Blog Heap of Links for the day 10 August 2015

Jihadis' VJ Day plot to bomb the Queen: Police and MI5 in race against time to foil 'spectacular' Boston Marathon copycat IED attack next Saturday

7 Aug - Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL/IS) militiamen have kidnapped 230 Syrian civilians, including 19 children and 45 women, after invading a village in the province of Homs in central Syria. Among the hostages are 60 Christians… included Christians who had fled Aleppo province to the north in search of safety in the village of al-Qaryatain…

So there's this guy in Arlington, Virginia who was walking around with his Confederate/Gadsden hybrid flag (it's basically a Confederate Battle flag with the Gadsden "Don't Tread on Me" snake in the middle). And, according to this, some "concerned citizen" (nosy neighbor is more like it) snapped a picture of the guy and then called 911 because the guy was "walking very deliberately" with his flag. He wasn't talking to anyone or harrassing anybody or trespassing on private property. Just - walking around with his flag. …

Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt: EPA Rule A Political Power Grab Over Power Grid

…The EPA is under fire today after workers from the agency accidentally triggered a leak of wastewater while attempting to clean up an old gold mine near the city of Durango, Colorado, sending an estimated one million gallons of the toxic liquid into the Animas River. (Twitchy)

“He worked for Phillips in the basement at 310 W. 5th in Bartlesville and on one occasion he was working on something that killed about half the birds in Bartlesville. He had glasses about an inch thick and grew a ton of tomatoes in his garden every year. He always rode a bike to work; his eyesight may have been too bad for him to be able to drive. You could not tell by looking but he was a brilliant man and did co-invent the aerosol can.”

…She shouted the word "danger" to her service dog, a golden Labrador named Yolanda, prompting the dog to dial 911 on a specialized phone. …

Two teenagers, boyfriend and girlfriend, are now joking that they have an “electric love” because they were struck by lightning while holding hands in Claremont on Thursday.… A doctor said that the young lovers’ lives were probably saved by the fact that they were holding hands….

On August 6, residents and Bonner County Sheriff Daryl Wheeler lined up outside the Priest River, Idaho, home of veteran John Arnold to prevent the Veterans Administration (VA) from taking away his guns.…

In a stunning reversal of fortune for more than a thousand immigrant asylum-seekers and their families in Maine, it appears that Governor Paul LePage, who vehemently opposes any state or municipal aid going to these victims of violence and persecution, has just accidentally enshrined into law their eligibility for General Assistance. … LePage’s staff is claiming that he engaged in what’s known as a “pocket veto…” used to kill bills outright after the Legislature has adjourned. …the legislature hasn’t adjourned…

The Tablet, a prominent Jewish magazine, accused the Obama White House of using Nazi-style attacks on Jews who disagree with the foolish nuclear deal with the Iranian regime. …

The notion that Trump or ANY external source is destroying the GOP—is absolute nonsense. The GOP wounds are self-inflicted, and these guys are sounding more and more like Obama, blaming others for their own failures.

Fiorina, Fiorina, Fiorina. Also Schumer. And Much More.

…On this day in 1901, The U.S. Steel Recognition Strike by the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers began. Like most of the early labor organizations this union was largely communist. This strike failed. In fact it left the steel workers in worse shape than they were before the strike. Eventually the unions succeeded in organizing the steel companies. And eventually the steel companies went out of business and all production moved to non-union mills overseas.