They, too, are a part of America's gun culture. In a country where at least a third of households have firearms, it's hard to impose stricter arms rules without support from gun owners. That means reassuring Americans that nobody is going to take away the guns they have legally acquired.
Gun rights groups scoffed at what they called clumsy and obvious attempts by Biden and Obama to ingratiate themselves with firearm owners even while trying to limit their rights.
"It's transparent, cynical and hollow and gun owners see right through it," said Lawrence Keane, senior vice president of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, an association that represents gun manufacturers.
But gun control proponents have pressed on with such efforts ahead of a crucial Senate vote on legislation backed by the Obama administration in response to the Dec. 14 shooting of 20 children and six educators at a Connecticut school.
A recent $12 million ad campaign, bankrolled by billionaire New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, urged moderate Republican and Democratic senators to support expanding federal background checks for gun sales, a system that currently applies only to federally licensed dealers. Advocates want to include gun show sales.
Far from criticizing guns, the ad shows a scruffy-faced man holding a shotgun in the back of a pickup truck. He argues that background checks don't infringe on the Second Amendment of the Constitution, which guarantees the right of citizens to bear arms and is often cited by gun rights defenders.
"For me, guns are about hunting and protecting my family," the man says, as two children play on tire swings in the background. "I believe in the Second Amendment, and I'll fight to protect it. But with rights come responsibilities. That's why I support comprehensive background checks, so criminals and the dangerously mentally ill can't buy guns."
Broader background checks face an uphill battle in Congress, along with proposals for a ban on military-style assault rifles and limits on ammunition capacity. Many Republicans and some Democrats represent states where citizens have vocally expressed fears that their gun rights will be taken away in the wake of the Connecticut shooting.
Gun sales nationwide surged after the school attack as people rushed to buy weapons they feared would be banned. Some communities have voted to allow teachers to carry firearms in schools, arguing that guns make people safer. A handful of small towns have even issued ordinances requiring their residents arm themselves.
The powerful National Rifle Association, which spent at least $24 million during the last U.S. election cycle, has stoked those fears, suggesting that the White House's real intention to eventually to ban all firearms. "It's about banning your guns ... PERIOD!" NRA leader Wayne LaPierre wrote in January email to the group's 4 million members.
But gun control advocates see evidence that, since the Connecticut shooting, many firearms owners are more open to stricter laws than the NRA contends.
Recent polling shows that more than 80 percent of Americans support extending federal background checks to include gun show sales and private purchases. Colorado, a state with a strong frontier tradition of gun ownership, passed legislation last month that expanded background checks to apply to personal and online sales and limited magazine capacity to 15 bullets. Connecticut followed suit with an even stronger bill to ban more than 100 previously legal weapons. In Maryland, legislators have approved a measure that, among other things, requires people who buy a handgun to submit fingerprints to state police.
Obama and others are touting such efforts as signs that the country can bridge one of its deepest cultural divides: The split between mostly rural Americans who cherish guns for hunting and self-defense and urban citizens who equate them with gang violence, drive-by shootings and young lives lost.
"I'm 100 percent for expanded background checks, because if you have something to hide, we don't want you to have a gun," said Jaci Turner, a gun owner who lives in a suburb of Denver, Colorado. "I don't have anything to hide, so I'll answer all your questions."
Turner, a dog trainer, grew up around guns in Minnesota. Weekends were often spent hunting or on the shooting range with her father. She and her husband, a big animal veterinarian, have shotguns, a rifle, a handgun and are in the process of acquiring a semi-automatic gun. She plans to take her 6-year-old daughter to the shooting range for the first time this year. Like many people from Colorado, Turner considers guns a normal part of enjoying the great outdoors.
"One of the biggest reasons for carrying a handgun is we spend a lot of time in the back country, so it's protection from wild animals," Turner said. "It's a whole lot easier to carry in a backpack than a different type of gun."
But Turner was unfazed when Colorado passed new gun control legislation. She said she doubted hunting groups would follow through on threats to boycott the state.
"I think they'll come here under the radar because if you are a hunter, you are a hunter," she said. "I don't have a huge problem with controlling large high-capacity or even high-caliber firearms because they were made for a reason, and we don't have that reason in our lives. I'm not walking around Afghanistan."
Giffords, the former congresswoman who was left partially blind and struggling to talk in a January 2011 shooting that killed six other people in Arizona, tried to reach people like Turner in a recent ad campaign promoting extended background checks.
"There are solutions we can agree on, even gun owners like us," Giffords said in the commercial.
Biden tried to strike a similar tone in a recent online video as part of a Facebook town hall. Reminiscing about learning firearm safety from his father, a hunter, the vice president said he has told his wife, Jill, to take one of their shotguns and "fire two blasts outside the house" if she ever felt threatened by an intruder. His point was that nobody needs a semi-automatic weapon to protect their home. "Buy a shotgun, buy a shotgun," Biden urged listeners.
But for some gun defenders, Biden only proved that the gap remains wide between his side of the debate and theirs.
Keane, the vice president of the gun association, which is based in the Connecticut town where the school shooting occurred, said many people prefer semi-automatic guns for protection because it gives them a better chance to hit their target.
Turner said she wants to add a semi-automatic to her collection for that very reason.
"Well, good luck, Joe," she said, referring to the vice president. "When someone walks in the house and you're freaked out, you're only going to give her two chances? Good luck."
© 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
By ALEXANDRA OLSON
Associated Press
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, whose state recently passed some of the strictest gun control measures in the country, often reminds people he is a hunter. Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who founded a gun control advocacy group after surviving a gunshot wound to the head, says she and her husband keep two guns in a safe at home. Vice President Joe Biden boasts that he owns two shotguns. And the White House recently released a photo of President Barack Obama skeet shooting at the Camp David presidential retreat, trying to silence skeptics of his claim in an interview that he has actually shot a gun.
The message is obvious: They, too, are a part of America's gun culture. In a country where at least a third of households have firearms, it's hard to impose stricter arms rules without support from gun owners. That means reassuring Americans that nobody is going to take away the guns they have legally acquired.
Gun rights groups scoffed at what they called clumsy and obvious attempts by Biden and Obama to ingratiate themselves with firearm owners even while trying to limit their rights.
"It's transparent, cynical and hollow and gun owners see right through it," said Lawrence Keane, senior vice president of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, an association that represents gun manufacturers.
But gun control proponents have pressed on with such efforts ahead of a crucial Senate vote on legislation backed by the Obama administration in response to the Dec. 14 shooting of 20 children and six educators at a Connecticut school.
