Yahoo News – by Eric Pfeiffer

Get sent to jail in Arizona’s Maricopa County and you’ll be experiencing some serious life changes. And for those who eat meat, that includes going vegetarian.

County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is no stranger to controversy. Over the years, he has made seemingly countless numbers of national headlines. As recently as August, the five-time elected sheriff was in the news after announcing that his deputies would be required to carry firearms at all times, even while off duty.   Continue reading “Sheriff Joe Arpaio institutes cost-saving, vegetarian meals for inmates”

Americans for Tax Reform – by John Kartch and Ryan Ellis

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The IRS is unable to account for $67 million spent from a slush fund established for Obamacare implementation, according to a Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) report released today.

The “Health Insurance Reform Implementation Fund” (HIRIF) was tucked into Obamacare in order to give the IRS money to enforce the tax provisions of the healthcare law.  The fund, totaling some $1 billion of taxpayer money, was used to roll out enforcement mechanisms for the approximately 50 tax provisions of Obamacare.   Continue reading “IRS Watchdog: $67 Million Missing from Obamacare Slush Fund”

Tikkun Daily – by David Harris-Gershon

A Palestinian village home to 120 people had its houses, kindergarten and shepherding stables demolished this week by Israeli authorities. This came after the Supreme Court ruled its inhabitants – some of whom have lived on the land for generations – didn’t have proper building permits.

The Palestinian Bedouin village of Khirbet Al-Makhul, located in the occupied territories, is the third such village to be demolished by Israel since August. After it was destroyed on Monday, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) attempted to deliver emergency aid to the displaced residents on Tuesday and Wednesday, but were stopped by Israeli soldiers.   Continue reading “Israeli Soldiers Throw Sound Grenades at EU Diplomats Bringing Aid to Displaced Palestinian Families”

Alexis moves through the hallways of Building #197 carrying the Remington 870 shotgun.NPR – by EYDER PERALTA

The FBI on Wednesday released some preliminary findings in its investigation of the Washington Navy Yard shootings that left 13 people dead including the shooter.

Perhaps the most chilling piece of evidence released is security video that shows Aaron Alexis, 34, methodically moving through Building #197 armed with a sawed-off shotgun. During a press conference, Valerie Parlave, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, said he was shooting at random people. We’ll embed the video; it doesn’t show Alexis shooting, but be warned some may still find it very disturbing:   Continue reading “FBI Releases Video Of Navy Yard Shooter Moving Through Building”

kerry_un_092413.jpgFox News

Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday signed a controversial U.N. treaty on arms regulation, riling U.S. lawmakers who vow the Senate will not ratify the agreement.

As he signed the document, Kerry called the treaty a “significant step” in addressing illegal gun sales, while claiming it would also protect gun rights.    Continue reading “Kerry signs UN arms treaty, senators threaten to block it”

Police on the scene of a shooting in East Garden City, NY on Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2013. (credit: Mona Rivera/1010 WINS)ABC News New York

GARDEN CITY, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) – Nassau County police said they are searching for a suspect after two people were shot near the Roosevelt Field Mall in East Garden City.

The shooting happened just after 10 a.m. on South Street, police said.   Continue reading “Garden City Mall On Lockdown After Nearby Shooting”

Tech Dirt – by Mike Masnick

We had believed, along with a number of others, that the Snowden leaks showing how the NSA was spying on pretty much everyone would likely kill CISPA dead. After all, the key component to CISPA was basically a method for encouraging companies to have total immunity from sharing information with the NSA. And while CISPA supporters pretended this was to help protect those companies and others from online attacks, the Snowden leaks have reinforced the idea (that many of us had been pointing out from the beginning) that it was really about making it easier for the NSA to rope in companies to help them spy on people.    Continue reading “Tone Deaf Dianne Feinstein Thinks Now Is A Good Time To Revive CISPA”

Blacklisted News – by Tony Cartalucci

Video emerges of unmarked truck-mounted launcher surrounded by militants, firing same ordnance used in August 21 Damascus (and other) chemical attacks.

In September 17, 2013’s article, “5 Lies Invented to Spin UN Report on Syrian Chemical Weapons Attack,” one fabrication used by the West was exposed in particular [emphasis added]:    Continue reading “Rockets Used in Damascus CW Attack Fired from Makeshift Flatbeds, Not Military Vehicles”

The Oregonian – by Jeff Mapes

A second California county bordering Oregon has voted to secede and form a new state of Jefferson in the border region.

