A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket attached to the cargo-only capsule called Dragon lifts off from the launch pad (AFP Photo / Getty Images / Joe Raedle)RT News

Space Exploration Technologies said it will take legal action against the US Air Force, in an effort to open up competition in the multibillion-dollar satellite launch market, dominated by just two defense contractors.

SpaceX, which has the distinction of being the first private company to send a spacecraft to the International Space Station, hopes to go where no other start-up company has gone before: In a courtroom showdown with the US Air Force, which presently contracts rocket launches to just two defense contractor companies, Lockheed Martin and Boeing.    Continue reading “SpaceX to challenge US Air Force rocket monopoly, citing Russia sanctions risk”

Sergey BrinMail.com

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Google says it has turned a corner in its pursuit of a car that can drive itself.

The tech giant’s self-driving cars already can navigate freeways comfortably, albeit with a driver ready to take control. But city driving — with its obstacle course of jaywalkers, bicyclists and blind corners — has been a far greater challenge for the cars’ computers.   Continue reading “Google: Driverless cars are mastering city streets”

Mail.com

LIVERMORE, Calif. (AP) — A young mother believed to be suffering from depression admitted to investigators that she stabbed her 7-month-old son to death in a Northern California park, police said Sunday.

Ashley Newton, 23, of San Jose was arrested Saturday on suspicion of murder, the East Bay Regional Parks District Police Department said in a statement. Investigators continue to interview her family and friends in an attempt to make sense of the alleged crime.   Continue reading “California mom tells police she stabbed infant son”

Photographs sent to The Telegraph and posted on social media sites showed at least four excavatorsThe Telegraph- by Tom Phillips

Demolition teams began destroying parts of a Chinese church that has become a symbol of resistance to the Communist Party’s draconian clutch on religion, activists and witnesses said on Monday.

Sanjiang church in Wenzhou, a wealthy coastal city known as the “Jerusalem of the East”, made headlines earlier this month when thousands of Christians formed a human shield around its entrance after plans for its demolition were announced.  

Continue reading “China accused of anti-Christian campaign as church demolition begins”

Opposing Views – by Michael Allen

The drought in California has caused 45 water agencies in the state to enforce mandatory limits on water use.

Citizens are encouraged to turn in neighbors who are suspected of wasting H2O to water-waste patrols.

These water patrols teach people to avoid wasting water on driveways, lawns and swimming pools, but can also cite residents for repeated violations.   Continue reading “California Cities Start Water-Waste Patrols, Encourage Residents to Snitch”

Tommy Henderson shows a survey of land along the Red River in North Texas. Three decades ago, an Oklahoma judge said 140 acres of land he managed belonged to the federal government – even though Henderson held the deed and diligently paid his taxes. Now, the federal government is weighing what to do with more land along the river, some of which has been in North Texas families for generations.American Freedom by Barbara

The Big Conversation: As Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson prepare to meet later today with Tommy Henderson, the man who has become the face of the increasingly politicized spat between Texas and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the Tribune’s Jim Malewitz has an exhaustive background story on the seeds of the conflict. Here are some excerpts:   Continue reading “BLM Says 116 Miles of Land Along Red River belongs neither to Texas nor Oklahoma”

marijuana pot weed 263x164 Nevada Initiative Takes Aim at Marijuana LegalizationNatural Society – by Elizabeth Renter

Only two states thus far have legalized the recreational use of marijuana, but Nevada is hoping to join them in coming years. According to the Associated Press, a marijuana advocacy group recently filed a petition to legalize possession in the state, though it may be a few years before we know the outcome of their efforts.

Campaign to Regulate Marijuana submitted the initiative petition this past week, a petition that will require about 102,000 to send the legalization bill onto lawmakers in 2015. If the legislature failed to act on the bill or if they rejected it, it would then go before voters in 2016, an election year.   Continue reading “Nevada Initiative Takes Aim at Marijuana Legalization”

Benjamin Netanyahu speaking at Yad Vashem Sunday, April 27, 2014. (photo credit: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)Times of Israel – by JOSHUA DAVIDOVICH AND STUART WINER

The world turned a blind eye to the rising Nazi threat over 75 years ago, and today Iran is being allowed to develop its nuclear program and menace Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday as the country marked Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Declaring that Iran was determined to acquire nuclear weapons, and urging international negotiators to insist that Iran’s enrichment and other nuclear capabilities be completely dismantled, Netanyahu warned: “A deal that leaves Iran as a threshold nuclear state will bring the world to the threshold of the abyss.”

