Conflict-Of-Interest Could Earn Zimmerman a New Trial (+video)

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Photo Credit: Daily Caller

Photo Credit: Daily Caller

By Patrick Howley. A prominent African-American legal scholar is criticizing the prosecution’s tactics in the trial of half-Latino neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman, and says that a conflict-of-interest in the case could earn Zimmerman a re-trial if he is convicted.

Zimmerman is charged with second-degree murder for shooting unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in 2012. Zimmerman, whose fate will be decided by an all-female jury in Florida, claims he feared for his life and shot Martin after a violent fistfight.

“I think the prosecution clearly believes the all-female jury is not going to be interested in the law or the facts of the case,” Horace Cooper, co-chairman of the conservative Project 21, told The Daily Caller.

Opening arguments in the Zimmerman case began Monday morning, with prosecutor John Guy portraying Zimmerman as a pistol-toting vigilante who used the term “fucking punks…they always get away” when approaching Martin, who was “armed” merely with iced tea and Skittles. Defense lawyer Don West, meanwhile, opened with a joke criticizing media bias surrounding the case. Read more from this story HERE.


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Jurors hear F-bomb, knock-knock joke as George Zimmerman murder trial begins

By Fox News. The prosecutor cursed and the defense attorney told a joke as both sides laid out opening arguments in the murder trial of George Zimmerman, the man who killed Florida teen Trayvon Martin in what his lawyers say was self-defense and authorities say was a case of fatal profiling.

The all-female jury of six took in both unconventional statements, alternately stunned, taking notes and at times appearing to nod in agreement. Jaws in the jury box dropped when prosecutor John Guy electrified the courtroom with a short, but profanity-laced and impassioned argument that sought to paint the defendant as an angry and out-of-control vigilante who was stalking Martin when he shot the teen in the gated community in Sanford, where he lived.

“F—ing punks,” prosecutor John Guy said in open court, quoting Zimmerman’s own words to a non-emergency police dispatcher. “These a–holes, they always get away.”

The language — rare for open court — appeared to stun the six female jurors who must decide whether Zimmerman shot and killed the 17-year-old African-American teen in self defense, or if he stalked the youth and provoked the deadly 2012 confrontation. Read more from this story HERE.

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Prosecutor links screams to Trayvon

By Jack Cashill. During his opening statement in the case of Florida v. George Zimmerman Monday, Assistant State Attorney John Guy linked Trayvon Martin to the screaming that was heard on one 9-1-1 telephone call from a witness.

There were some 40 seconds of screams heard on the tape, and a witness when police arrived documented how he heard one man screaming while another man, a black man in a hoodie, was on top of him and beating him.

“You will hear screaming in the background,” said Guy, who added, “Trayvon Martin was silenced immediately when the bullet fired passed through his heart.”

The juxtaposition of the comment about screaming and Martin’s “silence” may have been intended to link the two in the minds of jurors, a maneuver used often by defense attorneys to create “reasonable doubt.”

But in his opening for the defense attorney Don West told the jurors that one thing all the witnesses could agree on was that they all heard “the screams of someone in a life-threatening situation needing desperately for someone to come to their assistance.” Read more from this story HERE.

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Zimmerman parents barred from courtroom, Trayvon’s parents allowed to stay

By Ben Shapiro. In an exclusive to Breitbart News, the family of George Zimmerman has stated the Zimmerman’s parents have been barred from the courtroom by the State of Florida, even though under Florida law, the alleged victim’s family – the family of Trayvon Martin – has been allowed to stay. The state claims that because the Zimmermans may be witnesses for the state, they must be barred from the courtroom.

Defense attorney Don West “made it abundantly clear to the jury the limitations the rule of sequestration places upon Mr. and Mrs. Zimmerman’s ability to support their son George with their presence”…Read more from this story HERE.

An Unconstitutional Assault on Coal Will Be Accomplished Through Regulation

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Photo Credit: Irish Central

Photo Credit: Irish Central

In another arbitrary and illegal assault on America’s way of life, President Obama announced he will unilaterally toughen EPA regulations.

Excerpted from a report in the Guardian:

Obama would direct the Environmental Protection Agency to begin regulating greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired power plants.

Coal-fired power plants are the single largest source of America’s greenhouse gas emissions – responsible for up to 40% of carbon pollution – and have long been a target of campaigners.

