Thursday, February 26, 2015

Common Core Testing Regime Ruled Unconstitutional

Via Kearney

https://whatiscommoncore.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/meme-unconstitutional-common-core-christel-swasey.jpg

In a development with massive implications for the Obama administration’s ongoing attempt at nationalizing education with Common Core, a Missouri judge ruled this week that the federally funded testing regime for the controversial standards was unconstitutional. The ruling means that the state of Missouri is officially prohibited from participating in the “Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium” (SBAC), a key element of Common Core enforcement, because it's an “unconstitutional interstate compact.”

More @ New American

Giant 8ft 9in catfish weighing 266 pounds caught in Italy is thought to be the biggest ever reeled in with a rod and line

 Dino Ferrari hooked the huge wels catfish, which was 2.67m in length, last week in the Po Delta in Italy

A fisherman has caught a giant 8ft 9in long catfish weighing 19 stone - and it could be the biggest ever caught with the humble rod and line.  

Dino Ferrari hooked the huge wels catfish, which was 2.67m in length, last week in the Po Delta in Italy.

The cannibalistic wels catfish, also known as the sheatfish, is native to Europe and can grow as long as 13ft and up to 62st - but it is exceedingly rare to catch one that is over two metres long.

More @ Daily Mail

IRS watchdog reveals Lois Lerner missing emails now subject of criminal probe

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The IRS’s inspector general confirmed Thursday it is conducting a criminal investigation into how Lois G. Lerner’s emails disappeared, saying it took only two weeks for investigators to find hundreds of tapes the agency’s chief had told Congress were irretrievably destroyed.

Investigators have already scoured 744 backup tapes and gleaned 32,774 unique emails, but just two weeks ago they found an additional 424 tapes that could contain even more Lerner emails, Deputy Inspector General Timothy P. Camus told the House Oversight Committee in a rare late-night hearing meant to look into the status of the investigation.

“There is potential criminal activity,” Mr. Camus said.

British bouncer sells his home and joins Christian militia

 Front line: Mr Locks said he wants to confront Islamic State and added: 'I just wanted to help people out here. Any society which kills people, cuts people's heads off needs to be challenged'

Six foot two and 238, Tim Locks is a colossal figure and used to dealing with troublemakers.

He was once a doorman at Cheekies nightclub in Staines, Surrey, throwing out drunken revellers and monitoring security before running his own construction business.

Now the 38-year-old has sold his home and moved to Iraq to help fight the bloodthirsty terrorists of the Islamic State.

More @ Daily Mail

Australian fighting with Kurds against ISIS killed in Syria

 JOINED THE FIGHT: A man reported killed while fighting against Islamic State in Syria has been identified as 28-year-old Australian Ashley Kent Johnston.

An Australian killed fighting for the Kurds against Islamic State in northern Syria - and thought to be the first Westerner to die in battle against IS – has been identified as 28 year-old Ashley Kent Johnston.

Johnston, born in Maryborough, Queensland, is believed to have been a resident of the ACT before joining the fight against IS in Syria and Iraqi Kurdistan.

Australian Kurdish Association president Gulfer Olan confirmed Johnston had died in the fighting and said she was trying to contact Johnston's family to pass on the Kurdish community's condolences.

Fairfax Media has obtained an image of Johnston's passport from Australian Kurdish representatives. and they confirmed he is the dead man. He was born on April 15, 1986.

Olan said: "He was a hero. He went all the way from here to fight for humanity. We will have him in our hearts forever."  

More @ STUFF

NC: You Could Hear a Pin Drop During Father’s Devastating Testimony on Illegal Immigration: ‘Do Black Lives Really Matter?’

Via Joe

(YouTube)

Shaw touted a legislative response named for his son and written by Representative Walter Jones (R., N.C.). 
“Until the FBI is allowed to track and report illegal alien crime, it is doubtful that the American people will understand how severe the problem of violent illegal alien crime is,” he said. 
“What we really need is comprehensive immigration enforcement.”
 
More @ NRO

US Christians back emerging private war on Iraq jihadists

Via LH


After fighting with rebels in Libya and embracing the revolt in Syria, Matthew VanDyke has rolled up in northern Iraq, but the celebrity American revolutionary-cum-filmmaker has traded his fatigues for a three-piece suit.

VanDyke, who rose to fame as a foreign fighter backing Libyan rebels against Moamer Kadhafi, has just finished leading his new military contracting firm through its first assignment -- training Christian volunteers to take on jihadists.

Funded by Christian groups from abroad, mainly from the United States, the Nineveh Plains Protection Unit (NPU) aims to bring a local Christian militia to bear against the Islamic State group that has seized swathes of Iraq and Syria. 

More @ Yahoo

Feds Attempt to Derail Liberty Movement in WA State, Interrogate Liberty Activist

Via Horace

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Yesterday we reported on the arrest (and later release) of liberty activist Anthony Bosworth, an Iraq War vet and one of the co-leaders of Liberty For All.  You may have seen the InfoWars story on his questioning by the FBI.  What you don’t know is that it was far worse than even they reported.

