Author: Admin

Reuters – by DANIEL WIESSNER AND EDWARD MCALLISTER

New York state will ban hydraulic fracturing after a long-awaited report concluded that the oil and gas extraction method poses health risks, Governor Andrew Cuomo’s administration said on Wednesday.

New York Environmental Commissioner Joseph Martens said at a cabinet meeting he will issue an order early next year banning fracking, which has been under a moratorium since 2008. Once that happens, New York will join Vermont as the only states to completely prohibit fracking.   Continue reading “New York bans fracking after health reportNew York bans fracking after health report”

MSNBC – by Michele Richinick

President Barack Obama on Wednesday committed to spending tens of millions of dollars on preventing gun violence, by signing a measure into law.

The bill, the Omnibus Appropriations Act, includes several funding increases for curbing gun violence. The law calls for $73 million to help prevent felons, fugitives, and domestic abusers from buying guns by improving state submissions of prohibited people into the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). The price tag is the highest amount ever allocated to the system.   Continue reading “Obama spends millions to prevent gun violence”

Sent to us by the author, Robert Quinn

To America (our Country)                          Dec.17,2014

WHAT OUR CONSTITUTION TEACHES:

About 235 years ago our Revolutionary War began. When it ended, The United States of America was born, liberty proclaimed and laws enacted under the new Constitution. At that time, John Jay wisely convinced George Washington to include in the Constitution the Article ll,section 1 provision, limiting the Presidency and Vice-Presidency to natural-born American citizens so that no one with a dual-nationality or other foreign allegiance (British, for example) could adversely affect the governance of our Country.   Continue reading “The Man Who Stole America – Part Four”

Deadline – by Mike Fleming Jr.

Sony Pictures has made official what has been painfully obvious to everybody since yesterday morning, when hackers threatened to blow up movie theaters if The Interview was released next week. The studio has officially scrapped its release plans. Sony had little choice here, after the major theater chains announced earlier today they would not display the film given the threatening circumstances. Here’s the statement:   Continue reading “It’s Official: Sony Scraps ‘The Interview’”

NPR – by Krishnadev Calamur

President Obama announced today the most significant change in U.S. policy toward Cuba in more than 50 years, paving the way for the normalization of relations and the opening of a U.S. Embassy in Havana.

Obama said “we will end an outdated approach that for decades has failed to advance our interests and instead we will begin to normalize relations between our two countries.”

He added: “These 50 years have shown, isolation has not worked. It’s time for a new approach.”   Continue reading “Obama Unveils ‘New Approach’ On Cuba As Former Foes Chart New Course”

Fox News

The premiere of Seth Rogen and James Franco’s comedy “The Interview” in New York has been canceled in the wake of a message sent by the Sony hackers that threatened a 9/11-style attack on theaters showing the film.

In a message emailed to various reporters and accompanying the latest in a series of leaks that have included employee emails, health and financial information, the hackers who call themselves “Guardians of Peace” sent a grim warning to people planning to attend screenings of “The Interview,” even warning people who live near cinemas to leave home, according to a report from Variety.   Continue reading “New York premiere of ‘The Interview’ canceled”

Fox News

WASHINGTON –  With little fanfare to mark a rare bipartisan achievement, President Barack Obama on Tuesday signed a massive, $1.1 trillion spending bill that keeps the government operating over the next nine months.

The legislation was a compromise that angered liberals and conservatives alike but avoided a government shutdown and put off partisan clashes over immigration to next year.   Continue reading “Obama signs $1.1 trillion spending bill into law”

LA Times – by Evan Halper

Tucked deep inside the 1,603-page federal spending measure is a provision that effectively ends the federal government’s prohibition on medical marijuana and signals a major shift in drug policy.

The bill’s passage over the weekend marks the first time Congress has approved nationally significant legislation backed by legalization advocates. It brings almost to a close two decades of tension between the states and Washington over medical use of marijuana.   Continue reading “Congress quietly ends federal government’s ban on medical marijuana”

Yahoo News – by Lawrence Hurley

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama’s new plan to ease the threat of deportation for 4.7 million undocumented immigrants violates the U.S. Constitution, a federal judge found on Tuesday, handing down the first legal ruling against the plan.

