Suspect Named in ‘Execution-Style’ Killing of Texas Deputy

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635764140350261810-Darren-GoforthBy Doug Stanglin and Marco della Cava. Harris County authorities in Texas have a man in custody in Friday’s shooting death of a sheriff’s deputy, Sheriff Ron Hickman said at a press conference Saturday. The suspect, Shannon J. Miles, has a previous criminal history including resisting arrest and disorderly conduct with a firearm. He is being charged with capital murder.

Hickman says the shooting was “unprovoked” and the department is still looking for a motive for the “cold-blooded assassination” of the officer at a Houston-area gas station.

Deputy Darren Goforth, 47, was fatally shot in the back late Friday while filling his patrol car in northwest Harris County. Hickman said ballistics tests showed a match between the weapon used to kill Goforth and a weapon in Miles’ possession.

Hickman, in discussing the shooting with reporters at an earlier press conference, condemned the “very dangerous national rhetoric” about police officers that he said was out of control.

Officials said Miles is the individual captured on surveillance video. He was apprehended, Hickman said, by locating the red Ford pick-up scene on the surveillance video, which was parked near where Miles resided. (Read more from “Suspect Named in ‘Execution-Style’ Killing of Texas Deputy” HERE)

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Texas Deputy Killed While Fueling Patrol Car, Authorities Say

By Faith Karimi. A man shot a uniformed sheriff’s deputy “execution-style” while he fueled his patrol car in the Houston area, killing him instantly, authorities said.

Deputy Darren H. Goforth, 47, was returning to his car after pumping gas Friday night.

The gunman walked up from behind him and opened fire for no apparent reason, Harris County Sheriff Ron Hickman said.

When Goforth fell to the ground, the gunman stood over him and shot him some more, authorities said. He died at the scene.

“He was literally gunned down in what appears to be an unprovoked, execution-style killing,” Hickman said. “I have been in law enforcement for 45 years, I have never seen anything this cold-blooded.” (Read more from this story HERE)

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Who is the Only GOP Candidate Working the Western States and Does He Really Have a Chance?

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Barack ObamaPolling has been sparse or nonexistent in the states that will hold mid-March caucuses, despite the fact that they hosted some of 2008’s and 2012’s biggest upsets. President Obama’s campaign flooded Western caucuses to gain a delegate advantage that Hillary Clinton never overcame. Former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum won third place or worse first four contests after Iowa. He only became a threat to Mitt Romney after he took the Colorado and Minnesota caucuses.

Senator Rand Paul, who is currently polling in the low single digits, is hoping that sleepy front-runners and passionate local support will let him repeat history. Interviews with local Republicans suggested only a few campaigns had engaged so far. Only Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) has an Alaska chairman. Only Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) has also campaigned in Wyoming. . . [But Paul] never drew less than 300 people to a speech [while campaigning in the West this week], and each one put him back in touch with Ron Paul superfans. Many wore shirts from the 2012 campaign, some of it home-made. . .

[Of concern to Senator Paul, many Ron Paul fans remain disgruntled by the last campaign. In 2012,] the RNC changed caucus rules so that the “beauty contests,” the events most people showed up for and covered, would decide the delegate counts. That decision alienated the liberty movement. It wasn’t enough that their party rejected them. The party had decided that Paul’s painstaking, grass-roots organizing was essentially illegitimate, and could never be repeated. . .

In Fairbanks [Senator Paul] was shuttled around in the black H1 Hummer of two-time U.S. Senate candidate Joe Miller. . . Miller served as a living embodiment of what the establishment could do. He had won a 2010 Senate nomination, only to watch the GOP endorse a write-in campaign for Sen. Lisa Murkowski. He ran again in 2014, and nearly won a nomination again.

“Apathy is the problem here,” said Miller. “There’s been some structural crumbling of the Ron Paul movement — that’s probably the best way to put it. There’s a high degree of skepticism, about why you should vote at all, that is particularly pronounced in the interior of Alaska. What we need people to understand is that if we lose America, that’s it. We can’t let that happen. We have to participate.” (Read more from “Who is the Only GOP Candidate Working the Western States and Does He Really Have a Chance?” HERE)

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IDENTIFIED: The Exact Comments the Slain TV Reporter Used That Her On-Air Killer Found ‘Racist’

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alisonparker-913x512The alleged killer of two WDBJ journalists, Alison Parker and Adam Ward, in Roanoke, Va., contended he was the victim of racism while working at the station. It is now known what he meant by “racism.”

