OH YES SHE DID: Teacher Caught Blowing a 13-Year-Old Student on Camera
Posted: May 16, 2018 Filed under: Crime & Corruption, U.S. News | Tags: Arizona, Brittany Zamora, Las Brisas Academy Elementary School, New York Post, Sexual Misconduct Leave a comment
Zamora was taken into custody Thursday on one count of obscene material transmission to a minor, according to the Arizona Republic. A court commissioner then found probable cause to hold her on suspicion of eight counts of sexual conduct with a minor, two counts of child molestation and one count of transmitting obscene material.
“I know baby! I want you every day with no time limit.”
Brittany Zamora, a 27-year-old teacher at Las Brisas Academy Elementary School in Goodyear, allegedly had sex with the 13-year-old student three times and also performed oral sex on him in her car during encounters from Feb. 1 through March 8, according to court records obtained by the Arizona Republic.
Zamora and the teen also traded naked photos, he told police, saying their relationship started when the married teacher began “flirting” with him in a classroom chat group. She then sent the teen a nude picture of herself and another clad in lingerie.
During one exchange, the teen told Zamora he wanted to have sex with her again, court records show.
“I know baby!” Zamora responded. “I want you every day with no time limit.”
In another message, according to court records, Zamora said: “If I could quit my job and (have sex with) you all day long, I would.”
Zamora was arrested last week after the teen’s parents found text messages indicating a sexual relationship between the pair. The texts were discovered because the boy’s parents had installed an app to monitor his phone, police said. Read the rest of this entry »
[VIDEO] Eugene Volokh for PragerU: Is Gun Ownership a Right?
Posted: February 27, 2017 Filed under: History, Law & Justice, Mediasphere, Self Defense | Tags: American Civil Liberties Union, American Civil Rights Institute, Arizona, Associated Press, Barack Obama, Bloomberg BNA, Donald Trump, Eugene Volokh, National Rifle Association, United States Leave a comment
What does the Second Amendment say? Is gun ownership a right for all Americans? Or just for a small militia? Eugene Volokh, Professor of Law at UCLA, explains what the Founding Fathers intended.
Source: PragerU – Eugene Volokh
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[VIDEO] ‘Space Capsule’ in Desert Stops Traffic
Posted: February 7, 2017 Filed under: Art & Culture, Humor, Mediasphere, Science & Technology, Space & Aviation | Tags: Arizona, Artist, Desert, Jack Millard, media, news, Space Capsule, The Arizona Republic, University of Arizona, video Leave a comment
Brainchild of artist and actor Jack Millard causes stir along highway in Arizona
Racist, Xenophobic, Islamaphobic Mexico Builds its Own Wall Against Migrants
Posted: September 14, 2016 Filed under: Global, Health and Social Issues, Politics | Tags: 2016, Arizona, Donald Trump, Donald Trump presidential campaign, Enrique Peña Nieto, Mexico, Mexico–United States border, Politics of Mexico, President of Mexico, Republican Party (United States), United States 1 Comment
James Fredrick and Jude Webber report: Donald Trump wants a wall on America’s southern border to keep illegal immigrants out. But for people such as Rosa, whose husband, mother, sister, brother-in-law and two nephews were murdered in her native Honduras by gangs who then tried to recruit her 14-year-old son, Mexico already acts as a formidable barrier.
Rosa, who asked for her full name not to be used, fled with her two teenage sons only to find herself trapped in a political controversy that the US Republican candidate has put at the heart of his campaign.
Zero net immigration of Mexicans into the US and an 82 per cent fall in people caught trying to cross the US-Mexico border in the past 10 years means that most would-be immigrants detained there are Central Americans. Even without Mr Trump’s fortress frontier, Mexico finds itself under increasing pressure to stem the migrant tide near its source — its own southern border.
[Read the full story here, at FT.com]
“Mexico has become a wall for migrants,” said Sister Magdalena Silva, co-ordinator of Cafemin, a privately run shelter in Mexico City that takes in refugee families, including Rosa’s. “The current policy is to arrest migrants to stop them from getting to the US border.”
The UN estimates 400,000 Central Americans cross illegally into Mexico each year and as many as half of those are fleeing violence. The majority are quickly deported back to dangerous homes.
Unlike in the US, Mexico has broadened asylum laws to recognise that fleeing violence of the kind practised by the street gangs of Honduras and El Salvador can classify someone as a refugee. But the odds are still stacked against asylum seekers: Mexico deported a record 175,000 Central Americans last year, up 68 per cent from the previous year and nearly two-and-a-half times the number deported by the US.
The US is coy about its role in Mexico’s crackdown but is sending $75m in equipment and training to help stop Central Americans from crossing illegally into Mexico. Hosting Mr Trump two weeks ago, President Enrique Peña Nieto said that “making Mexico’s border with our friends and neighbours in Central America more secure is of vital importance for Mexico and the US”.
Rosa left Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital, with her two teenage sons in January 2016 after a gang tried to recruit one of them on his way home from school. “We know when a gang targets someone, they don’t leave them alone and they follow through on their threats,” she said.
The family asked for help on arrival in Mexico and was channelled into official asylum procedures. That is where things started to sour.
First Rosa and her sons were shipped to a detention centre on the outskirts of Mexico City. There they were assigned different cellblocks and limited to three half-hour visits per week for three months. Read the rest of this entry »
Security Source Leaks Details About Bill Clinton’s DOJ-Tainting Tarmac Tango
Posted: July 1, 2016 Filed under: Crime & Corruption, Politics, White House | Tags: Arizona, Attorney general, Benghazi, Bill Clinton, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Hillary Clinton, Message transfer agent, Phoenix, United States Attorney General, United States Secret Service, White House 3 Comments
Former President Bill Clinton delayed Phoenix takeoff to snare ’20-25 minute encounter’ with Attorney General Loretta Lynch.
An exclusive interview with a security source who was present at the unplanned meeting Monday night on a Phoenix tarmac between former President Bill Clinton and Attorney General Lorretta Lynch has shed additional light on an unusual summit that is embroiling the AG in charges of favoritism. As attorney general, Lynch heads the Department of Justice just as it is deciding whether to proceed with charges against Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton over her use of a private email server during her tenure as President Obama’s secretary of state.
“This is a head-slapping case of bad judgement”
— Howard Kurtz
The source has decades of experience providing security to government officials. The source spoke to the Observer for 20 minutes and answered follow-up questions via text message on the condition that no further details be revealed, including even gender, given the possibility of losing his or her job as an active overseer of security arrangements. This person was on-hand for the entirety of the meeting and some of its aftermath.
According to this source, whose credentials were checked and confirmed by the Observer with sources inside both the FBI and the United States Secret Service, the attorney general was caught completely off guard by the meeting and the source dismisses suggestions that have been raised alleging that she waited there to see Bill Clinton or accommodated his request to see him. In fact, it seems from this source that it was Bill Clinton who was maneuvering for face time with the attorney general, because his plane had been scheduled to leave before hers arrived.
“Then I see Clinton walking over. His detail guys ran over to hers and said he’s coming. ‘He’s closing.’ He walked straight there to the Air Force guy at the door and next thing I know he’s going up the steps…”
“Fair is fair. I’m a conservative-leaning [person] [gender-identifying word redacted]. I don’t support anything this administration does. I don’t know much about the attorney general’s past, except she has a good reputation. But I really don’t like this executive’s office, so that said, politically, that’s where I’m at. But I just happened to be in a position to know firsthand what went down that day.”
The FBI protects the attorney general and the Secret Service protects POTUS and there are elements from that agency that protect former presidents. According to the source, “The AG and the director each have a protective detail because they travel extensively and that duty falls to the FBI. They have a formalized unit, a detail, that lives and works out of Washington, D.C. Then there will be FBI leaders who are experts in other towns and regions who coordinate visits—someone in Chicago FBI will coordinate with the D.C. detail when the director or the AG comes to Chicago.
So what happened here is that the FBI agents in Phoenix were in touch with the detail leaders in D.C. for the AG’s visit. Somebody from D.C. will advance the trip and liaise with the local element, who has a big SWAT team and provide everything they need so they can send only a skeletal unit with her, two people—a medic and protection. They don’t need to commit 27 people. Details include surveilling all the locations, the routes, the hospitals, safe zones; that’s all handled by [the local FBI people] [actual words redacted to avoid identifying source].”