A recent $12 million ad campaign, bankrolled by billionaire New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, urged moderate Republican and Democratic senators to support expanding federal background checks for gun sales, a system that currently applies only to federally licensed dealers. Advocates want to include gun show sales.
Far from criticizing guns, the ad shows a scruffy-faced man holding a shotgun in the back of a pickup truck. He argues that background checks don't infringe on the Second Amendment of the Constitution, which guarantees the right of citizens to bear arms and is often cited by gun rights defenders.
"For me, guns are about hunting and protecting my family," the man says, as two children play on tire swings in the background. "I believe in the Second Amendment, and I'll fight to protect it. But with rights come responsibilities. That's why I support comprehensive background checks, so criminals and the dangerously mentally ill can't buy guns."
Broader background checks face an uphill battle in Congress, along with proposals for a ban on military-style assault rifles and limits on ammunition capacity. Many Republicans and some Democrats represent states where citizens have vocally expressed fears that their gun rights will be taken away in the wake of the Connecticut shooting.
Gun sales nationwide surged after the school attack as people rushed to buy weapons they feared would be banned. Some communities have voted to allow teachers to carry firearms in schools, arguing that guns make people safer. A handful of small towns have even issued ordinances requiring their residents arm themselves.
The powerful National Rifle Association, which spent at least $24 million during the last U.S. election cycle, has stoked those fears, suggesting that the White House's real intention to eventually to ban all firearms. "It's about banning your guns ... PERIOD!" NRA leader Wayne LaPierre wrote in January email to the group's 4 million members.
But gun control advocates see evidence that, since the Connecticut shooting, many firearms owners are more open to stricter laws than the NRA contends.
Recent polling shows that more than 80 percent of Americans support extending federal background checks to include gun show sales and private purchases. Colorado, a state with a strong frontier tradition of gun ownership, passed legislation last month that expanded background checks to apply to personal and online sales and limited magazine capacity to 15 bullets. Connecticut followed suit with an even stronger bill to ban more than 100 previously legal weapons. In Maryland, legislators have approved a measure that, among other things, requires people who buy a handgun to submit fingerprints to state police.
Obama and others are touting such efforts as signs that the country can bridge one of its deepest cultural divides: The split between mostly rural Americans who cherish guns for hunting and self-defense and urban citizens who equate them with gang violence, drive-by shootings and young lives lost.
"I'm 100 percent for expanded background checks, because if you have something to hide, we don't want you to have a gun," said Jaci Turner, a gun owner who lives in a suburb of Denver, Colorado. "I don't have anything to hide, so I'll answer all your questions."
Turner, a dog trainer, grew up around guns in Minnesota. Weekends were often spent hunting or on the shooting range with her father. She and her husband, a big animal veterinarian, have shotguns, a rifle, a handgun and are in the process of acquiring a semi-automatic gun. She plans to take her 6-year-old daughter to the shooting range for the first time this year. Like many people from Colorado, Turner considers guns a normal part of enjoying the great outdoors.
"One of the biggest reasons for carrying a handgun is we spend a lot of time in the back country, so it's protection from wild animals," Turner said. "It's a whole lot easier to carry in a backpack than a different type of gun."
But Turner was unfazed when Colorado passed new gun control legislation. She said she doubted hunting groups would follow through on threats to boycott the state.
"I think they'll come here under the radar because if you are a hunter, you are a hunter," she said. "I don't have a huge problem with controlling large high-capacity or even high-caliber firearms because they were made for a reason, and we don't have that reason in our lives. I'm not walking around Afghanistan."
Giffords, the former congresswoman who was left partially blind and struggling to talk in a January 2011 shooting that killed six other people in Arizona, tried to reach people like Turner in a recent ad campaign promoting extended background checks.
"There are solutions we can agree on, even gun owners like us," Giffords said in the commercial.
Biden tried to strike a similar tone in a recent online video as part of a Facebook town hall. Reminiscing about learning firearm safety from his father, a hunter, the vice president said he has told his wife, Jill, to take one of their shotguns and "fire two blasts outside the house" if she ever felt threatened by an intruder. His point was that nobody needs a semi-automatic weapon to protect their home. "Buy a shotgun, buy a shotgun," Biden urged listeners.
But for some gun defenders, Biden only proved that the gap remains wide between his side of the debate and theirs.
Keane, the vice president of the gun association, which is based in the Connecticut town where the school shooting occurred, said many people prefer semi-automatic guns for protection because it gives them a better chance to hit their target.
Turner said she wants to add a semi-automatic to her collection for that very reason.
"Well, good luck, Joe," she said, referring to the vice president. "When someone walks in the house and you're freaked out, you're only going to give her two chances? Good luck."
© 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
US Treasury Secretary Lew to meet key EU leaders
April 8, 2013
BRUSSELS - BRUSSELS (AP) — U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew is starting a series of meetings with key European Union leaders during his first official visit to the region.
Lew is expected to urge the European officials to promote more growth-friendly policies to counter the debt crisis that has for three years engulfed the 27-nation bloc, which together forms the world's largest economy.
Lew is starting his four-city tour in Brussels, where on Monday he is due to meet European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, the EU's top economic and monetary official, Commissioner Olli Rehn and EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy.
Later Monday, Lew is set to meet European Central Bank President Mario Draghi in Frankfurt, before meeting German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble and France's Pierre Moscovici in Berlin and Paris on Tuesday.
source
BRUSSELS - BRUSSELS (AP) — U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew is starting a series of meetings with key European Union leaders during his first official visit to the region.
Lew is expected to urge the European officials to promote more growth-friendly policies to counter the debt crisis that has for three years engulfed the 27-nation bloc, which together forms the world's largest economy.
Lew is starting his four-city tour in Brussels, where on Monday he is due to meet European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, the EU's top economic and monetary official, Commissioner Olli Rehn and EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy.
Later Monday, Lew is set to meet European Central Bank President Mario Draghi in Frankfurt, before meeting German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble and France's Pierre Moscovici in Berlin and Paris on Tuesday.
source
Obama's budget to spare Medicaid from deep cuts
April 8, 2013
The Associated Press
Monday, April 8, 2013 | 12:32 a.m.
President Barack Obama's budget will steer clear of major cuts to Medicaid.
They wouldn't go over too well at a time when his administration is trying to persuade skeptical governors to expand the giant health care program for the poor.
Expanded Medicaid is a cornerstone of Obama's health care overhaul. It's expected to cover about half the nearly 30 million people who are supposed to be gaining health insurance. But 17 states are still trying to decide whether to take the deal.
