Liberty Under Fire – by Harold Pease, PH. D

We drove down a quiet country road, trees and green meadows in every direction. Mount Carmel, the famous Branch Davidian Compound, was a sharp turn to the right. Gone was the mailbox at the entrance with Branch Davidian Church clearly written on it in big black letters where the once 100-plus residents of a devout break-off of the Seventh-day Adventist Church received their mail.

Once on the grounds, we were met with two simple memorials each telling us that something very significant and violent had happened here; one to the four ATF agents killed in the February 28, government raid. A few feet away was a shrine of sorts with a name on a plague for each of the 76 Davidians (19 men, 34 women, 23 children) who lost their lives in the fiery furnace in their place of residence 21 years ago, April 19, 1993. Sympathetic visitors had left money on one of the shrines.   Continue reading “Branch Davidian Sacred Soil, 21 Years Later”

altGun Owners of America

We start with yesterday’s bad news.

The Supreme Court’s decision in the Abramski case was a lawless decree imposed by liberal judges who are way out of step with the American people — as nearly 75% of them agree that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to own and sell guns.

Gun Owners of America filed two amicus briefs in support of James Abramski, a former police officer who was eligible to own firearms and who bought a handgun for his elderly uncle who was also eligible to own firearms.    Continue reading “Good News … and Some Bad News”

Abbott's first TV ad since primary in SpanishKHOU News

AUSTIN, (AP) – TITLE: “Contamos”
    
LENGTH: 30 seconds
    
AIRING: Univision and Spanish-language stations during the World Cup.
    
Spoken entirely in Spanish, the ad opens with Greg Abbott’s sister-in-law, Rosie Phalen, sitting in a kitchen and talking about first meeting the Republican nominee for governor more than 30 years ago. Abbott, who often mixes Spanish into campaign speeches but isn’t fluent, is filmed chatting and laughing at a picnic with the family of his wife, who’s the granddaughter of Mexican immigrants. “His values are our values. Faith, family and honesty,” Phalen says in Spanish. Continue reading “Abbott’s first TV ad since primary in Spanish”

Dallas News – by Christy Hoppe

AUSTIN — The attorney general’s office under Greg Abbott has approved more than $3 million in state contracts for a law firm that has been a generous political contributor — providing $200,000 to Abbott’s campaigns in the past 12 years.

Linebarger, Goggan, Blair & Sampson collects delinquent debts for several state agencies, including the North Texas Tollway Authority. The firm has also faced legal problems, with two partners facing criminal charges of trying to influence public officials in separate incidents.   Continue reading “Abbott has signed off on contracts for big campaign donor”

The Texas Attorney General says the TCEQ, the state's environmental regulator, was not responsible for killing 23 rare whooping cranes. State Impact – by MOSE BUCHELE

Ever since a fertilizer plant blew up last year and killed 15 people in West, Texas, many Texans have wanted to know where dangerous chemicals are stored in their area. Until recently, it was pretty easy to find out. They could simply ask the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS). But a string of recent rulings from Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott now says that information should be kept confidential.

It’s a trend that has open government advocates and some local officials worried.   Continue reading “Curious About Explosive Chemicals Near You? Texas Attorney General Says It’s Secret”

New York Times – by MARK LEIBOVICH

“Boys, I am going to bless this meal,” Rick Perry said, ducking his head and folding his hands under his chin. We were sitting at Nate ’n Al, the Jewish Deli in Beverly Hills, and the governor of Texas was looking every bit the regular customer in a tight black polo shirt and designer glasses. His face was nicely tanned; his hair, as ever, was coifed and TV-ready. He had just ordered a corned-beef Reuben (“I worked out this morning”) and a Diet Dr Pepper (“you got those critters?” he asked the waiter). But before diving in, Perry took a moment to appreciate his surroundings. “I’m more Jewish than you think I am,” he told me. “I read the part of the Bible that said the Jews are God’s chosen people.” He boasted that he has been going to Israel since 1992. Then Perry got down to business, thanking the Lord for His many blessings, and asking Him to be with “our men and women who defend our freedom, bring ’em home safe, be with the president, give him wisdom.”   Continue reading “Rick Perry’s ‘Groundhog Day’”

MAC24_SEA_STAR_GOO_CAROUSELMaclean’s – by Kate Lunau

From Alaska to Mexico—and all along the B.C. coast—an iconic animal is disappearing. For reasons that remain baffling to scientists, starfish are dying by the millions, in the grips of a mysterious wasting disease that dissolves their bodies into goo. “I’d do beach walks along a 50-m stretch of shoreline, and count 500 or 1,000 of them,” says Chris Harley, a marine ecologist at the University of British Columbia who’s been monitoring sea stars (as scientists call them) for nearly two decades at sites around Vancouver, West Vancouver and White Rock. Revisiting one of these sites recently, he found a single sea star.   Continue reading “B.C. starfish are dissolving into goo, and no one knows why”

ENE News

AP, June 11, 2014 (emphasis added): Scientists investigating a mysterious radiation leak at the federal government’s underground nuclear waste dump have identified five other potentially explosive containers of waste from Los Alamos National Laboratory that are being stored at a site in West Texas, New Mexico Environment Secretary Ryan Flynn told a legislative panel Tuesday. […] Asked if the public should be worried, Flynn said: “Every member of the community should be concerned. … But I don’t think they should be worried. I don’t think people should be panicked about another drum exploding because we required (the U.S. Department of Energy) to plan for that and have a system in place to protect the public.” […]   Continue reading “Officials: Leakage seen on “many” nuclear waste drums in WIPP underground”

Photo - Washington Examiner – by Paul Bedard

The Internal Revenue Service is about to get slapped with a harsh payback for messing around with conservative groups, blowing wads of tax dollars on employee conferences and helping implement Obamacare.