According to the source, the FBI agents protecting Lynch “knew former POTUS was in town and another executive was coming and knew Lynch was coming so we knew there’d be congestion. We were waiting for her plane to touch down at the executive terminal area of Phoenix’s Sky Harbor where it’s best suited to control. Clinton’s plane was on the ground already. But he wasn’t there. We had been hoping to get him out before she arrived, just to avoid too much traffic. They [their planes] were 75 yards apart. We have a procedure we do to clear [space for] a motorcade. As we were ready to receive her, I saw the other motorcade coming in—we were like, ‘great timing.’ ”
The source was being sarcastic in saying “great timing,” indicating that it would have been better logistically for Clinton’s plane to take off before Lynch’s arrived, to avoid the congestion of two motorcades on the tarmac at once. Read the rest of this entry »
Meet the Company Offering a Chance at Immortality for $200,000
Posted: April 26, 2016 Filed under: Science & Technology, Think Tank | Tags: Alcor Life Extension Foundation, American Fork, Apple Inc, Arizona, Elon Musk, Larry Page, PayPal, Peter Thiel, Scottsdale, Silicon Valley, SpaceX, Tesla Motors Leave a comment
More and more people are signing up to be frozen for a chance at life after death. So the question is, would you?
Zack Guzman writes: In the desert climate of Scottsdale, Arizona, rest 147 brains and bodies, all frozen in liquid nitrogen with the goal of being revived one day.
It’s not science fiction — to some it might not even be science — yet thousands of people around the world have put their trust, lives and fortunes into the promise of cryonics, the practice of preserving a body with antifreeze shortly after death in hopes future medicine might be able to bring the deceased back.
“If you think back half a century or so, if somebody stopped breathing and their heart stopped beating we would’ve checked them and said they’re dead,” said Max More, CEO of the Scottsdale-based Alcor. “Our view is that when we call someone dead it’s a bit of an arbitrary line. In fact they are in need of a rescue.”
That “rescue” begins the moment a doctor declares a patient dead. Alcor’s team then prepares an ice bath and begins administering 16 medications and variations of antifreeze until the patient’s temperature drops to near freezing.
Alcor CEO Max More poses in front of the dewars that house his 147 cryopreserved patients. Qin Chen | CNBC
“The critical thing is how fast we get to someone and how quickly we start the cooling process,” More said. In order to ensure that can happen, Alcor stations equipped teams in the U.K., Canada and Germany and offers members a $10,000 incentive to legally die in Scottsdale, where the record for getting a patient cooled down and prepped for an operation is 35 minutes.
Next, a contracted surgeon removes a patient’s head if the member selected Alcor’s “Neuro” option, as it’s euphemistically called, in hopes that a new body can be grown with a member’s DNA once it comes time to be thawed out. It’s also the much cheaper route. At a price tag of $80,000, it’s less than half the cost of preserving your whole body. “That requires a minimum of $200,000, which isn’t as much as it sounds, because most people pay with life insurance,” More said.
In fact, such a business model is pretty consistent in the nonprofit cryonics community. Michigan-based Cryonics Institute offers a similar payment structure, albeit at the more affordable cost of just $28,000 for whole-body preservation. Which begs the question: Why the price discrepancy?
“We’ve been very conservative in the way we plan the financing,” More said. “Of that $200,000, about $115,000 of it goes into the patient care trust fund,” which is meant to cover eventual costs and is controlled by a board of trustees (a certain number of which is required to have loved ones currently in cryopreservation). More says the trust currently boasts a total of over $10 million, which is supported by Alcor’s most recent nonprofit 990 filings.
Who is doing this?
When More came to the U.S. in 1986 from Britain to train at Alcor, it was run by volunteers and he signed up as Alcor’s 67th member. Since then, the company has hired a full-time staff of eight employees, boosted its membership to more than 1,000, and is looking into doubling the size of its patient care bay.
So What? Assign the Blame, Take the Dump
Posted: April 16, 2016 Filed under: Crime & Corruption, Diplomacy, Terrorism, War Room, White House | Tags: American Law Institute, Antonin Scalia, Arizona, Barack Obama, Benghazi, Brussels, Dana Rohrabacher, Director of National Intelligence, Ed Royce, EUROPE, Federal government of the United States, George W. Bush, Republican Party (United States), September 11 attacks, United States, United States Department of State, United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs Leave a comment
Saudi Arabia Warns of Economic Fallout if Congress Passes 9/11 Bill
Mark Mazzetti reports: Saudi Arabia has told the Obama administration and members of Congress that it will sell off hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of American assets held by the kingdom if Congress passes a bill that would allow the Saudi government to be held responsible in American courts for any role in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
“Suspicions have lingered, partly because of the conclusions of a 2002 congressional inquiry into the attacks that cited some evidence that Saudi officials living in the United States at the time had a hand in the plot. Those conclusions, contained in 28 pages of the report, still have not been released publicly.”
The Obama administration has lobbied Congress to block the bill’s passage, according to administration officials and congressional aides from both parties, and the Saudi threats have been the subject of intense discussions in recent weeks between lawmakers and officials from the State Department and the Pentagon. The officials have warned senators of diplomatic and economic fallout from the legislation.
“It’s stunning to think that our government would back the Saudis over its own citizens.”
— Mindy Kleinberg, whose husband died in the World Trade Center on Sept. 11
Adel al-Jubeir, the Saudi foreign minister, delivered the kingdom’s message personally last month during a trip to Washington, telling lawmakers that Saudi Arabia would be forced to sell up to $750 billion in treasury securities and other assets in the United States before they could be in danger of being frozen by American courts.
Several outside economists are skeptical that the Saudis will follow through, saying that such a sell-off would be difficult to execute and would end up crippling the kingdom’s economy. But the threat is another sign of the escalating tensions between Saudi Arabia and the United States.
[Read the full story here at The New York Times]
The administration, which argues that the legislation would put Americans at legal risk overseas, has been lobbying so intently against the bill that some lawmakers and families of Sept. 11 victims are infuriated. In their view, the Obama administration has consistently sided with the kingdom and has thwarted their efforts to learn what they believe to be the truth about the role some Saudi officials played in the terrorist plot.
“It’s stunning to think that our government would back the Saudis over its own citizens,” said Mindy Kleinberg, whose husband died in the World Trade Center on Sept. 11 and who is part of a group of victims’ family members pushing for the legislation.
President Obama will arrive in Riyadh on Wednesday for meetings with King Salman and other Saudi officials. It is unclear whether the dispute over the Sept. 11 legislation will be on the agenda for the talks.
A spokesman for the Saudi Embassy did not respond to a message seeking comment.Saudi officials have long denied that the kingdom had any role in the Sept. 11 plot, and the 9/11 Commission found “no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution or senior Saudi officials individually funded the organization.” But critics have noted that the commission’s narrow wording left open the possibility that less senior officials or parts of the Saudi government could have played a role. Suspicions have lingered, partly because of the conclusions of a 2002 congressional inquiry into the attacks that cited some evidence that Saudi officials living in the United States at the time had a hand in the plot. Those conclusions, contained in 28 pages of the report, still have not been released publicly. Read the rest of this entry »
UPDATE: Two Suspects Dead, One is Male, One is Female, Identities Known, Not Released
Posted: December 2, 2015 Filed under: Breaking News, Crime & Corruption, Mediasphere, Terrorism | Tags: Arizona, Barack Obama, Crime, Difference between Suspect and Perpetrator, Domestic violence, Drive-by shooting, Los Angeles Police Department, Los Angeles Times, Medical state, South Los Angeles Leave a comment
Police pull body from suspects’ vehicle in San Bernardino
DEVELOPING: Police chasing a black SUV believed to be the getaway car for three suspects who shot up an office holiday party in San Bernardino, Calif., Wednesday, murdering 14 people, captured or killed two suspects and were going house-to-house pursuing a third who fled on foot.
The shootout occurred less than two miles from the social services center where the massacre occurred hours earlier, and police sources told Fox KTTV they believe the suspects in the SUV were the ones responsible for the earlier attack. There were conflicting reports about two suspects, with some saying they were killed and others that they were captured. The suspect who remained at large was initially believed to be inside a nearby residence, but police were seen going house-to-house looking for him. Police Chief Jarrod Burguan warned all area residents to remain indoors.
