NY Town Removes Veterans' Gadsden Flag for Being 'Offensive' Tea Party Symbol

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Photo Credit: The Blaze

A veterans organization in a New York town is fighting for its right to fly a patriotic flag after the city council refused to let the group display the flag, calling it a symbol of the Tea Party with right-wing connotations.

The United Veterans Memorial & Patriotic Association replaced a tattered American flag at the New Rochelle Armory, flying the Gadsden flag underneath it. The bright yellow “Don’t Tread On Me” flag has been used by the Navy and Marine Corps since 1775.

When a city council member complained to the city manager that he found the flag offensive, the city manager initially decided to let the flag fly anyway. But the city council overruled him, and the flag was taken down. On Wednesday, the council voted 5 to 2 to keep the veterans from putting the flag back up.

The council objected to the flag because they said Peter Parente, the president of the veterans group, is a member of the Tea Party and the group wants to use the flag to make a political point.

But Parente said at the council meeting no one in his organization is a Tea Party member.

Read more from this story HERE.

Rep. Chris Smith: 'If Gosnell had shot Seven Infants with an AR-15 it would be National News'

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Photo Credit: Reuters

Thanks to conservative new media, the Kermit Gosnell trial is finally part of the national dialog. But before the mainstream press got around to doing their job, ten congressmen took to the floor of the House to protest the lack of media attention being paid to the horrifying story. One such congressman, Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), contrasted the abortionist’s trial to another ongoing narrative that the media covers obsessively: gun control. “If Dr. Gosnell had walked into a nursery and shot seven infants with an AR-15, it would be national news and the subject of presidential hand-wringing,” said Smith, a member of the House pro-life caucus.

LifeSiteNews reports that Smith accused the national media of almost uniformly discounting the trial of the abortionist who allegedly snipped the spinal cords of babies who were born alive during abortion procedures in his clinic. Smith referred to the media’s decision to ignore the trial as a deliberate “cover-up.”

“Will the decades-long major national news media cover-up of the brutality—and violence—of abortion methods ever end?” asked Smith. “Will Americans ever be told the horrifying details as to how—and how often—abortionists dismember, decapitate, and chemically poison innocent babies?”

Smith went on to ask, “Murdering newborns in the abortion clinic, it seems to me, is indistinguishable from any other child predator wielding a knife or a gun. Why isn’t that child seen as a patient in need of medical care, warmth, nutrition and dare I say—love?”

Testimony in the Gosnell trial, that has included descriptions of gruesome acts of beheadings, abuse, death, and body parts of babies in jars, has led to the abortionist’s clinic being labeled a “house of horrors.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Sen. Cruz: Obama Wants Power to Choose Ministers at Churches

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Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) released a report documenting attempted abuses of federal power by the Obama administration on Tuesday, saying the administration “knows virtually no bounds.”

Cruz points to Obama’s own Supreme Court appointees, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, to make his case:

“When President Obama’s own Supreme Court nominees join their colleagues in unanimously rejecting the Administration’s call for broader federal power six times in just over one year, the inescapable conclusion is that the Obama Administration’s view of federal power knows virtually no bounds,” the senator’s report said.

The Obama administration’s over-reaching includes attempts to electronically track Americans without cause and deny churches the right to choose their own ministers…

In one case, Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church & School v. EEOC, the Justice Department argued it “had the right to oversee a church’s choosing of ministers,” which even Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan called “amazing.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Suspicious Package Containing Explosive Material sent to Arizona Sheriff Arpaio

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Photo Credit: AP

Arizona authorities say a package addressed to Sheriff Joe Arpaio would have exploded if opened, leading to serious injuries or death. Maricopa County Chief Deputy Jerry Sheridan made the comment Friday at a news conference in Phoenix.

The package intercepted in Flagstaff late Thursday was addressed to Arpaio at his downtown Phoenix office. It had been left in a parcel locker in a rural part of Coconino County.

U.S. Postal Inspection Service spokesman Keith Moore said a courier brought it into the main Post Office in Flagstaff, and authorities used a water cannon to neutralize the package.

Arpaio, the self-proclaimed “toughest sheriff in America,” said this isn’t the first time he’s been threatened. Arpaio is known nationally for his strict treatment of jail inmates and cracking down on illegal immigration.

“Of course you worry. I’m a victim, I’m a witness. When you convict people, the victim has to be somewhat concerned. I’m a little concerned about my family,” Arpaio said at the news conference. “I didn’t ask for all these threats.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Cops: Anti-Gun Mayor Demanded Sex at Gunpoint

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Photo Credit: WND

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s “Mayors Against Illegal Guns” organization was revealed last fall to include a long list of mayors who, because of their convictions, were no longer eligible to own weapons themselves.

Now another embarrassment has surfaced for the organization.

According to a report from the Second Amendment Foundation, Mayor James Schiliro, of Marcus Hook, Pa., now is facing a long list of charges for allegedly trying to force an underage boy to perform sex acts – and then firing one of three handguns he grabbed at a wall when the boy refused.

