Syria Says Israeli Strike Hits Military Center (+video)

Photo Credit: Daily StarBy The Daily Star. Massive explosions shook Damascus early Sunday and Syrian state media said Israeli missiles had hit a military research center on the outskirts of the capital.

“Initial information indicates that the explosions at the scientific research center in Jamraya near Damascus were caused by Israeli missiles,” the official SANA news agency. It gave no further details.

Damascus residents reported hearing massive blasts at 1:50 am Sunday.

“There was a large explosion. We first felt shakes like an earthquake and 30 seconds later heard gunfire,” one resident told The Daily Star by telephone from the Syrian capital.

“There was an electricity cut then a large boom.The door of my balcony opened from the after effect,” another resident said, adding that warplanes could be heard overhead.

Read more from this story HERE.

‘Israeli officials confirm Syria airstrike that hit Hezbollah-bound weapons’

By AP and Times of Israel Staff. Israeli officials on Saturday reportedly confirmed the Israeli Air Force carried out a strike against Syria and say it targeted a shipment of advanced missiles.

The officials said the shipment was not of chemical arms, but of “game changing” weapons bound for the terror group Hezbollah. One official said the target was a shipment of advanced, long-range ground-to-ground missiles.

The officials said the attack took place early Friday. It was not immediately clear where the airstrike took place, or whether the air force carried out the strike from Lebanese or Syrian airspace.

There was no immediate comment from Syrian officials, and no word of the airstrike on Syrian state media.

According to a source quoted by Reuters in a report Saturday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened his security cabinet for secret talks on Thursday night, hours before the strike. Read more from this story HERE.

Obama Sings Mexico’s Praises, but Some Mexicans Hear Flat Notes (+video)

Photo Credit: jurvetsonAfter President Obama’s upbeat speech in Mexico on Friday, many in attendance said they were flattered by the description of their country, but others said they hardly recognized the place he had just described.

“[That was] a really good speech by President Obama, but what Mexico was he talking about?” said Jose Carlos Cruz, 24, a graduate student in international relations. “Unfortunately in our country, the situation is terrible: There’s poverty, unemployment, and even worse, the future is anything but promising.

“How nice that he came to give inspiring speeches, but what’s happening in Mexico is far from what he talked about today,” Cruz said.

Alberto Rios Lara, 26, who is studying to be an economist, said: “Obama is a great speaker — it’s really impossible not to feel excited. However, the reality is different in Mexico. We need more action and fewer speeches.”

In the speech, delivered at National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City, Obama described Mexico as a nation that is “creating new prosperity,” has “lifted millions from poverty” and has institutions that are “more accountable to you.”

Watch video here:

Read more from this story HERE.

Alaska’s Cleveland Volcano Erupting

Photo Credit: NASA Goddard Photo and VideoAlaska’s Cleveland Volcano is undergoing a continuous low-level eruption following an explosion early Saturday morning, scientists from the Alaska Volcano Observatory and the U.S. Geological Survey said.

Satellites and cameras suggest low-level emissions of gas, steam and ash, scientists said, and satellites detected highly elevated surface temperatures at the summit. A faint plume of ash extended eastward below 15,000 feet, but the Federal Aviation Administration said there were no flight restrictions as a result.

“Sudden explosions of blocks and ash are possible with little or no warning,” scientists said. “Ash clouds, if produced, could exceed 20,000 feet above sea level.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Facebook Causes ‘Psychotic Episodes and Delusions’, Claims Study

Photo Credit: Mike KempFacebook and other social networking sites can actually send you mad, according to scientists in Israel.

Researchers from Tel Aviv University have linked psychotic episodes in patients to internet addiction and delusions caused by virtual relationships cultivated on social networking sites.

Although all the participants had underlying problems of loneliness, none had any history of psychosis or drug abuse, the team say.

Lead researcher Doctor Uri Nitzan of Tel Aviv University’s Sackler Faculty of Medicine and the Shalvata Mental Health Care Centre said: ‘As internet access becomes increasingly widespread, so do related psychopathologies.

‘Computer communications such as Facebook and chat groups are an important part of this story.’

Read more from this story HERE.