“It’s still, again a very active, fluid situation,” said San Bernardino Police spokeswoman Vickie Cervantes, who said the chase began after police doing “follow-up work” in the wake of the mass shooting located the suspects’ vehicle.
The events appeared to bring closer to a conclusion a manhunt that began after three heavily armed gunmen “on a mission” — and garbed in body armor — burst into a San Bernardino social services facility and murdered in cold blood at least 14 people attending an office holiday party. The men, who witnesses said were wearing body armor and masks, entered the Inland Regional Center just after 11 a.m. with grim precision, according to San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan.
Once inside, they opened fire with rifles, shooting people in a conference room where a holiday party was taking place, authorities said. Hundreds of people were seen streaming out of the building moments later, some described by witnesses as holding their hands above their heads and even diving for cover behind cars in a parking lot.
“Up to three people entered the building and opened fire on people inside the building,” Burguan said at a news conference some three hours after the first call went out. “The suspects have fled, potentially in a dark-colored SUV.
“They came prepared to do what they did as if on a mission,” he added. The incident lasted less then five minutes, police said.
“They came prepared to do what they did as if on a mission.”
— San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan
Burguan said preliminary information showed 14 people were killed, and police later said 17 were injured.
It was unclear where the suspects may have been during the nearly four hours following the attack, but they did not get far. There were reports that one may have been at the facility earlier, possibly to verify the presence of someone targeted for death, only to return with two more gunmen to unleash horror. Another report, in the Los Angeles Times, had the man getting into an argument at the party and returning with armed henchmen.
[Read the full story here, at Fox News]
Police executed a search warrant Wednesday evening at a home in nearby Redlands, but it was not clear if it was related to the case.
The FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms were on the scene, some 60 miles east of Los Angeles. An FBI spokesman said it was not clear whether the incident was terror related. No weapons were recovered.
.@SanBernardinoPD has confirmed 1to3 possible suspects.Multiple victims. #SBCSD &other agencies assisting. More info to come. #SanBernardino
— SB County Sheriff (@sbcountysheriff) December 2, 2015
Employees, who undergo monthly training drills to prepare for active shooter situations, initially thought the incident was a drill, according to the Los Angeles Times. But when real bullets flew, several hid in closets, barricaded themselves in rooms or fled for their lives. Read the rest of this entry »
BREAKING: Deadly Shooting at Northern Arizona University’s Flagstaff Campus
Posted: October 9, 2015 Filed under: Breaking News, Crime & Corruption | Tags: ABC News, Arizona, Flagstaff, KNXV-TV, NAU Flagstaff campus, Northern Arizona University, Shooting, Suspect 1 Comment
One dead, three wounded, suspect in custody.
A deadly shooting occurred on Northern Arizona University’s Flagstaff campus early this morning, and the suspected shooter is in custody, according to a university spokesperson.
Reported shooting at NAU Flagstaff campus. Shooter in custody. Mtn View Hall residents stay indoors. More details to follow.
— NAU (@NAU) October 9, 2015
One person died and three others were wounded in the shooting, the spokesperson said.
It’s unclear what sparked the shooting, which took place near Mountain View Hall, a dormitory which houses most of the campus’ students involved in Greek organizations….(more)
Source: ABC News
NASA to Announce Mars Mystery Solved
Posted: September 26, 2015 Filed under: Science & Technology, Space & Aviation | Tags: Arizona, Field research, HiRISE, NASA, Solar System, Stanford University, TUCSON, University of Arizona 1 Comment
NASA will detail a major science finding from the agency’s ongoing exploration of Mars during a news briefing at 11:30 a.m. EDT on Monday, Sept. 28 at the James Webb Auditorium at NASA Headquarters in Washington. The event will be broadcast live on NASA Television and the agency’s website.
News conference participants will be:
· Jim Green, director of planetary science at NASA Headquarters
· Michael Meyer, lead scientist for the Mars Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters
· Lujendra Ojha of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta
· Mary Beth Wilhelm of NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California and the Georgia Institute of Technology
· Alfred McEwen, principal investigator for the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) at the University of Arizona in Tucson
A brief question-and-answer session will take place during the event with reporters on site and by phone. Members of the public also can ask questions during the briefing using #AskNASA.
To participate in the briefing by phone, reporters must email their name, media affiliation and telephone number to Steve Cole at stephen.e.cole@nasa.gov by 9 a.m. EDT on Monday. Read the rest of this entry »
Least Original Perp Statement Award Nomination Announced for Phoenix Freeway Shooter Suspect: ‘You Got the Wrong Guy!’
Posted: September 19, 2015 Filed under: Crime & Corruption, Law & Justice | Tags: Arizona, Arizona Department of Public Safety, Doug Ducey, Drive-by shooting, NBC News, News conference, Operation Red Dawn, SWAT, Twitter, Walmart 1 Comment
“All I have to say is I’m the wrong guy. I tried telling the detectives that. My gun’s been in the pawnshop the last two months. I haven’t even had access to a weapon.”
PHOENIX, Sept. 19 (UPI) — Leslie Allen Merritt Jr., the man believed to be responsible for a series of drive-by shootings on Arizona’s Interstate 10, told a judge on Saturday that authorities arrested “the wrong guy.”
“The weapon and man we believe was responsible for starting this spree is in custody. Arizona Department of Public Safety Director Frank Milstead said. “Are there others out there? Are there copycats? That is possible.”
— Frank Milstead. Arizona Department of Public Safety Director
Judge Lisa Roberts was unmoved, setting the 21-year-old’s bail at $1 million.
“The suspect presents a dramatic and profound threat to the community,” the prosecutor said at Merritt’s arraignment, according to the Los Angeles Times.
“All I have to say is I’m the wrong guy,” Merritt said, after the judge granted him permission to address the court. “I tried telling the detectives that. My gun’s been in the pawnshop the last two months. I haven’t even had access to a weapon.”
“The father of the accused told reporters that anyone who thinks his son is guilty is a ‘moron.’”
A SWAT team swarmed Merritt in a Walmart on Friday. Authorities announced his arrest shortly afterwards, saying the young man was “forensically linked” to the 11 highway shootings along busy I-10. Read the rest of this entry »
BREAKING: ‘We Got Him’: Suspect Arrested in Arizona Freeway Shootings
Posted: September 18, 2015 Filed under: Breaking News, Crime & Corruption | Tags: Arizona, Arizona Department of Public Safety, Arrest, Arrest warrant, Beltway sniper attacks, Department of Public Safety, Doug Ducey, Federal Bureau of Investigation, SWAT 1 Comment
A police SWAT team on Friday arrested a suspect in a string of shootings along an Arizona freeway that have terrified drivers over recent weeks, the governor said.
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey announced the arrest on Twitter at around 6:59 local time (9:59 p.m. ET), with a post that began: “We got him!”
BREAKING: We got him! DPS SWAT team is in custody of the individual suspected of I-10 shootings. Apprehended moments ago.
— Doug Ducey (@dougducey) September 19, 2015
Police did not immediately provide details. A spokesman for Ducey said the arrest occurred at a Walmart. A press conference was scheduled for later Friday evening.
Eleven vehicles were shot at on or near the I-10 freeway running through Phoenix since Aug. 29, authorities have said, although some of those incidents involved bullets and others were what has been only described as “projectiles.” Read the rest of this entry »
Original Batmobile Up For Sale, $5 Million
Posted: September 18, 2015 Filed under: Art & Culture, Comics, Entertainment, Mediasphere | Tags: Adam West, Arizona, Barrett-Jackson, Bat phone, Batman, Batman (TV series), Batmobile, George Barris (auto customizer), Lincoln Futura, Television program 1 Comment
The original Batmobile from the 1960s TV series. Photograph: Barrett-Jackson/AP
The car, driven by Adam West in the 1960s television show, is back on the market after it fetched $4.2m at auction in 2013.
Holy cats, Batman fans – find your wallets because the Batmobile is for sale.
The car, driven by Adam West in the 1966-68 TV series Batman, is available for $5m at the Barrett-Jackson Collection showroom in Arizona.
The Batmobile started as a concept car developed by Ford, called the Lincoln Futura, which was built in 1955 and appeared in the 1959 film It Started with a Kiss.
