Bill Maher and Piers Morgan, both Obama supporters, agree that the Affordable Care Act would never have passed were it not for the President’s lies
Well what do you know ….. a couple of prominent Obama supporters are criticizing the President for being a ‘barefaced’ liar.
BILL MAHER: OBAMA SHOULD NOT HAVE LIED ABOUT OBAMACARE
By Greg Richter
Newsmax
October 30, 2013
Comedian and liberal political commentator Bill Maher says President Barack Obama should have been upfront that people would lose the health insurance they like under the Affordable Care Act.
But Maher believes that if he had, Obamacare likely would never have passed.
"I don't think Obama should have lied to people," Maher said Tuesday on CNN's Piers Morgan Live. Host Morgan, a supporter of Obamacare and native of Great Britain where healthcare is provided by the government, agreed with Maher that Obama's repeated promise was "a barefaced lie."
Republican politicians and conservative pundits alike said Obama wasn't being honest when he said that his signature healthcare plan would allow anyone who liked his or her insurance policy to keep it. Rules written after the bill passed made virtually all the "grandfathered" policies illegal.
"The thing passed by this much," Maher said holding his thumb and forefinger inches apart. Had Obama told people that many of them would lose the insurance they like it wouldn't have had a chance, he admitted.
Maher also doubts Obama is being truthful when he says he was unaware the United States was spying on the leaders of allied countries, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The White House's insistence that Obama was out of the loop is "not credible and not excusable," Maher said. "I thought he was the detail guy."
Thursday, October 31, 2013
TEXAS ACCUSED OF SCREWING UP OBAMACARE
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius finds someone to blame other than herself
All Americans, even those with half a brain, ought to be incensed that Sebelius thinks we’re all so stupid as to buy her absurd load of shit. I suppose blaming Texas is as close to blaming Bush as she could get.
SEBELIUS SAYS TEXAS POLITICS SCREWED UP OBAMACARE
By Dianna Wray
Houston Press Hair Balls
October 29, 2013
The Affordable Care Act has been rolled out, the insurance enrollment website went live and it's had a lot of snags in the process. Hair Balls will bet no one knows that better than U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
She's been out on tour, promoting Obamacare while simultaneously trying to make up for the website problems that are leading many to call the roll-out a failure, and she even swung through Austin and San Antonio. She was also apparently out on the road to assign blame.
The failure has left Sebelius in the political crosshairs -- many are asking whether or not she should keep her gig in the wake of the website problems -- but Sebelius isn't taking it all on herself. Nope, while some fault may lie with Sebelius, she's lodging a great deal of the initial failure of Obamacare with Texas and the political machinations in play against the law.
"It's unfortunate that it is still being conducted as a political campaign and not as the law," she said in an interview with the Texas Tribune. "This is no longer a political debate; it's the law of the land."
She acknowledged that Texas, the state with the most uninsured residents in the nation, is key to the success of the law. It's a tricky thing to have Lone Star State cooperation be a key component to success when entire political careers (read: Sen Ted Cruz) are being launched into the stratosphere by opposing the Affordable Care Act.
Thousands of Texans who buy their own insurance may have to go without as insurance companies get rid of existing policies and the state prepares to close the high-risk insurance pool. At the same time, Gov. Rick Perry declined to set up a state-run market for insurance or to expand Medicaid so a huge portion of people may not be covered as the program gets going, according to the Texas Tribune. Even the Texas politicians like Sen. Wendy Davis who are in favor of the program have expressed concerns about the problems that could come with it.
In the meantime, Sebelius seems to be juggling getting the website running and not losing her job. When people like Bill Dale, former White House chief of staff, start comparing you to the captain of a doomed ocean-liner that's not good.
"To me that's kind of like firing Captain Smith on the Titanic after it hit the iceberg. It's not going to do much right now," Dale told CBS last week.
All Americans, even those with half a brain, ought to be incensed that Sebelius thinks we’re all so stupid as to buy her absurd load of shit. I suppose blaming Texas is as close to blaming Bush as she could get.
SEBELIUS SAYS TEXAS POLITICS SCREWED UP OBAMACARE
By Dianna Wray
Houston Press Hair Balls
October 29, 2013
The Affordable Care Act has been rolled out, the insurance enrollment website went live and it's had a lot of snags in the process. Hair Balls will bet no one knows that better than U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
She's been out on tour, promoting Obamacare while simultaneously trying to make up for the website problems that are leading many to call the roll-out a failure, and she even swung through Austin and San Antonio. She was also apparently out on the road to assign blame.
The failure has left Sebelius in the political crosshairs -- many are asking whether or not she should keep her gig in the wake of the website problems -- but Sebelius isn't taking it all on herself. Nope, while some fault may lie with Sebelius, she's lodging a great deal of the initial failure of Obamacare with Texas and the political machinations in play against the law.
"It's unfortunate that it is still being conducted as a political campaign and not as the law," she said in an interview with the Texas Tribune. "This is no longer a political debate; it's the law of the land."
She acknowledged that Texas, the state with the most uninsured residents in the nation, is key to the success of the law. It's a tricky thing to have Lone Star State cooperation be a key component to success when entire political careers (read: Sen Ted Cruz) are being launched into the stratosphere by opposing the Affordable Care Act.
Thousands of Texans who buy their own insurance may have to go without as insurance companies get rid of existing policies and the state prepares to close the high-risk insurance pool. At the same time, Gov. Rick Perry declined to set up a state-run market for insurance or to expand Medicaid so a huge portion of people may not be covered as the program gets going, according to the Texas Tribune. Even the Texas politicians like Sen. Wendy Davis who are in favor of the program have expressed concerns about the problems that could come with it.
In the meantime, Sebelius seems to be juggling getting the website running and not losing her job. When people like Bill Dale, former White House chief of staff, start comparing you to the captain of a doomed ocean-liner that's not good.
"To me that's kind of like firing Captain Smith on the Titanic after it hit the iceberg. It's not going to do much right now," Dale told CBS last week.
SHAMEFUL RELEASE OF PALESTININA TERRORISTS CONTINUES
Israel releases the brutal Palestinian murderers of men, women and children for no other reason than to please its American ally
Israel is being pressured by the Obama administration to do something we would never ever do ourselves – release terrorists who have been convicted of murdering American men women and children.
ISRAEL LAMENTS, PALESTINIANS REJOICE AS MURDERERS FREED
By Ryan Jones
Israel Today
October 30, 2013
Israel on Tuesday night played out what has become the all-too-frequent, gut-wrenching ritual of freeing jailed Palestinian Arab terrorists "with blood on their hands."
These are men who have directly participated in the brutal murder of Israeli men, women and children. These are men who just a few short years ago Israel vowed it would never release.
As the government's willingness to stick to its former convictions has waned, efforts by the public to keep these killers behind bars have increased.
Up until the very minute that the 26 Palestinian prisoners were loosed late Tuesday night, Israelis were demonstrating and petitioning the Supreme Court against what they saw as a terrible mistake by their leaders.
Leading the charge, as usual, were the family members of the victims whose lives were taken by the unrepentant terrorists now feeling freedom's warm embrace.
"It makes no sense to release murderers who came in a premeditated manner to kill our people," Ortal Temam, whose father was killed by one of the terrorists nearly 30 years ago, told the Supreme Court judges. "We have lost our moral compass."
"We have now crossed every red line when it comes to freeing convicted murderers," added Meir Indor, head of the Almagor Terror Victims Association.
Speaking to Arutz Sheva, Prof. Avi Diskin of Jerusalem's Hebrew University said the only reason Israel goes through with this insanity is to please its American allies.
"It is true that we are extremely dependent on [the Americas], and that in order to placate them we free terrorists," said Diskin, "but this is a process [freeing convicted terrorists] they would never undertake in their own country."
Meanwhile in the de facto Palestinian capital of Ramallah, the release was predictably marked by joyous street celebrations. For the Palestinians, the freeing of those who have purposefully murdered Jewish men, women and children is a great victory over the hated "Zionists."
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas again declared that he would never conclude a final status peace agreement with Israel that did not include the release of every last Palestinian prisoner, regardless of his crime.
Israel is being pressured by the Obama administration to do something we would never ever do ourselves – release terrorists who have been convicted of murdering American men women and children.
ISRAEL LAMENTS, PALESTINIANS REJOICE AS MURDERERS FREED
By Ryan Jones
Israel Today
October 30, 2013
Israel on Tuesday night played out what has become the all-too-frequent, gut-wrenching ritual of freeing jailed Palestinian Arab terrorists "with blood on their hands."
These are men who have directly participated in the brutal murder of Israeli men, women and children. These are men who just a few short years ago Israel vowed it would never release.
As the government's willingness to stick to its former convictions has waned, efforts by the public to keep these killers behind bars have increased.
Up until the very minute that the 26 Palestinian prisoners were loosed late Tuesday night, Israelis were demonstrating and petitioning the Supreme Court against what they saw as a terrible mistake by their leaders.
Leading the charge, as usual, were the family members of the victims whose lives were taken by the unrepentant terrorists now feeling freedom's warm embrace.
"It makes no sense to release murderers who came in a premeditated manner to kill our people," Ortal Temam, whose father was killed by one of the terrorists nearly 30 years ago, told the Supreme Court judges. "We have lost our moral compass."
"We have now crossed every red line when it comes to freeing convicted murderers," added Meir Indor, head of the Almagor Terror Victims Association.
Speaking to Arutz Sheva, Prof. Avi Diskin of Jerusalem's Hebrew University said the only reason Israel goes through with this insanity is to please its American allies.
"It is true that we are extremely dependent on [the Americas], and that in order to placate them we free terrorists," said Diskin, "but this is a process [freeing convicted terrorists] they would never undertake in their own country."
Meanwhile in the de facto Palestinian capital of Ramallah, the release was predictably marked by joyous street celebrations. For the Palestinians, the freeing of those who have purposefully murdered Jewish men, women and children is a great victory over the hated "Zionists."
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas again declared that he would never conclude a final status peace agreement with Israel that did not include the release of every last Palestinian prisoner, regardless of his crime.
BEER RUN LEADS TO CHARGE OF DRIVING DRUNK ON LAWN MOWER
The mower rider, a Goodwill employee, failed to receive any goodwill from the police.
MAN CHARGED WITH DUI AFTER DRUNK DRIVING HIS LAWN MOWER ON A BEER RUN TO THE STORE
Mail Online
October 30, 2013
A Maine man faces drunk driving charges after allegedly using his riding lawn mower to make a beer run.
Police say convenience store employees turned away 51-year-old Tony Caulder when he came to Cummings Market in Kennebunk on October 19 because they thought he was drunk.
The employees followed the man outside to make sure he wasn't getting into a car and called police when he rode off on the lawn mower.
He had earlier been seen pumping gas into his lawnmower on the forecourt.
Police charged him with driving under the influence after stopping him a short time later.
The 51-year-old was released on bail the next day and is scheduled to make a court appearance in January.
Under Maine law, riding a lawnmower on a public road is illegal, and since Caulder's type of machine is defined as a motor vehicle, officers filed a DUI charge they told WMTV.
MAN CHARGED WITH DUI AFTER DRUNK DRIVING HIS LAWN MOWER ON A BEER RUN TO THE STORE
Mail Online
October 30, 2013
A Maine man faces drunk driving charges after allegedly using his riding lawn mower to make a beer run.
Police say convenience store employees turned away 51-year-old Tony Caulder when he came to Cummings Market in Kennebunk on October 19 because they thought he was drunk.
The employees followed the man outside to make sure he wasn't getting into a car and called police when he rode off on the lawn mower.
He had earlier been seen pumping gas into his lawnmower on the forecourt.
Police charged him with driving under the influence after stopping him a short time later.
The 51-year-old was released on bail the next day and is scheduled to make a court appearance in January.
Under Maine law, riding a lawnmower on a public road is illegal, and since Caulder's type of machine is defined as a motor vehicle, officers filed a DUI charge they told WMTV.
AMELIA THE CAT SURVIVES PLANE CRASH THAT KILLED THE PILOT
News 4 San Antonio reports that “Amelia's ears, paws and whiskers were burned in the crash. She was in a crate during the flight and family members said a judge at the scene discovered her food and litter in the wreckage and insisted upon searching for her. Once she was found, she was treated at Herbst Veterinary Hospital in Boerne. She's still shaken up and a little sore, but she's providing some comfort to the family, whose loss has shaken them to the core.”
Amelia belonged to one of the pilot’s sons. He was bringing her home because the son could not take care of the cat while attending medical school.
PILOT KILLED IN CRASH, BUT HIS SON’S CAT SURVIVES
Associated Press
October 28, 2013
BOERNE, Texas (AP) — Investigators say a 47-year-old man died when the small plane he was flying clipped some trees and a power line before crashing and bursting into flames in Central Texas.
The Texas Department of Public Safety says William Doppelt of Helotes (heh-LOH'-tehs) died in the crash of his plane late Sunday afternoon just east of Boerne (BER'-nee), about 25 miles northwest of San Antonio. However, Trooper Deon Cockrell said a cat survived the crash with minor burns and was receiving treatment at a veterinary clinic in Boerne.
Cockrell says Doppelt's single-engine Bellanca Viking was flying low when it crashed along Texas 46.
Authorities are trying to determine what caused the crash.
Amelia belonged to one of the pilot’s sons. He was bringing her home because the son could not take care of the cat while attending medical school.
PILOT KILLED IN CRASH, BUT HIS SON’S CAT SURVIVES
Associated Press
October 28, 2013
BOERNE, Texas (AP) — Investigators say a 47-year-old man died when the small plane he was flying clipped some trees and a power line before crashing and bursting into flames in Central Texas.
The Texas Department of Public Safety says William Doppelt of Helotes (heh-LOH'-tehs) died in the crash of his plane late Sunday afternoon just east of Boerne (BER'-nee), about 25 miles northwest of San Antonio. However, Trooper Deon Cockrell said a cat survived the crash with minor burns and was receiving treatment at a veterinary clinic in Boerne.
Cockrell says Doppelt's single-engine Bellanca Viking was flying low when it crashed along Texas 46.
Authorities are trying to determine what caused the crash.
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
DER FUHRER RANTS ABOUT OBAMACARE
'There's only one thing left to do now ... Let's find a way to blame Bush'
A BIG LIE: “IF YOU LIKE YOUR HEALTH CARE PLAN, YOU’LL BE ABLE TO KEEP YOUR HEALTH CARE PLAN, PERIOD!”
In fighting for Obamacare, the President proved to be the Liar-In-Chief
When he was campaigning for his health insurance law in 2009, President Obama repeatedly promised the American people that once the Affordable Care Act became law, “If you like your health care plan, you’ll be able to keep your health care plan, period!”
And in a speech before the American Medical Association, Obama said: "If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor, period! If you like your health care plan, you'll be able to keep your health care plan, period! No one will take it away, no matter what!"
However, the Obama administration has known all along that millions of Americans would not be able to keep their existing health insurance plans because those plans do not meet the standards required by the new health care law. That means in selling his signature health care law, Obama proved to be the Liar-In-Chief.
More than 2 million people have already been notified they will lose their existing health insurance policies because of Obamacare, including 800,000 in New Jersey, 300,000 in Florida, 279,000 in California and 140,000 in Michigan.
NBC News reports that its sources predict “that 50 to 75 percent of the 14 million consumers who buy their insurance individually can expect to receive a 'cancellation' letter or the equivalent over the next year because their existing policies don’t meet the standards mandated by the new health care law. One expert predicts that number could reach as high as 80 percent. And all say that many of those forced to buy pricier new policies will experience 'sticker shock'."
Of course, White House staff members like Valerie Jarrett and Jay Carney say the NBC report is incorrect. Yeah, tell that to the more than 2 million people who have suddenly received their health insurance policy cancellation notices.
Obama made repeated promises about his health care act which a man of his intelligence should have known could not be kept. When someone makes a promise knowing that it cannot be kept, he is perpetrating a lie, period!
When he was campaigning for his health insurance law in 2009, President Obama repeatedly promised the American people that once the Affordable Care Act became law, “If you like your health care plan, you’ll be able to keep your health care plan, period!”
And in a speech before the American Medical Association, Obama said: "If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor, period! If you like your health care plan, you'll be able to keep your health care plan, period! No one will take it away, no matter what!"
However, the Obama administration has known all along that millions of Americans would not be able to keep their existing health insurance plans because those plans do not meet the standards required by the new health care law. That means in selling his signature health care law, Obama proved to be the Liar-In-Chief.
More than 2 million people have already been notified they will lose their existing health insurance policies because of Obamacare, including 800,000 in New Jersey, 300,000 in Florida, 279,000 in California and 140,000 in Michigan.
NBC News reports that its sources predict “that 50 to 75 percent of the 14 million consumers who buy their insurance individually can expect to receive a 'cancellation' letter or the equivalent over the next year because their existing policies don’t meet the standards mandated by the new health care law. One expert predicts that number could reach as high as 80 percent. And all say that many of those forced to buy pricier new policies will experience 'sticker shock'."
Of course, White House staff members like Valerie Jarrett and Jay Carney say the NBC report is incorrect. Yeah, tell that to the more than 2 million people who have suddenly received their health insurance policy cancellation notices.
Obama made repeated promises about his health care act which a man of his intelligence should have known could not be kept. When someone makes a promise knowing that it cannot be kept, he is perpetrating a lie, period!
EX-CON KILLS MOM, AUNT, 3 OTHERS IN TERRELL, TEXAS SHOOTING SPREE
Police chief says the shooting spree has left his small rural town in a state of shock
The killer has a criminal history going back to 1995, including convictions for assaulting a family member, drug possession and weapons charges. His brother said he had been living with their mother and struggled with drug addiction.
SHOOTING SPREE LEAVES FIVE DEAD IN SMALL TEXAS TOWN
AFP
October 29, 2013
A shooting spree at four homes and a gas station left five people dead and a suspect in custody, local media reported Tuesday.
A woman who answered the phone at the police station in Terrell, Texas was unable to provide information on the shooting, telling AFP only that "the subject is in custody."
He was identified in local media reports as Charles Brownlow, a man with a lengthy criminal history.
NBC news reported that neighbors identified the first woman shot as Brownlow's aunt, whose body was discovered in her home at about 5 pm Monday.
Half an hour later a firefighter noticed smoke coming from the home of Brownlow's mother. Her body was discovered inside the charred house.
Things were quiet for a little while, but at 10 pm shots were fired at the home of Brownlow's girlfriend, NBC news reported. Nobody was hurt there.
The bodies of a woman and a man were found dead in another home at 10:27 pm. A three-year-old child discovered in the home was unhurt.
Ten minutes later, a convenience store clerk was shot dead at Ali's Market. Brownlow tried to flee police in a car stolen from his mother's house, but he crashed into a fence and then ran off into the woods. He was captured with the help of infrared cameras and helicopters at 1:30 am Tuesday.