Benghazi May Turn Out to be Obama’s Watergate

Photo Credit: Greg GroeschBenghazi may turn out to be President Obama’s Watergate. The scandal is a growing cancer on the administration, threatening its very existence. The more information comes out, the more damning it is. This is why Democrats — and their media allies — are desperately trying to sweep the truth under the rug. Mr. Obama’s political survival is at stake.

High-profile lawyers Joseph diGenova and Victoria Toensing are in touch with State Department whistleblowers who were on the ground in Benghazi, Libya, on Sept. 11, 2012, when our diplomatic mission was attacked by jihadists. Mr. diGenova says they can no longer remain silent. The whistleblowers want to testify before a House congressional committee. There is only one problem. According to Mr. diGenova and Ms. Toensing, the whistleblowers are being prevented — and intimidated — from speaking out by the Obama administration. Vindictive State Department officials are denying their request for legal representation. Since the whistleblowers’ potential testimony relates to classified information, they refuse to go forward in public without effective legal representation. The possible personal and professional consequences are immense.

If — and I stress if — they testify, then the Obama presidency is in mortal jeopardy. Mr. diGenova stresses that the whistleblowers possess information that will expose the administration’s lies and cover-up. Republicans on Capitol Hill should pursue this scandal to the end.

Benghazi should have been prevented. During the summer of 2012, al Qaeda thugs were roaming the streets of the city. The Red Cross and the British diplomatic mission pulled out. Our consulate had been physically attacked several times. This is why U.S. officials there repeatedly asked the State Department for bolstered security. It was denied.

Read more from this story HERE.

Rear Admiral Will Not Back Down From ‘My Right Under the Constitution’ to Share Faith

Faith in the military took center stage Thursday at the 62nd observance of the National Day of Prayer in Washington, D.C, as lawmakers and faith leaders gathered on Capitol Hill.

After a series of speakers addressed those gathered at the Cannon Office Building, U.S. Coast Guard Rear Adm. William D. Lee, took the microphone to represent Americans serving in the military. Lee told the crowd he had 10 minutes of carefully prepared remarks, but he decided to leave them in his chair and “speak from the heart” instead. Lee, who described himself as “a man of deep abiding faith who happens to wear a uniform,” went on to defy any efforts to stop military personnel from openly sharing their Christian faith—a topic sparking widespread controversy in the media this week. (See “Religious battle lines” by Edward Lee Pitts.)

Lee mentioned last year’s record high number of military suicides, 349—roughly one per day—and said every 65 minutes a military veteran will take his or her own life. “I want you to remember that number,” he said.

He recounted a recent meeting with a 24-year-old soldier who had attempted suicide but survived his self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Lee said when he heard the man’s story, he knew the rules said he should send the man to a chaplain, but his heart said to give him a Bible.

“The lawyers tell me that if I do that, I’m crossing the line,” Lee said. “I’m so glad I’ve crossed that line so many times.”

Read more from this story HERE.

‘Blame America First’ President Says US Guns are Responsible for Mexican Violence (+video)

Photo Credit: APPresident Obama used a speech at Mexico’s Museo Nacional de Antropología – the National Anthropology Museum – to claim that ‘most of the guns used to commit violence here in Mexico come from the United States.’

‘I think many of you know that in America, our Constitution guarantees our individual right to bear arms,’ Obama said. ‘And as president, I swore an oath to uphold that right, and I always will.’

‘But at the same time, as I’ve said in the United States, I will continue to do everything in my power to pass common-sense reforms that keep guns out of the hands of criminals and dangerous people.’

‘That can save lives here in Mexico and back home in the United States,’ Obama added. ‘It’s the right thing to do.’

‘So we’ll keep increasing the pressure on gun traffickers who bring illegal guns into Mexico. We’ll keep putting these criminals where they belong: behind bars.’

Read more from this story HERE.

Obama Administration Now Trying to Grab Guns Through Executive Order

Photo Credit: gunowners.orgRemember when Senators Pat Toomey, Joe Manchin and Chuck Schumer formed an unholy alliance during the recent gun battle on Capitol Hill? Remember how their amendment would have encouraged your psychiatrist to turn you in to the FBI’s gun ban list?

