Why Legal Marijuana is Popular, but Lawmakers Still Pass On Grass

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A CNN/Opinion Research poll earlier this week was the latest to show a spike in support for legal weed. CNN, Gallup and the Pew Research Center all now show a clear-to-sizeable majority of Americans support Americans’ right to toke as they please — as high as 58 percent in Gallup’s polling.

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Despite the surge in popularity, though, we have yet to see basically any major politicians jumping on board. Indeed, it’s tough to name any big-name elected officials who support it — let alone someone who might run for president in 2016.

Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) and House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) this week became the latest lawmakers to just say no, as their state weighs legalizing marijuana.

They have been joined in recent weeks by New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez (R), California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D).

Read more from this story HERE.

Education Experts Blast DOJ’s Apparent Call for Race-Based System of Punishment of Schoolkids

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Photo Credit: Fox News

Photo Credit: Fox News

Education experts blasted a recent Department of Justice directive, which they say seems to advocate a racial quota system for punishing school kids for such transgressions as being late or chewing gum in class.

The memo, jointly released by the departments of Justice and Education on Wednesday, urges public schools to ditch so-called “zero tolerance” policies the feds claim disproportionately affect minority students. The letter, which was sent to all public schools, said even well-intentioned policies are discriminatory if they end up being applied in greater proportion to minority children.

“Schools … violate Federal law when they evenhandedly implement facially neutral policies and practices that, although not adopted with the intent to discriminate, nonetheless have an unjustified effect of discriminating against students on the basis of race,” read the letter. “Examples of policies that can raise disparate impact concerns include policies that impose mandatory suspension, expulsion, or citation (e.g., ticketing or other fines or summonses) upon any student who commits a specified offense — such as being tardy to class, being in possession of a cellular phone, being found insubordinate, acting out, or not wearing the proper school uniform.”

Experts interviewed by FoxNews.com said punishments should be meted out to school kids who break the rules – without regard to their race. And some say that if minority children are more likely to violate school rules, then going easy on them for disrupting class will only hurt their better-behaved classmates – who are also likely to be minorities.

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Target Sharply Raises Initial Estimate: Data Breach Up To 110 Million Customers

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Photo Credit: AFP/Scott Olson

Photo Credit: AFP/Scott Olson

Giant US retailer Target said Friday that up to 110 million customers have had their personal data stolen in a data breach, sharply raising its initial estimate.

The number of people affected represented one in three Americans, and the scope of the information stolen was much broader than originally thought, Target admitted.

Target initially reported on December 19 that payment card data of some 40 million customers had been obtained by hackers during the year-end holiday shopping season.

The stolen information included credit and debit card data, customer names and PIN (personal identification data) numbers.

On Friday, Target said that its investigation had revealed that hackers also stole a second batch of data that included names, mailing addresses, phone numbers or email addresses for up to 70 million people.

Read more from this story HERE.

Cold Snap Or Not: Warming Up Your Is Car Illegal (+video)

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Photo Credit: Linda N./flickr

Photo Credit: Linda N./flickr

The recent nationwide cold snap isn’t just making Americans uncomfortable. It’s turning some into lawbreakers.

The shocking news of state and local regulations that make it illegal to warm up your frozen car is hitting home in Texas, Maryland, Ohio, West Virginia, Colorado, Wisconsin, South Carolina – even some cities in Minnesota.

Who knew it could be illegal to run back inside while your car is warming up in winter – in a practice sometimes called “puffing”?

Many Americans are getting first-hand experience this brutal winter with the latest manifestation of what some call the “Nanny State.”

The reason for such laws is usually linked with the increased threat of vehicles being stolen – and some of them carry hefty fines for enticing car thieves to commit their crimes. The laws are a little fuzzy on the newer technology of “auto-start” vehicles specifically designed for the comfort of their drivers and passengers.

Read more from this story HERE.

‘Abortion Care Costs More than Their Monthly Rent,’ Professor Testifies (+video)

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Photo Credit: Life News

Photo Credit: Life News

“For many people, abortion care costs more than their monthly rent,” a professor testified Thursday in opposition to the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act (H.R. 7).

Addressing Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) at a House Judiciary subcommittee hearing, George Washington University Associate Professor Susan Franklin Wood testified:

“While it may not seem like a big expense to a Member of Congress, in these tough financial times, for many people, abortion care costs more than their monthly rent, putting it out of reach for their family’s pocketbook.

Read more from this story HERE.

Bosses More Likely to Be Republican and Conservative

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Photo Credit: AP Photo/Mark Lennihan

Photo Credit: AP Photo/Mark Lennihan

Bosses are more likely than workers to identify as Republican and conservative, according to analysis released by Pew Research Thursday.

Pew Research surveyed 2,002 adults from Oct. 7-27 and found that bosses are more likely to identify as members of the Republican Party, with 53 percent of bosses saying “they are Republican or lean to the GOP.” Just over a third (34 percent) of bosses identify as members of the Democratic Party, while most workers (44 percent) identify as Democrats.

Roughly four out of 10 or 43 percent of bosses (and 37 percent of workers) identify as conservatives, while 34 percent of the bosses identified as moderates (and 33 percent of workers). The smallest group was those who call themselves liberal: 17 percent of bosses and 21 percent of workers.

Just over half the bosses (54 percent) had household incomes of $75,000, whereas only 32 percent of workers had salaries at or above $75,000. In part, each of these differences is attributable to age.

On average, bosses are about eight years older than workers (47 vs. 39), so as a group they are further along in their careers.

Read more from this story HERE.

‘Chaos’ as West Virginia Customers Pack Stores to Buy Water After Chemical Spill, Federal Gov’t Opens Investigation (+video)

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Photo Credit: Fox News

Photo Credit: Fox News

By Fox News.

