EPA Can't Regulate Lead Bullets, Says Federal Court

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Photo Credit: Justin Sullivan

Photo Credit: Justin Sullivan

Hunters, hold your fire — the Environmental Protection Agency won’t regulate your bullets.

A federal appeals court denied a lawsuit Tuesday by environmental groups that the EPA must use the Toxic Substances Control Act regulate lead used in shells and cartridges.

“We agree with EPA that it lacks statutory authority to regulate the type of spent bullets and shot identified in the environmental groups’ petition,” Judge David Tatel wrote for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Environmental groups had sued the agency to do so, saying spent lead ammunition posed an “unreasonable risk of injury” to wildlife and humans who would eat the animals they kill. The groups rejected the EPA’s assertion that it lacked the authority to do so.

Read more from this story HERE.

New York Cop Killer's Islamic Roots Ignored by MSM

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Brinsley[The New York City cop killer’s] Islamic roots have so far received little attention.

[Ismaaiyl] Brinsley, who had been in and out of jail much of his adult life, mostly in Ohio and Georgia, left behind numerous social media accounts, including a Facebook account under the name “Bleau Barracuda” . . .

Brinsley posted several videos on [his YouTube] account. Besides the visit to prayer at Masjid At Taqwa [mosque], Brinsley filmed himself getting searched for drugs on a bus; recorded a conversation about cocaine; and filmed a Muslim burial service.

An Internet search shows Brinsley went by the alias “Interstate Brinsley” on other social media sites. That alias is linked to Minc and Co., a company operated by Brinsley that, according to a Twitter account for the company, produced sexually-themed t-shirts.

The video Brinsley posted of Masjid At Taqwa on Feb. 28, 2013 is entitled “Time to pray in Brooklyn,” and it shows Brinsley walking down a Brooklyn street as a call to prayer is heard being broadcast from the Brooklyn-based mosque.

Read more from this story HERE.

NLRB Opens Door for SEIU at McDonalds

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mcdonalds_muslimThe National Labor Relations Board took another step toward eliminating the franchise business model on Friday, opening the doors for unionization at some of America’s largest employers.

The agency’s top prosecutor, former union attorney Richard Griffin, is holding McDonalds responsible for alleged labor violations perpetrated by its franchisees, overturning decades of precedent.

“The complaints allege that McDonald’s USA, LLC and certain franchisees violated the rights of employees working at McDonald’s restaurants at various locations around the country by, among other things, making statements and taking actions against them for engaging in activities aimed at improving their wages and working conditions, including participating in nationwide fast food worker protests about their terms and conditions of employment during the past two years,” the agency said in a release.

Franchisors such as McDonald’s charge employers fees to operate under its corporate umbrella, but individual entrepreneurs manage business decisions, such as scheduling and pay, individually. Holding McDonalds liable for the actions of other actors threatens to undo the entire business model, according to Robert Cresanti, vice president of the International Franchising Association.

“Put yourself in the shoes of a small business person who has just invested their life savings in a new franchise,”Cresanti said. “Now they no longer own their business as a group of unelected government bureaucrats have just jeopardized whether they control their employees or not.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Armed Homeowners Protect Their Own, Kill Intruders

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Photo Credit: WND

Photo Credit: WND

Sheriff: Man Who Killed Would-Be Home Intruder ‘Acted Lawfully’

By WFAA. A man who repeatedly rang a doorbell and knocked on a front door was fatally shot Friday morning by the homeowner after the two fought in a yard, authorities said Friday. . .

The incident occurred about 4 a.m. Friday in the Shale Creek neighborhood just off Texas 114 in rural Wise County near the Wise and Denton county line.

“The homeowner armed himself and went outside,” Walker said. “That’s when he saw a man trying to jump a fence that was between his house and his neighbor’s home”. . .

“They fought briefly,” Walker said. “At some point, [Rigtrup] backed away from the man and told him he was armed. The man kept saying he needed to get inside of the house.”

Rigtrup – who had his wife and 14-year-old daughter inside the home – fired one shot at Crandall’s chest, killing him, Walker said. Police found him dead on the front porch. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Homeowner Shoots Home Invader Holding Gun To Woman’s Neck

By Chuck Ross. A suspect in an armed home invasion is dead after he was confronted by an armed homeowner.

Two men began knocking on the front door of a North Memphis, Tenn. home on Tuesday. When a woman answered, the men barged in, and one of them — identified as 22-year-old Nico Carlisle — held a gun to the woman’s neck.

