Photo Credit: APFor the first time ever, a fighter jet-sized drone piloted entirely by computer landed on a modern aircraft carrier.
The successful touch down paves the way for unmanned aircraft to operate alongside traditional airplanes, providing around-the-clock surveillance while also possessing strike capability. Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus was clearly aware of the import of the historic moment.
“It isn’t very often you get a glimpse of the future,” Mabus said in a statement. “The operational unmanned aircraft soon to be developed have the opportunity to radically change the way presence and combat power are delivered from our aircraft carriers.”
The X-47B experimental aircraft took off from Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland before approaching the USS George H.W. Bush, which is operating off the coast of Virginia. The drone landed by deploying a tailhook that caught a wire aboard the ship, bringing it to a quick stop, just like normal fighter jets do.
Photo Credit: Fox NewsBy FOX NEWS. [T]estimony from one of Zimmerman’s former Florida neighbors, Eloise Dilligard, [was] that Zimmerman’s “nose was very disfigured” and blood covered much of his face immediately after his deadly confrontation with Trayvon Martin…
“His nose was very disfigured,” testified Dilligard, who also said she believes it was Zimmerman’s voice that could be heard screaming on a 911 tape…
Earlier, a forensic expert testified Tuesday that Martin’s gunshot wound indicated that he was likely on top of Zimmerman when the neighborhood watch volunteer shot him. Forensic pathologist Dr. Vincent DiMaio, an expert on gunshot wounds who has written and co-authored several articles and a book on the subject, said the single shot that killed the Florida teen passed through Martin’s clothing as it hung 2-4 inches from his skin, indicating that Martin was over Zimmerman and leaning forward.
“If you’re lying on your back, the clothing is going to be against your chest,” DiMaio testified. “So the fact that we know the clothing was 2 to 4 inches away is consistent with someone leaning over the person doing the shooting.”
Photo Credit: APDefense winds down case at George Zimmerman trial
By MIKE SCHNEIDER AND KYLE HIGHTOWER. George Zimmerman’s attorneys are finishing up their defense of the Florida neighborhood watch volunteer charged with killing Trayvon Martin, though the judge first must rule on two requests by defense attorneys.
Zimmerman, so far, hasn’t testified. But jurors saw repeated video recordings of Zimmerman telling his side of the story to police investigators. The defense started its case last Friday. If it keeps to the schedule anticipated by defense attorney Mark O’Mara, its presentation will take about half of the time of the prosecution and call on about half as many witnesses.
Judge Debra Nelson still has to decide on two requests by the defense. One is whether to allow jurors to view an animation that depicts Zimmerman’s fight with Martin, the teenager killed in a gated community in Sanford, Fla., last year. The second issue is whether she will allow Martin’s text messages that purportedly deal with fighting. The judge said she would rule on both matters Wednesday. Read more from this story HERE.
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2013-07-10 04:06:212016-04-11 11:19:34Zimmerman Neighbor Says He was Bloodied, Disfigured; Expert Says Residue Proves Martin was on Top (+video)
Photo Credit: YouTubeIt’s been nearly three weeks since Michael Hastings was killed in a fiery car accident in West Los Angeles. The award-winning journalist earned his stripes as a wartime reporter and captured fame with his 2010 Rolling Stone story that forced General Stanley McChrystal to resign as commander of the US forces in Afghanistan.
According to City News Service Hastings, 33, “was driving south on Highland Avenue when he apparently lost control of the compact (2013 Mercedes Benz CLK250) near Melrose Avenue and crashed into palm trees in the median about 4:20 a.m. Tuesday (June 18). The car’s engine reportedly ended up about 200 feet away from the impact site.”
An eyewitness at the scene, Jose, employed at nearby business ALSCO Inc said, the car was travelling very fast and he heard a couple explosions shortly before the car crashed.
In fact, the explosion was so intense that it took the LA County assistant corner, Ed Winter, two days to identify the burned-beyond recognition body of Hastings. Officials confirm that an autopsy has been performed, but the cause of death is pending. LAPD media spokesperson Lieutenant Andrew Neiman said, “it will take several weeks to get the toxicology results.” By stark contrast, in Italy, ‘Sopranos’ star James Gandolfini’s family received the toxicology report within a few days.