George Barris, a car customizer, purchased the Futura for $1 in 1965 and built the Batmobile within three weeks, so the car was ready in time for the show’s production. Barris kept the chassis and basic shape of the car but redesigned the nose and tail with bat-inspired shapes and designs. He later made three more replica Batmobiles. Read the rest of this entry »
[VIDEO] Grand Canyon from the Stratosphere: A Space Balloon Story
Posted: September 14, 2015 Filed under: Entertainment, Mediasphere, Science & Technology, U.S. News | Tags: Arizona, AT&T, Bryan Chan, Federal Aviation Administration, Global Positioning System, GoPro, Grand Canyon, Samsung Galaxy Note II, Subscriber identity module, Tuba City, Weather balloon Leave a comment
In June 2013, a group of friends launched a weather balloon a few miles from Tuba City, Arizona. The amazing footage was found two years later by an Arizona hiker. Enjoy the video of our launch preparations, video footage, and some data analysis of the flight.
Source: FBI ‘A-team’ Leading ‘Serious’ Clinton Server Probe, Focusing on Defense Info
Posted: August 28, 2015 Filed under: Crime & Corruption, Law & Justice, Politics | Tags: Anderson Cooper, Arizona, Associated Press, Barack Obama, Butte, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Law enforcement agency, United States Department of Homeland Security 2 Comments
Did Hillary Clinton know emails on server were classified?
Catherine Herridge and Pamela Browne report: An FBI “A-team” is leading the “extremely serious” investigation into Hillary Clinton’s server and the focus includes a provision of the law pertaining to “gathering, transmitting or losing defense information,” an intelligence source told Fox News.
“It is not clear how the FBI team’s findings will impact the probe itself. But the details offer a window into what investigators are looking for.”
The section of the Espionage Act is known as 18 US Code 793.
A separate source, who also was not authorized to speak on the record, said the FBI will further determine whether Clinton should have known, based on the quality and detail of the material, that emails passing through her server contained classified information regardless of the markings. The campaign’s standard defense and that of Clinton is that she “never sent nor received any email that was marked classified” at the time.
It is not clear how the FBI team’s findings will impact the probe itself. But the details offer a window into what investigators are looking for — as the Clinton campaign itself downplays the controversy.
“Somebody in the government, with a clearance and need to know, then delivered the information to someone not entitled to receive it, or otherwise moved it from where it was supposed to be lawfully held.”
— Attorney Edward MacMahon Jr.
The FBI offered no comment, citing the ongoing investigation.
[Read the full text here, at Fox News]
A leading national security attorney, who recently defended former CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling in a leak investigation, told Fox News that violating the Espionage Act provision in question is a felony and pointed to a particular sub-section. Read the rest of this entry »
$1 Million Reward Offered for Stolen Judy Garland Slippers
Posted: July 11, 2015 Filed under: Art & Culture, Crime & Corruption, Entertainment, U.S. News | Tags: Arizona, Grand Rapids, Judy Garland, Minnesota, Slipper, Smithsonian Institution, The Wizard of Oz (1939 film), Washington State Leave a comment
GRAND RAPIDS, Minn. (AP) — An anonymous donor has offered a $1 million reward for credible information leading to the pair of Judy Garland‘s sequined, ruby red slippers stolen from a museum in her Minnesota hometown.
The late actress wore the slippers in “The Wizard of Oz.” Three other pairs still exist, including one on display at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington.
John Kelsch, executive director of the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, says the donor is from Arizona and is a huge fan of Garland and the 1939 movie.
The reward offer requires the exact location of the slippers and the perpetrator’s name.
The 10-year anniversary of the theft is in August. The slippers were insured for $1 million. Kelsch says they could be worth $2 million to $3 million now.
[AP]
Supreme Court Guide: Six Big Decisions Remain
Posted: June 24, 2015 Filed under: Law & Justice | Tags: Arizona, Barack Obama, Capital punishment, Gay, Health law, Marriage, Same-sex marriage, Supreme Court, Supreme Court of the United States, United States 1 Comment
The Supreme Court is scheduled to issue decisions Thursday, with six major cases remaining on the docket, and is expected to release opinions again on Friday and perhaps next week. Still to be decided are the health-law subsidies and gay-marriage cases, along with closely watched rulings involving congressional redistricting and power plant emissions. Here’s a list of the remaining cases….(read more)
3rd Man Abdul Malik Abdul Kareem Arrested in Garland ‘Draw Muhammad’ Shooting
Posted: June 16, 2015 Filed under: Breaking News, Religion, War Room | Tags: Arizona, Associated Press, Dallas, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Garland, Indictment, Making false statements, Muhammad, Muslim, Phoenix, Texas 6 Comments
A man has been charged with helping plan an attack on a provocative Prophet Muhammad cartoon contest in Texas that ended with two Phoenix men being killed in a shootout with police.
An indictment filed in federal court in Phoenix last week says that 43-year-old Abdul Malik Abdul Kareem hosted the gunmen in his home beginning in January and provided the guns they used in the May 3 shooting in Garland, Texas. The indictment also says others were involved, but no other arrests or indictments have been made.
“They had a lot of photos. They asked not only me, but other people if they have seen him. The FBI is going to do their jobs and they are going to follow their leads and whatever they find we are going to cooperate with them.”
Nadir Soofi and Elton Simpson were roommates in Phoenix and drove to Texas to attack the event featuring cartoons deemed offensive to Muslims. They were killed by police after they drove up and opened fire outside the contest at a conference center, injuring a security guard. No one attending the event in suburban Dallas was hurt.
Abdul Kareem practiced shooting with Simpson, Soofi and others in the remote desert outside Phoenix between January and May, the indictment said. He hosted the gunmen and others in his home to discuss the contest and the shooters’ plans to travel to Texas to attack the event, according to the indictment.
Court records in Phoenix show Abdul Kareem had a criminal record, struggled with substance abuse and had difficulty finding steady employment.
He has two aggravated drunken driving convictions in Arizona, including a 1998 case where he was found passed out with a beer bottle between his legs behind the wheel of a vehicle that was still running. He was also charged in 1997 with aggravated assault after a woman told police that Abdul Kareem had pointed a gun in her direction. Abdul Kareem maintained that he didn’t point the weapon at anyone and instead had taken the gun away from his brother during an argument.
After a second DUI arrest, probation officials say Abdul Kareem was generally cooperative but had continued to drive while drunk and struggle with substance abuse. He was sentenced to four months in jail.
He was born and raised in Philadelphia as Decarus Lowell Thomas and changed his name to Abdul Malik Abdul Kareem in 2013. His attorney, Daniel Maynard, didn’t immediately respond to phone or email messages early Tuesday.
Kareem is charged with conspiracy, making false statements and interstate transportation of firearms with intent to commit a felony. He is also known as Decarus Thomas. He has lived in multiple locations in Phoenix and suburban Glendale during the last several years, records show.
Kareem attended the same Phoenix mosque where Soofi and Simpson occasionally prayed. Read the rest of this entry »
[VIDEO] Muhammad Cartoon Contest Planned for Phoenix: Watch as Smug Reporter Baits Interviewee with Charges of ‘Hatred and Bigotry’, ‘Inciting Violence’, Seeking ‘Gunfight’
Posted: May 28, 2015 Filed under: Censorship, Comics, War Room | Tags: Arizona, Bigotry, CAIR, Draw Muhammed, Islam, Islamic Apologist, Islamism, Jihadism, media, Media bias, news, Pamela Geller, Rally, Terrorism, video 1 CommentAn anti-Islam rally in Phoenix on Friday will feature a Muhammad cartoon-drawing contest. The scheduled location is outside the Islamic Community Center in north Phoenix.
Watch as the interviewer tries to bait the interviewee, using words like, hatred, bigotry, and accusations of ‘inciting’ violence, and “looking for a gunfight”, as he questions interrogates his subject. The interviewee handles the questions remarkably well, considering how loaded they are. Then the reporter concludes by quoting a C.A.I.R.’s statement. Unbelievable.
[VIDEO] La Paz County Sheriff Find Macabre Underwater Skeletons in Lawn Chairs
Posted: May 6, 2015 Filed under: Humor, Mediasphere, U.S. News | Tags: Arizona, Bones, California, Colorado River, La Paz County Sheriff's Office, Prank, Sheriff, Skeleton, Snorkeling, Video camera, Weekend at Bernie's Leave a commentThe La Paz County Sheriff’s Office and Buckskin Fire Department respond to report of “found human remains” in the Colorado River.
