Circuit Court: ‘Unsettled’ if 2nd Amendment Applies Outside of Home

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Photo Credit: APIn a case over New Jersey’s requirement that a citizen demonstrate “justifiable need” for a carrying a firearm before receiving a concealed carry license, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled that such a requirement “does not burden conduct within the scope of the Second Amendment’s guarantee.” The court also said “it remains unsettled” whether the Second Amendment is even applicable outside one’s home.

Filed on July 31, 2013, the ruling in Drake v. Filko upheld New Jersey’s practice of placing the burden of proof upon the citizen. In other words, the citizen who wants to carry a gun for self-defense must demonstrate why doing so is necessary for him or her. In simple terms, the citizen must justify being free.

That runs contrary to previous rulings in other circuits, such as on March 6, 2012 when U.S. District Judge Benson Everett Legg ruled against Maryland’s requirement that citizens who wanted a concealed carry permit had to demonstrate a “good and substantial reason” for getting one. Overturning this New Jersey-like requirement, Legg ruled: “A citizen may not be required to offer a ‘good and substantial reason’ why he should be permitted to exercise his rights. The right’s existence is all the reason he needs.”

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Snake Escaped from Pet Shop ‘Strangles’ Two Young Boys to Death in Canada

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Photo Credit: ALAMYThe two young boys, aged five and seven, were sleeping at a friend’s apartment late on Sunday in the small town of Campbellton when they were surprised by the snake.

It had escaped from a pet store that specialised in exotic animals located on the floor below the apartment.

“The preliminary investigation has led police to believe that a large exotic snake had escaped its enclosure at the store sometime overnight, and got into the ventilation system, then into the upstairs apartment,” police said in a statement.

“It’s believed the two boys were strangled by the snake.”

A New Brunswick police spokesman declined to give further details on the size of the snake or whether signs of strangulation were apparent on the boys.

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FBI Can Hack Your Android to Remotely Activate Cell Phone Microphones

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Photo Credit: Getty ImagesLaw-enforcement officials in the U.S. are expanding the use of tools routinely used by computer hackers to gather information on suspects, bringing the criminal wiretap into the cyber age.

Federal agencies have largely kept quiet about these capabilities, but court documents and interviews with people involved in the programs provide new details about the hacking tools, including spyware delivered to computers and phones through email or Web links—techniques more commonly associated with attacks by criminals.

People familiar with the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s programs say that the use of hacking tools under court orders has grown as agents seek to keep up with suspects who use new communications technology, including some types of online chat and encryption tools. The use of such communications, which can’t be wiretapped like a phone, is called “going dark” among law enforcement.

A spokeswoman for the FBI declined to comment.

The FBI develops some hacking tools internally and purchases others from the private sector. With such technology, the bureau can remotely activate the microphones in phones running Google Inc.’s GOOG -0.17% Android software to record conversations, one former U.S. official said. It can do the same to microphones in laptops without the user knowing, the person said. Google declined to comment.

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Japan Nuclear Body says Radioactive Water at Fukushima an ‘Emergency’

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Photo Credit: ReutersHighly radioactive water seeping into the ocean from Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant is creating an “emergency” that the operator is struggling to contain, an official from the country’s nuclear watchdog said on Monday.

This contaminated groundwater has breached an underground barrier, is rising toward the surface and is exceeding legal limits of radioactive discharge, Shinji Kinjo, head of a Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NRA) task force, told Reuters…

“Right now, we have an emergency,” he said…

It was not immediately clear how much of a threat the contaminated groundwater could pose. In the early weeks of the disaster, the Japanese government allowed Tepco [Tokyo Electric Power Co] to dump tens of thousands of metric tons of contaminated water into the Pacific in an emergency move…

“Until we know the exact density and volume of the water that’s flowing out, I honestly can’t speculate on the impact on the sea,” said Mitsuo Uematsu from the Center for International Collaboration, Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute at the University of Tokyo.

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Study Finds Late-Night Comics Using Democrats as Punchlines Post-Election (+video)

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Photo Credit: Fox NewsPresident Barack Obama, the joke’s on you.

A study of gags by late-night comics during the first half of the year found an abrupt change from 2012. Now Obama and Democrats are providing the lion’s share of punchlines.

Obama was the target of 288 monologue jokes made by Jay Leno, David Letterman, Jimmy Fallon, Craig Ferguson and Jimmy Kimmel, according to an analysis released Monday by the Center for Media and Public Affairs at George Mason University.

The next most joked-about individual was New York City Democratic mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner, at 120. His numbers are likely to jump fast, since the study period was before the second round of Weiner’s sexting scandal.

In 2012, Mitt Romney was the butt of more than twice as many jokes as Obama, and Republicans were similarly the target of more than double the jokes that were made on Democrats.

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British Chancellor Accused of ‘Patronising’ Stay-at-Home Mothers

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Photo Credit: Getty ImagesThe Chancellor today unveiled a scheme to encourage women back into the workplace by handing up to £1,200 of taxpayer-funded childcare for each child to families where both parents have a job.

