Seven Year Old Charged With Felonies for Discharging BB Gun

/4 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Fox News

Sam Grant nearly celebrated his eighth birthday party in jail.

The North Carolina boy had been charged with two felony counts of discharging his BB gun. The parents of a then-seven-year-old North Carolina boy are beyond angry after their son was charged with two felony counts of possessing a BB gun. Just moments before the child was expected to answer to the allegations before a Catawba County judge — the charges were dropped.

Sam’s parents, Ray and Cherry Robbins told Fox News they are both relieved and angry over what happened to their son.

“They considered his BB gun a firearm,” Ray said. “”It’s not a firearm. It’s a BB gun.”

The trouble started last month when Sam was in the backyard of their rural home shooting his BB gun. His mother stepped inside to put dinner in the oven – telling the boy not to run off.

But Sam’s curiosity got the best of him — and he scampered out of the backyard – and fired his BB gun at an abandoned house across the street.

Read more from this story HERE.

Disabled Combat Vet Forced to Leave Florida Business Because of Muslim Complaints About His 'Infidel' Tattoo

/15 Comments/in , /by

Last week, a disabled combat vet who had served in Afghanistan and Iraq says he was turned away from a Florida skydiving facility because Qatar Muslims who were training there complained.

Here’s what Eddie Bryant wrote about his experience:

I am a disabled combat veteran. I served in Iraq and worked in Afghanistan. I took an IED because my country asked me too, and I was injured by a suicide bomber in Afghanistan. I have a Purple Heart and an ARCOM with Valor. I fully expect to be treated differently when I am visiting another country – when I am in America I expect equality and toleration; but what I experienced today is something that I never would have thought I’d have to go through in my own country. The country I fought for!

I am a skydiver with around 300 jumps under my belt. I’ve done jumps from 30,000 feet, helicopters, hot air balloons, wingsuit skydives and so forth. So with that being said I travel around doing this sport quite a bit. Today was my second time at a dropzone called “Florida Skydiving Center / Skydive Lake Wales”.

Coincidentally there are soldiers from the country of Qatar being trained there.

The picture is of the tattoo I have. Here is the definition of said tattoo: “Kafir (Arabic: كافر‎ kāfir, plural كفّار kuffār) is an Arabic term used in an Islamic doctrinal sense, usually translated as “unbeliever,” “disbeliever,” or “infidel.” The term refers to a person who rejects God or who hides, denies, or covers the “truth.” The Muslim’s from Qatar saw that tattoo and complained to the dropzone. Once they did so I was called to the back office and asked to cover it up by the OWNER. Not that I would, but its 80 something degrees here today, and that would be an unreasonable request. After I told her that I had no pants to cover it up she told me that she has DUCT TAPE that I can use to cover it. I told the lady that I was not going to cover it up, as it was nothing more than a tattoo saying “I am not a Muslim”. After beating around the bush for a few minutes entertaining me while I was trying to convince her otherwise, she asked me to leave.

What kind of America do we live in where someone comes back from war; disabled and decorated… while serving overseas was called an “infidel” for over 2 years, and then get asked to leave an establishment because of a tattoo I have that says just that, because of a culture of people visiting our country, and an American Business with no ethical sense or a backbone for that matter.

Mr. Bryant ends his blog by asking anyone who shares his outrage to contact the business at its Facebook page HERE.

See the original post of Mr. Bryant’s story HERE.

Schumer Sees ‘Gang of Eight’ Deal this Week on Immigration

/2 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: AP

A raucous public debate over the nation’s flawed immigration system is set to begin in earnest this week as senators finalize a bipartisan bill to secure the border, allow tens of thousands of foreign workers into the country and grant eventual citizenship to the estimated 11 million people living here illegally.

Negotiators already are cautioning of struggles ahead for an issue that’s defied resolution for years. An immigration deal came close on the Senate floor in 2007 but collapsed amid interest group bickering and an angry public backlash.

“There will be a great deal of unhappiness about this proposal because everybody didn’t get what they wanted,” Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican, who is a leader of the eight senators negotiating the legislation, said Sunday. “There are entrenched positions on both sides of this issue.”