…It quickly surfaced that Hastings reached out to Wikileaks attorney Jennifer Robinson just a few hours before his death claiming the FBI was investigating him…
[Former U.S. National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection, and Counter-terrorism Richard] Clarke told The Huffington Post that a single-vehicle crash is “consistent with a car cyber attack. There is reason to believe that intelligence agencies for major powers — including the United States — know how to remotely seize control of a car.”
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2013-07-10 04:04:162016-04-11 11:19:34San Diego Investigative Journalist Uncovers More Troubling Facts About Journalist Hastings’ Death (+video)
Photo Credit: Mohamed RashedBy MENA. Masked gunmen opened fire at Mar Mina Church in Port Said’s al-Manakh early Tuesday and managed to get away, according to state-run news agency MENA. No casualties were reported.
Army and police squads arrived at the scene of the attack and efforts are being undertaken to identify the perpetrators.
This is the third such attack in 24 hours. Yesterday, unknown attackers assaulted Port Said’s western seaport and the province’s traffic police department.
A priest was killed Saturday in Masaeed in North Sinai. Read more from this story HERE.
Muslim Brotherhood Using Old Photo’s of Dead Syrian Children, Claiming Egyptian Army Killed Them
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2013-07-10 03:50:442016-04-11 11:19:35Journalist Shot in Head, Egyptian Christian Church Attacked, Muslim Brotherhood Posts Fake Photos of Dead ‘Egyptian’ Children (+videos)
Photo Credit: Fox NewsThe suburban New York newspaper that created a firestorm earlier this year when it published the names and addresses of gun permit holders has requested more data regarding legal owners of firearms, apparently to determine if handgun ownership patterns have changed in the last six months.
The Journal News, a Gannett-owned paper that covers suburban counties just north of New York City, requested more personal information in May. This time, it included statistical data, as well as names and addresses of gun permit holders from Rockland, Putnam and Westchester counties. Out of the paper’s reach are the names of those that opted out of the public records under the NY SAFE law, passed after the Journal News published an interactive map showing the address of every registered handgun owner in two counties it covers.
“The request indicated that it was in relation to a ‘news event,’” Westchester County spokeswoman Rosia Blackwell Lawrence told FoxNews.com.
The latest document request, made on May 15, sought the names and addresses of all permit holders in the Westchester database, along with other data that pertained to some 9,996 opt-out requests, including reasons for the requests, total number of requests received, and the total number of requests approved.
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2013-07-10 03:34:532016-04-11 11:19:38Newspaper That Published Map of Gun Owners at it Again (+video)
Photo Credit: Fox NewsHouse Republicans want the IRS to pay for targeting political groups and are pushing legislation that would cut the tax collecting agency’s budget by $3 billion — nearly a quarter of what it received last fiscal year.
The House Appropriations Committee is scheduled to start “marking up” the spending bill Wednesday.
While it’s unlikely that such a severe cut will pass both congressional chambers, it does give lawmakers another opportunity to verbally punish the agency for unfairly scrutinizing conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
The bill would place additional restrictions on spending at the IRS and prohibit employees from implementing the individual mandate in the Affordable Care Act – commonly referred to as ObamaCare. It also bans conferences, the production of videos and curbs what lawmakers see as a number of abuses at the IRS.
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2013-07-10 03:25:052016-04-11 11:19:39Citing Abuses, House GOP Wants to Gut IRS’s Budget by One-Quarter (+video)
Photo Credit: Fox NewsBy Fox News. Defense lawyers will be permitted to show that Trayvon Martin had marijuana in his system when he and George Zimmerman had their fateful encounter in a gated community in Florida last year, the judge in Zimmerman’s murder trial ruled Monday.
Judge Debra Nelson denied a motion by prosecutors to keep toxicology results showing THC in Martin’s system from the jury, paving the way for Zimmerman’s lawyers to argue the drug may have influenced the teen’s behavior. Defense attorney Don West noted that in Zimmerman’s statement to the non-emergency 911 dispatcher that it appeared the person he was observing in the Sanford, Fla., community was “on drugs.”