Vester Lee Flanagan, who used the on-air name Bryce Williams, worked at WDBJ from March 2012 through February 2013 before being terminated and escorted out of the station by police. During his tenure, he accused employees of racism. According to The New York Post, the specific phrases used by Flanagan’s colleagues included “swinging” by an address and going out in the “field,” not uncommon terms for reporters to use.

“One was something about ‘swinging’ by some place; the other was out in the ‘field,’” said a Jan. 21 report by WDBJ assistant news director Greg Baldwin, referring to Parker as Alison Bailey (her middle name). No disciplinary action was taken against Parker, but Flanagan was still incensed by the remarks. He filed a discrimination lawsuit against the station in January 2013, one month before he was dismissed from WDBJ.

After allegedly committing the murder, the former journalist tweeted that Ward once reported him to human resources and that Parker reportedly made racist comments:

Adam went to [human resources] on me after working with me one time!!!

Alison made racist comments

(Read more from “IDENTIFIED: The Exact Comments the Slain TV Reporter Used That Her On-Air Killer Found ‘Racist'” HERE)

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Student Molested by TSA Agent in New York Airport

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FILE- 75 Years Since La Guardia Airport Opens In New YorkBy Philip Messing. A uniformed TSA agent lured a college student into a La Guardia Airport men’s room under the pretense she needed more screening — and then he molested the woman, sources told The Post on Friday.

Shortly after the attack, suspect Maxi Oquendo allegedly pretended to pore over surveillance video looking for the perp, but he was identified by witnesses and arrested . . .

The sick attack happened right after the 22-year-old victim, from South Korea, got off a Southwest Airlines flight from Salt Lake City at about 8 p.m. Tuesday in Terminal B and was allegedly approached by ­Oquendo, 40 . . .

Oquendo was working as a TSA evening supervisor that night. After learning that a sex complaint had been filed, he went through the motions of reviewing video surveillance footage, sources said.

But two female witnesses who work at the airport were able to help provide a description that matched the heavyset Oquendo, sources said. (Read more from “Student Molested by TSA Agent in New Work Airport” HERE)

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TSA Screener Accused of Molesting College Student in LaGuardia Airport Bathroom

By Carolina Leid. A TSA screener is accused of sexually assaulting a woman at LaGuardia Airport in New York City after telling her she needed to be searched in the bathroom.

The suspect did not post $3,000 bail and was moved to jail late Friday night.

Defense attorneys argued two witnesses said they saw another man, but prosecutors say the victim picked Maxie Oquendo out in a lineup.

The TSA screener is accused of using his job to lure a passenger into a bathroom at LaGuardia Airport under the guise that he needed to search her for weapons.

Maxie Oquendo allegedly sexually assaulted a 22-year-old student from South Korea after her Salt Lake City flight landed Tuesday afternoon. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Obama Administration Wins Ruling in NSA Data Collection Case

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M_Id_442490_NSAA challenge to the National Security Agency’s bulk collection of telephone-call data was dealt a setback Friday when a U.S. appeals court said a judge shouldn’t have moved to block the program, which he called “almost Orwellian.”

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon in 2013 granted legal activist Larry Klayman’s request for an order to halt the NSA’s collection of his data. Leon then put that ruling on hold pending a government appeal.

A divided three-judge panel Friday overturned Leon’s order while saying Klayman’s case can still go forward. The judges all agreed Klayman hadn’t shown he is likely to succeed, but two of them said he should have the opportunity.

One of the two, U.S. Circuit Judge Janice Rogers Brown, said it was entirely possible the Obama administration may rightfully refuse to turn over the information Klayman requests.

“Such is the nature of the government’s privileged control over certain classes of information,” she wrote. “Regulations of this sort may frustrate the inquisitive citizen, but that does not make them illegal or illegitimate.” (Read more from “Obama Administration Wins Ruling in NSA Data Collection Case” HERE)

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Wyoming Man Files Suit Over Massive EPA Fines for Building Pond

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01top_08-28-15By Eric Boehm. A rancher is taking the Environmental Protection Agency to federal court, asking a judge to stop the agency from fining him more than $16 million because he built a small pond on his property.

Andy Johnson of Fort Bridger, Wyoming says he made sure to get the proper permits from his state government before building the pond. After all, this is America in the 21st century, and nothing done on your own property — certainly when it involves the use of water — is beyond government concern.

Johnson is facing millions in fines from the federal government after the EPA determined his small pond — technically a “stock pond” to provide better access to water for animals on his ranch — is somehow violating the federal Clean Water Act.

“We went through all the hoops that the state of Wyoming required, and I’m proud of what we built,” Johnson said. “The EPA ignored all that.” (Read more from “Wyoming Man Files Suit Over Massive EPA Fines for Building Pond” HERE)

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Wyoming Man Takes EPA to Court

By Wyoming Tribune Eagle. A southwest Wyoming farmer is taking the Environmental Protection Agency to court for what he says is an illegal overreach of its authority.