The federal government said Friday it will open an investigation into a West Virginia chemical spill that shut down much of the state’s capital and put 300,000 residents at risk.

Schools and restaurants closed, grocery stores sold out of bottled water, and state legislators who had just started their session canceled the day’s business after a chemical spill in the Elk River in Charleston, even as the extent of the danger remained unclear.

The federal government joined the state early Friday in declaring a disaster and announced an investigation into the spill, while the West Virginia National Guard planned to distribute bottled drinking water to emergency services agencies in the nine affected counties.

Shortly after the Thursday spill from Freedom Industries hit the river and a nearby treatment plant, a licorice-like smell enveloped parts of the city, and Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin issued an order to customers of West Virginia American Water: Do not drink, bathe, cook or wash clothes with tap water.

Freedom Industries says it doesn’t know how much of a chemical spilled from its plant in Charleston into the Elk Rive, but that it’s working to contain the leak and prevent further contamination.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Chemical levels in West Virginia water drop, but still no end in sight to ban

By Greg Botelho and Tom Watkins.

The level of odorous chemical in West Virginians’ water dropped Friday, but not enough for authorities to lift a warning to avoid drinking, cooking or bathing with it or to give a clear idea as to when things will change.
Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin described the situation in nine counties Friday night as “pretty bad,” both for residents being told the only thing they should do with their running water is flush their toilets and schools, restaurants, hotels and other businesses forced to close.

One bit of good news is tests on the affected water supply, which are being conducted on an hourly basis, show “the chemical level is declining.”

“But we’re just not sure exactly how long it’s going to take before it’s acceptable to lift the do-not-drink ban,” the governor told CNN.

Much of the anger centers around the coal-industry company from which the chemical leak occurred. And there’s also frustration among some — including Danny Jones, the mayor of West Virginia’s most populated city and capital, Charleston — that the water company trying to deal with the resulting mess still doesn’t have a timeline for when things will return to normal.

Read more from this story HERE.

Family-Run Business Files With Supreme Court: Stop ‘Unjust’ ObamaCare HHS Mandate

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Photo Credit: LifeNews

Photo Credit: LifeNews

A family-run business filed papers with the Supreme Court today telling the high court that it must stop the “unjust” Obamcare mandate that requires companies to pay for birth control and abortion-causing drugs for their employees.

This is the companion case to the legal challenge the Supreme Court accepted from Hobby Lobby.

Alliance Defending Freedom and allied attorneys representing a Pennsylvania Mennonite family and its woodworking business filed their opening brief with the U.S. Supreme Court Friday in one of two major legal challenges to the Obama administration’s abortion pill mandate that the high court agreed in November to hear.

“Unjust laws are not valid laws. The government shouldn’t be allowed to punish Americans for exercising their constitutionally protected freedoms,” said Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel David Cortman. “The administration has no business whatsoever forcing citizens to choose between making a living and living free.”

“Job creators don’t give up their fundamental freedoms when they get a business license,” added Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Legal Counsel Matt Bowman. “Every American has a right to fully and freely participate in every area of public life.”

Read more from this story HERE.

DoJ IRS Investigation in the Very Best of Hands

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

Suppose you’re President Obama. Who would be your ideal candidate to head up the Justice Department’s investigation into IRS targeting of conservative groups?

How about someone who gave thousands of dollars to your senate campaign as well as your presidential races?

The confidence that the president and AG Holder have in the press ignoring this IRS “investigation” must be so great that they simply don’t care who knows that it’s set up to be a whitewash.
Washington Post:

Two Republican lawmakers and a conservative legal group are questioning the Justice Department’s selection of a Democratic donor to lead the agency’s probe into the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of certain advocacy groups during the 2010 and 2012 election cycles.

House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) issued a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. on Wednesday demanding the department remove DOJ trial attorney Barbara Bosserman from the case, saying her involvement is “highly inappropriate and has compromised the administration’s investigation of the IRS.”

Read more from this story HERE.

The Islamization of America in 2013

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Photo Credit: breitbart

Photo Credit: breitbart

Since I wrote my book Stop the Islamization of America and established the Stop Islamization of America initiative of my organization, the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI), we have seen increasing accommodation and submission to Islam in the United States. This past year was a particularly good year for Islamic supremacists, who are working furiously in this country to impose Sharia (Islamic law) — and in particular, the blasphemy laws under the Sharia.

The Islamic supremacist approach is stealthier here in the States than it is in Europe, where we see no-go zones, mass car burnings, etc., because Europe currently has a much bigger Muslim population than the U.S. does. More on Muslim immigration here.

That kind of aggression is in our future, for nothing is being done to prevent its coming here. The few of us who dare to speak against Sharia and jihad are blacklisted from the mainstream media’s major newspaper and broadcast outlets. Trimmers (those who soften the message about Islam or speak of “Islamism,” an artificial word making a distinction without a difference) and Islamic apologists are dusted off and trotted out to make some inane comment whenever the mainstream media cannot avoid covering a jihad news story (such as the Boston Marathon jihad bombing). But the effective true voices against Islamization, such as myself, Robert Spencer, Wafa Sultan, and Ibn Warraq are rarely seen these days.

It’s never been as bad as it is now, and we have never been proven so right as we were in 2013. In the U.S., in a survey released at the end of 2012, almost half of the Muslims in America said that they thought parodies of Muhammad should be subject to criminal prosecution. One in eight thought that insulting Islam should be a death penalty offense. Forty percent said that they shouldn’t have to obey U.S. laws, but should be subject only to Islamic law.

Read more from this story HERE.