In the past, Obama has proposed Medicaid spending curbs that the states didn't like. Activists working with the White House say they have been assured by senior officials those cuts are now off the table.
The president's budget will be released next Wednesday.
source
The Associated Press
Monday, April 8, 2013 | 12:32 a.m.
President Barack Obama's budget will steer clear of major cuts to Medicaid.
They wouldn't go over too well at a time when his administration is trying to persuade skeptical governors to expand the giant health care program for the poor.
Expanded Medicaid is a cornerstone of Obama's health care overhaul. It's expected to cover about half the nearly 30 million people who are supposed to be gaining health insurance. But 17 states are still trying to decide whether to take the deal.
In the past, Obama has proposed Medicaid spending curbs that the states didn't like. Activists working with the White House say they have been assured by senior officials those cuts are now off the table.
The president's budget will be released next Wednesday.
source
Bureaucrats ‘Physically Attack, Block’ Pro-Life Protesters
April 8, 2013
According to at least one participant, Juneau, Alaska pro-life protesters were physically attacked and, for the second day in a row, blocked from expressing their First Amendment rights to assemble and protest. View this video and decide for yourself.
Source: Western Journalism
According to at least one participant, Juneau, Alaska pro-life protesters were physically attacked and, for the second day in a row, blocked from expressing their First Amendment rights to assemble and protest. View this video and decide for yourself.
Source: Western Journalism
Mass Arrest and Gun Confiscation Has Begun: Video
April 8, 2013
Tyranny is rising. The examples we have seen from the 20th century by Hitler’s Nazi Germany, Stalin, Mao and other despots are surfacing in America today.
The police state starts out by throwing the book at selected groups like liberty lovers and veterans, pot smokers and gun owners alike.
Children are being abducted by the nanny state as the tyranny escalates.
History demonstrates that the tyranny does not stop at these groups but soon every citizen falls victim to police state terror. The police state isn’t coming, it’s already here!
Source: Prison Planet
Tyranny is rising. The examples we have seen from the 20th century by Hitler’s Nazi Germany, Stalin, Mao and other despots are surfacing in America today.
The police state starts out by throwing the book at selected groups like liberty lovers and veterans, pot smokers and gun owners alike.
Children are being abducted by the nanny state as the tyranny escalates.
History demonstrates that the tyranny does not stop at these groups but soon every citizen falls victim to police state terror. The police state isn’t coming, it’s already here!
Source: Prison Planet
Sunday, April 7, 2013
Blowing the whistle on AT&T
April 7, 2013
Video Here>>
Rebecca Lyttle regularly heard her sister vent about her employer's shameful practices, practices that she said were costing Americans millions of dollars.
Connie Lyttle worked as an operator for AT&T in western Pennsylvania. In particular, she was supposed to act as a go-between on calls between speech- or hearing-impaired people, watching as they typed a message on a computer screen, and then reading their messages to a hearing person on the other end, communicating a doctor's appointment, a chat between friends or any other business of life.
But that's not what was happening, Connie told her sister, a Lancaster attorney.
In 95 percent of the calls she handled, the supposedly hearing-impaired person using the free service was actually a scam artist from Nigeria, trying to get money or goods from an unsuspecting business or individual, Connie said.
What was worse, Connie said, was that AT&T was profiting from transmitting the scammers' calls. The telecommunications giant earned millions, billing a fund that is paid into by telephone users in the United States, and is overseen by the Federal Communications Commission, she said.
The local lawyer shared her sister's outrage. And she took that outrage to court, filing a whistleblower suit against AT&T on her sister's behalf in 2010.
Now the Lancaster attorney is involved in the biggest case of her career, a case that is gaining national attention and now has the muscle of the U.S. government behind it.
The U.S. Justice Department recently took over Lyttle's case and is seeking damages, restitution and penalties from AT&T.
The case has been covered in the national media, in outlets such as The Wall Street Journal and Politico.
"It's super-exciting. I'm so proud of my sister for standing up against those scam calls," Rebecca said.
The Justice Department claims AT&T was paid $16 million for relaying mostly fraudulent calls since December 2009, according the lawsuit.
AT&T spokesman Marty Richter said in a prepared statement that the claims do not involve federal funds.
"As we have said previously, these issues should be addressed by the FCC, not a lawsuit," he said.
Rebecca Lyttle, 46, of Lancaster, has only been an attorney since 2005. She never anticipated taking on such a large case so early in her career but circumstances and family led her to it, she said.
Both sisters have local connections, living in Lancaster County when their family moved here in the 1970s. Rebecca lived here from the time she was in grade school until she was in high school, and later returned to attend Millersville University. Connie already was out of school when the family moved here, but lived in Lancaster County for a few years, doing factory work and living in Rohrerstown.
Connie, 55, eventually moved to Mercer, in western Pennsylvania, and got a job working as an operator with AT&T in 1997.
She often talked about her job when she saw her relatives.
"Every time we would get together, she would go on and on for hours about how it was horrible what AT&T was forcing her to do," Rebecca said. "She just couldn't stomach it."
Connie said scammers almost immediately jumped online after AT&T began offering IP Relay services, which use computers and telephone operators to connect speech- and hearing-impaired people to others, in 2003. (The service also can be provided through electronic devices called telephone typewriters, or TTYs.)
AT&T generally earned $1.30 a minute for transmitting the calls.
The service, also offered by other telecommunications companies, is limited to those who are speech- and hearing-impaired, and to domestic calls.
That's not how it worked, however, once it moved online, Connie said.
"It only took a day or two until we started getting odd calls, for people doing things such as buying mass quantities of vitamins," she said.
The scams quickly took on a pattern, she said. Callers would use what turned out to be a stolen credit card to order large amounts of merchandise, often from a small company.
Or they would find someone selling something, often through online listings, and offer to buy it with what turned out to be a bogus check. The buyer would offer to overpay, supposedly to cover shipping costs, and then ask the seller to send them a refund check for whatever money wasn't needed.
Operators quickly learned to detect a scam, by the callers' halting use of English, the nature of their requests or even the way they opened the call, often with, "May I speak with your manager?"
The scam calls quickly began filling her hours at work, Connie said.
"Some days, I only would get two calls that were regular calls," she said.
It wasn't only the operators who realized they were being used by scammers. AT&T realized it too, but refused to put in place safeguards to end the practice, according to the Justice Department suit.
AT&T received hundreds of complaints from merchants who received calls, and from its own operators, the suit said
The FCC tried to put safeguards in place at telecommunications companies to control or end the practice, starting a postcard registration system, designed to ensure that IP relay users lived in the United States.
