Huffington Post – by KAY JOHNSON

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Disregarding heated American protests, Afghanistan released 65 accused militants from a former U.S. prison on Thursday, despite warnings that the men are dangerous Taliban fighters and bomb-makers likely to return to killing foreign forces and Afghans.

The freeing of the men from the Parwan Detention Center further strains relations between Washington and President Hamid Karzai. The Afghan leader’s increasingly anti-American rhetoric and refusal to sign a long-negotiated bilateral security deal has heightened uncertainty ahead of the year-end withdrawal of most international forces.   Continue reading “Afghanistan Frees 65 ‘Dangerous’ Inmates, Despite Protests From U.S. Military”

Weekly Standard – by Michael Warren

In the early days of the Obama administration, “smart power” was all the rage—and not just on the foreign policy scene. In April 2009, National Public Radio reported how one Allentown, Pennsylvania, mother was saving more than a hundred dollars each month on her electric bill. Tammy Yeakel’s power company, PPL Energy, had helpfully installed a “smart meter” on her home that could monitor her power usage in real time. The meter uploaded that information to PPL’s website, so she could identify peak usage times during the day.   Continue reading “Illinois Electricity Customers Forced to Get ‘Smart Meters’ or Pay Fine”

Ted CruzMail.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — The tea party is teeing off on Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell.

Matt Bevin, who is challenging McConnell in the GOP primary in Kentucky, seized on the senator’s vote Wednesday to move ahead on legislation to increase the nation’s debt limit, describing it as a blank check for President Barack Obama. The tea party-backed businessman and conservative groups signaled they won’t let Senate Republican incumbents forget the vote this election year.   Continue reading “Tea party tees off on McConnell after debt vote”

View image on TwitterRT News

At least three people have died in violent protests in the Venezuelan capital, officials have confirmed. President Nicolas Maduro has condemned the unrest as an attempt at a coup d’état orchestrated by extremist members of the political opposition.

Thousands of protesters flooded the streets of the Venezuelan capital on Wednesday in the worst unrest since Nicolas Maduro assumed the presidency last year. Demonstrators from several different political factions clashed in Caracas, leaving at least three people dead and over 20 injured.   Continue reading “Venezuela coup? Gunfire, clashes as 3 dead in violent Caracas protest”

Mail.com

LIMA, Peru (AP) — Profuse sweating betrayed Nicole Bartscher’s internal panic over having 10 pounds of cocaine strapped to her body as she negotiated her way through Lima’s international airport in 2010 for a flight to the Netherlands.

Policewomen took the heavyset hairdresser aside, told her to strip and found the drug packages bound to her torso and legs. After a body cavity search, they arrested Bartscher and shuttled her to a crowded holding cell, where she slept on the floor, hungry and cold.   Continue reading “Foreign drug mules in Peruvian parole purgatory”

KTXL screenshotThe Daily Caller – by Eric Owens

An angry mother and father in a suburb of Sacramento are suing the Natomas Unified School District after their emotionally distraught seven-year-old daughter was left completely unattended and went wandering around town all by herself in the middle of a Wednesday school day.

The incident began to unfold around 9 a.m. on Dec. 18 at Jefferson Elementary School in Natomas, Calif, reports KTXL   Continue reading “Second grader roamed streets for hours after teacher locked her out of class for spilled water”

WND – by JACK MINOR

With Democrats facing a real possibility of losing the Senate this November, the Communist Party USA has announced the cavalry is planning to ride to their rescue by helping unite the left and stave off “right-wing extremism.”

The plans were announced during a web streaming event held by party Chairman Sam Webb Wednesday titled “Taking care of the future: from here to socialism.”   Continue reading “Communists to Obama: We’ve got your back”

Killer cop chased out of Denny’s by angry Kelly Thomas supportersIntellihub – by John Vibes

CALIFORNIA (INTELLIHUB) — Police officer Manuel Ramos got away with the murder of Kelly Thomas, a homeless man who was savagely beaten to death.

There may not be any justice in the legal system, but apparently there is some justice in the local community, because they have almost entirely shunned Ramos.   Continue reading “Cop that murdered Kelly Thomas becomes town outcast”

Mail.com

HOPEWELL, Va. (AP) — Federal agents intercepted the wealthy Iranian entrepreneur at a U.S. airport, questioned him about his business and charged him with illegal export of American-made satellite equipment to his native country.

Seyed Amin Ghorashi Sarvestani pleaded guilty soon afterward, but changed circumstances now have encouraged him to challenge his 30-month prison sentence. Since his plea, the federal government has approved for export to Iran the very products he was convicted of helping ship, his lawyers say. Then federal prosecutors in New York told a judge after the sentencing hearing that they had mistakenly exaggerated the equipment’s capabilities. The judge hasn’t moved to change the sentence, though lawyers for both sides are continuing to press their arguments.   Continue reading “Iranian satellite case in NY takes complex turn”

Mail.com

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The latest storm to roll off nature’s assembly line during this bustling winter spread heavy snow and sleet along the Northeast corridor Thursday, while utility crews in the ice-encrusted South labored to restore power to hundreds of thousands of shivering residents.

The storm shuttered schools and businesses, made driving scary, grounded thousands of flights and made more back-breaking work for people along the East Coast, where shoveling out has become a weekly chore — sometimes a twice-weekly one.   Continue reading “Another storm hits Northeast; ‘Oh, no, not again’”

Mail.com

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Comcast Corp. will buy Time Warner Cable Inc. for about $45.2 billion in a deal that would combine the nation’s top two cable TV companies and create a dominant force in creating and delivering entertainment.

The all-stock deal, which was approved by the boards of both companies, trumps a proposal from Charter Communications to buy Time Warner Cable for about $38 billion. It is expected to close by the end of the year, pending shareholder and regulatory approvals.   Continue reading “Comcast to buy Time Warner Cable for $45 billion”

(Source: Joern Haufe / Getty Images)Police State USA – by Marlon Brock

Americans are not typically aware of how their federal and state prison systems work. What we think we know, we learned from watching television. When I took my first walk through at FCI (Federal Correctional Institution) El Reno Oklahoma as a new employee, I was surprised at how non-Hollywood real prison life is. Frankly, all I knew about prison life was what I saw on television or at the movies. Not even close.     Continue reading “10 Prison Security Techniques Being Implemented on the American People”

Special_Atomic_Demolition_Munition_(carrying_case)The Daily Sheeple – by Chris Carrington

Special Atomic Demolition Munitions (SADMs) were designed to be a portable nuclear weapon that a single soldier could carry on his back.

Open sources describe the Special Atomic Demolition Munition (SADM) as a United States Navy and Marines project that was demonstrated as feasible in the mid-to-late 1960s, but was never used. US Army Special Forces historians would probably take exception to the program description, at least up to, and fortunately, not including, the “never used” part.   Continue reading “Mini Nukes: Who Owns All The Suitcase Bombs?”

New York Times – by DURAID ADNAN and TIM ARANGO

BAGHDAD — If there were such a thing, it would probably be rule No. 1 in the teaching manual for instructors of aspiring suicide bombers: Don’t give lessons with live explosives.

In what represented a cautionary tale for terrorist teachers, and a cause of dark humor for ordinary Iraqis, a commander at a secluded terrorist training camp north of Baghdad unwittingly used a belt packed with explosives while conducting a demonstration early Monday for a group of militants, killing himself and 21 other members of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, army and police officials said.   Continue reading “Suicide Bomb Trainer in Iraq Accidentally Blows Up His Class”