Rainwater Collection Being Criminalized in U.S. To Solidify Total Government Dependence

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Photo Credit: Natural News

Photo Credit: Natural News

You might be aware that it is illegal to collect rainwater on your own property in some states, but did you know that doing so could actually land you in jail? That is exactly what is happening to Gary Harrington of Eagle Point, Oregon. He is now facing a 30-day jail sentence and fines of more than $1,500.

His crime? Harrington has been collecting rainwater in three reservoirs on his property, and the government doesn’t like it. In Oregon, all water is considered property of the state whether it flows from the tap or falls from the sky.

Collecting, storing and using rainwater is permitted if you obtain a permit from the state, but Harrington’s permits were revoked. The reasons why are not clear.

Harrington has been wrangling with Oregon’s Water Resources Department for more than ten years. In 2002, the state informed him that they had received “complaints” regarding three reservoirs located on his property. The reservoirs were used to collect and store rainwater and snow melt. One of the reservoirs has been on the property for nearly four decades.

When Harrington received notice from the Water Resources Department, he applied for the appropriate permits required to house storm and snow water runoff. In 2003, the permits were granted, but the state later reversed the decision. (Read more from “Rainwater Collection Being Criminalized in U.S. To Solidify Total Government Dependence” HERE)

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Pentagon Report: Chinese Ballistic Missiles Can Target Nearly the Entirety of the US

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download (19)China now has dozens of nuclear-capable missiles that could target almost the entirety of the US, according to the Department of Defense’s 2015 report on the Chinese military.

The annual report to Congress focuses on China’s military modernization, possible invasion plans for the self-governing and US-allied island of Taiwan, advances in space technology, and Beijing’s rapidly advancing missile capabilities.

China’s conventional capabilities are improving. But Beijing also now has what could be considered the ultimate military asset for a rising superpower: the ability to deliver nuclear warheads nearly anywhere on earth (outside of South America, at least).

The following map from the report highlights the maximum missile ranges of China’s medium and intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). The longest-ranging of the missiles, the CSS-4, can target almost the entirety of the US (except for Florida).

Photo Credit: Department of Defense.

Photo Credit: Department of Defense.

The CSS-4 has the largest range of any Chinese ICBM. The missile is nuclear-capable, according to the DoD report, and is housed in silos across the Chinese countryside. Beijing is estimated to have between 50 and 60 silo-based ICBMs. (Read more from “Pentagon Report: Chinese Ballistic Missiles Can Target Nearly the Entirety of the US” HERE)

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A Liberal Studied Conservative Brains and Made a Discovery He Never Expected

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Photo Credit: Western Journalism

Photo Credit: Western Journalism

Generally articles about conservatism vs liberalism basically say that one rules and one drools, depending on who the author voted for in 2012. In this case, it was written by someone at Salon.com, who admitted that this is a problem for the left. We give credit where it’s due here.

He’s also selling a book called “The Republican Brain: The Science of Why They Deny Science—and Reality,” because his publisher rejected the original titles, “Arbitrary Liberal Buzzwords that Don’t Really Mean Anything.”

Some choice nuggets:

47 percent of conservative Republicans said they were “very happy,” compared with just 28 percent of liberal Democrats…this result could not simply be attributed to the seemingly obvious cause: differences in income levels between the left and the right. Rather, for every income group in the study, conservative Republicans were happier than Democrats.

One striking finding is that conservatives tend to be less neurotic — or, more emotionally stable — than liberals. It is part of the inherent definition of neuroticism that one is less happy — more fretful, more depressed.

That means they probably make more friends and feel more comfortable in groups and communities. They’re more sociable. Once again, this probably helps confer a subjective sense of greater happiness.

To the author’s credit, he didn’t try to make excuses for this. It was more of just sounding the alarm for his leftist followers to stop being so miserable all the time.

Conservatism vs Liberalism: conservatives can haz cupcakes… and liberals can’t enjoy cupcakes when there’s so much alleged income “inequality.” (See “A Liberal Studied Conservative Brains and Made a Discovery He Never Expected”, originally posted HERE)

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Iris Scanners, Widely Used by US Military, Could Be Coming to a Police Department Near You [+video]

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military-iris-scannerIris scans could become part of a routine traffic stop, thanks to technology being developed by researchers at Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon University that can grab an image from a distance of 40 feet. The technology would allow police to take an image the second a driver glances into the rear-view mirror.

“It’s no different than a camera taking a picture of you,” said Marios Savvides, a research professor at CMU’s computer engineering department and the director of the CyLab Biometrics Center. “You could be anywhere within a 6- to 12-meter radius and it will find you and zoom in and capture your iris.”

The technology would be a major development for iris biometric scanners, which have been hampered for years by accuracy at long distances. But adoption also would create legal questions by relying on technology that’s similar to the local license plate databases that have been in use in Virginia, California and other municipalities.

