NBC San Diego – by Paul Kruger and Andie Adams

San Diego police confirm that a Vietnam veteran killed by police sergeant in a downtown stand-off was holding a plastic pellet gun.

John Edward Chesney, 62, was shot after about an hour-long standoff with police in the 900 block of Broadway.

The dead man’s friends told NBC 7 they do not blame officers for Wednesday’s deadly shooting, but still think that terrible outcome could have been avoided.   Continue reading “Man Killed by Police Had Rifle-Replica Pellet Gun”

Pope Benedict charged againThe Examiner

Were Miranda Barbour and Pope Benedict‘s commonality a membership in a Satanic cult?

Yesterday Pennsylvania’s prison board refused the media contact with self-proclaimed Satanist Miranda Barbour, saying that the nineteen year-old’s claims of being part of a satanic cult that killed dozens, disrupted prison security.

Could Barbour who said she joined a satanic cult at age 13, be telling the truth?   Continue reading “What do Satanist Miranda Barbour and Pope Benedict have in common?”

afp-cengiz-photo-yar.siPolitical Blindspot

Tiffany Rent is eight-months pregnant, but that didn’t stop a Chicago police officer from using a taser on her. The assault and arrest occurred Wednesday morning outside of a drug store on Chicago’s South Side.

The Chicago Police Department Superintendent Garry McCarthy said that even though Rent was only a week or two away from giving birth, “you can’t always tell whether somebody is pregnant.”     Continue reading “Chicago Police Use Taser On 8-Month Pregnant Woman Over Parking Ticket Comment”

Israel's Prime Minister Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting in JerusalemYahoo News – by Matt Spetalnick and Jeffrey Heller

WASHINGTON/JERUSALEM (Reuters) – For years, Israeli leaders visiting Washington have been boosted by America’s main pro-Israel lobby, its influence on U.S. Middle East policy long accepted as a matter of conventional wisdom.

But when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses an annual convention of Israel’s U.S. supporters next week, he will find the group trying to show it has not lost its touch after the White House blocked its push for Congress to impose new Iran sanctions.   Continue reading “Main Israel lobby seeks to regain footing as Netanyahu visits U.S”

Aryeh Ohayon says he and his service dog Bandit were asked to leave a Houston restaurant. (Image source: KHOU-TV)The Blaze – by Liz Klimas

A military veteran with more than two decades of service was asked to leave a Houston restaurant this week because of his service dog — and law enforcement upheld the restaurant’s decision.

Aryeh Ohayon, an Army and Navy veteran, told KHOU-TV that his service dog, Bandit, helps him cope with post-traumatic stress disorder.   Continue reading “Military Vet With Service Dog Kicked Out of Texas Restaurant…and Got Outrageous Response From a Cop”

Duffel Blog, January 29, 2014 [SATIRE]

ARLINGTON, VA — The Department of Homeland Security has purchased more than one billion rounds of a newly designed 9mm handgun round designated “domestic anti-personnel,” developed in part by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and manufactured in China by NORINCO, a Duffel Blog investigation has uncovered.

Nicknamed “Patriot Poppers,” the ammunition was originally conceptualized as the round to “guard against those guarding against tyranny.” According to government documents, the design is extremely effective at creating permanent tissue damage to unarmored doughy middle-aged targets.   Continue reading “DHS Purchases 1.2 Billion ‘Domestic Anti-Personnel’ Rounds”

MassPrivateI

DHS’ solicitation for bids had nothing to do with asking a contractor to build a nationwide license plate tracking database. Such a database already exists. The solicitation was more than likely merely a procedural necessity towards the goal of obtaining large numbers of agency subscriptions to said database, so that ICE agents across the country could dip into it at will, as many have been doing for years already. There was never a plan to “build” a plate database.   Continue reading “DHS has been using a national license plate tracking system for years”

Audra Lindsey SmathersThe Newspaper

For the first time, police in North Carolina are allowed to turn on their lights and siren to pull over any motorist, even when they have done nothing wrong. In a ruling last month, the North Carolina Court of Appeals for the first time in the state created a “community caretaking” exception to the Fourth Amendment. It was used to convict Audra Lindsey Smathers.

