Grandpa of Toddler Who Shot Mother Says to Quit Using Accident to Push Gun Control

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Veronica Rutledge and her husband loved everything about guns. They practiced at shooting ranges. They hunted. And both of them, relatives and friends say, had permits to carry concealed firearms. Veronica typically left her Blackfoot, Idaho, home with her gun nestled at her side. So on Christmas morning last week, her husband gave her a present he hoped would make her life more comfortable: a purse with a special pocket for a concealed weapon. . .

On Tuesday morning . . . Veronica, 29, arrived at a nearby Wal-Mart in Hayden with her three nieces and son, her gun “zippered closed” inside her new purse, her father-in-law said. Then, in the back of the store, near the electronics section, the purse was left unattended for a moment.

“An inquisitive 2-year-old boy reached into the purse, unzipped the compartment, found the gun and shot his mother in the head,” Rutledge said. “It’s a terrible, terrible incident.”

The aftermath has been crushing, he said. His son went to the Wal-Mart to collect his nieces and son, and no one now is sure what to say to the boy, who is not doing well. . .

Rutledge isn’t just sad — he’s angry. Not at his grandson. Nor at his dead daughter-in-law, “who didn’t have a malicious fiber in her body,” he said. He’s angry at the observers already using the accident as an excuse to grandstand on gun rights. (Read more about how this tragedy is beings used to push gun control HERE).

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Braindead Canadian ISIS Follower Tweets Location of Safe Houses

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Photo Credit: WNDBy Oliver Lane. The terrorist, who changed his name to the more appropriate-sounding ‘Abu Abdul-Rahman’ uploaded a series of tweets during his travels across the Islamic State, updating his twitter following on his progress with ISIS. The Daily Mail reports a Canadian jihad-monitoring group recorded 45 of these tweets containing geo-location data and passed the information on to intelligence agencies.

Describing the blunder, Canadian monitoring group IBRABO said: “It’s a rookie social media mistake and one that intelligence and law enforcement agencies pray for when tracking criminals. This week one of New Zealand’s well known jihadists, Mark Taylor removed 45 tweets after he discovered that he was broadcasting his twitter location to every intelligence agency… Unfortunately for him we captured all of them prior to him removing the tweets”.

“Taylor isn’t the first jihadist to broadcast his whereabouts via social media and in fact looking at the battlefield in Syria we see fighters from Canada, France, and other western countries making the same mistake”. (Read more on the ISIS follower tweets HERE)

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Peshmerga Desperate for US Arms in Battle Against ISIS

By Hollie McKay. Under a gloomy late November sky that dumped cold rain on their frontline fighting position overlooking Mosul Dam, some 16 Peshmerga fighters mustered around a small hut – the only visible means of protection from enemy fire – while others hovered around a small campfire for warmth.

Just hours earlier, the road leading into the Kurdish army’s base was hit by artillery from Islamic State – or “Daesh” as it is known in the Middle East, forcing some closures. But the fighters were calm and collected – sharing jokes and cigarettes ahead of another long and cold night protecting their cherished land in the northern part of this embattled land. . .

Much of the Kurdish population now view the United States of America as their only dependable ally in the ongoing war against the terrorist organization – and their desperation to be supplied with American equipment and weapons remains the eclipsing message.

“The airstrikes are good, but we need weapons,” stressed the official, dismissing the notion that U.S. ground troops are the ultimate answer. “We already have military on the ground, but we’re fighting an enemy that has acquired all the sophisticated U.S. weapons that went to the Iraqis and now ISIS has them. This isn’t a balanced fight.” (Read more from this story HERE)

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New Years Celebrations: Man Shoots Off Champagne Bottle Cork with .50 BMG, Another Recreates Cup Song with Guns (+videos)

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Jim Huish of Amber’s Drive performed The Cup Song using guns instead of cups. The guns used were an AR15, an AK47, a CZ75 and a Walther P22.

He performed The Cup Song on a ridiculously cold Utah winter day. Aside from the difficulty of manipulating the guns with frozen fingers, the guns were malfunctioning because of the cold as well. . .

Jim burned through a fair bit of ammo and battled through some tough conditions to pull it off. In the end he came up with a rendition that any Pitch Perfect fan, Amber’s Drive fan, or gun nut would be proud of. The Cup Song, Pitch Perfect, Pitch Perfect 2.

(To see more videos from Jim Huish, click HERE)
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Gun Enthusiast Sets to Start the New Year Off in Style

In this video, Richard Ryan of FullMag shows just how challenging it can be to shoot the cork off of a champagne bottle with a .50 cal. The slow motion videography is outstanding:

(To see more videos from FullMag, click HERE)

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Ben Carson says He’ll have a ‘Big Surprise’ for 2016

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Photo Credit: Getty ImagesBen Carson plans to announce his presidential intentions this spring.