CIENEGA SPRINGS, Ariz. – A man snorkeling in the Colorado River near the Arizona and California border was terrified — and later embarrassed — when he came across two fake human skeletons sitting in lawn chairs about 40 feet underwater.
The man reported the skeletons to the La Paz County Sheriff’s Office on Monday, launching a hunt for what authorities believed could be real bodies.
It turned out the skeletons were fake and had been strategically placed to appear as if they were sitting together, their lawn chairs bound to large rocks. A diver from the Buckskin Fire Department captured the scene on a video camera attached to his head. The sheriff’s office called the scene a tea party.
The skeletons are wearing sunglasses, and one is holding a sign that includes the words “Bernie” and “dream in the river,” although the entire sign is not legible. Read the rest of this entry »
BREAKING: ISIS Claims Responsibility for Texas Attack: ‘The Islamic State soldiers will inflict harm on you with the grace of God’
Posted: May 5, 2015 Filed under: Breaking News, Religion, War Room | Tags: ABC News, Abu Dua, Allah, Arizona, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Garland, Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy, Muhammad, Muslim, Simpsons (department store), Takbir, Texas, Twitter Leave a comment
ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack outside the Prophet Mohammed cartoon contest in Garland, Texas — and warned of more attacks to come
Holly Yan reports: In a broadcast on its official radio channel Tuesday, the group said two Al Khilafa soldiers attacked the event. Al Khilafa is how ISIS refers to its soldiers.
“We say to the defenders of the cross, the U.S., that future attacks are going to be harsher and worse. The Islamic State soldiers will inflict harm on you with the grace of God. The future is just around the corner.”
The two gunmen, Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi, wounded a security guard before police shot and killed them.
The ISIS radio announcer also referred to Simpson and Soofi as the terror group’s “brothers.”
The announcement ended with this warning:
“We say to the defenders of the cross, the U.S., that future attacks are going to be harsher and worse. The Islamic State soldiers will inflict harm on you with the grace of God. The future is just around the corner.”
While ISIS claimed responsibility two days after the Sunday attack, there was no immediate indication that the terror group in Iraq and Syria actually had contact with Simpson or Soofi, who both lived in Phoenix.
[Garland shooting: What we know about Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi]
U.S. authorities have said they are investigating whether Sunday’s shooting has any link to international terrorism. But there are clues that one of the gunmen was an ISIS sympathizer. Read the rest of this entry »
BREAKING: Four Shot at Multiple Locations in Mesa, Arizona; Shooter at Large
Posted: March 18, 2015 Filed under: Breaking News, Crime & Corruption | Tags: Arizona, Car chase, media, Mesa, Mesa Police Department, news, Pinal County, Shooting 1 Comment
At least four people were injured in shootings Wednesday at several locations in Mesa, Arizona, including at a motel, a Mesa Police Department spokesman said Wednesday. 34 MORE WORDS
Report: Intelligence Community Believes Kayla Mueller Given As Bride To ISIS Fighter
Posted: February 11, 2015 Filed under: Breaking News, War Room | Tags: Arizona, Barack Obama, Buzzfeed, Family of Barack Obama, Islamic state, John McCain, Paul Gosar, Prescott Leave a comment
PRESCOTT, Ariz. (CBSDC/AP) — Even while being held hostage by Islamic State of Iraq and Syria extremists, Kayla Mueller found good in everything.
She taught her guards how to do crafts and make peace birds out of paper. She stood on her head for exercise in her cramped quarters. And she wrote uplifting letters home despite being a prisoner of a brutal terrorist regime.
“I have come to see that there is good in every situation, sometimes we just have to look for it,” she wrote.
The portrait of the 26-year-old humanitarian aid worker from Prescott, Arizona, came as her death was confirmed Tuesday by the U.S. government. Family members spoke fondly of her free spirit and efforts to ease the suffering of others as a small memorial of flowers and handwritten notes took shape near a sign calling on people to “Pray for Kayla.”
It’s the same space where people in the city of about 40,000 gathered not too long ago to honor 19 Prescott-based members of an elite fire crew who died in 2013 in the deadliest single day for firefighters since Sept. 11, 2011.
Mueller was captured in August 2013, but her captivity had largely been kept secret in an effort to save her. President Barack Obama said a military operation last summer to recover Mueller and others failed when rescuers arrived only “a day or two” after the group had been moved.
Arizona Sen. John McCain and Rep. Paul Gosar, a Republican who represents Prescott, were in close contact with the family and government officials throughout the ordeal, with the senator traveling to Syria at one point to meet with members of the army fighting President Bashar Assad.
Gosar told The Arizona Republic that one effort to free Mueller involved a man who traveled to the Syrian prison camp where Mueller was being held. The man told the captors he was Mueller’s husband in a ruse designed to free her, Gosar said, but it didn’t work. The Republic reports that Mueller denied having a husband.
In addition, Gosar’s office said the name of Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani scientist convicted of shooting at two U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan, came up in discussions with ISIS over Mueller. Siddiqui is an American-educated woman whose release has long been sought by terrorists.
CBS News reports that the U.S. intelligence community believes that Mueller was given as a bride to an ISIS fighter. Read the rest of this entry »
Super Bowl Ads: The Best, The Worst, The Movies and NBC
Posted: February 1, 2015 Filed under: Mediasphere | Tags: Administrative leave, Arizona, BMW, Bryant Gumbel, Coca-Cola, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy High School (Paterson, Katie Couric, McDonalds, Mindy Kaling, New Jersey, Pierce Brosnan, Super Bowl, Super Bowl advertising, Super Bowl XLIX, The Brady Bunch 1 Comment
Brian Lowry writes: Super Bowl advertising is almost invariably overrated, which doesn’t spare us from the impulse — even the need — to rate it.
“As usual, the hype surrounding the ads turned many into a super-bust, suggesting that the folks on Madison Avenue are either bereft of ideas or, in some instances, taking too much advantage of liberalized pot laws.”
There was some excitement going into the game about an influx of relatively new advertisers, offering the promise of new blood. But just as a wave of newcomers in 2000 preceded the dot-com meltdown, this year’s crop of novice sponsors merely exposed a lot of not-ready-for-primetime players in the marketing world.
Of course, the criticism isn’t limited to the new guys. Car companies in general had a bad day. And Budweiser– which traditionally wields the biggest stick during the game – didn’t so much come up with new creative as recycle it, going back to the cross-species love affair between puppies and Clydesdales and erecting a giant Pac-Man maze to prove that, um, what was the point of that Bud Light spot again? (Admittedly, the puppy ad will no doubt be one of the day’s most popular in snap polls.)
“There was also a surplus of poorly utilized celebrities, including Mindy Kaling for Nationwide; Kim Kardashian for T-Mobile, along with Chelsea Handler and Sarah Silverman; and Pierce Brosnan for Kia. And while Liam Neeson was great, can anybody remember what the product was?”
The overall mix once again seemed to careen from the hopelessly schmaltzy (“Care makes a man stronger,” says Dove) to the simply goofy (Doritos strapping a rocket to a pig) to the borderline bizarre, such as Snickers dropping Danny Trejo and Steve Buscemi into an old “The Brady Bunch” episode.
There was also a surplus of poorly utilized celebrities, including Mindy Kaling for Nationwide; Kim Kardashian for T-Mobile, along with Chelsea Handler and Sarah Silverman; and Pierce Brosnan for Kia. And while Liam Neeson was great, can anybody remember what the product was?
Another subcategory would be the overproduced extravaganza, such as Mercedes’ CGI “Tortoise & the Hare” retelling or Bud Light’s aforementioned Pac-Man spot. Some of these fare well in audience surveys, but the link between creative and advertiser is so tenuous the benefits often seem exaggerated. And while it’s not necessarily fair, both Microsoft and Toyota’s ads featuring people walking thanks to prosthetic blades were undermined in part by the specter of Olympic runner Oscar Pistorius, who was found guilty of murder last year.
“Finally, there were the public-service announcements, with the sobering NoMore.org domestic violence spot – which resonated in light of the NFL’s Ray Rice fiasco – and Always’ ‘Like a Girl’ campaign. Yet as compelling as those spots were, they almost have to be broken out separately from more directly commercial advertising.”