Modoc County supervisors voted to join Siskiyou County in passing a resolution calling for secession, according to the Redding Record-Searchlight.  The resolution cites the “increasing tendency by the State of California to exercise legislative and fiscal malfeasance” and “assaults upon Second Amendment rights.”   Continue reading “Modoc County joins Siskiyou County in voting to secede from California”

CNN – by Holly Yan and Alan Duke

(CNN) — They were civilians and contractors, just starting their day at a massive military compound that’s normally a bastion of safety.

But for reasons that may never be known, a former Navy reservistcut their lives short when he went on a shooting rampage at Washington’s Navy Yard on Monday. Twelve families were left anguished.   Continue reading “CNN’s List of Victims of the Navy Yard Shooting”

nccu shootingMy Fox 8

DURHAM, N.C. — Campus police fatally shot a man near North Carolina Central University overnight after the man “challenged them with a gun,”according to WRAL.

WRAL reports Durham police tracked a suspect who was believed to be armed near the campus Monday night, prompting a lockdown at the university around 10:15 p.m.   Continue reading “Report: Campus police shoot, kill armed man near NCCU”

ABC News – by RICARDO CHAVEZ Associated Press

A gunman burst into a home east of the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez where people were celebrating a baseball victory and killed 10 people, authorities said Monday.

The killings occurred Sunday night in Loma Blanca, a town in the Juarez Valley. The dead included a 7-year-old girl, her mother, three teenage boys and five adult men, said Arturo Sandoval, spokesman for the Chihuahua state prosecutors’ office.   Continue reading “10 Killed in Massacre Near Mexican Border City”

Kerry Says UN Must Act Next Week on Syria Weapons

Boolmberg – by Nicole Gaouette

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry laid the groundwork for President Barack Obama’s speech at the United Nations tomorrow by meeting with Arab officials to discuss Syria, Egypt, and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Kerry is in New York this week to join diplomats and world leaders who are taking up issues from development and disease to global conflict at the annual opening of the UN General Assembly. The bulk of his time and attention may be focused on tensions between the U.S. and Russia over terms for Syria’s handover of its chemical weapons.   Continue reading “Kerry Sets Stage for Obama Visit to UN With Mideast Meetings”

Tech Dirt – by Mike Masnick

We’ve talked a few times about how the USTR and the administration are asking Congress for “trade promotion authority,” which would effectively let it bypass Congressional oversight of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement. In fact, in many ways the USTR has been acting as if it already has this. The specifics of “trade promotion authority” or “fast track authority” are a bit down in the weeds, but the short version is that it’s the administration asking Congress to completely abdicate its authority and mandate in overseeing international trade agreements. Basically, it removes the ability of Congress to seek any fixes or amendments to a trade agreement — only allowing them to give a yes or no vote.    Continue reading “President Obama Asks Congress To Give Up Its Oversight On Secret TPP Agreement”

A Kenyan policeman secures the road past the Westgate Shopping Centre in the capital Nairobi, September 23, 2013. REUTERS-Thomas MukoyaReuters – by Richard Lough and Matthew Mpoke Bigg

Powerful explosions sent thick smoke billowing from the Nairobi mall where militants from Somalia’s al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab group threatened to kill hostages on the third day of a raid in which at least 59 have already died.

The blast was followed by other smaller detonations and volleys of gunfire but there was no indication of the fate of people whom the authorities say are being held by 10 to 15 Islamist gunmen who took the complex by storm on Saturday.   Continue reading “Blasts shake Nairobi mall, smoke pours from building”

US President Barack Obama and US First Lady Michelle Obama stand with the loved ones and family members of the Navy Yard shooting victims after a memorial service at the Marine Barracks September 22, 2013 in Washington, DC.France 24

AFP – President Barack Obama used a memorial service for the victims of America’s latest mass shooting on Sunday to make another impassioned appeal to reform gun ownership laws.

“No other advanced nation endures this kind of violence. None,” he declared, at a ceremony in the Washington Navy Yard, where a contractor killed 12 people in a gun rampage on Monday.   Continue reading “Propaganda Alert: Obama: Navy Yard shooting must inspire gun law change”

Huffington Post – by ALICIA A. CALDWELL

WASHINGTON — Within hours of the Navy Yard shootings, the FBI had traced the gunman’s recent shotgun purchase and sent agents to the shop in northern Virginia where he bought it. Left out of the loop was the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, a surprising snub between top U.S. law enforcement agencies that comes as the ATF struggles to show its relevance in Washington.   Continue reading “ATF Kept Out Of The Loop After Navy Yard Shooting”