“It could be used surreptitiously,” said Jennifer Lynch, an attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which is monitoring the development of the technology. “That could lead to the ability of law enforcement officers to collect a person’s biometric information without their knowledge.”

The U.S. military has been using iris scan technology for more than a decade in the Middle East, in part to help determine who is authorized to enter military facilities in Iraq and Afghanistan. U.S. soldiers in combat zones often take a snapshot of an individual 6 inches from their face, at which point the data is uploaded to a wide-ranging database that includes everything from scar information and mug shot images to height and eye color data. (Read more from “Iris Scanners, Widely Used by US Military, Could Be Coming to a Police Department Near You” HERE)

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America’s Changing Religious Landscape

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cross-211989_640The Christian share of the U.S. population is declining, while the number of U.S. adults who do not identify with any organized religion is growing, according to an extensive new survey by the Pew Research Center. Moreover, these changes are taking place across the religious landscape, affecting all regions of the country and many demographic groups. While the drop in Christian affiliation is particularly pronounced among young adults, it is occurring among Americans of all ages. The same trends are seen among whites, blacks and Latinos; among both college graduates and adults with only a high school education; and among women as well as men.

To be sure, the United States remains home to more Christians than any other country in the world, and a large majority of Americans – roughly seven-in-ten – continue to identify with some branch of the Christian faith.1 But the major new survey of more than 35,000 Americans by the Pew Research Center finds that the percentage of adults (ages 18 and older) who describe themselves as Christians has dropped by nearly eight percentage points in just seven years, from 78.4% in an equally massive Pew Research survey in 2007 to 70.6% in 2014. Over the same period, the percentage of Americans who are religiously unaffiliated – describing themselves as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular” – has jumped more than six points, from 16.1% to 22.8%. And the share of Americans who identify with non-Christian faiths also has inched up, rising 1.2 percentage points, from 4.7% in 2007 to 5.9% in 2014. Growth has been especially great among Muslims and Hindus, albeit from a very low base.

The drop in the Christian share of the population has been driven mainly by declines among mainline Protestants and Catholics. Each of those large religious traditions has shrunk by approximately three percentage points since 2007. The evangelical Protestant share of the U.S. population also has dipped, but at a slower rate, falling by about one percentage point since 2007.

Even as their numbers decline, American Christians – like the U.S. population as a whole – are becoming more racially and ethnically diverse. Non-Hispanic whites now account for smaller shares of evangelical Protestants, mainline Protestants and Catholics than they did seven years earlier, while Hispanics have grown as a share of all three religious groups. Racial and ethnic minorities now make up 41% of Catholics (up from 35% in 2007), 24% of evangelical Protestants (up from 19%) and 14% of mainline Protestants (up from 9%).

Religious intermarriage also appears to be on the rise: Among Americans who have gotten married since 2010, nearly four-in-ten (39%) report that they are in religiously mixed marriages, compared with 19% among those who got married before 1960.3 The rise in intermarriage appears to be linked with the growth of the religiously unaffiliated population. Nearly one-in-five people surveyed who got married since 2010 are either religiously unaffiliated respondents who married a Christian spouse or Christians who married an unaffiliated spouse. By contrast, just 5% of people who got married before 1960 fit this profile. (Read more from “America’s Changing Religious Landscape” HERE)

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Jeb Bush to Skip Iowa Straw Poll, Probably Fears Early Loss

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Photo Credit: The Des Moines Register

Photo Credit: The Des Moines Register

No Iowa Straw Poll for Jeb Bush.

The likely Republican presidential candidate will instead attend a competing event, the RedState Gathering in Atlanta, the day of the Iowa event, GOP sources in Iowa told The Des Moines Register on Tuesday. A spokesman for Bush confirmed the report.

Bush, a former Florida governor, is the first well-known Republican in the 2016 presidential field to officially opt out of the straw poll, a nationally renowned event that has drawn significant criticism over the years.

The Republican Party of Iowa, which hosts the Iowa Straw Poll, has been working to shore up the event’s reputation and lure candidates by addressing some of the most prevalent complaints. Last week, Iowa GOP officials announced they’ll provide free tent space and utilities for the campaigns. The straw poll has been bashed as having outsized importance, even to the point of having losing candidates drop out of the race. Campaigns sometimes spend hundreds of thousands of dollars at the straw poll as a sort of dry run for the Iowa caucuses.

But for the GOP presidential contenders, whether to compete in the straw poll is more of a risk-reward analysis. For those who compete, the aim is to do better than expected. This cycle, some contenders have said, they intend to focus instead on the caucuses, which will take place in precincts across the state on Feb. 1. (Read more from “Jeb Bush to Skip Iowa Straw Poll” HERE)

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Voters Still Worrying Military Exercises May Lead to Federal Control of States

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military_trainingEight weeks of U.S. military exercises this summer in several southwestern states – dubbed Jade Helm 15 – have some wondering if the government is preparing for martial law. Most voters don’t oppose such exercises, but a surprising number worry about what the federal government is up to.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 65% of Likely U.S. Voters favor the U.S. military conducting training exercises in their state. Just 16% are opposed, but slightly more (19%) are undecided.