But AT&T switched to an Internet registration system, which the company knew would be easy for scammers to circumvent, the lawsuit said.
Connie said she made a good salary at AT&T, money she used to support herself and her son. But it really bothered her to participate, even passively, in a scam, she said.
She began quietly sabotaging calls if it became clear they were from a scammer, telling both parties the other person had either hung up or disconnected, ending the calls.
AT&T fired her in 2010. Rebecca represented her sister at an unemployment compensation hearing, after which the company offered Connie her job back. She declined because the company would not guarantee she would not have to handle scam calls.
The two sisters talked about filing a whistleblower suit. At first, Rebecca tried to find a large firm to take on the case.
"For a bunch of different reasons, they felt the case didn't have merit," she said. "I was only five years out of law school. I told my sister, 'I may not be your best choice right now but it's me or no one.' I went ahead and did it."
For Connie, the suit is a way to make things right.
"I could look back and say, 'I should have quit,' " said Connie.
Now she hopes her lawsuit will punish AT&T and make sure that others don't get cheated.
The lawsuit has changed both of the sisters' lives.
Connie now works at a temporary job but is hoping to find permanent employment.
Rebecca works for a local firm but will soon go into solo practice, specializing in civil rights and whistleblowing cases.
"I've always been very interested," she said, "in helping the underdog."
source
Video Here>>
Connie Lyttle worked as an operator for AT&T in western Pennsylvania. In particular, she was supposed to act as a go-between on calls between speech- or hearing-impaired people, watching as they typed a message on a computer screen, and then reading their messages to a hearing person on the other end, communicating a doctor's appointment, a chat between friends or any other business of life.
But that's not what was happening, Connie told her sister, a Lancaster attorney.
In 95 percent of the calls she handled, the supposedly hearing-impaired person using the free service was actually a scam artist from Nigeria, trying to get money or goods from an unsuspecting business or individual, Connie said.
What was worse, Connie said, was that AT&T was profiting from transmitting the scammers' calls. The telecommunications giant earned millions, billing a fund that is paid into by telephone users in the United States, and is overseen by the Federal Communications Commission, she said.
The local lawyer shared her sister's outrage. And she took that outrage to court, filing a whistleblower suit against AT&T on her sister's behalf in 2010.
Now the Lancaster attorney is involved in the biggest case of her career, a case that is gaining national attention and now has the muscle of the U.S. government behind it.
The U.S. Justice Department recently took over Lyttle's case and is seeking damages, restitution and penalties from AT&T.
The case has been covered in the national media, in outlets such as The Wall Street Journal and Politico.
"It's super-exciting. I'm so proud of my sister for standing up against those scam calls," Rebecca said.
The Justice Department claims AT&T was paid $16 million for relaying mostly fraudulent calls since December 2009, according the lawsuit.
AT&T spokesman Marty Richter said in a prepared statement that the claims do not involve federal funds.
"As we have said previously, these issues should be addressed by the FCC, not a lawsuit," he said.
Rebecca Lyttle, 46, of Lancaster, has only been an attorney since 2005. She never anticipated taking on such a large case so early in her career but circumstances and family led her to it, she said.
Both sisters have local connections, living in Lancaster County when their family moved here in the 1970s. Rebecca lived here from the time she was in grade school until she was in high school, and later returned to attend Millersville University. Connie already was out of school when the family moved here, but lived in Lancaster County for a few years, doing factory work and living in Rohrerstown.
Connie, 55, eventually moved to Mercer, in western Pennsylvania, and got a job working as an operator with AT&T in 1997.
She often talked about her job when she saw her relatives.
"Every time we would get together, she would go on and on for hours about how it was horrible what AT&T was forcing her to do," Rebecca said. "She just couldn't stomach it."
Connie said scammers almost immediately jumped online after AT&T began offering IP Relay services, which use computers and telephone operators to connect speech- and hearing-impaired people to others, in 2003. (The service also can be provided through electronic devices called telephone typewriters, or TTYs.)
AT&T generally earned $1.30 a minute for transmitting the calls.
The service, also offered by other telecommunications companies, is limited to those who are speech- and hearing-impaired, and to domestic calls.
That's not how it worked, however, once it moved online, Connie said.
"It only took a day or two until we started getting odd calls, for people doing things such as buying mass quantities of vitamins," she said.
The scams quickly took on a pattern, she said. Callers would use what turned out to be a stolen credit card to order large amounts of merchandise, often from a small company.
Or they would find someone selling something, often through online listings, and offer to buy it with what turned out to be a bogus check. The buyer would offer to overpay, supposedly to cover shipping costs, and then ask the seller to send them a refund check for whatever money wasn't needed.
Operators quickly learned to detect a scam, by the callers' halting use of English, the nature of their requests or even the way they opened the call, often with, "May I speak with your manager?"
The scam calls quickly began filling her hours at work, Connie said.
"Some days, I only would get two calls that were regular calls," she said.
It wasn't only the operators who realized they were being used by scammers. AT&T realized it too, but refused to put in place safeguards to end the practice, according to the Justice Department suit.
AT&T received hundreds of complaints from merchants who received calls, and from its own operators, the suit said
The FCC tried to put safeguards in place at telecommunications companies to control or end the practice, starting a postcard registration system, designed to ensure that IP relay users lived in the United States.
But AT&T switched to an Internet registration system, which the company knew would be easy for scammers to circumvent, the lawsuit said.
Connie said she made a good salary at AT&T, money she used to support herself and her son. But it really bothered her to participate, even passively, in a scam, she said.
She began quietly sabotaging calls if it became clear they were from a scammer, telling both parties the other person had either hung up or disconnected, ending the calls.
AT&T fired her in 2010. Rebecca represented her sister at an unemployment compensation hearing, after which the company offered Connie her job back. She declined because the company would not guarantee she would not have to handle scam calls.
The two sisters talked about filing a whistleblower suit. At first, Rebecca tried to find a large firm to take on the case.
"For a bunch of different reasons, they felt the case didn't have merit," she said. "I was only five years out of law school. I told my sister, 'I may not be your best choice right now but it's me or no one.' I went ahead and did it."
For Connie, the suit is a way to make things right.
"I could look back and say, 'I should have quit,' " said Connie.
Now she hopes her lawsuit will punish AT&T and make sure that others don't get cheated.
The lawsuit has changed both of the sisters' lives.
Connie now works at a temporary job but is hoping to find permanent employment.
Rebecca works for a local firm but will soon go into solo practice, specializing in civil rights and whistleblowing cases.
