Michelle Obama Complains of Emotional Toll of Being First Black First Lady

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MichelleObama-1Michelle Obama gave a candid view Saturday of the challenges and emotional toll of being the country’s first black first lady.

Obama, speaking to graduates at Tuskegee University in Alabama, described insensitive media questions and derogatory remarks from political pundits that she said have kept her up at night.

“You might remember the on-stage celebratory fist bump between me and my husband after a primary win that was referred to as a ‘terrorist fist jab,’ ” she said.

And over the years, folks have used plenty of interesting words to describe me. One said I exhibited ‘a little bit of uppity-ism.’ Another noted that I was one of my husband’s ‘cronies of color.’ Cable news once charmingly referred to me as ‘Obama’s Baby Mama.’ ” . . .

“But, as potentially the first African-American First Lady, I was also the focus of another set of questions and speculations; conversations sometimes rooted in the fears and misperceptions of others. Was I too loud, or too angry, or too emasculating? Or was I too soft, too much of a mom, not enough of a career woman?” (Read more from “Michelle Obama Speaks of Emotional Toll of Being First Black First Lady” HERE)

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Rand Paul “Mocked” for Comments on Military Exercise While Texas Governor Works to Calm Nerves

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download (13)By Jeremy Peters. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky has been mocked by liberal pundits who accused him of fanning conspiracy theories about a military exercise along the Texas border, an event that some on the far right believe is a covert effort to impose martial law.

But in an interview this weekend, Mr. Paul said he had no idea what the training exercise — known as Jade Helm — was when he was first asked about it last month on an Iowa radio program.

“Someone on a radio program asked me what it was. I didn’t know,” Mr. Paul said after he christened a new work space for his presidential campaign in the Bay Area. He expressed befuddlement at how his comments about “that ridiculous Jade something” had been blown out of proportion.

“I said sure, I’ll ask my staff to look into it because I didn’t know what it was,” he said.

The comments that drew ridicule by people like Bill Maher, who accused Mr. Paul of pandering to the right-wing fringe, occurred on the Jan Mickelson program. Mr. Mickelson brought up the exercise, telling the senator, “I’d like to know what the rest of the story is on that.” (Read more from “Rand Paul Plays Down Comments on Military Exercise After Mockery” HERE)

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Greg Abbott Says He’s Working to Calm Some Texans Upset Over Jade Helm 15 Exercise

By NBC News. Governor Greg Abbott, R-TX, says he’s trying to bring calm to some Texans about a military exercise that will take place in Texas and six other states.

The eight-week exercise, known as Jade Helm 15, will begin July 15 and involves U.S. Specials Operations Forces such as Navy Seals and Green Berets. They will use public and private lands to train for overseas missions.

The prospect of armed federal troops in Texas has ignited a host of concerns and speculation about the military’s motives — ranging from the military’s intention to impose martial law to a government conspiracy to launch a hostile takeover of Texas to taking away people’s gun rights. (Read more from this story HERE)

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No Surprise: Obama Sent Three Officials to Criminal Freddie Gray’s Funeral, but Not One to NYPD Officer Brian Moore’s Funeral

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Photo Credit: Twitter

Photo Credit: Twitter

Obama sent three White House officials to criminal Freddie Gray’s funeral. How many should we expect for decorated Officer Moore’s, murdered by a criminal?

CNN reported:

The White House sent Cabinet Secretary Broderick Johnson, chair of the Obama administration’s My Brother’s Keeper Task Force; Heather Foster, an adviser in the White House Office of Public Engagement; and Elias Alcantara from the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs.

Gray also had a history of run-ins with the law. According to court documents CNN obtained, there were more than 20 criminal court cases in Maryland against Gray, and five of those cases were still active at the time of his death.

The Obama White House sent three officials to robber Michael Brown‘s funeral in Ferguson. But the White House did not send any officials to Officer Brian Moore’s funeral yesterday.

(Read more from “No Surprise: Obama Sent Three Officials to Criminal Freddie Gray’s Funeral, but Not One to NYPD Officer Brian Moore’s Funeral” HERE)

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You’ll Never Guess How Much Money the DEA Stole From a Black Man, Assuming He Was a Drug Dealer

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Photo Credit: The Grio

Photo Credit: The Grio

Last month Joseph Rivers set out on a train trip from Michigan to Los Angeles, armed with his life savings and dreams of making it big in Hollywood. Unfortunately, before he made it to California, he fell victim to a legal form of government highway robbery.

On April 15th, 22 year old Rivers changed trains at the Amtrak station in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with bags containing his clothes, a few other possessions and an envelope that contained $16,000 in cash that he had raised with the help of his family.

The Albuquerque Journal reports that’s when agents with the Drug Enforcement Administration got on and began looking for people who might be trafficking drugs. It is routine for agents to randomly stop passengers and ask them what their destination is and their reason for travel.

However, Rivers was the only black person on the train, and according to witnesses – his interrogation went much further than anyone else’s. The agent on board requested to go through Rivers’ bag – and when the young man complied his money was seized under suspicion of being linked to the sale of narcotics . . .