He said that he had “huge respect” for stay-at-home mothers and said that the government will “help” their families by introducing tax breaks for married couples.

However Laura Perrins, a stay-at-home mother who took on the Deputy Prime Minister during a radio phone earlier this year, said that the reported £120 tax breaks were “pathetic” compared to the value of childcare vouchers.

She said: “Saying stay-at-home mothers have made a lifestyle choice is pejorative and patronising. They are contributing to the economy, to society, to everything. Staying at home is not a luxury, it’s not a hobby. Women who chose to stay at home make huge sacrifices.

“The married tax allowance is something we have been calling for but their version is pretty pathetic when compared to the childcare vouchers. We pay disproportionately more tax. They [the government] are socially engineering it, they think that stay at home mothers are not conforming to what they want.”

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The Dependably Unfaithful Colin Powell

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Photo Credit: American ThinkerIn 2008 and then again in 2012, after retired four-star General Colin Powell endorsed and then voted for Barack Obama, the former Secretary of State’s sanity was already in question. At least now, after having his email account hacked by [a] high-level security-breacher Guccifer, Colin Powell’s besmirching of the Republican Party’s “shift to the right” and “identity crisis” finally makes sense.

It seems that for years the mannerly and always professional Colin Powell has been cyber-comporting with a 46-year-old Romanian European Parliament member, Social Democrat, and past spokesperson for Romanian president Ion Iliescu named Corina Creţu. So it’s safe to say that Colin Powell was probably the one in the throes of an “identity crisis.”

As vice chair of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament, Corina Creţu, who once called Powell the “love of her life,” had, on occasion, spoken out against cruelty to women worldwide. Yet thanks to her progressive mindset, seducing in hopes of ‘sharing’ someone else’s husband must not be a problem for her.

Photo Credit: American Thinker

The fact that Colin Powell would associate with a communist sympathizer, never mind carry on titillating banter with a woman 30 years his junior, indicates risky and immature behavior just a notch above Weinergate. Either way, the revelations do put into context Powell’s ability to support progressive socialist Barack Obama. General Powell lowered standards within his marriage, which apparently translated into lower standards politically.

Not for nothing, but it is kind of ironic that Colin Powell, whom many believed voted for Barack Obama simply because he’s black, cyber-cheated on his African-American wife Alma with a blonde Marxist from Romania.

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At Least 3 Killed in Shooting at Pennsylvania Municipal Building

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Photo Credit: APAt least three people were killed when a gunman opened fire at a Pennsylvania municipal building during a meeting, before he was tackled by a local official and shot with his own gun, a witness said.

The shooting, which also injured some people, happened shortly before 7:30 p.m. during Ross Township’s monthly meeting, Monroe County emergency management director Guy Miller said.

The gunman, who Miller said appeared to be “shooting randomly,” was conscious and taken out on a stretcher following the shooting, witnesses told the Pocono Record.

Miller said the gunman was captured and was treated at a hospital, which was placed on lockdown. The shooter later was released into police custody, said the hospital, which was treating two shooting victims.

State police in Lehighton confirmed the gunman had been captured but didn’t immediately have details on the arrest.

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Accused Fort Hood Shooter Releases Excerpts from his Sanity Board Hearing

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Photo Credit: APOn the eve of his military trial, accused Fort Hood shooter Major Nidal Hasan has released to Fox News two pages of the “Full Report of Sanity Board, US v. MAJ Nidal M. Hasan.” The military “Sanity Board” determines whether an individual is mentally responsible for his actions.

Described as a “forensic evaluation,” the exam was conducted by a three-member panel. It took place at Bell County Jail in Belton, Texas on December 7-9, 2010, more than a year after the massacre at the military base.

Based on the excerpt, a full report dated January 13, 2011, was released to the defense, but only a summary to the prosecution. The 42 year-old Army major is now facing 13 counts of murder, and 32 counts of attempted murder from the November 5, 2009 attack.

Attorney John Galligan, who is handling civil matters for Hasan, confirmed the authenticity of the documents, and that they were specifically released to Fox News.

“Major Hasan has directed me to release the attached portions of the Sanity Board report prepared in his case,” Galligan said. “… He reserves the right to release it to other news media outlets, but has not done so at this time.”

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Whatever Happened to All Those Promises Obama Made During the State of the Union?

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All that applause. All that adoration. The president’s state of the union address was considered brilliant by much of the press.

So what happened to all the promises?

The president’s laundry list of goals for his second term have either been defeated or not even brought out for a vote by either House. The sole exception is immigration reform and most of that “comprehensive” measure is going nowhere in the House.

The Hill:

The White House’s problem is perhaps best epitomized by the battle over gun control. The crescendo of February’s speech was the president’s emotional call for a vote on new regulations, noting the presence of former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) — who was shot by a would-be assassin — in the audience.

But the president’s push for new gun controls flamed out in the Senate, where Democrats were unable to corral enough votes even for a background check expansion favored by two-thirds of all Americans…

Rich Baehr thinks that the public is finally starting to tune out Obama. I don’t see how you can come to any other conclusion when you realize just how impotent Obama has become.

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