Late Monday, Zimmerman defense spokesman Shawn Vincent said the defense could rest by the end of the day Tuesday or early Wednesday morning. The prosecution would then have rebuttal witnesses, with closing statements by Thursday or Friday. Vincent stressed this scenario depended on everything going as expected.
Nelson’s ruling on the toxicology results came after the jury was dismissed following a day of conflicting testimony about whose voice could be heard screaming on a subsequent 911 tape. A parade of Zimmerman’s friends said they recognized the neighborhood watch volunteer’s voice, but Martin’s father, who police said initially told them he did not recognize the voice, said he came to realize it was his son after hearing the tape some 20 times.
The testimony, in week three of Zimmerman’s murder trial, came after the mothers of both Zimmerman and Martin testified Friday it was their son doing the screaming in the Feb. 26, 2012, 911 call made to Sanford, Fla., police. The issue is critical because Zimmerman, a 29-year-old neighborhood watch volunteer, says he shot the 17-year-old in self-defense as he was being beaten.
Photo Credit: Breitbart Broward County Sheriff’s Office Prepares Zimmerman Verdict Riot Plan
By Ben Shapiro. On Monday, the Broward County Sheriff’s Office released a video calling on the public not to riot in the wake of the George Zimmerman verdict, expected this week or next in Florida. The Sheriff’s Office released a statement explaining that it was “working closely with the Sanford Police Department and other local law enforcement agencies” to coordinate “a response plan in anticipation of the verdict.”
The video, titled “Raise Your Voice, Not Your Hands,” focuses on attempting to channel reaction into non-violent response. It depicts two youngsters, one black teenage boy, one Hispanic teenage girl. “Raise your voice!” says the girl. “And not your hands!” says the boy. “We need to stand together as one, no cuffs, no guns,” says the girl. “Let’s give violence a rest, because we can easily end up arrested,” says the boy. “I know your patience will be tested,” says the girl, and then both conclude, “but law enforcement has your back!”
“Let’s back up and choose not to act up, and deputies are with us, so no need to act up,” says the boy. “Let it roll off your shoulders,” says the girl, “it’s water off your back, don’t lack composure, because in one instant it could be over.” Both conclude: “So let’s make the choice to raise your voice and not your hands.” Sheriff Scott Israel says, “I’m Sheriff Scott Israel, and law enforcement does have your back.” Read more from this story HERE.
By Jack Cashill. On Monday afternoon, the State of Florida’s case against George Zimmerman all but collapsed when the defense put a lie to the State’s claim that Trayvon Martin was the one whose voice was heard on the 9-1-1 tapes.
A critical part of the evidence to support the second-degree murder affidavit against Zimmerman was the identification by Martin’s mother, Sybrina Fulton, of her son’s screaming voice on what the defense calls the “Lauer tape,” the 9-1-1 call that recorded forty seconds of cries for help.
On Friday, July 8, the State closed its case by calling Fulton to the witness stand. As expected, and as highly anticipated by those wanting Zimmerman’s head, Fulton claimed that it was her son’s voice on the 9-1-1 tape…
Under defense attorney Mark O’Mara’s guidance [on Monday], Chris Serino, the lead investigator in the case, told how he played the 9-1-1 tapes for Tracy Martin, Trayvon’s father, two days after the shooting.
When Serino asked Martin if the screaming voice on the 9-1-1 tape was his son’s, Martin said “no.” Sanford PD officer Doris Singleton testified next. She witnessed the exchange and confirmed what Serino had said. “[Tracy Martin] was telling Chris it was not his son’s voice,” said Singleton. Read more from this story HERE.
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2013-07-09 02:42:432016-04-11 11:19:40Judge Rules Defense Can Show Trayvon Martin Died With Marijuana in His System; Sheriff Prepares for Riots (+video)
Photo Credit: STATE DEPARTMENTCameras Catch Mystery Break-In at Whistleblower’s Law Firm
By John Hudson. The offices of a Dallas law firm representing a high-profile State Department whistleblower were broken into last weekend. Burglars stole three computers and broke into the firm’s file cabinets. But silver bars, video equipment and other valuables were left untouched, according to local Fox affiliate KDFW, which aired security camera footage of the suspected burglars entering and leaving the offices around the time of the incident.