The House Appropriations Committee is set to OK an IRS budget of $10.9 billion, $1.5 billion under President Obama‘s request for fiscal year 2015, reducing the agency’s budget to 2008 levels.

The goal is to keep the tax agency focused on its “core duties,” and eliminate efforts to judge the political activities of tax-exempt groups and brake its implementation of Obamacare.   Continue reading “House budget punishes IRS with 15% cut, halts Obamacare enforcement”

Huffington Post – by Dennis Kucinich

As Iraq descends into chaos again, more than a decade after “Mission Accomplished,” media commentators and politicians have mostly agreed upon calling the war a “mistake.” But the “mistake” rhetoric is the language of denial, not contrition: it minimizes the Iraq War’s disastrous consequences, removes blame, and deprives Americans of any chance to learn from our generation’s foreign policy disaster. The Iraq War was not a “mistake” — it resulted from calculated deception. The painful, unvarnished fact is that we were lied to. Now is the time to have the willingness to say that.   Continue reading “Stop Calling the Iraq War a ‘Mistake’”

CBS New York

LEVITTOWN, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) – A retired NYPD officer charged in connection with the hit-and-run death of a 13-year-old girl with Down syndrome in Levittown faced a judge Tuesday.

Bail for Michael Elardo, 48, of Syosset was set at $1 million during his arraignment in First District Court in Hempstead.

Elardo, who is a retired, disabled and decorated 13-year veteran of the NYPD, surrendered to police on Monday and was charged with leaving the scene of an accident, authorities said.   Continue reading “Bail Set At $1 Million For Retired NYPD Officer Charged In Deadly Levittown Hit-Run Crash”

All Gov – by Noel Brinkerhoff

Billions of tax dollars have poured out of Washington D.C. since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to help states and local governments better secure their populations against terrorist threats. But the money allocated to one state demonstrates the questionable decision-making that comes from trying to prevent future threats on U.S. soil.

South Dakota, which has only 800,000 residents, has received $100 million in grants from the Department of Homeland Security since 2003. This largesse has been bestowed on a state with no known terrorist threats, now or ever.   Continue reading “South Dakota has Raked in $100 Million in Homeland Security Grants Despite No Known Terrorist Threats…Ever”

How Saving Money Is Better Than Earning ItThe Organic Prepper

We live in a society in which we pay for convenience.

The very best way to save money is to spend time.

Take a pizza, for example. Someone, somewhere, has to do the work to create that pizza. It might be more than one person.  But you pay for every set of hands involved in getting that meal in front of you. In a restaurant, you might be paying for the cook and for the server.  If you tend to get convenience meals at the grocery store, you are paying for someone else to have made the dough and assembled the pizza that you will in turn place in the oven at home.   Continue reading “The Austerity Diaries: How Saving Money Is Better Than Earning It”

Reuters / Gene BlevinsRT News

United Launch Alliance (ULA), the US joint venture providing space launch services in the US, has signed a number of contracts to find a replacement for the Russian-made RD-180 rocket engine, which is used in the Atlas family of rockets.

The announcement came after SpaceX, ULA’s competitor, sued the United States Air Force (USAF) to challenge what the firm’s CEO Elon Musk called a ULA monopoly. The USAF awarded ULA a contract for 36 launches at a value of $9.5 billion.   Continue reading “Multiple contracts: US firm scrambles to replace Russian-made engine for Atlas rockets”

George Clooney (AFP Photo / Michael Loccisano)RT News

Hollywood actor George Clooney is reportedly planning to run for governor of California within the next four years – an event that, if successful, could ultimately launch a campaign for the presidency.

According to the British tabloid newspaper the Daily Mirror, friends of the 53-year-old blockbuster movie star claim that Clooney is being wooed by Democrats hoping he’ll launch a long-speculated political career, with their sights set on the 2018 governor’s race. If Clooney agrees, he would likely start planning out the next steps after his September marriage to British human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin.   Continue reading “George Clooney plans to become governor of California before fighting for presidency”

Bp2WnwaCYAIX1KiGuerrillamerica – by Samuel Culper

Well, most of us knew it was only a matter of time.  The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), an al-Qaida affiliate, made international headlines this week as they took over Mosul and now threaten Baghdad.  ISIS, formerly Islamic State of Iraq, was started by a guy named Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (we waxed him during my first tour in 2006) under the name Jama’at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad.  Sometime around 2004 or 2005, Zarqawi officially picked up the mantle of al-Qaida and later started the Islamic State of Iraq as an umbrella for several groups, each of which pushed to topple the US-backed Iraqi government, and eventually rid the State of Iraq of all Shia Muslims.  That’s important to understand: with al-Qaida support, these groups formed a Sunni coalition to fight and expel Shias from Iraq.   Continue reading “Why the Iraqi Civil War Matters to America”