Author: Angel - NYC

AOL – by Chris Talbot

Bobby Womack, a colorful and highly influential R&B singer-songwriter who influenced artists from the Rolling Stones to Damon Albarn, has died. He was 70.

Womack’s publicist Sonya Kolowrat said Friday that the singer had died, but she could provide no other details.

With an incomparable voice few could match, Womack was a stirring singer and guitarist in his own right and a powerful songwriter whose hits like “Across 110th Street,” ”If You Think You’re Lonely Now” and “I Wish He Didn’t Trust Me So Much” captured the imagination of future stars in rock ‘n’ roll and R&B.   Continue reading “Bobby Womack, R&B singer- songwriter, dies at 70”

NPR – by Ari Shapiro

The shot that killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary was fired a hundred years ago this weekend.

The assassination in Sarajevo, on June 28, 1914, triggered World War I and changed the course of the 20th century. The consequences of that act were devastating. But the beginning of the story sounds almost like a farce — complete with bad aim, botched poisoning and a wrong turn on the road.   Continue reading “A Century Ago In Sarajevo: A Plot, A Farce And A Fateful Shot”

The Guardian – by Andrew MacDowall

For one half of the city, he was the national hero who fought against imperial oppression and fully deserves a new park in his name. For the other half he is a villain who killed a pregnant woman and brought a flourishing epoque to an end.

Gavrilo Princip, the Bosnian-Serb radical who set in train a chain of events that led to the outbreak of the first world war will be the central figure in Sarajevo this weekend as the city marks 100 years since he assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914.   Continue reading “Villain or hero? Sarajevo is split on archduke’s assassin Gavrilo Princip”

Washington Post – by Rich Calder and Carl Campanile

A Washington Heights lawmaker on Friday pleaded guilty to marriage fraud​, ​​which not only paved the way ​for her ​to ​become a U.S. citizen ​– but also to ​be elected to public office.

Appearing in Manhattan federal court, Assemblywoman Gabriela Rosa, a 47​-​year-old Dominican native elected in 2012, admitted to filing bogus documents submitted to the federal government in which she lied about a sham marriage to obtain citizenship.   Continue reading “Washington Heights lawmaker pleads guilty to marriage fraud”

Huffington Post – by Shadee Ashtari

Los Angeles’ first medical marijuana farmers market is set to launch July 4, marking a unique opportunity for card-carrying cannabis patients to purchase a variety of products, including cannabis flowers, edibles and concentrates, directly from growers.

The new farmers market, which will feature 20 to 50 vendors, will be held at the West Coast Collective in East Los Angeles.    Continue reading “Los Angeles Set To Open Its First Medical Marijuana Farmers Market”

Bethesda-ChevyChase Patch – by Deb Belt

Tigist Atreso says a would-be bandit went too far when he threatened to kill her 19-month-old son while robbing her liquor store.

Atreso says she had complied with the suspect’s orders, handing over all the money in her cash register in hopes that he would leave. But the threat to her young son had her fighting mad – sending the suspected thief to the hospital and then jail.   Continue reading “Store Owner Takes Out Robber with Fire Extinguisher to the Head”

AmmoLand – by Tom Gresham

MANDEVILLE, LA –-(Ammoland.com)- Every time the gun banners think public opinion is swinging their way, they tend to drop the lies which typically camouflages their real intentions.

They often say “We don’t want to ban guns. We just want to know who has them.” Or, “Of course we support the Second Amendment, but that doesn’t mean there shouldn’t be reasonable restrictions.” 

The Violence Policy Center is a tiny group that really knows how to work the media through “white papers” on guns. Of course, the papers and “research” they do are junk, but the media laps up that stuff.   Continue reading “Anti-Gunners, The Truth Comes Out … Again”

Priceonomics – by Zachary Crockett

In 2007, during a business school lecture at UCLA, Roberto Sequeira had a revelation. What if I could design the perfect business? he asked himself, something niche, high-margin, scalable. He ran through a rolodex of potential consumer items — watches, food, clothing — before arriving at his moment of clarity: he’d start an ice cube company. But not just any ice cube company — one that sold its wares at $8 a piece. Today his brainchild, Gläce Luxury Ice, caters posh events at the Playboy Mansion and L.A. Fashion Week; for the mere price of $325, 50 Gläce cubes are all yours — complete with an “elegant” resealable bag.   Continue reading “The Rise of the $8 Ice Cube”

Take Part – by Todd Woody

The indiscriminate use of DDT in the mid-20th century helped nearly exterminate America’s national symbol, the bald eagle, and the pesticide itself became a symbol of an industrial society at war with nature.

