Murdered Alaska Troopers Remembered in Memorial

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Photo Credit: AP / THE FAIRBANKS DAILY NEWS-MINER

Photo Credit: AP / THE FAIRBANKS DAILY NEWS-MINER

Law enforcement officers from as far away as Florida on Saturday mourned the loss of two Alaska state troopers killed earlier this month in a remote village while trying to make an arrest.

A memorial for Sgt. Scott Johnson and Trooper Gabe Rich began with a procession and a drum cadence at the Carlson Center in Fairbanks.

Col. James Cockrell, head of the Alaska State Troopers, said Johnson and Rich touched many lives during their careers, and their deaths will strengthen the bonds between officers.

“This is a time to begin the healing process and come together as a community to provide strength to those who are still feeling the pain of their loss,” Cockrell said. “For in times like this, true Alaskans stand together.” The Anchorage Daily News said some 4,000 people attended the memorial.

A Fairbanks grand jury on Thursday indicted Nathanial “Satch” Kangas, 20, on two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths May 1 of Johnson and Rich. The two were assigned to rural law enforcement in 23 remote communities and were occasionally featured on the National Geographic Channel show “Alaska State Troopers,” which shows officers patrolling the state’s wild terrain.

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Gay Couples Marry in Arkansas, Most Clerks Sit Out

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Photo Credit: TownHall

Photo Credit: TownHall

More than 200 gay couples obtained Arkansas marriage licenses Monday after a judge tossed out the state’s 10-year-old same-sex marriage ban, but only at a handful of courthouses as an overwhelming majority of county clerks in this part of the Bible Belt said they first wanted the state Supreme Court to weigh in.

Attorney General Dustin McDaniel — who recently announced his personal support for same-sex marriage rights but said he would defend the law — filed paperwork Monday to at least temporarily preserve the ban, which voters approved by a 3-to-1 margin.

In other states that have seen gay-marriage bans overturned, judges either issued stays with their orders or state lawyers sought them with some immediacy. McDaniel’s office requested a stay from the local judge Friday night but had to wait until the full court record was available Monday before going to the state Supreme Court, under the justices’ rules. Justices gave both sides until midday Tuesday to file arguments.

Seventy of the state’s 75 clerks have not granted licenses. A handful of clerks, including one who granted licenses Monday, filed a stay request saying the judge’s decision didn’t address a law that threatens clerks with fines for “wrongful issuance of a marriage license.”

With the weddings Saturday and Monday, Arkansas became the 18th state to allow same-sex marriages, and the first among former states of the Confederacy.

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A ‘Nightmare Becoming Reality’? Iran Unveils American Drone Replica

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Photo Credit: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader / AP

Photo Credit: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader / AP

Iran has unveiled its own copy of an American stealth drone it captured in late 2011, claiming to have cracked the “secrets” of the bat-wing craft and added weapons capabilities.

Today, Fars News Agency reported that while Iran’s duplicate of the US RQ-170 Sentinel drone was smaller, it also had a “bombing capability to attack the US warships in any possible battle.” The story in Persian was headlined: “America’s nightmare has become reality.” State television showed footage on Sunday it said was of a US aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf filmed by an Iranian drone.

The drone replica was unveiled at an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) exhibition on Sunday, where Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was briefed on how the drone, its systems, and structure had been reverse-engineered. He called it a “sweet day.”

The stealth replica would “soon take a test flight,” an IRGC officer said on Sunday. Aerospace chief Amir Ali Hajijadeh said today that they are working on two more models of the replica drone.

Proving its prowess

Engineers with the IRGC were ordered to reverse engineer the captured US drone, which was on a CIA mission to spy on nuclear and military sites in Iran when it was brought down in Iran largely intact. Iran reacted with euphoria, trumpeting the capture in an “electronic ambush” showed Iran’s technical prowess.

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‘Don’t Record Me, Lady’ – Police Charge Woman With Wiretapping After She Records Her Own Arrest

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Photo Credit: IJ Review

Photo Credit: IJ Review

Massachusetts woman has been charged with unlawful wiretapping after she recorded her own arrest on her smartphone. 24-year-old Karen Dziewit allegedly had too much to drink and got too loud and belligerent at 2 a.m. on Sunday morning, and police were called out.

Dziewit allegedly refused to cooperate with instructions from police officers and was arrested. However, before she was arrested, she activated the voice recording feature on her smartphone.
Mass Live reports:

Springfield Police Capt. Harry Kastrinakis said 24-year-old Karen Dziewit of Chicopee was drinking in front of 140 Chestnut Street shortly before 2 a.m. Sunday when police were called to assist a security officer at that address. Police said Dziewit was screaming and yelling and disturbing the tenants of the buildings, and she refused to stop her tirade when police asked her to.