The Obama administration has already taken steps to raising standards on new power plants. But it has balked until now at imposing tougher standards on existing power plants – a measure which would deliver the biggest cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.

There was intense speculation ahead of Tuesday’s speech about whether Obama would promise to curb emissions of existing facilities.

All of this based on a premise that there is global warming and it is caused by human activity. This is not based on scientific fact and is hotly disputed by thousands of scientists and meteorologists around the world, including 32,000 American scientists. See Oregon Petition.

Perhaps the Presidents announcement was timed to distract attention away from the many scandals surrounding the White House. But for whatever reason, it clearly illustrates America is evolving into a monarchy when the chief executive (King), can make a proclamation that will effectively place a hardship on millions of Americans with huge spikes in energy costs.

Bypassing the checks and balances of our republic by executive order, shows too much power is put in the hands of one person.

The goal of course is to model our policy after Europe where electric energy costs as a result of green energy have forced some to choose between food or paying their electric bill. See German finance minister declaring solar is the path to bankruptcy.

Lots of talk about wind/solar/unicorn dust to take up the slack if coal is removed and other forms of fossil fuel are punished….But in reality, alternative energy at this stage of its technology will only compete as an energy source when all other energy competition is forced to subsidize them. See “EU’s Green Policies In Retreat”.

Additionally the reliance on natural gas if coal is taken out of the picture, refuses to recognize the price of gas has seen wild swings in the past. It will assuredly do it again without competition from a reliable supply of clean coal to keep it in line.

John Fay, an American in Ireland shows what will happen when the left imposes their will on a country’s energy policy with his excellent piece: “Irish people, shivering in their own homes, have only themselves to blame”.

The public needs to know what is in store for them if President Obama and the far left, achieve their goal of choosing energy winners and losers. By first killing coal and then punishing other productive fossil fuels in order to usher in and subsidize “green energy,” our modern society as we know it, can grind to a halt.

It is game changing and damaging to our society to let a small cabal of fossil fuel enemies decide that America’s most prolific source of cheap energy is no longer welcome to be used…..and then regulate it out of existence.

It is game changing and damaging to our society and our country to let this decision rest in the hands of one person.

America’s energy future is far too important to be regulated by an executive order with an agenda. Time to put a halt to energy legislation by regulation and let the rest of our branches of government be involved in these decisions.

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Ed Farnan is the conservative columnist at IrishCentral, where he has been writing on the need for energy independence, strong self defense, secure borders, 2nd amendment, smaller government and many other issues. His articles appear in many publications throughout the USA and world. He has been a guest on Fox News and a regular guest on radio stations in the US and Europe.

Senate Moves Amnesty Bill Forward, Cruz Hammers Colleagues (+videos)

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

By Jason Howerton. Highly debated immigration legislation cleared a key Senate hurdle with votes to spare on Monday, pointing the way to near-certain passage within days for $38 billion worth of future security measures along the border with Mexico and an unprecedented chance at citizenship for millions living in the country illegally.

The vote was 67-27, seven more than the 60 needed, with 15 Republicans agreeing to advance legislation at the top of President Barack Obama’s second-term domestic agenda.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Sheriff Joe Arpaio: ‘You’ll never secure’ border

By Breanna Edwards. Arizona Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio scoffed at lawmakers’ attempts at showing that the border could be secured, saying that it would never happen – at least not without enforcing some immigration laws.

“[Undocumented immigrants] are very, very innovative. You’ll never secure the border,” Arpaio said on Fox News on Monday. “To say you’re not going to enforce the illegal immigration laws in the interior and blame it on the border, that’s just a copout.” Read more from this story HERE.

A Man Killed a Leopard in His Yard in Indiana the Other Night (+video)

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Photo Credit: Daily Caller

Photo Credit: Daily Caller

An unidentified southern Indiana man shot and killed a leopard on his property just outside Charlestown, Indiana late Thursday night.

The man and his also-unidentified girlfriend had allegedly been on guard because of a recent spate of unexplained attacks on local cats and dogs, reports Louisville FOX affiliate WDRB. The couple owns several cats and feared the pets might be mauled, or worse.

“She’s got cats that are basically her family,” said Donna Duke, the local resident who alerted WDRB about the feline fracas.

The concerned couple got in touch with a local wildlife official. He theorized that a bobcat might be on the loose and suggested that the couple look out for one — particularly at night.