A male homeowner also inside the house heard the commotion, retrieved his own handgun, and fired several shots at the two men, hitting and killing Carlisle. (Read more about how armed homeowners protect themselves HERE)

Abandoned by Democrats, Obama Enlisting GOP Help to Pass Trans Pacific Partnership

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Multinational corporation background conceptPresident Obama is preparing a major push on a vast free-trade zone that seeks to enlist Republicans as partners and test his premise that Washington can still find common ground on major initiatives.

It also will test his willingness to buck his own party in pursuit of a legacy-burnishing achievement. Already, fellow Democrats are accusing him of abandoning past promises on trade and potentially undermining his domestic priority of reducing income inequality. . .

The administration is moving aggressively in hopes of wrapping up negotiations by the middle of next year on a 12-nation free-trade pact in the Asia-Pacific region before the politics become even more daunting ahead of the 2016 presidential campaign. . .

At issue is Obama’s support for the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which would establish the world’s largest free-trade zone. The administration has touted the deal as a way to boost U.S. exports to Asia at a time when the United States faces increasing competition from China.

The TPP aims to lower tariffs, establish guidelines on patents and copyrights, and level competition for international companies that compete with ­government-backed businesses. The first major test could come next month, when Senate Republicans are expected to put forward legislation that would grant U.S. trade negotiators “fast-track authority” to reach final terms that could not be changed by Congress before an up-or-down vote. (Read more about how Obama intends to pass Trans Pacific Partnership HERE)

Read more about what the TPP is HERE and HERE.

Fallout From Obama's Illegal Amnesty Continues: $50 Million Spent on New Immigration Workers

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Photo Credit: Fibonacci blue

Photo Credit: Fibonacci blue

By Brian Hughes. The Obama administration is spending nearly $50 million to hire and house 1,000 new federal workers to process immigration cases after President Obama announced that he would unilaterally protect up to 5 million illegal immigrants from deportation.

The Citizenship and Immigration Services agency will devote $40 million to annual salaries and almost $8 million a year to the lease of a new building just outside Washington, in which employees will review the claims of illegal immigrants who apply for newly protected status, according to the New York Times.

In recent weeks, critics have warned that Obama’s executive action would further increase the federal bureaucracy, leaving taxpayers on the hook for the expansion of immigration services. (Read more from this story regarding additional costs of Obama’s illegal amnesty HERE)

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More Waste: Environmental Protection Agency Overpaid $1 Million for Call Center

By Sarah Westwood. Government investigators believe Environmental Protection Agency officials may have paid a contractor nearly $1 million more than they should have for operating a telephone hotline that processed fewer calls than claimed.

The EPA inspector general said it received a hotline tip about possible contract fraud in its information office. That office handles inquiries from the general public and internal EPA customers, using a contractor to provide call center services.

At one point, the agency relied on the number of calls and emails the center was receiving to approve a jump in prices. At another, the agency cited the number of reported issues, which could have been the subject of multiple calls or emails to justify lower prices.

The inconsistent decision-making “increases the risk that the EPA may be overcharged for call center services,” the IG said.

The EPA was also spending more than it was making on the call center. Losing money prompted the agency to use the number of issues, not the volume of calls, as an excuse to lower its contract price even though the call volume had not fallen below the minimum levels needed to make such a change. (Read more from this story HERE)

Booting SGT Bergdahl Out of the Army Proving to be Difficult

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Photo Credit: Reuters

Photo Credit: Reuters

Getting Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl out of the Army is not going to be easy.

As Army leaders consider how to handle the former Taliban captive who is accused of misconduct, their options are narrowed by an obscure personnel regulation: Because the former prisoner of war’s term of enlistment expired during his five years in captivity, the Army must now grant him an honorable discharge or launch a court-martial.

“We’re in an all-or-nothing situation,” said Jeffrey Addicott, a retired Army lieutenant colonel and judge advocate who served as a legal adviser to the Army Special Forces and now teaches law at St. Mary’s University School of Law in Texas.

The Army announced Monday that the investigation of Bergdahl has been forwarded to a top general, or convening authority, to take “appropriate action.”

For now Bergdahl, 28, remains assigned to a desk job at an Army headquarters unit in San Antonio. The Army declined to release any details of the six-month investigation into the circumstances surrounding his disappearance.

Man Jailed for Videotaping Cops Wins Lawsuit

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cellphone recording copsAn Orlando man jailed for filming a police officer got more than his phone back.

