Video: Massacre Survivor Tells Senate ‘I’m Not A Victim Of Guns, But Of Lawmakers Who Legislated Me Out Of The Right To Protect Myself And My Family’

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Photo Credit: Getty ImagesDr. Suzanna Hupp became a case study in gun control after testifying in front of Congress as a survivor of the 1991 “Luby” massacre in Texas where both of her parents were killed. On Monday, more than a decade later, she spoke once more on the issue, examining it through the lens of the debate currently gripping the nation.

During her first appearance, Hupp explained how a friend had given her a gun when she was 21 and, though she doesn’t like guns or hunting, she agreed to get some training and carry it in her purse.

Not long after, a man crashed his car into a restaurant where she was eating with her family and started shooting people.

“It took me a good 45 seconds to realize that this man wasn’t there to commit a robbery,” she said. “He was there to simply shoot as many people as he possibly could.”

“When I finally realized what was occurring, I thought, ‘I got him,” she said, snapping her hand. “And I reached for my purse. He was maybe 12 feet away…But then I realized a couple of months earlier, I had made the stupidest decision of my life. I took my gun out of my purse and left it in my car, because as you well know in the state of Texas, it’s sometimes a felony offense to carry a gun in your purse.”

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Illegal Immigrant, Conservative Congressman Get In Heated Exchange

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A conservative congressman got into a heated exchange over immigration last week with one of his constituents who is living in the country illegally.

Two very different accounts have emerged from the Feb. 6 meeting between Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) and an 18-year-old college student. But both sides say the discussion escalated into shouting that cut the meeting short, left the student in tears and stunned some staffers in Rohrabacher’s office.

The clash took place as President Obama and lawmakers are trying to pass legislation on immigration reform, one of the most divisive issues facing the 113th Congress.

Jessica Bravo, a freshman at Golden West College in Huntington Beach, Calif., claims Rohrabacher initiated the hostility upon learning she is an “undocumented” immigrant. She said the congressman raised his voice, waved his finger in her face, claimed to “hate illegals” and made a veiled threat to deport her and her family.

“The moment I said that word [undocumented], it just completely changed the mood of the room,” Bravo said in a telephone interview. “He kept interrupting me and he was just, like, ‘Oh, you know, I love Mexicans, but I hate illegals.’ He was just yelling at us and pointing his fingers. I couldn’t even talk anymore because I was crying.”

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War On Everything But Islamic Terror

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Photo Credit: frontpagemag.comOver a decade after thousands of New Yorkers were murdered by Muslim terrorists, the city’s mayor is declaring victory in the War on Salt. Next up he plans to wage a spring offensive on Styrofoam cups. After that, who knows?

We live in surreal times. In the Middle Ages, cats and rats were put on trial. In this modern age, we are fighting wars on food ingredients, the bags we carry them in and the containers out of which we eat and drink them.

There’s no telling what surreal enemy our wise and brilliant leaders will declare war on next. Shoes? Pepper? Umbrellas? Mathematics? The color blue? There’s just no way to know anymore.

The United States has lost the War in Afghanistan, a minor matter that no news outlet can find the time to report on because they’re too busy covering a breaking story about a Republican senator taking a sip of a water. Maybe a War on Water can be next. Was there a Styrofoam cup involved? It’s time for one of those hard-hitting investigations that reminds us what a loss it will be when the last newspaper is strangled with the entrails of the last news network.

But who can find the time to fight a war against Islamic terrorists, when there are more pressing wars to be fought? Like a war on being fat.

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Murkowski Joins Dems in Failed Attempt to Force Confirmation Vote on Hagel Nomination For Defense Secretary

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Photo Credit: Secretary of DefenseSenate Republicans in a 58-40 vote Thursday blocked former Sen. Chuck Hagel’s (R-Neb.) nomination as Defense secretary from proceeding to a final up-or-down vote.

Four Republicans — Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Thad Cochran (Miss.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Mike Johanns (Neb.)— joined 55 Democrats and Independents in supporting the nomination. Sixty votes were needed to cut off debate, leaving Democrats one vote short.

The final 58-40 tally reflected a no vote from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who switched his vote from yes to preserve his ability to bring up the nomination again.

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) voted present and Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) missed the vote. Republicans said it was too early to clear Hagel’s nomination, but that they would consider allowing an up-or-down vote after the Senate returns to business on Feb. 25.

They blamed Democrats for rushing the vote and the White House for not providing additional information about Hagel’s compensation for paid speeches.

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Toledo Football Player To Forgo Last Year Of Eligibility To Be With Sick Fiancee

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Photo Credit: The BladeA football player at the University of Toledo who has been playing the sport since he was a kid told his coach that he will forgo his last eligible season so he could be at his fiancee’s side while she undergoes treatment for leukemia, The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported.

Ben Pike, 22, a 6 foot, 3-inch 260-pound defensive lineman who is coming off his best season and was likely to start next year, learned in January that leukemia returned to his fiancée Ashlee Barrett, the report said.

“I know in some people’s terms, he’s giving up things,” Becky Pike, Ben’s mother, told the paper. “But he’s really not giving up. He’s not giving up anything. He’s really fighting for life. And he’s just turned his forces to he’s going so win a battle for life instead of winning on the football field.”