On May 27, 2010, Smathers had been driving her red Corvette down Highway 280 when Transylvania Sheriff’s Deputy Brian Kreigsman pulled in behind her. She was driving at the 45 MPH speed limit, and the deputy noted nothing suspicious or illegal. Suddenly, a large dog ran in front of the Corvette. She hit the dog, which caused the car to bounce.   Continue reading “North Carolina Appeals Court Upholds Traffic Stop Without An Offense”

Tennessee Supreme CourtThe Newspaper

The Tennessee Supreme Court decided on Thursday that the only use for roadside sobriety tests is to collect evidence against motorists, using them to convict individuals for driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI). The high court justices overturned an appellate decision from 2012 that found a driver who passed six of the tests with flying colors should never have been arrested (view 2012 ruling). David D. Bell was arrested on May 13, 2009, even though the trial judge found no evidence of impairment in the sobriety tests when he reviewed the dashcam footage.   Continue reading “Tennessee Supreme Court Says Cops Can Ignore Sobriety Test”

Rolls-Royce Is Designing Giant Drone Ships to Sail the High SeasGizmodo – by ADAM CLARK ESTES

Believe it or not, sailors are a big drag on shipping vessels. They weigh down the ship, take up space, cost thousands of dollars a day, and even cause most of the accidents at sea. So it’s no surprise that Rolls-Royce’s maritime division wants to replace them with robots.

Rolls-Royce’s Blue Ocean development team is perfecting designs for massive drone ships that will be able to shuttle cargo across the ocean without a single human being on board. Instead of a bridge, these ships come equipped with cameras that beam 360-degree views from the vessel back to dry land where teams of operators steer them to their destinations.   Continue reading “Rolls-Royce Is Designing Giant Drone Ships to Sail the High Seas”

Iced out: After Joe Biden announced that he supported gay marriage before the President, Obama's team made an active effort to exclude him from meetings and keep him out of the public eye (seen together this week)The Real Revo

Today the White House releases this video of the two of them. It’s just about as well produced as the anti-Muhammad video that caused the attack in Benghazi.

So you can see that they are really good buddies.   Continue reading “Yesterday Joe Biden Complained About Obama Giving Him, “Every S*** Job In The World””

Aaron Tilley illustration of the seven keys of the internetThe Guardian – by James Ball

It sounds like the stuff of science fiction: seven keys, held by individuals from all over the world, that together control security at the core of the web. The reality is rather closer to The Office than The Matrix.

In a nondescript industrial estate in El Segundo, a boxy suburb in south-west Los Angeles just a mile or two from LAX international airport, 20 people wait in a windowless canteen for a ceremony to begin. Outside, the sun is shining on an unseasonably warm February day; inside, the only light comes from the glare of halogen bulbs.   Continue reading “Meet the seven people who hold the keys to worldwide internet security”

Back to life: Walter Williams from Lexington, Mississippi, after being pronounced dead and waking up at a funeral home inside a body bagDaily Mail – by LUKE GARRATT

A man who woke up in a body bag at a funeral home after being pronounced legally dead in what the coroner described a ‘miracle’.

Walter Williams from Lexington, Mississippi, was zipped up in a body bag while funeral home workers prepared to embalm him, but instead they soon found him kicking to get out, according to WAPT.   Continue reading “I’m alive! Man wakes up in a BODY BAG as funeral home prepares to embalm him after being declared dead”

The US Supreme Court building (AFP Photo / Karen Bleier) RT News

A video posted online Wednesday appears to be the first-ever footage of the US Supreme Court debating an issue to have gone public.

The court has long prohibited the use of cameras inside the chamber during court proceedings and the quality of the video published seems to be evidence of that strict policy. The video barely exceeds two minutes in length and is shaky throughout, with subtitles making up for the poor audio recording.   Continue reading “For the first time video emerges of US Supreme Court proceedings”

McDonald'sKFOR News 4

CALIFORNIA – Multiple media outlets are reporting that a California man is suing McDonald’s for more than a million dollars… because he only received one napkin with his meal.

He says the incident happened last month, when he ordered a Quarter Pounder.

He immediately noticed only one napkin came with his burger.   Continue reading “Man sues McDonald’s for $1.5 million over napkin incident”

Reuters / Christian Charisius RT News

Positive results for radiation exposure were found in 13 workers following a leak at the United States’ first underground nuclear waste repository near Carlsbad, New Mexico, an Associated Press report stated.

Officials said that all employees were checked for external contamination before they left the Waste Isolation Pilot Project (WIPP) facility the day the leak occurred, but that biological samples were also taken to test for the possibility that they were breathing in radioactive particles.   Continue reading “New Mexico nuclear plant workers exposed to radiation”

AFP Photo / Mark RalstonRT News

US Border Patrol agents have purposely stepped in front of moving cars to justify shooting at drivers and used firearms against people throwing rocks across the border from Mexico, according to an independent review of 67 cases that resulted in 19 deaths.

A report by law enforcement experts chastised the Border Patrol for substandard investigations following cases where US agents fired their weapons. The review panel also said that it could not determine whether the Border Patrol “consistently and thoroughly reviews” instances where deadly force was used.   Continue reading “Border agents criticized for use of deadly force in report agency shielded from Congress”