During the couple’s vigilant watch on Thursday night, they spied an unidentified beast lurking in the shadows not far from the backyard pool. The man got his gun and shot the pacing creature.

Read more from this story HERE.

Only 9% of Employers Say Obamacare Will be Good for Their Businesses

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Photo Credit: Weekly Standard

Photo Credit: Weekly Standard

A new Gallup poll of small-business owners indicates that Obamacare is having a dramatic and deleterious effect on Americans’ employment prospects. More than 40 percent of small-business owners say that Obamacare has caused them to freeze hiring, while nearly a fifth say that it has caused them to cut existing workers. According to the poll, 41 percent of small-business owners have frozen hiring, while 19 percent have “reduced the number of employees [they] have in [their] business as a specific result of the Affordable Care Act [Obamacare]” (italics added).

The Gallup poll was commissioned by Littler Mendelson, a firm specializing in employment law. Steven Friedman, an attorney for the firm, said of the results, “We were startled.” He added that these are “some pretty startling answers.”

Just 9 percent of the 603 employers surveyed by Gallup said Obamacare will be good for their business…

Read more from this story HERE.

Military Promotes Gay Pride Month; Directives Sent to Commands

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

The U.S. military is embracing a celebration of homosexuals in the ranks this month by sending out a gay pride poster and a directive to commands, while planning a Pentagon symposium that will be attended by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.

In the aftermath of ending the ban on open gays in the military, the Pentagon last June recognized Gay Pride Month for the first time in a subdued recognition of uniformed and civilian gays. As defense secretary at the time, Leon E. Panetta gave a public statement, and a Pentagon event featured an active-duty gay Marine, a gay Air Force civilian lawyer and a lesbian who had served in the Army.

Pride month is low-key again this year. The Pentagon has handed off planning for the event to DOD Pride, an organization of gay military and civilian employees. Directives that have been issued do not say commands must hold similar celebrations.

“Secretary Hagel looks forward to participating in this year’s DOD Pride event at the Pentagon on Tuesday, June 25 to celebrate LGBT Pride Month,” Pentagon spokesman George Little said.

“Secretary Hagel is also looking forward to welcoming [senior White House adviser] Valerie Jarrett to the Pentagon, who will represent President Obama in delivering the keynote address at the event,” Mr. Little said.

Read more from this story HERE.

Army Reprimands Soldier Under Fire for Religious Beliefs

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Photo Credit: Ryk Neethling

Photo Credit: Ryk Neethling

A member of the U.S. Army Band who said he was reprimanded for having anti-Obama bumper stickers on his personal car, serving Chick-fil-A sandwiches at a party and reading books written by conservative authors like Sean Hannity was found guilty of three Article 15 charges.

Master Sgt. Nathan Sommers, a decorated soloist with the Army Band, was found guilty Thursday of failing to go to an appointed place of duty, disobedience of an order and making a false official statement, his attorney said.

The charges were handed down June 9, one day after Sommers told Fox News that he was facing discrimination and persecution because of his conservative political and religious beliefs.

Retired Navy Commander John Bennett Wells told Fox News the charges were stemmed from giving a superior officer the wrong date for a doctor’s appointment. He’s also accused of failing to carry out an order. In order to comply with that order, Sommers would have had to disclose private information about his autistic son’s medical records.

“The timing does seem strange,” Wells told Fox News. “It’s suspicious. It looks like a graduated attempt to build a case against him on some really ridiculous charges.

Read more from this story HERE.

IRS Chief Admits Improper Screening of Groups Went on Until Last Month

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

In a conference call with reporters, Danny Werfel said that after becoming acting IRS chief last month, he discovered wide-ranging and improper terms on the lists and said screeners were still using them. He did not specify what terms were on the lists, but said he suspended the use of all such lists immediately.

“There was a wide-ranging set of categories and cases that spanned a broad spectrum” on the lists, Werfel said. He added that his aides found those lists contained “inappropriate criteria that was in use.”

Werfel’s comments suggest the IRS may have been targeting groups other than tea party and other conservative organizations for tough examinations to see if they qualify. The agency has been under fire since last month for targeting those groups.

His comments also indicate that the use of inappropriate terms on such lists lasted longer than has been revealed previously. A report last month by a Treasury Department inspector general said agency officials abolished targeting of conservative groups with those lists in May 2012…

The report describes several new procedures the agency is installing to prevent unfair treatment of taxpayers in the future. They include a fast-track process for groups seeking tax-exempt status that have yet to get a response from the IRS within 120 days of applying.