She was arrested. But, before she was taken into custody, she apparently started the voice recorder in her smart phone and put it in her purse…

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Watch As An Angry Mob Silences A University Panel In The Name Of Free Speech

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Photo Credit: Portland State University / Youtube screenshot

Photo Credit: Portland State University / Youtube screenshot

A mob of angry protesters hijacked a panel discussion at Portland State University, loudly chanting, “We will not be silenced in the face of your violence,” over and over again until organizers had no choice but to cancel the event.

The panel, intended to discuss police brutality, drew the ire of the mob by including Kristian Williams, an anarchist author who has clashed with feminists by suggesting that sexual assault allegations should be studiously investigated, rather than automatically assumed to be true.

That statement was deemed to be hate speech by the mob, who accused him of “survivor-shaming” victims of sexual assault, according to Campus Reform.

“You will be held accountable for all the people who feel unsafe by the words that you choose and say, and the way you cast doubt on people who have survived traumatic issues,” said one protester.

The mob loudly repeated the phrase, “We will not be silenced in the face of your violence,” which had the intended effect of silencing the panelists.

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Clay Aiken Opponent Dies Suddenly at Home

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Photo Credit: Ricky Ingold / The Courier-Tribune

Photo Credit: Ricky Ingold / The Courier-Tribune

Asheboro businessman and congressional candidate, Keith Crisco, 71, died suddenly at his home today.

Information is incomplete; however, early information indicates he suffered injuries from a fall around 1 p.m. at his home on 1263 Thayer Drive in Asheboro. He was reported dead at the scene when emergency workers arrived there.

John Ogburn, Asheboro city manager, confirmed that the Asheboro Police Department and Asheboro Fire Department responded to the scene. He said the case will go to the state medical examiner to determine an exact cause of death.

In a statement from the city, local officials said they were saddened to learn of Crisco’s death. During his time on the Asheboro City Council, from 2003-2009, officials said he consistently demonstrated the intellect and steadfastness that made him so successful.

“Keith was an excellent leader and public servant,” said Mayor David Smith. “His service to the City of Asheboro and the State of North Carolina serves as a testimony to his love of family, community and our state.”

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Outrage: Nurse Taped Newborn Baby’s Mouth Shut To Keep Him From Crying

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Photo Credit: IJ Review

Photo Credit: IJ Review

When Ryan Noval’s wife went to check on her 7-day-old baby, Yohannes, in a hospital nursery, she was appalled by what she saw: a piece of tape sealing the baby’s lips to keep him from crying…

Noval described the shocking experience:

Meet my son Yohannes Noval!! He cannot speak about his horrific experience from the attending nurse’s hands inside Maternity Hospital’s nursery…so we have to speak out for him.

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Author Who Made Up Holocaust Memoir Told to Repay $22.5 MN

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Photo Credit: AFP / Olivier Laban-Mattei

Photo Credit: AFP / Olivier Laban-Mattei

The author of a global best-selling Holocaust memoir who later admitted it was pure fantasy has been ordered by a US court to repay $22.5 million to her publisher.

US-based Belgian writer Misha Defonseca’s “Misha: A Memoire of the Holocaust Years” told the supposedly true tale of a Jewish girl who was cared for by a pack of wolves and killed a Nazi soldier during World War II.

Published in 1997, it became an instant hit in Europe, was translated into 20 languages and made into the 2007 movie “Surviving With Wolves.”

But in February 2008 Defonseca, whose real name is Monique de Wael, admitted that most of the events were false, including that she was not Jewish, but Catholic, and that she was never forced to leave her home in Belgium during the war.

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Darrell Issa Threatens EPA Official with Contempt

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Photo Credit: AP / J. Scott Applewhite

Photo Credit: AP / J. Scott Applewhite

House Republicans have run out of patience with President Obama’s administration, Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said Wednesday.

Issa, who has been investigating employee misconduct at the Environmental Protection Agency, demanded that deputy administrator Bob Perciasepe produce documents within one month.

“It is my intention to bring to this committee a contempt if that is not done,” Issa said during a Wedneday hearing, before citing his investigation into the Internal Revenue Service targeting of Tea Party groups and the Benghazi terrorist attack as evidence that the Obama administration has a strategy of “running the clock” on House investigations.

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Hagel: Military Should Review Transgender Ban

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Photo Credit: Fox News

Photo Credit: Fox News

The prohibition on transgender individuals serving in the U.S. military “continually should be reviewed,” Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said on Sunday.

Hagel did not indicate whether he believes the policy should be overturned. However, he said “every qualified American who wants to serve our country should have an opportunity if they fit the qualifications and can do it.”

A transgender individual is someone who has acquired the physical characteristics of the opposite sex or presents themselves in a way that does not correspond with their sex at birth.

A panel convened by a think tank at San Francisco State University recently estimated that about 15,450 transgender personnel serve in the military and in the National Guard and Reserve.

In 2010, Congress passed legislation allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly. Hagel said the issue of transgender serving in the military is more complicated. He said “these issues require medical attention” that at times cannot be provided in austere locations.

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