Now, more than 40 years after the United States Environmental Protection Agency banned DDT, thanks in large part to the publication of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, a class of agricultural pesticides called neonicotinoids (neonics) poses an even more serious threat to bees, other wildlife, and entire ecosystems, according to a preview of a report to be published next week by an international group of scientists.   Continue reading “Scientists Warn That a Widely Used Pesticide Could Be Worse for Bees Than DDT”

Huffington Post – by Julie Pace

WASHINGTON (AP) — With the conflicts in Syria and Iraq becoming increasingly intertwined against the same Sunni extremist group, President Barack Obama moved on Thursday to ratchet up U.S. efforts to strengthen more moderate Syrian rebels.

Obama’s request to Congress for $500 million in training and arms to the opposition in effect opens a second front in the fight against militants spilling over Syria’s border and threatening to overwhelm neighboring Iraq. The train-and-equip mission would be overseen by the Pentagon and would mark a significant expansion of previous covert effort to arm the more moderate rebels who are fighting both the extremists and forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad.   Continue reading “Obama Seeking $500 Million To Train, Arm Syrian Rebels”

The New American – by Joe Wolverton, II, J.D.

Kathie Glass (shown) is the Libertarian nominee for Texas governor, and she is spreading the word of federalism and fearless opposition to federal overreach during her “Texas 254 Tour.”

Glass chose the number 254 because that is the number of counties in the Lone Star State and she plans to visit each one before Election Day in November. Glass has a hard row to hoe in her quest to be the state’s chief executive. She faces Greg Abbott, the Republican candidate and current state attorney general; and Wendy Davis, state senator and abortion advocate.   Continue reading “Kathie Glass Runs for Gov. of Texas on Bold Nullification Platform”

Argus Leader Letter to the Editor – by Jerry Wilson

Chinese and Canadian-funded Powertech wants to mine uranium in the Southern Black Hills by the in situ method — dissolving uranium in the aquifer, pumping it to the surface for extraction, then dumping polluted water deep into the Earth.

Twice before, foreign corporations mined uranium in the Hills and left a radioactive mess. The South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources lists 263 abandoned uranium sites in the state. Radioactive material and toxic heavy metals have polluted tributaries of several South Dakota rivers.   Continue reading “Foreign Corporation Powertech wants to mine uranium in the Southern Black Hills, South Dakota”

AOL – by JAMES MacPHERSON and MATTHEW BROWN

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Dozens of mile-long trains loaded with crude are leaving western North Dakota each week, with most shipments going through the state’s most populous county while en route to refineries across the country.

The U.S. Department of Transportation ordered railroads last month to give state officials specifics on oil train routes and volumes so emergency responders can better prepare for accidents. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said a pattern of fiery accidents involving trains carrying crude from the Bakken region of North Dakota and Montana had created an “imminent hazard” to public safety.   Continue reading “North Dakota discloses oil train shipment details”

AmmoLand

Media, PA –-(Ammoland.com)- A coalition of Pro-freedom/gun rights groups will counter rally the Walk & Rally for Universal Background Checks on Gun Sales.

The rally will start at the intersection of Providence Rd and Baltimore Pike in Media, PA at 1pm on June 28, 2014. The counter rally will then move to the sidewalk opposite the Providence Friends Meeting House where the anti-gun rights pressure groups will hold their event.    Continue reading “Gun Rights Groups To Rally Against Anti-Gunners in Media, PA”

AOL – by STEPHEN OHLEMACHER

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional investigators say they uncovered emails Wednesday showing that a former Internal Revenue Service official at the heart of the tea party investigation sought an audit involving a Republican senator in 2012.

The emails show former IRS official Lois Lerner mistakenly received an invitation to an event that was meant to go to Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa.   Continue reading “Emails reveal IRS official Lois Lerner sought audit of GOP senator Charles Grassley”