The firm Schulman & Mathias represents Aurelia Fedenisn, a former investigator at the State Department’s Office of the Inspector General. In recent weeks, she raised a slew of explosive allegations against the department and its contractors ranging from illicit drug use, soliciting sexual favors from minors and prostitutes and sexual harassment.
“It’s a crazy, strange and suspicious situation,” attorney Cary Schulman told The Cable. “It’s clear to me that it was somebody looking for information and not money. My most high-profile case right now is the Aurelia Fedenisn case, and I can’t think of any other case where someone would go to these great lengths to get our information.”
According to the KDFW report, the firm was the only suite burglarized in the high-rise office building and an unlocked office adjacent was left untouched.
The State Department, which has repeatedly disputed Fedenisn’s allegations, denied any involvement in the incident. “Any allegation that the Department of State authorized someone to break into Mr. Schulman’s law firm is false and baseless,” spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
Sex for Visas? State Department now confirms probe of US consular official in Guyana
By Judson Berger. The State Department acknowledged it is investigating alleged “improprieties” regarding a consular official who until recently was posted to Guyana, following reports he was trading visas for money and possibly sex.
The department said in a statement it was “aware” of the allegations, without going into detail.
“The department takes all allegations of misconduct by employees seriously,” a spokeswoman said in an email.
“We are reviewing the matter thoroughly. If the allegations are substantiated, we will work with the relevant authorities to hold anyone involved accountable.”
The department would not identify the individual, though media reports in Guyana have. Read more from this story HERE.
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2013-07-09 02:32:342016-04-11 11:19:41Worse than Watergate? Cameras Catch Break-In at Law Firm Representing Whistleblower in Explosive State Department Sex, Molestation, Drug Scandal (+video)
Photo Credit: Highway Patrol ImagesA video affiliated with the Libertarian Party that involved Rutherford County Sheriff’s Deputy A.J. Ross went viral yesterday on social media sites.
“We’ve gotten worldwide response for this,” said Axl David, communications director for the Libertarian Party of Tennessee, a political party that encourages minimum government limited to following the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
The video depicted a verbal altercation between Chris Kalbaugh, a 21-year-old junior at Middle Tennessee State University, and Ross at a DUI checkpoint Thursday night…
When Kalbaugh continued to challenge Ross’ demands on the basis of “constitutional rights,” Ross ordered him to pull his car over and step out of the vehicle.
“I broke no laws, and I made sure to be respectful the entire time while still exercising my constitutional freedom,” Kalbaugh said. “The officers would not let me leave, but they would not answer if I was being detained.”
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2013-07-09 02:31:112016-04-11 11:19:41Cops Violate Student’s Constitutional Rights at Roadblock, Video Goes Viral
Photo Credit: CorbisPresident Obama gave a speech Monday instructing Americans not to be so “cynical” about government. This is not a setup for a punch line. He then explained that the major problem with government is that it does not run as efficiently as “one of the most inclusive and most successful campaigns in American history.” His own.
It was unclear if Mr. Obama was referring to his 2008 political operation or the 2012 reprise, but in any case he said he is developing a new “management agenda” to deliver a “smarter and more accountable” government, “just like we did on that campaign.” Call us cynical, but is there an American outside of Washington nostalgic for the last election?
“What matters in the end is completion. Performance. Results. Not just making promises, but making good on promises,” Mr. Obama continued. Sorry, that was George W. Bush in 2001 debuting what he also called a new “management agenda.” Perhaps Mr. Obama’s version is an homage, though he didn’t acknowledge the debt, nor did he mention Al Gore’s “reinventing government” program of the 1990s.
President Obama’s management agenda is also indebted to President Obama’s 2011 call for a scrubdown of the regulatory state for duplicative rules, as well as President Obama’s 2012 proposal to consolidate and reorganize the executive branch. The authorities have since issued Amber Alerts for both projects.