“These officers took everything that I had worked so hard to save and even money that was given to me by family that believed in me,” Rivers told the Journal. “I told (the DEA agents) I had no money and no means to survive in Los Angeles if they took my money. They informed me that it was my responsibility to figure out how I was going to do that.” (Read more from “You’ll Never Guess How Much Money the DEA Stole From a Black Man, Assuming He Was a Drug Dealer” HERE)

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Watch: Blind Pregnant Woman Gets To “See” Her Unborn Son and Her Response Is Priceless

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Photo Credit: Life News

Photo Credit: Life News

In Brazil, a blind woman was able to “see” her unborn son thanks to 3D printing technology. 30-year-old Tatiana Guerra is 20-weeks pregnant and never thought she would get the chance to see her son’s facial features. However, through touch, Guerra was able to feel her unborn babies face.

According to the Daily Mail, in a video created as part of a campaign for the diaper brand Huggies, Guerra asks her doctor if her son looks like her. The doctor responds: “If you could touch him, would that let you know what he’s like?” She said yes and then the doctor handed her a 3D-printed image wrapped in a white cloth and says: ‘That’s your son’.

(Read more from “Blind Pregnant Woman Gets To “See” Her Unborn Son and Her Response Is Priceless” HERE)

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‘I Know I’m Dying’: Two Mississippi Cops Shot to Death During Traffic Stop Horror

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ms-fb-officers-1024x768Two Mississippi police officers — one a rookie — were shot to death during an evening traffic turned violent, a state law enforcement spokesman said Sunday. Three suspects were in custody, including two who are charged with capital murder.

The deaths of the officers are the first to hit the southern Mississippi city of Hattiesburg in three decades — and come amid a national debate on policing, race and the use of deadly force, following the recent killings of unarmed black men by police in Missouri, South Carolina and elsewhere.

The officers’ deaths also follow by a day the funeral of a New York City officer who was shot in the head while stopping a man suspected of carrying a handgun.

Warren Strain, a spokesman for the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, told The Associated Press that 29-year-old Marvin Banks and 22-year-old Joanie Calloway were each charged with two counts of capital murder . . .

“At this point a weapon has not been recovered. However, warrants have been issued to search several properties in the Hattiesburg area. We are hopeful and believe that the murder weapon will be recovered,” Strain added. “At this point, it appears to have been only one weapon.” (Read more from “‘I Know I’m Dying’: Two Mississippi Cops Shot to Death During Traffic Stop Horror” HERE)

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Congress and Obama Administration Make Shocking, Arrogant Claims Before Two Separate Courts

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Photo Credit: The Intercept

Photo Credit: The Intercept

By Lee Fang. In a little-noticed brief filed last summer, lawyers for the House of Representatives claimed that an SEC investigation of congressional insider trading should be blocked on principle, because lawmakers and their staff are constitutionally protected from such inquiries given the nature of their work.

The legal team led by Kerry W. Kircher, who was appointed House General Counsel by Speaker John Boehner in 2011, claimed that the insider trading probe violated the separation of powers between the legislative and executive branch.

In 2012, members of Congress patted themselves on the back for passing the STOCK Act, a bill meant to curb insider trading for lawmakers and their staff. “We all know that Washington is broken and today members of both parties took a big step forward to fix it,” said Rep. Bill Johnson, R-Ohio, upon passage of the law.

But as the Securities and Exchange Commission made news with the first major investigation of political insider trading, Congress moved to block the inquiry.

The SEC investigation focused on how Brian Sutter, then a staffer for the House Ways and Means Committee, allegedly passed along information about an upcoming Medicare decision to a lobbyist, who then shared the tip with other firms. Leading hedge funds used the insider tip to trade on health insurance stocks that were affected by the soon-to-be announced Medicare decision. (Read more about Congress and Obama Administration making shocking judicial claims HERE)

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U.S. Government: We Can Classify Anything and Judges Can’t Stop Us

By Sam Sacks. At a hearing today on a lawsuit seeking to make videotapes of force-feedings at Guantánamo public, Justice Department attorneys argued that the courts cannot order evidence used in trial to be unsealed if it has been classified by the government. “We don’t think there is a First Amendment right to classified documents,” stated Justice Department lawyer Catherine Dorsey.

The judges at the D.C. Court of Appeals appeared skeptical. Chief Judge Merrick Garland characterized the government’s position as tantamount to claiming the court “has absolutely no authority” to unseal evidence even if it’s clear the government’s bid to keep it secret is based on “irrationality” or that it’s “hiding something.”

“That is our position,” Dorsey agreed. She added that a more appropriate tool to compel the release of the videos was through a Freedom of Information Act request.

Sixteen media organizations, including First Look Media, are seeking footage of Abu Wa’el Dhiab being repeatedly force-fed at Guantánamo. Dhiab was held by the U.S. for 12 years without charges or trial before being released to Uruguay last December.