Alberto Troche, who sued Orlando police for wrongfully jailing him and taking his phone, received $15,000 in a settlement, the Orlando Sentinel reported this week.

According to the lawsuit, Troche saw police arresting a man late one night in December of last year. Based on cries of pain from the man being arrested, Troche thought police were using excessive force and pulled out his phone to record. Several others did the same.

Police arrested Troche for recording the officers. Troche claimed he stood 10-15 feet away from the arrest and never interfered. He spent 15 hours in custody and didn’t get his phone back for three weeks.

In a video of the incident, police can be heard yelling at an indignant crowd. Police threaten to take their cell phones because they were recording, and then appeared to confiscate cell phones. They claimed the phones were needed for evidence. (Read more about what happened after Mr. Troche was confronted for videotaping cops HERE)

Watch man get arrested for videotaping police HERE.

Calls for Judge to Resign After She Released Man Who Allegedly Threatened to Kill Cops

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judge-gangbangerBy Josh Saul and Jamie Schram. A Brooklyn judge cut loose a gang member who had posted online threats to gun down cops in the hours after two NYPD officers were executed in their patrol car — ignoring prosecutors’ pleas to keep him behind bars, The Post has learned.

Criminal Court Judge Laura Johnson let Devon Coley, 18, waltz free without bail despite the fact that he faces seven years behind bars on charges he made a terroristic threat — complete with an image of a killer shooting cops in their car — and is awaiting trial in two unrelated cases involving assault and gun possession.

Johnson’s stunning no-bail decision came just two days after Saturday’s broad-daylight slayings of Officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu by a gunman bent on avenging the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown at the hands of police.

It also came after Mayor Bill de Blasio’s plea earlier Monday for New Yorkers to “call 911” if they suspect someone is planning to attack the NYPD.

“She should resign from the bench,” said Dennis Quirk, head of the state court officers union. “She’s not fit to be a judge.” Read more about the pressure on this judge to resign HERE.
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After NYC Deaths, a Surge of Support for Police

By David Crary. Rocker Jon Bon Jovi donned a New York Police Department T-shirt on stage. Well-wishers delivered home-baked cookies by the hundreds to police in Cincinnati. In Mooresville, North Carolina, police and sheriff’s officers were treated by residents to a chili dinner.

At a time when many in the nation’s police community feel embattled, Americans in cities and towns across the country are making an effort to express support and gratitude.

“I’m showing a little solidarity for my brothers in the NYPD and all of those who protect and serve us every day,” Bon Jovi told a cheering crowd at his concert Monday in Red Bank, New Jersey.

The surge of support is linked to two distinct but overlapping developments.

The immediate catalyst was the killings of two New York City police officers as they sat in their patrol car in Brooklyn on Saturday. For many of those making appreciative gestures, there also was a desire to counter the widespread protests steeped with criticism of police that followed grand jury decisions not to charge white officers for their roles in the deaths of black men Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner in New York. Read more from this story HERE.
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JetBlue Offering Free Flights to Cops Wishing to Attend NYPD Officers’ Funerals

By Daniel Prendergast and Natasha Velez. JetBlue airlines said Wednesday it will be offering free flights to police officers from around the country who wish to attend the funerals for the two slain NYPD cops killed over the weekend.

The airline said it will allow up to two cops from each department to fly at no charge from anywhere across its route network to New York City.

“We’re honored to do what we can to support the communities we serve, and our team has made flights available to law enforcement agencies … who wish to send representatives to New York to support their brethren,” said JetBlue spokeswoman Sharon Jones. Read more from this story HERE.

After 70% of Illegal Alien Families Fail to Show for Hearings, Feds Plan to Track Them with GPS

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Ankle BraceletThe Department of Homeland Security will reportedly track more illegal immigrants with GPS devices because a whopping 70% of illegal immigrants who traveled to America as a family unit failed to show up to their immigration hearings.

This summer, illegal immigrants from Central America flooded across the border, believing that “notices to appear” that illegal immigrants receive after being released were “permisos” to remain indefinitely in America. . .

According to an Associated Press report, as a result, “Immigration and Customs Enforcement earlier this month launched a program to give GPS devices to some parents caught crossing the Mexican border illegally with their children in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley.” The program will reportedly track 250 “heads of households” with GPS ankle bracelets.

Read more about tracking illegal alien families with GPS HERE.