Only 21% believe the government’s decision to conduct military training exercises in some states is an infringement on the rights of the citizens in those states. Sixty-two percent (62%) disagree. Sixteen percent (16%) are not sure.

But 45% of voters are concerned that the government will use U.S. military training operations to impose greater control over some states, with 19% who are Very Concerned. Just over half (52%) are not concerned that the government has an ulterior motive for the training exercises, including 26% who are Not At All Concerned.

Among voters who oppose military exercises in their state, 82% are concerned that the federal government has greater control in mind. Just 34% of those who favor the exercises share that concern. (Read more from “Voters Worry Military Exercises May Lead to Federal Control of States” HERE)

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Senate Democrats to the Rescue, Foil Obama on Asia Trade Deal; TPA Defeated

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Photo Credit: NY Times

Photo Credit: NY Times

Senate Democrats, in a rebuke of President Obama, on Tuesday blocked consideration of giving him power to accelerate a broad trade accord with Asia.

After more than six years battling Republicans on everything from his signature health care legislation to simply keeping the government open, Mr. Obama is at odds with his own party as he seeks a legislative capstone to his presidency. In some respects, that reflects the complicated politics of trade, which has always been harder for Democrats, their working-class constituents and backers in organized labor.

But Tuesday’s setback also highlighted a problem that has vexed Mr. Obama for most of his tenure in office: his difficulties with Congress. This time he is criticizing Democrats whose votes he now needs.

The president “has made this more personal than he needed to,” said Senator Sherrod Brown, Democrat of Ohio, after the 52-45 vote. Only one Democrat, Senator Tom Carper of Delaware, joined Republicans to support considering legislation that would give Mr. Obama authority to pursue the most sweeping trade accord since the North American Free Trade Agreement more than 20 years ago, and the procedural vote fell eight short of the 60 needed.

“Ultimately, it’s up to the president,” said Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the Senate’s No. 2 Republican. “Does the president of the United States have enough clout with members of his own political party?” (Read more from “Senate Democrats Foil Obama on Asia Trade Deal” HERE)

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Police Make Arrest Related to Synthetic Stimulant Flakka: ‘I Am God, I Am Satan’ [+video]

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bath-saltsA 17-year-old female was arrested at 2:30 in the morning Saturday after police said she jumped through the window of a home on the 1600 block of Sycamore Street in Melbourne, according to her arrest report.

The residents of the home say they were terrified after following the incident. The arrest report states that the girl, covered in broken glass and blood, slapped one of the residents of the home, and then ran outside. When police arrived, the report says she charged the officer while screaming, “I am God, I am Satan!” The officer wrote that he backed up at first, but then Tasered her and took her into custody.

Melbourne Police say this behavior is indicative of someone high on “flakka,” a relatively new synthetic designer drug that burst onto the scene in 2012 in South Florida . . .

Two weeks ago, Melbourne officers say they took down a suspected flakka drug dealer by the name of Tyler Reynolds Junior on Grant Street after he blew through a stop sign at Race and Horn streets. They say inside the 20-year-old’s vehicle they found 62 grams of flakka . . .

Last month, Melbourne police arrested 41-year-old Kenneth Crowder for running naked down a Melbourne street and then humping a tree, all while screaming that he was God. When Melbourne cops Tasered him, he allegedly pulled the leads out of his skin and attacked officers. He was eventually arrested and taken to jail. (Read more from “Police Make Arrest Related to Synthetic Stimulant Flakka: ‘I Am God, I Am Satan'[+video]” HERE)

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At Least 42 Dead After Second Devastating Earthquake Hits Nepal

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download (18)Still reeling from last month’s devastating earthquake, Nepal was hammered again Tuesday by a magnitude 7.3 temblor that caused dozens more deaths, unleashed fresh landslides and brought down unsteady buildings.

By late afternoon, Nepal’s Home Affairs Ministry said at least 42 people were killed and more than 1,117 injured in the largest aftershock yet recorded from the 7.8 quake on April 25. Officials warned that the toll could rise.

The epicenter was about 47 miles northeast of the capital, Katmandu, near the Chinese border, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The April 25 quake, which killed more than 8,150 people, was centered in the mountains west of Katmandu.

The tremor struck just before 1 p.m. local time, sending residents of the capital scurrying into the open air for safety, and was followed by a series of smaller tremors that rattled nerves even further.

Within hours, new makeshift tents had begun popping up in parts of Katmandu as families that had survived the earlier quake and returned to their homes in recent days decided again they were safer sleeping outdoors. (Read more from “At Least 42 Dead After Second Devastating Earthquake Hits Nepal” HERE)

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