Governing Ourselves
…Senate Joint Resolution 26, was authored by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC). The official purpose of the bill is to authorize the use of military force against the Islamic State. However, its vague language would give Obama sweeping new controls of the U.S. military and de facto martial law powers, the very power that give authority to the chief executive to suspend elections in a time of crisis.…
“A new strategy is aiming to counter an unacceptable level of toxic commentary on our website”, an opinion piece began in yesterday’s Observer – the Sunday edition of the Guardian newspaper.
The article, written by the Observer’s “reader’s editor” Stephen Pritchard, outlines how the paper – which recently announced a massive cost cutting exercise – is going to start censoring its readers on articles about race, immigration, and Islam.…
Hundreds of badges, credentials, cell phones and guns belonging to Department of Homeland Security employees have been lost or stolen in recent years -- raising serious security concerns about the potential damage these missing items could do in the wrong hands.…
…Many stories, including so-called “eye witnesses” have communicated versions of the incident leading to the death of Mr. Finicum of Mohave County, Arizona who had been protesting in Burn, Oregon the past five weeks. The most recent “eye witness” account distributed nationally was reported by Victoria Sharp. Ms. Sharp’s account is false. The video below is taken from the FBI plane following the Finicum vehicle, and shows the shooting event as it occurred.…
Authorities say shots were fired Tuesday during the arrest of members of an armed group that has occupied a national wildlife refuge in Oregon for more than three weeks. …one individual “who was a subject of a federal probable cause arrest is deceased.” No other information about the deceased was immediately released. …authorities arrested Ammon Bundy, 40, his brother Ryan Bundy, 43, Brian Cavalier, 44, Shawna Cox, 59, and Ryan Payne, 32, during a traffic stop on U.S. Highway 395 Tuesday afternoon. …another person, Joseph Donald O’Shaughnessy, 45, was arrested in Burns. …
…4 Arrested In Oregon Occupation, Including Ammon Bundy… Occupier, Ryan Paine, Shot Multiple Times… Dead, Six Arrested…
A bill introduced in the West Virginia House of Delegates this month would block unconstitutional foreign deployments of the state’s national guard troops, effectively restoring the Founders’ framework for state-federal balance on the Guard.…
Gun manufacturers could be sued by victims of gun violence under new legislation from Democrats.
The Equal Access to Justice for Victims of Gun Violence Act would roll back long-standing protections enjoyed by the gun industry that shields it from many lawsuits.…
…“If you’re a carmaker and your airbags kill someone, you’re potentially liable… If you’re a pharmaceutical company and sell faulty drugs, you can be held liable. If you’re a liquor store and sell alcohol to minors, you can be held liable."
After Islamic extremists took control in 2012 of several major cities in Mali, a majority-Muslim nation in West Africa, it was soon clear that a millennium’s worth of classic Islamic manuscripts was in grave danger.
As half a million Malians fled the violence, secret plans were put in motion to spirit away the treasure trove of writings to safety. Fearing that the jihadists would destroy the scrolls, because they were bombing and burning other historical artifacts, a librarian organized something of a manuscript underground railroad: Reams of delicate parchment were transported on donkeys and skiffs on the Niger River, across the country to sanctuary. …The manuscripts chronicle the evolution of a moderate, tolerant and peaceful Muslim religious practice. …
Federal employees with the Park Service brag about how they swindled two World War II veterans off the land for pennies on the dollar. And they all get a good laugh over it. …
The Isis jihadist group has completely destroyed a 1,400-year-old Christian monastery in Iraq, the oldest of its kind in the country.
Satellite images released on Wednesday by the Associated Press showed just a pile of rubble where St Elijah's Monastery used to stand on a hill above Mosul, Isis's stronghold in Iraq.
The monastery had survived as a place of Christian worship for almost one-and-a-half millenia, predating Islam itself, and had only suffered superficial damage throughout the country's most recent conflicts.…
Gov. Greg Abbott, aiming to spark a national conversation about states’ rights, said Friday that he wants Texas to lead the call for a convention to amend the U.S. Constitution and wrest power from a federal government “run amok.”…
There is certainly a role which can be played by state lawmakers to at the very least slow the expansion of the federal government and its programs. …
…You might live in a nation founded by geniuses but run by idiots…
A London court has cleared a rich Saudi Arabian immigrant of raping an 18-year-old girl as she slept. He argued that he accidentally tripped and penetrated her with his erect penis, which just happened to be protruding from his underwear…
What corrupts politics more: Millionaires and billionaires? Or the rules that intend to limit the influence of wealthy donors? George Will, author and Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for the Washington Post, explains who designed campaign finance reform and why Congress's solution to the problem may actually be the bigger problem.…
Many voters don't have the money to donate to political candidates or don't care enough to bother. But what if the government gave them $100 to dole out as they saw fit?