“There’s a long road,” said Sen. Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, appearing alongside Mr. McCain on CBS‘ “Face the Nation.” ”There are people on both sides who are against this bill, and they will be able to shoot at it.”

Mr. Schumer, Mr. McCain and their “Gang of Eight” already missed a self-imposed deadline to have their bill ready in March, but Mr. Schumer said he hopes that this week it will happen.

Read more from this story HERE.

Tea Party Challenges Obama, K Street on Corporate Welfare

/0 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Kevin Dietsch

Congressional Republicans and the Obama White House are headed for another clash over corporate welfare, and once again President Obama is on the side of big business while Senate conservatives are on the side of free markets.

The battleground is the Export-Import Bank, a federal agency that subsidizes U.S. exports — mostly Boeing jets — by issuing taxpayer-backed financing to foreign buyers. In 2008, candidate Obama aptly described Ex-Im as “little more than a fund for corporate welfare.”

Obama has spent four years pumping steroids into Ex-Im, setting a record $35.7 billion in taxpayer-backed financing last year. Ex-Im’s biggest subsidy program is its loan guarantees, and the agency doled out $14.5 billion of those last year, with $12.2 billion going to subsidize Boeing jets. Piloting Ex-Im as chairman for those four years has been Fred Hochberg. Late last month, Obama announced he is nominating Hochberg for a second term.

As Hochberg used the agency’s annual conference on Thursday to defend and extol his tenure, the conservative Club for Growth — a significant money source for the Tea Party insurgency in the GOP — came out against his appointment. The club announced that it would include Hochberg’s confirmation vote in its annual scorecard. In other words, if a Republican senator wants to avoid a Tea Party primary challenge, he or she would do well to oppose Hochberg.

Hochberg’s nomination would be yet another Tea Party-vs.-K Street battle within the GOP. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is firmly in Hochberg’s camp. At Ex-Im’s conference (where JPMorgan Chase was named Lender of the Year), Hochberg gave the Chairman’s Award to chamber President Tom Donohue to thank him for his group’s successful effort fighting off a Tea Party-led effort to kill Ex-Im, whose charter was up for renewal last year.

Read more from this story HERE.

Obama Ignores Disastrous Economic News, Continues His Grand 1% Lifestyle

/4 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: AP

President Obama had another tough week in a second term filled with bad news and blunders — and he’s only 10 weeks in.

While the White House suddenly decided to drop its budget Friday in an effort to control the news, there was no covering up the disastrous jobless numbers: 90 million Americans out of the workforce, the highest level since 1979; another 663,000 joining the ranks of the long-term unemployed; a measly 88,000 jobs “created.”

But what seems stuck in the craw of a lot of you readers out there was last week’s column on the Obamas’ 1 percent lifestyle — the endless ski and beach vacations for the couple and their daughters, Vice President Joseph R. Biden’s nights in London and Paris that cost you more than $1 million, even the president’s 118th round of golf while in office.

“My kids asked me a couple of years ago why we never went on family vacations,” wrote Steve Gibson. “I told them that we had to pay all of our expenses first and there wasn’t any money left over for a family vacation. Then I keep seeing … stories about the administration taking trips everywhere and I don’t know what to think. I have been laid off twice in the past year and am currently in the job search mode again.”

Eric Zundell is in the same boat: “As someone who has not been able to afford a vacation for my family in the last 12 years, (but pays his taxes;) ), I highly applaud the message delivered by your article.”

Read more from this story HERE.

ATF Seeks 'Massive' Database of Personal Info: 'Assets, Relatives, Associates and More'

/26 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Gamma-Ray Productions

A recent solicitation from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) reveals that the agency is seeking a “massive” online database capable of pulling up individuals’ personal information, connections and associates.

On March 28, ATF posted the notice on FedBizOpps.gov, entitled “Investigative System.” The solicitation was updated on April 5 with a few minor changes.

The document says that the system will be utilized by staff “to provide rapid searches on various entities for example; names, telephone numbers, utility data and reverse phone look-ups, as a means to assist with investigations, and background research on people, assets and businesses.”

The system is described as a “massive online data repository system that contains a wide variety of data sources both historically and current that can be utilized in support of investigations and backgrounds.”