"We're all in a state of shock, you have a tendency to think, 'How can that happen here?'" Terrell Police Chief Jody Lay told reporters at an early morning press conference.
"This is a country community, a rural community, people are real close and this is going to have a really big impact on us."
The killer has a criminal history going back to 1995, including convictions for assaulting a family member, drug possession and weapons charges. His brother said he had been living with their mother and struggled with drug addiction.
SHOOTING SPREE LEAVES FIVE DEAD IN SMALL TEXAS TOWN
AFP
October 29, 2013
A shooting spree at four homes and a gas station left five people dead and a suspect in custody, local media reported Tuesday.
A woman who answered the phone at the police station in Terrell, Texas was unable to provide information on the shooting, telling AFP only that "the subject is in custody."
He was identified in local media reports as Charles Brownlow, a man with a lengthy criminal history.
NBC news reported that neighbors identified the first woman shot as Brownlow's aunt, whose body was discovered in her home at about 5 pm Monday.
Half an hour later a firefighter noticed smoke coming from the home of Brownlow's mother. Her body was discovered inside the charred house.
Things were quiet for a little while, but at 10 pm shots were fired at the home of Brownlow's girlfriend, NBC news reported. Nobody was hurt there.
The bodies of a woman and a man were found dead in another home at 10:27 pm. A three-year-old child discovered in the home was unhurt.
Ten minutes later, a convenience store clerk was shot dead at Ali's Market. Brownlow tried to flee police in a car stolen from his mother's house, but he crashed into a fence and then ran off into the woods. He was captured with the help of infrared cameras and helicopters at 1:30 am Tuesday.
"We're all in a state of shock, you have a tendency to think, 'How can that happen here?'" Terrell Police Chief Jody Lay told reporters at an early morning press conference.
"This is a country community, a rural community, people are real close and this is going to have a really big impact on us."
COLUMNHIST DENNIS PRAGER NOT AN ADMIRER OF PRESIDENT OBAMA
He excoriates the president by saying “Obama has done and continues to do major damage to America” both domestically and internationally
If half of what Dennis Prager says is true, then Obama has got to be one of our worst presidents ever.
THE PRESIDENT WHO HAS DONE THE MOST DAMAGE
By Dennis Prager
Jewish World Review
October 29, 2013
I have been broadcasting for 31 years and writing for longer than that. I do not recall ever saying on radio or in print that a president is doing lasting damage to our country. I did not like the presidencies of Jimmy Carter (the last Democrat I voted for) or Bill Clinton. Nor did I care for the "compassionate conservatism" of George W. Bush. In modern political parlance "compassionate" is a euphemism for ever-expanding government.
But I have never written or broadcast that our country was being seriously damaged by a president. So it is with great sadness that I write that President Barack Obama has done and continues to do major damage to America. The only question is whether this can ever be undone.
This is equally true domestically and internationally.
Domestically, his policies have gravely impacted the American economy.
He has overseen the weakest recovery from a recession in modern American history.
He has mired the country in unprecedented levels of debt: about $6.5 trillion dollars in five years (this after calling his predecessor "unpatriotic" for adding nearly $5 trillion in eight years).
He has fashioned a country in which more Americans now receive government aid -- means-tested, let alone non-means tested -- than work full-time.
He has no method of paying for this debt other than printing more money -- thereby surreptitiously taxing everyone through inflation, including the poor he claims to be helping, and cheapening the dollar to the point that some countries are talking another reserve currency -- and saddling the next generations with enormous debts.
With his 2,500-page Affordable Care Act, he has made it impossible for hundreds of thousands, soon millions, of Americans to keep their individual or employee-sponsored group health insurance; he has stymied American medical innovation with an utterly destructive tax on medical devices; and he has caused hundreds of thousands of workers to lose full-time jobs because of the health care costs imposed by Obamacare on employers.
His Internal Revenue Service used its unparalleled power to stymie political dissent. No one has been held accountable.
His ambassador to Libya and three other Americans were murdered by terrorists in Benghazi, Libya. No one has been blamed. The only blame the Obama administration has leveled was on a video maker in California who had nothing to do with the assault.
In this president's White House, the buck stops nowhere.
Among presidents in modern American history, he has also been a uniquely divisive force. It began with his forcing Obamacare through Congress -- the only major legislation in American history to be passed with no votes from the opposition party.
Though he has had a unique opportunity to do so, he has not only not helped heal racial tensions, he has exacerbated them. His intrusions into the Trayvon Martin affair ("If I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon") and into the confrontation between a white police officer and a black Harvard professor (the police "acted stupidly") were unwarranted, irresponsible, demagogic and, most of all, divisive.
He should have been reassuring black Americans that America is in fact the least racist country in the world -- something he should know as well anybody, having been raised only by whites and being the first black elected the leader of a white-majority nation. Instead, he echoed the inflammatory speech of professional race-baiters such as Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson.
He has also divided the country by economic class, using classic Marxist language against "the rich" and "corporate profits."
Regarding America in the world, he has been, if possible, even more damaging. The United States is at its weakest, has fewer allies, and has less military and diplomatic influence than at any time since before World War I.
One wonders if there is a remaining ally nation that trusts him. And worse, no American enemy fears him. If you are a free movement (the democratic Iranian and Syrian oppositions) or a free country (Israel), you have little or no reason to believe that you have a steadfast ally in the United States.
Even non-democratic allies no longer trust America. Barack Obama has alienated our most important and longest standing Arab allies, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Both the anti-Muslim Brotherhood and the anti-Iran Arab states have lost respect for him.
And his complete withdrawal of American troops from Iraq has left that country with weekly bloodbaths.
Virtually nothing Barack Obama has done has left America or the world better since he became president. Nearly everything he has touched has been made worse.
He did, however, promise before the 2008 election that "We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America." That is the one promise he has kept.
If half of what Dennis Prager says is true, then Obama has got to be one of our worst presidents ever.
THE PRESIDENT WHO HAS DONE THE MOST DAMAGE
By Dennis Prager
Jewish World Review
October 29, 2013
I have been broadcasting for 31 years and writing for longer than that. I do not recall ever saying on radio or in print that a president is doing lasting damage to our country. I did not like the presidencies of Jimmy Carter (the last Democrat I voted for) or Bill Clinton. Nor did I care for the "compassionate conservatism" of George W. Bush. In modern political parlance "compassionate" is a euphemism for ever-expanding government.
But I have never written or broadcast that our country was being seriously damaged by a president. So it is with great sadness that I write that President Barack Obama has done and continues to do major damage to America. The only question is whether this can ever be undone.
This is equally true domestically and internationally.
Domestically, his policies have gravely impacted the American economy.
He has overseen the weakest recovery from a recession in modern American history.
He has mired the country in unprecedented levels of debt: about $6.5 trillion dollars in five years (this after calling his predecessor "unpatriotic" for adding nearly $5 trillion in eight years).
He has fashioned a country in which more Americans now receive government aid -- means-tested, let alone non-means tested -- than work full-time.
He has no method of paying for this debt other than printing more money -- thereby surreptitiously taxing everyone through inflation, including the poor he claims to be helping, and cheapening the dollar to the point that some countries are talking another reserve currency -- and saddling the next generations with enormous debts.
With his 2,500-page Affordable Care Act, he has made it impossible for hundreds of thousands, soon millions, of Americans to keep their individual or employee-sponsored group health insurance; he has stymied American medical innovation with an utterly destructive tax on medical devices; and he has caused hundreds of thousands of workers to lose full-time jobs because of the health care costs imposed by Obamacare on employers.
His Internal Revenue Service used its unparalleled power to stymie political dissent. No one has been held accountable.
His ambassador to Libya and three other Americans were murdered by terrorists in Benghazi, Libya. No one has been blamed. The only blame the Obama administration has leveled was on a video maker in California who had nothing to do with the assault.
In this president's White House, the buck stops nowhere.
Among presidents in modern American history, he has also been a uniquely divisive force. It began with his forcing Obamacare through Congress -- the only major legislation in American history to be passed with no votes from the opposition party.
Though he has had a unique opportunity to do so, he has not only not helped heal racial tensions, he has exacerbated them. His intrusions into the Trayvon Martin affair ("If I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon") and into the confrontation between a white police officer and a black Harvard professor (the police "acted stupidly") were unwarranted, irresponsible, demagogic and, most of all, divisive.
He should have been reassuring black Americans that America is in fact the least racist country in the world -- something he should know as well anybody, having been raised only by whites and being the first black elected the leader of a white-majority nation. Instead, he echoed the inflammatory speech of professional race-baiters such as Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson.
He has also divided the country by economic class, using classic Marxist language against "the rich" and "corporate profits."
Regarding America in the world, he has been, if possible, even more damaging. The United States is at its weakest, has fewer allies, and has less military and diplomatic influence than at any time since before World War I.
One wonders if there is a remaining ally nation that trusts him. And worse, no American enemy fears him. If you are a free movement (the democratic Iranian and Syrian oppositions) or a free country (Israel), you have little or no reason to believe that you have a steadfast ally in the United States.
Even non-democratic allies no longer trust America. Barack Obama has alienated our most important and longest standing Arab allies, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Both the anti-Muslim Brotherhood and the anti-Iran Arab states have lost respect for him.
And his complete withdrawal of American troops from Iraq has left that country with weekly bloodbaths.
Virtually nothing Barack Obama has done has left America or the world better since he became president. Nearly everything he has touched has been made worse.
He did, however, promise before the 2008 election that "We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America." That is the one promise he has kept.
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
OBAMA WANTS MARINE CORPS TO SWITCH TO GIRLY CAPS (UPDATE)
Newsmax, which is usually a reliable news outlet, must have relied on some unreliable sources because it sure looks like they got it wrong by reporting that Obama was behind a proposal to make the Marine Corps adopt unisex uniforms.
MARINES SHOOT DOWN STORY ON OBAMA’S ALLEGED PUSH FOR ‘GIRLY HATS’
By Jennifer Hlad
Stars and Stripes
October 24, 2013
The story is sweeping the Internet: President Barack Obama is trying to emasculate male Marines by making them wear a girly cover with their famed dress uniforms. The only problem? It’s not true.
First, some background: Men and women in the Marine Corps currently wear different types of covers as part of their dress and service uniforms. The manufacturer of the women’s “bucket cover” – which has a distinctly different shape than the men’s cover – is going out of business and will not continue to make the cap, according to the Marine Corps.
The Marine Corps also has been asked by the DoD to find a unisex option for a dress and service cover, Marines said.
So, the Marine Corps Uniform Board, which meets quarterly, decided to gather feedback in advance of its meeting next week. Active and Reserve Marines were asked to vote on whether they believe women should adopt the current male cover, with some small modifications, or for all Marines to adopt what they call the Dan Daly cap.
Sgt. Maj. Dan Daly, a two-time Medal of Honor recipient who yelled, “Come on, you sons of bitches, do you want to live forever?” as he led Marines into the fight at Belleau Wood during World War I, wore a cap similar to the option proposed by the survey.
The Marine Corps Uniform Board will use the surveys to formulate a recommendation, though popularity isn’t the only consideration -- as evidenced by the strong negative reaction to the recent decision to keep camouflage utility sleeves rolled down all year.
Commandant Gen. James Amos must approve any uniform board recommendation before it takes effect.
In an email, Marine Corps officials said there is no truth to reports that President Obama is behind the potential change.
“The president in no way, shape or form directed the Marine Corps to change our uniform cover,” according to the Marine Corps statement. “We are looking for a new cover for our female Marines for one overriding reason: The former manufacturer went out of business. … The Marine Corps has zero intention of changing the male cover.”
MARINES SHOOT DOWN STORY ON OBAMA’S ALLEGED PUSH FOR ‘GIRLY HATS’
By Jennifer Hlad
Stars and Stripes
October 24, 2013
The story is sweeping the Internet: President Barack Obama is trying to emasculate male Marines by making them wear a girly cover with their famed dress uniforms. The only problem? It’s not true.
First, some background: Men and women in the Marine Corps currently wear different types of covers as part of their dress and service uniforms. The manufacturer of the women’s “bucket cover” – which has a distinctly different shape than the men’s cover – is going out of business and will not continue to make the cap, according to the Marine Corps.
The Marine Corps also has been asked by the DoD to find a unisex option for a dress and service cover, Marines said.
So, the Marine Corps Uniform Board, which meets quarterly, decided to gather feedback in advance of its meeting next week. Active and Reserve Marines were asked to vote on whether they believe women should adopt the current male cover, with some small modifications, or for all Marines to adopt what they call the Dan Daly cap.
Sgt. Maj. Dan Daly, a two-time Medal of Honor recipient who yelled, “Come on, you sons of bitches, do you want to live forever?” as he led Marines into the fight at Belleau Wood during World War I, wore a cap similar to the option proposed by the survey.
The Marine Corps Uniform Board will use the surveys to formulate a recommendation, though popularity isn’t the only consideration -- as evidenced by the strong negative reaction to the recent decision to keep camouflage utility sleeves rolled down all year.
Commandant Gen. James Amos must approve any uniform board recommendation before it takes effect.
In an email, Marine Corps officials said there is no truth to reports that President Obama is behind the potential change.
“The president in no way, shape or form directed the Marine Corps to change our uniform cover,” according to the Marine Corps statement. “We are looking for a new cover for our female Marines for one overriding reason: The former manufacturer went out of business. … The Marine Corps has zero intention of changing the male cover.”
80 SILVER GOBLETS AND A BOTTLE OF 1896 HENNESSY COGNAC
Remembering the heroes of the Doolittle Raid
Cindy Hall, a former student and longtime friend, just sent me this op-ed by bestselling author Bob Greene. Although it was written last April, I felt compelled to post this reminder of heroic times and tribute to 80 very heroic Americans here and now.
A FINAL TOAST FOR THE DOOLITTLE RAIDERS
By Bob Greene
CNN
April 14, 2013
It's the cup of brandy that no one wants to drink.
On Tuesday, in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, the surviving Doolittle Raiders will gather publicly for the last time.
They once were among the most universally admired and revered men in the United States. There were 80 of the Raiders in April 1942, when they carried out one of the most courageous and heart-stirring military operations in this nation's history. The mere mention of their unit's name, in those years, would bring tears to the eyes of grateful Americans.
Now only four survive.
After Japan's sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, with the United States reeling and wounded, something dramatic was needed to turn the war effort around.
Even though there were no friendly airfields close enough to Japan for the United States to launch a retaliation, a daring plan was devised. Sixteen B-25s were modified so that they could take off from the deck of an aircraft carrier. This had never before been tried -- sending such big, heavy bombers from a carrier.
The 16 five-man crews, under the command of Lt. Col. James Doolittle, who himself flew the lead plane off the USS Hornet, knew that they would not be able to return to the carrier. They would have to hit Japan and then hope to make it to China for a safe landing.
But on the day of the raid, the Japanese military caught wind of the plan. The Raiders were told that they would have to take off from much farther out in the Pacific Ocean than they had counted on. They were told that because of this they would not have enough fuel to make it to safety.
And those men went anyway.
They bombed Tokyo, and then flew as far as they could. Four planes crash-landed; 11 more crews bailed out, and three of the Raiders died. Eight more were captured; three were executed. Another died of starvation in a Japanese prison camp. One crew made it to Russia.
The Doolittle Raid sent a message from the United States to its enemies, and to the rest of the world:
We will fight.
And, no matter what it takes, we will win.
Of the 80 Raiders, 62 survived the war. They were celebrated as national heroes, models of bravery. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer produced a motion picture based on the raid; "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo," starring Spencer Tracy and Van Johnson, was a patriotic and emotional box-office hit, and the phrase became part of the national lexicon. In the movie-theater previews for the film, MGM proclaimed that it was presenting the story "with supreme pride."
Beginning in 1946, the surviving Raiders have held a reunion each April, to commemorate the mission. The reunion is in a different city each year. In 1959, the city of Tucson, Arizona, as a gesture of respect and gratitude, presented the Doolittle Raiders with a set of 80 silver goblets. Each goblet was engraved with the name of a Raider.
Every year, a wooden display case bearing all 80 goblets is transported to the reunion city. Each time a Raider passes away, his goblet is turned upside down in the case at the next reunion, as his old friends bear solemn witness.
Also in the wooden case is a bottle of 1896 Hennessy Very Special cognac. The year is not happenstance: 1896 was when Jimmy Doolittle was born.
There has always been a plan: When there are only two surviving Raiders, they would open the bottle, at last drink from it, and toast their comrades who preceded them in death.
As 2013 began, there were five living Raiders; then, in February, Tom Griffin passed away at age 96.
The name may be familiar to those of you who regularly read this column; in 2011, I wrote about the role Mr. Griffin played at his son's wedding.
What a man he was. After bailing out of his plane over a mountainous Chinese forest after the Tokyo raid, he became ill with malaria, and almost died. When he recovered, he was sent to Europe to fly more combat missions. He was shot down, captured, and spent 22 months in a German prisoner of war camp.
The selflessness of these men, the sheer guts ... there was a passage in the Cincinnati Enquirer obituary for Mr. Griffin that, on the surface, had nothing to do with the war, but that emblematizes the depth of his sense of duty and devotion:
"When his wife became ill and needed to go into a nursing home, he visited her every day. He walked from his house to the nursing home, fed his wife and at the end of the day brought home her clothes. At night, he washed and ironed her clothes. Then he walked them up to her room the next morning. He did that for three years until her death in 2005."
So now, out of the original 80, only four Raiders remain: Dick Cole (Doolittle's co-pilot on the Tokyo raid), Robert Hite, Edward Saylor and David Thatcher. All are in their 90s. They have decided that there are too few of them for the public reunions to continue.
The events in Fort Walton Beach this week will mark the end. It has come full circle; Florida's nearby Eglin Field was where the Raiders trained in secrecy for the Tokyo mission.
The town is planning to do all it can to honor the men: a six-day celebration of their valor, including luncheons, a dinner and a parade.
Do the men ever wonder if those of us for whom they helped save the country have tended to it in a way that is worthy of their sacrifice? They don't talk about that, at least not around other people. But if you find yourself near Fort Walton Beach this week, and if you should encounter any of the Raiders, you might want to offer them a word of thanks. I can tell you from firsthand observation that they appreciate hearing that they are remembered.
The men have decided that after this final public reunion they will wait until a later date -- some time this year -- to get together once more, informally and in absolute privacy. That is when they will open the bottle of brandy. The years are flowing by too swiftly now; they are not going to wait until there are only two of them.
They will fill the four remaining upturned goblets.
And raise them in a toast to those who are gone.
Cindy Hall, a former student and longtime friend, just sent me this op-ed by bestselling author Bob Greene. Although it was written last April, I felt compelled to post this reminder of heroic times and tribute to 80 very heroic Americans here and now.