Andy Johnson of Fort Bridger has been locked in a battle of wills with the EPA since 2013, when he built a stock pond on his property to provide a watering hole for his cattle.

Not long after the pond was built, however, the EPA informed Johnson that the pond, which is connected to Six Mile Creek south of Fort Bridger, was in violation of the Clean Water Act.

Johnson protested, stating that he had sought and received a permit through the state engineer’s office, which subsequently confirmed that the stock pond met all of the office’s legal requirements.

But that failed to convince the EPA, which sent Johnson a compliance order in January 2014 instructing him to remove the stock pond or face $37,500 in fines for every day he refused to do so. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Poll: Clinton’s Lead Shrinks as Trump Maintains Dominance

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trumpclinton1Hillary Clinton’s lead in the Democratic presidential race is the slimmest it’s been in years, as Donald Trump keeps a stranglehold on the GOP race, a new poll found Friday.

Clinton maintains 45 percent support among Democrats, but Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is up to 25 percent, according to a Reuters/Ipsos tracking survey released Friday.

It’s Clinton’s smallest lead since Reuters started polling Democratic voters on her candidacy in 2012, the news service noted.

Vice President Biden, who is rumored to be mulling a White House bid, drew 16 percent. The remaining people polled were undecided or voting for other candidates.

Trump received 33 percent support among Republicans, crushing his closest rival, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, at 12 percent. (Read more from “Poll: Clinton’s Lead Shrinks as Trump Maintains Dominance” HERE)

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GOP Big Shots Aren’t Taking Donald Trump Seriously

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Donald Trump Holds Campaign Rally In Mobile, Alabama“It WON’T be Donald Trump.”

That was the near-unanimous view of some of the nation’s wealthiest and most influential Republicans Saturday night as they gathered for a political briefing at billionaire Wilbur Ross’ Southampton estate with national GOP Chairman Reince Priebus.

Trump’s rise as the front-running GOP candidate for president was expected to dominate talk at the gathering of about 60 Republican bigwigs and high rollers, including builder/developer Earl Mack, Gristedes owner and biofuels magnate John Catsimatidis, the Tiger Fund’s Julian Robertson, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani and state GOP Chairman Ed Cox.

But it became clear early on that that wasn’t going to be the case because so many of those at the event see Trump as a fatally flawed candidate, much as they’ve seen him as a flawed and often off-putting businessman over the past three decades, a source who was present told The Post.

“These are people who know Trump well, people who have known Trump for years as part of the social and financial fabric of the city,” the source said. (Read more from “GOP Big Shots Aren’t Taking Donald Trump Seriously” HERE)

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O’Malley Challenges DNC Over ‘Rigged’ Debate Schedule

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omalley-newsmakerx-largeFormer Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley thinks the Democratic Party’s decision to limit the number of primary debates is tantamount to rigging the nomination process.

“Four debates and only four debates — we are told, not asked — before voters in our earliest states make their decision,” the presidential candidate said at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) Summer Meeting on Friday.

“This sort of rigged process has never been attempted before,” he added. “One debate in Iowa. That’s it. One debate in New Hampshire. That’s all we can afford.”

After O’Malley’s speech wrapped up, observers noted palpable tension as he greeted DNC Chair, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz. (Read more from “O’Malley Challenges DNC Over ‘Rigged’ Debate Schedule” HERE)

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Fox News Anchor Exposes Media Narrative on News Crew Killings With One Cutting Question

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150826133305-vester-flanagan-1024x576Fox News’ Gretchen Carlson exploded the double standard involved when blacks commit crimes against whites on Wednesday when she asked a security expert why the televised murders of two whites by a black former colleague are not being labeled as hate crimes.

Carlson pointed out that the gunman, Vester Flanagan, was motivated by race when he killed reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward and injured another white woman. Carlson noted Flanagan’s detailed and racially charged manifesto that was faxed to ABC News after the murders.

“He put the initials of the Charleston church shooting victims on the bullets that he used today, he praised the Virginia Tech mass killer, Columbine High School killers, says he was being attacked for being a gay black man.

“He shot three white people today,” Carlson said. “How is that not a hate crime?”

“No, Gretchen, it’s not,” security expert Paul Viollis tried to explain. “This is quintessential workplace violence from the behavioral profile of the individual to the actions that he displayed, from the manifesto to the time he was terminated in 2013.” (Read more from “Fox News Anchor Exposes Media Narrative on News Crew Killings With One Cutting Question” HERE)

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