"I've always been very interested," she said, "in helping the underdog."
source
Danger Defined by Resemblance to a Gun
April 7, 2013
by The Political Hat
The now infamous case of a 7 year old being suspended for eating a pastry such that the uneaten portion vaguely resembled a gun raises the question: Does anything that vaguely resembles the shape of a gun a clear and present danger to the safety and security of students? For the “zero tolerance” nutjobs, it is clear that everything from stick figures to fingers, and now pastries, are dangers capable of causing death and destruction.
The logical thing would be to restrict the options for punishment by school officials against students who draw guns or have things vaguely shaped like a gun. Until such sanity finally overtakes the “zero tolerance” crowd, here is a chart of dangerous objects to not have in order to avoid the wrath of those “zero tolerance” idjits:
Of course, the schools would probably prefer outlawing “assault pastries” and “assault fingers.” What the difference between a regular finger and an “assault finger” would be is anyones guess…
by The Political Hat
The now infamous case of a 7 year old being suspended for eating a pastry such that the uneaten portion vaguely resembled a gun raises the question: Does anything that vaguely resembles the shape of a gun a clear and present danger to the safety and security of students? For the “zero tolerance” nutjobs, it is clear that everything from stick figures to fingers, and now pastries, are dangers capable of causing death and destruction.
The logical thing would be to restrict the options for punishment by school officials against students who draw guns or have things vaguely shaped like a gun. Until such sanity finally overtakes the “zero tolerance” crowd, here is a chart of dangerous objects to not have in order to avoid the wrath of those “zero tolerance” idjits:
Of course, the schools would probably prefer outlawing “assault pastries” and “assault fingers.” What the difference between a regular finger and an “assault finger” would be is anyones guess…
22 Things to Outlaw Before We Ban Assault Rifles
April 7, 2013
Kyle Becker
By the logic of gun-control proponents, firearms are the problem and not the people misusing them. Therefore, we have a lot more banning to do in addition to outlawing assault rifles, which Joe Biden promised was “just the beginning.”
In 2011, all rifles combined accounted for 323 murders, while shotguns were used in 356 murders; this in a country of 300 million people. So it only stands to reason that if banning rifles and shotguns are an effective way to fight crime, then handguns need to go too: they were used in 6,220 murders. Once citizens allow the premise that objects are responsible for crime and not people, there’s no end to the absurdity of government bans.
For further context, here are some other leading causes of deaths in the United States, according to the CDC: Heart disease: 597,689; Cancer: 574,743; Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 138,080; Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 129,476; Accidents (unintentional injuries): 120,859; Alzheimer’s disease: 83,494; Diabetes: 69,071; Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis: 50,476; and Influenza and Pneumonia: 50,097.
Since the beginning of the 20th century, governments have been responsible for over 200 million murders. Simply put, governments cannot be trusted; either in the present or in the future. That is why we have constitutionally limited government that is restricted from disarming the public.
source
Kyle Becker
By the logic of gun-control proponents, firearms are the problem and not the people misusing them. Therefore, we have a lot more banning to do in addition to outlawing assault rifles, which Joe Biden promised was “just the beginning.”
 |
| 1. Knives The FBI reports that 1,694 murders were committed by knives in 2011. Bans on cutlery coming in the near future? Watch out, chefs, your jobs are in jeopardy. CLICK HERE TO SEE THE REST |
In 2011, all rifles combined accounted for 323 murders, while shotguns were used in 356 murders; this in a country of 300 million people. So it only stands to reason that if banning rifles and shotguns are an effective way to fight crime, then handguns need to go too: they were used in 6,220 murders. Once citizens allow the premise that objects are responsible for crime and not people, there’s no end to the absurdity of government bans.
For further context, here are some other leading causes of deaths in the United States, according to the CDC: Heart disease: 597,689; Cancer: 574,743; Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 138,080; Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 129,476; Accidents (unintentional injuries): 120,859; Alzheimer’s disease: 83,494; Diabetes: 69,071; Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis: 50,476; and Influenza and Pneumonia: 50,097.
Since the beginning of the 20th century, governments have been responsible for over 200 million murders. Simply put, governments cannot be trusted; either in the present or in the future. That is why we have constitutionally limited government that is restricted from disarming the public.
source
Democrat Congresswoman Sneers at Senior Citizen Over Gun Rights: 'You'd Probably Be Dead Anyway'
April 7, 2013
Kyle Becker
Sometimes you get a glimpse into the Democrats’ gun-grabbing mentality that I’m sure they’d rather the public not see. This is one of those times.
In Denver, Colorado on Tuesday, a senior citizen stood up at a gun control forum to ask a question of U.S. Representative Diana DeGette of Colorado.
“My question is: What about me? There may not be one bad guy that comes into my house… I have to change magazines? I am (at) a serious disadvantage. What about me?”
Democrat Congresswoman Degette then made the snide comment: “The good news for you, you live in Denver. The (Denver Police Department) would be there within minutes.” DeGette then snarked, “You’d probably be dead anyway if they had that kind of firepower.”
Her comment drew laughs even as she was talking about a dead, disarmed citizen. Ha, ha. Very funny.
source
Kyle Becker
Sometimes you get a glimpse into the Democrats’ gun-grabbing mentality that I’m sure they’d rather the public not see. This is one of those times.
In Denver, Colorado on Tuesday, a senior citizen stood up at a gun control forum to ask a question of U.S. Representative Diana DeGette of Colorado.
“My question is: What about me? There may not be one bad guy that comes into my house… I have to change magazines? I am (at) a serious disadvantage. What about me?”
Democrat Congresswoman Degette then made the snide comment: “The good news for you, you live in Denver. The (Denver Police Department) would be there within minutes.” DeGette then snarked, “You’d probably be dead anyway if they had that kind of firepower.”
Her comment drew laughs even as she was talking about a dead, disarmed citizen. Ha, ha. Very funny.
source
Let’s Get Ready: Obama is Setting his Sights on the House in 2014
April 7, 2013
by Rusty Humphries
President Obama has had a busy few days. After trampling the Second Amendment in Colorado and shamelessly exploiting the death of shooting victims, he went to San Francisco on Wednesday to suck-up to the rich to get them to fund the Democrats’ push to retake the House in 2014.
Obama then claimed that Nancy Pelosi “is going to be once again the Speaker of the House.”
Isn’t that a scary proposition? Unlikely… but scary.
Keep Reading..
by Rusty Humphries
Obama then claimed that Nancy Pelosi “is going to be once again the Speaker of the House.”
Isn’t that a scary proposition? Unlikely… but scary.
Keep Reading..