“I will announce before March, before May 1,” Carson said in an interview on NewsMaxTV’s America’s Forum on Friday. “I would just say that I am listening extremely carefully. I don’t want to do something that the American people do not want me to do.”

Cason, a retired neurosurgeon and Tea Party darling who has never held political office, said he is studying the issues plaguing the country — much like he does with medicine.

“You have to know a lot of stuff,” he said. “I’m rapidly acquiring that knowledge, listening to people and really finding a tremendous amount of frustration with the status quo, politics as usual, be it Republican or Democrat. Our system was designed for the people. It wasn’t designed for professional politicians. I’m thinking very seriously, listening to people and we’ll make a decision in a few months.” (Read more about what Ben Carson says HERE)

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The Politics that Died With Mario Cuomo

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More than any other politician in recent memory, Mario Cuomo spent a lot of time talking publicly about death, particularly his own. In 1987, Cuomo, who’d been a minor league baseball player in the early ‘50s, fantasized about dying while sliding into home plate, to culminate an inside-the-park home run. “That’s it!” he said, in a conversation captured by Joe Klein. “That would be the way to go.”

The gap between that poetic demise and the prosaic home setting where he died yesterday was emblematic for Mario Cuomo. His ability to inspire liberals (especially white ones) with a New Deal, working-class vision of government was unparalleled for at least a generation. At the same time, his incomplete delivery meant that most conversations about him were about degrees of disappointment.

His landmark speech at the 1984 Democratic convention galvanized millions, with its call for a government that “ought to be able to find work for all who can do it, room at the table, shelter for the homeless, care for the elderly and infirm, and hope for the destitute.” Yet it set voters up for the ultimate disappointment when, in late 1991, he passed up the opportunity to run for president.

Many have offered explanations for that infamous refusal, since the official version – he needed to work on the state budget – was so unsatisfying. There were multiple reasons, but it’s a sure bet that his opponents – even in the primaries – would have sensationalized his Mafia connections. . . (Read more from the story, “New York Governor Dies” HERE)

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Denver Broncos Quarterback Peyton Manning Tracks Down Army Wife in Alaska to Thank Her Combat Vet Husband

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Photo Credit: Conservative PressKristen Patterson was surprised when an Alaska State Trooper called her. She was just as surprised when he asked her if she has written a letter to Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning. Then when the trooper told her Peyton Manning had been trying to get in contact with her for three months, Kristen was in absolute shock.

In September, Kristen had sent a letter to Manning explaining that her husband, Army Sgt. Ryan Patterson, was a huge fan. When Ryan was stationed in Afghanistan, he would set his alarm to go off in the middle of the night so he could listen to Manning’s games. After Manning was cut by the Colts and signed by the Broncos, Ryan requested a transfer to Denver so he could watch him play. Instead, Ryan and Kristen ended up in Alaska.

The letter explained that Ryan would be visiting family in the Cincinnati area in December while the Broncos would be in town to play the Bengals. Kristen asked if there was any way she could surprise her husband and possibly set up a meeting.

Kristen had great intentions for her husband; however, there was one major problem with Kristen’s letter; she forgot to include her contact information. . .

Not only had Peyton received and read the letter, he was determined to find Kristen. He asked his public relations team for help and finally tracked the Pattersons to a utility comany in North Pole, Alaska and the team contacted the state trooper’s office. (Read how Peyton Manning tracks down wife of army Sgt. Patterson HERE)

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UPDATE: 21 More Bodies Have Been Found in AirAsia Plane Crash

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Photo Credit: WSJSearch teams hunting for the wreckage of AirAsia Flight QZ8501 have had a breakthrough after discovering two big parts of the aircraft, which crashed into the sea last weekend with 162 people on board, Indonesia’s top search official said on Saturday.

This comes as it was revealed the route taken by the flight flew at a restricted time, the ABC reports.

Just yesterday, recovery teams pulled 21 bodies from the Java Sea but are struggling to locate the plane’s black box recorder.

The total is the largest of the search so far, more than tripling the number of bodies recovered from nine to 30, as dive teams say some were found still strapped into their seats.

The news of further discoveries came as more corpses, including that of an 11-year-old boy, were identified and handed back to their weeping relatives at a police hospital in Surabaya, Indonesia. (Read more about how more bodies have been found in AirAsia plane crash HERE)

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Children in ISIS Describe Atrocious Beheading Lessons

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Photo Credit: AFPBy Joel Himelfarb. Jomah, a 17-year-old child soldier who joined the Islamic State (ISIS) last year, sat in a circle of fellow trainees to learn lessons about the proper way to behead captive enemy soldiers – lessons taught to children as young as 8.

Then, the Wall Street Journal reported, his teachers brought in three terrified Syrian soldiers who were forced to their knees.

“It was like learning to chop an onion,” Jomah said. “You grab him by the forehead and then slowly slice across the neck.”