The overview of the solicitation states:

Staff will utilize “a number of internal databases as well as external sources to provide timely and relevant information and intelligence products to law enforcement agencies at the federal, state and local levels.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Politically Correct AP Strikes Again!

/5 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: WND

For the second time in just days, Associated Press has redefined a word for its reporters that adopts a politically correct position, this time pleasing Muslim activists with a decision to ban the use of “Islamist” as a synonym for “fighters” and/or “militants.”

Politico’s Dylan Byers noted the change by AP was made “after much prodding from the Council on American-Islamic Relations.”

“CAIR had complained late last year that the AP’s old definition of ‘Islamist’ – ‘a supporter of government in accord with the laws of Islam [and] who views the Quran as a political model’ – had become a pejorative shorthand for extremist Muslims,” Byers wrote.

The [AP] stylebook’s entry for Islamist now reads …. ‘An advocate or supporter of a political movement that favors reordering government and society in accordance with laws prescribed by Islam. Do not use as a synonym for Islamic fighters, militants, extremists or radicals, who may or may not be Islamists.”

The move followed by just days the AP’s decision that it would redefine the American lexicon to discontinue references to “illegal immigrants.” That move widely drew guffaws, with “Tonight Show” host Jay Leno joking that it was being replaced with “undocumented Democrat.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Democrats Recruiting Trojan Horse Candidates for 2014

/2 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Win McNamee

Democratic Party officials believe that Kevin Strouse is exactly the kind of candidate who can help them retake the House next year. He’s a smart, young former Army Ranger — good qualities for any aspiring politician. But what party leaders really like is that Strouse doesn’t have particularly strong views on the country’s hottest issues.

Immigration? Tax policy? “Certainly I have a lot of research to do,” Strouse acknowledged in an interview Thursday as he announced his candidacy in a suburban Philadelphia House district.

Strouse’s candidacy reflects an emerging Democratic strategy for taking back the House from Republicans after the tea party takeover of 2010.

The best way to defeat the conservative, ideologically driven GOP, Democrats say, is to field non-ideological “problem solvers” who can profit from the fed-up-with-partisanship mood of some suburban areas. These districts will offer some of the few competitive House campaigns in the country.

“You pick your strategic high ground and force them to fight on it,” said Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.), who as chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has begun a particularly early effort at traveling the country and working the phones to lure Strouse and others like him into races.

Read more from this story HERE.

Massive Corporate Money to be Dumped in 2014 Races

/2 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: AP

Operating with few rules and limited oversight, outside groups spent a record $1 billion to influence last year’s election.

Politicians of all persuasions griped about the meddling. But few are working to change laws that ushered in an unprecedented flood of money made possible by a 2010 Supreme Court ruling that erased years of campaign finance law.

Instead, political leaders and donors from both parties are preparing for the flow of outside money to intensify. New groups have formed and others are shaping plans to come back bigger and smarter ahead of the 2014 congressional elections and the 2016 presidential race.

What laws do remain could become even looser as the Supreme Court considers another high-profile decision.

“The unregulated system that we seem to be headed in will make Watergate look like a bad soap opera,” said Robert Zimmerman, a member of the Democratic National Committee’s national finance team who helped raise as much as $500,000 for President Barack Obama’s re-election effort.

Read more from this story HERE.

Governor Jerry Brown Heads to China to Beg for California Bail-Out

/4 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Washington Times

California Gov. Jerry Brown has designs on building some of the most expensive public works projects in the nation and wants to keep the state moving forward in its slow recovery from the recession.

Where better to go searching for the money to further those interests than the world’s second largest economy and a country that has piles of cash to invest around the globe?

The governor of the most populous U.S. state heads to China next week to begin a weeklong trade mission that he hopes will produce investments on both sides of the Pacific. Brown will lead a delegation of business leaders in search of what he calls “plenty of billions.”

“They’ve got $400 billion or $500 billion they’re going to invest abroad, so California’s got to get a piece of that,” Brown said in an interview last week ahead of his seven-day trip to China.

The governor and business leaders accompanying him are trying to rebuild the state’s official relationship with China after the state closed its two trade offices and others around the world a decade ago in a cost-cutting move. California finds itself playing catch-up to other states that have had a vigorous presence in China for years.

Read more from this story HERE.