If you have already seen the video, then you already know that he was not read his Miranda rights during his arrest.  He also wasn’t given his Miranda rights at any time during the three hours of interrogation by various federal agencies.  Not only did he confirm with them that he was, in fact, in custody and being interrogated (the two flags that must be present for a Miranda warning), but he specifically and repeatedly requested to speak with an attorney.

Rather than read him his rights and allow him access to an attorney, they told him that he would not be speaking to a lawyer of any kind, let alone one of his choosing.  The idea of access to legal counsel as secured by the Constitution, he was told, was “Hollywood stuff.”  In other words, we do not care what the Constitution says; we will do to you whatever we want.  Under the current “terrorism” laws, they can.

Documents Obtained by Judicial Watch Reveal Top Hillary Clinton Advisers Knew Immediately that Assault on Benghazi was Armed Attack

Via avordvet

 https://pumabydesign001.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/benghazi-70000-strong-hillary-resist44.jpg

Judicial Watch announced today that on February 11, 2015, it uncovered documents from the U.S. Department of State revealing that top aides for then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, including her then-chief of staff Cheryl Mills, knew from the outset that the Benghazi mission compound was under attack by armed assailants tied to a terrorist group.  The documents were produced as a result of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the State Department (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of State ((No. 1:14-cv-01511).  The documents make no reference to a spontaneous demonstration or Internet video, except in an official statement issued by Hillary Clinton.

Judicial Watch lawsuit focused on Mrs. Clinton’s involvement in the Benghazi scandal:

FedEx Refuses to Ship CNC Machines To Gun Enthusiasts

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FedEx will ship other CNC machines just as capable of completing an untraceable lower receiver without batting an eye, as well as the lower receivers themselves, Dremel tools, jigs, drill bits, routers, lathes, and other common (and much cheaper) machine shop tools used by recreational gunsmiths.

You can buy CNC milling machines on any one of dozens of web sites and have them shipping straight to your door, but FedEx is refusing to deliver one computer-controlled milling machine that is only remarkable for its name.

5 Things You Need to Know About the FCC's Net Neutrality Plan

 Net Neutrality

Details about FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler's net neutrality plan emerged yesterday, and it left D.C. types all atwitter. But this is not just an inside-the-Beltway issue. It could impact how your ISP runs their network and what type of recourse you have if you think they're doing something shady.

The details are all very wonky—I can sense you all nodding off at the mention of things like Title II, forbearance, and inter-connection. But if you care about the openness of the Internet—and you should—listen up. Here are some of the most noteworthy parts of Wheeler's proposal and what you need to know about them. And check out the top players' reactions in the slideshow below.

1. Reclassification

More @ PC Mag

Marcus Luttrell, Navy SEAL friend of Chris Kyle, warns killer Eddie Ray Routh following verdict

 

Marcus Luttrell, a Navy SEAL veteran who befriended the late Chris Kyle and inspired the 2013 movie “Lone Survivor,” took to social media Tuesday night to respond to the guilty murder verdict of Kyle’s killer — and to share a warning.

In a post distributed on Facebook and Twitter, Luttrell said justice was served in the case and warned Routh, 27, to “Wait till the boys in TDC Find out you killed a TX hero.” It’s an apparent reference to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, which handles prisoners.

Forced Blood Draws, DNA Collection And Biometric Scans: What Country Is This?

Via Jonathan

http://a6.typepad.com/6a00e54ee06170883401bb07f7a496970d-500wi
The Fourth Amendment was designed to stand between us and arbitrary governmental authority. For all practical purposes, that shield has been shattered, leaving our liberty and personal integrity subject to the whim of every cop on the beat, trooper on the highway and jail official. The framers would be appalled.”—Herman Schwartz, The Nation
Our freedoms—especially the Fourth Amendment—are being choked out by a prevailing view among government bureaucrats that they have the right to search, seize, strip, scan, spy on, probe, pat down, taser, and arrest any individual at any time and for the slightest provocation.

Forced cavity searches, forced colonoscopies, forced blood draws, forced breath-alcohol tests, forced DNA extractions, forced eye scans, forced inclusion in biometric databases—these are just a few ways in which Americans are being forced to accept that we have no control over what happens to our bodies during an encounter with government officials.

Worse, on a daily basis, Americans are being made to relinquish the most intimate details of who we are—our biological makeup, our genetic blueprints, and our biometrics (facial characteristics and structure, fingerprints, iris scans, etc.)—in order to clear the nearly insurmountable hurdle that increasingly defines life in the United States: we are all guilty until proven innocent.

Thus far, the courts have done little to preserve our Fourth Amendment rights, let alone what shreds of bodily integrity remain to us.

Drones over Paris

 Droneparis

For two nights, up to five drones were spotted over landmarks in Paris. French police weren't able to track down the drones or the owners due to the difficulty of tracing their flight paths while on the ground. In response, a task force has been formed to focus on this "threat." Even the US secret service has been called in as consultants (although their track record with drones is pretty terrible).