A FINAL TOAST FOR THE DOOLITTLE RAIDERS
By Bob Greene
CNN
April 14, 2013
It's the cup of brandy that no one wants to drink.
On Tuesday, in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, the surviving Doolittle Raiders will gather publicly for the last time.
They once were among the most universally admired and revered men in the United States. There were 80 of the Raiders in April 1942, when they carried out one of the most courageous and heart-stirring military operations in this nation's history. The mere mention of their unit's name, in those years, would bring tears to the eyes of grateful Americans.
Now only four survive.
After Japan's sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, with the United States reeling and wounded, something dramatic was needed to turn the war effort around.
Even though there were no friendly airfields close enough to Japan for the United States to launch a retaliation, a daring plan was devised. Sixteen B-25s were modified so that they could take off from the deck of an aircraft carrier. This had never before been tried -- sending such big, heavy bombers from a carrier.
The 16 five-man crews, under the command of Lt. Col. James Doolittle, who himself flew the lead plane off the USS Hornet, knew that they would not be able to return to the carrier. They would have to hit Japan and then hope to make it to China for a safe landing.
But on the day of the raid, the Japanese military caught wind of the plan. The Raiders were told that they would have to take off from much farther out in the Pacific Ocean than they had counted on. They were told that because of this they would not have enough fuel to make it to safety.
And those men went anyway.
They bombed Tokyo, and then flew as far as they could. Four planes crash-landed; 11 more crews bailed out, and three of the Raiders died. Eight more were captured; three were executed. Another died of starvation in a Japanese prison camp. One crew made it to Russia.
The Doolittle Raid sent a message from the United States to its enemies, and to the rest of the world:
We will fight.
And, no matter what it takes, we will win.
Of the 80 Raiders, 62 survived the war. They were celebrated as national heroes, models of bravery. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer produced a motion picture based on the raid; "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo," starring Spencer Tracy and Van Johnson, was a patriotic and emotional box-office hit, and the phrase became part of the national lexicon. In the movie-theater previews for the film, MGM proclaimed that it was presenting the story "with supreme pride."
Beginning in 1946, the surviving Raiders have held a reunion each April, to commemorate the mission. The reunion is in a different city each year. In 1959, the city of Tucson, Arizona, as a gesture of respect and gratitude, presented the Doolittle Raiders with a set of 80 silver goblets. Each goblet was engraved with the name of a Raider.
Every year, a wooden display case bearing all 80 goblets is transported to the reunion city. Each time a Raider passes away, his goblet is turned upside down in the case at the next reunion, as his old friends bear solemn witness.
Also in the wooden case is a bottle of 1896 Hennessy Very Special cognac. The year is not happenstance: 1896 was when Jimmy Doolittle was born.
There has always been a plan: When there are only two surviving Raiders, they would open the bottle, at last drink from it, and toast their comrades who preceded them in death.
As 2013 began, there were five living Raiders; then, in February, Tom Griffin passed away at age 96.
The name may be familiar to those of you who regularly read this column; in 2011, I wrote about the role Mr. Griffin played at his son's wedding.
What a man he was. After bailing out of his plane over a mountainous Chinese forest after the Tokyo raid, he became ill with malaria, and almost died. When he recovered, he was sent to Europe to fly more combat missions. He was shot down, captured, and spent 22 months in a German prisoner of war camp.
The selflessness of these men, the sheer guts ... there was a passage in the Cincinnati Enquirer obituary for Mr. Griffin that, on the surface, had nothing to do with the war, but that emblematizes the depth of his sense of duty and devotion:
"When his wife became ill and needed to go into a nursing home, he visited her every day. He walked from his house to the nursing home, fed his wife and at the end of the day brought home her clothes. At night, he washed and ironed her clothes. Then he walked them up to her room the next morning. He did that for three years until her death in 2005."
So now, out of the original 80, only four Raiders remain: Dick Cole (Doolittle's co-pilot on the Tokyo raid), Robert Hite, Edward Saylor and David Thatcher. All are in their 90s. They have decided that there are too few of them for the public reunions to continue.
The events in Fort Walton Beach this week will mark the end. It has come full circle; Florida's nearby Eglin Field was where the Raiders trained in secrecy for the Tokyo mission.
The town is planning to do all it can to honor the men: a six-day celebration of their valor, including luncheons, a dinner and a parade.
Do the men ever wonder if those of us for whom they helped save the country have tended to it in a way that is worthy of their sacrifice? They don't talk about that, at least not around other people. But if you find yourself near Fort Walton Beach this week, and if you should encounter any of the Raiders, you might want to offer them a word of thanks. I can tell you from firsthand observation that they appreciate hearing that they are remembered.
The men have decided that after this final public reunion they will wait until a later date -- some time this year -- to get together once more, informally and in absolute privacy. That is when they will open the bottle of brandy. The years are flowing by too swiftly now; they are not going to wait until there are only two of them.
They will fill the four remaining upturned goblets.
And raise them in a toast to those who are gone.
MAN BUTCHERS MOTHER AND HER FOUR CHILDREN IN BROOKLYN
He was jealous that his cousin’s family was better off than he was
Some reports say the one-year-old victim was decapitated. In any event, here’s a prime candidate for the death penalty. Oops, I just remembered…New York abolished capital punishment.
COUSIN ADMITS KILLING BROOKLYN MOM, 4 KIDS, POLICE SAY
CBS/AP
October 27, 2013
NEW YORK -- A Chinese immigrant who neighbors said struggled to survive in America was arrested Sunday on five counts of murder in the stabbing deaths of his cousin's wife and her four children in their Brooklyn home - using a butcher knife.
The suspect, restaurant worker 25-year-old Mingdong Chen, implicated himself in the killings late Saturday in the Sunset Park neighborhood, police said.
"They were cut and butchered with a kitchen knife," said Chief of Department Philip Banks III.
Two girls, 9-year-old Linda Zhuo and 7-year-old Amy Zhuo, were pronounced dead at the scene, along with the youngest child, 1-year-old William Zhuo. Their brother, 5-year-old Kevin Zhuo, and 37-year-old mother, Qiao Zhen Li, were taken to hospitals, where they also were pronounced dead.
Chen is a cousin of the children's father and had been staying at the home for the past week or so, Banks said. He came to the United States from China in 2004 and seemingly struggled to make it, Banks said.
"Ever since he came to this country, everybody seems to be doing better than him," he said.
On Saturday night, Chen had apparently been acting in such a way that concerned Li, Banks said. She tried to call her husband, who wasn't home, but couldn't reach him.
Banks said Li called her mother-in-law in China, who also was unsuccessful in reaching her son. The mother-in-law reached out to her daughter, who lives in the neighborhood, Banks said.
She and her husband came to the house and banged on the door, then called police. Officers in the area investigating another matter responded, Banks said.
"It's a scene you'll never forget," he said. The victims had wounds in their necks and torsos.
Chen was set to undergo a psychiatric evaluation Sunday night, CBS New York reported.
He also faces counts of assault on a police officer, which happened while he was being processed, and resisting arrest, Banks said.
Bob Madden, who lives nearby, was out walking his dog when he saw a man being escorted from the building by police. He was barefoot, wearing jeans, and "he was staring, he was expressionless," Madden said.
Yuan Gao, a cousin of the mother, said the man had recently moved to the area and had been staying with different people.
Fire department spokesman Jim Long said emergency workers responded just before 11 p.m. to an emergency call from a person stabbed at the residence in Sunset Park, a working-class neighborhood of adjoining two-story brick buildings with a large Chinese community.
A neighbor who gave his name as Larry told CBS New York he said the family's father return to the house after the killings.
"He was yelling that he was the father, and he ran into the house," Larry said.
Neighbors said they were stunned to learn about the slayings.
"It takes a real evil person to stab a child," Michael Chan told CBS New York. "I feel like stabbing anybody is like a very personal attack. And stabbing a kid is like a monster. Only a monster's capable of doing that."
Some reports say the one-year-old victim was decapitated. In any event, here’s a prime candidate for the death penalty. Oops, I just remembered…New York abolished capital punishment.
COUSIN ADMITS KILLING BROOKLYN MOM, 4 KIDS, POLICE SAY
CBS/AP
October 27, 2013
NEW YORK -- A Chinese immigrant who neighbors said struggled to survive in America was arrested Sunday on five counts of murder in the stabbing deaths of his cousin's wife and her four children in their Brooklyn home - using a butcher knife.
The suspect, restaurant worker 25-year-old Mingdong Chen, implicated himself in the killings late Saturday in the Sunset Park neighborhood, police said.
"They were cut and butchered with a kitchen knife," said Chief of Department Philip Banks III.
Two girls, 9-year-old Linda Zhuo and 7-year-old Amy Zhuo, were pronounced dead at the scene, along with the youngest child, 1-year-old William Zhuo. Their brother, 5-year-old Kevin Zhuo, and 37-year-old mother, Qiao Zhen Li, were taken to hospitals, where they also were pronounced dead.
Chen is a cousin of the children's father and had been staying at the home for the past week or so, Banks said. He came to the United States from China in 2004 and seemingly struggled to make it, Banks said.
"Ever since he came to this country, everybody seems to be doing better than him," he said.
On Saturday night, Chen had apparently been acting in such a way that concerned Li, Banks said. She tried to call her husband, who wasn't home, but couldn't reach him.
Banks said Li called her mother-in-law in China, who also was unsuccessful in reaching her son. The mother-in-law reached out to her daughter, who lives in the neighborhood, Banks said.
She and her husband came to the house and banged on the door, then called police. Officers in the area investigating another matter responded, Banks said.
"It's a scene you'll never forget," he said. The victims had wounds in their necks and torsos.
Chen was set to undergo a psychiatric evaluation Sunday night, CBS New York reported.
He also faces counts of assault on a police officer, which happened while he was being processed, and resisting arrest, Banks said.
Bob Madden, who lives nearby, was out walking his dog when he saw a man being escorted from the building by police. He was barefoot, wearing jeans, and "he was staring, he was expressionless," Madden said.
Yuan Gao, a cousin of the mother, said the man had recently moved to the area and had been staying with different people.
Fire department spokesman Jim Long said emergency workers responded just before 11 p.m. to an emergency call from a person stabbed at the residence in Sunset Park, a working-class neighborhood of adjoining two-story brick buildings with a large Chinese community.
A neighbor who gave his name as Larry told CBS New York he said the family's father return to the house after the killings.
"He was yelling that he was the father, and he ran into the house," Larry said.
Neighbors said they were stunned to learn about the slayings.
"It takes a real evil person to stab a child," Michael Chan told CBS New York. "I feel like stabbing anybody is like a very personal attack. And stabbing a kid is like a monster. Only a monster's capable of doing that."
DEAD PEOPLE’S HAIR VERBOTEN IN TEXAS PRISONS
Texas prison administrators have a history of establishing silly security rules. Back in 1969-70, when I volunteered my services by conducting group therapy sessions at the Ferguson Unit, the corrections department had a rule prohibiting inmates from masturbating. Sheets were routinely inspected for semen stains and, if found, the miscreant was written up, wet dreams notwithstanding. Repeated violators were sent to solitary.
NATIVE AMERICAN PRISONER WANTS DEAD PARENTS’ HAIR; PRISON OFFICIALS SAY IT’S A SECURITY RISK
By Craig Malisow
Houston Press Hair Balls
October 28, 2013
Here's what the Texas Department of Criminal Justice is terrible at keeping out of prisons: cell phones. Here's what TDCJ is awesome at keeping out: dead people's hair.
Native American inmate William Chance serving 65 years for aggravated sexual assault has sued TDCJ to get 4-inch locks of his deceased parents' hair for a custom called "Keeping of Souls."
"The hair is just the connection to their physical spirit," the 57-year-old rapist told the Associated Press.
Prison officials refused on the grounds that the hair is a security risk -- they were probably concerned he would weave the strands into a lasso to capture one of the guards and steal the keys -- and a group called the Texas Civil Rights Project filed a suit in 2011 on Chance's behalf. According to the AP< "a federal appeals court says the request appears harmless and has sent the case back to a lower court for review -- a ruling that could stretch Chance's already long wait into 2014."
Chance was convicted in Denton County in 1992, and his parents died in 2008 and 2009. The AP reports that his grandmother was "a Cheyenne from Lame Deer [Montana]," but says nothing else about his Native American heritage, which makes us wonder.
A Northern Arizona University anthropologist and expert in Native American religions told the AP that Chance's scenario is akin to "a Catholic wanting to go to church and take communion, and being told you can't have absolution and can't take communion."
As Chance says, "The spirit of a person remains in the remnant."
However, the AP reports that Chance has a "'medicine bag' approved by Texas prison officials that includes an 8-inch strand of horse hair threaded through a hawk's wing bone. According to court documents, those items were procured through vendors approved by the prison system."
Chance's brother is holding onto the hair for safekeeping.
NATIVE AMERICAN PRISONER WANTS DEAD PARENTS’ HAIR; PRISON OFFICIALS SAY IT’S A SECURITY RISK
By Craig Malisow
Houston Press Hair Balls
October 28, 2013
Here's what the Texas Department of Criminal Justice is terrible at keeping out of prisons: cell phones. Here's what TDCJ is awesome at keeping out: dead people's hair.
Native American inmate William Chance serving 65 years for aggravated sexual assault has sued TDCJ to get 4-inch locks of his deceased parents' hair for a custom called "Keeping of Souls."
"The hair is just the connection to their physical spirit," the 57-year-old rapist told the Associated Press.
Prison officials refused on the grounds that the hair is a security risk -- they were probably concerned he would weave the strands into a lasso to capture one of the guards and steal the keys -- and a group called the Texas Civil Rights Project filed a suit in 2011 on Chance's behalf. According to the AP< "a federal appeals court says the request appears harmless and has sent the case back to a lower court for review -- a ruling that could stretch Chance's already long wait into 2014."
Chance was convicted in Denton County in 1992, and his parents died in 2008 and 2009. The AP reports that his grandmother was "a Cheyenne from Lame Deer [Montana]," but says nothing else about his Native American heritage, which makes us wonder.
A Northern Arizona University anthropologist and expert in Native American religions told the AP that Chance's scenario is akin to "a Catholic wanting to go to church and take communion, and being told you can't have absolution and can't take communion."
As Chance says, "The spirit of a person remains in the remnant."
However, the AP reports that Chance has a "'medicine bag' approved by Texas prison officials that includes an 8-inch strand of horse hair threaded through a hawk's wing bone. According to court documents, those items were procured through vendors approved by the prison system."
Chance's brother is holding onto the hair for safekeeping.
CONVINCING PEOPLE NOT TO USE DRUGS
The Unconventional Gazette
October 28, 2013
Two young men appear in court after being arrested for smoking dope. The judge says, "You seem like nice young men, and I'd like to give you a second chance instead of jail time. I want you to go out this weekend and try to convince others of the evils of drug use. I'll see you back in court Monday."
On Monday, the judge asks the first man, "How did you do over the weekend?"
"Well, your honor, I persuaded 17 people to give up drugs forever."
Seventeen people? That's wonderful. How did you do it? "
"I used a diagram, your honor. I drew two circles like this: O o. Then I told them that the big circle is your brain before drugs and the small circle is your brain after drugs."
"That's admirable," says the judge. Then he turns to the second man. "And how did you do?"
"Well, your honor, I persuaded 156 people to give up drugs forever."
"Wow!" says the judge. "156 people! How did you manage to do that?"
"Well, I used a similar diagram," the guy says. "I drew two circles like this: o O. Then I pointed to the little circle and said, ‘This is your asshole now.’ And then I pointed to the big circle and said, ‘This is your asshole after you’ve been in prison awhile.’”
October 28, 2013
Two young men appear in court after being arrested for smoking dope. The judge says, "You seem like nice young men, and I'd like to give you a second chance instead of jail time. I want you to go out this weekend and try to convince others of the evils of drug use. I'll see you back in court Monday."
On Monday, the judge asks the first man, "How did you do over the weekend?"
"Well, your honor, I persuaded 17 people to give up drugs forever."
Seventeen people? That's wonderful. How did you do it? "
"I used a diagram, your honor. I drew two circles like this: O o. Then I told them that the big circle is your brain before drugs and the small circle is your brain after drugs."
"That's admirable," says the judge. Then he turns to the second man. "And how did you do?"
"Well, your honor, I persuaded 156 people to give up drugs forever."
"Wow!" says the judge. "156 people! How did you manage to do that?"
"Well, I used a similar diagram," the guy says. "I drew two circles like this: o O. Then I pointed to the little circle and said, ‘This is your asshole now.’ And then I pointed to the big circle and said, ‘This is your asshole after you’ve been in prison awhile.’”
Monday, October 28, 2013
WOMAN COP SHOT TWICE DURING TRAFFIC STOP, RADIOS THAT SHE HAS BEEN SHOT, THEN PURSUES HER ASSAILANTS
One shot hit the former Marine in the face, the other struck her chest
If they gave an award for bravest cop of the year, she would be a cinch to win it.
‘GUTSY LADY’ OFFICER SHOT DURING TRAFFIC STOP
Stafford police arrest 1, hunt 2 more suspects
By Cindy George
Houston Chronicle
October 26, 2013
The close-range shooting of a Stafford police officer began just after 3:30 a.m. Saturday when she happened upon a strange sight: A four-door sedan idling at a green light with its turn signal blinking.
After nearly an entire go-cycle, Officer Ann Carrizales followed the Nissan from the 12700 block of Murphy Road to a nearby mobile home park, where she pulled the car over.
She approached the vehicle with three men inside and began "asking if they were OK, if they needed anything," according to Stafford Police Department Chief Bonny Krahn. "He responded that they were on their way home from work."
Then the front-seat passenger leaned over and began shooting at Carrizales, striking her in the face and chest. She fired back, but the car sped away.
Despite her injuries, the former Marine police officer notified dispatch that she had been shot, returned to her cruiser and pursued the vehicle for more than four miles.
The car chase ended in southwest Houston's Club Creek neighborhood near Green Fork and Concourse Drive when the vehicle stopped and at least two of the occupants fled on foot. By that time, officers from Missouri City, Sugar Land, Houston and the Texas Department of Public Safety were on their way.
A team of law enforcement officials set up a perimeter and began looking for the three men. The suspected shooter, 21-year-old Sergio Francisco Rodriguez, was discovered walking in the area. He has been detained and charged with aggravated assault on a peace officer.
A warrant has been issued for the suspected driver, 28-year-old Freddy Henriquez. Both men are Honduran nationals believed to be in the country without documentation. The other passenger has not been identified or apprehended, said Lt. Dustin Claborn, a Stafford police spokesman.
Carrizales, who had surgery on Saturday, was in stable condition and resting comfortably, according to Stafford city officials.
"Her ballistic vest, we do believe, saved her life," Claborn said, adding that "there was some minor penetration" that caused damage.
