Rep. Lou Barletta (R., Penn.) / APFree Beacon – by Monique Hamm

Rep. Lou Barletta (R., Pa.) introduced a bill Tuesday that will exempt volunteer fire departments from having to pay for their members’ insurance benefits.

The current IRS policy defines volunteer firefighters as employees for federal tax purposes. If voted into law, the Protecting Volunteer Firefighters and Emergency Responders Act will redefine volunteers as non-employees, which will relieve fire departments from the burden of paying for volunteers’ health insurance.   Continue reading “Protecting Volunteer Firefighters from Obamacare”

Ryan-Murray budget deal hikes air travel security tax by 124 percentThe Daily Caller – by Vince Coglianese

The newly-released budget deal between Democratic Sen. Patty Murray and Republican Rep. Paul Ryan will hike the aviation security fee paid by air travelers by 124 percent, if passed.

Murray and Ryan settled on an agreement that would hit air travelers with a fee of $5.60 per one-way flight — or $11.20 for a round-trip excursion.   Continue reading “Ryan-Murray budget deal hikes air travel security tax by 124 percent”

Stanley Wrice, Jennifer BonjeanMail.com

PONTIAC, Ill. (AP) — A man who for decades insisted that Chicago police tortured him until he confessed to a rape he did not commit walked out of an Illinois prison on Wednesday after spending 30 years behind bars.

“It’s just an overwhelming feeling of joy, happiness that finally it’s over with,” 59-year-old Stanley Wrice said, moments after he walked into the arms of his two daughters, attorneys and others who greeted him as he left Pontiac Correctional Center.   Continue reading “Man alleging police torture released from prison”

News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images/AFP)RT News

It appears that even employees of media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s own publications don’t too much care for the cantankerous octogenarian — and they’re not half bad at puzzles, either.

That’s at least the determination that many readers of Australia’s largest newspaper made this week after catching a curious secret message of sorts in the Sunday Telegraph.   Continue reading “Murdoch’s own newspaper calls him ‘evil’”

DoD Admission Agent OrangeDisabled Veterans – by Benjamin Krause

The Daily Register just reported that DoD expanded the list of those exposed to Agent Orange and dioxin during the Vietnam War to include Thailand. After more than 50 years of denials, DoD has finally admitted its wrongs, at least in Thailand.

Recently, the war agency released previously classified documents that indicate US military forces sprayed significant amounts of Agent Orange type materials in Thailand, which was previously denied by government officials.   Continue reading ““New” DoD Admission: Even More Veterans were Exposed to Agent Orange”

Screenshot from YouTube User IEEE SpectrumRT News

NASA scientists have been secretly at work for a year on a walking, humanoid-like robot meant to evoke awe in anyone who comes across it — and it looks like they’ve accomplished their mission.

Researchers at NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, Texas have released video footage of what they’re entering in a Pentagon-sponsored robotics contest later this month, and the evidence is enough to give just about anyone some spooky, sci-fi nightmares.   Continue reading “NASA unveils 6-foot-tall humanoid robot”

FILE In this Oct. 1, 1999 file photo a Topol-M intercontinental ballistic missile is launched from the northern Plesetsk cosmodrome in Russia. A Russian Cabinet member says Moscow has reserved the right to use nuclear weapons in response to a conventional strike. Wednesday's comments by Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin carried by Russian news agencies reflected Moscow's concern with prospective U.S. weapons. (AP Photo/Str)Yahoo News – by VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia reserves the right to use nuclear weapons in response to a conventional strike and sees them as a “great equalizer” reducing the likelihood of aggression, a senior Russian official said Wednesday.

While Russia amended its military doctrine years ago to allow for the possibility of using nuclear weapons first in retaliation to a non-nuclear attack, the statement by Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin reflected Moscow’s concern about prospective U.S. conventional weapons.   Continue reading “Russia may answer conventional attack with nukes”

Rockefeller attaches cybersecurity bill to NDAA 2014A Sheep No More

Jay Rockefeller (D WVA) has attached a cyber-security amendment (attached below) to the NDAA 2014 bill in Congress to mandate that precautions be taken to protect America’s cyber infrastructure and private entities. Those of us who represent private entities, will soon find our free access to the internet eliminated.

The fact that this internet control bill is attached to the NDAA is no accident because this means that anyone who they deem as a dissident for posting anti-government rhetoric on the internet can be snatched off the street and held indefinitely, without due process, for their “terrorist” views.    Continue reading “Rockefeller attaches cybersecurity bill to National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) 2014”

Sign language experts say this unidentified sign language interpreter was a fake. Picture: AP Courier Mail – by DANIEL PIOTROWSKI

A MAN who provided sign language interpretation for Barack Obama and other dignitaries at Nelson Mandela’s memorial service was “a fake”, according to multiple sign language experts.

Bruno Druchen, the national director of the Deaf Federation of South Africa, said the man, seen next to the US president and other world leaders, “was moving his hands around but there was no meaning in what he used his hands for.”   Continue reading “Deaf community outraged sign language interpreter for Barack Obama at Nelson Mandela memorial service was a ‘fake’”