KSL – by Dennis Romboy, June 3, 2014

SALT LAKE CITY — An angry and emotional Mark Shurtleff says agents who searched his home Monday used “Dirty Harry” tactics and traumatized his teenage daughter.

“I don’t care what people think I may have done, and the truth will come out on that,” the former Utah Attorney General said Tuesday. “But there was nothing that justifies what they did yesterday in my home.”   Continue reading “Agents ‘trashed’ home, traumatized kids during search, former Utah Att Gen Shurtleff says”

Tumblr Goes to The White HouseYahoo News – by Liz Goodwin

President Barack Obama had some tough love for young people in a discussion on student loans hosted by Tumblr on Tuesday afternoon, warning them not to waste their time while in college and reminding them that they might have to take a job they don’t like to pay off their debts.

Obama told the audience of Tumblr users gathered at the White House that despite skyrocketing tuition costs, college is still worth it for most people.   Continue reading “Obama has tough love for young people in Tumblr student loan chat”

visaThink Progress – by Nicole Flatow

In 1981, Norma Uy was deemed eligible for an immigration visa by way of her sister, a U.S. Citizen. At the time, her two-year-old daughter also applied for a visa through a provision of U.S. immigration law that allows the children of visa applicants to also be considered. The petition was approved the very same day it was filed. But it wasn’t until 21 years later that Norma’s name got to the top of the visa waiting list and she was granted legal permanent residence. By that point, her daughter Ruth was 23 years old, and wasn’t permitted to immigrate with her mother, under an agency interpretation of federal law that deemed Ruth no longer a “child.” Norma was forced to choose between leaving her daughter behind and attempting to bring her over later, or not going at all after a 21-year wait.     Continue reading “Woman Waits In Line For 21 Years To Immigrate Into US, Then Gets Turned Away For Being Too Old”

Huffington Post – by Eleanor Goldberg

The VA scandal has awakened the nation to the lengthy wait times that veteran patients have had to endure for healthcare. But the failings of the veteran health system aren’t the only pressing crisis former servicemen and servicewomen are currently struggling with.

On a single night in January last year, there were 57,849 homeless veterans sleeping on the streets, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs. It’s a disgrace that Vietnam War veteran and photographer Jerry Tovo, 69, aims to publicize by unveiling intimate images of homeless vets he’s taken across the country.    Continue reading “‘They May Have Been Heroes’ Photos Spotlight Fact That Homeless Vets Deserve Better”

Cantor_Eric3.jpgFox News

In a stunning upset, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor lost the GOP Virginia primary Tuesday night to Dave Brat, an economics professor and political novice.

The Associated Press called the race for Cantor about an hour after polls closed at 7 p.m. ET.

Cantor is the second-most powerful member of the U.S. House and was widely seen as the  next in line to succeed House Speaker John Boehner.   Continue reading “House Majority Leader Eric Cantor loses Virginia GOP primary, AP reports”

SHTF Plan – by Mac Slavo

Last week Attorney General Eric Holder launched a domestic terrorism task force. The new executive committee claims it will help keep America safe, but Holder’s own comments suggest what should be obvious, that the initiative is designed to target any American believed to be engaging in “dangerous” and broadly defined extremist activity.

If this were about protecting America from terrorists then how do we explain Eric Holder’s Justice Department and the Obama Administration failing to secure our southern border, where literally hundreds of thousands of unknown, unregistered illegal aliens are pouring into the United States? Isn’t it possible that such a gaping security hole could be taken advantage of by foreign nationals with ties to terror organizations?   Continue reading “Report: DHS Armored Vehicles and Support Helicopters Target Small Montana Town”

dan_ar_stockGuns Save Lives – by Dan Cannon

You know what I’m doing in that photo? Having a lot of fun. Late last night, an open letter was posted by a Duncan Black (I’ll assume it’s the liberal blogger who wrote the letter and not the male pornstar by the same name who apparently has a better SEO guy than the writer) was posted to The Daily Record. The title of the letter – Guns Aren’t Supposed to Be Fun.

It’s been a while since I broke down and replied to an anti-gun opinion piece, so let’s do just that, shall we?   Continue reading “Letter From Anti-Gunner: “Guns Aren’t Supposed to Be Fun””

8 News Now – by Lauren Rozyla

LAS VEGAS — Before the deadly shooting rampage Sunday that left two police officers and a bystander dead, 8 News NOW had learned that Metro Police were getting training on how to identify and deal with “domestic terrorists.”

Terrorism experts say the suspects in the shooting, Jerad and Amanda Miller, are very like sovereign citizens, a loosely formed movement full of anti-government beliefs. The FBI has now classified “sovereign citizens” as “domestic terrorists.”   Continue reading “Police trained on growing threat of ‘sovereign citizens’”

The entrance sign is seen at the headquarters of Monsanto, at Creve Coeur (St. Louis), Missouri (AFP Photo / Juliette Michele)RT News

As one of the preconditions to authorizing close to $300 million in aid, the United States is pressuring El Salvador to purchase genetically modified seeds from Monsanto instead of non-GM seeds from local farmers.