“There is a public right at stake,” David Schultz told the panel of judges on behalf of the media outlets, adding that the videos depict “illegal conduct by government employees.” (Read more from this story HERE)

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10 Children of Homeschool, Off-Grid Family Placed in Strangers’ Homes in 4 Counties

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Photo Credit: Off The Grid News

Photo Credit: Off The Grid News

By Off The Grid News Staff. The rural Kentucky parents at the center of a custody battle that has shocked the homeschool and off-grid communities are staying upbeat and hope to get their 10 children back soon, a family friend says.

“They’re being positive. They want to get their kids back. They’re not trying to be overly critical of the authorities,” family friend Pace Ellsworth told Off The Grid News.

The 10 children were seized Wednesday from the parents, Joe and Nicole Naugler, following an anonymous tip that apparently related to their style of off-grid living. The family is also part of the “unschooling” movement, a type of homeschooling.

A hearing is scheduled for Monday. As of now, officials have placed the children with four families in four different counties, and as of Friday morning, the parents had not spoken with them. The four families are families that Kentucky’s version of CPS chose – families the Nauglers don’t know.

The ease with which sheriff deputies were able to take the kids may have been the most shocking. (Read more from “10 Children of Homeschool, Off-Grid Family Placed in Strangers’ Homes in 4 Counties” HERE)

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Police Seize 10 Children From Homeschool Family Because They’re Off-Grid

By Off The Grid News Staff. An off-grid homeschool family of 12 in rural Kentucky was raided, the mother arrested, and the 10 children seized simply because the government disagrees with their lifestyle and their educational choices, family members and friends say.

Until Wednesday, Joe and Nicole Naugler lived with their 10 kids in a cabin on 26 acres in Breckinridge County, about an hour southwest of Louisville.

“They are an extremely happy family,” family friend Pace Ellsworth told Off The Grid News.

Acting on an anonymous tip about the family’s off-grid lifestyle, sheriff’s officers entered the property and home Wednesday, and even blocked the access road to the family property, the family says. Joe and eight of the children were away, but Nicole – who is five-months pregnant – was home with the two oldest kids. Sheriff deputies then seemingly allowed Nicole and the two children to drive away but they got only a short distance before deputies pulled them over and took the two children away from the mom, who was arrested for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. (She says the arrest took place after she did not passively allow deputies to take the children.) Nicole was able to contact her husband and have a brief conversation. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Social Security is in Worse Shape Than You Thought [+video]

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cThe Social Security Administration projects that its trust funds will be depleted by 2033—not an optimistic forecast. But it may be even bleaker than that.

New studies from Harvard and Dartmouth researchers find that the SSA’s actuarial forecasts have been consistently overstating the financial health of the program’s trust funds since 2000.

“These biases are getting bigger and they are substantial,” said Gary King, co-author of the studies and director of Harvard’s Institute for Quantitative Social Science. “[Social Security] is going to be insolvent before everyone thinks.”

The Social Security and Medicare Trustees’ 2014 report to Congress last year found trust fund reserves for both its combined retirement and disability programs will grow until 2019. Program costs are projected to exceed income in 2020 and the trust funds will be depleted by 2033 if Congress doesn’t act. Once the trust funds are drained, annual revenues from payroll tax would be projected to cover only three-quarters of scheduled Social Security benefits through 2088.

Researchers examined forecasts published in the annual trustees’ reports from 1978, when the reports began to consistently disclose projected financial indicators, until 2013. Then, they compared the forecasts the agency made on such variables as mortality and labor force participation rates to the actual observed data. Forecasts from trustees reports from 1978 to 2000 were roughly unbiased, researchers found. In that time, the administration made overestimates and underestimates, but the forecast errors appeared to be random in their direction. (Read more from “Social Security Is in Worse Shape Than You Thought” HERE)

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Judge Throws out Lawsuit From Redditor Who Found an FBI Tracking Device on His Car

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Photo Credit: Tech Dirt

Photo Credit: Tech Dirt

Back in 2010, Redditor Yasir Afifi found an unusual device on his car while taking it in for an oil change.

Other Redditors surmised it was some sort of tracking device — something that was confirmed a few days later when two SUVs full of cops and FBI agents showed up to reclaim it. While doing so, the FBI agent also asked the sort of probing questions that make the agency an indispensable part of our nation’s counterterrorism efforts . . .

They also said other, more unsettling things:

After returning the GPS device, defendant Kanaan made several comments to the plaintiff [Redditor Yasir Afifi] that indicated to the plaintiff that the FBI had knowledge of the plaintiff’s movements, including commenting on certain restaurants at which the plaintiff ate, a friend with whom he associated, and a new job at which he worked. At the end of the encounter, the plaintiff alleges that defendant Kanaan suggested to him that he was not a national security threat and that he was no longer of use to the FBI.

Apparently, part of the justification for deploying this tracking device was a comment one of Afifi’s friends had left at Reddit — a comment that skewers a lot of unproductive terrorism hysteria (and the agencies that thrive in this atmosphere). . . End result? A tracking device on Afifi’s car, and for something he didn’t even write. So, he sued the FBI and the DOJ for violating his First, Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights. (Read more from “Judge Throws out Lawsuit From Redditor Who Found an FBI Tracking Device on His Car” HERE)

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