Ban on Stop and Frisk Leads to Murder of 1-Year-Old

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Photo Credit: Front Pag Mag

Photo Credit: Front Pag Mag

The murder of Antiq Henis, a 1 year old boy shot in his stroller in Brownsville, Brooklyn, by an assailant in a likely act of gang violence targeting his father is exactly the kind of crime that Stop and Frisk was meant to prevent.

In 2010, the New York Times described 52,000 police Stop and Frisk stops being made in Brownsville.

This small army of officers, night after night, spends much of its energy pursuing the controversial Police Department tactic known as “Stop, Question, Frisk,” and it does so at a rate unmatched anywhere else in the city.

On the inner streets, dozens of officers, many fresh out of the police academy, walk in pairs or linger on corners. Others, deeper within the urban grid, navigate a maze of public housing complexes, patrolling the stairwells and hallways.

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The Cheat Goes on at Harvard

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Photo Credit: Patricia Drury

Photo Credit: Patricia Drury

Cheaters never win — but they get into Harvard!

Nearly half of the school’s incoming freshmen admitted to cheating on homework, exams or other assignments in their young academic careers, according to a survey by the Ivy League institution’s student newspaper.

“Some of the newest members of that community are already guilty of academic dishonesty,” The Harvard Crimson declared in its summary of the findings.

The elite institution is still reeling from a 2012 cheating scandal in which dozens of kids swapped and plagiarized answers during a course called “Introduction to Congress.”

An estimated 70 students were booted when the scandal blew up. And some unrepentant cheaters claimed they merely “collaborated” on the exam, and vowed to sue the university.

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Russia Warns Of Nuclear Disaster If Syria Is Attacked

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

A Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman warned any military intervention in Syria would create a nuclear disaster.

“If a warhead, by design or by chance, were to hit the Miniature Neutron Source Reactor (MSNR) near Damascus, the consequences could be catastrophic,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Aleksandr Lukashevich stated, according to Russia Today.

Lukashevich said if a military strike were launched without seeking approval from the United Nations Security Council that new suffering for other countries of the Middle East and North Africa would occur. He added that the region could be at risk of “contamination by highly enriched uranium and it would no longer be possible to account for nuclear material, its safety and control.”

He urged the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to complete a risk evaluation carrying out “an analysis of the risks linked to possible American strikes on the MNSR and other facilities in Syria.”

Rueters quoted an IAEA spokesperson stating the agency was aware of the statement, but is waiting for a formal request asking the agency to complete risk evaluation and that the group would consider the questions raised if a request is received.

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Rush Limbaugh Lets Loose on Obama Over This ‘Psychopathic’ Statement (+audio)

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0305-Rush-LimbaughEarlier this week, President Barack Obama reframed his “red line” rhetoric in regards to Syria and the use of chemical weapons, saying it was the “world,” not him, that “set a red line.”

Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh on Thursday expressed his disbelief at the claim, which he called “psychopathic.” According to the online Merriam-Webster dictionary, “psychopathic” is defined as: “of, relating to, or characterized by psychopathy or antisocial personality disorder.”

Limbaugh is not alone in his confusion over the statement.

Obama last year clearly stated that Syria would cross a “red line” that would “change my equation” if he used chemical weapons on his own people.

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This County had 124% More Registered Voters than Eligible Voters – Counting Dead People and Felons

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Photo Credit: Getty Images

Photo Credit: Getty Images

In the midst of a national debate over voter integrity, a federal court decree is ordering a Mississippi county to purge its voter rolls of dead people, ineligible felons and people who have moved out of a voting area.

In April, the American Civil Rights Union, a conservative legal group, sued Walthall County, Miss., for having more than twice as many registered voters – 124 percent—than voting-age-eligible residents, based on U.S. Census data. The lawsuit was filed under the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, better known as the Motor Voter law, and is the first privately-brought suit to succeed, according to the ACRU.

“This case should have been called United States v. Walthall County instead of ACRU v. Walthall County,” said J. Christian Adams, a former Justice Department voting section attorney. Adams along with former Justice Department Voting Section chief Christopher Coates and former DOJ attorney Henry Ross filed the lawsuit for the ACRU.

“We’re doing the job that Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. won’t do. In fact, he’s too busy suing Texas for its new photo ID law and abusing power in other ways to harass states that are trying to ensure election integrity,” Adams said in a statement.

Walthall County, Miss. is red county in a red state, is majority white, and was carried Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney in 2012, according to the Heritage Foundation. This could blunt the argument generally used by Democrats and the Holder Justice Department, that voter integrity measures harm minority voters and benefit Republican candidates.

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Heroic Teens Save Alleged Kidnap Victim Who Mouthed ‘Help Me’ From Car – Listen To The Dramatic 911 Audio

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Photo Credit: extranoise

Photo Credit: extranoise

Two Dallas-area teens were able to help save a woman who had allegedly been kidnapped by Charles Lewis, 37, after they witnesses her mouthing the words “help me” from the back of a moving car.

“Yes, I’m on the highway. I’m witnessing a robbery. Not a robbery, a kidnapping,” Aaron Arias, 19, told a 911 dispatcher. “It’s me and another guy. So we’re checking out the girl in the backseat because we’re like, ‘OK, she’s kind of attractive’, and then all of a sudden the guy is turned back, looking at us.”