So what were the principal highlights and lowlights? Separating out movies (which are essentially their own animal), public-service announcements and NBC’s promos for its midseason lineup, they loosely breakdown as follows:
THE BEST
ESurance: Tapping Bryan Cranston in “Breaking Bad” mode was a genius move, mostly because of the instant cool the association creates in the mind of the show’s fans. In this case, they really did have a lot of us at hello.
Fiat: Look, we all know car ads are essentially about sex. Fiat made the connection overt by dropping a Viagra tablet into one of its cars. If not the best ad of the day, it was the most truthful, since it’s hard to think of any other reason to drive a Fiat.
Carnival Cruises: Wedding John F. Kennedy’s voice discussing man’s love affair with the ocean to beautiful imagery of ships at sea accomplished the near-impossible: It almost made me forget Kathie Lee Gifford and think, at least momentarily, about taking a Carnival Cruise. Plus, in practical terms, the Kennedy-era contingent probably a big part of the company’s target demo.
Coca-Cola: While it’s unlikely spilling Coke on the Internet will sap the venom out of Web comments and our political discourse, it’s hard not to applaud the underlying sentiment and idealism. Notably, McDonald’s went for a similar uplifting spiel with its “Pay With Lovin’” ad, which is probably effective from a marketing standpoint but felt cloying as a commercial. Read the rest of this entry »
How an Apple Rumor Sparked a Sapphire Revolution
Posted: January 15, 2015 Filed under: Science & Technology, U.S. News | Tags: Apple Inc, Arizona, Chinese language, Composite material, Gorilla Glass, GT Advanced Technologies, Huawei, iPhone, Mesa, Samsung, Xiaomi Tech Leave a comment
Christina Bonnington writes: For years, Gorilla Glass was the toughest material a mobile device could use to protect its delicate display components. A mix of silicon dioxide, aluminum, sodium, and magnesium, Corning’s scratch-resistant composite material was the gold standard in protecting a smartphone’s display against breakage. But starting around mid-2013, a new option became visible: sapphire.
“Even though sapphire never made it into the iPhone’s display, between interest in the new material and its maturation in the market, we’re now seeing sapphire on a growing number of mobile products.”
While more expensive to produce than Gorilla Glass, sapphire is significantly tougher. It’s up to three times stronger; diamond is the only material hard enough to nick it. Apple was widely rumored to be moving to sapphire displays in its mobile devices, particularly after the Cupertino company partnered with GT Advanced Technologies in the construction of a Mesa, Arizona sapphire production plant.
“Sapphire is also making its way into wearables. Apple, of course, has a big stake in the space with the upcoming, sapphire-fronted Apple Watch. But the material has been a staple in mid to high-end watches for many years now, and is a staple across the watch industry.”
That arrangement didn’t pan out. Sapphire didn’t make it into the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus as reported (other than in its camera lens), and the factory was repurposedafter GT Advanced filed for bankruptcy. It turns out it’s very challenging to build sapphire into larger devices like smartphones and tablets, according to DisplaySearch analyst Calvin Hseih, who I spoke with over email. First, it’s far more expensive, costing multiple dollars per square inch compared to roughly five cents per square inch for glass. It can still be chipped or cracked if dropped at the right angle. And, Hseih says, it has a lower optical transmission than glass, which necessitates greater backlight power consumption. Apple’s proposed solution to these challenges wasn’t actually a pure sapphire display cover glass, like we’d see on a watch: According to its sapphire-related patent filings, Apple’s phone displays would have a very thin sapphire layer coated or laminated onto the glass. This takes advantage of the material’s hardness without adding undue strain on battery life or making it too expensive for people to afford. But this design couldn’t be executed at a satisfactory quality level in time. Read the rest of this entry »
Harry Reid Hospitalized with Broken Face
Posted: January 2, 2015 Filed under: Breaking News, U.S. News | Tags: Arizona, Democratic Party (United States), Harry Reid, LAS VEGAS, Mitch McConnell, Nevada, University Medical Center (Tucson 1 Comment
Catalina Camia reports: Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid is in a Las Vegas hospital following injuries sustained while exercising at home.
A statement issued Friday by Reid’s office said doctors expect a “full recovery.”
[Harry Reid Breaks ‘Number of Ribs and Bones in His Face’ While Exercising]
“A piece of equipment Senator Reid was using to exercise broke, causing him to fall and break a number of ribs and bones in his face,” according to the statement. “Senator Reid will return to Washington this weekend and be in the office Tuesday as the Senate prepares to reconvene.”
“A piece of equipment Senator Reid was using to exercise broke, causing him to fall and break a number of ribs and bones in his face.”
Adam Jentleson, the senator’s spokesman, told the Associated Press that the accident occurred when an elastic exercise band broke and hit the 75-year-old Reid in the face, causing him to fall. As the senator fell, Jentleson said, Reid struck part of the equipment and broke several bones near his right eye. Reid broke several ribs as he hit the floor. Read the rest of this entry »
In Arizona, a Navajo High School Emerges as a Defender of the Washington Redskins
Posted: October 27, 2014 Filed under: Health and Social Issues, Mediasphere, Politics, U.S. News | Tags: Arizona, Homecoming, Native American, Navajo, NFL, Red Mesa, Redskin Nation, Sports, Trademark, Washington Redskins Leave a comment
RED MESA, Ariz. — Ian Shapira reports: The fans poured into the bleachers on a Friday night, erupting in “Let’s go, Redskins!” chants that echoed across a new field of artificial turf, glowing green against a vast dun-colored landscape.
“This is one of the reasons why it’s so hard to change the name. I don’t find it derogatory. It’s a source of pride.”
— Superintendent Tommie Yazzie
Inside the Red Mesa High School locker room, Ted Nugent’s “Stranglehold” blared on the stereo as players hurried to strap on their helmets and gather for a pregame prayer and pep talk.
“This is your time, right?” the team’s assistant coach demanded.
“Yes, sir!” the players shouted. “Redskins on three! Redskins on three! One, two, three, Redskins!”
“I don’t know what she means that it’s a racial slur. It’s not a racist slur if it originates from a Native American tribe…It’s always used in the context of sports.”
— Mckenzie Lameman, 17, a junior who is Red Mesa’s student government president
The scene at this tiny, remote high school was as boisterous as it was remarkable: Nearly everyone on the field and in the bleachers belongs to the Navajo Nation. Most of the people in Red Mesa not only reject claims that their team’s nickname is a slur, they have emerged as a potent symbol in the heated debate over the name of the more widely known Redskins — Washington’s NFL team. More than half the school’s 220 students eagerly accepted free tickets from the team for an Oct. 12 game near Phoenix, where they confronted Native American protesters who were there to condemn Washington’s moniker.
Red Mesa High School football player Kai Lameman leads the team on a march during a homecoming parade Oct. 16. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)
None of that mattered to the Red Mesa Redskins as they marched onto the field for their game against the Lobos of Many Farms High School. It was homecoming, and the players knew they needed to keep winning if they wanted to make their first appearance in the state playoffs in five years.
Red Mesa students, parents and alumni stamped the bleachers, clutching signs that read “Fear the Spear” and “Redskin Nation.”
“There were 62 high schools in 22 states using the Redskins moniker last year, according to a project published by the University of Maryland’s Capital News Service.”
Sitting in the front row, Superintendent Tommie Yazzie basked in the crowd’s festive mood and in the sight of the newly built football field, which cost nearly $400,000 in federal aid at a school that struggles to pay for computers and wheelchair-accessible bathrooms.
“This is one of the reasons why it’s so hard to change the name,” he said with a smile, trying to make his voice heard over the cheers. “I don’t find it derogatory. It’s a source of pride.” Read the rest of this entry »
SMIDGEN REPORT: IRS Claims it has Lost Emails from 5 More Employees
Posted: September 5, 2014 Filed under: Breaking News, Crime & Corruption, Law & Justice, Mediasphere, Politics, White House | Tags: Arizona, Associated Press, Carl Levin, Internal Revenue Service, IRS, John McCain, Tax exemption, Tea Party 1 Comment
IRS says it has lost emails from FIVE MORE employees associated with Tea Party targeting scheme
Associated Press reports: The Internal Revenue Service has lost emails from five more employees who are part of congressional probes into the treatment of conservative groups that applied for tax-exempt status, the tax service disclosed on Friday.