She has received stitches for a "pretty serious injury" to her face, he added, but "she's going to be OK."
A plastic surgeon tended to the officer's facial wounds, according to Stafford Mayor Leonard Scarcella.
He visited Carrizales on Saturday around noon and said she was "in the bed and talking and in good spirits," adding that the officer's husband was at her bedside. "I'm very thrilled that it wasn't any more serious than it was. She's a very fortunate lady and very gutsy lady. ... The way she handled herself was not only exemplary but inspiring."
Carrizales, 40, joined the Stafford Police Department in August 2010. She is a former U.S. Marine Corps military police officer.
This is not the first time Carrizales has been injured in the line of duty.
Last October, Carrizales was among a group of officers tying up the loose ends at a party where gunfire erupted when a man drove up in an SUV and asked about the incident. During the exchange, "the subject got very threatening, U-turned the vehicle and started coming toward the officers," Claborn said.
Carrizales and another officer tried again to talk to the man, but had their arms pinned inside the SUV when the driver rolled up the window and the vehicle surged forward. Both officers were dragged several feet. As the driver slammed on his brakes, the window shattered and Carrizales was thrown to the front of the truck.
She fired her weapon at that driver after he appeared to be attempting to run over her.
After that incident, Carrizales and the other officer had to have glass removed from their eyes. They also sustained cuts, bruises and scrapes.
If they gave an award for bravest cop of the year, she would be a cinch to win it.
‘GUTSY LADY’ OFFICER SHOT DURING TRAFFIC STOP
Stafford police arrest 1, hunt 2 more suspects
By Cindy George
Houston Chronicle
October 26, 2013
The close-range shooting of a Stafford police officer began just after 3:30 a.m. Saturday when she happened upon a strange sight: A four-door sedan idling at a green light with its turn signal blinking.
After nearly an entire go-cycle, Officer Ann Carrizales followed the Nissan from the 12700 block of Murphy Road to a nearby mobile home park, where she pulled the car over.
She approached the vehicle with three men inside and began "asking if they were OK, if they needed anything," according to Stafford Police Department Chief Bonny Krahn. "He responded that they were on their way home from work."
Then the front-seat passenger leaned over and began shooting at Carrizales, striking her in the face and chest. She fired back, but the car sped away.
Despite her injuries, the former Marine police officer notified dispatch that she had been shot, returned to her cruiser and pursued the vehicle for more than four miles.
The car chase ended in southwest Houston's Club Creek neighborhood near Green Fork and Concourse Drive when the vehicle stopped and at least two of the occupants fled on foot. By that time, officers from Missouri City, Sugar Land, Houston and the Texas Department of Public Safety were on their way.
A team of law enforcement officials set up a perimeter and began looking for the three men. The suspected shooter, 21-year-old Sergio Francisco Rodriguez, was discovered walking in the area. He has been detained and charged with aggravated assault on a peace officer.
A warrant has been issued for the suspected driver, 28-year-old Freddy Henriquez. Both men are Honduran nationals believed to be in the country without documentation. The other passenger has not been identified or apprehended, said Lt. Dustin Claborn, a Stafford police spokesman.
Carrizales, who had surgery on Saturday, was in stable condition and resting comfortably, according to Stafford city officials.
"Her ballistic vest, we do believe, saved her life," Claborn said, adding that "there was some minor penetration" that caused damage.
She has received stitches for a "pretty serious injury" to her face, he added, but "she's going to be OK."
A plastic surgeon tended to the officer's facial wounds, according to Stafford Mayor Leonard Scarcella.
He visited Carrizales on Saturday around noon and said she was "in the bed and talking and in good spirits," adding that the officer's husband was at her bedside. "I'm very thrilled that it wasn't any more serious than it was. She's a very fortunate lady and very gutsy lady. ... The way she handled herself was not only exemplary but inspiring."
Carrizales, 40, joined the Stafford Police Department in August 2010. She is a former U.S. Marine Corps military police officer.
This is not the first time Carrizales has been injured in the line of duty.
Last October, Carrizales was among a group of officers tying up the loose ends at a party where gunfire erupted when a man drove up in an SUV and asked about the incident. During the exchange, "the subject got very threatening, U-turned the vehicle and started coming toward the officers," Claborn said.
Carrizales and another officer tried again to talk to the man, but had their arms pinned inside the SUV when the driver rolled up the window and the vehicle surged forward. Both officers were dragged several feet. As the driver slammed on his brakes, the window shattered and Carrizales was thrown to the front of the truck.
She fired her weapon at that driver after he appeared to be attempting to run over her.
After that incident, Carrizales and the other officer had to have glass removed from their eyes. They also sustained cuts, bruises and scrapes.
SHOOTING THE MESSENGER
No one can argue that Edward Snowden’s disclosures have not harmed U.S. foreign policy, but who is really to blame? Our nation’s security requires extensive spying on not just our enemies, but on our allies as well. But spying on 60.5 million phone calls in Spain between December 10, 2012 and January 8 this year, is crossing the line way beyond what is justified and productive.
The sheer magnitude of the shotgun approach employed by the NSA is hard to justify and has invaded the privacy of heads of nations closely allied with us, the privacy of innocent citizens in allied countries, and even the privacy of American citizens. Thus many Americans believe that instead of shooting the messenger, Snowden should be praised.
NSA SPYING THREATENS TO HAMPER U.S. FOREIGN POLICY
Associated Press
October 27, 2013
Secretary of State John Kerry went to Europe to talk about Mideast peace, Syria and Iran. What he got was an earful of outrage over U.S. snooping abroad.
President Barack Obama has defended America's surveillance dragnet to leaders of Russia, Mexico, Brazil, France and Germany, but the international anger over the disclosures shows no signs of abating in the short run.
Longer term, the revelations by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden about NSA tactics that allegedly include tapping the cellphones of as many as 35 world leaders threaten to undermine U.S. foreign policy in a range of areas.
In Washington, demonstrators held up signs reading "Thank you, Edward Snowden!" as they marched and rallied near the U.S. Capitol to demand that Congress investigate the NSA's mass surveillance programs.
This vacuum-cleaner approach to data collection has rattled allies.
"The magnitude of the eavesdropping is what shocked us," former French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said in a radio interview. "Let's be honest, we eavesdrop too. Everyone is listening to everyone else. But we don't have the same means as the United States, which makes us jealous."
So where in the world isn't the NSA? That's one big question raised by the disclosures.
The British ambassador to Lebanon, Tom Fletcher, tweeted this past week: "I work on assumption that 6+ countries tap my phone. Increasingly rare that diplomats say anything sensitive on calls."
Diplomatic relations are built on trust. If America's credibility is in question, the U.S. will find it harder to maintain alliances, influence world opinion and maybe even close trade deals.
But spying among allies is not new.
Madeleine Albright, secretary of state during the Clinton administration, recalled being at the United Nations and having the French ambassador ask her why she said something in a private conversation apparently intercepted by the French.
Albright says Snowden's disclosures have hurt U.S. policymakers. "I think it has made life very difficult for Secretary Kerry. ... I think it makes it very, very hard."
The sheer magnitude of the shotgun approach employed by the NSA is hard to justify and has invaded the privacy of heads of nations closely allied with us, the privacy of innocent citizens in allied countries, and even the privacy of American citizens. Thus many Americans believe that instead of shooting the messenger, Snowden should be praised.
NSA SPYING THREATENS TO HAMPER U.S. FOREIGN POLICY
Associated Press
October 27, 2013
Secretary of State John Kerry went to Europe to talk about Mideast peace, Syria and Iran. What he got was an earful of outrage over U.S. snooping abroad.
President Barack Obama has defended America's surveillance dragnet to leaders of Russia, Mexico, Brazil, France and Germany, but the international anger over the disclosures shows no signs of abating in the short run.
Longer term, the revelations by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden about NSA tactics that allegedly include tapping the cellphones of as many as 35 world leaders threaten to undermine U.S. foreign policy in a range of areas.
In Washington, demonstrators held up signs reading "Thank you, Edward Snowden!" as they marched and rallied near the U.S. Capitol to demand that Congress investigate the NSA's mass surveillance programs.
This vacuum-cleaner approach to data collection has rattled allies.
"The magnitude of the eavesdropping is what shocked us," former French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said in a radio interview. "Let's be honest, we eavesdrop too. Everyone is listening to everyone else. But we don't have the same means as the United States, which makes us jealous."
So where in the world isn't the NSA? That's one big question raised by the disclosures.
The British ambassador to Lebanon, Tom Fletcher, tweeted this past week: "I work on assumption that 6+ countries tap my phone. Increasingly rare that diplomats say anything sensitive on calls."
Diplomatic relations are built on trust. If America's credibility is in question, the U.S. will find it harder to maintain alliances, influence world opinion and maybe even close trade deals.
But spying among allies is not new.
Madeleine Albright, secretary of state during the Clinton administration, recalled being at the United Nations and having the French ambassador ask her why she said something in a private conversation apparently intercepted by the French.
Albright says Snowden's disclosures have hurt U.S. policymakers. "I think it has made life very difficult for Secretary Kerry. ... I think it makes it very, very hard."
BUMMER FOR THOSE ADVOCATING THE LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA
Stoned baby sitter does not see 5-year-old boy take her gun and shoot himself dead
The legalization of pot has led and will lead to many injuries and fatalities in car crashes because of stoned drivers. Brushing aside the absurd argument by the proponents of pot that driving under the influence of marijuana is safer than driving under the influence of alcohol, here is just one example of what else can and will go wrong.
BABY SITTER HIGH ON POT WHEN BOY SHE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE WATCHING KILLED HIMSELF
Houston Chronicle
October 26, 2013
BEAUMONT - The baby sitter of a 5-year-old Vidor boy who shot and killed himself with her gun told authorities she'd been high on marijuana that day, according to court documents.
According to the probable cause affidavit filed in her arrest, Melissa Ringhardt had been "intoxicated throughout the day due to the consumption of marijuana" when she allegedly left a .40-caliber handgun on a coffee table, then went take a nap in another room.
The affidavit states Ringhardt said she was carrying the gun "as a form of protection" on Monday when she was watching 5-year-old John Read and another 6-month-old child at the Vidor home.
Ringhardt was charged with abandoning or endangering a child, a state-jail felony, and was in the Orange County Jail on $250,000 bail.
The legalization of pot has led and will lead to many injuries and fatalities in car crashes because of stoned drivers. Brushing aside the absurd argument by the proponents of pot that driving under the influence of marijuana is safer than driving under the influence of alcohol, here is just one example of what else can and will go wrong.
BABY SITTER HIGH ON POT WHEN BOY SHE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE WATCHING KILLED HIMSELF
Houston Chronicle
October 26, 2013
BEAUMONT - The baby sitter of a 5-year-old Vidor boy who shot and killed himself with her gun told authorities she'd been high on marijuana that day, according to court documents.
According to the probable cause affidavit filed in her arrest, Melissa Ringhardt had been "intoxicated throughout the day due to the consumption of marijuana" when she allegedly left a .40-caliber handgun on a coffee table, then went take a nap in another room.
The affidavit states Ringhardt said she was carrying the gun "as a form of protection" on Monday when she was watching 5-year-old John Read and another 6-month-old child at the Vidor home.
Ringhardt was charged with abandoning or endangering a child, a state-jail felony, and was in the Orange County Jail on $250,000 bail.
MEXICAN MURDER RATE IS DROPPING WHILE KIDNAPPINGS AND EXTORTION ARE SOARING
Only 17,000-plus murders expected this year compared to 21,768 murders in 2012
Auto thefts have also shown a dramatic drop. Could that be because they are stealing cars in the U.S. and bringing them down to Mexico? A police official not long ago told me that half the cop cars in local Mexican police departments were stolen in the U.S.
15,000 MURDERS IN MEXICO SINCE DECEMBER 2012
By Chris Covert
Borderland Beat
October 26, 2013
The latest data on murders in Mexico are in and whatever the administration of Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto is doing to deal with its pervasive organized crime problem, the results are mixed.
According to data supplied the the Secretaria de Gobernacion (SEGOB), or interior ministry, the total of murders nationwide reached more 15,000 since December 2012, the first full month of the new administration. Intentional homicides totaled 1,478 for the month of September, 2013. The total number of murders since December, 2012 was 15,352. The average for the previous ten months is more than 1,535. The average for the previous nine months of 2013 is 1,487.
At the current average rate, the total of intentional homicides in Mexico could reach more than 17,000, which would be the lowest number for homicides since 2009, when 16,118 murders took place.
In 2010 through 2012, including the month of December 2012, homicides were at an all time high of 20,681, 22,856 and 21,768, respectively
President Peña came into office ten months ago with promises of dealing more effectively with organized crime, first by moving all federal law enforcement and military counternarcotics activities under the auspices of its interior ministry. Since that time every crime, especially violent crime reported through the federal government became a statistic, with no or few details.
Despite Mexico's transparency requirements at the federal level, Peña administration officials have interpreted the transparency requirements to reporting only the statistics of crime, not the details.
Since the start, it has been clear that some Mexican news outlets, most of which rely heavily on the federal and state governments for their crime news, were willing to self-censor crime news.
Some government officials, for example last July in Coahuila, have deliberately distorted crime statistics, only to be called on it by private organizations.
Whatever other efforts have been made to spike crime news in Mexico, the statistics that have been compiled by SEGOB are grim.
According to data supplied by Animal Politico news website, kidnappings and extortion attempts have soared in Mexico to all time highs. In September a total of 135 kidnappings were reported, a number exceeded twice since December 2012 -- in March (141) and April, 2013 (136) -- and matched in two other months, June and July.
Going by an annualized rate, the rate of kidnappings will exceed 1,606, an increase of about 10 percent from the previous year and an all time record.
Similarly, the crime of extortion going by its average current rate could reach almost 8,000 by the end of the November, 2013, another all time record. The year 2013 totals could exceed the last highest year, 2012 (7,272), by more than 700 cases.
As with homicides, two other crime categories have been reduced, albeit showing downward trends which began in 2011, in carjackings and auto theft.
In the previous three years, carjackings hit an all time high averaging more than 65,000 with 2011 being the high mark at 71,784. So far in 2013, total carjackings are down 41,916 for the calendar year. At the current annualized rate total carjackings could reach 55,887, the lowest number since 2009 when 42,673 were reported.
Auto theft is also showing a dramatic drop with a projected number of 132,941 for 2013, the lowest number since 2006, before the start of the previous Calderon administration.
Auto thefts have also shown a dramatic drop. Could that be because they are stealing cars in the U.S. and bringing them down to Mexico? A police official not long ago told me that half the cop cars in local Mexican police departments were stolen in the U.S.
15,000 MURDERS IN MEXICO SINCE DECEMBER 2012
By Chris Covert
Borderland Beat
October 26, 2013
The latest data on murders in Mexico are in and whatever the administration of Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto is doing to deal with its pervasive organized crime problem, the results are mixed.
According to data supplied the the Secretaria de Gobernacion (SEGOB), or interior ministry, the total of murders nationwide reached more 15,000 since December 2012, the first full month of the new administration. Intentional homicides totaled 1,478 for the month of September, 2013. The total number of murders since December, 2012 was 15,352. The average for the previous ten months is more than 1,535. The average for the previous nine months of 2013 is 1,487.
At the current average rate, the total of intentional homicides in Mexico could reach more than 17,000, which would be the lowest number for homicides since 2009, when 16,118 murders took place.
In 2010 through 2012, including the month of December 2012, homicides were at an all time high of 20,681, 22,856 and 21,768, respectively
President Peña came into office ten months ago with promises of dealing more effectively with organized crime, first by moving all federal law enforcement and military counternarcotics activities under the auspices of its interior ministry. Since that time every crime, especially violent crime reported through the federal government became a statistic, with no or few details.
Despite Mexico's transparency requirements at the federal level, Peña administration officials have interpreted the transparency requirements to reporting only the statistics of crime, not the details.
Since the start, it has been clear that some Mexican news outlets, most of which rely heavily on the federal and state governments for their crime news, were willing to self-censor crime news.
Some government officials, for example last July in Coahuila, have deliberately distorted crime statistics, only to be called on it by private organizations.
Whatever other efforts have been made to spike crime news in Mexico, the statistics that have been compiled by SEGOB are grim.
According to data supplied by Animal Politico news website, kidnappings and extortion attempts have soared in Mexico to all time highs. In September a total of 135 kidnappings were reported, a number exceeded twice since December 2012 -- in March (141) and April, 2013 (136) -- and matched in two other months, June and July.
Going by an annualized rate, the rate of kidnappings will exceed 1,606, an increase of about 10 percent from the previous year and an all time record.
Similarly, the crime of extortion going by its average current rate could reach almost 8,000 by the end of the November, 2013, another all time record. The year 2013 totals could exceed the last highest year, 2012 (7,272), by more than 700 cases.
As with homicides, two other crime categories have been reduced, albeit showing downward trends which began in 2011, in carjackings and auto theft.
In the previous three years, carjackings hit an all time high averaging more than 65,000 with 2011 being the high mark at 71,784. So far in 2013, total carjackings are down 41,916 for the calendar year. At the current annualized rate total carjackings could reach 55,887, the lowest number since 2009 when 42,673 were reported.
Auto theft is also showing a dramatic drop with a projected number of 132,941 for 2013, the lowest number since 2006, before the start of the previous Calderon administration.
Sunday, October 27, 2013
SUREFIRE WAY TO RAISE WAGES OF LOW-PAID EMPLOYEES
If the Swiss approve a maximum pay referendum, low wage earners will see their paychecks doubled, tripled or even more
In the U.S., the current federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. If a minimum wage worker is employed full-time - forty hours per week for 52 weeks -, that worker would earn $15,080 annually. If a law like the one to be voted on in Switzerland were to be applied in this country, a company employing minimum wage workers could not pay its CEO more than $180,960 per year.
Washington has the highest minimum wage of any state - $9.19 per hour. That means the CEO of a Washington company employing minimum wage workers could earn no more than $229.382 per year under the proposed Swiss system.
San Francisco has a minimum wage of $10.55 per hour. Under the proposed Swiss system, the CEO of a San Francisco company employing minimum wage workers could earn no more than $263,328 per year.
Under such a maximum pay system, low wage workers will see their paychecks doubled, tripled or even more from what they earn now. Then there would be absolutely no need for any minimum wage laws.
SWITZERLAND STEPS CLOSER TO BRINGING IN LAW THAT WILL BAN COMPANY BOSSES FROM EARNING MORE THAN 12 TIMES WHAT THEIR LOWEST EARNER IS PAID
Latest polls show yes and no vote tied at 44 per cent
By Chris Pleasance
Mail Online
October 25, 2013
The Swiss public could be about to back a law which would stop company bosses earning more than 12 times more than their lowest paid employee.