And you remember how we stopped that provision, because over 40 senators found it to be odious and a violation of the Second Amendment?

Well, guess what? Barack Obama has just concluded that “he don’t need no stinkin’ Senate.”

Instead, Secretary Kathleen “ObamaCare” Sebelius – and her Department of Health and Human Services – has promulgated regulations which would, by executive fiat, waive all federal privacy laws and encourage you doctor to report you to the FBI.

Understand a couple of things: First, the standard which your doctor would use to turn you in is embodied in Clinton-era ATF language and in the anti-gun Veterans Disarmament Act of 2007. Specifically, you doctor would “drop a dime” on you if he suspected you were even a slight “danger to yourself of others” or were “unable to manage your financial affairs.”

So if they say you can’t balance your checkbook, then you lose your constitutional rights.

But there’s another problem: The day these regulations become law, lawyers will be lining up to sue “deep-pocket” psychiatrists for every case where they failed to turn in a patient to NICS – if the patient subsequently engages in a horrific act.

The bottom line? Any psychiatrist who failed to report all of his patients to the NICS system risks losing everything if any of them engages in harmful conduct. Soon the rule of thumb will be: See a shrink; lose your guns.

And the regulations will apply to private, as well as government-employed psychiatrists.

The bad news is that 165,000 military veterans have already lost their gun rights because of the “see a VA shrink, lose your gun rights” precedent from the Clinton-Bush era.

Read more from this story HERE.

Radicalizing the Military

Photo Credit: D’oh Boy (Mark Holloway)There have been few sanctuaries of American values as steadfast as the American armed forces. “Duty, Honor, Country”. “Semper Fidelis”. “Service Before Self”. “Honor, Courage, Commitment”. “This We’ll Defend”. “Semper Paratus”. These are words that denote selfless dedication to a higher calling than the gratification of one’s own desires. The men and women who have served our country in the past, and who serve now, are without a doubt the finest of us. They are the face of America around the world, and we are blessed beyond measure that they serve our country with such grace and courage under the worst of external conditions.

Presently, however, they are under threat from within, and one cannot help but notice that our military is being forced, against centuries of American tradition, morals and example, to become a reflection of the left. This appears to be part of the plan to fundamentally transform the United States, and it carries dire consequences for our long-term survival.

Until recently, the military had seemed able to preserve its traditions and principles against radical outside influences. This was due largely to the fact that members voluntarily surrendered their self-interest. By enlisting, they accepted the limits and code of the service they joined, and implicitly made their individuality secondary to the greater good. When asked after the Civil War to bless a woman’s infant son, Robert E. Lee also told her, “Teach him he must deny himself.”

Now, along with every other aspect of our nation, our armed forces are being radicalized. Political correctness, social experimentation, and religious bigotry are jeopardizing the mission and cohesiveness of the military, and putting the long-term security of our country at risk. The left has happily made the military, which it loathes, a target of liberal social change. In addition to making service uncomfortable for some of those already in the ranks, these changes threaten to discourage those who might otherwise have joined from doing so. In an all-volunteer force, this is predictably fatal.

Read more from this story HERE.

Video: Man With AK47 Open Fires For No Apparent Reason, Asks Police to Kill Him

Photo Credit: Martha Mueller NeffPolice here said today they still do not know why James Gilkerson jumped out his car and began firing at Middlefield police officers who had pulled him over after Gilkerson had run a stop sign in the village.

They did say Gilkerson fired 37 rounds from an AK-47 rifle on March 10, and that the two officers fired back with 54 rounds of their own, killing the Mentor-on-the Lake man.

Police showed the dash cam video of the shootout during a news conference. They also distributed a statement from the Lake County prosecutor saying the shooting by police was justified and the matter would not be taken to a grand jury.

“He got of the vehicle, intending to kill my officers. We don’t know why he did it,” said Police Chief Arnold Stanko.

Stanko said police found eight, 40-round magazines for the AK-47 in Gilkerson’s car along with a number of books and magazines about militias and terrorism.

[WARNING: This video is very graphic, showing the shooting/killing of the assailant with the AK47]

Read more from this story HERE.