The IRS said in June that it could not locate an untold number of emails to and from Lois Lerner, who headed the IRS division that processes applications for tax-exempt status during the time that the targeting of Tea Party groups occurred.
That revelation set off a new round of investigations and congressional hearings.
On Friday, the IRS issued a report to Congress saying the agency also lost emails from five other employees related to the probe, including two agents who worked in a Cincinnati office processing applications for tax-exempt status.
Not only did the IRS lose former former tax-exempt director Lois Lerner’s emails, it said today it lost the emails of five other employees associated with a Tea Party targeting scheme.
Democratic Sen. Carl Levin, left, talks with Republican Sen. John McCain, on Capitol Hill in Washington. After investigating the IRS for more than a year, the two senators said today that they disagree on whether the tax agency treated conservative groups worse than their liberal counterparts when they applied for tax-exempt status.
The disclosure came on the same day the Senate’s subcommittee on investigations released competing reports on how the IRS handled applications from political groups during the 2010 and 2012 elections.
The Democratic report, released by Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, said both liberal and conservative groups were mistreated, revealing no political bias by the IRS. Read the rest of this entry »
Fearing Rape, Female Migrants Are Taking Birth Control Before Crossing The Border
Posted: July 10, 2014 Filed under: Breaking News, Crime & Corruption, Health and Social Issues, Politics, U.S. News | Tags: Alberto Xicotencatl, Arizona, Central America, El Salvador, Los Zetas, Mexico, Nuevo Laredo, Organized crime, Texas, United States 3 Comments
A poster hanging in a migrant shelter in Nogales, Mexico. The text reads “I have the right to be respected physically, sexually and psychologically,” in Spanish. – Jude Joffe-Block
“The women passing through here know that they’re going to be raped”
— Father Pedraza, director of a shelter for migrants in Altar
MEXICO CITY – For Fox News Latino, David Agren reports: As a priest in the town of Altar, near the Arizona border, the Rev. Prisciliano Pedraza sees migrants stocking up on supplies such as food, water and medicine for treacherous treks through the desert.
A rape tree is what Mexican illegals create with the panties and bras of the women they have raped along the trail to America. After they have had their way with the women and young girls, they force them to hang their panties or bras, on the trees as a trophy or a sign of their conquest.
[Also see – Rape tree found near Mexico border]
But he sees female migrants stocking up on something else: contraceptives, which they take preventatively to protect themselves against sexual violence all too common as they make the journey through Mexico to the United States.
“Migrants are a vulnerable group, and the most vulnerable among them are women.”
Thousands of Central Americans travel through Mexico every year attempting to reach the United States. But because they make the trip illegally, they are vulnerable to kidnappings, extortion and robbery – with organized criminal groups such as Los Zetas often acting in cahoots with law enforcement authorities.
“They go to the pharmacy and buy emergency contraception for their trip to Mexico.”
In the case of women, the crimes include sexual assaults, forcing them to take precautions. They often take alternative routes through Mexico, feigning friendships with men in their group to stay safe while traveling. Increasingly, they are buying and consuming contraceptives before they make their trip.
“It’s on the increase,” says Marta Sánchez Soler, an advocate with the MesoAmerican Migrants Movement. “The first ones (doing it) were women from El Salvador, but now it’s everyone.”
Many contraceptives are sold without a prescription in Mexico, including the morning-after pill. Sánchez says some women receive injections before leaving or wear patches.
“They go to the pharmacy and buy emergency contraception for their trip to Mexico. This is they would tell us.”
Most church groups don’t supply the contraceptives – or condone what the women do, but they do help the women in other ways.
“They’re not giving it out, but they’re offering advice,” Sánchez said.
A network of shelters for migrants stretches the length of Mexico – with most run by Catholic priests and religious, who report being queried about contraceptives by women arriving as guests.
“They’ll arrive at the shelters and ask the priests or people that work there” about buying contraceptives, says Alberto Xicotencatl, director of the diocesan-run migrant shelter in Saltillo, 195 miles from the Texas border at Nuevo Laredo.
[Also see Jude Joffe-Block’s report – Facing Risk Of Rape, Migrant Women Prepare With Birth Control]
But women are less likely than men to stay at migrant shelters, which are often established near railway lines and frequented by Central Americans stealing rides on northbound trains known as “La Bestia,” or, “The Beast” – so named for the way it maims migrants who fall on the tracks and lose limbs.
Women attempt to avoid La Bestia, which organized crime now charges $100 to climb aboard, according to Xicotencatl. Criminal groups also prey on migrants while they wait in railway yards for trains to arrive.
“They would rather risk the immigration authorities than organized crime,” he says. Read the rest of this entry »
[VIDEO] The Hammer: ‘If Fences Dont Work, Why Is There One Around the White House?’
Posted: July 2, 2014 Filed under: Health and Social Issues, Mediasphere, U.S. News, White House | Tags: Arizona, Charles Krauthammer, Fences (play), Guatemala, Honduras, Immigration, Israel, Mexico, West Bank, White House Leave a commentO’Reilly: How do you secure the border, Charles?
Krauthammer: Alright, here’s what I’ve been on for years. You start with a fence. It’s very simple. People say, ‘Oh, fences don’t work. You make a ladder.’ Well, then you build two fences, triple strand fences. San Diego did that in the mid 90’s and within a decade, the illegal immigration rate at that point was reduced by 90% and people ended up going through other places like Arizona.
If fences don’t work, why is there one around the White House? If they don’t work, why is it that the Israeli fence which separate Israel from the West Bank has cut down terror attacks within Israel by 99%. Fences work. Yes, there are parts of the border where you can’t have a fence, fine. So you don’t have it in those areas and you do heavy patrols. But there is no reason why a rich country like us cannot put a fence across — a double fence, a triple fence and patrol it all the time. That would have a tremendous impact.
YouTube – RealClearPolitics.com
Report: Mexican Military Chopper Crosses Into U.S., Shoots At Border Agents
Posted: June 27, 2014 Filed under: Breaking News, Crime & Corruption, Health and Social Issues, Mediasphere | Tags: Arizona, KVOA, Mexico, Tohono O'odham, TUCSON, Tucson Arizona, United States, United States Border Patrol Leave a comment
TUCSON, Ariz. (CBS Las Vegas) — Border Patrol agents in Arizona were reportedly fired upon by a Mexican military helicopter that traveled across the border.
KVOA-TV reports that Mexican authorities were conducting a drug interdiction operation when the incident happened early Thursday morning on the Tohono O’odham Indian Nation. The Mexican chopper fired at the agents and then flew back into Mexico.
Art del Cueto, Border Patrol Tucson Sector union president, tells KVOA that they called and apologized for the incident.
“The incident occurred after midnight and before 6 a.m. Helicopter flew into the U.S. and fired on two U.S. Border Patrol agents,” del Cueto said in a statement to KVOA. Read the rest of this entry »
Leaked Images Reveal Children Warehoused in Crowded U.S. Cells, Border Patrol Overwhelmed
Posted: June 5, 2014 Filed under: Breaking News, Health and Social Issues | Tags: Arizona, Border Patrol, Brandon Darby, Central America, Mexico, Texas, Twitter, United States Border Patrol 1 Comment
“It’s a humiliating example of what our government’s inability to develop solid immigration and border security policies can cause.”
— Contributing editor Sylvia Longmire
HOUSTON, Texas — For Breitbart News, Brandon Darby reports: Breitbart Texas obtained internal federal government photos depicting the conditions of foreign children warehoused by authorities on U.S. soil on Wednesday night. Thousands of illegal immigrants have overrun U.S. border security and their processing centers in Texas along the U.S./Mexico border. Unaccompanied minors, including young girls under the age of 12, are making the dangerous journey from Central America and Mexico, through cartel-controlled territories, and across the porous border onto U.S. soil.
“Most of those released will abscond and never show up for their hearings, taking their chances that ICE won’t have the time or resources to go looking for them.”