Arias and Jamal Harris, 17, continued to follow the car while staying on the phone with the 911 dispatcher as the police raced to locate them.

Minutes after the teens made the call, police officers pulled over the vehicle and found the 25 year old alleged kidnap victim. Police arrested Lewis and charged him with aggravated kidnapping.

Listen to the 911 call:

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Parents Who Home-School Question Common Core’s Reach

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Photo Credit: FOXNEWS.COM

Photo Credit: FOXNEWS.COM

There are few things 9-year-old Rhett Ricardo relishes more than curling up on his family’s living room couch and delving into a novel, like “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea” – his imagination whirling as he reads the fantastical plot about a mysterious sea monster and a submarine, his mother says.

But Jill Finnerty Ricardo, of Dade City, Fla., who home-schools her three oldest children, has concerns about what is known as the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) – a national assessment standard adopted in 45 states that, among other objectives, seeks to balance out a perceived literature-heavy English curriculum with more non-fiction reading and writing, particularly informational text..

While the new standards, which purport to emphasize critical thinking and problem solving, are meant for public schools only, opponents say they will affect all children – including those who are home-schooled, especially when it comes to taking state standardized tests that are aligned with the Common Core.

It is up to each state whether home-schooled children must take standardized tests in grades three through eight, and once in high school. But all college-bound home-schooled students take the SAT, which is now being aligned with the new standards. The new head of the College Board, which is revamping the SAT, is David Coleman, the so-called architect of the Common Core.

“We home-school our kids to make sure we can support and encourage their individual interests, gifts and talents,” said 42-year-old Finnerty Ricardo, who holds degrees in marketing, public relations and biology.

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Instant Lame-Duck? – Obama on Verge of Historic Rebuke Over Syria

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Photo Credit: NDTV

Photo Credit: NDTV

President Barack Obama appears to be dangerously close to what would be an historic rebuke at the hands of Congress, if the current whip-count projections on the authorization to attack Syria continue to hold.

Pundits on both sides of the aisle say losing the high-stakes bid for congressional authorization would make Obama an instant lame-duck, and might well endanger his entire second-term agenda.

The resolution authorizing an attack on Syrian strongman Bashar Assad, as punishment for his use of chemical weapons against his own people, is still expected to pass the Democratic-controlled Senate.

But the real question mark all along has been whether the administration could muster enough support to get the attack resolution through the House. And there, the situation for the administration appears to be growing dimmer by the hour.

Various news organizations are contacting members of Congress to see where they stand on the attack authorization. While each outlet has different numbers, the ominous sign for the administration is that all of them show the “no” votes outpacing the “yes” votes by a more than a 3-1 margin.

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Putin calls Kerry a Liar on Syria

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

Things aren’t exactly warming up between the Obama administration and Vladimir Putin, even as President Obama arrived in St. Petersburg for the G-20 summit.

Putin called Obama Secretary of State John Kerry a liar over Kerry’s testimony this week before Congress.

The question may be al-Qaeda’s influence on the Syrian rebels, an issue Kerry has downplayed.

Speaking to his human rights council Wednesday, Putin said, “This was very unpleasant and surprising for me. We talk to them (the Americans), and we assume they are decent people, but he is lying and he knows that he is lying. This is sad.”

Putin has criticized Obama administration claims that Bashar Assad’s government attacked the rebels with chemical weapons.

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Calls to Congress 499 to 1 Against Syria War

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Marine Not Fight for War In SyriaAmericans are slamming at least 22 members of Congress with thousands of phone calls and emails, urging lawmakers not to approve a military strike on Syria – by a margin of as much as 499 to 1.

A national debate is raging on Twitter. Tweets and statements from members of Congress – both Democrat and Republican – show tremendously strong opposition to President Obama’s call for an air strike on Syria:

Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., tweeted, “Calls and emails from my constituents is 100 to 1 AGAINST getting involved in Syria. The American people are speaking.”

Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., said 99 percent of the calls his office oppose an attack.

Rep. Matt Salmon, R-Ariz., tweeted, “Syria constituent calls 489-2 against.”

Rep. Shelley Capito, R-W.V., said of “about 1,000 calls to my office, maybe 5 are for.”

Rep. Tim Griffin, R-Ark., tweeted, “FYI: Received 75 calls/emails from constituents today so far on Syria. All 75 opposed to military action.”

Rep. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said, “I’m told the phone calls are 9 out of 10 against a strike in Syria, from my constituents in Kentucky.”

Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., tweeted, “My office has been inundated with constituent phone calls and emails about Syria. Virtually unanimous opposition to military intervention.”

Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, tweeted, “So far about 500 emails regarding Syria. 499 say NO and 1 say YES go to war” and “Hundreds of calls to our Provo and Washington, D.C., office. So far not a single call in favor of bombing Syria.”

Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., tweeted, “The phones in my office are ringing off the hook and mail is flowing in. Almost all of the people are opposed to intervention in Syria.”

Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, said “a very high percentage” of the constituents contacting his office have been against U.S. involvement in Syria. He estimated that 90 percent of more than 1,000 calls and emails from Americans have been urging him not to support intervention.

Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich., tweeted, “I’ve been hearing a lot from members of our armed forces. The message I consistently hear: Please vote no on military action against Syria.”

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