Gerrymanders Gone Wild
April 7, 2013
Dem congressmen oversaw Florida gerrymander, emails reveal
Florida Democrats coordinated with national party organizations and consultants in early 2012 to gerrymander congressional districts despite a state ban on such activities, emails obtained by the Washington Free Beacon show.
The top state and national party leaders, including Florida congressmen Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Ted Deutsch, and Alecee Hastings, signed off on the gerrymandered maps, according to the emails released during court discovery in Romo v. Scott, a legal challenge to redistricting maps that the GOP-controlled state legislature approved in 2012.
Keep reading..
Dem congressmen oversaw Florida gerrymander, emails reveal
The top state and national party leaders, including Florida congressmen Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Ted Deutsch, and Alecee Hastings, signed off on the gerrymandered maps, according to the emails released during court discovery in Romo v. Scott, a legal challenge to redistricting maps that the GOP-controlled state legislature approved in 2012.
Keep reading..
Religious hate speech for children on PA TV
April 7, 2013
Religious hate speech for children on PA TV
The following is the text of the hate poem recited by a young girl on PA TV's children's program:
Girl: "Allah created me and formed me
He made me prouder and made me a Palestinian
He made defiance flow like blood in my veins
And I made the revolution burst forth like clay stones
I raised the flags of certain victory:
Allah's book [the Quran] and the tradition of the most esteemed among prophets [Muhammad].
I called in the voice of hidden justice
I lit a fire like volcanoes under their feet
I refused to be submissive and degraded
I rejected [everything] but dying with the honor that will give me life
From a nation that has forgotten the Muslims' heroism
- Omar ibn al-Khattab and Saladin - [Muslim fighters who conquered Jerusalem]
from between the whistles of the bullets I sing:
'Long live the nation of Fatah and Yasser Arafat'
Allah's enemies, the sons of pigs (i.e., Jews, in Islamic tradition)
Destroyed and uprooted the olive and fig trees
They murdered children with guns, like snakes
They cut off their limbs with stones and knives
They raped the women in the city squares
They defiled Allah's book [the Quran] in front of millions
Where is the nation of Islam?
Where are the nation of Islam and the Jihad fighters?
Where is the fear of Allah in Jerusalem, which has been defiled by the Zionists?"
PA TV host: "Bravo, applause, applause, applause to Hadeel."
[PA TV (Fatah), March 22, 2013
FULL STORY>>
Religious hate speech for children on PA TV
The following is the text of the hate poem recited by a young girl on PA TV's children's program:
Girl: "Allah created me and formed me
He made me prouder and made me a Palestinian
He made defiance flow like blood in my veins
And I made the revolution burst forth like clay stones
I raised the flags of certain victory:
Allah's book [the Quran] and the tradition of the most esteemed among prophets [Muhammad].
I called in the voice of hidden justice
I lit a fire like volcanoes under their feet
I refused to be submissive and degraded
I rejected [everything] but dying with the honor that will give me life
From a nation that has forgotten the Muslims' heroism
- Omar ibn al-Khattab and Saladin - [Muslim fighters who conquered Jerusalem]
from between the whistles of the bullets I sing:
'Long live the nation of Fatah and Yasser Arafat'
Allah's enemies, the sons of pigs (i.e., Jews, in Islamic tradition)
Destroyed and uprooted the olive and fig trees
They murdered children with guns, like snakes
They cut off their limbs with stones and knives
They raped the women in the city squares
They defiled Allah's book [the Quran] in front of millions
Where is the nation of Islam?
Where are the nation of Islam and the Jihad fighters?
Where is the fear of Allah in Jerusalem, which has been defiled by the Zionists?"
PA TV host: "Bravo, applause, applause, applause to Hadeel."
[PA TV (Fatah), March 22, 2013
FULL STORY>>
Seven year old North Carolina boy Sam Grant charged with TWO felonies for possessing a BB gun
April 7, 2013
Sam Grant nearly celebrated his eighth birthday party in jail.
The North Carolina boy had been charged with two felony counts of discharging his BB gun.
The parents of a then-seven-year-old North Carolina boy are beyond angry after their son was charged with two felony counts of possessing a BB gun. Just moments before the child was expected to answer to the allegations before a Catawba County judge — the charges were dropped.
Sam’s parents, Ray and Cherry Robbins told Fox News they are both relieved and angry over what happened to their son.
“They considered his BB gun a firearm,” Ray said. “”It’s not a firearm. It’s a BB gun.”
The trouble started last month when Sam was in the backyard of their rural home shooting his BB gun. His mother stepped inside to put dinner in the oven – telling the boy not to run off.
But Sam’s curiosity got the best of him — and he scampered out of the backyard – and fired his BB gun at an abandoned house across the street. In doing so, he accidentally hit a passing car.
Cherry immediately call the sheriff’s department and offered to pay for the damage to the car. The deputy sheriff took a report but said he wasn’t going to press charges and neither was the driver.
Instead, Sam’s parents took responsibility, paid for the damages and administered parental justice.
Sam got punished. They took away his BB gun and made him do community service at their local church.
“We wanted to teach him responsibility so he’s been cleaning up around the church and polishing pews to repay the $350 it cost to repair the car,” Robbins told Fox News.
But their world got rocked when the received a letter from the Department of Juvenile Justice summoning the family to court.
“They told us that they considered it to be a violent felony — discharging a firearm into an occupied vehicle,” Robbins said. “It was crazy. We completely disagreed with the charges.”
Their son – was now facing the prospect of a year on probation, hundreds of hours of community service and a criminal record.
“We couldn’t imagine Sam standing in front of the court — as a judge read him the charges,” he said. “How is he supposed to understand that? He’s eight years old.”
The day before his court appearance, Sam celebrated his birthday — but there wasn’t much to celebrate.
“That night he was shaking – he was so cared he was shaking,” Robbins said. “He didn’t know what going to court meant but he knew that it was serious.”
The following day, they showed up for Sam’s hearing. But their court-appointed lawyer ushered the family into a room and told them the charges had been dropped.
“I really feel like it was a political thing,” he said. “It’s election season in our county and they didn’t have anything better to do than charge an eight-year-old boy. They got the anti-gun people revved up.”
Robbins said his son is a good boy who made a bad mistake.
“My wife and I were just completely torn up over the whole thing,” he said. “My son — he didn’t understand the severity of the charge but he understood the severity of what he did.”
And he was especially angry at local officials.
“It was infuriating what they wanted to do to that child,” he said. “This whole gun control thing is just nuts. For them to use a minor child — to prove a point and make an example — for certain groups — is just crazy.”