Campaigners from Young Socialists Switzerland, a youth arm of the Swiss Socialist Party, are now 'pulling out all the stops' to ensure a win when the country votes on the proposed law on November 24.
The latest opinion polls, published yesterday, showed support for and against tied on 44 per cent after earlier polls predicted defeat for those pledging to vote for the law in the referendum.
As part of the campaign, the left-wing activists have launched a 'fat cat of the week' competition on their facebook page, targetting UBS' CEO Andrea Orcel, whose pay is 194 times higher than the lowest paid employee, they claim.
He also received a $29million (£17.9million) payment when he joined the investment bank in 2012, though Switzerland has already passed a law forbidding these so-called 'golden handshakes'.
The new move, which is fiercely opposed by the Swiss banking sector, had been expected to fail after being criticised by both right-wing and centre politicians.
However the recent polls have given hope to activists who have begun projecting campaign material onto banking buildings, and are organising a rally for November 2.
David Roth, head of the youth group, said: 'It’s better than previous polls which only gave 35 percent in favour, but it could still vary between 10 or 15 per cent for each side.'
That means campaigners still have their work cut out to ensure it passes, he added.
Switzerland hosts two referendums a year by postal vote, which form the cornerstone of Swiss democracy.
Earlier this month a petition signed by 120,000 people called on the Swiss government to ensure a minimum income of $2,800 (£1,700) per month for every worker in the country.
The petition was backed by enough people to force a vote on the issue in parliament, though no date has yet been set.
In the U.S., the current federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. If a minimum wage worker is employed full-time - forty hours per week for 52 weeks -, that worker would earn $15,080 annually. If a law like the one to be voted on in Switzerland were to be applied in this country, a company employing minimum wage workers could not pay its CEO more than $180,960 per year.
Washington has the highest minimum wage of any state - $9.19 per hour. That means the CEO of a Washington company employing minimum wage workers could earn no more than $229.382 per year under the proposed Swiss system.
San Francisco has a minimum wage of $10.55 per hour. Under the proposed Swiss system, the CEO of a San Francisco company employing minimum wage workers could earn no more than $263,328 per year.
Under such a maximum pay system, low wage workers will see their paychecks doubled, tripled or even more from what they earn now. Then there would be absolutely no need for any minimum wage laws.
SWITZERLAND STEPS CLOSER TO BRINGING IN LAW THAT WILL BAN COMPANY BOSSES FROM EARNING MORE THAN 12 TIMES WHAT THEIR LOWEST EARNER IS PAID
Latest polls show yes and no vote tied at 44 per cent
By Chris Pleasance
Mail Online
October 25, 2013
The Swiss public could be about to back a law which would stop company bosses earning more than 12 times more than their lowest paid employee.
Campaigners from Young Socialists Switzerland, a youth arm of the Swiss Socialist Party, are now 'pulling out all the stops' to ensure a win when the country votes on the proposed law on November 24.
The latest opinion polls, published yesterday, showed support for and against tied on 44 per cent after earlier polls predicted defeat for those pledging to vote for the law in the referendum.
As part of the campaign, the left-wing activists have launched a 'fat cat of the week' competition on their facebook page, targetting UBS' CEO Andrea Orcel, whose pay is 194 times higher than the lowest paid employee, they claim.
He also received a $29million (£17.9million) payment when he joined the investment bank in 2012, though Switzerland has already passed a law forbidding these so-called 'golden handshakes'.
The new move, which is fiercely opposed by the Swiss banking sector, had been expected to fail after being criticised by both right-wing and centre politicians.
However the recent polls have given hope to activists who have begun projecting campaign material onto banking buildings, and are organising a rally for November 2.
David Roth, head of the youth group, said: 'It’s better than previous polls which only gave 35 percent in favour, but it could still vary between 10 or 15 per cent for each side.'
That means campaigners still have their work cut out to ensure it passes, he added.
Switzerland hosts two referendums a year by postal vote, which form the cornerstone of Swiss democracy.
Earlier this month a petition signed by 120,000 people called on the Swiss government to ensure a minimum income of $2,800 (£1,700) per month for every worker in the country.
The petition was backed by enough people to force a vote on the issue in parliament, though no date has yet been set.
WAS CALIFORNIA PAROLEE WHO SHOT FOUR OFFICERS RELEASED DUE TO PRISON REALIGNMENT?
A spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation confirmed that the shooter was a parolee, but she was ordered not to provide any information about why he had been imprisoned or when he was released. That leads me to suspect that he was released as a non-serious, non-violent offender under Gov. Moonbeam’s prison realignment program.
CALIFORNIA PAROLEE SURRENDERS AFTER WOUNDING 4 OFFICERS
By Don Thompson
Associated Press
October 26, 2013
ROSEVILLE, Calif. -- The gunman in a violent confrontation that wounded a federal immigration officer and three local police officers surrendered early Saturday after an hours-long standoff in a Sacramento suburb, authorities said.
The suspect, 32-year-old Samuel Nathan Duran, would be booked in Roseville's jail and then taken to Placer County jail, according to city officials. He surrendered at 12:30 a.m. Saturday.
The shootings happened Friday before the standoff occurred.
The federal immigration officer was shot in the leg as he and other officers made initial contact at about 3 p.m. with Duran, a wanted parolee, Roseville police Lt. Cal Walstad said.
During a later exchange of gunfire, after Duran fled, two Roseville police officers were hit by gunshots - one in the jaw and the other in the shoulder - and a third officer sustained shrapnel wounds from rounds that hit near them, Walstad said.
Two of the officers were listed in stable condition at Sutter Roseville Medical Center, and a third was in serious condition.
As officers attempted to capture the suspect before his surrender, helicopters were circling overhead and armored vehicles and other police cars flocked to the area Friday night. Roseville is about 20 miles northeast of the state capital.
In anticipation of the standoff lasting through the night, some local residents were bused to a community center to spend the night.
Police Chief Daniel Hahn said the Roseville officers were all male and veteran members of the force. Hahn said none of the injuries appeared to be life-threatening. No civilian injuries have been reported.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Virginia Kice said that agency's officer was stable and alert after being taken to Sutter Roseville Medical Center.
Deborah Hoffman, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, confirmed that Duran is a parolee and that she has been asked not to provide any more information about why he had been imprisoned or when he was released.
The incident created scenes of panic and chaos in a typically quiet middle class suburb of about 120,000. Walstad described multiple shooting sites as the suspect tried to escape a swarm of descending law enforcement agents, and reporters on the scene described hearing several volleys of gunfire.
Walstad said Duran was believed to be carrying an "assault-type weapon."
Law enforcement officers had been looking for Duran in the area for at least 10 days before finding him on Friday afternoon, Walstad said. When they found him, Walstad added, he opened fire, wounding the federal immigration officer, who was on the scene to provide support for the Roseville police.
Walstad said the house the suspect was in is on the corner of Sixth Street and Hampton Drive; when Duran first entered the home, the residents called 911, and police advised them to escape through a sliding glass door in the back.
CALIFORNIA PAROLEE SURRENDERS AFTER WOUNDING 4 OFFICERS
By Don Thompson
Associated Press
October 26, 2013
ROSEVILLE, Calif. -- The gunman in a violent confrontation that wounded a federal immigration officer and three local police officers surrendered early Saturday after an hours-long standoff in a Sacramento suburb, authorities said.
The suspect, 32-year-old Samuel Nathan Duran, would be booked in Roseville's jail and then taken to Placer County jail, according to city officials. He surrendered at 12:30 a.m. Saturday.
The shootings happened Friday before the standoff occurred.
The federal immigration officer was shot in the leg as he and other officers made initial contact at about 3 p.m. with Duran, a wanted parolee, Roseville police Lt. Cal Walstad said.
During a later exchange of gunfire, after Duran fled, two Roseville police officers were hit by gunshots - one in the jaw and the other in the shoulder - and a third officer sustained shrapnel wounds from rounds that hit near them, Walstad said.
Two of the officers were listed in stable condition at Sutter Roseville Medical Center, and a third was in serious condition.
As officers attempted to capture the suspect before his surrender, helicopters were circling overhead and armored vehicles and other police cars flocked to the area Friday night. Roseville is about 20 miles northeast of the state capital.
In anticipation of the standoff lasting through the night, some local residents were bused to a community center to spend the night.
Police Chief Daniel Hahn said the Roseville officers were all male and veteran members of the force. Hahn said none of the injuries appeared to be life-threatening. No civilian injuries have been reported.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Virginia Kice said that agency's officer was stable and alert after being taken to Sutter Roseville Medical Center.
Deborah Hoffman, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, confirmed that Duran is a parolee and that she has been asked not to provide any more information about why he had been imprisoned or when he was released.
The incident created scenes of panic and chaos in a typically quiet middle class suburb of about 120,000. Walstad described multiple shooting sites as the suspect tried to escape a swarm of descending law enforcement agents, and reporters on the scene described hearing several volleys of gunfire.
Walstad said Duran was believed to be carrying an "assault-type weapon."
Law enforcement officers had been looking for Duran in the area for at least 10 days before finding him on Friday afternoon, Walstad said. When they found him, Walstad added, he opened fire, wounding the federal immigration officer, who was on the scene to provide support for the Roseville police.
Walstad said the house the suspect was in is on the corner of Sixth Street and Hampton Drive; when Duran first entered the home, the residents called 911, and police advised them to escape through a sliding glass door in the back.
MEXICAN YOUTH CONFESSES TO 45 MURDERS, LINKED TO 34 ADDITIONAL KILLINGS
Mexican authorities were not shocked by the number of murders committed by this youth. To them it’s just another day at the office in murderous Mexico.
YOUNG MAN LINKED TO 79 KILLINGS IN MEXICO
By Mariano Castillo
CNN
October 26, 2013
The most shocking thing about the arrest of a man linked to 79 killings may be that authorities don't find it shocking.
At 20 years old, Juan Pablo Vazquez is accused of killing rivals, a policeman, a stripper and other innocent bystanders.
But you won't find authorities in the northern economic hub of Monterrey, Mexico, using any superlatives to describe the alleged killer. Not the worst they've ever seen, not the most ruthless, not the youngest or most prolific.
That's because Monterrey and its surroundings are an area disputed by rival drug cartels. From 2010 to the present, an average of 108 people have been killed each month in the state of Nuevo Leon, according to official statistics. Monterrey, the capital, has recorded 223 homicides so far this year.
Vazquez's arrest, then, merited a press conference, but no celebration as if an alleged serial killer had been brought down.
"We are witnessing a very severe crisis because of the war between cartels," one Mexican official said.
Vazquez was caught on October 8, but the arrest was not announced until Thursday.
He was arrested together with a woman, Nancy Ortiz, who police said was selling drugs with Vazquez. The pair was caught with 35 baggies of weed and 22 packets of cocaine, the state's security secretariat said.
The young man confessed to 45 killings, security officials said, and has been implicated in 34 other slayings between 2011 and this year.
Fear of reprisals from the warring cartels means that officials keep details to a minimum, not even revealing what gang a suspect belongs to.
The Mexican official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told CNN that Vazquez is a member of the Gulf cartel.
The Gulf cartel is fighting with the Zetas cartel for lucrative smuggling routes to the United States.
The official scoffed at the idea that Vazquez was any more dangerous or deadly than other alleged cartel hit men. He described Vazquez simply as the latest member of a large cell of assassins to be caught.
Vazquez was not necessarily the shooter in all the cases, but was a witness or otherwise involved in the killings, the official said. Sometimes he was just one of several shooters who aimed at their targets. Cartel members who were arrested before him fingered him in connection with the 34 killings he did not confess to, the official said.
And if the thought of a 20-year-old having a hand in 79 deaths sounds like an exaggeration, authorities released a list of dates and victims' names.
Among the killings he is accused of:
-- A transit officer who pulled him over on March 13.
-- An exotic dancer who had been kidnapped from a strip club on July 30.
-- A woman who happened to be accompanying a member of a rival cartel on January 16.
-- A group of eight rivals who were at a bar on August 13.
The list goes on and on. It is just a small fraction of the number of homicides committed in Nuevo Leon, the official said.
YOUNG MAN LINKED TO 79 KILLINGS IN MEXICO
By Mariano Castillo
CNN
October 26, 2013
The most shocking thing about the arrest of a man linked to 79 killings may be that authorities don't find it shocking.
At 20 years old, Juan Pablo Vazquez is accused of killing rivals, a policeman, a stripper and other innocent bystanders.
But you won't find authorities in the northern economic hub of Monterrey, Mexico, using any superlatives to describe the alleged killer. Not the worst they've ever seen, not the most ruthless, not the youngest or most prolific.
That's because Monterrey and its surroundings are an area disputed by rival drug cartels. From 2010 to the present, an average of 108 people have been killed each month in the state of Nuevo Leon, according to official statistics. Monterrey, the capital, has recorded 223 homicides so far this year.
Vazquez's arrest, then, merited a press conference, but no celebration as if an alleged serial killer had been brought down.
"We are witnessing a very severe crisis because of the war between cartels," one Mexican official said.
Vazquez was caught on October 8, but the arrest was not announced until Thursday.
He was arrested together with a woman, Nancy Ortiz, who police said was selling drugs with Vazquez. The pair was caught with 35 baggies of weed and 22 packets of cocaine, the state's security secretariat said.
The young man confessed to 45 killings, security officials said, and has been implicated in 34 other slayings between 2011 and this year.
Fear of reprisals from the warring cartels means that officials keep details to a minimum, not even revealing what gang a suspect belongs to.
The Mexican official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told CNN that Vazquez is a member of the Gulf cartel.
The Gulf cartel is fighting with the Zetas cartel for lucrative smuggling routes to the United States.
The official scoffed at the idea that Vazquez was any more dangerous or deadly than other alleged cartel hit men. He described Vazquez simply as the latest member of a large cell of assassins to be caught.
Vazquez was not necessarily the shooter in all the cases, but was a witness or otherwise involved in the killings, the official said. Sometimes he was just one of several shooters who aimed at their targets. Cartel members who were arrested before him fingered him in connection with the 34 killings he did not confess to, the official said.
And if the thought of a 20-year-old having a hand in 79 deaths sounds like an exaggeration, authorities released a list of dates and victims' names.
Among the killings he is accused of:
-- A transit officer who pulled him over on March 13.
-- An exotic dancer who had been kidnapped from a strip club on July 30.
-- A woman who happened to be accompanying a member of a rival cartel on January 16.
-- A group of eight rivals who were at a bar on August 13.
The list goes on and on. It is just a small fraction of the number of homicides committed in Nuevo Leon, the official said.
STUPID REPUBLICAN IS AS STUPID REPUBLICAN DOES
Stupid remarks made by an obvious racist North Carolina Republican county precinct chairman are sure to be included in every legal challenge to state voter ID laws. He admitted being called a bigot, but says, “One of my best friends is black.”
N.C. REPUBLICAN FORCED OUT OVER DAILY SHOW REMARKS
By Sandy Fitzgerald
Newsmax
October 25, 2013
A county precinct chairman in North Carolina has been forced to resign after declaring on national television that nobody cares if a bunch of "lazy blacks" and Democratic voters are hurt by the state's new voter identification law.
Don Yelton, a Buncombe County precinct head was pushed out by Republican leaders for the racially insensitive remarks, which he made during a segment aired Wednesday night on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show with John Stewart" focusing on Republican efforts to enact new voter ID laws.
According to Raleigh television station WRAL, Yelton, a member of the state party executive committee, acknowledged during the interview at one point that the GOP-sponsored law was intended to keep traditionally Democratic voters away from the polls.
"If it hurts a bunch of lazy blacks that want the government to give them everything, so be it," Yelton told Daily Show correspondent Aasif Mandvi.
He also said the law would "kick the Democrats in the butt," and added: "If it hurts a bunch of college kids [that are] too lazy to get up off their bohonkas and go get a photo ID, so be it. If it hurts a bunch of whites, so be it."
Buncombe Country GOP Chairman Henry Mitchell moved quickly to distance the state and national party from Yelton's comments, calling them "offensive, uniformed, and unacceptable of any member within the Republican Party," WRAL reported.
"Let me make it very clear, Mr. Yelton's comments do not reflect the belief or feelings of Buncombe Republicans, nor do they mirror any core principle that our party is founded upon," Mitchell reportedly said in a press release. "This mentality will not be supported or propagated within our party."
State Republican Party Chairman Claude Pope joined with Mitchell in insisting Yelton step down. In a posting on the party's Facebook page, Pope described Yelton's comments as "highly offensive" and said he would initiate a process to remove him if he refused to resign his position.
During the interview, Yelton continued to make a number of controversial remarks, at one point prompting Mandvi to ask, "You know we can hear you?"
Still, Yelton kept on, denying that he was a racist. "As a matter of fact, one of my best friends is black," he said. But he confessed to Mandvi that he had been "called a bigot before" for speaking his mind.
In an interview Friday with the Asheville Mountain Xpress newspaper, Yelton was unbowed by the condemnations of his fellow Republicans. "The comments that were made, that I said, I stand behind them," he said. "I believe them."
To further emphasize that point, he expressed disappointment about not being interviewed live and that many of his other remarks were edited out.
"There were a lot of things I said that they could've made sound worse than what they put up," he said. I would've loved to been able to do it live . . . But that wasn't offered."
Yelton also said he knew what he was getting into by agreeing to appear on Stewart's satirical news program. He said he wasn't sure why he was contacted by the show's producers, but guessed that it might have something to do with Facebook posting he did commenting on President Barack Obama's race.
"Everybody and their brother told me, 'They're going to make fun of you,'" he told the Asheville newspaper. "I don't think we can run from the people that disagree with us. If you're not willing to talk to people you disagree with, then you're never going to accomplish anything. So that's why I agreed to take the interview."
N.C. REPUBLICAN FORCED OUT OVER DAILY SHOW REMARKS
By Sandy Fitzgerald
Newsmax
October 25, 2013
A county precinct chairman in North Carolina has been forced to resign after declaring on national television that nobody cares if a bunch of "lazy blacks" and Democratic voters are hurt by the state's new voter identification law.
Don Yelton, a Buncombe County precinct head was pushed out by Republican leaders for the racially insensitive remarks, which he made during a segment aired Wednesday night on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show with John Stewart" focusing on Republican efforts to enact new voter ID laws.
According to Raleigh television station WRAL, Yelton, a member of the state party executive committee, acknowledged during the interview at one point that the GOP-sponsored law was intended to keep traditionally Democratic voters away from the polls.
"If it hurts a bunch of lazy blacks that want the government to give them everything, so be it," Yelton told Daily Show correspondent Aasif Mandvi.
He also said the law would "kick the Democrats in the butt," and added: "If it hurts a bunch of college kids [that are] too lazy to get up off their bohonkas and go get a photo ID, so be it. If it hurts a bunch of whites, so be it."