Continue reading “Netanyahu compares Iran nuclear threat to Nazi menace”

Screen Shot 2014-03-08 at 1.59.29 PMGuns Save Lives – by Dan Cannon

Hello, This letter is for you Mr. and Mrs. American looking to buy .22LR ammunition. Finally, it’s also for you Mrs ammo reseller who makes daily trips to all of your area Wal Marts and sporting goods stores looking for 22LR at retail price. You get home and put it immediately for sale on Gunbroker, Armslist or at your local gun show at a 200-300% markup.

As I’m sure most people reading this already know, 22LR ammunition is harder to find at retail price than virgin unicorn blood right now. The popular marksmanship program, Appleseed, even has a revised course of fire now that requires fewer rounds of ammo due to the “22 shortage”.   Continue reading “An Open Letter to 22LR Buyers and Seekers”

Objection: BLM Agent Not Special ForcesSofrep – by Blake Miles

Some of you may have already seen this article making its rounds on the interwebs. In it, claims are made that Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Special Agent Daniel P. Love of the recent Bundy Ranch versus BLM debacle is/was an Army Special Forces soldier (Green Beret).

Special Agent Love earned a position of primary antagonist in the eyes of much of the country. This was a due to a secretly recorded conversation between reporter Pete Santilli, from Guerilla Media, and Special Agent Love, which can be heard here:   Continue reading “Objection: BLM Agent Not Special Forces”

kerry-netanyahu-300x198RINF – by Prof. Lawrence Davidson

Secretary of State John Kerry’s Israeli-Palestinian peace talks have reached their predictable collapse, but the U.S. news media still shies away from blaming Israeli intransigence and expansionism – nor advocating stern action against the land grabs.

In 1988, Yasser Arafat declared independence for Palestine based upon the notion of two states living in peace in historic Palestine. The border between those two states was to be set roughly at the armistice line established at the end of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. The Palestinian state’s capital was to be located in East Jerusalem.   Continue reading “Tolerating Israel’s Land Grabs”

Opposing Views – by Sarah Fruchtnicht

Police in Wausau, Wis., cited six students for disorderly conduct because they were having a Nerf gun battle.

Residents in Wausau allegedly called police after they spotted the students pointing a Nerf gun at a car Tuesday night. Even though the toy only shoots foam bullets, Wausau Police Capt. Ben Bliven told WAOW-TV that residents were frightened so police responded appropriately.   Continue reading “Six Wisconsin Students Cited For Nerf Gun Battle”

Navy Times – by Tom Vanden Brook, USA Today

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon plans to destroy more than $1 billion worth of ammunition although some of those bullets and missiles could still be used by troops, according to the Pentagon and congressional sources.

It’s impossible to know what portion of the arsenal slated for destruction — valued at $1.2 billion by the Pentagon — remains viable because the Defense Department’s inventory systems can’t share data effectively, according to a Government Accountability Office report obtained by USA TODAY.   Continue reading “Report: Pentagon to destroy $1B in ammo”

Frank Phillips (source: Knox County Sheriff's Office)WATE 6 News

KNOXVILLE (WATE) – The Knox County Sheriff’s Office says they have fired the deputy involved in Saturday night’s block party in Fort Sanders.

Frank Phillips, 47, has been with the Knox County Sheriff’s Office since 1992.

A statement posted on the Sheriff’s Office website reads:   Continue reading “Sheriff’s office fires deputy in Ft. Sanders party incident”

MassPrivateI

New Mexico – Driving with good posture, with hands at the classic ten and two position on the wheel, is sufficient reason to pull over a driver with a bad complexion, according to a ruling handed down Thursday by the Tenth Circuit US Court of Appeals. A unanimous three-judge panel approved the Border Patrol’s April 18, 2012 stop and search of a motorist who happened to be nervous when pulled over.

Border Patrol Agent Joshua Semmerling saw the white Ford F-150 pickup truck being driven in the opposite direction on Highway 80 in New Mexico, about 40 miles from the border with Mexico. It was 7:45pm, a time the Border Patrol agent found suspicious. The truck had an Arizona plate on the back and tinted windows, but its driver, Cindy Lee Westhoven, violated no traffic laws. Instead, Agent Semmerling noted she had “stiff posture” and hands “at a ten-and-two position on the steering wheel” so he decided to do a U-turn and pursue.
Continue reading “Court ruled driving upright with good posture & acne is suspicious”