Life around the Robbins house is slowly returning to normal — but it’s going to be quite some time before Sam gets to shoot his BB gun.
“He’s got to earn that privilege,” Robbins told Fox News.
In the meantime — father and son are spending the weekend fishing.
Source - Todd Starnes
 |
| Sam The Felon |
Sam Grant nearly celebrated his eighth birthday party in jail.
The North Carolina boy had been charged with two felony counts of discharging his BB gun.
The parents of a then-seven-year-old North Carolina boy are beyond angry after their son was charged with two felony counts of possessing a BB gun. Just moments before the child was expected to answer to the allegations before a Catawba County judge — the charges were dropped.
Sam’s parents, Ray and Cherry Robbins told Fox News they are both relieved and angry over what happened to their son.
“They considered his BB gun a firearm,” Ray said. “”It’s not a firearm. It’s a BB gun.”
The trouble started last month when Sam was in the backyard of their rural home shooting his BB gun. His mother stepped inside to put dinner in the oven – telling the boy not to run off.
But Sam’s curiosity got the best of him — and he scampered out of the backyard – and fired his BB gun at an abandoned house across the street. In doing so, he accidentally hit a passing car.
Cherry immediately call the sheriff’s department and offered to pay for the damage to the car. The deputy sheriff took a report but said he wasn’t going to press charges and neither was the driver.
Instead, Sam’s parents took responsibility, paid for the damages and administered parental justice.
Sam got punished. They took away his BB gun and made him do community service at their local church.
“We wanted to teach him responsibility so he’s been cleaning up around the church and polishing pews to repay the $350 it cost to repair the car,” Robbins told Fox News.
But their world got rocked when the received a letter from the Department of Juvenile Justice summoning the family to court.
“They told us that they considered it to be a violent felony — discharging a firearm into an occupied vehicle,” Robbins said. “It was crazy. We completely disagreed with the charges.”
Their son – was now facing the prospect of a year on probation, hundreds of hours of community service and a criminal record.
“We couldn’t imagine Sam standing in front of the court — as a judge read him the charges,” he said. “How is he supposed to understand that? He’s eight years old.”
The day before his court appearance, Sam celebrated his birthday — but there wasn’t much to celebrate.
“That night he was shaking – he was so cared he was shaking,” Robbins said. “He didn’t know what going to court meant but he knew that it was serious.”
The following day, they showed up for Sam’s hearing. But their court-appointed lawyer ushered the family into a room and told them the charges had been dropped.
“I really feel like it was a political thing,” he said. “It’s election season in our county and they didn’t have anything better to do than charge an eight-year-old boy. They got the anti-gun people revved up.”
Robbins said his son is a good boy who made a bad mistake.
“My wife and I were just completely torn up over the whole thing,” he said. “My son — he didn’t understand the severity of the charge but he understood the severity of what he did.”
And he was especially angry at local officials.
“It was infuriating what they wanted to do to that child,” he said. “This whole gun control thing is just nuts. For them to use a minor child — to prove a point and make an example — for certain groups — is just crazy.”
Life around the Robbins house is slowly returning to normal — but it’s going to be quite some time before Sam gets to shoot his BB gun.
“He’s got to earn that privilege,” Robbins told Fox News.
In the meantime — father and son are spending the weekend fishing.
Source - Todd Starnes
Trayvon Martin Family Gets Money!!!
April 7, 2013
The slain Florida teen's parents agree to set aside a wrongful-death claim against the home association for an unspecified amount.
The parents of a Florida teenager fatally shot by a neighborhood watch volunteer have reached a settlement with the homeowners association where their son was killed.
The Orlando Sentinel newspaper reports that Trayvon Martin's parents reached a deal in the wrongful-death claim and that the parties agreed to keep the settlement amount confidential.
Benjamin Crump, the attorney for Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, declined to comment.
Keep Reading
The slain Florida teen's parents agree to set aside a wrongful-death claim against the home association for an unspecified amount.
The parents of a Florida teenager fatally shot by a neighborhood watch volunteer have reached a settlement with the homeowners association where their son was killed.
The Orlando Sentinel newspaper reports that Trayvon Martin's parents reached a deal in the wrongful-death claim and that the parties agreed to keep the settlement amount confidential.
Benjamin Crump, the attorney for Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, declined to comment.
Keep Reading
Cornfield Holds Secrets Of 1780s British POWs
April 7, 2013
Historians hope to preserve the former prison camp where 1,265 men, along with 182 women and 189 children lived by April 1782.
The mud of a Pennsylvania cornfield may soon produce answers about the fate of British prisoners of war during the waning years of the American Revolution.
A few miles east of York, the city that briefly served as the fledgling nation's capital after the Continental Congress fled Philadelphia, more than a thousand English, Scottish and Canadian soldiers were imprisoned at what was then known as Camp Security.
The fight to preserve the plot has lasted almost twice as long as the Revolutionary War itself. And the end is in sight - if its backers can raise the last few hundred thousand dollars needed to pay for it.
"This is an extraordinarily important site, because so few of these camp sites survived," said Steve Warfel, a retired curator of archaeology at the Pennsylvania State Museum.
"It's a very important piece for understanding the revolutionary period, and how people were treated when they were incarcerated," he added.
A 1979 archaeological study found numerous artefacts that confirmed local lore about the prison camp's location.
Two years ago, the local government, Springettsbury Township, took possession of an adjacent, 115-acre property and last year The Conservation Fund paid a developer nearly $1m for the 47-acre parcel.
Now the Friends of Camp Security faces a May deadline to pay off the fund so it can turn the smaller plot over to the township as well.
Nothing about the property today suggests it was once teeming with prisoners. The first group arrived in 1781, four years after their 1777 surrender at Saratoga, New York.
More arrived the next year after the battle in Yorktown, Virginia, and in April 1782, there were 1,265 men at the camp, along with 182 women and 189 children - family members and others who accompanied the prisoners.
The first group was kept under less strict conditions and could be hired out to nearby farms, where among other things they were put to use chopping firewood and hunting wolves.
The Yorktown veterans were much more strictly confined, kept inside a circular stockade that had been constructed from 15ft-high log posts.
The 1979 dig, which focused on a small area, produced metal items such as buckles and buttons that are associated with British soldiers of the period, suggesting that could have either been the Camp Security stockade or the adjacent Camp Indulgence village where low-risk prisoners stayed.
That survey also turned up 20 coins and 605 straight pins that may have been used by prisoners to make lace.
Researchers recently found lists of Camp Security prisoners in the British National Archives. And an 18th century account of camp life by a British surgeon's mate described a "camp fever" that may have killed some of the prisoners, who were buried on-site.