Read more from this story HERE.

Pediatricians Have a New Mission: Fight ‘Homophobia’

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

In its first sexual-orientation policy update in nearly a decade, the nation’s largest pediatricians group said its members should do more to fight “heterosexism” and “homophobia,” as well as step up their care of teens with same-sex attractions.

“Sexual-minority youth should not be considered abnormal,” the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) said in its new materials on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) youths, released Monday.

The policy statement and technical report — which updates a 2004 policy — is nonbinding but recommends that pediatricians create offices that are “teen-friendly and welcoming to all adolescents, regardless of sexual orientation and behavior.”

Doctors can signal their openness to LGBTQ youths by putting out brochures with pictures of “both same- and opposite-gender couples” or posting a “rainbow” decal on an office door or bulletin board. The report also suggests that medical questionnaires be changed to be gender-neutral, and that staff be trained to not ask a boy about his girlfriend, but to ask him to “tell me about your partner” instead.

AAP’s new guidelines are not filled with “gloom and doom” about LGBTQ youths, said Dr. David A. Levine, lead author and member of the AAP’s Committee on Adolescence.

Read more from this story HERE.

Prominent Blacks Deserting the Liberal Plantation

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Photo Credit: Urban Cure

Photo Credit: Urban Cure

By Rosslyn Smith. In the last few months we have seen the rise to national prominence of the conservative Dr. Ben Carson of Maryland, the surprise emergence of Bishop E.W. Jackson as the Republican candidate for Lt. Governor in Virginia, and now Louisiana State Senator Elbert Guillory has switched parties with a video that has gone viral. During this period Republican Congressman Tim Scott also became the junior US Senator from South Carolina. Note, too, that about a year ago former Alabama Congressman Artur Davis switched parties.

The media loves to talk about tokenism when it addresses the issue of black Republicans but there is a tipping point at which this becomes a trend that can’t be dismissed, even if the likes of Chris Matthews insist there are currently no blacks in the US Senate.

Two factors may be happening here. Black men — other than educated elites such as Obama — have tended to have been treated pretty shabbily by the politically correct elite establishment, especially when they insist on speaking their own minds. Note also that since the 1960s most social spending has been concentrated on programs for women and children. Black women with college degrees now far outnumber black men with college degrees. Unemployment remains a huge problem for black men as does the continuing decline of stable, intact families. One does not have to read very deeply in publication aimed at black audiences to see that the culture wide war on men can be waged with particular nastiness in parts of the black community, due in large part to the disparity in education and career prospects between men and women. While they constantly bemoan the lack of well educated, employed and thus “marriageable” black men, the black women in these publications seldom, if ever, consider reforming a system that has bestowed them with both credentials and highly paid, secure jobs, often on the government payroll.

I noted with some interest that in last year’s election the one portion of the black demographic where Obama lost support in percentage terms from 2008 was among black men. This could be significant not just because black men haven’t done well under Obama. It’s been my experience that men in general are often more willing than women to buck the conventional wisdom.

In the 1940s and 50s, largely young black males in the civil rights movement would ask their elders what has 80 years of loyal support for the party of Lincoln actually gotten our people? The answer too often was a lot of patronizing lip service and not much else ever since a war weary North abandoned Southern Reconstruction and allowed the establishment of Jim Crow. (Yes, Republicans have traditionally supported civil rights but the significant changes only happened when a critical mass of liberal Democrats joined with them after WWII.) Read more from this story HERE.

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Traditional values will attract more blacks to GOP

By Star Parker. Anyone who doubts that the Republican Party can attract black voters need only look south to Louisiana.

During @Large — a conference in Baton Rouge in May aimed at attracting black conservatives — a black Democrat in the Louisiana Legislature, Elbert Guillory, announced that he was switching political parties and becoming a Republican.

Less than two weeks later, just up the road in Central City, La., a black Democrat city councilman made the same announcement. Ralph Washington, who’d also attended @Large conference, said he’s turned Republican.

The mystery is why this is not happening more often.

I’m asked all the time why — when it is so clear that blacks are damaged by the left-wing political agenda — black voters so uniformly and consistently support Democratic candidates who advance this agenda.

My answer is that Republicans need to start acting more like the businesspeople they claim to be. Read more from this story HERE.