Buncombe Country GOP Chairman Henry Mitchell moved quickly to distance the state and national party from Yelton's comments, calling them "offensive, uniformed, and unacceptable of any member within the Republican Party," WRAL reported.
"Let me make it very clear, Mr. Yelton's comments do not reflect the belief or feelings of Buncombe Republicans, nor do they mirror any core principle that our party is founded upon," Mitchell reportedly said in a press release. "This mentality will not be supported or propagated within our party."
State Republican Party Chairman Claude Pope joined with Mitchell in insisting Yelton step down. In a posting on the party's Facebook page, Pope described Yelton's comments as "highly offensive" and said he would initiate a process to remove him if he refused to resign his position.
During the interview, Yelton continued to make a number of controversial remarks, at one point prompting Mandvi to ask, "You know we can hear you?"
Still, Yelton kept on, denying that he was a racist. "As a matter of fact, one of my best friends is black," he said. But he confessed to Mandvi that he had been "called a bigot before" for speaking his mind.
In an interview Friday with the Asheville Mountain Xpress newspaper, Yelton was unbowed by the condemnations of his fellow Republicans. "The comments that were made, that I said, I stand behind them," he said. "I believe them."
To further emphasize that point, he expressed disappointment about not being interviewed live and that many of his other remarks were edited out.
"There were a lot of things I said that they could've made sound worse than what they put up," he said. I would've loved to been able to do it live . . . But that wasn't offered."
Yelton also said he knew what he was getting into by agreeing to appear on Stewart's satirical news program. He said he wasn't sure why he was contacted by the show's producers, but guessed that it might have something to do with Facebook posting he did commenting on President Barack Obama's race.
"Everybody and their brother told me, 'They're going to make fun of you,'" he told the Asheville newspaper. "I don't think we can run from the people that disagree with us. If you're not willing to talk to people you disagree with, then you're never going to accomplish anything. So that's why I agreed to take the interview."
NEW WASHINGTON LAWS LEAD TO NEW INTERPRETATION OF LEVITICUS 20:13
The Unconventional Gazette
October 26, 2013
For those who haven't bothered to pay attention, Washington State recently passed two new laws - gay marriage and legalized marijuana.
The fact that gay marriage and marijuana were legalized on the same day makes perfect biblical sense because Leviticus 20:13 (New International Version) says:
__“If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them shall be stoned.”
We just hadn't interpreted it correctly before!
October 26, 2013
For those who haven't bothered to pay attention, Washington State recently passed two new laws - gay marriage and legalized marijuana.
The fact that gay marriage and marijuana were legalized on the same day makes perfect biblical sense because Leviticus 20:13 (New International Version) says:
__“If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them shall be stoned.”
We just hadn't interpreted it correctly before!
COMPOSER NOT LIKELY TO BE NOMINATED FOR A GRAMMY
The Unconventional Gazette
October 26, 2013
A ragged, old, derelict shuffled into a down and dirty bar; stinking of whiskey, cigarettes and stale beer His hands shook as he took the "Piano Player Wanted" sign from the window and handed it to the bartender.
"I'd like to apply for the job," he said. "I was an F-4 driver, flying off the Attack Carrier Oriskany back in 'Nam, but when they retired the Phantom all the thrill was gone, and soon they cashed me in as well. I learned to play the piano at Officer's Club happy hours, so here I am."
The barkeep wasn't too sure about this doubtful looking old guy, but it had been quite a while since he had a piano player and business was falling off. So, why not give him a try.
The seedy pilot staggered his way over to the piano while several patrons snickered at the old man. By the time he was into his third bar of music, every voice was silenced.
What followed was a rhapsody of soaring music unlike anything heard in the bar before. When he finished there wasn't a dry eye in the place.
The bartender took the old fighter pilot a beer and asked him the name of the song he had just played.
It's called "Drop your Skivvies, Baby, I'm Going Balls To The Wall For You" he said. After a long pull from the beer, leaving it empty, he said, "I wrote it myself."
The bartender and the crowd winced at the title, but the piano player just went on into a knee-slapping, hand-clapping bit of ragtime that had the place jumping. After he finished, the fighter pilot acknowledged the applause, downed a second proffered mug, and told the crowd the song was called, "Big Boobs Make My Afterburner Light."
He then launched into another mesmerizing song and everyone in the room was enthralled. He announced that it was the latest rendition of his song, "Spread 'em Baby, It's Foggy Out Tonight and I Need To See The Centerline", excused himself and headed for the john.
When he came out the bartender went over to him and said, "Hey, fly boy, the job is yours; but, do you know your fly is open and your pecker is hanging out?"
"Know it?", the old fighter pilot replied, "Hell, I wrote it!"
October 26, 2013
A ragged, old, derelict shuffled into a down and dirty bar; stinking of whiskey, cigarettes and stale beer His hands shook as he took the "Piano Player Wanted" sign from the window and handed it to the bartender.
"I'd like to apply for the job," he said. "I was an F-4 driver, flying off the Attack Carrier Oriskany back in 'Nam, but when they retired the Phantom all the thrill was gone, and soon they cashed me in as well. I learned to play the piano at Officer's Club happy hours, so here I am."
The barkeep wasn't too sure about this doubtful looking old guy, but it had been quite a while since he had a piano player and business was falling off. So, why not give him a try.
The seedy pilot staggered his way over to the piano while several patrons snickered at the old man. By the time he was into his third bar of music, every voice was silenced.
What followed was a rhapsody of soaring music unlike anything heard in the bar before. When he finished there wasn't a dry eye in the place.
The bartender took the old fighter pilot a beer and asked him the name of the song he had just played.
It's called "Drop your Skivvies, Baby, I'm Going Balls To The Wall For You" he said. After a long pull from the beer, leaving it empty, he said, "I wrote it myself."
The bartender and the crowd winced at the title, but the piano player just went on into a knee-slapping, hand-clapping bit of ragtime that had the place jumping. After he finished, the fighter pilot acknowledged the applause, downed a second proffered mug, and told the crowd the song was called, "Big Boobs Make My Afterburner Light."
He then launched into another mesmerizing song and everyone in the room was enthralled. He announced that it was the latest rendition of his song, "Spread 'em Baby, It's Foggy Out Tonight and I Need To See The Centerline", excused himself and headed for the john.
When he came out the bartender went over to him and said, "Hey, fly boy, the job is yours; but, do you know your fly is open and your pecker is hanging out?"
"Know it?", the old fighter pilot replied, "Hell, I wrote it!"
Saturday, October 26, 2013
TOY GUNS CAN BE DEADLY
There have been a number of police shootings involving people with toy guns
This tragic police shooting of a 13-year-old boy with a replica toy assault rifle is understandable if the cops were really in fear of their lives.
I recall that many years ago, a police officer was looking through a house when a little boy suddenly jumped out from behind a couch waving a toy gun. The officer, believing it to be real and fearing for his life, shot the boy to death. The officer resigned and son thereafter took his own life.
FBI PROBES DEPUTY’S KILLING OF BOY WITH TOY GUN
Thomson/Reuters
October 26, 2013
The FBI has launched an independent investigation into a deputy sheriff's killing of a 13-year-old boy while he was walking to a friend's house this week to return a replica of an assault rifle, a spokesman said on Saturday.
Sonoma County Sheriff Steve Freitas announced on Friday night that the FBI will conduct an inquiry into the shooting death of Andy Lopez Cruz in Santa Rosa, a community in northern California's wine country.
Hundreds of protesters, many of them Latino teenagers, have demonstrated daily, calling for an investigation into the Tuesday afternoon incident in a blue-collar neighborhood of Santa Rosa.
While the Santa Rosa Police Department and other local agencies continue to investigate the shooting, civil rights advocates have sought an independent federal investigation.
The FBI's San Francisco office will "review all the facts and see if there was any federal crime committed, whether the individual's civil rights were violated," said spokesman Peter Lee.
Freitas said he welcomed the FBI probe into the death of the popular eighth-grader who played the trumpet and basketball and enjoyed teasing friends.
The deputy, a 24-year veteran of the force, saw Andy carrying what he believed was a real rifle, feared for his life and fired eight shots at the hoodie-clad boy as he walked along a vacant lot about a block from his family's mobile home, authorities said.
The tragedy is the latest in a number of police shootings involving people with toy weapons and has reignited calls in Sonoma County to create a civilian review board to examine such incidents.
Police said the boy had his back to the deputy and a deputy trainee, both of whom commanded him to drop the gun as they crouched behind the door of their patrol car.
When Andy turned toward them with the gun still in his hand, the veteran deputy began firing from a distance of 20 to 30 feet, officials said.
Seven bullets struck Andy; two of the rounds were fatal.
Andy's father, Rodrigo Lopez, said he believes his son may not have heard the deputies' orders.
"I think he would have done what they told him," he said. "I know him, and he has respect for the law, for police."
A police spokesman told the Santa Rosa Press Democrat newspaper that it remained unclear whether Andy, who enjoyed listening to music, was wearing ear buds at the time.
No more than 10 seconds elapsed from the time the deputies spotted the boy carrying what they believed to be an assault rifle and the moment they shot him dead, police said.
Because of social media threats leveled against the two officers, the sheriff said he would not release their names at this time. Both have been placed on administrative leave.
Andy's parents said a friend left the plastic assault rifle at their home last weekend, and he was on his way to the friend's house to return it after school when he was shot.
An orange tip that is required to be placed on imitation air guns apparently had been removed from the one Andy carried.
"They didn't have the right to kill him," Andy's distraught friend, Magaly Bejaran, 13, told Reuters.
This tragic police shooting of a 13-year-old boy with a replica toy assault rifle is understandable if the cops were really in fear of their lives.
I recall that many years ago, a police officer was looking through a house when a little boy suddenly jumped out from behind a couch waving a toy gun. The officer, believing it to be real and fearing for his life, shot the boy to death. The officer resigned and son thereafter took his own life.
FBI PROBES DEPUTY’S KILLING OF BOY WITH TOY GUN
Thomson/Reuters
October 26, 2013
The FBI has launched an independent investigation into a deputy sheriff's killing of a 13-year-old boy while he was walking to a friend's house this week to return a replica of an assault rifle, a spokesman said on Saturday.
Sonoma County Sheriff Steve Freitas announced on Friday night that the FBI will conduct an inquiry into the shooting death of Andy Lopez Cruz in Santa Rosa, a community in northern California's wine country.
Hundreds of protesters, many of them Latino teenagers, have demonstrated daily, calling for an investigation into the Tuesday afternoon incident in a blue-collar neighborhood of Santa Rosa.
While the Santa Rosa Police Department and other local agencies continue to investigate the shooting, civil rights advocates have sought an independent federal investigation.
The FBI's San Francisco office will "review all the facts and see if there was any federal crime committed, whether the individual's civil rights were violated," said spokesman Peter Lee.
Freitas said he welcomed the FBI probe into the death of the popular eighth-grader who played the trumpet and basketball and enjoyed teasing friends.
The deputy, a 24-year veteran of the force, saw Andy carrying what he believed was a real rifle, feared for his life and fired eight shots at the hoodie-clad boy as he walked along a vacant lot about a block from his family's mobile home, authorities said.
The tragedy is the latest in a number of police shootings involving people with toy weapons and has reignited calls in Sonoma County to create a civilian review board to examine such incidents.
Police said the boy had his back to the deputy and a deputy trainee, both of whom commanded him to drop the gun as they crouched behind the door of their patrol car.
When Andy turned toward them with the gun still in his hand, the veteran deputy began firing from a distance of 20 to 30 feet, officials said.
Seven bullets struck Andy; two of the rounds were fatal.
Andy's father, Rodrigo Lopez, said he believes his son may not have heard the deputies' orders.
"I think he would have done what they told him," he said. "I know him, and he has respect for the law, for police."
A police spokesman told the Santa Rosa Press Democrat newspaper that it remained unclear whether Andy, who enjoyed listening to music, was wearing ear buds at the time.
No more than 10 seconds elapsed from the time the deputies spotted the boy carrying what they believed to be an assault rifle and the moment they shot him dead, police said.
Because of social media threats leveled against the two officers, the sheriff said he would not release their names at this time. Both have been placed on administrative leave.
Andy's parents said a friend left the plastic assault rifle at their home last weekend, and he was on his way to the friend's house to return it after school when he was shot.
An orange tip that is required to be placed on imitation air guns apparently had been removed from the one Andy carried.
"They didn't have the right to kill him," Andy's distraught friend, Magaly Bejaran, 13, told Reuters.
CAT FIGHT BETWEEN TWO FLORIDA WOMEN COPS (UPDATE)
Female deputy sheriff assaults female city cop she caught with her husband
Hot diggity dog, a cat fight between two women cops when one catches the other with her husband.
Deputy Edeania Nettles was the clear winner in the punching, hair-pulling and clawing cat fight, but unfortunately for the aggrieved wife, she has now been fired.
OSCEOLA DEPUTY FIRED AFTER HAIR-PULLING DUST-UP
By Susan Jacobson
Orlando Sentinel
October 25, 2013
An Osceola County deputy sheriff was fired Thursday in the wake of her arrest on a charge of battering a female police officer she found at a park with the deputy's husband.
Deputy Edeania Nettles was let go after an internal investigation found her in violation of Sheriff's Office policy, a department spokeswoman said.
Nettles, 39, was suspended after she was accused of punching St. Cloud police Officer Jennifer Hoyos, 26, in the face and yanking Hoyos out of her patrol car by the hair.
During the confrontation about 10:45 p.m. Oct. 2, Nettles' husband, St. Cloud police Sgt. Elbert John Nettles, 36, tried to separate the woman, an arrest report states. He was at Ted Broda Memorial Park in St. Cloud with Hoyos, who was on duty, according to the report.
After the dust-up, Hoyos had a skinned knee, bloody lips, scratches on her neck and a clump of hair pulled out, investigators said.
Edeania Nettles was arrested on a charge of battery on a law-enforcement officer.
John Nettles received a written reprimand in 2012 after he accidentally shot off half of a fellow SWAT team member's right middle finger during a drug raid. In 2011, he was one of two St. Cloud officers who shot a woman dead when they were called to a dispute between roommates.
Hot diggity dog, a cat fight between two women cops when one catches the other with her husband.
Deputy Edeania Nettles was the clear winner in the punching, hair-pulling and clawing cat fight, but unfortunately for the aggrieved wife, she has now been fired.
OSCEOLA DEPUTY FIRED AFTER HAIR-PULLING DUST-UP
By Susan Jacobson
Orlando Sentinel
October 25, 2013
An Osceola County deputy sheriff was fired Thursday in the wake of her arrest on a charge of battering a female police officer she found at a park with the deputy's husband.
Deputy Edeania Nettles was let go after an internal investigation found her in violation of Sheriff's Office policy, a department spokeswoman said.
Nettles, 39, was suspended after she was accused of punching St. Cloud police Officer Jennifer Hoyos, 26, in the face and yanking Hoyos out of her patrol car by the hair.
During the confrontation about 10:45 p.m. Oct. 2, Nettles' husband, St. Cloud police Sgt. Elbert John Nettles, 36, tried to separate the woman, an arrest report states. He was at Ted Broda Memorial Park in St. Cloud with Hoyos, who was on duty, according to the report.
After the dust-up, Hoyos had a skinned knee, bloody lips, scratches on her neck and a clump of hair pulled out, investigators said.
Edeania Nettles was arrested on a charge of battery on a law-enforcement officer.
John Nettles received a written reprimand in 2012 after he accidentally shot off half of a fellow SWAT team member's right middle finger during a drug raid. In 2011, he was one of two St. Cloud officers who shot a woman dead when they were called to a dispute between roommates.
EUROPEAN UNION POLICY: ISRAELI SETTLEMENTS IN THE WEST BANK AND EAST JERUSALEM ARE NOT PART OF ISRAEL
Middle East Monitor reports that in negotiating with Israel over Horizon 2020, a project for funding scientific research, “the EU guidelines dictate that any future agreement with Israel should make it clear that the Israeli settlements in the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem, as well as the Syrian Golan Heights, are not part of Israel and therefore not covered by EU-Israel agreements.”
The Palestinians have vowed that once they have achieved statehood, Palestine will be Judenrein. Not one European voice has been raised against the Palestinians’ promised ethnic cleansing. That means the more than 500,000 Israeli settlers will be forced out of their homes.
I really don’t understand the EU’s love affair with the Palestinians. The Europeans’ demands on Israel, if enacted, will ensure the eventual obliteration of the Jewish state. It seems like, except for Germany, the Europeans feel absolutely no responsibility for the Holocaust. Well, they better take a close look at history.
Many people in Nazi occupied Europe collaborated with the SS and the Gestapo in rounding up Jews for deportation to the Nazi death camps. The people in Poland and the Balkans did so eagerly. All of Europe bears some responsibility in the Holocaust, some countries more than others. The Europeans cannot use the excuse of having been under the boot of the Nazis because most of them were glad to get rid of the hated Jews.
The Europeans should also study history to enlighten themselves about how the settlements came to be established in the first place. It was because of the third Arab-Israeli war, better known as the Six Day War, when in 1967 the armies of Egypt, Jordan and Syria were decisively defeated by the Israeli defense forces. As a result, Israel captured the West Bank, East Jerusalem, the Sinai, the Gaza strip and the Golan Heights. Israel then established settlements in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza strip.
In all wars through WWII, it had been customary for the victorious nations to retain some of the lands captured from the countries that were defeated. But the UN and the EU have decreed that Israel, which built its settlements to make the country more secure, is not allowed to do retain any lands it captured in 1967. Thus, according to the Europeans, the 500,000-plus Jewish settlers are living in homes on lands that are not part of Israel.
The Palestinians have vowed that once they have achieved statehood, Palestine will be Judenrein. Not one European voice has been raised against the Palestinians’ promised ethnic cleansing. That means the more than 500,000 Israeli settlers will be forced out of their homes.
I really don’t understand the EU’s love affair with the Palestinians. The Europeans’ demands on Israel, if enacted, will ensure the eventual obliteration of the Jewish state. It seems like, except for Germany, the Europeans feel absolutely no responsibility for the Holocaust. Well, they better take a close look at history.
Many people in Nazi occupied Europe collaborated with the SS and the Gestapo in rounding up Jews for deportation to the Nazi death camps. The people in Poland and the Balkans did so eagerly. All of Europe bears some responsibility in the Holocaust, some countries more than others. The Europeans cannot use the excuse of having been under the boot of the Nazis because most of them were glad to get rid of the hated Jews.
The Europeans should also study history to enlighten themselves about how the settlements came to be established in the first place. It was because of the third Arab-Israeli war, better known as the Six Day War, when in 1967 the armies of Egypt, Jordan and Syria were decisively defeated by the Israeli defense forces. As a result, Israel captured the West Bank, East Jerusalem, the Sinai, the Gaza strip and the Golan Heights. Israel then established settlements in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza strip.