The photos illuminate the conditions of the U.S. Border Patrol’s processing centers, as well as the overwhelming task Border Patrol is facing. Read the rest of this entry »
Arizona: Governor Signs Pro-Gun Bills
Posted: April 21, 2014 Filed under: Guns and Gadgets, Law & Justice, Self Defense | Tags: 2nd amendment, Arizona, Daily Caller, Firearm, Gun laws, Jan Brewer, John Kavanagh, National Firearms Act, Senate, State legislature (United States) 1 Comment
Yesterday, Governor Jan Brewer (R) signed House Bill 2103 into law. Introduced by state Representative Kelly Townsend (R-16), HB 2103 would allow an individual of at least nineteen years of age to obtain a concealed weapon permit if the person is currently in military service or has been honorably discharged. This legislation is a good way to thank our military for their service and will benefit law-abiding gun owners in Arizona. HB 2103 passed in the state Senate by a 20 to 10 vote on Wednesday and in the House by a 39 to 18 vote on March 10.
Also yesterday, House Bill 2535 was reported in the Senate by the Committee of the Whole as “Do Pass.” Introduced by state Representative John Kavanagh (R-23), HB 2535 requires that certification by a chief law enforcement officer (CLEO), when a signoff is required for the transfer of a firearm or other item regulated by the National Firearms Act (NFA), be provided within sixty days as long as the applicant is not prohibited by law from receiving the firearm or other item. HB 2535 would prevent an arbitrary personal bias from determining Arizona firearm policy and ensure that qualified, law-abiding Arizonans would not be denied their ability to legally possess NFA items. The reforms in HB 2535 would benefit law-abiding Arizona Second Amendment supporters by ensuring that the process to obtain NFA items already legal in Arizona remains consistent, fact-based and objective. Additionally, HB 2535 would provide an individual who has been denied certification by a CLEO with a written explanation for the denial. HB 2535 now goes to the Senate floor where it will be considered as early as next week.
[VIDEO] Rehearsal: White House Press Secretary Gets Questions from Reporters Before Press Briefing – Debunked?
Posted: March 20, 2014 Filed under: Breaking News, Mediasphere, White House | Tags: Arizona, Barack Obama, CBS, Jay Carney, Journalist, News conference, Obama, Weekly Standard, White House 4 Comments
UPDATE: Phoenix journalist admits ‘bad reporting’ in claiming White House press censorship
Catherine Anaya, from Phoenix’s KPHO-TV, says she was mistaken for saying members of the White House Press Corps submit questions to press secretary Jay Carney before the daily televised press briefing. Read more: nydailynews.com
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/local-reporter-backtracks-press-claim-article-1.1729113
The Weekly Standard reports: A CBS reporter from Arizona reveals that President Obama’s press secretary, Jay Carney, receives questions from the press in advance of his daily press briefing. In fact, she says, the reporters often receive the answers in advance of the briefing, too.
“…unless it’s something breaking, the questions that the reporters actually ask — the correspondents — they are provided to him in advance. So then he knows what he’s going to be answering and sometimes those correspondents and reporters also have those answers printed in front of them, because of course it helps when they’re producing their reports for later on. So that was very interesting.”
Religious Liberty After Arizona
Posted: February 28, 2014 Filed under: Law & Justice, Think Tank | Tags: Arizona, Bill Clinton, Chuck Schumer, Freedom of religion, Jan Brewer, Kevin Williamson, Religious Freedom Restoration Act, Same-sex marriage 1 Comment
For The Federalist Ben Domenech writes: Government, properly understood, is an agent of force. It can cause people to not do things they would otherwise do, and can compel them to do things they otherwise would not do. It does this in small ways and big ways, in nudges and at the end of a gun. At its best, as limited government conservatives and libertarians alike understand, government causes and compels only in those arenas it must, invading the scope of human life as little as possible. At its worst, government becomes, in Saint Augustine’s phrase, a system of “great robberies” where plunder is divided by the law agreed on, and people are subdued by force in accordance to the whims of the powerful elite.
So what are we to make of the divisions that emerged in the course of Arizona’s consideration of its version of a Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and the responses it inspired? I think it comes down to a matter of priorities, and to the broad-based willingness to let personal inclinations about what society ought to look like overwhelm a reasonable understanding of the ramifications of giving government the power to shape that society.
Naked Woman’s Cuckoo-Bananas Violent Rampage After Boyfriend Refuses Sex
Posted: February 13, 2014 Filed under: Crime & Corruption, Humor, U.S. News | Tags: Arizona, Ashley Marie Prenovost, Bedroom, Disorderly conduct, Glendale, Glendale California, Mug shot, Property damage, Recognizance, The Smoking Gun 1 Comment
Hey, I have a high sex drive. I’m not gonna apologize for it. A girl has needs, right? He didn’t have to be such a little bitch about it.
The Smoking Gun reports: An Arizona woman went on a naked rampage early Monday after her live-in boyfriend refused to have sex with her, police report.
Ashley Marie Prenovost, 24, was already intoxicated when her beau returned to the Glendale residence the couple shares with their four-month-old daughter. Prenovost, according to a court filing, “wanted to have sex with him and got naked.”
When her boyfriend declined to have sex, Prenovost became enraged, according to police. She allegedly punched two holes in a bedroom wall, and “punched a picture hanging on the wall in the hallway, causing glass to break and causing injuries to both of suspect’s hands.”
As Prenovost ran around inside the home,“she bled all over the floor in the master bedroom, hallway, common area by the front door and kitchen.” When cops arrived at the residence, a naked Prenovost attempted to flee through the garage.
Mental health laws are trouble for Democrats
Posted: December 22, 2013 Filed under: Law & Justice, Mediasphere, Politics, Self Defense, U.S. News | Tags: Ann Coulter, Arizona, Boston Marathon, Chechnya, Clinton health care plan of 1993, Jared Lee Loughner, Mass murder, Seung-Hui Cho 2 Comments
Some of 3,500 diverse firearms seized from criminal acts, disarmament and amnesty programs, before their melting at a foundry in Lima, on December 17, 2013. CRIS BOURONCLE/AFP/Getty Images)
Ann Coulter writes: Instead of always taking incoming fire, how about Republicans start sending some back? It’s great that they stopped HillaryCare, but if they had actually fixed health care by forcing health insurance plans to be sold in a competitive free market, there would have been no opportunity for shyster Democrats to foist Obamacare on us.
It’s fantastic that we caught the Boston Marathon bombers, but why don’t Republicans fix an immigration system that brings foreign terrorists and mass murderers to our country? Let the Democrats explain why we couldn’t make room for a Danish surgeon because we needed another Chechnyan terrorist.
And it’s terrific that Republicans have managed to block sweeping gun bans after every mass shooting over the past few years — opposition to new gun restrictions has more than doubled since Newtown — but how about they actually do something to stop the next mass murder?
All these shootings are united by one clear thread: They all were committed by visibly crazy people, known to be nuts but not institutionalized.
Mental illness was blindingly clear in the cases of Seung-Hui Cho (Virginia Tech), Maj. Nidal Hasan (Fort Hood), Jared Loughner (Arizona shopping mall), James Holmes (Colorado movie theater), and a dozen other mass shootings in the past few decades.
But in every instance, Democrats’ response was: Let’s ban high-capacity magazines! Let’s limit private gun sales! Let’s publish the names of everyone who owns a registered gun!
Made in USA: Apple to Build New Manufacturing Facility in Arizona with Solar-Power, Will Create 2000+ Jobs
Posted: November 4, 2013 Filed under: Economics, Mediasphere, Science & Technology | Tags: Apple, Arizona, California, Mac Pro, Mesa Arizona, Texas, Tim Cook, United States Leave a commentThe State of Arizona today announced that Apple is planning to build a new manufacturing facility in the city of Mesa, Arizona. The facility will create 700 jobs for manufacturing, and an additional 1,300 jobs for the construction and management of the new facility, In total, Apple will be bringing at least 2,000 new jobs to the United States thanks to this new facility.
In addition to the manufacturing facility, Apple will be constructing a new solar power grid in the city to power the manufacturing operations, according to Arizona’s announcement:
“Apple is indisputably one of the world’s most innovative companies and I’m thrilled to welcome them to Arizona,” said Governor Brewer. “Apple will have an incredibly positive economic impact for Arizona and its decision to locate here speaks volumes about the friendly, pro-business climate we have been creating these past four years. Their investment in renewable energy will also be greening our power grid, and creating significant new solar and geothermal power sources for the state. As Governor, I’ve worked hard to demonstrate that Arizona is open for business. Today’s news is proof that’s paying off.”
pundit from another planet 