The attraction between the two appeared to be immediate. They met during a bible study class. Barrett, herself a basketball player at Toledo, was taken by Pike’s confidence when he would discuss various topics in class, the report said. Pike couldn’t help but notice the pretty blonde’s energy.

They began dating and fell in love. Pike took Barrett to Washington, D.C., in December 2011 and proposed, the paper reported. He somehow managed to talk White House security guards into giving them clearance so he could pop the question on the main driveway leading to the White House. They set the date for the summer of 2013.

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Embattled Sen. Menendez Still Welcome At Obama White House

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Photo Credit: Mark WilsonWhile Democratic leaders have softened the tone of their allegiance to embattled New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez, the White House remains publicly unconcerned about working closely with the powerful Democrat.

Menendez is one of four senators meeting with President Barack Obama Wednesday afternoon at the White House to discuss immigration reform, according to Fox News’ Chad Pergram.

A White House official announced the meeting in a statement to reporters.

“Later this afternoon, the [p]resident will meet with Senate Democrats leading the effort to pass bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform. The meeting is part of the ongoing effort to continue to make progress towards bipartisan reform, which the [a]dministration believes should happen as quickly as possible,” the official wrote.

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Lawmakers Urge Kerry To Push Iran For Jailed Pastor’s Freedom

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Photo Credit: Fox NewsMore than 80 lawmakers have signed a letter urging Secretary of State John Kerry to step up efforts to free American citizen and Christian Pastor Saeed Abedini from an Iranian prison.

Abedini, who was sentenced to seven years in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison last month, has been unable to see his wife or two children, who are at the family home near Boise, Idaho. While Kerry has already called for his release, the senators and members of Congress called on him to “use every diplomatic avenue” to free Abedini.

“While there are countless important issues that come before you, few are more sacred than defending the most fundamental human rights,” states the letter, signed by dozens of members of both parties. It is even more incumbent upon us to stand against persecution when it is levied against our own citizens.

“As an American citizen, Mr. Abedini deserves nothing less than the exercising of every diplomatic tool of the U.S. government to defend his basic human rights.”

Saeed, 32, traveled to his native land last summer to help build a secular orphanage. Once there, supporters say he was arrested on charges that stem from decade-old efforts to establish a home-based Christian ministry in the Islamic republic.

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Ambassador: US Wants More Canadian ‘Progress’ On Climate

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Photo Credit: alexindigoThe U.S. ambassador to Canada said more progress by the Canadian government on climate change will help shape Americans’ views of its northern neighbor’s massive oil sands resources, according to a published report.

David Jacobson’s remarks to The Globe and Mail come amid a closely watched U.S. review of the proposed Alberta-to-Texas Keystone XL oil sands pipeline, although the paper reports that Jacobson emphasized he wasn’t linking his comments to the Keystone decision.

The ambassador on Wednesday “said that when Canadians can show progress on climate change, it has an impact on Americans’ judgment of whether the energy-security benefits of oil-sands imports outweigh the environmental impact,” The Globe and Mail reports.

“It does,” Jacobson said, according to the paper. “I think that there are an awful lot of folks who are trying to make up their minds, and trying to draw the right balance between these two things, who I think will be moved by progress.

“There has been progress. As I’ve said many times before, there needs to be more progress,” he said.
Jacobson “took pains” to note that he was not drawing a direct link to Keystone or suggesting stronger Canadian action on climate change will ensure U.S. approval of the project.

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Surge Of Sheriff Groups Opposed To Obama Gun Control Rises To 10

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Photo Credit: Mike SaechangIn less than four weeks since President Obama proposed sweeping new gun control laws and a ban on assault-style weapons, the backlash from law enforcement groups that strongly support the Second Amendment has surged and now there are 10 state sheriffs associations opposed to the president.

The Illinois Sheriffs Association became the last to join the growing crowd of police opposed to Obama, arguing this week that the president should instead be focused on mental health, not gun hardware.

“Sheriffs from across the state of Illinois believe that it is their responsibility and duty to uphold the Constitution including the Second Amendment. Rational law abiding citizens are not the cause of random acts of horrific violence in our communities. The focus should be primarily on the lack of mental health services in our country,” the group just announced.

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Iceland Considers Pornography Ban

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Photo Credit: AlamyThe government is considering introducing internet filters, such as those used to block China off form the worldwide web, in order to stop Icelanders downloading or viewing pornography on the internet.

The unprecedented censorship is justified by fears about damaging effects of the internet on children and women.

Ogmundur Jonasson, Iceland’s interior minister, is drafting legislation to stop the access of online pornographic images and videos by young people through computers, games consoles and smartphones.

“We have to be able to discuss a ban on violent pornography, which we all agree has a very harmful effects on young people and can have a clear link to incidences of violent crime,” he said.

Methods under consideration include blocking access to pornographic website addresses and making it illegal to use Icelandic credit cards to access pay-per-view pornography. A law forbidding the printing and distribution of pornography is already in force in Iceland but it has yet to be updated to cover the internet.

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