In all wars through WWII, it had been customary for the victorious nations to retain some of the lands captured from the countries that were defeated. But the UN and the EU have decreed that Israel, which built its settlements to make the country more secure, is not allowed to do retain any lands it captured in 1967. Thus, according to the Europeans, the 500,000-plus Jewish settlers are living in homes on lands that are not part of Israel.
EUROPEAN DIPLOMATS ACTIVELY ASSISTING ILLEGAL PALESTINIAN ACTIVITIES
One diplomat, a French woman, punched an Israeli soldier in the face
The Europeans have verboten Israel to construct settlements in land captured from the Arabs in 1967, but their diplomats are actively helping Palestinians to build settlements in violation of an agreement signed between the Palestinians and Israel. That is another example of how the shameless descendants of Holocaust enablers are supporting the Palestinians in their conflict with Israel.
From September 27 IsraelNationalNews.com: Marion Fesneau-Castaing, France's cultural attache to its consulate in Jerusalem, punched an Israeli soldier in the face during scuffles around an illegal encampment set up by local and foreign activists in the Jordan Valley. EU officials initially issued a condemnation against Israel over the incident, as reports by anti-Israel activists claimed Israeli forces had used violence against a convoy delivering "humanitarian aid," and had physically assaulted the French diplomat. However, a video of the incident emerged showing a very different story - including footage of Castaing punching a soldier in the face, as well as remarkable restraint on behalf of IDF personnel in the face of provocation by Arab and European activists.
In a lengthy op-ed posted in the October 25 issue of Jewish World Review, Caroline Glick describes a litany of anti-Israeli actions taken by the European Union. Here is an excerpt from the first part of Glick’s article:
Last month the European Union pushed European-Israeli relations to a new low. In mid-September, the IDF enforced a High Court of Justice order to destroy 250 structures built illegally by Palestinian squatters in the Jordan Valley. The High Court acted in accordance with the agreements signed between the Palestinians and Israel. Those agreements gave Israel sole control over planning and zoning in the Jordan Valley and throughout the area of Judea and Samaria defined as Area C.
Five days after the IDF destroyed the illegal structures, Palestinian activists arrived at the site with tents. Their intention was to act in contempt of the law and of the agreements the PLO signed with Israel, and to resettle the site.
The Palestinians did not come alone. They were accompanied by European diplomats. The diplomats were there to provide diplomatic cover to the Palestinians as they broke the law and breached the agreements the PLO signed with the Israeli government.
This would have been bad enough, but in the event, one European diplomat, Marion Castaing, the cultural attache at the French consulate in Jerusalem decided that her job didn't end with providing diplomatic cover for lawbreakers. She joined them. She punched an Israeli border policeman in the face.
Rather than apologize to Israel for using European diplomats to support Palestinians engaged in criminal activity, and for Castaing's shocking violence against an Israeli soldier lawfully performing his duties, EU Foreign Policy chief Catherine Ashton attacked Israel.
Ashton called the tents, presumably paid for by European taxpayers, "humanitarian assistance," and declared, "The EU deplores the confiscation of humanitarian assistance carried out by Israeli security forces yesterday in Khirbet al-Makhul.
"EU representatives have already contacted the Israeli authorities to demand an explanation and expressed their concern at the incident. The EU underlines the importance of unimpeded delivery of humanitarian assistance and the applicability of international humanitarian law in the occupied Palestinian territory," Ashton said.
The EU's role in financing illegal Palestinian building efforts in the Jordan Valley is not unique. For some time, in contempt of Israeli law and the agreements signed between Israel and the PLO, the EU has been financing illegal building by Arabs in Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem.
What was new in last month's incident was the deployment of European diplomats at the scene to provide diplomatic cover for Palestinian law breakers, and of course their willingness to physically assault Israeli security forces.
The Europeans have verboten Israel to construct settlements in land captured from the Arabs in 1967, but their diplomats are actively helping Palestinians to build settlements in violation of an agreement signed between the Palestinians and Israel. That is another example of how the shameless descendants of Holocaust enablers are supporting the Palestinians in their conflict with Israel.
From September 27 IsraelNationalNews.com: Marion Fesneau-Castaing, France's cultural attache to its consulate in Jerusalem, punched an Israeli soldier in the face during scuffles around an illegal encampment set up by local and foreign activists in the Jordan Valley. EU officials initially issued a condemnation against Israel over the incident, as reports by anti-Israel activists claimed Israeli forces had used violence against a convoy delivering "humanitarian aid," and had physically assaulted the French diplomat. However, a video of the incident emerged showing a very different story - including footage of Castaing punching a soldier in the face, as well as remarkable restraint on behalf of IDF personnel in the face of provocation by Arab and European activists.
In a lengthy op-ed posted in the October 25 issue of Jewish World Review, Caroline Glick describes a litany of anti-Israeli actions taken by the European Union. Here is an excerpt from the first part of Glick’s article:
Last month the European Union pushed European-Israeli relations to a new low. In mid-September, the IDF enforced a High Court of Justice order to destroy 250 structures built illegally by Palestinian squatters in the Jordan Valley. The High Court acted in accordance with the agreements signed between the Palestinians and Israel. Those agreements gave Israel sole control over planning and zoning in the Jordan Valley and throughout the area of Judea and Samaria defined as Area C.
Five days after the IDF destroyed the illegal structures, Palestinian activists arrived at the site with tents. Their intention was to act in contempt of the law and of the agreements the PLO signed with Israel, and to resettle the site.
The Palestinians did not come alone. They were accompanied by European diplomats. The diplomats were there to provide diplomatic cover to the Palestinians as they broke the law and breached the agreements the PLO signed with the Israeli government.
This would have been bad enough, but in the event, one European diplomat, Marion Castaing, the cultural attache at the French consulate in Jerusalem decided that her job didn't end with providing diplomatic cover for lawbreakers. She joined them. She punched an Israeli border policeman in the face.
Rather than apologize to Israel for using European diplomats to support Palestinians engaged in criminal activity, and for Castaing's shocking violence against an Israeli soldier lawfully performing his duties, EU Foreign Policy chief Catherine Ashton attacked Israel.
Ashton called the tents, presumably paid for by European taxpayers, "humanitarian assistance," and declared, "The EU deplores the confiscation of humanitarian assistance carried out by Israeli security forces yesterday in Khirbet al-Makhul.
"EU representatives have already contacted the Israeli authorities to demand an explanation and expressed their concern at the incident. The EU underlines the importance of unimpeded delivery of humanitarian assistance and the applicability of international humanitarian law in the occupied Palestinian territory," Ashton said.
The EU's role in financing illegal Palestinian building efforts in the Jordan Valley is not unique. For some time, in contempt of Israeli law and the agreements signed between Israel and the PLO, the EU has been financing illegal building by Arabs in Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem.
What was new in last month's incident was the deployment of European diplomats at the scene to provide diplomatic cover for Palestinian law breakers, and of course their willingness to physically assault Israeli security forces.
ANGRY MOM TRIES TO RIP OFF SON’S BALLS, THEN TRIES SUPERGLUE TO REPAIR THE DAMAGE
I can see a new superglue ad in the works:
“Loctite® Super Glue Professional in a bottle has proven superior performance over ordinary super glues. It works faster and holds stronger on more surfaces, including your vital genitals, than ordinary instant adhesives thanks to a patented additive. Loctite® Super Glue Professional’s super strength formula is ideal for heavy-duty projects and repairs, even to your precious genitals.”
WORST MOTHER EVER ALLEGEDLY TEARS KID’S GENITALS THEN TRIES TO SUPERGLUE THEM BACK TOGETHER
By Madison Gray
Time
October 24, 2013
The cruelty one woman allegedly showed to her own son is enough to be its own Halloween horror tale.
Authorities have charged Jennifer Marie Vargas, 34, a civilian living on a military base in San Antonio, with assault after she allegedly attempted to pull off her 6-year-old child’s genitals while angry at him, then tried to reattach them with superglue, the San Antonio Express-News reported.
According to a criminal affidavit filed with the FBI, Vargas admitted to agents that on Sept. 27, after becoming angry at the boy, she grabbed his scrotum as hard as she could “thereby ripping his ‘sack’ and causing a laceration,” according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court. The document continued that she applied the superglue, chemically known as a cyanoacrylate adhesive and designed for binding solid services, then stuffed the boy’s underwear with paper towel and ordered him to bed. She sought no medical attention for him, the affidavit said.
When the boy’s father, U.S. Army Specialist Samuel Simpson, returned home, he found his son in a bedroom crying and discovered damaged tissue in the boy’s underwear and a severe injury to his scrotum, according to the complaint.
He took the boy to the San Antonio Military Medical Center, where doctors said he had a 4-centimeter laceration to his scrotum and bruising to his penis. He was medicated due to the extreme pain and taken into surgery to repair the damage, the affidavit said. He remains in his father’s custody.
Judge Pamela Mathy ordered Vargas held without bail pending an Oct. 28 bail hearing. Prosecutors are expected to argue that she remain behind bars.
“Loctite® Super Glue Professional in a bottle has proven superior performance over ordinary super glues. It works faster and holds stronger on more surfaces, including your vital genitals, than ordinary instant adhesives thanks to a patented additive. Loctite® Super Glue Professional’s super strength formula is ideal for heavy-duty projects and repairs, even to your precious genitals.”
WORST MOTHER EVER ALLEGEDLY TEARS KID’S GENITALS THEN TRIES TO SUPERGLUE THEM BACK TOGETHER
By Madison Gray
Time
October 24, 2013
The cruelty one woman allegedly showed to her own son is enough to be its own Halloween horror tale.
Authorities have charged Jennifer Marie Vargas, 34, a civilian living on a military base in San Antonio, with assault after she allegedly attempted to pull off her 6-year-old child’s genitals while angry at him, then tried to reattach them with superglue, the San Antonio Express-News reported.
According to a criminal affidavit filed with the FBI, Vargas admitted to agents that on Sept. 27, after becoming angry at the boy, she grabbed his scrotum as hard as she could “thereby ripping his ‘sack’ and causing a laceration,” according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court. The document continued that she applied the superglue, chemically known as a cyanoacrylate adhesive and designed for binding solid services, then stuffed the boy’s underwear with paper towel and ordered him to bed. She sought no medical attention for him, the affidavit said.
When the boy’s father, U.S. Army Specialist Samuel Simpson, returned home, he found his son in a bedroom crying and discovered damaged tissue in the boy’s underwear and a severe injury to his scrotum, according to the complaint.
He took the boy to the San Antonio Military Medical Center, where doctors said he had a 4-centimeter laceration to his scrotum and bruising to his penis. He was medicated due to the extreme pain and taken into surgery to repair the damage, the affidavit said. He remains in his father’s custody.
Judge Pamela Mathy ordered Vargas held without bail pending an Oct. 28 bail hearing. Prosecutors are expected to argue that she remain behind bars.
Friday, October 25, 2013
OBAMA WANTS MARINE CORPS TO SWITCH TO GIRLY CAPS
According to Newsmax, President Obama wants to create a unisex-style dress cap for the Marine Corps uniform so that the hats will look as good on women Marines as on their male counterparts. The proposed hats are smaller and thinner than the traditional hats worn by Marines since 1922. Obama’s design looks somewhat like the French army kepi.
Rank-and-file Marines are up in arms over the proposal, complaining that the caps look like girly hats. “We don’t even have enough funding to buy bullets and the DOD is pushing to spend $8 million on covers that look like women’s hats,” a senior Marine told the New York Post. “The cap looks too French and the last people we want to associate our Marines with would be the French military,” wrote an angry leatherneck to the Marine Times. Some say they look like a railroad ‘porter’s cap.’
"We need to be focusing on keeping America safe, enabling our military to do its job, and not make the military an experiment in social policy,” said former Rep. Pete Hoekstra of Michigan. “[It's] absolutely outrageous. This president is destroying the morale of the military by all of these kinds of actions, whether it's from a unisex cap to rules of engagement."
Officials at Marine Corps headquarters have until the end of this week to either approve or disapprove the proposed change.
Newsmax reports that the final cost of the Affordable Care Act website “tops $1 billion.” That's more than $1 billion just for the problem-plagued website that has been a royal disaster for the Obama administration. And on top of that, now the President wants to screw up the Marine Corps uniform just to make women Marines look better. What’s next? Change the Marine Corps motto from Semper Fi to Semper Amans?
Rank-and-file Marines are up in arms over the proposal, complaining that the caps look like girly hats. “We don’t even have enough funding to buy bullets and the DOD is pushing to spend $8 million on covers that look like women’s hats,” a senior Marine told the New York Post. “The cap looks too French and the last people we want to associate our Marines with would be the French military,” wrote an angry leatherneck to the Marine Times. Some say they look like a railroad ‘porter’s cap.’
"We need to be focusing on keeping America safe, enabling our military to do its job, and not make the military an experiment in social policy,” said former Rep. Pete Hoekstra of Michigan. “[It's] absolutely outrageous. This president is destroying the morale of the military by all of these kinds of actions, whether it's from a unisex cap to rules of engagement."
Officials at Marine Corps headquarters have until the end of this week to either approve or disapprove the proposed change.
Newsmax reports that the final cost of the Affordable Care Act website “tops $1 billion.” That's more than $1 billion just for the problem-plagued website that has been a royal disaster for the Obama administration. And on top of that, now the President wants to screw up the Marine Corps uniform just to make women Marines look better. What’s next? Change the Marine Corps motto from Semper Fi to Semper Amans?
FORMER NSA AND CIA DIRECTOR AND FORMER HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN POOH POOH GERMAN CHNCELLOR MERKEL’S ANGER OVER THE NSA SPYING ON HER
Classified documents released by Edward Snowden show that NSA eavesdropped on the phone conversations of 35 world leaders
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande, and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff are all furious that the NSA eavesdropped in on their telephone calls. Mexicans are furious that the NSA hacked the public e-mail account of former President Felipe Calderon.
The NSA collected information on 124.8 billion phone calls in a 30 day period earlier this year. And all this spying was not just on our enemies, but on American citizens and on our allies as well. The NSA intercepted more than 70 million phone calls in France alone in just one month.
Former House Intelligence Committee chairman Peter Hoekstra dismissed Merkel’s anger, saying, "You have to be really naive to believe that this does not go on and that countries that are U.S. allies — among them Germany and France — do not do the same type of intelligence gathering on their counterparts here. “[Merkel’s complaint] reminds me of the line in 'Casablanca' when Captain Renault closes down the nightclub and gives as his reason: 'I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on here.' And then he is presented with his winnings."
Gen. Michael V. Hayden, former director of the NSA and the CIA, agreed with Hoekstra, saying that he was “Absolutely right!” "It's beyond my ability to comprehend that the [German, French, Brazilian and Mexican] governments did not know this was going on,” said Hayden. “What Snowden and his journalist-confederates have 'revealed' is simply a description of what nation-states do and have done for a long time,"
Hoekstra and Hayden dismissed the complaints of Merkel, Hollande and other leaders as “much ado about nothing.” Yeah, tell that to our allies and get them to believe it.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande, and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff are all furious that the NSA eavesdropped in on their telephone calls. Mexicans are furious that the NSA hacked the public e-mail account of former President Felipe Calderon.
The NSA collected information on 124.8 billion phone calls in a 30 day period earlier this year. And all this spying was not just on our enemies, but on American citizens and on our allies as well. The NSA intercepted more than 70 million phone calls in France alone in just one month.
Former House Intelligence Committee chairman Peter Hoekstra dismissed Merkel’s anger, saying, "You have to be really naive to believe that this does not go on and that countries that are U.S. allies — among them Germany and France — do not do the same type of intelligence gathering on their counterparts here. “[Merkel’s complaint] reminds me of the line in 'Casablanca' when Captain Renault closes down the nightclub and gives as his reason: 'I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on here.' And then he is presented with his winnings."
Gen. Michael V. Hayden, former director of the NSA and the CIA, agreed with Hoekstra, saying that he was “Absolutely right!” "It's beyond my ability to comprehend that the [German, French, Brazilian and Mexican] governments did not know this was going on,” said Hayden. “What Snowden and his journalist-confederates have 'revealed' is simply a description of what nation-states do and have done for a long time,"
Hoekstra and Hayden dismissed the complaints of Merkel, Hollande and other leaders as “much ado about nothing.” Yeah, tell that to our allies and get them to believe it.
THE KENNEDY INFLUENCE IS ABOUT TO SET AN UNREPENTANT MURDERER FREE
A Connecticut judge orders a new trial for Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel
Michael Skakel had the best criminal attorney money could buy. For a judge to now say that Mickey Sherman did not give that murderous scumbag an adequate defense seems awful ludicrous to me. I wonder, could Judge Bishop be beholden to the Kennedys?
What’s notable here is that Mark Fuhrman, the former LAPD detective who found the infamous glove in the O. J. Simpson murder case, went to Greenwich where, some 20 years after her death, he investigated and solved the murder of Martha Moxley, a case the local and state authorities either couldn’t or wouldn’t solve. Fuhrman’s findings forced the local authorities to reopen their investigation.
KENNEDY COUSIN’S APPEAL A ‘TOUGH’ CASE
By Bill Hoffmann
Newsmax
October 24, 2013
Prosecutors will have difficulty getting Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel reconvicted in the grisly 1975 murder of a 15-year-old schoolgirl because the case is so old, attorney and legal analyst Kendall Coffey says.
"It's going to be very tough. It was a very difficult case to successfully prosecute back when they got the conviction in 2002. It just becomes that much more difficult now," Coffey told "The Steve Malzberg Show" on Newsmax TV.
"Time is almost always on the defendants' side and … whether it's a personal injury case or something as serious as prosecution for murder, it's always more difficult to prove your case after years and years have passed."
Skakel, the 53-year-old nephew of Robert Kennedy's widow, Ethel, has been serving 20 years behind bars for the slaying of Martha Moxley, who was savagely beaten with a golf club.
His conviction was set aside on Wednesday by a Connecticut judge, Thomas Bishop, who ruled that Skakel's lawyer, famed criminal attorney Mickey Sherman, had not adequately represented him.
The original conviction came in 2002, some 27 years after the crime, after a veteran lawman uncovered new evidence.
"Many times the defendant turns and tries to put his own attorney on trial and say its ineffective assistance of counsel," Coffey said.
"Amazing as it seems, how does somebody who's wealthy not have the best lawyer? His lawyers certainly have a great reputation but when you go through this judge's order, you have some real, real concerns about what happened during the trial."
Michael Skakel had the best criminal attorney money could buy. For a judge to now say that Mickey Sherman did not give that murderous scumbag an adequate defense seems awful ludicrous to me. I wonder, could Judge Bishop be beholden to the Kennedys?
What’s notable here is that Mark Fuhrman, the former LAPD detective who found the infamous glove in the O. J. Simpson murder case, went to Greenwich where, some 20 years after her death, he investigated and solved the murder of Martha Moxley, a case the local and state authorities either couldn’t or wouldn’t solve. Fuhrman’s findings forced the local authorities to reopen their investigation.
KENNEDY COUSIN’S APPEAL A ‘TOUGH’ CASE
By Bill Hoffmann
Newsmax
October 24, 2013
Prosecutors will have difficulty getting Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel reconvicted in the grisly 1975 murder of a 15-year-old schoolgirl because the case is so old, attorney and legal analyst Kendall Coffey says.
"It's going to be very tough. It was a very difficult case to successfully prosecute back when they got the conviction in 2002. It just becomes that much more difficult now," Coffey told "The Steve Malzberg Show" on Newsmax TV.
"Time is almost always on the defendants' side and … whether it's a personal injury case or something as serious as prosecution for murder, it's always more difficult to prove your case after years and years have passed."
Skakel, the 53-year-old nephew of Robert Kennedy's widow, Ethel, has been serving 20 years behind bars for the slaying of Martha Moxley, who was savagely beaten with a golf club.
His conviction was set aside on Wednesday by a Connecticut judge, Thomas Bishop, who ruled that Skakel's lawyer, famed criminal attorney Mickey Sherman, had not adequately represented him.
The original conviction came in 2002, some 27 years after the crime, after a veteran lawman uncovered new evidence.
"Many times the defendant turns and tries to put his own attorney on trial and say its ineffective assistance of counsel," Coffey said.
"Amazing as it seems, how does somebody who's wealthy not have the best lawyer? His lawyers certainly have a great reputation but when you go through this judge's order, you have some real, real concerns about what happened during the trial."
AFTER 70 YEARS OF MARRIED LIFE, WIFE STILL CALLS HER HUSBAND BY LOVING NAMES
The Unconventional Gazette
October 24, 2013
A pastor and his wife invited a couple of longtime church members to their home for dinner. The couple were in their 90s and had been married for almost 70 years. It became obvious to the pastor’s wife that the old couple were still very much in love because the wife preceded every request to her husband with endearing terms such as Honey, My Love, Darling, Sweetheart, Angel, etc.
While the husband was in the living room, the pastor’s wife leaned over to the old woman and said, “I think it’s wonderful that, after all these years, you still call your husband all those loving names.”
The old woman hung her head. “I have to tell you the truth,” she said. “His name slipped my mind about 10 years ago, and I’m scared to death to ask the cranky old bastard what his name is.”
October 24, 2013
A pastor and his wife invited a couple of longtime church members to their home for dinner. The couple were in their 90s and had been married for almost 70 years. It became obvious to the pastor’s wife that the old couple were still very much in love because the wife preceded every request to her husband with endearing terms such as Honey, My Love, Darling, Sweetheart, Angel, etc.
While the husband was in the living room, the pastor’s wife leaned over to the old woman and said, “I think it’s wonderful that, after all these years, you still call your husband all those loving names.”
The old woman hung her head. “I have to tell you the truth,” she said. “His name slipped my mind about 10 years ago, and I’m scared to death to ask the cranky old bastard what his name is.”
Thursday, October 24, 2013
SAN FRANSICKO KOOK ENJOYED FORNICATING WITH TRAIN SEAT
While some Texans enjoy having sex with horses, pigs and sheep, apparently some Kookfornians enjoy fornicating with train seats.
MAN ACQUITTED OF SEX WITH COMMUTER TRAIN SEAT
By Vivian Ho
Sam Francisco Chronicle
October 21, 2013
If you miss BART during the strike, this might make you miss it a bit less: A man accused of trying to make love to a train seat was acquitted of felony indecent exposure and released from San Francisco jail Monday.
Leslie Bailey, 28, was arrested May 8 shortly after a BART train operator saw him on on his knees in the nearly empty first car, thrusting his pelvis against a seat next to the cab.
Bailey, who boarded the Dublin-Pleasanton train at the 16th Street Station, exited at Civic Center but returned to his paramour just before the doors closed, according to the San Francisco public defender’s office. The operator testified that she then saw him gyrating on his stomach, his feet in the aisle, before he flipped over and began masturbating and smoking crack cocaine.
Bailey never acknowledged the operator while in the throes of passion, but noticed her once he exited at the Powell Street Station, the public defender’s office said. The operator testified that while Bailey apologized to her for smoking, his genitals were peeking out from beneath his shirt. BART police arrested him in the station and confiscated his crack cocaine pipe.
This isn’t the first time this sort of thing has happened on BART. In July, the amorous actions of a pair of passengers, posted online, aroused an official investigation.
Deputy Public Defender Emily Dahm, Bailey’s attorney, said the problem in this case was that her client had not been taking his anti-psychotic medication regularly. Plus, he was binging on crack cocaine.
She argued during the weeklong trial that Bailey, who is homeless, had been trying to have a private moment and not to attract public attention. To convict someone of felony indecent exposure, prosecutors must prove that the defendant was seeking attention.
According to court records, Bailey was convicted of felony indecent exposure in 2007 in San Francisco.
This time, the jury acquitted Bailey of one count of indecent exposure, deadlocked on a second count and convicted him of misdemeanor lewd acts. Prosecutors dismissed the remaining felony charge Monday.
Bailey was sentenced to time served and released. Public Defender Jeff Adachi said Bailey is now free to seek the mental health treatment he needs.
The district attorney’s office declined to comment.
It is unknown if the BART seat in question in this case was a newer, easier-to-clean model or an older cloth version.
MAN ACQUITTED OF SEX WITH COMMUTER TRAIN SEAT
By Vivian Ho
Sam Francisco Chronicle
October 21, 2013
If you miss BART during the strike, this might make you miss it a bit less: A man accused of trying to make love to a train seat was acquitted of felony indecent exposure and released from San Francisco jail Monday.
Leslie Bailey, 28, was arrested May 8 shortly after a BART train operator saw him on on his knees in the nearly empty first car, thrusting his pelvis against a seat next to the cab.
Bailey, who boarded the Dublin-Pleasanton train at the 16th Street Station, exited at Civic Center but returned to his paramour just before the doors closed, according to the San Francisco public defender’s office. The operator testified that she then saw him gyrating on his stomach, his feet in the aisle, before he flipped over and began masturbating and smoking crack cocaine.
Bailey never acknowledged the operator while in the throes of passion, but noticed her once he exited at the Powell Street Station, the public defender’s office said. The operator testified that while Bailey apologized to her for smoking, his genitals were peeking out from beneath his shirt. BART police arrested him in the station and confiscated his crack cocaine pipe.
This isn’t the first time this sort of thing has happened on BART. In July, the amorous actions of a pair of passengers, posted online, aroused an official investigation.
Deputy Public Defender Emily Dahm, Bailey’s attorney, said the problem in this case was that her client had not been taking his anti-psychotic medication regularly. Plus, he was binging on crack cocaine.
She argued during the weeklong trial that Bailey, who is homeless, had been trying to have a private moment and not to attract public attention. To convict someone of felony indecent exposure, prosecutors must prove that the defendant was seeking attention.
According to court records, Bailey was convicted of felony indecent exposure in 2007 in San Francisco.
This time, the jury acquitted Bailey of one count of indecent exposure, deadlocked on a second count and convicted him of misdemeanor lewd acts. Prosecutors dismissed the remaining felony charge Monday.
Bailey was sentenced to time served and released. Public Defender Jeff Adachi said Bailey is now free to seek the mental health treatment he needs.
The district attorney’s office declined to comment.
It is unknown if the BART seat in question in this case was a newer, easier-to-clean model or an older cloth version.
THE WHITE WIDOW’S MANIFESTO OF DEATH AND DESTRUCTION
Raised in Britain as a Christian, this convert to Islam has become a notorious jihadist leader and recruiter.
INSIDE WHITE WIDOW SAMANTHA LEWTHWAITE’S WARPED WORLD: DISTRUBING MANIFESTO ON HOW TO BE ‘HOLY WARRIOR’
The terrorism manifesto, unearthed by the Daily Mirror, was transcribed into English by a disciple recruited for “extreme potential”
By Russell Myers
Daily Mirror
October 23, 2013
White Widow Samantha Lewthwaite brainwashed Islamic radicals to wage a holy war on the West in sermons from her own “jihadi manual”.
A handwritten copy of her disturbing manifesto has been unearthed by the Daily Mirror.
The “diary of death” was transcribed into English across five pages by a disciple who was recruited for his “extreme potential” by the world’s most wanted woman.
It teaches young Muslim followers her twisted version of “loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honour, integrity and courage”.
The manuscript was stashed among the belongings of feared bomb maker Hassan Omondi found in a safe house used by al-Shabaab terrorists in Mombasa, Kenya.
It begins with a code of conduct for the “holy warriors” Lewthwaite indoctrinated for al-Shabaab.
She is now the subject of an ¬international manhunt in nearly 200 countries after being named in a Red Alert by Interpol.
Kenyan security officials identified her as a major “logistician” in the Nairobi mall massacre by the Somali terror group in which at least 67 people were slaughtered including five Brits.
The British mother of four – whose first husband was 7/7 bomber Germaine Lindsay – is believed to be hiding in Tanzania or Somalia.
She is treated as a “hero” by fanatics in both countries and is feared to be planning more outrages.
The notes from her brainwashing sessions before the massacre state terrorists must launch attacks with the “element of surprise” to “get victory”.
The manual muses on the “success of 9/11” because “people turned to jihad” after the atrocity.
Ironically, another section headed “respect/honour” states: “Treat others with dignity and respect as others do to us.”
A senior security source said: “Samantha Lewthwaite’s influence stretched far and wide.
“Her obsession with launching war against Westerners made her an ideal recruiter for al-Shabaab.
“Investigations have shown she recruited an army of jihadists and radicalised them with her teachings. Everything is being done to identify her cell and stop them before they cause further bloodshed.”
Proclaiming “death with honour is better than life with degradation”, Lewthwaite’s student notes the benefit of identifying targets with “strong intelligence”.
Her follower writes in imperfect English: “Every group that wants to carry on in its work have got to have proper intelligence.
"The individuals didn't know. Americans didn’t expect a blow at home.
“Any work that doesn’t have strong intelligence behind it is doomed to fail – like a big building – if the foundation is not strong and you want to build on it you will bring it down.”
Under “benefits of intelligence”, the manuscript notes: “Element of surprise – you need this to get victory.
Surprising the enemy is half of the war. You surprise him in time and place, how to hit him.
“This surprise is a result of proper intelligence.
“This is one of the foundations of war, half the victory and with which you will defeat your enemy.”
Lewthwaite’s “soldier” recruit writes: “No matter what situation I am in, I will never do anything for pleasure, profit or personal safety that will disgrace the deen (mujahedeen), the brothers.”
A section on “loyalty”, states: “A loyal individual does the following: Truthful to Allah and his laws, puts the obligations in the correct order – the religion before himself; doesn’t manipulate the system for personal advantage and carries out tough orders without expressing personal criticism.”
During lessons at her second safe house in Shanzu, Lewthwaite told followers they would attain “glory” by murdering non-Muslims, including women and children.
The Mirror yesterday exclusively revealed excerpts from Lewthwaite’s diary where she documented her wishes to “incite” others to murder.
The Muslim convert from Aylesbury, Bucks – whose father was a British soldier – detailed how her second husband Habib Ghani brainwashed her children to become Islamic warriors.
Our pictures showed Lewthwaite, 29, with her two children by Lindsay – Abdullah, nine and daughter Ruqayyah, eight.
They were alongside her children with Ghani – five-year-old Abdur-Rahman and baby daughter Surajah.
Ghani from Hounslow, West London, was killed in a gunfight with al-Shabaab fighters who ambushed him after he tried to leave the gang.
Lewthwaite’s disciples were told that – just as she did – they will be forced to leave their family and friends behind to achieve greatness.
Under the heading “duty”, the writer notes: “You do your duty as a soldier every time you do something that needs to be done without being told... such a person will sacrifice personal time in pursuit of excellence.
“Fulfil obligations to the best of your ability. When you have done the job you can say I couldn’t have done any more!”
On courage, the writer states: “A courageous soldier... accepts responsibility for his mistakes and short comings and ‘speaks up for what is important’.”
He adds: “Personal courage is not lack of fear – rather it is taking the right sort of action in spite of fear.
“Physical courage – enduring physical duress and at times risking personal safety. Moral courage – standing firm for your values, principles even when threatened.”
The manual was transcribed by Omondi, also known as Zain aka Budalangi, who joined al-Shabaab after Lewthwaite met him at the Musa mosque in Mombasa.
She put him forward for special training, lecturing him at her home.
Later after travelling to Somalia she installed him as a commander.
But he was killed when a grenade exploded during a police raid in the Majengo district of Mombasa in October 2012.
A senior security source said: “Our intelligence on Samantha Lewthwaite has given us irrefutable evidence that she recruited her followers throughout mosques in Mombasa and was a known associate of Omondi.”
British terror suspect Jermaine Grant – a close associate of Lewthwaite’s – also attended the Musa mosque.
Grant, 30, from Newham, East London, is on trial in Mombasa over a terror plot blow up hotels and malls.
A security source said: “The manifesto is a book of death and destruction.
The security community is working day and night to find Lewthwaite and bring a stop to her evil empire.”
INSIDE WHITE WIDOW SAMANTHA LEWTHWAITE’S WARPED WORLD: DISTRUBING MANIFESTO ON HOW TO BE ‘HOLY WARRIOR’
The terrorism manifesto, unearthed by the Daily Mirror, was transcribed into English by a disciple recruited for “extreme potential”
By Russell Myers
Daily Mirror
October 23, 2013
White Widow Samantha Lewthwaite brainwashed Islamic radicals to wage a holy war on the West in sermons from her own “jihadi manual”.
A handwritten copy of her disturbing manifesto has been unearthed by the Daily Mirror.
The “diary of death” was transcribed into English across five pages by a disciple who was recruited for his “extreme potential” by the world’s most wanted woman.
It teaches young Muslim followers her twisted version of “loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honour, integrity and courage”.
The manuscript was stashed among the belongings of feared bomb maker Hassan Omondi found in a safe house used by al-Shabaab terrorists in Mombasa, Kenya.
It begins with a code of conduct for the “holy warriors” Lewthwaite indoctrinated for al-Shabaab.
She is now the subject of an ¬international manhunt in nearly 200 countries after being named in a Red Alert by Interpol.
Kenyan security officials identified her as a major “logistician” in the Nairobi mall massacre by the Somali terror group in which at least 67 people were slaughtered including five Brits.
The British mother of four – whose first husband was 7/7 bomber Germaine Lindsay – is believed to be hiding in Tanzania or Somalia.
She is treated as a “hero” by fanatics in both countries and is feared to be planning more outrages.
The notes from her brainwashing sessions before the massacre state terrorists must launch attacks with the “element of surprise” to “get victory”.
The manual muses on the “success of 9/11” because “people turned to jihad” after the atrocity.
Ironically, another section headed “respect/honour” states: “Treat others with dignity and respect as others do to us.”
A senior security source said: “Samantha Lewthwaite’s influence stretched far and wide.
“Her obsession with launching war against Westerners made her an ideal recruiter for al-Shabaab.
“Investigations have shown she recruited an army of jihadists and radicalised them with her teachings. Everything is being done to identify her cell and stop them before they cause further bloodshed.”
Proclaiming “death with honour is better than life with degradation”, Lewthwaite’s student notes the benefit of identifying targets with “strong intelligence”.
Her follower writes in imperfect English: “Every group that wants to carry on in its work have got to have proper intelligence.
"The individuals didn't know. Americans didn’t expect a blow at home.
“Any work that doesn’t have strong intelligence behind it is doomed to fail – like a big building – if the foundation is not strong and you want to build on it you will bring it down.”
Under “benefits of intelligence”, the manuscript notes: “Element of surprise – you need this to get victory.
Surprising the enemy is half of the war. You surprise him in time and place, how to hit him.
“This surprise is a result of proper intelligence.
“This is one of the foundations of war, half the victory and with which you will defeat your enemy.”
Lewthwaite’s “soldier” recruit writes: “No matter what situation I am in, I will never do anything for pleasure, profit or personal safety that will disgrace the deen (mujahedeen), the brothers.”
A section on “loyalty”, states: “A loyal individual does the following: Truthful to Allah and his laws, puts the obligations in the correct order – the religion before himself; doesn’t manipulate the system for personal advantage and carries out tough orders without expressing personal criticism.”
During lessons at her second safe house in Shanzu, Lewthwaite told followers they would attain “glory” by murdering non-Muslims, including women and children.
The Mirror yesterday exclusively revealed excerpts from Lewthwaite’s diary where she documented her wishes to “incite” others to murder.
The Muslim convert from Aylesbury, Bucks – whose father was a British soldier – detailed how her second husband Habib Ghani brainwashed her children to become Islamic warriors.
Our pictures showed Lewthwaite, 29, with her two children by Lindsay – Abdullah, nine and daughter Ruqayyah, eight.
They were alongside her children with Ghani – five-year-old Abdur-Rahman and baby daughter Surajah.
Ghani from Hounslow, West London, was killed in a gunfight with al-Shabaab fighters who ambushed him after he tried to leave the gang.
Lewthwaite’s disciples were told that – just as she did – they will be forced to leave their family and friends behind to achieve greatness.
Under the heading “duty”, the writer notes: “You do your duty as a soldier every time you do something that needs to be done without being told... such a person will sacrifice personal time in pursuit of excellence.
“Fulfil obligations to the best of your ability. When you have done the job you can say I couldn’t have done any more!”
On courage, the writer states: “A courageous soldier... accepts responsibility for his mistakes and short comings and ‘speaks up for what is important’.”
He adds: “Personal courage is not lack of fear – rather it is taking the right sort of action in spite of fear.
“Physical courage – enduring physical duress and at times risking personal safety. Moral courage – standing firm for your values, principles even when threatened.”
The manual was transcribed by Omondi, also known as Zain aka Budalangi, who joined al-Shabaab after Lewthwaite met him at the Musa mosque in Mombasa.
She put him forward for special training, lecturing him at her home.
Later after travelling to Somalia she installed him as a commander.
But he was killed when a grenade exploded during a police raid in the Majengo district of Mombasa in October 2012.
A senior security source said: “Our intelligence on Samantha Lewthwaite has given us irrefutable evidence that she recruited her followers throughout mosques in Mombasa and was a known associate of Omondi.”
British terror suspect Jermaine Grant – a close associate of Lewthwaite’s – also attended the Musa mosque.
Grant, 30, from Newham, East London, is on trial in Mombasa over a terror plot blow up hotels and malls.
A security source said: “The manifesto is a book of death and destruction.
The security community is working day and night to find Lewthwaite and bring a stop to her evil empire.”
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