That's the experiment underway in Seattle after voters this month adopted the nation's first voucher system for campaign contributions. The idea is to get those who don't normally donate more involved in politics as a way to counteract the influence of big corporate donors and wealthy individuals…
It might be the world's most expensive gas station — not to mention a gross misuse of taxpayer money, according to a top government watchdog. The Department of Defense spent $43 million to build a gas station in Afghanistan that should have cost roughly $500,000…
Oklahoma's constitution begins with these words: "Invoking the guidance of Almighty God ..."
Judicial Watch: Defense, State Department Documents Reveal Obama Administration Knew that al Qaeda Terrorists Had Planned Benghazi Attack 10 Days in Advance
…It’s call “refugee resettlement” which is code for transplanting entire communities from hellholes in the Middle East to once beautiful towns and neighborhoods across America.…
On Sunday, California Governor Jerry Brown vetoed a bill that would have effectively nullified in practice some Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rules that prevent terminally-ill patients from accessing experimental treatments. … “This is a baffling veto,” Tenth Amendment Center national communications director Mike Maharrey said. “Why in the world would you wait to see if the FDA program works? Of course it won’t work. Gov. Brown is basically putting people’s lives in the hands of the equivalent of the DMV.” …
Maps of Islamic activity, mosques and refugees paint a disturbing picture… Maps of Islamic activity, mosques and refugees paint a disturbing picture…
…Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt said that discussion could lead to… changes to the Oklahoma State Constitution.
“When you look at other states that have put Ten Commandments monuments on capitol grounds, the U.S. Supreme Court has spoken very clearly, that that is very constitutional… [the] taking of our own constitution by the Oklahoma Supreme Court, saying it (monument) is unconstitutional, is inconsistent with our First Amendment protections we have under the U.S. Constitution. … I’m hopeful there can be a remedy to that… [Regarding Article II, Section 5 of the Oklahoma Constitution,] I believe if it is going to be interpreted like that, then I believe it needs to be repealed…”
Article II, Section 5 states, “No public money or property shall ever be appropriated, applied, donated, or used, directly or indirectly, for the use, benefit, or support of any sect, church, denomination, or system of religion, or for the use, benefit, or support of any priest, preacher, minister, or other religious teacher or dignitary, or sectarian institution as such.” …
A Columbus attorney has announced that a 12-year-old Amish girl is cancer-free, despite courtroom testimony last year from doctors that she would be dead in six months without chemotherapy treatments. Maurice Thompson, the executive director for the libertarian nonprofit 1851 Center for Constitutional Law, said the girl, Sarah Hershberger, shows no signs of cancer and appears to be healthy.… In the wake of Sarah’s case, Thompson called on lawmakers to reform Ohio’s laws that grant judges the power to overrule parental decisions regarding their children’s health and well-being.…
…Yesterday, Loretta Lynch announced before the United Nations that the Attorney General’s office, in collaboration with several US cities, will form a global law enforcement initiative called the Strong Cities Network. This is the implementation of UN rules and laws on US soil, bypassing Congress and circumventing the Constitution. …
In Greensboro, EPA-funded contractors grading a toxic 19th-century cotton mill site struck a water main, sending the deadly sediment into a nearby creek. Though that accident took place five months ago, the hazard continues as heavy storms — one hit the area Tuesday — wash more soil into the creek.
The sediment flows carry dangerous mercury, lead, arsenic and chromium downstream to Lake Oconee and then to the Oconee River — home to many federally and state protected species.
Lead in the soil at the project site is 20,000 times higher than federal levels established for drinking water…
…Turns out that this isn't the first time the EPA has been engaging in craptacular shenanigans in the Animas River and trying to cover it up. According to this, the EPA's been dumping toxic sludge from mines into the river going back to 2005…
…Experts differed over the best color for the tiny plastic balls, with one telling FoxNews.com they should have been white and another saying a chrome color would be optimal. But all agreed that the worst color for the job is the one LA chose. …
The number of Hillary Clinton emails flagged for potentially classified content has grown to more than 300,…
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