If there was a cemetery - there may be two or more - it has not been found. Some believe graves may be under what is today one of the neighbourhoods that encircle the property.
Les Jones, an English-born member of Friends of Camp Security, said interest in his home country has not been great, possibly because the British military had been so active around the globe during that period.
He said: "There was hardly a year when they weren't fighting somewhere. I think the problem is they're just swamped with wars. This is a little niche kind of thing."
Source: Sky
Historians hope to preserve the former prison camp where 1,265 men, along with 182 women and 189 children lived by April 1782.
 |
| The camp was in Springettsbury Township |
A few miles east of York, the city that briefly served as the fledgling nation's capital after the Continental Congress fled Philadelphia, more than a thousand English, Scottish and Canadian soldiers were imprisoned at what was then known as Camp Security.
The fight to preserve the plot has lasted almost twice as long as the Revolutionary War itself. And the end is in sight - if its backers can raise the last few hundred thousand dollars needed to pay for it.
"This is an extraordinarily important site, because so few of these camp sites survived," said Steve Warfel, a retired curator of archaeology at the Pennsylvania State Museum.
"It's a very important piece for understanding the revolutionary period, and how people were treated when they were incarcerated," he added.
A 1979 archaeological study found numerous artefacts that confirmed local lore about the prison camp's location.
Two years ago, the local government, Springettsbury Township, took possession of an adjacent, 115-acre property and last year The Conservation Fund paid a developer nearly $1m for the 47-acre parcel.
Now the Friends of Camp Security faces a May deadline to pay off the fund so it can turn the smaller plot over to the township as well.
Nothing about the property today suggests it was once teeming with prisoners. The first group arrived in 1781, four years after their 1777 surrender at Saratoga, New York.
More arrived the next year after the battle in Yorktown, Virginia, and in April 1782, there were 1,265 men at the camp, along with 182 women and 189 children - family members and others who accompanied the prisoners.
The first group was kept under less strict conditions and could be hired out to nearby farms, where among other things they were put to use chopping firewood and hunting wolves.
The Yorktown veterans were much more strictly confined, kept inside a circular stockade that had been constructed from 15ft-high log posts.
The 1979 dig, which focused on a small area, produced metal items such as buckles and buttons that are associated with British soldiers of the period, suggesting that could have either been the Camp Security stockade or the adjacent Camp Indulgence village where low-risk prisoners stayed.
That survey also turned up 20 coins and 605 straight pins that may have been used by prisoners to make lace.
Researchers recently found lists of Camp Security prisoners in the British National Archives. And an 18th century account of camp life by a British surgeon's mate described a "camp fever" that may have killed some of the prisoners, who were buried on-site.
If there was a cemetery - there may be two or more - it has not been found. Some believe graves may be under what is today one of the neighbourhoods that encircle the property.
Les Jones, an English-born member of Friends of Camp Security, said interest in his home country has not been great, possibly because the British military had been so active around the globe during that period.
He said: "There was hardly a year when they weren't fighting somewhere. I think the problem is they're just swamped with wars. This is a little niche kind of thing."
Source: Sky
TV startup shakes up US broadcasters with court win
April 7,2013
A startup whose business model is based on tiny antennas receiving over-the-air television for online viewing by subscribers has put the US broadcast industry on the defensive.
Aereo made headlines on April 1 with a preliminary court victory over the major broadcasters, which had sought to shut down the service for copyright infringement.
The case, which is still pending, is seen by some as a potentially groundbreaking test: for consumers, whether they can "shift" TV viewing to the Web through a third party; and for broadcasters, whether they can maintain control of their content.
FULL STORY>>
 |
| File picture for illustration shows a customer looking at television setsin a department store. A startup whose business model is based on tiny antennas receiving over-the-air television for online viewing by subscribers has put the US broadcast industry on the defensive. |
Aereo made headlines on April 1 with a preliminary court victory over the major broadcasters, which had sought to shut down the service for copyright infringement.
The case, which is still pending, is seen by some as a potentially groundbreaking test: for consumers, whether they can "shift" TV viewing to the Web through a third party; and for broadcasters, whether they can maintain control of their content.
FULL STORY>>
Kerry Mourns 1st Diplomat Killed Since Benghazi
April 7, 2013
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry mourned on Sunday the first death of an American diplomat on the job since last year's Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. diplomatic installation in Benghazi, Libya.
FULL STORY>>
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry mourned on Sunday the first death of an American diplomat on the job since last year's Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. diplomatic installation in Benghazi, Libya.
FULL STORY>>
Egypt seeks to increase $4.8b IMF loan: minister
April 7, 2013
CAIRO - Egypt is seeking to increase its previously-requested $4.8 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund to cover its soaring budget deficit, the planning minister said in comments carried by two local newspapers on Sunday.
"Egypt will intensify its efforts in the spring meetings of the IMF in the period from April 16-21 to receive additional funding to cover the financing deficit until mid-2015," Ashraf El-Araby said in remarks carried by Al Masry Al Youm newspaper.
"There are ongoing discussions to increase the loan, estimated at $4.8 billion but it may rise, especially with the increase in the budget deficit to $20 billion," he was quoted as saying.
The minister told Al-Mal daily financial newspaper that if a deal with the IMF is not reached before May, talks will be postponed until October when parliamentary elections are expected to start. An IMF delegation is currently in Cairo for loan talks. — Reuters
CAIRO - Egypt is seeking to increase its previously-requested $4.8 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund to cover its soaring budget deficit, the planning minister said in comments carried by two local newspapers on Sunday.
"Egypt will intensify its efforts in the spring meetings of the IMF in the period from April 16-21 to receive additional funding to cover the financing deficit until mid-2015," Ashraf El-Araby said in remarks carried by Al Masry Al Youm newspaper.
"There are ongoing discussions to increase the loan, estimated at $4.8 billion but it may rise, especially with the increase in the budget deficit to $20 billion," he was quoted as saying.
The minister told Al-Mal daily financial newspaper that if a deal with the IMF is not reached before May, talks will be postponed until October when parliamentary elections are expected to start. An IMF delegation is currently in Cairo for loan talks. — Reuters
Still OK to withdraw welfare benefits at ATMs in Colorado strip clubs
April 7, 2013
An attempt by Colorado lawmakers to ban welfare recipients from withdrawing their benefits at ATMs located inside strip clubs was killed by Democrats Thursday night, even though the state House’s third-ranking Democratic legislator supported the measure.
FULL STORY>>
FULL STORY>>
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)