After the lesson, the teachers ordered the children to pass around the severed heads. Jomah, who later defected to Turkey along with his family, said that by that time, he had become “desensitized” to the horror, partly as a result of the beheading videos he had already been shown.

Hundreds of Syrian boys have been “enrolled” in those Syrian camps during the country’s civil war, now almost four years old. Jomah was one of a handful of these boys recently interviewed in Turkey by the Journal about their experiences as child jihadists. (Read more about the stories of the children in ISIS HERE)

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Parenting Guide Released by ISIS

By Frances Martel. The guide, discovered and translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), instructs jihadist mothers to start young, lest the child grow older and less susceptible to a full commitment to the Islamic State. The guide specifically calls for teaching children the importance of waging jihad “while they are babies” because anything older than infancy “may be too late,” as the Daily Mail reports: “Don’t wait until they are seven to start, for it may be too late by then!” The Mail highlights specifically that the guide tells mothers, “Don’t underestimate the lasting effect of what those little ears and eyes take in during the first few years of life!”. . .

The guide does impose one restriction on mothers: children should be clear on “who their target is” when allowed near real guns, and they should be taught with toy guns not to shoot anyone friendly to the cause. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Obamacare’s Horrible Year

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By Michelle Mankin. There’s no candy coating the truth: Obamacare has had a very terrible, horrible, crappy, none-too-happy year. What it really means is that the victims of Obamacare — taxpayers, health care consumers, health care providers, employers and employees — have had a hellish, nightmarish 2014.

Let’s start with premiums. President Candy Land promised that he’d “lower premiums by up to $2,500 for a typical family per year.” But premiums for people in the individual market for health insurance have spiked over the last year. In fact, Forbes health policy journalist Avik Roy and the Manhattan Institute analyzed 3,137 counties and found that individual market premiums rose an average of 49 percent.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services itself admitted this month that average premiums will rise at least five percent for the lowest-cost plans offered by federal Obamacare health care exchanges. Democrats’ reaction? Obamacare rate shock doesn’t matter … because government is redistributing the burden and taxpayers are footing the bill! HHS crowed this week that nearly 90 percent of exchange enrollees received public subsidies in order to pay their premiums. (Read more about Obamacare’s horrible year HERE)

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Minnesota Companies Score Obamacare Exemptions

By Tom Steward. Do you believe in miracles? Ask Greg Hall, whose company supplied technology and know-how that helped rescue 33 Chilean miners trapped underground for more than two months in 2010.

Almost as miraculous, Hall’s American Manufacturing Company just received a permanent federal exemption from provisions of the Affordable Care Act that contradict the Catholic deacon and businessman’s religious convictions.

“I’m very happy. Obviously, it was not a battle we wanted to join, but we felt we had to and so we did,” said Hall about his St. Joseph company. “We’re pleased that we’re able to continue to offer our employees medical insurance without the areas that violated our Catholic conscience.”

Christmas came early for seven Minnesota business owners, once faced with the dilemma of violating their religious convictions or paying massive fines to the Internal Revenue Service. (Read more from this story HERE)
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Obamacare Employer Mandate Takes Effect Today

By Rick Moran. The Obamacare employer mandate that requires companies with more than 100 employees to offer insurance coverage to 70% of them goes into effect January 1, 2015. Those companies with between 50 and 100 employees will be forced to offer coverage next year.

The employer mandate was delayed a year for political reasons. Employers are not expected to have a problem covering employees, but the reporting requirements to the IRS are a nightmare. . .

Massive confusion is likely this tax season as employers and individuals alike will struggle with new forms and new requirements. This will be a boon to tax prep firms like H&R Block, who have been advertising their expertise in Obamacare compliance. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Senate Wants More Answers from Feds about Fake Cell Towers, Other Cell Phone Tracking

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Photo Credit: Fox News

Photo Credit: Fox News

The Senate Judiciary Committee wants more answers about law enforcement agencies across the country deploying surveillance technology, including trick cellphone towers, that gather cellphone data, according to a letter obtained Thursday by FoxNews.com

The bipartisan letter was sent to the departments of Justice and Homeland Security, following a recent FBI policy change regarding search warrants that committee leaders say raises questions about privacy protections and how the equipment was used.

Among the tools singled out in the letter is a Stingray, a device that pretends it is a cellphone tower and tricks cellphones into identifying some of their owners’ account information.

In addition, the U.S. Marshal Service is deploying an airborne device — called a “DRT box” or “dirtbox” — from five metropolitan-area airports across the United States that also “mimic standard cell towers, forcing affected cell phones to reveal their approximate location and registration information,” the Dec. 23 letter states.

“It remains unclear how other agencies within the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security make use of cell-site simulators and what policies are in place to govern their use of that technology,” states the letter from Vermont Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy, the committee chairman, and Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, the top Republican on the committee, reported first by The Associated Press. (Read more about the fake cell towers HERE)