“Mayor Schiliro is one more example of why we started the ‘Gun Owners Against Illegal Mayors’ campaign,” said Alan Gottlieb, the organization’s executive director.

“He joins recently convicted former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, and recently indicted former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, both of whom were MAIG members.”

SAF launched its campaign last fall, and “the list keeps growing,” Gottlieb said.

Read more from this story HERE.

The Obamas' Falling Tax Rate

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Photo Credit: AP

President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, paid the lowest effective tax rate since they moved into the White House by taking advantage of the most popular — and expensive — benefits in the tax code.

Tax returns released by the White House on Friday show that the Obamas paid an effective tax rate of 18.4 percent on more than $608,000 in adjusted gross income earned in 2012. Last year, their rate was 20.5 percent.

They were able to lower the amount of income on which they were taxed by more than $258,000 by claiming several big-ticket deductions.

The first family’s biggest deduction by far stems from the $150,034 in donations they made to 33 charities, including the Fisher House Foundation, a charity that helps the families of wounded veterans, and the Sidwell Friends School, where the president’s daughters attend school.

The Obamas’ return serves as an interesting test case for how some of the proposals outlined in the White House budget released this week would raise taxes on high earners. For instance, the budget calls on lawmakers to impose a 28 percent cap on deductions for taxpayers that fall into the top tax brackets.

Read more from this story HERE.

Gun Bill Championed by Democrats Limits Rights of Homosexual Gun Owners

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Photo Credit: Daily Caller

Gay couples living in states that do not recognize their marriage will now be unable to transfer firearm ownership to their partners without undergoing a background check, should federal gun legislation recently proposed by Democratic Sen. Harry Reid become law.

According to the “Safe Communities, Safe Schools Act of 2013,” which was introduced in the Senate this week, only couples in a government-sanctioned relationships will be allowed to privately transfer ownership of their firearms without first having to pass the federal background check.

“It shall be unlawful for any person who is not licensed under this chapter to transfer a firearm to any other person who is not licensed under this chapter, unless a licensed importer, licensed manufacturer, or licensed dealer has first taken possession of the firearm,” the bill reads.

Read more from this story HERE.

GOP Establishment Keeps RNC Rules Rammed Through by Romney Campaign Last Year

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Photo Credit: AP

In the GOP’s ongoing establishment vs. grassroots saga, chalk one up for the establishment.

Since Mitt Romney’s loss, the Rand Paul wing of the party has been on the ascendency. But libertarians hit a roadblock Friday as the Republican National Committee opted at its spring meeting to keep in place a host of rules rammed through by the Romney campaign at last year’s national convention.

The move represents at least a small setback to Rand Paul’s 2016 hopes, potentially making it more difficult for him or another candidate with strong grassroots support to pick up delegates. Had the rules been in effect last year — they were adopted after Mitt Romney secured the nomination — the former Massachusetts governor would likely have wrapped up the nomination much earlier and avoided the drawn-out warfare that weakened him heading into the general election against Barack Obama.

One plank that was maintained, for example, allows more states to award delegates on a winner-take-all basis, instead of proportionally. An attempt to overturn another rule that bounds a state delegation to support whoever won a statewide vote received only 49 votes; 107 committee members voted to keep it in place.

The vote followed a heated debate. Paul backers argued that the Romney rules favor big-money candidates at the expense of contenders with devoted followings among activists.

Read more from this story HERE.

FBI Wants $41 Million Boost To Cyber Monitoring Capabilities (+video)

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Photo Credit: ALAMY

The FBI has requested more than $41 million to improve the bureau’s ability to collect and analyze cyber information and address “critical gaps” in its capability to monitor web activities.

As part of an overall $86 million budget request for a “Next Generation Cyber Initiative,” the FBI wants to hire 36 employees, including 10 agents, to improve its cyber collection and analysis capabilities. The justification for that $41 million request, which includes over $33 million in nonpersonnel spending, was submitted in a classified report to Congress as part of the bureau’s 2014 budget request.

The FBI said it would use the new initiative to “help promote a whole of government approach to cybersecurity, as well as address critical gaps in the FBI’s current ability to investigate computer intrusions and identify, mitigate, and disrupt cyber threat actors.”

The FBI has long had concerns that new technologies are not “wiretap friendly” and create blind spots for law enforcement when targets use certain methods of communication. Last year, the FBI privately pressured Internet companies to create backdoors for government surveillance.

Watch video here:


Read more from this story HERE.

Video: 'Cops are the Only Ones Responsible Enough to Have Guns'

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In this video, an inner city police officer is demonstrating gun safety to a large classroom of children when the unthinkable happens: his gun goes off.

After inquiring with everyone as to whether they’re OK, he moves on to the next gun, an assault rifle.

The kids get a bit excited at that point.

Although this video is from 2010, it’s a great reminder for even the most-experienced gun handler to keep gun safety a top priority at all times.

See the classroom instruction followed by the accidental discharge and follow-on discussion all here: