Watch: A Small School in Kansas Makes a Big Difference in a Teenage Girl’s Life

/0 Comments/in , /by

As she smiled broadly, blue and gold pom poms clutched in her hands, it is hard to believe this is an experience Council Grove High School freshman Kolbie Davis nearly didn’t have.

Her mom, Jeannette, says she and her husband, Jamie, considered holding their 15-year-old daughter out of high school. Kolbie was born with congenital diaphragmatic hernia, a condition which cut off oxygen to her brain. It caused permanent damage and developmental delays. Jeannette feared Kolbie wouldn’t be able to handle the high school environment.

“I was very concerned for her being in the hallway with a lot of kids and all the noise and the interaction between teenagers,” Jeannette said.

While Jeannette, Jamie and Kolbie’s eight-year-old brother Will, knew how loving and positive Kolbie could be, they worried how she would do around other teenagers. Plus, Jeannette says, Kolbie would not speak very much and was often frightened or confused by loud noise or a lot of activity.

Still, they took a chance. One day, the school’s cheerleading coach filled in as Kolbie’s para and brought her to practice. Kolbie was immediately hooked, saying she loves everything about cheerleading. (Read more on how the small school in Kansas makes a big difference HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Elderly Man Finds Son After Discovering Hidden Letter

/0 Comments/in , /by

An elderly Grand Rapids man has finally met his son.

The man had tried having kids all his life, but thought it was a life goal he never accomplished.

A letter was sent by the child’s mother more than 50 years ago that told him of his then 5-year-old son. That man is now 61-years-old.

It was a message believed to have been hidden by his wife for decades.

Tony Trapani, 81, said that after his wife passed away, he was cleaning out one of her old filing cabinets when he came across the letter. (Read more about the man who found his son after he finds a hidden letter HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Japan Prime Minister Vows to Save Hostages Captured by ISIS

/1 Comment/in , /by

By Fox News. Japan’s Prime Minister vowed Tuesday to save the lives of two Japanese hostages, one a freelance journalist and the other a soldier for hire, threatened with beheading in an online video purportedly released by the Islamic State terror group.

In the video, identified as being made by the Islamic State group’s al-Furqan media arm and posted on militant websites associated with the extremist group, a militant threatened to kill the men unless a $200 million ransom was paid within 72 hours. If confirmed to be from Islamic State, better known as ISIS, the video would mark the first public demand for ransom from the group in exchange for the release of captives.

Speaking in Jerusalem, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called on ISIS to immediately release the hostages, saying that “their lives are the top priority.” Abe is in the midst of a six-day visit to the Middle East, accompanied by more than 100 government officials and presidents of Japanese companies.

“It is unforgivable,” he said. “Extremism and Islam are completely different things.”

Abe said he would send Yasuhide Nakayama, a deputy foreign minister, to Jordan to seek the country’s support and to resolve the hostage crisis. The premier also said the Israeli government, which Japan promised Sunday to cooperate with on counterterrorism, are sharing information to aid in the hostage crisis. The Israeli prime minister’s office declined to comment. (Read more about the Japanese Prime Minister vowing to save hostages captured by ISIS HERE)

_______________________________________________

ISIS Executing ‘Educated Women’ in New Wave of Horror

By AFP. The UN on Tuesday decried numerous executions of civilians in Iraq by the Islamic State group, warning that educated women appeared to be especially at risk.

The jihadist group is showing a “monstrous disregard for human life” in the areas it controls in Iraq, the UN human rights office said.

The group, which controls large swathes of territory in Iraq and in neighbouring war-ravaged Syria, last week published pictures of the “crucifixions” of two men accused of being bandits, and of a woman being stoned to death, allegedly for adultery.

Numerous other women have also reportedly been executed recently in ISIS-controlled areas, including Mosul, spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told reporters.

She said “educated, professional women, particularly women who have run as candidates in elections for public office, seem to be particularly at risk.” (Read more from this story HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

New Police Radars Can See Inside Homes

/6 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: USA Today
At least 50 U.S. law enforcement agencies have secretly equipped their officers with radar devices that allow them to effectively peer through the walls of houses to see whether anyone is inside, a practice raising new concerns about the extent of government surveillance.

Those agencies, including the FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service, began deploying the radar systems more than two years ago with little notice to the courts and no public disclosure of when or how they would be used. The technology raises legal and privacy issues because the U.S. Supreme Court has said officers generally cannot use high-tech sensors to tell them about the inside of a person’s house without first obtaining a search warrant.

The radars work like finely tuned motion detectors, using radio waves to zero in on movements as slight as human breathing from a distance of more than 50 feet. They can detect whether anyone is inside of a house, where they are and whether they are moving.

Current and former federal officials say the information is critical for keeping officers safe if they need to storm buildings or rescue hostages. But privacy advocates and judges have nonetheless expressed concern about the circumstances in which law enforcement agencies may be using the radars — and the fact that they have so far done so without public scrutiny.

“The idea that the government can send signals through the wall of your house to figure out what’s inside is problematic,” said Christopher Soghoian, the American Civil Liberties Union’s principal technologist. “Technologies that allow the police to look inside of a home are among the intrusive tools that police have.” (Read more about the radars being able to see inside homes HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

ISIS Plans on Killing Hundreds of Millions in ‘Religious Cleansing’

/3 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: The Blaze By Jordan Schachtel. Todenhofer lived side by side with the jihadist fighters for ten days in the Islamic State-stronghold city of Mosul, Iraq. He was accompanied only by his son, who served as his cameraman.

“I always asked them about the value of mercy in Islam,” but “I didn’t see any mercy in their behavior,” explained Todenhofer. He added, “Something that I don’t understand at all is the enthusiasm in their plan of religious cleansing, planning to kill the non-believers… They also will kill Muslim democrats because they believe that non-ISIL-Muslims put the laws of human beings above the commandments of God.”

The German reporter then elaborated on how shocked he was about how “willing to kill” the ISIS fighters are. He said that they were ready to commit genocide. “They were talking about [killing] hundreds of millions. They were enthusiastic about it, and I just cannot understand that,” said Todenhofer. (Read more about the plans of ‘religious cleansing’ HERE)

______________________________________________

ISIS Kills 13 Teenage Boys for Watching Soccer Game

By Jason Howerton. For 13 teenage boys in the Iraqi city of Mosul, watching the Asian Cup soccer match between Iraq and Jordan would reportedly cost them their lives.

Under the Islamic State’s barbaric ideology, the act of watching the game on television was an offense punishable by death. The young boys were grabbed by terrorists and then publicly executed by a firing squad, according to the activist group Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently.

Before being shot to death by machine guns, the terrorists reportedly announced the boys’ “crime” of breaking religious laws by watching sports over a loud speaker. (Read more from this story HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Whistleblower “Suicide”: Prosecutor Who Accused Argentine President of Iran Plot Dead

/0 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Yahoo
An Argentine prosecutor who accused President Cristina Fernandez of orchestrating a cover-up in the investigation of Iran over the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center was found dead in his apartment, authorities said on Monday.

Alberto Nisman, who had been delving into the blast at the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people, said Wednesday that Fernandez opened secretive discussions with Iran and at least one of the men suspected of planting the bomb.

He said the scheme was intended to clear the suspects so that Argentina could start swapping grains for much-needed oil from Iran, which denies any connection with the bombing.

Nisman was found dead on Sunday night in his apartment in the posh Buenos Aires neighborhood of Puerto Madero, Argentina’s security ministry said. A 22-calibre handgun and a single bullet casing were found next to his body, the ministry said.

“Everything indicates it was a suicide,” National Security Secretary Sergio Berni told local television. “We have to see if gunpowder is found on his hands.” (Read more about the prosecutor who accused Argentine President Fernandez HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Man Claims NYPD Set Him Up With Planted Gun

/0 Comments/in , /by

By Josh Saul. A Brooklyn man who says​ ​he was​ ​falsely arrested by police who planted a​ ​gun on him is​ suing the city and the​ ​NYPD.

Jeffery Herring, 53, was cleared last week on​ ​the​ ​weapons rap when prosecutors failed to produce a confidential police informant, despite a judge’s order that the witness​ ​be brought to court.

“Despite Mr. Herring’s innocence, the defendants fabricated and falsified evidence to have him arrested and prosecuted,” states the lawsuit, which was being filed in Brooklyn federal court Monday by lawyer Joseph Indusi.

Herring’s suit also levels a new allegation against the officers — it claims they pocketed the $1,000 reward that would have gone to a confidential informant for leading them to the gun arrests.

“The individually named defendants were abusing the ‘Operation Gun Stop’ program to enrich themselves at the expense of violating plaintiff’s constitutional rights,” the suit claims. (Read more about the man claiming NYPD set him up with a planted gun HERE)

_______________________________________________

Invoking King’s Memory, de Blasio, Sharpton Try to Mend Fences With NYPD

By Maria Alvarez. Mayor Bill de Blasio and the Rev. Al Sharpton embraced after giving heartfelt speeches that promised their commitment to social justice while respecting the NYPD as they vowed to mend fences between police and the community.