According to Sustainable Pulse, a website covering developments related to genetically modified organisms and sustainable agriculture, the US will reportedly withhold $277 million in aid through the Millennium Challenge Compact if El Salvador refuses to purchase GM seeds from the biotech company Monsanto.   Continue reading “US pressures El Salvador to buy Monsanto’s GMO seeds”

Christian radio host Mat Staver 061014 [RWW]Raw Story – by Arturo Garcia

Christian radio host Mat Staver was at a loss on Tuesday when trying to tell a New York lawmaker how businesses discriminating against members of the LGBT communities was any difference than doing so against people of color, Right Wing Watch reported.

Staver, the dean of Liberty University’s school of law and head of the conservative lawyers’ group the Liberty Counsel, encountered stiff questioning from Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) during a subcommittee meeting for the House Committee on the Judiciary regarding alleged threats to religious freedom like marriage equality.   Continue reading “NY lawmaker shuts Christian radio host down over anti-LGBT discrimination”

US President Barack Obama arrives at a memorial service for the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on December 16, 2012, in Newtown, Connecticut.Press TV 

US President Barack Obama says the greatest frustration of his time in the office has been the inability to reduce unparalleled levels of gun violence in the United States, adding that the phenomenon is terrifying him.

“My biggest frustration so far is the fact that this society has not been willing to take some basic steps to keep guns out of the hands of people who can do just unbelievable damage,” Obama said on Tuesday at the White House.

Continue reading “Obama calls failure to control gun violence ‘biggest frustration’ as president”

CBS New York

Imagine being hit hard by Superstorm Sandy and then being told you have to stop construction on your home.

As CBS 2′s Christine Sloan exclusively reported, that’s what dozens of homeowners were told in one Jersey Shore community.

Almost two years after Sandy, nearly 20 percent of the 500 or so homes in Ocean Beach are still under construction.   Continue reading “Ocean Beach Residents Rebuilding After Superstorm Sandy Told To Stop”

MY SWEETHEART AND IBundy Ranch

To the people of this great nation, and to the families of those who are in sorrow at this time,

In a time such as this, how can one ever express correctly the feelings within.
Our family morns for the lives that were taken. We are deeply saddened by these events.

Our thoughts of concern are for those who were so hastily left behind. Wives left without husbands and children without fathers, to love, raise and protect. Memories may be all they have to sustain them through the lonely nights ahead. What is a mother to say when a child asks; “where is daddy?”.  We pray that the aching hearts of the families will be filled with the knowledge that God knows your pains. His love for you is real and tangible.  He will morn and sorrow with you while sustaining you through these times. In the end, our Eternal Heavenly Father will make right all wrongs. Continue reading “The Bundy Family: The sorrow of this weeks events”

web1_NELLIS-FOLLOW-JUN13_002_37.jpgLas Vegas Review Journal – by Mike Blaskey

Jerad Miller didn’t die on his own terms after all, the Review-Journal has learned.

It was a Las Vegas police officer — not Amanda Miller, his wife — who fired the shot that ended the life of the 31-year-old cop killer, according to an official with knowledge of the case.

Metro police initially thought Amanda Miller, 22, killed her husband in the Wal-Mart. That was based on security video footage that showed her pointing the gun at him, the official said.    Continue reading “Official: Police, not wife, killed Jerad Miller”

Mom Arrested After Son Brings Simulated Grenade to Show and TellNBC Connecticut

The mother of a -12-year-old boy who brought a grenade to school for show-and-tell related to World War II lessons has been arrested.

Johnson Academy in Stratford was placed on lockdown around 10:30 a.m. Friday and students were evacuated to the auditorium until a State Police bomb squad determined the grenade was a simulator used for training.   Continue reading “Mom Arrested After Son Brings Simulated Grenade to Show and Tell”

Wall Street Journal – by Jack Nicas

DURHAM, N.C.—It took Chuck Pell less than a minute to build his drone.

He folded a piece of paper 11 times, clipped on a battery-powered plastic propeller and rudder, then opened an app on his iPhone.

Next he flung the aircraft skyward, steering it above the trees with turns of his phone. The plane soared out of sight.   Continue reading “Paper Planes Transform Into Tiny Drones”

Common Dreams – by Tom Engelhardt

The United States has been at war — major boots-on-the-ground conflicts and minor interventions, firefights, air strikes, drone assassination campaigns, occupations, special ops raids, proxy conflicts, and covert actions — nearly nonstop since the Vietnam War began.  That’s more than half a century of experience with war, American-style, and yet few in our world bother to draw the obvious conclusions.

Given the historical record, those conclusions should be staring us in the face.  They are, however, the words that can’t be said in a country committed to a military-first approach to the world, a continual build-up of its forces, an emphasis on pioneering work in the development and deployment of the latest destructive technology, and a repetitious cycling through styles of war from full-scale invasions and occupations to counterinsurgency, proxy wars, and back again.   Continue reading “Post-9/11 US Foreign Policy: A Record of Unparalleled Failure”