The ruling has no immediate impact, with the government saying there was no reason for Judge Arthur Schwab of the Western District of Pennsylvania to address the issue in the case, which concerns 42-year-old Honduran immigrant Elionardo Juarez-Escobar.   Continue reading “Judge declares Obama immigration action unconstitutional”

RT

Former VP Dick Cheney expressed no regret over CIA torture techniques employed against detainees in the “war on terror,” even as a judge considers forcing the White House to release the remainder of the damning photos.

Cheney was apparently unfazed by the cruel accounts of torture techniques performed by the CIA at various foreign “black sites” as described in the Senate Intelligence Committee’s lengthy investigation.   Continue reading “‘I’d do it again!’ Cheney defends CIA torture, calls interrogators heroes”

ABC News – by Gary Langer

Six in 10 Americans say the CIA’s treatment of suspected terrorists was justified, more than half think it produced important, unique intelligence – and 52 percent say it was wrong for the Senate Intelligence Committee to issue a report suggesting otherwise.

Those results in a new ABC News/Washington Post poll underscore the public’s sense of risk from the threat of terrorism, and specifically the extent to which majorities support controversial measures to combat it. Indeed just two in 10 flatly rule out torture in future cases.   Continue reading “Six in 10 See CIA Actions as Justified As Many Question Committee Report”

ABC New 7

LANSDALE, Pa. — Sister station Action News in Philadelphia has learned that police have found a body amid the search for Bradley Stone, the suspect in the Montgomery County murder spree, and the body has been preliminarily identified as Stone.

The body was found in a wooded area about 200 yards from Stone’s home in Pennsburg, Pa. on Tuesday afternoon.

Sources say Stone is believed to have killed himself. He was found dead on his knees hunched over wearing sand color camouflage.

Sources said it does not appear that he shot himself, but his cause of death is not yet known.   Continue reading “Body Found in Pennsylvania Killing Spree Search; Preliminary ID Is Bradley Stone”

LA Times – by KATE LINTHICUM

One of the nation’s top immigration officials is urging those who are newly eligible for temporary legal status to apply for the program without fear.

Speaking at a conference in Los Angeles on Monday, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Leon Rodriguez said he knows that some immigrants in the country without permission may be wary of identifying themselves to the government as part of President Obama’s new program to defer deportations and grant three-year work permits to some immigrants with longtime ties to the U.S.   Continue reading “Immigration official to applicants for temporary status: ‘Don’t worry’”

EAG News – by Kyle Olson

TORONTO – Could there be something more sinister behind the little elf sitting on the shelf who returns to the North Pole each night?

Yes, says Laura Pinto, a digital technology professor at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology.

She recently published a paper titled “Who’s the Boss” on the doll, saying the idea of it reporting back to Santa each night on the child’s behavior “sets up children for dangerous, uncritical acceptance of power structures,” according to insideHalton.com.   Continue reading “Prof: ‘Elf on the Shelf’ conditions kids to accept surveillance state”

Yahoo News – by Pete Yost

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is urging dismissal of a lawsuit that would dismantle the president’s immigration program, an initiative designed to spare nearly 5 million people in the U.S. illegally from deportation.

The case was brought by an Arizona sheriff, Joe Arpaio, who contends that President Barack Obama’s program serves as a magnet for more illegal entries into the U.S. Arpaio says the new arrivals will commit crimes and thus burden his law enforcement resources.   Continue reading “Govt urges dismissal of lawsuit over immigration”

Fox News

WASHINGTON –  The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Monday that police officers may use evidence seized during a traffic stop even if the reason the officers pulled the car over was based on a misunderstanding of the state’s law.

In the 8-1 decision, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a North Carolina police officer who had stopped a car with a broken brake light – and then found cocaine in the car- even though driving with a faulty brake light isn’t against the law in the state.   Continue reading “Supreme Court: Traffic stop, search OK despite misunderstanding of law”

Seattle PI – by MARYCLAIRE DALE and SEAN CARLIN, AP

PENNSBURG, Pa. (AP) — A woman who told neighbors she feared her ex-husband would kill her was among six people found fatally shot in three suburban Philadelphia homes, and her Marine veteran former husband was on the run.

Suspect Bradley Michael Stone, 35, remained at large early Tuesday, causing one local school district to close schools as a precaution. Residents of nearby communities had been asked to shelter in place temporarily late Monday as an intense manhunt spread to their areas.

His former wife, 33-year-old Nicole Stone, was found dead after a neighbor saw Stone fleeing just before 5 a.m. Monday with their two young daughters.   Continue reading “Search intensifies for gunman who killed 6”