The two men were with a dozen elected officials who spoke to several hundred National Action Network members and supporters at Sharpton’s House of Justice in Harlem, where they noted the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

“We are not anti-police. We respect the police who put their lives on the line for us,” said Sharpton, whose organization hired five tour buses to bring supporters to Brooklyn to lay wreaths where slain officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu were shot and killed Dec. 20 while sitting in their police cruiser. (Read more from this story HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Petition Forces White House Response for Imprisoned Lieutenant

/1 Comment/in , /by

Photo Credit: Army Times Supporters of a former first lieutenant convicted of murder in the 2012 deaths of two Afghan men now await a response from the White House after a petition calling for his pardon gained 100,000 signatures.

Clint Lorance’s supporters launched the White House petition Jan. 2, after the commander of the 82nd Airborne Division upheld the guilty verdict in the case.

The petition needed 100,000 signatures by Feb. 1 to get a response from the White House. The petition reached that threshold Monday night; it had 101,273 signatures late Monday.

In the petition, supporters call for a presidential pardon for Lorance, saying the former lieutenant was punished for trying to protect his soldiers.

“The president has the chance to tell the military and our enemies that when we send our young sons and daughters into harm’s way, we do not turn against them,” the petition states. (Read more about the imprisoned lieutenant HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Alabama Smacks Down Sharia Law (+video)

/3 Comments/in , /by

By The Political Insider. The people from the great state of Alabama took a huge proactive step in the last election to protect themselves from creeping Sharia. As more followers of Islam move to America, the threat has become real, but Alabama just said, “ENOUGH!”

Amendment One, an amendment to the state constitution that prohibits foreign law being used to decide cases in Alabama courts, has passed easily and will be added to the Alabama Constitution.

Eric Johnston, the Birmingham attorney who drafted the amendment, felt vindicated after it was described as an attack on Muslims.

“I put in about three years of work on it,” Johnston said, after AP and Politico declared that the amendment passed. The amendment passed by a wide margin of about 72 percent to 28 percent with 96 percent of precincts counted . . .

Certain groups have called this amendment racist. But the problem is, so much of Islam’s teachings are incompatible with civilized society. This amendment draws a clear line in the sand that 14th century thinking cannot be protected by law. (Read more about Muslims trying to pass Sharia law in Alabama HERE)

_________________________________________________

Christian Nurse Tries to Help Muslim Co-Worker, Gets 9 Month Work Suspension

By Conservative Tribune. Victoria Wasteney, a 37-year-old nurse, said a prayer for her co-worker. What happened next is a saga you may not believe – unless, of course, you’ve paid attention to the news.

The senior occupational therapist at an East London mental hospital said the prayer in the name of a Muslim co-worker who was going through personal difficulties. The simple prayer earned her a nine-month suspension from her job and has become the subject of a lawsuit.

The co-worker in question is named Enya Nawaz. According to Wasteney, the two were friends, and had spent significant time talking about the similarities between Christianity and Islam . . .

“God, I trust You will bring peace and You will bring healing,” she said, remembering the content of the prayer. “It was a natural and open thing for me to do and she didn’t object in any way.”

That changed once Nawaz was, according to Wasteney, pressured into filing a claim against her by other Muslims. (Read more from this story HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Kentucky Bill Tries to Reverse Insane Transgender Rule Allowing Boys and Girls to Use Same Bathroom at the Same Time

/2 Comments/in , /by

In a rebuke to a Louisville high school, a Kentucky lawmaker is sponsoring a bill that would ban transgender students from using school restrooms that don’t correspond to their anatomical sex.

The “Kentucky Student Privacy Act,” proposed by State Sen. C.B. Embry Jr., R-Morgantown, also would allow students to sue the school for $2,500 when they encounter a person of the opposite biological sex in a bathroom or locker room if staff have allowed it or failed to prohibit it.

“Parents have a reasonable expectation that schools will not allow minor children to be viewed in various states of undress by members of the opposite biological sex,” Embry wrote in Senate Bill 76, filed this month in the state’s General Assembly.

The bill, backed by the Family Foundation of Kentucky, would allow transgender students to ask for special accommodations, such as a unisex bathroom.

It comes in direct response to a controversy last year in Louisville, where Atherton High School principal Thomas Aberli allowed a transgender student who was born male but identifies as a female to use the girls’ bathrooms and locker rooms. (Read more about the bill targeting the insane transgender rule HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.